Author: Himanshu Rathee

by Himanshu Rathee

FCC vs Hsinchu Titans – Practice Day

FCC vs Hsinchu Titans 2 practice matches on 16th October, 2021

Morning game:

Titans won the toss and put FCC to bat first as the ground was had very thick grass, damp outfield from rain throughout the week and some cloudy conditions with a little bit of drizzle in the air. FCC opening batters Arun & Anthony started watchfully as the Titans bowlers were bowling great line and length with the conditions assisting seam bowling. They gave a good start considering the conditions and ended the powerplay with 31 for no loss and mainly aided by extras. FCC lost both openers in span of 4 balls and Omesh & Nitish started to consolidate the innings with some quick running between the wickets as nothing was going to boundary with very thick grass through infield and outfield. Nitish had to retire hurt due to dehydration after a partnership of 42 runs in 35 balls. Omesh fell next over trying a non existent single. Rahul played a quick cameo taking 17 runs off the 15th over but departed soon. Nitish joined back and was able to finish strongly to take the total to 129 at the end of 20 overs. Nitish stayed unbeaten and scored his second consecutive 50 not out in as many games. FCC felt they were 10-15 runs ahead of the par score considering the ground conditions.

Pintu & Vikram started well with the ball and bowled through the first five overs picking up one wicket each and only going for 15 runs combined. This was the best start FCC had gotten with the ball in a while. Arun & Rahul bowled through over number 9 and score was 45/3 with the wicket to Arun’s name. Joseph came on to bowl his off spinner next and was unplayable with the batsman having no clue how to play his variations on pace, length and extra bounce he generates with his height. He picked a wicket each in his first two overs and Stephen had a caught and bowled. Score was 53/6 in 12 overs.Titans batsman Biplap then hit a few out the part to make it interesting as he was able to adjust nicely to the slow bowlers. Captain Pintu brought back the pace bowlers to break the threatening looking partnership. Vikram got the dangerous looking Biplap caught at long on with an off pace delivery. Titans never really got close to the asking rate throughout the innings and FCC won by 29 runs.

Batting standouts: Nitish 51*(37), Omesh 19 (18), Rahul 17 (9), Arun 17 (23)

Bowling standouts: Vikram: 4-12-2, Joseph: 4-15-2, Pintu: 4-15-1

Afternoon game:

Titans captain requested to bat first and FCC captain accepted the request even though FCC would have to field 40 overs straight across both games to test his team’s fitness. Arun got the new ball and picked up wicket first ball thanks to an amazing one handed diving catch from wicket keeper Srini. Vikram shared the new ball but could only ball one over before leaving the field due to a minor niggle. Pintu replaced Vikram and continued from where he left off in first game. Arun bowled an amazing opening spell finishing his four overs picking up three wickets and was also on a hattrick. At the end of 7 overs Titans were 20/3 which was a great bowling performance by FCC. Pintu rotated his bowlers for next 6 overs in search of wickets but none came. At end of 13 overs Titans were 76/3. Then came a mini collapse where Titans lost 6 wickets in 17 balls for 24 runs which was possible due to some great bowling by Joseph & Pintu. Titans were all out for 114 in 19.1 overs. FCC thought Titans were about 10 runs short due to the field drying up a little. One person who deserves a special mention is the wicket keeper Srini who had 6 dismissals to his name (3 stumpings & 3 catches).

Arun & Omesh opened the batting for FCC but Arun departed in first over without troubling the scorers. Pintu came one down and had a good partnership with Omesh till Omesh fell in sixth over. Srini joined Pintu at crease but he couldn’t last long. FCC were 45/3 in eight overs. Rahul came to crease next and stayed till the end seeing his team through. He tried to hit every ball out the park and was able to connect a few but missed quiet a few. FCC achieved the target in 19.1 overs with 3 wickets in hand.

Batting standouts: Rahul 34*(35), Pintu 30(36), Nitish 9(😎)

Bowling standouts: Arun: 4-11-3, Joseph: 4-17-3, Pintu: 3.1-12-2

Lunch was provided by Flavor of India. Thanks to all of our FCC sponsors for supporting us!

by Himanshu Rathee

PTPL Champions – FCC !!!

PCCT Taiwan Premier League 2020-21

Championship game: PCCT vs FCC

The much-awaited championship game was played between the two top teams of the tournament and consistent performers over the last year: PCCT and FCC.

PCCT after winning the first qualifier had got a direct ticket to the finals. FCC had to play one more game in the morning to reach the finals. Due to first game starting and ending late, there was only 20 minute break between the finish of second qualifier to the start of Finals.

PCCT won the toss and put FCC to field as FCC players were already tired from fielding in second innings of second qualifier. Asif and Amjad started cautiously for the first few overs and Asif got out in fourth over to Jyotish and brilliant catch by Rahul at short cover. FCC bowlers continued tight line and length and fielders supported by excellent fielding and did not let PCCT batsman to accelerate. Ninad came one down hit a couple lusty blows to Sadique while Amjad was being kept in check. Amjad got caught at long off trying to up the scoring rate at bowling of Siddhesh in eight over. Arun picked up Usman on the next ball giving a easy catch to Rahul. Ninad perished in the next over off the bowling of Rahul getting caught by Pintu at long off. At the half way mark the score was 61/4. Mujahid and Shiv were at the crease now and trying to build a partnership to post a fighting total. They started picking up singles and doubles and then Shiv upped the runrate by hitting few over midwicket. The partnership was broken in the second last over bowled by Arun and Shiv getting caught by Himanshu at short fine leg. Arun cleaned up Mujahid next ball. PCCT finished their 20 overs at 138/6. Arun was the pick of the bowlers picking up 3/27 and Jyotish, Rahul and Siddhesh picked up one wicket each.

Rahul and Omesh opened the batting for FCC but Rahul fell in second over to Meer and caught brilliantly on second slip by Amjad. Arun determined to take FCC over the line, promoted himself to one down and built a great partnership with Omesh. Both the batsmen were running with intent and also putting all the bad balls away. Omesh got out in tenth over after adding 63 in 46 balls for second wicket for a well-made 34 off 28 balls which included 7 gorgeous boundaries. Anthony joined Arun but got out to Amjad after run a ball 13, trying to hit a six but completely missing the line and getting bowled. Pintu came in next and by this time Arun had started finding his range and both put on 26 before Pintu got out with the score at 113/4. Nitish came in next and Arun fell right after completing his 50. FCC score was 131/5 in 17.2 overs. This should have still been an easy chase as FCC needed 8 runs in 16 balls. Himanshu came in next and things got interesting. Usman bowled a good sixth stump line in the 19th over and only 2 runs came off it. FCC still needed 3 runs in last over. Nitish on strike for the first ball of last over being bowled by Danish, middled it but straight to the hands of short mid-wicket and got out for run a ball 15. Jyotish came in next and had a play and miss first ball but was able to put bat to ball on second ball and Himanshu completed a much needed risky single. Danish removed Himanshu next ball by hitting the base of the stumps. FCC still needed 2 runs to win in 2 balls. Siddhesh asked the captain to send him next and looked determined to finish the game. Siddhesh lifted the full ball from Danish above the infield towards midwicket and ran two runs to complete an amazing victory for FCC.

FCC had won the Final with 1 ball to spare and 3 wickets in hand. This was a fitting final to the great tournament that was organized by PCCT and FCC the deserving winners.

Arun was adjudged the Player of the finals for his all-round performance. He also won the best batsman of finals, best batsman of tournament and was the joint top wicket taker with Jyotish.

FCC had won the championship by a great team effort and by great performances by multiple players and led from the front by captain Arun.

Three of the FCC batsman (Arun, Anthony & Omesh) finished in top 5 run scorers, top two bowlers were from FCC (Jyotish & Arun).

Arun and Jyotish deservedly got the Purple and Orange caps which were awarded to the top batsman and top bowler of the tournament.

FCC has won two straight Championships (PCCT Taiwan Premier League 2020-21 and CTC 2020) and finished as runners-up for two previous tournaments (Taipei T10 and JanHong 2020).

Retired FCC player Prem was felicitated by the tournament organizers for his contributions to Taiwan cricket by a Plaque. This tournament has highlighted a great need for cricket teams in Taiwan to create a proper league so there could be more organized cricket and the burden is not left on one team. PCCT has really shown how the league could be successful by their true dedication and efforts. 1,2,3……GO FCC!!! Team to beat in Taiwan Cricket!!!!

Thanks to our amazing sponsors:

TAJ 泰姬印度餐廳 Indian Restaurant

Flavor of India 品·印度

PriyaLee Translation & Consulting 李眉君翻譯顧問 Chinese Interpreter

The PUB Taipei 皮爾森獨特美食酒吧

by Himanshu Rathee

PTPL – Qualifier 2

Qualifier 2: FCC vs Dragons

The second qualified was played on Sunday morning with rain in forecast for the entire day. Luckily the rain stayed away with overcast weather throughout the day.

Dragons won their eliminator against Daredevils in a thriller on Saturday afternoon by chasing 148 in 19th overs with 7 wickets in hand. At the end of 18th over, Dragons needed 31 to win. Vick singlehandedly guided Dragons to a win by scoring 92* in 65 balls.

With the chase in mind, after wining the toss, Dragons put FCC into bat. Omesh & Rahul provided a steady start and collected 39 runs in the 6 overs of power play. Darryn was introduced in the seventh over and responded to captains call by picking up the wicket of Rahul who fell for 9 runs with the team score at 43. Anthony joined Omesh but Omesh fell soon after with a well-made 38 runs in 34 balls (3x 4s, 2x 6s). Anthony then picked up the scoring rate and built a partnership of 43 runs in 29 balls with Arun before getting out to Darryn after a quick fire 35 off 22 balls. Darryn was bowling a serious pace and line and length and was pick of the bowlers picking up 2 wickets in his 4 overs. Pintu joined Arun and both tried to up the runrate and Pintu fell to Vicky for a score of 13 in 10 and team score on 139 in 18 overs. Nitish join Arun at the crease and with some quick running between the wickets by both the batsman and lusty blows by Arun, FCC batsman gathered 29 runs in last two overs finishing their 20 overs at 168/4. Arun was the top scorer with 45* in 35 balls (1x 4, 3x 6s).

FCC was aware of the fire power at the top of the Dragons line up so knew they had to be very sharp on the field. Athula and Hari opened the batting and first over went for 15. Hari fell to Jyotish on the second ball of the over after hitting the first one for six at long on. Athul and Vicky built a strong partnership of 90 runs in next 13 overs before Vicky fell to Arun after scoring 40 runs in 27 balls. This was the opening FCC needed to get back in the game. Athula fell in the next over to Jyotish and Marlan and Sourabh in the following over to Arun. From 111/1 Dragons were now at 121/5 at the end of 17th over. Dragons needed 47 runs in 18 balls and needed a big over. Pintu gave 16 runs in the 18th over but picked up a wicket on last ball. It would be difficult to score at 16 an over for last two overs and Dragons lost by 5 runs. Arun (4-0-20-3) and Jyotish (4-0-30-2) were pick of bowlers.

Arun was adjudged man of the match for his all round performance. FCC advanced to the finals against PCCT which were played after a 20 minute break from the completion of this game.