Falcons Put One Hand On Katich Cup

When Messers Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis devised the mathematical formulation designed to calcute the target score for a team batting second in a limited overs cricket match interrupted by weather, known as the D/L method, the last place they thought it would used was in an indoor match in the Croatian capital Zagreb due to a scorers error.

The Falcons, batting second in the 5th match of the 2013 Katich Cup on Saturday, chased down a revised total of 95 in the final over to go within one match of wrapping up the series.
The status quo was resumed as Hawks captain Douglas Kennedy found his double sided coin again and won the toss for the 4th time , electing to bat first. Openers Kennedy and Ibad Faraqui made a sound start, and apart from an early run-out, managed to keep their wickets in tact whilst going at a run-a-ball.
 
Father and son pairing of Conrad and Dario Kellett were next in for the Hawks, and again it was a couple of run-outs that hamstrung the partnership. Marko Mance and Julian Goodman were next in and thanks to two lofty blows from Goodman for 6, they managed to double the total.

With the Hawks starting to get away, it was left to the senior-pro Jasen Butkovic to put the brakes on as Lokesh Thondavada and Kreso Kekez came to the crease. Butkovic had been watching YouTube footage of the great man Len Pascoe earlier in the day, and you could have been forgiven for thinking you were at the MCG in the early 1980's after Butkovic's performance as he finished with 2-2 off 3 overs. The Hawks last pairing of Akshay Daxini and Goodman helped them reach a competitive total of 95.

The Falcons welcomed the return of their big hitting opener Richard Probst (pictured above), and a trademark big six helped negate a couple of lost wickets to give the Falcons a cautions start of 12 after 4 overs. Butkovic was next in with Goran Kellett, who socred at will off his legs. Wickets from the Hawks again curbed a decent partnership leaving the Falcons on 25 after 8 overs.

When the Hawks reflect on the narrow loss, they will look to the next Falcons partnership as a key moment in the match. Pero Bošnjak and Llyod Anderson put on the highest partnership of the match with smart cricket. Bošnjak, who was the match's top scorer, made the most of the extra runs off the walls and the lightening fast Anderson was turning no-runs into comfortable singles as the pair never lost a wicket in their 4 overs.

With 41 runs needed off the remaining 8 overs, Gus van Rensburg, Nick Zdunic and Paul Mušin combined to see the Falcons pass the total in the final over the match. The third week in a row that the match has gone down to last few balls.

Hawks skipper Kennedy must be wondering when a close one will finally go his sides way. "Again, we played well, just a few overs at the death cost us. We will be training during the week on our fielding," said Kennedy, who beleives that winning the next 4 matches in a row is not out of the question. "The series is not over, Australia regained the ashes 5-0 in 2006-7 after losing the series prior, proving that winning 5 straight and coming from behind can be done," said Kennedy, who again may be called before the disciplinary committee for umpire descent, crowd descent and for being the architect behind giving Messers Duckworth and Lewis a place in Croatian indoor cricket history.
 
Falcons now lead the best of nine series 4-1.

Hawks 95 (I.Faraqui 13, C.Kellett 11, J.Goodman 11, L. Thondavada 11, J. Butković 2-2, N. Zdunic 1-19)

Falcon 100 (P. Bošnjak 14, R. Probst 11, P. Mušin 10, I. Faraqui 2-10, D. Kennedy 1-7, K. Kekez 1-15, L. Thondavada 1-15 )

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

1. Lokesh Thondavada 87
2. Paul Mušin 86
3. Krešo Kekez 80
4. Akshay Daxini 75
5. Jasen Butković 69
6. Doug Kennedy 68
7. Gus van Rensburg 66
8. Conrad Kellett 52
9. Tonko Tabain 37
10. Lloyd Anderson 35
11. Mike Maric 28
12. Goran Kellett 27
13. Pero Bošnjak (wk) 26
14. Marko Mance 25
15. Julian Goodman 24
16. Ibad Faraqui 16
17. Richard Probst 11
18. Šime Ivančević 8
19. Dominic Čičak 7
20. Rob Kaguz 7
21. Paul Stubbs 4
22. Nick Zdunic 4
23. Vedran Žanko 0
24. Ivan Bundera -5
25. Luka Papa-Stubbs -15