2013 KATICH CUP: Hawks Have The Big Mo - HAWKS 4:4 FALCONS

On a nice sunny Saturday fit for outdoor cricket the Hawks extended the Indoor Katich Cup to a dramatic finale having secured the third consecutive win to level the best-of-nine series at 4-4.

Falcons won the toss and chose to bat to the delight of the Hawks which had chosen to bat second in their last two victories.

Opening with the brother partnership of Tonko and Vicko Tabain who saw off their allotted 3 overs with sensible batting, running and leaving of wide deliveries and apart from a maiden wicket from Cif they saw off Luka Papa Stubbs and Tinasha Chifamba with relative ease to post 25 runs. Next in were seasoned campaigner Pero Bosnjak and rookie Jurica, a change of bowling from the Hawks caused troubles for the new pairing as they were pressured into running when they otherwise might not have causing a series of run outs including a great long distance direct hit from Ibad Faruqui leaving there partnership in the negative and the team total of 24 runs after 6 overs.
 
Next in was Mike Maric and Dominik Cicak with lusty blows from Mike and a holding role played by Dominik they were pegged back from forming a large score by further fielding displays from the Hawks including a sharp catch off a late cut shot from Maric to the hands of Ivan Slipcevic at slip, the total was now 32 at 9 overs. Due to uneven numbers Mike Maric would again bat with young techniquely gifted Goran Kellett in the next partnership pair, and a series of good bowling overs would generate a collapse in the Falcons score starting with Ibad Faruqui showing that Pakistan at least in Zagreb would not be tormented by South Africa as he took two wickets in the partnerships first over, followed by the only wicket maiden to date in the series by Julian Goodman which included two run outs, their third and final over would continue in the same manner as aggression couldn't pay off with two holed out catches off Kennedy's first two balls including a backwards catch from Marko Mance would leave the pair choosing to see out the remaining balls with defensive conservative play leaving the total at 10 runs after 12 overs.

Falcons Captain Paul Musin and Lloyd Anderson were in next, Paul sporting shorts for today's game must have expected a game of quick singles batting with the fast Anderson however due to the team's low score they chose a more aggressive approach and apart from one big six from Anderson, wickets fell regularly as death bowler Akshay Daxini pegged the batsmen deep in their crease, limping to an inning total of just 14 and to a consecutive lowest score record in as many weeks.

The Hawks started the chase with their cemented opening partnership of Douglas Kennedy and Ibad Faruqui. Musin having learnt a lot from the Hawk's bowling plan chose to tighten the screws from the start, bowling slightly short of a length negated the front foot technique of the openers and lead to uncharacteristic mistakes leaving the Hawks on a total of negative 7 after their first 3 overs and the Falcons back in the game.
 
Next in was the pairing of Julien Goodman and unorthodox Tinasha Chifamba, with quick running between the wickets making the most of fielding mistakes and some suicidal running including a run out which was adjudged to be a dead ball. They managed to get the Hawks back in the positive with a total of 1 after 6 overs. In next was all rounder Kreso Kekez and Cif and both played a good game plan and scored solidly in the middle overs, Kreso using the pace of the ball to sneak singles and twos as the falcons fielding woes continued with Cif operating in a holding role and running well between the wickets the score was now 16 after 9 overs.

Next in was Papa Stubbs and hard hitting finisher Akshay Daxini and after the first over went for 10 runs Musin turned to his wicket keeper Pero Bosnjak for inspiration as he swapped the gloves over to see if Pero's spin could turn the tide. This however did not meet fruition as too few balls needed the batsmen to play. Wickets were needed now for the Falcon's to win Papa Stubbs played a mature innings of leaving balls he didn't need to play and rotating the strike to his more senior batting partner Daxini leaving the score at 37 after 12.

The last pair of Ivan Slipcevic and Marko Mance came in with their intent very obvious with a lead of 24 runs and a memory of being in the shadows of the Falcons for the lion's share of the series they would end up being the punishers. Achieving 17 runs in their first over they had now gained a free reign to score as the match was now over as a contest, pummelling the Falcons death bowlers with merciless efficiency and running hard between the wickets until the very end. Scoring 41 runs in the final 3 overs including three big boundaries from Ivan Slipcevic and leaving a final score of 78 from the Hawks 15 overs and a winning margin of 64 runs.

Falcon's Captain Paul Musin commented after the match "We will regroup as a team between now and the next match in two weeks" while in the bar with his team.

The Hawks now take the favourites tag out of the beak of the Falcons and levelling the series leaves an interesting final match but there will be a two week wait as next Saturday the National Croatian Indoor Cup will be competed for in Zagreb between teams from Zagreb, Split and Vis, leaving the Katich Cup Final to be played on 16th of March.

Falcons 14 (T. Tabain 8, V.Tabain 3, M. Maric 2, D. Kennedy 3- -2, A. Daxini 3-6, I. Faruqui 2-4)

Hawks 78 (I. Slipcevic 18, J. Goodman 13, K. Kekez 13, M. Maric 2-4, P. Musin 2-4, T. Tabain 2-14)

Player of the Series (1 run = 1 point, 1 wicket = 5 points):

1. Paul Mušin 147
2. Doug Kennedy 113
3. Krešo Kekez 104
4. Akshay Daxini 104
5. Lokesh Thondavada 101
6. Jasen Butković 94
7. Conrad Kellett 78
8. Tonko Tabain 73
9. Gus van Rensburg 71
10. Julian Goodman 57
11. Mike Maric 45
12. Marko Mance 41
13. Lloyd Anderson 34
14. Goran Kellett 31
15. Richard Probst 26
16. Pero Bošnjak (wk) 23
17. Ivan Slipčevic 17
18. Ibad Faraqui 15
19. Paul Stubbs 13
20. David Žižić 13
21. Dario Kellet 10
22. Šime Ivančević 8
23. Rob Raguz 7
24. Nick Zdunic 4
25. Vedran Žanko 3
26. Vicko Tabain -12
27. Tinisha Chimfamba -14
28. Dominic Čičak -19
29. Luka Papa-Stubbs -31