And they’re off…
20/06/2021
PWCC v Miranda Tigers
So, after all the planning and the launch it was time to kick off our participation in the new National League and, the cool, gloomy weather with its persistent threat of drizzle notwithstanding, this was anything but a grey day.
The first shock of the day was that everyone was on time. This is truly a new cricketing landscape for Porto. Everyone pitched in to get things ready for the start, adhering to all the requirements of the league, erecting sponsor flags, banners, black sightscreen sheets, thirty-yard ring and the rest. The Tigers’ president (I shall return to him in a moment) commented on the weather. “When does it ever rain in June?” he said (said, not asked, despite my question mark – a question implies you are interested in an answer). Every June, or something similar, was my reply. Apparently, Miranda do Corvo is a vastly better place and never sees rain. Perhaps it is possible to get to a certain point of the day and not notice precipitation. He slunk off to order his first double whisky of the day.
We were playing both the home and away fixtures at OCLTC, Tigers not having their own ground and, mysteriously we thought, not being allowed to play at Coimbra Knights’ ground in Miranda. Tigers won the toss and put us into bat, presumably hoping that the wet conditions (not to mention the pitch, which had been partially cut on one side and left untouched on the other; it had a pleasant meadow aspect when looked at, but that rather misses the point of a cricket pitch) would slow up our scoring. Despite some tidy bowling, it didn’t really turn out that way as, after Sabha departed following a positive opening, Anthony and John Z pushed us on with a stand of 51. The high early run-rate slowed somewhat in the middle of the innings before an acceleration in the final few overs, led by Junaid, took us to a decent total of 162/4 in our twenty (John 32, Anthony 45, Junaid 45*). In their reply, the Tigers struggled to get going, tight bowling limiting scoring opportunities and sharp work in the field keeping runs down. Anthony was the pick of our bowlers with 2-15 off his four overs. I was not, kindly boosting their confidence by giving them 25 off two overs at the end. With the Tigers at 120/5 at the end, PWCC had its inaugural victory by 42 runs.
It was time for a pleasant, relaxing lunch. Well, it should have been, but the Tigers’ president was in what might be described as a domineering mood, moving people from seat to seat and proclaiming repeatedly that ‘this is what we call a cricket lunch’. At one point he said that he would take his loud voice out to the terrace. Premal’s momentary look of alarm, presumably thinking of the havoc that could ensue amongst the terrace lunchers, was memorable, his ‘No, you’re fine’ came out as a strained rasp.
Tigers won the second toss and, perhaps surprisingly, put us into bat again. How excited Sabha was! What a chance to make up for not staying in too long the first time! First ball of the innings: four! Second ball … oh, dear: ball, bat, sky, out. John and Anthony again settled things with a stand of forty, before Mubeen came in and added 39. Premal was next, scoring well (better than the scoring app shows – it is rather unforgiving if you miss something, let’s say, for example, because a sozzled octogenarian has pitched up in the scorer’s face), and we finished with 152/6. Despite the best efforts of the day’s highest scoring batsman, Manjeet Singh (48 in the first game, 46 in this), with nobody else getting into double figures they never looked remotely like chasing us down. The strangest thing was watching them play out the final overs as though looking for a test draw, leaving balls outside off, turning down possible runs and looking for few scoring shots. The six wickets were evenly spread between Junaid, Anthony and Mubeen as Tigers reached just 87.
So, it was a successful day all round. Two wins out of two, two man-of-the-match awards for Anthony, and a significant upturn in the club’s whisky sales. The threatened rain came only after play. Well done to all those involved, as well as to the Miranda players, a friendly and good-spirited group also playing their club’s first fixtures.