Power repel Nomads to claim place in Pickwick final

Cricketers and umpires breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday as forecasters promised cooler playing conditions than in recent weeks.

But as lovers of the Swiss version of the game know, cooler doesn’t necessarily mean easier; despite the temporary absence of the heatwave, a Saturday night downpour contrived to affect the outcome of at least two of the day’s four official fixtures.

In the Power Winterthur v Nomads Pickwick Cup semi-final, the visitors’ decision to bat first turned out to be ill-advised as tight bowling on a still-damp wicket slowed their progress.

It wasn't blazing hot, but Nomads still worked themselves into a lather on the boundary as they watched opener Dipangan lose his wicket with just 15 runs on the board after five overs.

Nomads’ frustration grew as their top order inched the score on to 45 for the loss of two more wickets after 18 overs.

In defence of their defensive strategy, there was movement amid cloudy skies for Power’s opening seamer which contributed to the run drought.

But Afzad’s regulation line and length from the other end was coming on to the bat nicely, and it looked unlikely to wreak the mayhem it had caused on the much slower Olten wicket last week.

By the time the Nomads’ top order was dismissed with around 20 overs played, Nomads captain Wicky had his work cut out to post a decent total.

To add to Nomads’ difficulties, Power were inspired by a great catch deep in the covers.

Wicky’s pinch-hitting six and a four put Power on the back foot temporarily, only for him to lose his wicket in one of two runouts in successive balls, the second claiming Srikant’s wicket.

Although Power’s team hat-trick failed to materialise, Nomads’ hopes of pushing the score on to a defendable 150 proved impossible when the tail end came unstuck.

Going aerial to avoid the slow outfield, four of the final five wickets were caught; the last one was bowled playing across the line. Nomads completed their innings with a modest 120 all out after 34.3 overs.

Fuelled by curry for tea, Nomads made a fiery start, with both opening bowlers earning a wicket in their first over. But Power quickly recovered thanks to a third wicket partnership that nonetheless offered plenty of spilled chances.

Well ahead of the 3.5-an-over run rate, Power reached their target in the 27th over for the loss of three wickets, securing a seven wicket victory and a place in the Pickwick Cup Final on Sunday, August 22. Their opponents will be Olten, whose total of 152 all out proved too much for Zug in Sunday’s second semi-final.

Nomads’ Sangam said: "It was a good game but we needed some more runs – we didn’t have enough on the board early on. And we needed to drop fewer catches too. We are playing Power again this week and we’ve decided to play on their ground because we’re confident of our chances on it. But we will change our batting line-up a bit to be sure we score and not just block the ball."

In Sunday's two Swiss Cricket Association fixtures, Royal Zurich also got off to a slow start against United, but this time it was with their team’s blessing, resulting in an unbeatable total of 152. All the more impressive since Royal had just 22 runs to their name from 15 overs.

Royal’s Shahzad Syed said: "The ball was keeping low because of Saturday’s rain so we told the openers to stay in and accumulate runs, that’s why we were a bit slow initially. But we sent in our wicket keeper-batter Tariq to speed up the run rate and he hit 22 runs in two overs."

Royal’s Kamran also made the batting look easy, top-scoring with a classy 42 and undoing all the good work by United’s niggardly opening bowlers Manohar and Srihari K, who claimed wickets as did Prasanjith and Pradeep.

In reply, United suffered a mighty collapse on the fast-drying matting, losing six wickets for just 10 runs. The damage was done by early breakthroughs from Ali Pathan and Hassan, while offspinner Shahzad Syed also had a successful afternoon (1 for 8 from 7 overs). Despite a rescue effort by Prasanjith (32) and K. Sreehari (15), United limped to 85 for 9 after 35 overs.

In the last fixture, Uprising played at home to Bern and were all out for 67 in the 23rd over. Skipper Nelson Burrell top-scored with 18 and there were wickets for Usman Sheik (3 for 15), Aseem Dhawan (2 for 15) and Kamal Attapattu (2 for 0).

Bern took just 7.1 overs to reach their target for the loss of two wickets, with Tissa DeZoysa ending the game 39 not out.

Burrell congratulated Bern on the win, adding: "They dominated the game all the way with some accurate bowling; our batting just fell apart because of this. Six of our wickets were all clean bowled just to give an idea of what took place."

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The results given here are unofficial; for official results, please visit the Swiss Cricket Association website.

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