Played at Victoria Park, pitch 2 (nearest the nets)
By Sam Shahid (captain)

Result: A loss finally for Old Fallopians in the Cup Semifinals against Technosys who are top of Division 1 table this year.

The end result was Technosys needed 37 off the last 4 overs and we had 1 over from Karamat, 2 from Sheraz and 1 from Rav left – very strong position. In the last over they needed 9 runs – of the last ball 1 run – and they ran one – So really anyone’s game till the last ball.
This was one of the most painful losses as we came with the mindset to win. They should have been stronger but we were the better side on the day as the match was under our control most of the time till the very end and a controversial wide decision in the last over is what annoyed us the most. When Rav complained about it, the umpire told him that he was a county umpire.

Toss: Old Fallopians lost the toss and were put into bat by Technosys (which is what we wanted, so we were happy).

Batting: Rav and Karamat opened the batting to a flying start. Mohit is the main bowler in Division 1 and was taken to the cleaners in the 1st over by Karamat - who hit the first ball of Mohit for huge six. Rav started well and was run out due to a "yes, yes, nooo!" call from Karamat. Suhail joined Karamat but Karamat just needed 5 overs to retire on a 50. It was a batting masterclass full of clean power shorts all over the park. Shameer and Sheraz had a good partnership towards the end and our score of 128 was at that stage looking 10 short of our original target of 136 to 140. Hassan did not get a bat. We made 128 for 5 with Sheraz and Jack remaining not out.

Bowling: We started with Karamat and Hassan – Karamat, Rav and Sheraz were all exceptional. Jack bowled 2 tight overs and Matt with one good over. They were always behind the run rate but we missed catches at key times (2nd overs, 4th over, 7th over). Their opening batsman had no idea that the ball turns so much on this wicket and after a few cross-batted misses he lost his off stump. One of their players (Sohaib Jan) got a 50 but took 13 overs to reach it.

Fielding: Everyone ran well behind the ball and were active but as saying goes on – Catches win matches – we did drop a few easy and a few difficult ones and that was the main factor for the result.
Bowling was spot on, batting was medium to good and fielding was poor (in catching area).

Don’t have score card yet as opposition loaded the score on the league website and we did not have a scorebook.
What I remember:
Karamat was 50 not out. Shameer was 20+.
Bowling Sheraz got 2 wickets , Karamat 1, and Rav was very economical.

Old Fallopians 128-5 (16 overs)

Technosys 129-3 (16 overs)
 

Scorecard on league website here