Butković Guides Hawks to 2-1 Series Lead

There was a bit of a retro feel to the 3rd match of the Katich Cup played on Saturday in Zagreb. Playing in the 1st ever playing shirt the Croatian National Cricket side ever wore way back in 2000, the infamous 'Major Minor' strip, Jasen Butković (pictured in 2000 with the shirt he wore on Saturday), filling it out a bit more these days, produced his form of old to lead the Hawks to victory and with it a 2-1 lead in the series.

Knowing the importence of the toss in indoor cricket, where scoreboard pressure can do funny things, Falcon's skipper Ned Ivković was visably disappointed as Vivek Sharma called the 'bird' and won the toss and for the second week on the trott not surprisingly elected to bat first. Life was made difficult for the opening pairing of Daniel George and Adrian Beckett as young left arm quick Tom Paske, bowled with a bit too much heat for the pair and was difficult to get away. With Paske tying the pair down, pressure led to run outs and the pair couldn't get going ending up with -3 after their 4 overs. Captain Sharma was next in with Robert Mihaljević and the pair played smart indoor cricket, a couple cracking shots straight down the ground and an abundance of wides saw them put on 33 together.

Vedran Žanko joined Sharma at the crease for the next set of 4 overs. The pair continued with smart cricket, Žanko not losing his wicket at all as the pair used the walls well in the 29 run partnership. The total could have been more if it wasn't for a great catch by Pero Bošnjak, as he held one that came down at right angles off the roof. Butković and Tony Grgurić were the last pair in for the Hawks and apart from an early wicket again showed how vital it is in this form of the game to keep your wicket as they nudged the ball around. Butković with the top score of the day of 21, took the final score to a respectable 75, 3 runs more than the England side could manage in the second innings against Pakistan earlier in the day.

The falcons went with youth at the top of the order sending in Paske and Bošnjak. It proved to be a good move from the captain as the pair, apart from one kamikaze run when Bošnjak called Paske through for a single after he drove it straight back to the bowler. Not sure how but they made it and in the end put on 28 after 4 overs to put the Falcons on track. Paske was joined at the crease by Richard Probst. Probst, resplendent in the Sri Lankan one day top looked to get out of his crease and take advantage of the Hawks doing away with a keeper. The partnership, good in patches as the two nurdled it around, was hamstrung by good bowling from Sharma and particularly Žanko, lost regular wickets and the pair finished on -5.
 
Ivković and Ibad Faraqui were the next pair in. A stream of wides and smart batting saw the two put on 21 as Faraqui for the 2nd week of the series didn't lose his wicket. Paul Mušin and Lloyd Anderson were last in and needed 32 to win. I am not sure what odds Probst would have given them but they quickly would have blown out as early run outs put paid to any hope of victory. Butković finished up with 2 wickets at the death as the Hawks cantered to a 44 run victory.

The series is heating up, a couple fiery exchanges out in the middle as the healthy competitiveness of the two sides came out. Trailing the series 2-1, the Falcons are talking about bringing a double sided coin to the toss next week to have a chance to bat first and post a total.

With his man of the match performance, Butkovic breaks away from the pack in the Player of the Series race.

1. Jasen Butković 77
2. Vivek Sharma 54
3. Tom Paske 31
4. Joe Jurić 28
5. Daniel George 21