SAHOO GUIDES PORTCULLIS TO A FIGHTING DRAW AGAINST MANNOFIELD

Portcullis, led by magnificent batting performance by Ranjan Sahoo (87*) managed a draw in a high scoring game in Shedoksley against a strong Manofield side.Captain Nair won the toss elected to field.Nair and Dobey opened the bowling for portcullis with Nair taking the first wicket of M.Zanre for 2.Opening spell was tight and was well supported by N Shetty the first change bowler who replaced Nair.Runs was hard to come by and Manofield were 38 for 1 in first 20 overs.But after the fall of second wicket Manofield Grade 1 player S.Rane came in and started playing his natural game and runs started to flow which was helped by some sloppy fielding from Portcullis side.Rane virutally took the momentum towards the Manofield side. Shetty grabbed the price wicket of Rane who was brilliantly caught at long on by K.Vijaykrishnan for 30 . Portcullis looked like coming back into the game after the wicket of Rane as they managed to tighten the bowling and score were 118 for 3 in 32 overs.But the last 14 overs gave away 88 runs, helped by the batting of Irfan (68) and A Gowda (55*). Manofield innings finally ended on 206 for7 in 46 overs.Nair and Shetty took 3 and 2 wickets for portcullis respectively.

In reply portcullis start was shaky with loss of an early wicket .But Sahoo who kept his nerves displayed an innings of great maturity .He paced his innings nicely and played sensibility by taking only calculated risks.He had two 50 wicket partnerships with captain Nair (29) and later on K Vijaykrishnan (33*) which laid the foundation of Portcullis fight back.Protcullis innings finally ended on 177 for the loss of 4 wickets with Sahoo and Vijaykrishnan both remained unbeaten.Although the bowling was disappointing the batting performance has certainly lifted the morale of the team as team is approaching the end of season.

Monday, 16 August, 2010