Malaysia win 2000 Stan Nagiah Trophy

The sixth series for the Stan Nagiah Trophy was played, for the first time in coloured clothing, at the Royal Selangor Club, Bukat Kiara, from April 14 to 16. The reason for staging this tournament in coloured clothing was to create more awareness among the cricket fraternity as well as to attract youngsters into the game. To a certain extent this was achieved in that the media gave us good coverage. The "Sun" newspaper came out daily with coloured pictures and a story on the game, and NTV 7 gave us a two-minute coverage on the sports news. There were also a group of fifty under-14 kids invited to watch the game daily in addition to a number of curious spectators. From the organising point of view, it was a success.

Game one, April 14: Malaysia won by eight wickets.

On the first day, Singapore won the toss and elected to bat. The opening bowlers Suresh Navaratnam and M.Muniandy kept the openers at bay with some tight bowling. Two quick wickets fell in the first ten overs, with the score at 25 for 2, Rohan Selvaratnam and Suresh Navaratnam taking a wicket each. Singapore's key batsmen Johan Pieries, the skipper, and 21 year-old Joshua Dearing, currently studying in Canberra, were back in the pavillion. At this stage Andrew Scott, another Singapore-born Australian, now residing in Melbourne, came to the rescue with a brilliant knock, making 89 in 118 balls. Watching his mates falling on the opposite end, he embarked on a late onslaught to prop the score. Soon after Andrew's departure, the innings folded in 46.3 overs for 142, with the last three wickets falling for no runs. Malaysia's top wicket-takers were Ramesh Menon who took 3 for 32 in 10, Muniandy 3 for 17 in 8.4 and Rohan Selvaratnam 2 for 20 in 8.

Malaysia made some changes to their team after the Trination tournament four weeks ago. The two openers Navin Durairatnam and Sharani Ahmed were dropped for Mathew William, who is currently studying in Melbourne, and all-rounder Yazid Imran, a former national player who opted for throwing the javelin about eight years ago.

A new opening combination was tried out, Rakesh Madhevan opened with Rohan Vishnu. Runs were coming at a steady rate and Rohan Vishnu seemed to fit the role well, by taking advantage of the first 13 overs and playing some attacking shots, especially over the 30-yard circle. Though he did not stay long, he showed that he is capable. The first wicket fell for 28, Rohan Vishnu out for 15. Rakesh was joined by Mathew William. These two played some fluent strokes along the way, finding no difficulty in the bowling. Rakesh raced to his 50 in 64 balls, and went on to score 68 off 89 balls before he was out, with the score tied at 142. Mathew remained not out on 52 in 69 balls and Malaysia passed the score with eight wickets in hand. Singapore's bowling appeared rather ragged.

Although Singapore lost the game, the match referee awarded the Man of the Match to Andrew Scott for his brilliant innings.

Game two, April 15: Malaysia won by twenty runs.

On the second day, Malaysia lost the toss again, but were sent in to bat, which is what the skipper wanted. This time they lost their senior opener Rakesh for nought with the score at 2. The Singapore bowling looked far more tiday this time around. Rohan Vishnu stayed in with Mathew William and they carried their bats through for a partnership of 104, before Vishnu was out caught for a well composed 52 in the 23rd over. He was timing the ball well and exploited the first 15 overs in good style. Mathew was the more aggressive of the two, punishing the loose balls and collecting the ones and twos. He was joined by skipper Suresh Navaratnam and the two had another big partnership of 122 before Suresh was bowled for 60 in 93 balls. The score was 228 for 3 when Yazid Imran joined Mathew, who was by then in his nervous nineties, at the crease. Yazid did not last long, making only 8 before he departed. Rohan Selvaratnam went in next with the score at 233 for 4, and not long after, Mathew reached his ton in 128 balls, a great innings from a lad who wanted so badly to prove his trip to Malaysia was worth the while. His 100 included five sixes and eight fours. Mathew was finally out for 106 and the score was 243 for 5. Muniandy joined Rohan and they pushed the score to 268 in fifty overs. Rohan remained unbeaten at 28 and Andy 6.

Singapore, knowing their asking rate, went on the offensive from the beginning and put themselves on target over-by-over and though they lost their first wicket for 10 in the 4th over, and second for 30 in the 9th, they went about their task clinically, punishing and treating every ball on its merit. This time Joshua Dearing and Andrew Scott got together and took the Malaysian bowlers to task. The 100 came up in the 23rd over and they were well on target, but unfortunately lost Andrew in the 25th iver, caught in the deep for a very useful 47 in 53 balls.

Joshua continued to torment the Malaysian bowlers, especially the spinners, carting them over the ropes at will, also taking the strike most of the time, knowing that was the only was to reach the target. By the 35th over Singapore were 186 for 3, young Zeng Reng Chun (wicket-keeper) keeping the other end going for Joshua. This young boy also decided to have a field day by lifting one of our spinners for a six, which cleared the 75-yard boundary by a good five yards.

Singapore were fighting back bravely and it appeared that Malaysia had no answer to Joshua. All the front line bowlers were tried, some poor fielding by Malaysia also let Joshua off the hook. In a make-or-break situation, the captain brought in Yazid Imran, who had not bowled yet, in the 36th over. This paid off, the fourth wicket of Zeng falling bowled Yazid for 19 extremely useful runs and the partnership lasted nine overs. The score was now 192 for 4, with fourteen overs left and the asking rate 5.5 runs per over. At this crucial moment, Joshua, who was looking tired, continued his flamboyant innings but was bowled in the 41st over by Yazid with the score on 225. Soon after his departure, the Singapore batting looked lean and they folded in the 46th over. The final score was 248 in 45.4 overs.

Joshua finally made 111 in 111 balls, in one of the finest innings seen by Malaysians for a long time. His innings was studded with five sixes and eight fours. His 100 came up in 107 balls.

There were some fine performances from Mathew William, who made 106 as well as Joshua Dearing, but in the opinion of the match referee, the man who changed the game and made it possible for a Malaysian victory was none other than Yazid Imran, who at a crucial moment, when the game was going Singpore's way, bowled danger man Dearing and went on to capture 5/32 in 5.4 overs. Yazid was aptly named Man of the Match.

Game three, April 16: No result.

Although Malaysia were two-up in the series, the third game continued on Sunday. Suresh Navaratnam the skipper who was stood down, together with Ramesh Menon and M Muniandy. Three players who did not have a game took their place: Thomas Mathew, Venu Ramadass and Shanker Ratnam. Malaysia won the toss and elected to bat. Singapore in an effort to salvage some pride for themselves, played hard and restricted the Malaysians to a modest 190 for 9 in their fifty overs. Once again Mathew William top scored with a fluent 69, with useful contributions by skipper Rohan Selvaratnam (29) and Thomas Mathew (16*) and Chew Yok Cheong (14*), the last two wagging the tail putting up a spirited 35-run partnership.

Kiran Dishpande, veteran left-arm spinner, was Singapore's best bowler grabbing 5/23 in his ten overs.

The sun was out and the weather still bright when Singapore went out to bat, and the Malaysian opening bowlers Thomas Mathew and Venu Ramadass snapped up a wicket each in the third and fourth overs respectively, with the scoreboard reading 11 for 2 in four overs. At this point, Joshua Dearing (4*) and Andrew Scott (0*) were at the crease, and almost instantaneously the heavens opened up and there was no further play possible to make the next 21 overs. The sun did come out at 4.55pm but it was too late.

It was a great series, which attracted some surprise spectators, curious to know how cricket is played in coloured clothing. The cricket itself was exciting and it all ended very well for the organisers. The weather was kind except for the final part of the last day.

The Man of the Series named was Mathew William, who in his three innings made 52 not out, 106 and 69 for an average of 113.50.