Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) completed the Brazilian leg of their South American tour successfully after winning all four matches by comfortable margins against Brazil national squad (2 matches) and Carioca Cricket Club (2 matches).
A revised itinerary saw MCC play two 30-overs matches against Brazil national team. In the first match, MCC were restricted to 98/7 in their 30 overs with Doug Mulholland top-scoring with 36 runs. Yasar (2/13 off 6) and Surya (2/11 off 6) bowled brilliantly for Brazil.
However, the batting was a letdown for them as MCC bowled them out for 94 runs in 28.3 overs to win the tense thriller by 4 runs. Ilyas (25 off 19) and Matt Featherstone (19 off 47) got amongst the runs for Brazil as Doug Mulholland (3/9 off 6), Karl Pearson (3/31 off 5.3) and Reinhardt Strydom (2/19 off 6) capped off with a good display of disciplined bowling to steal the match right under Brazil’s grasp.
The 2nd 30-overs match proved to be a much easier proposition for MCC as they defeated Brazil by a healthy margin of 86 runs. Ajay Soni (32 off 54) and Doug Mulholland (36 n.o off 30) helped MCC reach 138/8 in their 30 overs. Ilyas was the star with the ball for Brazil as he picked up 4/32 off his 6 overs spell.
Brazil’s batting took a dip more deeper this time around as they got bowled out for only 52 runs in 15 overs. Oliver Uffindall (4/12 off 3) and William Rudge (4/13 off 4) ran through the Brazil batting line-up with Mark Fowler providing good support, picking up 2/14 off his 4 overs aa well.
The next match saw MCC take on Carioca Cricket Club Lions at Rio de Janeiro in a 30-overs contest. MCC batsmen had a field day as they scored 210/8 in their complete quota of overs with George Thurstance (76 off 52) leading the scoring charts with good support from Karl Pearson (37 off 47) and Reinhardt Strydom (26 off 35). Fabian Taylor provided the late burst towards the end of the innings, smashing 15 n.o off 9 deliveries to take MCC over 200+.
Lokesh (2/28), Ahsan (2/39) and Rafi (2/39) were the pick of the bowlers for CCC Lions. In reply, MCC bowled out the opposition for 107 runs in 21.2 overs to win the match by 103 runs. Ryan (37 off 43) top scored for Carioca Cricket Club with Oliver Uffindall, Evan Flowers, Rohan Bhome and George Thurstance picking up 2 wickets each for MCC.
The final match on the tour saw MCC take on CCC Lions in a T20 contest. Batting first, MCC scored 162/8 in their 20 overs with Ajay Soni (51 off 37) leading the run-scoring sheets with Joe Barrs (30 off 26) and Oliver Uffindall (21 off 16) providing quick runs to the team total. Reinhardt Strydom came in at 10th but managed to score 11 runs off 4 deliveries to thrust the total beyond 160+.
David DSA had a brilliant outing with the ball as picked up 5/22 off his 3 overs for CCC Lions. In reply, the host’s got restricted to 98/8 in their 20 overs to lose the match by 64 runs. Ahsan (19 n.o off 21) and David DSA (20 n.o off 19) managed to score runs amongst the flurry of wickets, which fell at the starting the innings to derail the chase.
Rohan Bhome (2/10) and Oliver Uffindall (2/9) were the pick of the bowlers for MCC with four others picking up a wicket apiece.
The matches rounded off MCC’s tour of Brazil and Chile and now have tours to Sweden and Kenya planned later in the year.
