MCC II turned up at the Eduard Spranger ground in Hasenbergl ready for a 12:30 start and were greeted with heavy rain. Umpire Ravi wanted to hold the toss anyway to save time when the prospects improved but this was rejected by the opposition who wanted to see how many overs were left before taking the toss. This led to a rather unseemly altercation and the umpire insisted on doing it his way. However, in the meanwhile, the Pak Orient captain had left the ground and no-one else was allowed to stand-in for him. After the rain stopped the toss was won by the home side and the game reduced to 38 overs per innings.
MCC opened with Bhat and a very short visit from captain Craig who joined Jonas de Beer in getting a diamond one, run-out in the first over without facing a ball (will Bhat be in at number eleven in the next match? Watch this space). Konchada replaced the captain and a superb partnership of 96 ensued before he was out caught in the 17th over. He was replaced by Bowes who continued the precious stones and metal effect by getting a golden one. One run later Bhat left the field to sit well away from the captain and was replaced by Sandhu. He and Brooks, who came in for Bowes, put on four runs of which Sandhu contributed zero, to be replaced by Bhatia who scored one in the resulting partnership of five and then left the field. Next up was Maroofkhel who tonked a single in a partnership of three then made way for Ottmankhel who added to the precious metal for the second week running. Cross, dreaming of the rugby sevens, scored one in a partnership of four to be the third wicket in this over. Maiwand Khan scored 2 not out and put on a huge partnership of five with Brooks who was out caught for five leaving MCC moving from 96 for one to 119 all out in 25.5 overs.
After a fairly somber tea break, MCC opened the attack with Brooks and Cross. No details of the overs, nor the fall of wickets are entered in the score book but Pak Orient II knocked-off the necessary runs for the loss of 5 wickets.
Bhat, bowled, 34
*Barrett, run-out, 0, 2 overs, 1 mdn, 11 runs, 1 wkt, 1 catch
Konchada, 35, caught,
Bowes, 0, bowled
Brookes, 5, caught, 8 overs, 0 mdns, 29 runs, 2 wkts
Sandhu, 0, caught
Bhatia, 1, bowled, 1 catch
Maroofkhel, 1, caught, 1.5 overs, 0 mdns, 16 runs, 0 wkts
+Ottmankhel, 0, caught, 1 catch
Cross, 3, bowled, 3 overs, 0 mdns, 34 runs, 1 wkt
Khan Maiwand, 2*, 5 overs, 0 mdns, 25 runs, 1 wkt
MCC II, 199 – 10 in 25.5 overs, lost to Pak Orient II, 120- 5 in 19.5 overs by 5 wickets
MCC MOM: Adrian Brooks
