Let me start by congratulating ACC5 for their excellent win. Big Mike delivered as requested, so did we.
We are now 4 points ahead of our direct competition if we all play the full 14 matches.
There are still 3 matches to be played which I intend to win. Just like we did in this match against WCR.
In our first match against them, fielding first was a wise decision as we comfortably chased their score. Also taking into account the weather forecast with sun in the afternoon, fielding first
is what we did after we won the toss.
I saved one ball of the first set we received from EP for a must win match because the other balls we got were terrible.


Well, I must have forgotten how much this one swung because in my first over I conceded as much wides as I've done this whole season...
Ali from the other end, same thing, also wides but a bit more control. In our defense, the pitch was just two bats wide and the wides were due to enormous swing after the ball pitched.
Besides this, the pitch was slippery and the holes in the pitch were covered with, I think, "Shaheen's Chawal (rice)" stickers....that doesn't help at all when you land your foot...
Anderson gave me some inspiration with his excellent yorker on M. Yousuf in the 3rd Test day 4, so I did the same, with less pace and the batsman was not really MoYo but I got him bowled.
Some runs and wides later I got my second scalp, a vision of Waqar Younis vs Jayasuriya past by (Sharjah, 13/4/2001, 4th ODI, 6th ball, legcutter hitting top of middlestump).
Instead of middlestump, it was the offstump and again with less pace and not facing a Jayasuriya.
Omar and Imran tried their best to get wickets but it was just easy picking for the batsmen until Imran changed his action into spin and the flow of runs stopped.
Replacing Omar with youngster Saqib Zulfiqar proved to be a good one as he cleanbowled their no. 4 batsman.
This had put pressure on their no.2 as he tried hitting Imran over the ropes but was caught on the long-on boundary by Omar.
Their batsman no. 6 wasn't much of a challenge for Imran and bowled him with a straighter one. Not much later he setup their topscorer up and finally bowled him, just like Saeed Ajmal did with Pietersen.
Some changes later with pace again proved to be ineffective and Guy started from one end with Imran still going strong from his end.
The change worked, Guy got their batsman stuck in his crease, playing away from his body and was caught behind with an excellent dive by Amir. A Swann-Prior combo.
Great bowling spell by Imran was replaced by Ali, who had been wicketless so far. Until the final over of the innings, he cleanbowled their batsman and got what he deserved.
177 runs was too much and at least 50 extras were handed to them in a gold platter. It would have been much more but Amir regained his topform and did the acrobatics and diving as we are used to see. Let's just blame it too the uncontrollable and unstoppable huge banana swings for now...

Imran 10-45-3
Abid 5-23-2
Ali 5-25-1

So, 178 runs to chase. The Sun was shining, the pitch was drying up even the stickers were wiped off clean so the chase could begin.
Only message I had for the batsman was to go for it and keep the runrate as high as possible, even if wickets fall, keep playing positively (Aussie mentality).
What a start it was, Zeddy and Sikander were off in a flyer. Boundaries, Sixes were flying all over the place and before we even knew it, we had 50 on the board.
One cut-shot too many and Sikander had to go, caught in the gully, just a few balls after he had played the shot of the day: a pitched up delivery, driven for four into cover. Textbook shot.
Imran, promoted to the no.3 spot, picked up where Sikander left, and kept the scoreboard ticking and made sure that Zeddy reached his 50 comfortably.
Zeddy made an individual competition out of it when their topscorer challenged him to hit more and bigger sixes than he did.
An unfortunate run-out got Imran just short making his ground and he had to leave. Topscorer last week Atif didn't stay long, one ball too be precise, and was given caught behind.
Ali was a bit under pressure before entering as he hadn't scored in the last couple of matches and so he did. Ali warmed up a bit and scored some boundaries, took some singles and two's and looked good in the middle with still going strong Zeddy on the other end. Our runrate was sky high so nothing to worry about.
Usually, when a spinner doesn't spin the ball and bowls on the stumps, it's better not the cut him, Ali did the opposite and saw his bails flying over the stumps.
A couple of runs and a boundary later, the moment came, Zeddy had reached his maiden Century! It was an excellent knock with 5 sixes and 6 boundaries and good running between the wickets. And ofcourse, he too did the famous "Sajdah" (bowing down to praise God) after we cheered him.
Not many runs later we reached the target, 178 in 21 overs with Amir and Zeddy remaining not out and he did hit a bigger six, equalled the count of sixes but scored more boundaries.

Zeddy 103*
Sikander 23
Ali 19
Imran 9
Amir 7*

It was a great game and I just want to say that I'm proud of my boys and the boys did well, the boys batted well and the boys will keep performing well.

Man of the Match: Zahid (zeddy) Malik

Abid