Oporto – Game 2
Sun 17 April Oporto Won by 198 runs
We 316/5 in 40 overs (S.Thomas 98, Mantha 71, T.Khan 43*, Gore 36*, N.Nayar 25, Mukesh Rajani 3/48)
They 118/10 in 26.2 overs (Dixon22, P.Rajani 20, Shaun Berry 19, Amar 3/21, Ledger 2/8,Jefferson2/21, Hasan 2/24)
Again inserted, KCC opened with Steve Thomas and Ravi Mantha. The plan was clear: Steve would give it some pasty and Ravi would play, as one wag put it, shit anchor. It worked. Steve blasted 98 off 51 balls and Ravi was 49 not out off 29 overs at lunch. This was another longish affair and some of the Kensington boys, notably San and Chris, were getting too much port down the hatch. Fortunately Steve and Mark were on hand to counsel that many a great career had foundered on such irresponsibility. Play resumed and Ravi, now using Steve’s bat, was finding his range in a perfectly paced innings, eventually out for a very creditable 71. The runs kept coming. Neeraj avoided the pair and made 25, San got a stylish 36 not out, but the stage belonged to Tabrez. Bristling after the abuse he was given the night before (team-mates kept signalling six over dinner), he was a man possessed and flayed 43 off just 18 balls. A Citibank moment of success for the young warrior. All this amounted to 316/5 off just 40 overs (club record).
Farrukh Hasan charged in, the earth shook, and soon he was amongst the wickets with another fine, accurate opening spell. Jefferson bowled ‘Yardy filth’ at the other end but picked up two caught by Tabrez and was rounded on by Farrukh as a pie-chucker. Stefanos bowled a lovely spell and picked up a wicket and Sunil took 3 in 4 overs, as his mission to put the KCC wickets record beyond the reach of future generations goes on. Tea brought more agreeable socialising but the game needed to be finished off. There was time for Steve to take the best tumbling catch ever by someone with 6 Superboks and half a bottle of port inside them, for Mark to grass an unputdownable and for Neeraj to snare a Karbonn Kamal stinger at slip off Ledger, who wrapped it up with 2 wickets. Dixon top scored with 22. Oporto all out 118 and a massive 198 (not a club record) run victory for the visitors.
Oporto had entertained us royally and it had been a great tour. We hope to be back. Steve took the orange cap (but was guilty of getting his runs on the wrong day), Sunil (who else?) the purple but no one was deemed worthy of the VW Passat. Michael, though injured, told 108 cricket related stories on tour (club record) and should be congratulated on retaining such good humour despite being sidelined. The tour ended in some controversy – Ledger was being cited as a chucker by one opposition observer. Entering his sixth decade with a straight arm the skipper was duly affronted. The video replays backed him up but the ICC wants to keep an eye on him. He’s been told not to bowl the doosra and will winter with Johann Botha and Johnnie Behar at the correctional facility in Western Australia (or is it in Papua New Guinea? – Ed).
