With a loss to Academy in the league the previous weekend, FP’s 2nd XI were intent on returning the favour in the Quarter Finals of the Reid Cup at Duthie Park.
The FP’s team selected was Magesh Devendran (C), Matt Barker (VC), Chris Clelland (WKT), Guru Thangamani, Hemal Kumar Chovatiya, Jesten d’Costa, John Eagles, Karthik Mohanan, Mahesh Narayanan, Shaun Mountain and Thomas Kiwara.
FPs won the toss and chose to bat on a pitch that was likely to deteriorate. Barker and Clelland opened against some fairly wayward bowling from an Academy team shorn of a couple of strike bowlers. Barker knocked a couple of impressive boundaries before succumbing to his weakness of going back to a full pitched ball and getting bowled for 9.
Narayan came to the crease but was unlucky to be run out by a great piece of fielding for 1, leaving Clelland and Kiwara at the crease. The pair looked comfortable and played in an attacking manner until Kiwara was well caught at slip for 11.
Clelland was batting well and made a solid 38 before being caught. This left Eagles and the swashbuckling Thangamani to push the scoring rate along. Eagles played fluently with shots around the ground to make 32, whilst Thangamani scored a match defining 65 with a couple of booming 6’s and nine 4’s.
Mohanan chipped in with a quickfire 10 before d’Costa and Mountain brought the innings to a close, both finishing not out on 6 and 1 respectively. FP’s finishing on 193-7 from their 40 overs.
With an excellent total to defend, FPs took to the field enthused after their well planned and executed warm-up. Both Academy openers looked bright but with the ball swinging, FPs were able to mop them both up for relatively little damage. Chovatiya claimed the wicket of Abhinav for 11, well caught by Thangamani, and Narayan removing Uday (10) with a well taken caught behind by Clelland.
The next two batsmen barely troubled the scorers departing for 0 and 1, both clean bowled, with the terrible twosome of Narayan and Chovatiya sharing the spoils. The aptly name Lucky came to the crease and survived a number of appeals to partner Shri and push the score along to 50 in the 16th over before losing his wicket to the youthful d’Costa for 9.
Assisted by Soham, splendidly caught by Eagles from the bowling of Mountain for 3, and more effectively by Bali, mopped up by Thangamani for 16, Shri continued to play in a muscular fashion. He added 42 to the Academy scoreline before a shock LBW decision was awarded to the very vocal Thangamani.
With the dangerman back in the hutch FPs relaxed a little which allowed the Academy tail to hang on a little longer than they should have. Nizam made a lengthy 1 before Thangamani picked up his third wicket (no idea how as I can’t remember and Academy had pretty much given up filling in the scorebook) whilst Mandal made an entertaining 9 before being out LBW to FP’s Kiwi recruit Thomas Kiwara. This brought the Academy innings to a close on 112 giving FPs victory by 81 runs and passage to the Semi-Finals of the Reid Cup.
Man of the Match – Guru Thangamani – 65 with the bat, 3 for 8 with the ball and a smartly taken catch.
Champagne Moment – Being awarded two LBW decisions in the same innings.
