Our internationals arrive

Moonee Valley's two overseas internationals finally arrived at 4am on Saturday, January 7, and were immediately in the action.

Less than 12 hours after Ihtisham Uddin and Nasir Ahmed got off the plane from Pakistan they were in action for our Firsts, playing against East Keilor.

Both have First Class experience back home, and are accomplished cricketers - Ihtisham as a batting all-rounder and Nasir as a bowling all-rounder.

Ihtisham, who was with us for half a season in 2010/11, took eight wickets for the game - 5/29 in the first innings and 3/4 in the second. While Nasir did not take a wicket with his 140kmh thunderbolts, he had several catches dropped behind the wicket, and made a classy 40 with the bat.

Many thanks to Amit Chaudhary, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to get Ihtisham and Nasir to Moonee Valley even after there were visa delays in Islamabad. Amit persevered, and it's due to his efforts that we have our two internationals here to keep us in the hunt in the second half of the season.

Above: Amit Chaudhary (centre) welcomes Ihtisham Uddin (left) and Nasir Ahmed to Moonee Valley.