The touring Malaysian club Ctrack arrived at Prem keen and confident on a glorious Saturday morning. After coming from behind to win at Prem the previous afternoon, captain Omar had no hesitation in batting first on a placid pitch and despite the early loss of opener Khurram, the runs flowed freely for most of the allotted 40 overs.
Dilawar anchored the innings with a patient 79 from 106 balls while the experienced Pakistan first-class player Mohammed Javed accelerated from the other end. Guest Lanna player Asif settled into a good rhythm coming around the wicket but couldn’t quite get the breakthrough after finding the edge several times. Legspinner Bunchuai took some early tap but held his nerve to finish with 1/58 from an eight over spell. He was unlucky not to have more wickets as Omar was put down three times before retiring on 51.
Chanchai returned to bowl a tight two overs in the middle of the innings, picking up two wickets including a freakish reflex caught-and-bowled. However, this hastened the arrival of the in-form Ehtsham who plundered 26 from Chanchai’s next over and didn’t look back. He peppered the thatched roofs around the boundary with such precision he may have been trying to dismantle them leaf by leaf. He finished unbeaten on 77 from 22 balls including six fours and six sixes.
Lanna’s pursuit of 327 started excitingly as Chris Coombes attempted his trademark late cut to a ball that crashed into the top of middle. Fellow opener Richard Cowles was reprieved the next over when recalled to the crease by Omar after being given out caught, but he couldn’t make it count and the rest of the top order quickly followed as Lanna slumped to 31/5. Cher and Chanchai defended well but it was Jason Bray who emerged with the most credit, accumulating a defiant 42 of Lanna’s 135 total.
Once again Javed was the go-to man for Ctrack, taking three top order wickets in his 3/25. Offspinner Ravin finished things off with 3/29.