Previous matches with UCS in recent times had been hard fought with a lot of tension. The 2020 edition of the battle for the Lindridge-McDougall trophy would have plenty of that but probably a good deal more zest than previous encounters. Captain Mutz Siddiqui won the toss and elected to bowl with a curious mixture of old stagers in the brothers Siddiqui, Chasseaud and Korgaonkar and some new faces in Rogers, Mendel and Pilgrim.
There was a concern that Pacific did not have much depth and would be tested in setting a target. After a decent first few overs in which sharp work behind the stumps by Mutz accounted for Tang, the other opener Maurya started to click into gear and started building a solid foundation. They were starting to take the game away. Korgaonkar was introduced in the 12th over and immediately found the considerable sandy base to the pitch very much too his liking. Extracting sharp turn he found himself in the wicket column soon enough and quickly had a couple of scalps ably backed up by Soden who would bowl a nagging spell, one of his very best for the club, and did so for 11 overs on the bounce and towards the end took out Maurya with a ball that bounced that bit more.
At this point PCC were bang in the game and Korgaonkar, getting dip and turn, bagged a couple more and at 72-5 were in the box seat. Yet the engine room of UCS was the middle and lower middle order. Mendel, would bowl a fine spell of leg cutters but as Korgaonkar tired and the lower order established themselves through a fine knock by Ward and a sprightly cameo by captain Vignoles the game went away and UCS chose to declare at an enterprising 199-8 with PCC able to receive 41 overs.
UCS would start tidily through Vignoles and Morgan-Wynne, who would both bag a wicket each with Basi and Dinsey falling after seemingly settling in OK. Chasseaud would anchor in but never got really into his fluent best. Rogers, in his first knock for the club and first match of any sort for some years put in a creditable performance and may well be better for scoring a careful 14. At this point, the hopes of PCC pulling off a successful chase seemed remote but Riz would start to click into gear. From the exit of Chasseaud at 66-4, Riz would bat both solidly and with a bit of dash when needed and would put on 76 with Ravikrishnan, and get PCC to a point where with 10 overs to go, the heist seemed possible with the boundary being found increasingly often. However, the departure of Ravikrishnan meant a mini clatter of wickets and despite an enterprising cameo from Soden, PCC would finish the match only 16 runs away from regaining the cup but would walk away with their heads held high and an honourable draw.