The temperature had edged into the teens, but it was a chilly afternoon at a windswept Duthie Park where captain Devendran won the toss and invited Portcullis to bat first.
Grammar fielded three debutants in Agha Haider, Mahesh Narayanan and Tom Kiwara. The rest of the team (Thangamani, Joy, Eagles, Whiteley, Chovatiya, Mohammed and Maradona) later learned from the captain that debutants do not pay match fees. Eagles will be claiming his back (with interest) from May 1983.
Grammar opened with pacey stuff at one end (Narayanan then Chovatiya) and very slow stuff (Eagles) into the wind at the other. Falconer and Sahoo batted very well for Portcullis and put on 70 for the first wicket. Their running between wickets had been a trifle erratic, however, and Kiwara calmly threw the ball to the end at which there was no batsman- Falconer run out for 34. Chovatiya bowled well without luck and had been replaced by Devendran who had Sahoo caught by Kiwara at mid wicket for 40 in his fourth over. Eagles had bowled steadily but without penetration, and the ball was thrown to Whiteley for a match transforming spell of leg spin. After a couple of overs to acclimatise to the wind, he bowled the dangerous left hander Farooq with a beauty. Carnage ensued during his next two overs. Shahram was very well caught by a diving Kiwara at square leg and he was replaced by Owen, a century maker earlier in the season. Whiteley’s first ball to him (the last in the over) turned on its first bounce, straightened on its second and Owen’s swipe missed it. Portcullis captain Mitchell was watching this from the other end with disappointment as he had hit the first ball he received from Whiteley confidently to the square leg boundary. Hence, he was probably pleased to get up to that end for Whiteley’s hat trick ball, but in trying to repeat his earlier shot, he failed, and the rest, as they say, is history. Bowled Whiteley- Hat Trick!!!
Portcullis were by now 130 for 6 and Grammar hoped to run through their later batsmen. Abdullah, in particular, had other ideas. He batted superbly while getting some support at the other end, and finished on 60 not out. Eagles and Devendran had returned to the attack and picked up another 3 wickets between them before Portcullis closed on 205 for 9 after 44 overs.
A few catches went down, none of them easy, and the ground fielding was pretty good. The bowling figures were: Narayanan 5-1-22-0, Eagles 12-0-36-2, Chovatiya 10-2-43-0, Devendran 12-1-57-2, Whiteley 5-0-25-4 (including hat trick), Haider 1-0-10-0.
The pitch was slow and sometimes very low indeed, and the Portcullis total looked pretty substantial. This impression was reinforced when Grammar were reduced to 20 for 3- Devendran bowled by a good Mitchell away swinger, while Maradona and Mohommed were undone by Farooq deliveries that rolled rather than bounced. Meanwhile Kiwi opener Kiwara was starting to strike the ball majestically. Thangamani was also looking good when he holed out to extra cover for 17 off one of the poorer deliveries he received: Grammar 59 for 4. With Kiwara going like a train, Eagles tried to adopt the role of anchor, albeit batting initially like a rhyming slang word for that role. The partnership realised 78 runs, before Kiwara was bowled by Farooq for 77 with one 6 and ten 4s, many of these superbly timed shots off his legs. Narayanan came in and issued Portcullis a warning with a classy shot for 4 off his first ball. Eagles was finally getting going when he was bowled for 37 by an unplayable Farooq away swinger: Grammar 166 for 6. From this point, Narayanan brilliantly seized the initiative, with a wee bit of help from Haider and Joy, both of whom perished in the run chase. Narayanan did not, farming the strike intelligently, and he saw Grammar home by 2 wickets on 40 not out with six 4s.
Farooq was the most successful Portcullis bowler with 5 for 65. Had they held their catches, they should have won, but then if Grammar had held theirs, they might have won more easily. Overall, it was an excellent game of cricket, played in a good spirit. Could anything be more fun than that?
Man of the Match: Thomas Kiwara for his match winning 77 runs and taking 2 good catches
Champagne Moment: Philip Whiteley’s hat trick
