PINATAR OUTMUSCLE BATTLING MADRID
If you were in attendance at the Haras Polo Club on Saturday, you could be forgiven for thinking that the match between Pinatar and Madrid was being played in the North West of England at the end of September rather than on the outskirts of the Spanish capital in May such were the variable weather conditions. The variable conditions matched what was on display as a back and forth contest ended with Pinatar coming out on top by a slender 21 run margin.
With Richard Wilson skippering the side for the day, his first task was to win the toss. Therefore, he obviously lost it and Pinatar opted to bat first at the cloudy Polo Club.
Early wickets were demanded by the home side, but it wasn’t to be as Pinatar’s openers got off to a flyer racing to 71 after just 9 overs. Mahmood and Panchal ran hard between the wickets and found the boundary with enough regularity to put the home side under early pressure. It was looking like it was going to be a long day in the field for Madrid with Panchal and Mahmood looking in strong form early on.
However, the introduction of Sunil Balani and Shahid Awan brought the home outfit back into contention as 71-0 became 96-4 with Mahmood’s promising innings ending on 44 and Panchal’s for 27. What ensured for the rest of the innings was a battle for superiority. Pinatar continuously put together small meaningful partnerships with most batsman getting into double figures, while Madrid continued to strike regularly with the ball to keep them in check as Flo Broderick chipped in with a few handy scalps.
A partnership of 54 though between P. Singh and T. Ali was enough to put Pinatar in the ascendancy as Pinatar managed to post 192 all out. P.Singh’s and T.Ali’s lusty blows gave the away team a competitive total. Singh finished on 33 and Ali 14, representing useful contributions. The pick of the bowlers for Madrid were Flo Broderick and Sunil Balani as they finished with figures of 3-28 and 3-34 respectively.
Madrid’s top order batting has been a bit hit and miss this season to say the least and the home team were hoping for them to forget those demons and put together a solid start in the face of a strong bowling attack. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be though as Sonu Daniel, Richard Wilson, Joe Healey and Ankush Solanki were all dismissed cheaply by the impressive T.Ali and Abbas, leaving the Madrilenian outfit in a precarious position at 23-4. T.Ali and Abbas collected figures of 2-22 and 1-31 in the process of the early destruction.
Step forward Apul Kala and club president Jon Woodward who counter-attacked bravely putting on a quick fire partnership of 75 in 10 overs to bring Madrid back into the game. Unfortunately, drinks came at the wrong time for Jon, as the old saying “Drinks brings wickets” managed to once again come true. F.Mahmood who continued his all-round performance picked up the crucial breakthrough as he bowled the club president for 36, following on from his solid contribution with the bat in the first innings.
Apul Kala soldiered on in the president’s absence as he brought up a well-deserved 50. Mahmood would prove to be his downfall also, as he fell to him just 1 run later to swing the pendulum back in Pinatar’s direction. At 130-6 the match was delicately poised. Useful contributions from Irshad Khan (11), Shahid Awan (13) and Flo Broderick (15) would prove to be not enough for Madrid though, despite them all getting into double figures, as A.Panchal proved to Pinatar’s matchwinner, nipping in with figures of 3-17 to turn the game in the away team’s favour.
Ted Miller finally fell for 5 as the wicketkeeper snaffled up an easy chance off B.Singh to condemn Madrid to a 21 run defeat and their second loss of the season.
A solid display from Pinatar saw them get over the line against a fighting Madrid side in what was an entertaining closely-fought encounter. The return game is on the 4th of June, where Madrid will be hoping to avenge this loss.
Richard Wilson
Madrid CC
Report on the same game by Pinatar Pirates CC
May 7th, another 06.00am start for Pirates with a long drive for a premier league fixture against their friends Madrid CC, who were keen to level the series and hoping that the storm clouds forecasted for the day stayed away!!!
Sure enough it was a very closely contested match which started with Pinatar winning the toss and electing to bat first. Pirates Fahrat Mahmood (44) and Akash Panchal (27) made a good start putting on 74 in the first 10 overs, before the fall off the first wicket. Madrid then took wickets regularly with only Preetpal Singh (33) offering any real resistance. Good bowling and fielding display from the home side kept Pinatar from reaching 200 as they were all bowled out in the 43rd overs for 192.
The pick of the Madrid bowlers were Sunil Balani (3 for 34)and F Broderick (3 for 28). Madrid CC batted well against some fine Pinatar bowling, A Kala (51) caught by Bittu Singh and when in form batsman John Woodward (36) was bowled with the score on 115 for 5 the Pirates used eight bowlers with Talat Ali and Fahrat Mahmood picking up 2 wickets and young Pirate Akash Panchal taking 3 for 17 from 7 overs.
In the end battling Madrid fell 22 runs short, all out in the 41st over for 171.
