NIGHT: Villa Park defeated Chicago Predators by 7 runs; Zeyad Imtiaz (56 & 2 wkts) hammered to a MOM performance |
Villa Park (last year’s night champions) started their campaign on Friday June 10, 2011. They faced the day tournament division leader Chicago Predators. Villa Park won the toss and decided to bat first, Zeyad Imtiaz (56) and Arif Hockla (19) started the innings from the other end Farman Khan (0) and Yasir Khan (0) open the attack for the Chicago Predators. Both attackers bowled with good line and length but couldn’t find a break through. The game had a dramatic change when Mudassar Khan (0) was given the bowl; Zeyad Imtiaz was waiting for this moment and started slaughtering Mudassar all over the park. The first over of Mudassar cost 19 runs. First batsmen to depart was Arif Hockla who was trying to clear the boundary but the ball found the edge of the bat, he was caught by Arif Mahmood. Experience Haris Imtiaz (13) came to save the day but Zeeshan Jamal (1) didn’t let him settle. Skipper Fawad Agha (29) came to crease with Mujtaba Baqir (10) they both played some excellent shots to build a healthy partnership but Mujtaba was cheaply run out and this bought the little master Hassan Bakhshi (19) to the crease. Fawad and Hassan took the total for VPCC to respectable 156 in 20 over. Villa Park took the field to defend their total against a strong batting lineup of Chicago Predators. Zeeshan Jamal (8) and Mohammad Azam (20) opened the batting for Chicago Predators and Haris Imtiaz (0), Ahmad Bakhshi (2) started the attack from VPCC. Haris who was struggling with his line due to a shoulder injury got hit for a six in his first over. But from the other end Ahmad didn’t let the batsmen move an inch, evidently his pace was too much for both Zeeshan and Azam. Both openers were cleaned by Ahmad which brought Fahad Syed (16) and Haris Syed (46) this was a very expensive partnership for VPCC and it seemed like the game was going away from VPCC. All the experience bowlers were used but none prevailed, it was time for a big change and skipper Fawad Agha (1) brought on Zeyad Imtiaz (2) and himself to save the day. The game came to the wire when Chicago Predators needed 11 in the last over; it was like a déjà vu from last year’s championship game. But Fawad’s kept his nerves and bowled brilliantly to give VPCC a 7 run victory. Zeyad Imtiaz was announced Man of the Match for his match winning performance with both bat and ball. |