After not having played a single game for three weeks now, we had to get back into our cricketing mindset, which was a difficult thing.
Also given the fact that 10 out of 11 were performing the obligatory fasting (it's the holy month Ramadan), it was expected that the concentration levels would be low. And they were, even before the match had started. The team was divided into groups either in favour of battingfirst or fielding. The toss was won and I opted to field first. Shahjee and Ali opened the bowling and were able to put some good pressure on the openers straight from the start and an excellent delivery by Ali bowled their opener out. 31/1 in 12.


Omar and I tried our best to get a wicket but nothing much was happening and most of the scores came from our sloppy fielding.
Imran just back from a long holiday in Pakistan, replaced Omar and success in his first over: the batsman played a short and wide ball straight into the safehands of Ali standing in gully. 58/2 in 19.
Even more misfields made sure that the scoreboard kept ticking but the batsmen didn't look comfortable at all also they were not planning to give their wickets away either.
Atif, who unfortunately was a bit late, wasn't allowed to bowl until the 20th over so I had to experiment with our usually successful part-time bowlers to buy wickets.
That proved a bit costly because a) we lost the ball somewhere in the ditch and b) we didn't get a wicket. Just like Imran had success in his first over, so did Atif when he bowled their no.3 batter out. 82/3 in 25. Ali tried another couple and I bowled some but there was not really success until finally, in my 8th over got their captain bowled when they were 122 in 36.
Continuous tight bowling by Atif and Ali made sure that both bowled another few batsmen out and finished off the 40 overs with 145 on the board. Their eyes were sparkling when they said that this was their highest score of the season....with a bowling attack in the likes Shahjee, Ali, Atif, Omar, Imran and ofcourse myself, it felt like rubbing salt on wounds...but we were happy for them. Now all we had to do is finish it of quickly.

Figures:
Atif 8-2-25-2
Shahjee 5-1-12-0
Ali 10-1-31-2
Abid 8-0-31-1
Omar 4-1-9-0

After having no lunch but good some joking around in the dressingroom, far away from that tasty ACC lunch, another experiment crossed my mind. I would open the batting with Zeddy.
Ofcourse it could have backfired but since we had a good strong top and middleorder, I didn't have to worry a bit.
Also, remembering last time, they made us really work hard chasing a low total of 106!
It was a success straight away as we reached almost one third of their score (57) in 7 overs. Strangely enough, it was not me who got out the next over but Zeddy, trying sweeping a ball way on the offside but only managing to edge it in the air with keeper underneath. The only funny part of this was that while we were crossing, Zeddy kept saying "he won't catch it, he won't catch it" and when he did a "a nay yaar" (= o damn) was the only thing I heard while he took the long journey. 58/1 in 8.
Amir in at no.3 came back from a long pause which involved him getting married and a short holiday so it was interesting to see how much marriage had impacted him...
Not much later and the ball now wet, I launched it into the ditch too, their openingsbowler suddenly changed his action and became an around the wicket right arm spinner.
A bit confused and an even more confused delivery, hit the top of my right leg and then crashed into the stumps. When the ball hits the stumps, all the confusing is gone because you have to take the long walk. 66/2 in 11.
Ali got in, the man in form. Having scored 70 in the T20 against Amstelland and 20 in the friendly, looked comfortable the first few balls he faced. His luck turned, he got stumped on a what we call a 'sleeper'. A sleeper is a delivery which takes ages to land then usually just bounces once and in line before reaching the batsman. Not scoring anything, made his walk even slower and longer. 66/3 in 13
Atif came in at 5 and knew what was expected from him and took his time to settle in. Three maidens followed and somewhat same delivery to me, got through Amir's gate and he too took the long walk. 73/4 in 15.
Our guest player from ACC3 Usman also had little success as he too got out on a sleeper, hitting it high enough for the fielder running in from cover to catch it inches from the ground. 76/5 in 18
Even though our runrate was good, wickets falling this quickly didn't felt good but all we had to do is to remain calm and focus on winning.
Teja in good form lately supported Atif excellently as he did the scoring. They made sure that we crossed the 100 landmark in 23 overs. The unfortunate happened, Teja got run out unluckily as he was already half way down the pitch when there wasn't a run. In a desperate diving attempt to make his ground, he fell just short and had to leave. Great cricket spirit he has.
Exactly two runs and 3 overs later, Omar joined Ali because he too hadn't scored a single run. Every cricketer somewhere in his career has been out for a duck. Interesting fact: Duck, shortening of the term "duck's egg", believed to come from the number '0' as it seems to be egg shaped (wikipedia).
Khurram in at no. 9 is a diehard cricketer, even his illness didn't stop him playing this match. And not only did he build a really good partnership in which Atif reached his half century, he also managed to remain not out. Atif and Khurram made sure that we won the match lifting the score from a fragile 109/7 7 in 26 to 148 in the 32nd over. Atif finished it off with a boundary.
Special mention for Atif's patient and precise shot selection at the point when scoring runs together with preserving wickets was very much needed. Well down paijaan (brother)

Figures:
Atif 65*
Abid 33
Zeddy 23
Khurram 10



Man of the Match: Atif Khan