An awesome overall and a well deserved WIN!!

Hi,

I guess on Sunday we were meant to win, because not only we were all pumped up, thanks to Sumeet's highly capitalized message, the cricket Gods were on our side too. It became quite apparent when they tried to hide our benevolent star behind a cloud cover. It was nice and nippy in the morning. I was grateful (self) for wearing a jacket taking the cold in while walking across the field to the pitch. The pitch position was changed and we were playing facing Woodbridge High with our back to Culver. This afforded us ample hitting ground on the off and on and the area behind the wickets was also sufficient. We have played in this position before.



When I got to the field the match was already underway. We won the toss (I am not sure who represented us, whether it was only Manoj or if Sumeet accompanied him) and elected to bat. I think that was a very good decision, because as I said above the weather was perfect for batting in the morning. Later on it got very sunny and the glare was unavoidable, not to mention the slowly rising mercury. Arvind was keeping the score, and Manoj and Ganesh were arbitrating. The game appeared in full swing and Sumeet and Chandru appeared quite set.

Playing 11: Sumeet, Chandru, Manoj, Bala, Senthil, Ganesh, Anand, Nandkishore, Ram, Pratik and Mallesh
Support Staff: Arvind (Scorer), Vamshi, Abhijeet (he replaced Mallesh in the last 6-7 overs) and Anil (I hope I got he name right, Manoj's friend)

I did not get to see the first ball, but from what I heard Sumeet turned Sehwag and hit a boundary on the off-side. I must say we all were very impressed with the way Sumeet and Chandru were playing. They were mindful not to play any risky shots. They were middling the ball well and keeping the score board ticking. If not all then most of Chandru's runs came in singles and twos. Displaying great understanding both were running those singles well. There was an occasional two. They negotiated all the bowlers well and did not let the score go below 4 (o maybe 4.5) per over. Chandru was aided by a quirk of fate (which went on to help Manoj too later in the game) when the ball hit the stumps but failed to knock off the bails. I don't have an accurate account of the score, but I guess at the first first break i.e. after 9 overs we were in the 4-4.5 per over range so about 40 odd runs. Thanks to Abhijeet, over refreshing water. the future course of action was decided. It was agreed that we needed to increase the scoring rate and so Sumeet and Chandru went out with clear orders to spank the odd lose ball. Sumeet started out with bang by doing an encore of his first ball performance and sending the ball crashing through the fence on our right (again an off-drive). Both the batsmen started looking for that extra run and were more aggressive this time around. They added some valuable quick runs before getting out soon after the break. But they had made their captain and team proud by laying a solid foundation. Based on what they had done we started contemplating a score of 125-140, which was very much achievable, given our batting line-up.

Sumeet and Chandru were followed by Manoj and Bala (I think Senthil went to bat after Manoj and Bala, I am not sure). As Arvind implied yesterday they were largely responsible for some acceleration in the middle overs. They started finding the gaps and were hitting the ball. There were few high rises but for some reason the ball was just refusing to tavel to the boundary line. The outfield wasn't too fast which meant if the Ball fell on the ground then it was almost always stopped. But still Bala was able to hit a boundary on the leg when he pulled a short one. It was a marvelous shot and was met with some cheering from the Alton end (that's where we were standing by the dug-out). They both were scoring at a brisk pace. They did not reply only on big shots but were looking for those singles and twos. I think Bala was first to depart which brought Senthil to the crease. Manoj played the role of an anchor and was playing well. Senthil's departure got Ganesh onto the field. He provided good company. .He added some valuable runs to the overall score. I remember one particular play when Manoj displayed an excellent presence of mind and stole a run. I think it was Ganesh who who played the shot. Manoj ran a very quick first run and then after casting one  glance at the ball (and the fielders running behind it), he made a dash for the other end, forcing Ganesh to follow suit. All of us jumped up in joy seeing the aggression and were happy to see the additional run.

Our lower order slightly collapsed where within a matter of 7-10 balls we lost 3 wickets and with it our dreams of scoring 140 odd runs. This was largely responsible for putting brakes onto the score and where at one stage we were looking to cross the 130 mark, now suddenly 110 appeared a bit distant. While wickets were falling at one end Ganesh stood calmly at the other end and gave Pratik good company. In the later stages Ganesh, Pratik and Mallesh played well and managed 14 runs to take our score to 114. The last delivery fetched 3 runs where only one was possible. Pratik displayed amazing presence of mind and was ably supported by Mallesh. Their dash put pressure on the fielders and they appeared slightly confused as to which end to target. In this confusion they conceded 2 more runs.

Basically our openers displayed amazing grit and determination, which was capitalized by the top order and the the last 3 added finishing touches. We were all very proud of the score and were ready to take the field. Before the second innings began we all got into a huddle to hammer in last minute details. Vamshi advised the bowlers to forgo pace and aim for line and length, at least in the first over. Manoj began the bowling from Wodbridge High end. On the third ball he would have got his well deserved wicket but the batsman just refused to acknowledge the nick which even I heard (and I was standing at deep mid-wicket). Sumeet tried to fight the decision as he was the one who not only had heard the nick but had held onto the ball like dear life. The umpires got together and they even consulted he batman, who just raised his bat (which by the way was after the fact, there was a slight delay between him raising the bat and Sumeet and the rest of us going up in the air with our appeal). Ultimately the benefit of the doubt was given to the batsman and everybody returned to the field. The two opening batsman appeared comfortable and were scoring pretty well. They were able to push the ball and get a single or two. The pair didn't last long enough though. That was the beauty of our bowling, we were able to get wickets at regular intervals be it by brute force (clean bowled) or some very agile fielding (run-outs). Manoj and Bala were spot on. Special mention to Bala who had set himself a higher standard. It was as if he had said to himself that he wasn't going to concede more than couple of runs. He stuck to the plan and the batsman found it extremely difficult to put him away. There was one occasion when he conceded (maybe) 4 runs and I saw him throw the ball on the ground after the over. You can say overall that summed up the psyche of the entire team, everyone was charged-up.

Pratik and Senthil took over from Manoj and Bala. Pratik was on the dot and bowled very well. Senthil proved to be a good wicket-taker and if I am not mistaken was responsible for getting 2 wickets in the same over and both of them could have proved to be dangerous. Vasu and Rahul are two of their consistent batsmen. In the past they have displayed an ability to pace their innings quite well. Vasu came as one down. He was playing well and in fact even hit a boundary. He appeared to be well set. Senthil produced a gem to get rid of him when he could not keep the ball down. I think the ball suddenly rose which Vasu couldn't get away from him quickly enough and dragged it onto the stumps. The ball fell on the bails thus claiming a wicket for Senthil. Two balls later Senthil got us another breakthrough when he clean bowled Rahul. Suddenly they were 3 down and the score wasn't too much. Sumeet (from behind the wickets) and Abhijeet (from the side-lines) were keeping a count and made no secret of our intention when they shouted "only 8 more to go' or "only 7 more to go". You see at the outset Sumeet had said that we should try to get them all out. We were not aiming to control them, but get them all out within 15 overs ... that was our target and we were approaching it pretty fast.

After losing about 6 wickets, 2 of their pinch hitters came to bat. In fact Amit, is their captain and can hit the ball very well. He appeared a bit rusty and wasn't able to time the ball well. He was trying to just push the ball or get a nick and send it down the leg side. He and Mohammad appeared determined to stay on the crease ad see their side through. That is when Manoj came to bowl. He was able to bait Amit with a simple delivery which the latter lobed in the air straight down the ground. It went very high up in the air. All of us nearly skipped skipped a heartbeat, we were wondering whether this was the beginning of the end and whether these two would take he game by storm. But we quickly realized that the ball wasn't going to travel far and we saw Nandkishore trying to get under the ball. He judged the ball perfectly and took the catch with knees bent and he ball safely nestled in his palms. It was an awesome catch and all of us felt very relieved. Earlier Nandkishore produced a gem when he got a wicket by bowling the batsman out. After seeding couple of deliveries down the leg, he gently bowled one on the off stump, which the batsman couldn't gauge and paid the price with his wicket. I am not sure when this wicket fell, but I think it was the 7th or the 8th one.

Losing wickets at regular intervals did not allow any of the their batsmen to settle down. None of them looked comfortable save Mohammad (I hope I got his name right). He came a bit late in the innings. He is one of their pinch hitters (hence the lower order decree I guess). They had lost few wickets and their run-rate was below 4. The required run rate was slowly rising and not before long it crept upto 8. Once it reached that point they could not recover and it kept on rising steadily. I don't clearly recount the order of fall of wickets. There were couple of very good run outs. One such came in the middle of the innings when Nandkishore was standing at mid-off. He made a very clean pick up and throw and took aim at the wicket-keeper. Sumeet got the ball but found that the batsman was already there, in fact both the batsmen were there standing besides him. He quickly threw the ball to the non-strike's end to get rid of one of them. There was another very good run-out which I think involved Manoj and Sumeet. I still remember Sumeet jumping in the air and knocking the stumps down in one swooping action. It was awesome.

They were pretty desperate and were trying to score any which way they could. Fortunately for us they were not able to judge properly and ended up just running up and down. One such interesting play happened when one of the batsman stepped out couple of times trying to hit the ball. Sumeet noted this very promptly. After seeing him dance down the wicket couple of times and miss the ball, Sumeet decided to get a bit closer and see if he could knock the bails off. As expected the batsman stepped out and tried to hit. Unfortunately for him this time he managed to nick the ball. Aumeet had already left his position and was running towards the stumps to catch the ball and take off the bails. He did the first 2 pretty accurately because of which he didn't have to follow-through on the third step. He had taken an awesome running catch.

Towards the end their lone hitter tried to resurrect the innings in vain. He managed to score a boundary and exhibited some very good running between th wickets. He was successful in putting pressure on our fielders and steal some runs. He was careful not to let the less experienced batsman play and so was either running hard the first time to get back to the batsman's crease or sacrifice the run. We could not get him out, though we missed couple of chances to get him run-out. But we were successful in getting the wickets at the other end. Nandkishore, Ganesh and Ram shared 4 overs amongst them and did a very good job. They conceded a few extras, but as Pratik was saying to Nandkishore, the deliveries which they bowled on the off were spot on either claiming wickets or going down as dot balls.

Manoj, Pratik and Bala did an excellent job in the death overs to keep them restricted and not let them score too many runs. I think the 17th over was bowled by Bala, 18th by Pratik, 19th by Manoj and then the final over by Senthil. All 4 of them bowled superbly. During Pratik's over he was able to keep the more tentative batsman at the striker's end thus not conceding too may runs. Manoj followed suit and then in the final over they needed abut 28 runs to win the match. Senthil did a great job and did not let their pinch hitter get away with many runs. Finally in 2 balls they needed 21 runs which meant we were home safe and sound. The only regret was we could not get them all out and the match dragged onto the 20th over.

It was an awesome game. everybody performed either with the bat or the ball and in some cases both. If I have to pick the stars, then they would be ... Sumeet, Chandru and Bala.  The former for his overall performance. He batted excellently laying down a great foundation. He kept the wickets brilliantly taking 2 wonderful catches and was instrumental in 2 run-outs. He was constantly cheering and keeping everybody on their toes. As somebody said he was our 'Kiran More'. At one pint of time the umpire had to rein him in, requesting him not to say anything after the bowler took the run-up. Chandru batted amazingly. As Arvind mentioned in his email, he was epitome was placement and steady scoring. He scored about 23 runs most of which came in the form of singles. He saw to it that we had a great foundation. Kudos to him for that. Bala was the pick of the bowlers maintaining a  great line and length. I remember one of his deliveries which the batsman had to literally dig out. I felt like praising the batsman for doing a  good job of not letting the ball get through. He changed his shot at the last moment and dug the ball out, such was Bala's accuracy. He was awesome. Our fielding was very good.

I feel we could learn something from this game. At times we were a bit too over-cautious while fielding, waiting for the ball to come to us rather than charging and throwing the ball back to the wicket-keeper or the bowler to put that extra pressure on the batsman. We conceded quite a few extras in the form of wides (on the leg side). Our lower middle order collapsed. We are no doubt much better than about 6-7 months ago, but there is still some work to be done and practice and some individual commitments will hep us get there.

Last but not the least, "A BIG THANK YOU" to Arvind, Vamshi and Abhijeet (and Anil) for being there throughput the game. Arvind very diligently kept the score. Vamshi was providing tips and even ran up once to Manoj to pass his suggestion. Abhijeet along with Sumeet was helping keep us be on our toes. It was an awesome display of camaraderie.

Overall it was an awesome outing and it was a pleasure playing with the team.

You guys have a nice week ahead.

Bye.

Anand

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