Portcullis receive a damn good thrashing!

Week Twelve of the 2016 Grades Season saw Portcullis at home to promotion challengers Knightriders 2nds.

The teams had already met earlier in the season. On that occasion Knightriders 2nds won a close contest by 27 runs and Portcullis, with home advantage, were looking to avenge this result. Knightriders 2nds, on the other hand, had found themselves in 2nd spot and were looking to cement their promotion chances back to Grade Two.

Skipper Mitch lost the toss to his Knightriders 2nds counterpart but was pleasantly surprised to find that Knightriders 2nds wanted to bat first. Had Mitch won the toss he would have put Knightriders in.

In fact most teams in the Grades tend to field first even with the draw rule no longer in place. Portcullis were to find out if Knightriders 2nds were ill-judged in their choice or extremely confident in their batting.

Unfortunately they were extremely confident. And rightfully so.

For Knightriders 2nds Ranjith and S Vasudevan would open the batting. For Portcullis the pairing of skipper Dave Mitchell and Ross McKenzie would share the new cherry.

Mitch opened with a sound maiden and that was about it for Portcullis. Knightriders 2nds were in no mood to hang around after that and began to pile on the runs from there on.

McKenzie, in particular came in for some rough treatment. Vasudevan, taking a shine to the young bowler’s deliveries, fired many of those to the boundary. McKenzie was soon replaced by Gary Steward but after an initial tight couple of overs, found that he too suffered at the hands of the Knightriders pair.

Mitch was getting no joy at his end but was keeping things tight.

The Knightriders opening batsmen took the score onto 82 in the 18th over before they lost their first wicket. It was Steward, sticking gamely to his task, who struck the first blow, bowling the aggressive Vasudevan for an excellent 52. Knightriders 2nds 82-1.

It was a fine knock by Vasudevan that included 9 marvellous fours.

Having watched Vasudevan return to the trees, Portcullis might have thought the scoring would slow down.

They were wrong.

Next man in was G Saikumar who joined Ranjith at the crease. The pair continued to score at ease whilst the City Centre Green Caps were made to chase the leather. The pair enjoyed a fine partnership of 71 whilst Portcullis further mixed and matched their bowling attack. Mannie Hussein, Chris Poolman and Kannan Vijayakrishnan came and went at various stages but it made no odds to the Knightriders batsmen as they plundered the goodies on offer from the Portcullis bowlers.

It took some accurate bowling in Mitch’s second spell to finally get Portcullis their second wicket. A tight probing line saw Ranjith run out of patience and one swashbuckling shot too many was to do for as Mitchell bowled the lively opener for a fine 48. His innings included five fabulous fours. Knightriders 2nds 153-2.

If Portcullis hoped they were going to have a breather, they thought wrong. It was the turn of Knightriders skipper Prem Ballal to come to the crease. In the previous encounter between the two, Ballall was mentioned a look of Sanath Jayasuriya with the batting style of Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

This was not what Portcullis wanted. They would rather have the remaining batsmen have a look of Charlie Chaplin with a batting (and bowling) style of Alan Carr if they were to get back in this match!!

The pair of Prem Ballal and G Saikumar added 21 for the third wicket partnership. During this time Sailkumar became the second batsman of the match to reach his fifty, a lovely cut through point helping him reach his milestone. He went shortly afterwards. Kannan Vijayakrishnan invited Saikumar to chop one into the short cover area where Falconer was on hand to dive low, taking a fine catch in the process. Knightriders 172 -3. G Saikumar gone for a fine 54.

Mansun was next but he went for a quick-fire six. Steward, back into the attack, grabbing his second wicket of the day. Mansun pulled at one from middle and leg and swept it deep towards mid-wicket. Vijayakrishnan slipped out there initially but was aware enough to regain his balance and position himself to take a fine catch only inches from the boundary. Knightriders 183 – 4.

Prem Ballal was then joined by Veerappan Annamalai. The pair continued the aggressive attack as the score soared past the 200 mark. Ballal in his quest to force the run-rate found himself at the same end as his partner. The result, a very easy run out completed by Mannie Hussein. Ballal continuing to haunt the Portcullis bowlers with a splendid 45 runs that included 5 wonderful fours and one exquisite six.

Thankfully for Portcullis the Knightriders 2nds innings finally came to an end. After their 45 overs they had amassed a colossal 250-5! G Saikumar with 54, and S Vasudevan with 52, made fine half centuries to lead the way. Other scores of note for the Knightriders 2nds were Ranjith with a cool 48 and Prem Ballal, of course, with a solid 45. For Portcullis Gary Steward finished with the most wickets, taking 2-63 in his 11 overs. Mitch finished with customary miserly figures of 1-24 from 12 overs. The other wicket-taker being Kannan Vijayakrishnan (1-50) ably assisted by some fielding brilliance from a Portcullis player defying the poor physique bestowed upon him and continuing those early theories in previous reports!

After a simply scrumptious tea that Johnners would have salivated over, it was time for Portcullis to post their reply. With portly opener Ronnie Falconer suffering an injury in the outfield towards the end of the innings and the massive total to chase down, Mitch decided to go for broke by opening the batting with himself and Gary Steward. The Knightriders 2nds bowling would be opened by A. Kumaraperumal and Prem Ballal.

Portcullis got off to a flyer. After 7 overs they were up with the run-rate at 38-0. Gary Steward in particular looking in fine touch as the Portcullis side did their damnedest to make a challenge of the total.

It was the eighth over and Ballal’s 4th, where Knightriders finally made their breakthrough. Alas it was Steward who went, a tad unfortunately perhaps. He drove one skywards over the head of Lokash who went scurrying after the ball. He was running with the ball overhead in the same direction as the ball was travelling, arms stuck out, looking as if he had no clue of where the ball actually was in the air. To his credit though he did not give up and as the ball spiralled downwards he kept his arms stuck out. The ball suddenly stuck in his hands!! Celebrations ensued as Steward, with a rather miffed look on his face strode back to the trees and to the rest of his team mates. Portcullis 39-1.

39-1 soon became 40-2 as Ballal grabbed his, and Knightriders 2nd wicket of the match. An lbw appeal was turned down the first time but upheld on the very next delivery as Kannan Vijayakrishnan was trapped plumb on the second appeal.

Ballal managed to grab his and the team’s third wicket when he managed to lure new batsman Mannie Hussein to dab one back at him and he was on hand to take a simple caught and bowled. Portcullis 53-3.

Both Simon Winstanley and Richard Collinson offered some resistance and managed to assist skipper Dave Mitchell, Winstanley having the pick of the shots with a corking six over mid-on which reached his team mates at the trees. The pair though went the same way of the three wickets before them as Prem Ballal took his fourth and fifth wickets. Both went the same way as well, bowled by the wily Knightriders veteran. The fourth wicket falling at 62, the fifth at 74.

With the tail exposed, Mitch decided it was time to go on the offensive. Wickets continued to fall at the other end though, Adie was caught from the bowling of Balamurali whilst Poolman was bowled by the returning Kumaraperumal.

Mitchell finally went when he was bowled for a fine 46, caught behind from the bowling of Kumaraperumal. McKenzie became Balamurali’s second victim as the wickets continued to tumble.

This left Andrew Blackwell to be joined at the crease by the hobbling Ronnie Falconer. Blackwell managed to crunch one of his trademark on-drives for four before bowler Veerappan Annamalai had Blackwell caught at mid-wicket by Prem Ballal.

Portcullis 103 all out and beat by a huge 147 runs. For Portcullis Dave Mitchell top scored with 46 whilst Gary Steward chipped in with a fine 22. For Knightriders 2nds Prem Ballal lead with way with the ball grabbing 5-32 from his twelve overs. He was supported by A. Kumaraperumal (2-25) and B. Balamurali (2-22). Veerappan Annamalai taking the other wicket (1-12).

For Knightriders 2nds this was a strong victory which continues to keep their momentum going towards the end of the season. At this point they would be odds-on to capture the second promotion spot and go up to Grade Two next season. For Portcullis this was a bit of a thrashing, the type of sobering thrashing that a team can get from time.

Next up a home match to Stonehaven.

PORTCULLIS MAN OF THE MATCH.

Skipper DAVE MITCHELL takes it for his fine knock of 46 which was backed up by his 1-24 from 12 overs.

KNIGHTRIDERS MAN OF THE MATCH.

PREM BALLAL takes the honours again. His knock of 45 was followed up with a splendid 5-32 with the cherry.

PORTCULLIS CATCH OF THE MATCH.

Although’s Ronnie’s catch deserves a mention due to it being one of those “how did that fat bloke get to that” type of catch. KANNAN VIJAYAKRISHNAN takes the prize for his fine catch on the boundary despite slipping before hanging onto it.

Wednesday, 27 July, 2016