Pacific secured a morale-boosting, early season victory against Millwall Stars
with four balls to spare in a game which some suggested could, in truth, have been put to bed earlier.
PCC bowled first and had the luxury of a strong seam attack. Jahangir put in a customarily accurate spell, ably supported by Jithin George and Mark Mehta. It was, however, Aroon Korgaonkar who made the key breakthroughs against Millwall’s aggressive top order. The fruitful short one trapped opener Shashank leg before, followed by familiar celestial loop being gobbled up on the leg boundary on two occasions by Surrey over 60s man Jon Thornton (later dubbed Jon T “Rhodes”). We did well to bowl the opposition out for 202 in something like 33-34 overs, which should have been an easy target in a 40 over game in view of the specific characteristics of the Wray Ground. Millwall could have been dangerous and their relatively low score belied their true quality, which we have seen on previous occasions.
Going in to bat, opener Jon set off at a rate of knots with several classily late-played early boundaries, before being adjudged LBW by umpire Aroon (I think?). Form man David Gray was unable to recreate his 50 from the previous week’s debut, popping one up which sailed away to midwicket. 2020 Player of the Year JD was next, hitting a useful 25 of his usual quality, but not really getting going to produce the sort of scintillating high-scoring innings to which we will surely be treated later in the season.
All the while, Chasseaud had been taking no chances at the other end: leaving, blocking, prodding, nudging and easing to his heart’s content. He was soon joined by Burnham, and their contrasting but apparently complementary styles yielded a 100+ partnership putting PCC in a commanding position by around the 30-35th over. BB was particularly pleased to draw plaudits from veteran Thornton for a “Viv Richards-esque” straight six off the back foot against Millwall’s seam bowling - the highlight of a quick-fire, albeit at times scratchy, half century. He didn’t do the Viv Richards thing on purpose but will take the compliment.
After BB holed out at cow corner to diminutive twirlyman Karen, it was down to Mutz and Jahangir to support Chasseaud in seeing us over the line. While there was some discomfort on the boundary as the balls ticked by to the last over when we still had (among others) Riz and Mark in the hutch, prolific bat-carrier Chasseaud was characteristically assured in finishing the job.
The day was also marked by the auspicious granting of a Pacific “baggy blue” cap by club kit man JD to Mark Mehta (see photo).
