This past weekend saw the Pakistan Association Cricket Club take on the Kowloon Cricket Club in the grand final of the Premier League 2-Day Competition. The two sides made it to the final by winning the Quaid I Azam Cup and the Hancock Shield respectively, leading to a rematch of last year’s final, which PACC had won by first innings lead after Day 2 was rained out. Last year PACC won the toss and elected to field first, and this year they were fielding first again, except it was KCC who won the toss and opted to bat.

This decision would soon backfire on them – they lost a wicket in the very first over, and after 18 overs found themselves reeling at 38/7. Tanwir Afzal (11-6-11-5) and Ehsan Nawaz (13-2-42-4) did all the damage, and despite some brief resistance from Aizaz Khan (13) and Dan Pascoe (31*), KCC were bowled out for just 84 in exactly 30 overs.

This outstanding bowling performance form Tanwir and Ehsan put PACC in the driving seat, and the PACC top order managed to take them to 108/3 by Tea on Day 1. They lost Tanwir Afzal -who hit 165 against DLSW CC- for a duck in the 3^rd over, but Hamed Khan (38) and Zeeshan Ali (19) made useful contributions before Yasim Murtaza and Daniyal Bukhari proceeded to take PACC into the lead. They put on 25 runs before Tea, and batted on after the break as the PACC lead began to swell. Yasim in particular went hard after the bowling, scoring 62 of the 92 runs he and Daniyal put on for the 4^th wicket. He was dismissed for 76 off just 83 deliveries (13 fours, 2 sixes) with the score at 165 – PACC now safely in the lead.

KCC fought back briefly after the fall of that wicket - the dangerous Babar Hayat was stumped for just 17 off the bowling of Waqas Barkat, and both Ehsan Nawaz and Manjinder Singh were trapped LBW by Roy Lamsam towards the end of the day. But PACC went into stumps at 237/7 – 153 runs in the lead, and about a session away from batting KCC out of the game.

KCC started Day 2 strongly, and picked up the remaining three wickets for just 34 runs inside the first 15 overs. Daniyal Bukhari batted excellently to put his side into a dominant position, but was left stranded unbeaten on 90 (170 balls, 10 fours, 1 six), missing out on what would have been a well-deserved century. For KCC, Aizaz Khan finished with 3/44, and there were two wickets apiece for Waqas Barkat (2/54) and Roy Lamsam (2/16).

Facing a massive deficit with not much time left in the game, KCC would need something special to turn things around. However, they lost two wickets in the 9 overs before lunch – Ehsan Nawaz dismissing Sunny Bhimsaria and Jamie Atkinson – and the side collapsed yet again shortly after lunch. 27/2 quickly became 27/6, and the 7^th wicket fell yet again with the score at 38.

This time however, KCC were lifted by a brilliant cameo from Aizaz Khan. He picked up a couple of boundaries and a six in the next few overs off Tanwir Afzal, and followed that up with a massive 23 run over off Ehsan Nawaz. Just as it looked like KCC would be able to take this game into the final session, Waqas Barkat was dismissed by Yasim Murtaza, and Manjinder Singh struck to remove Dan Pascoe the very next over, prompting the umpires to extend the session by half an hour.

Aizaz Khan brought his fifty up quickly after this, and took this opportunity to continue his assault, taking five sixes off Yasim Murtaza’s bowling (including 3 in a single over that went for 22), and adding a four and six off Nasrullah Rana. He farmed the strike brilliantly, and singlehandedly scored all 51 of the runs that him and Ateeq Iqbal put on for the final wicket. But, once again, when it looked like we might see the game go into the final session, PACC struck. Aizaz was caught at deep cover off the bowling of Nasrullah for 95 (85 balls, 6 fours, 9 sixes), bringing an end to the game in the process. Aziaz missing out on well deserved century, and PACC winning the final outright by an innings and 39 runs.

Congratulations to PACC for their second Premier League 2-Day victory in a row! An outstanding performance against strong opposition. The umpires determined Daniyal Bukhari to be MOTM for his 90*, and there were excellent performances from Tanwir Afzal (21-8-58-8), Ehsan Nawaz (25-6-83-8), Yasim Murtaza (76 and 12-5-52-1) and Aizaz Khan (13, 3/44, 95) as well.

PACC Premier League 271 a/o (79) beat KCC Premier League 84 a/o (30) and 148 a/o (35.3) by an innings and 39 runs | Scorecard