National Team season 61. Supporters information

[boscorp]

Day1 Pakistan.

What a horror start. A quick pre-match inspection of the wicket with the old car keys revealed a bit of moisture under the green grass of the wicket indicating a bit of spice in the opening of the innings before it was to settle to a standard green. With that noted the captains met in the middle for the toss. We won the toss and our nervous captain nodded and blurted out that we will bat first. He realized his error as he re-entered the changeroom to break the news.
5/61in the first 15 overs had our captain in tears. Desperation snuck in as the bowlers stepped to the crease to bat and attempt to resurrect the score to something defendable. 58 runs from the captain brought us to a closing total of 183 runs.
By now it was a green wicket in the true sense. the bounce and turn was gone and the swing was not great. Unable to close the match it was 30 overs before we took a wicket and the match was settled 9 overs later. Pakistan won by 7 wickets. Pakistan maintained superiority in the top order and cruised to a win.

Bangladesh is next up.

[boscorp]

Day 2 Bangladesh. Beaten by the pitch again.
Determined to bowl our fresh captain strode to the centre for the toss of the coin. We lost and were sent in to bat.
Losing a wicket on the 2nd delivery sent a chill up our spines. Good concentration allowed us to continue with the runs and we finished our innings at 9/271. A lot better than yesterday but still the chase was to come.
Once again the weather and pitch was about to combine for a hard session fielding second. Little movement and bounce on the pitch allowed the Bangladesh batsmen to settle in and get their eyes fixed firmly on the ball. A lack of wickets and the score steadily crept to its target.
47th over and the match was complete. We took 4 wickets.
Bangladesh had a solid competitive side that took good advantage of winning the toss. The wicket was more suited to batting second.

Next up Bermuda. This is our make or break game.

[boscorp]

Day3 Bermuda greened out

We won the toss, concentrated hard before calling to bowl first and then took a breath. Tight bowling and a captains wicket early on kept the rate down to 4 in the opening ten overs and by the halfway mark we had Bermuda 4/125. We could feel the pitch losing its moisture and turning dead and a lack of wickets was becoming a concern. 5/208 at 40 overs soon escalated to 8/280 at the close. About 50-60 runs more than i'd hoped but the signs were there that the chase was on.
A stoic start resulted in a 92 run opening partnership and 1/138 at the halfway mark. From here on our batsmen took control with a textbook display of how our bats can perform and we closed the match in the 48th over at 6/281. Wish we had scored quicker but the result was good.
West Indies next on an uneven wicket. We really need to control this match and improve our NRR as much as possible. Our Batsmen are feeling rested and revived, keen to get more runs scored in these last 2 games.

[boscorp]

Day4 West Indies

An uneven pitch and we won the toss. The desire was to bat first to set a high target but our doubts were on defending the score given past results. The captain backed himself and his fellow bowlers to field first and chase down the target. We bowled well but the going wasn't easy. We were keeping the RR down early on and the wickets were slow, an 81 run partnership swayed us into some aggressive bowling which did claim some wickets but at a high expense. 8/262 was the total. We had been anticipating a lower score nearer to 220, 230 runs but 262 was within our reach to chase down.
A 20 over opening partnership matching the RR placed us in a good position to use our batting depth if needed. The Windies fought hard and although in control we still only won with an over to spare.
Scotland next on the green again.
A convincing win would suit us and a big win for Pakistan would top the tour... but we gotta win today. Thats a lot to ask on the last day.

[boscorp]

Day5 Scotland

Game 5 of the week, players are tired and by the looks of the "green" pitch the wicket was on its last legs too. Scotland won the call and pounced on the chance to bat. Scoring was low and wickets were scarce, a typical day 5. Mid innings Scotland were 2/99 and then the scoring got harder. With wickets in hand Scotland was able to push the score through to 10/214 off 48 overs. We were still in with a chance but dreams of a big victory had been stifled by the wicket. Deceived by the wickets appearance our bats still thought we could score quickly for a big win. They were wrong. The ball stayed low and the runs were slow. A hit wicket, a mistimed shot, a run out, an edge to keeper, and then bowled leaving us at 5/74. We still had depth but we were only in the 18th over and runs were proving expensive with the outfield slow. 10/149 was our best reply for the day on a difficult wicket. Scotland played well and their promotion was well deserved.
We will promote next OD tour.

T20 World Cup is coming up next, we are the defending Champions. If you have some experience and wish to be involved please contact me. Any support and involvement would be welcome and rewarding whether, it's for a season or a few weeks at a time there is opening for you to participate.