Thunders V/s MCC

This was the final League game for us and though the result would not have affected our qualification to the Knock-Out Stage (Pre-Quater Fnls) , it mattered to us that we stay on the top of the league like we had for the stretch of the tournament.
Situations swung from one to the other in this tightly contested match which ended in a loss for our team but brought out some goods in the team which should help in the later stages. One big positive was the performance of Farrokh with Bat who single handedly took our team from a position of desdain to something competitive for our worthy opponents MCC, who have a good team in them also.
It was one of those days for our batting line-up where whatever they were hitting was finding the fielders in the spot and not making mistakes also. The shots were hit nicely but somehow they ended in catches and having our team reeling 36/6 odd at one point. Adi and Farrookh took charge from there and in the end put up a respectable total of 94(all out) which we could fight for. And fought we did !!
We did not let MCC, which is undoubtedly no pushovers, have a ball in centre and had them by the ropes in the first 10 overs. Bowlers were keeping the pressure and fielding effort was matching to keep the opposition restricted to score with innovation and effort. At one point things were quite favourable for us to win from that situation with wickets falling regularly and scoring rate in leash. But, this time it was not to be and MCC scored the winning runs in the 20th overs of their innings and took the game away from us.
There was some pathetic umpiring in the centre but the game lost is game lost and our team is not a team that would like to blame somebody for our loss (though the 3rd party i.e umpires made a big dent on our performance and few decisions could have us ending on the winning podium).
Some things to take out of this match was the fighting spirit that our team showed inspite of some poor batting and not letting go till the last ball. We certainly need improvement in managing our resources in a better way and making sure that extras are curtailed (wides have been a factor everytime we have lost a match ) .
We are to a point where every match is a last match if lost and certainly we are not ready to go easy after such a long season.....
No picture today .......but we need it from the next match onwards ...
"Go THUNDERS "
Venue : Mark Twain , ALexandria
Thunders : 94 All out in 19.3 overs
MCC : 96/8 in 19.1 overs
MCC won by 2 wickets