SDCS Winter 2009 Panthers v/s Shadows Round 3 - 01/25/2009

For the third consecutive time Rupesh won the toss and elected to field first. There was debate between the two captains regarding the pitch and finally it was agreed to play on the same pitch where Panthers had won their last two games. Not many in the Panthers camp were comfortable with the bounce the pitch would offer.

Panthers started with a bang in the very first over to dismiss Shadows captain Yoga for a first ball duck. A good length delivery from Vijay S moved enough to take an edge which was gleefully accepted by Rahul Bedi. Only two runs were given off the first over. Kranthi joined in Prashanth at the crease and Abhi continue for Panthers. A few short balls were pulled away by Prashnath towards the deep midwicket region with one accounting for a boundary. But immediately thereafter Abhi struck and Prashanth (7 runs 6balls) was sent packing caught and bowled. Shawdows progressed at a relatively good pace with 14 runs scored off 3 overs but two down. Raju tried to do a Ranatunga by attempting to run the ball down to third man but instead provided a lolly-pop to Vijay S who gulped it down easily. After 4 overs the score read 24 runs and 3 wickets down. Vijay S continued the 5 th over and gave away just 3 runs. Rupesh started as first change and bowled a maiden over to further slow down Shadows progress. Hari started off well and just gave away 4 runs coming in as second change.

Rosie started the 10 th over with a bang and scalped 2 wickets in his first over. The first to go was Shiva who was held on by Rahul behind the stumps. Wasim was playing a test match innings at the other hand by scoring only 3 runs till then off 20 balls. Rosie pitched a ball on middle and leg which Wasim tried to glide it through midwicket and instead spooned a sitter to Rupesh at short cover. There was acrimony all around with Yoga the umpire ruling the ball bounced on the ground. The logic defying argument by Yoga the umpire was pretty baffling and I am sure Yoga must have been visualising something else at the very moment. Anyway, Rosie cleaned up Wasim (3 runs off 23 balls) in the same over.


Shivanand and Arul started after the break for Shadows and so did Hari and Rosie for Panthers. Shivanand played some good attacking strokes off Hari. Rosie starting next got rid off Arul who miscued a pull shot which was latched on by a leaping Spandan. Spandan was estatic by his own effort and kept shouting at Hari who had earlier belittled Spandan's effort during the break for misjudging an earlier catch. Rosie struck back again by dismissing Shivanand (15 runs off 21 balls) who was caught in the deep off Shekhar.

Rupesh was keeping things quiet and did so by bowling 3 overs for a meagre 4 runs and bowled one maiden. Rosie did a splendid job by the end of his 4 overs by claiming a five wicket haul for just 14 runs. A truly splendid effort. Vijay S cleaned up the tail in the 16 th over and Shadows were bundled for a less flattering 59 runs. Still, given the nature of the pitch anything was possible.


Panthers started off as usual with Abhi and Shekhar on a positive note by scoring 9 runs of the very first over by Yoga. Abhi pulled a short delivery for a boundary in the first over and set the ball rolling (pun intended) for Panthers. Panthers were well placed with 31 runs coming off 5 overs. Arul was doing a fine job for Shadows by mixing up his length well on a deteriorating pitch. Panthers lost Abhi first to full pitched delivery on the off which was caught behind Shivananad. Abhi (19 off 21 balls) provided a fine fine start to put Panthers on their course for a third victory. Shekhar soon departed as well holding out to Raju off Wasim at short cover region playing an uppish shot. Vijay S joined Hari in the 7 th over were Panthers were placed very well at 42 runs and two wickets down. Accumulating singles an dtwos and an odd boundary or two Panthers eased past the target in the very first over after break. With 9 overs to spare, the eight wicket win should provide some more confidence to Panthers who look pretty solid with their batting, fielding or bowling.

Rightly, the MoM is Rosie for his 5 wicket haul and just giving away 14 runs. Hari shined with the bat scoring 16 off 18 balls so did Abhi (19 off 21 balls). Rupesh as usual captained the side well and managed to give few runs in this three overs. Not to ignore Rahul Bedi's effort with the gloves on a difficult pitch. In all, Panthers are growing well and hopefully provide the same good cricket they have in the last three matches.




Keeper :- Rahul Bedi (Purported, Punjab Lion at heart, pounces on the ball behind the stumps considering it as bait. However, he is the Chandigarh Mail with the ball in hand. He can bat well, particularly when captain, to lift his team out of trouble and take them to a fighting total)

Scorecard :http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcpqgMLe3V_-JWQ&hl=en







Patron & Sponsor : Ajay Kaul presenting award


Captain : Rupesh Gupta applauding team effort


MoM : Rosie 4-0-14-5 (Prodigious swing, ball does kick from good length to deceive many a batsman)

SDCS Winter 2009 - Eagles v/s Blazing XI Round 3 01242009

Blazing XI won the toss and asked the Eagles to bat first on the uneven pitch at Miramar College Ground (Big).

Abhishek and Rajesh opened the batting for the Eagles. Harshil started the bowling but gave away 9 runs to ease any nerves for the openers. Surinder at the other end started well by giving away a single wide in his first over. Harshil was then put away for a boundary each by Abhishek and Rajesh, in the very next over that yielded another 16 runs. Abhishek replaced Harshil but the openers continued to score well. Surinder bowling the 6th over bowled Abhishek but by then the score was a healthy 46/1 in 6 overs. Sam joined Rajesh but was not at ease against Saurabh. Saurabh beat him twice in succession on two incoming deliveries and finally cleaned Sam up on the last ball of that over. Hari joined Rajesh and together they took the team to the break and a healthy score of 77/2. Rajesh was playing well at the other end with periods of defense and agressive shots in the air mainly towards the spread out field on the leg side. Loose balls from Abhishek, Munawar were dispatched for fours with ease.

Hari went on the aggressive after the break. The 14th over being bowled by Munawar yielded 10 runs with Hari blasting a four and a six. In the next over from Saurabh, Hari launched one to long leg, did not connect well, only to find Aditya holding the catch with ease. The score read a healthy 108/3 in 15 overs. Parag hit one towards square leg for a six on the last ball of the 17th over that yielded 12 runs. Parag and Rajesh then scored singles and two with an occasional boundary to take the score to 156/3 in 20 overs. Rajesh requiring 2 to score a 50, did so to the delight of all, with a well placed shot to the covers on the final ball of the 20th over. Credit goes to Rajesh on scoring an unbeaten 50 when given a chance to open. The 51* was studded with 6 fours and came in a reasonably quick rate of 60 balls. Blazing did not do their cause much by giving away 49 extras.

With a huge score to defend the Eagles took the field with vigor, being confident of defending the 157 with ease. Opening batsman Abhishek from Blazing XI started with aggression by scoring 8 of the bat in the first over from Sam. Saurabh followed that up with a few runs against Abhishek from the Eagles. Abhishek from Blazing XI then targeted Sam in the next over and took the score to 26/0 in 3 overs. Abhishek from the Eagles then picked up Abhishek from Blazing XI, caught by Hari at long on. Kiran and Saurabh then continued the aggressive approach that was required to chase down the huge target. A good piece of fielding by Naman in the deep yielded the second wicket as a run out. Hari then bowled Aditya and followed that up with a sharp caught and bowled in the same over within a couple of balls. A young Ajay Kaul, fielding at short mid-wicket sprinted towards square leg to get Surinder run out by throwing a quick throw to the keeper's end. Against expectations Ajay also sprinted around to hold a running catch to give Sam some joy in the form of the wicket of Mrugesh. Ajay also picked up two wickets in an over in the form of catches held behind the wicket. Bowling his only over of the game Mudit picked up a wicket giving away just 3 runs. The final wicket was picked up on the first ball of the 15th over being bowled by Suresh. Blazing XI were cheaply dismissed for 80 runs.

Eagles thus secured a huge 76 run win, their first in three encounters. A repeat of such good performances in the next few games might help them secure a slot in the semi-finals. It was a good display in the field by the Eagles who have to now win at least 3 of the next four games to progress to the next round.

The unbeaten knock of 51 by Rajesh laid the foundation of the huge score and deservedly earns votes for MoM for this game.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcpr4564hd3dWfw&hl=en

SDCS Winter 2009 Panthers v/s RBCC Round 2 - 01/17/2009

Contrary to expectations the 2nd Round match featuring FAC players started on a relatively punctual time. The pitch was exactly similar to the one where Panthers defeated Blasters last week.

RBCC (a.k.a Sony) was the second team the Panthers were facing. Rupesh called correctly to win the toss again and given the moisture in the pitch not unexpectedly invited RBCC to bat. The boundaries were relatively close by and this promised to be a high scoring tussle.

Vijay S started the proceedings with a few wides. The pitch was an absolute nightmare for the bowler, batsman and the keeper. Some deliveries were bouncing way above the batsman's and keeper's head and few of them were keeping very low. Sai managed a boundary on the leg side to a delivery pitched a bit short towards the batsman's chest. The very next delivery or so Vijay S managed to tempt Sai to a slog over the long on to only see Hari take an excellent catch which bounced of his chest awkwardly. The score read 6/1 off the 1st over and Sai (4, 3 balls) was back in the hut. Abhi resumed the proceedings from the other end and struggled initially with his length but got into the grove very quickly. The RBCC score sheet ambled on to respectable 12/1 off 2 overs. Amit (4 runs, 17 balls) was scalped in Vijay S's second over. A good length swinging delivery lured him to have a swat resulting in a thick edge which flew over the point region. Aravind defied Newton's several laws of physics (in my mind the second law of momentum) and lunged forward to take a superb catch, probably the catch of the match. Rightly, he was mobbed by Panthers from all sides for his excellent gravity defying effort.

Vijay S struck back again in his third over to send Mohnish back in the tent by bowling a slower off cuter to disturb the stumps. RBCC were in a spot of bother with 16 runs on the board and 3 wickets down. Panthers were surely on top of their game with some great effort in the field. Pankaj and Venky started the building job for RBCC but found it difficult to cope with the pressure. Rupesh started as the first change and found it difficult to control the swing and gave away a few wides. After a few wides Rupesh tried going around the wicket and darted the ball on the stumps. This paid off quite well with Pankaj unable to resist the temptation and played an ugly shot to only find his middle and leg stump separated. Rupesh struck again when he got Venky to edge the ball to Rahul B who managed to take a low tumbling catch. Hari was quick to point out that Rahul B actually took the catch first and then tumbled to provide a more dramatic effect.

Hari was brought on and he struck with the very first ball to bowl Gavaskar for a duck. Hari repeated this feat again in his sceond over by bowling Nagendra out with his very first ball of the over. At the end of the 10 overs the scored read a healthy 42/7 as far as Panthers were concerned. RBCC resumed the proceedings cautiously and creeped towards 52 at the end of 17 overs. Rupesh bowled excellently to get rid off Bala who spooned a simple catch to Yogesh in the gully region. Yogesh bowled his Mohinder Amarnath's to restrict the RBCC tail pretty well and in the process got Nilesh out well caught by Shekhar in the short midwicket region. Abhi bowled the 17th over and conceded 10 runs. Yogesh bowled the penultimate over and that left Rupesh with a difficult option to bring on Aravind to bowl the last over. Bowling the last over is tough especially if its your first over of the match. Arvind conceded 13 runs and that meant a respectable target of 82 runs to be chased by Panthers on a wearing pitch.

Hari (4-0-9-2), Rupesh (4-1-12-3), Yogesh (3-0-8-1) and Abhi (4-0-14-0) were pick of the bowlers.

Panthers started out well with Shekhar and Abhi initiating the reply against Bala who generated excellent pace off the pitch. 4 runs were scored off the first 2 overs to settle some early nerves in the Panthers room. In the third over Abhi had to retire, courtesy Bala's in cutter which hit Abhi at a place which is very dear to all men. Hari walked in and started cautiously but eventually freeing up and smacking two boundaries to take Panthers to a respectable 24 off 6 overs. Shekhar then was bowled by Mohnish to a delivery which kept a bit low. Suresh, the hero from the last match, walked in and started belting the ball around which luckily didn't carry to any of the fielders.

Hari was timing the ball quite nicely but was caught in the deep holding out to Pankaj off Mohnish. Hari contributed quite well with 16 runs off 24 balls but as is the case with him he gets out when you think he will take the team to the finish line. The score read a healthy 45 runs off 10 0vers with Suresh back in the pavilion as well. Yogesh joined in after Suresh slashed Ram to be caught by Pankaj.

After the break there were a few arguments concerning wides. After the delay Bala produced a beauty which pitch on middle and off and just clipped the end of the bail on the off stump to send Vijay S packing. Abhi joined in Yogesh who sensibly just picked up singles and twos. The equation got a bit comfortable when a few wides went for boundary behind the stumps. Yogesh and Abhi each pulled a short one towards deep square leg to make the going easy for Panther's. Abhi was done in by an in swinging ripper from Pankaj to provide some hopes. But 16 runs of 7 overs was never going to be daunting task for Yogesh and Rupesh. Panthers finally won with almost 4 overs to spare.

Yogesh and Hari were the star performers with bat and ball and deserve to be MoM. Yogesh in particular scored 20 valuable runs to take Panther's towards safety but Hari's performance of 16 runs and giving away just 9 runs off 4 overs and picking two wickets is noteworthy as well.

Good job Panthers! 27 runs were given away in extras and if that's kept under control for the forthcoming matches then Panthers will more often than not win games against most opponents. Let's hope so.

Scorecard :http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcprbGw4TPxXFcA&hl=en

Captain Rupesh Gupta, happy with his team (Guys, just chill out you know, just chill out)

MoM : Yogesh Vichare 20 *(25b, 2*4)

Maratha warrior swoops down from the Sahyadris to defend his fortress (much to the surprise of the purported Punjab Lion)

SDCS Winter 2009 Eagles v/s Shadows Round 2 01172009

Eagles won the toss and elected for bat first in the 20 over game against the Shadows on 17th Jan 09.

Nitin B and Naman opened the innings for the Eagles with Kapil and Ashwin bowling. The openers did not last long and that brought Hari and Parag to the crease. Kapil grabbed the wickets of both the openers. Naman played on and Nitin B was caught well in the slips by Raju.

The score at the end of 5 overs was 15 runs. The 6th over from captain Yoga yielded 18 runs to place the Eagles at a healthy 33/2. Arul bowled a tight over to Parag that yielded only a single wide and the pressure was back on the Eagles. In the very next over from Wasim, Parag tried to loft a full toss over the in-field on the off side but could only find Kranthi at short cover/mid-off. Hari then lofted one towards his favorite area at long on. Yoga came running in and held a good catch to clinch another crucial wicket for the Shadows. Abhishek hit Wasim for a good looking boundary on the last ball of the 10th to take the score beyond 40. Mudit and Abhishek thus took the team to the break and a precarious position of 44/4.

Mudit was the first to depart after the break and that started a procession of batsmen returning back to the pavilion. For the second time in two innings Sam was run-out needlessly. Sam set out for a run and Abhishek had no intentions to run a quick single. The ball went straight to the fielder at square leg and he made no mistake. Abhishek was bowled by Wasim and Kapil cleaned Srinivas. Suresh edged a boundary to third man but fell very soon. He lofted one to long leg and Yoga held another catch running in. Within the next couple of balls Rajesh was held at the same spot. Eagles folded for 78 with two overs to spare.

Shadows were on a high and knew very well that they would have to try and bat beyond 15 overs to seal an easy win. Eagles however did not have intentions to give up easily. Sam and Vinay started extremely well with Vinay picking up 4 wickets in two overs. The score for the Shadows in 4 overs read 13/4. Vinay picked up a wicket in the second over of the inning and followed that with three wickets in the fourth over. Sam held a sharp catch to dismiss Wasim at point and Kranthi was cleaned up by Vinay by a lethal incoming yorker length ball.

Abhishek then picked up Ashwin and captain Yoga, to excellent catches by Suresh and Hari respectively. Suresh held a low catch standing at the 30 yard circle at mid-off. Hari (did a Yoga on Yoga) by sprinting in from the boundary to hold a high catch at long leg. Sam then held a low diving catch at slips to dismiss the opener Kapil to put the Eagles in a favorable position. Arul and Jay played until the end of 10 overs to take the score to 40/7.

Arul and Jay then played extremely well after the break to deny the Eagles the opportunity to get another wicket. Abhishek was pulled to square leg with force for two fours and so was Hari. Jay played a critical role in taking the Shadows closer to victory. Hari bowled Jay to give some glimmer of hope amidst a narrowing gap in scores of the two teams. Sam and Vinay completed their quota and Abhishek came in to bowl the 17th over and two wickets to get with 6 runs needed for victory. Shivanand then hit one over the in-field on the off side and followed that up with a straight boundary a few balls later to seal victory for the Shadows with 20 balls to spare.

Arul 19* (23b, 3*4) , Jay 10 (20b, 1*4) and Shivanand 9 * (7b, 1*4) played a crucial role with the bat when the Shadows were in a precarious position. Kapil (4-1-4-3) was the pick of the bowlers on either side on the day. Vinay was a close second with figures of 4-0-21-4. His inspired bowling made the Eagles favorites at the end of 30 0vers in the game but Arul, Jay and Shivanand turned the tide instantly in the next 6 overs.

Arul picked up three wickets for a mere 11 runs apart from playing a responsible inning with the bat. He deservedly is MOM for this game.

Shadows have thus won both their games and Eagles are yet to secure any points. Eagles need improvement in all areas of the game and definitely need to bat the full quota of 20 overs. The positives for the Eagles have been responsible batting by the tail in the first game and inspired bowling by all bowlers and a committed effort in the field in the second game. It's just a matter of winning a game from here on and a few more wins may very well follow that. Eagles know what to do, its just a matter of figuring out how and making it happen.

Happy, victorious captain Yoga, Santosh to the left and Hari to the right (Photo taken on 03/14/2009, Panthers defeat Mavericks in the semi-final and Yoga is being thanked for sparing time to be a neutral umpire on the day)

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcpp2hAJ-uoGxfw&hl=en

SDCS Winter 2009 :- Panthers v/s Blasters (Round 1) 01/11/2009

Being the first match of the tournament the Panther's were pitted against a formidable Blaster's team which had time and again dominated few games against us. The match was played at the Miramar College ground.

Rupesh started the proceeding on a good note with winning the toss and electing to field first. The pitch had a bit of a bounce but surprisingly less moisture. But the idea was to exploit the little bit of bounce there was to our advantage. Vijay S and Rosie started for Panther's and Nitin Tiwari and Ashish began for Blaster's. Vijay S started with a maiden over where the ball swung quite well and enough to keep the batsman honest. Nitin Tiwari has a tendency to play anything on the leg side toward the fine leg and deep midwicket region but all the deliveries landed on or outside off stump to deny him any chance. Rosie started off in a good fashion as well and in fact getting Nitin Tiwari in the slips caught by the ever reliable Abhishek who managed to juggle the ball once but held on to the catch anyway. In walked Harmandeep with scoreboard reading 1 wicket with 4 runs on the board. Harman started well with a well hit boundary on the offside to lift the score to 8 by the end of the second over. The third over by Vijay S saw a wicket in the over which was a maiden as well. At the end of 4th over the scored read 16/2. Rupesh started as first change and was right on money with his length. Rajesh (28 , 18b) although who walked in at the fall of second wicket was going hammer and tongs hitting a six and few boundaries before getting out to Abhsihek caught behind by Rahul B. The score at the end of the 9 th over read 49/3. Harman was eventually out scoring a well made 19 runs off 32 balls.

Between 10th and 16th over the Blasters were not able to push the peddle fast enough and crawled to 67 for loss of 5 wickets. Blaster's were eventually shot out for score of 90 which at one stage looked unlikely but thanks to Narasaih (who was borrowed by Blasters) 10 runs were scored off the last over bowled by Abhi.

Hari, Yogesh and Rupesh were able to take pace off the ball which made it difficult for Blaster's to score easy runs. Hari (4-0-14-1), Rupesh (4-0-15-2) and Vijay S (4-2-11-2) were pick of the bowlers with Abhi and Rosie providing able support.

Panthers started confidently negotiating the variable bounce with Shekhar and Abhi starting off well. The very accurate Ibrar gave away 5 runs in the first over. Nitin Tiwari started the second over but couldn't control the swing and gave away few wides. Harman started the fifth over and scalped Abhi went for a long hoike over the long on boundary but was caught well by Ibrar. Vijay S walked in and hit Harman for a boundary over the covers. The scored read 33 off 7 overs and Panther's were well on their way but Vijay S was bowled around his legs. This resulted in a slow period for Panthers which resulted in only 4 runs scored in 3 overs with Hari also back in pavilion caught in the slips off Venu by Ashish.

Suresh joined in with the task seemingly impossible. Suresh was joined by Yogesh once Shekhar was out again at slips by Ashish off Shailesh. This was fantastic catch taken just few inches from the ground. Shekhar played a good knock scoring 11 off 21 balls. Suresh and Yogesh picked singles when offered to keep the scoreboard moving. Suresh hit an excellent square cut to quell some nerves in the dressing room. Rajesh introduced himself in the 13th over but went for one to many including a more than a head high no ball which went for a four and a boundary. 13 runs were scored which handed over the momentum to panther's. The required run-rate dropped below five. Yogesh hit an excellent cover drive off Nitin Tiwari but got out the next ball. Suresh and Yogesh added some valuable runs between them. Rupesh entered the arena and scored a boundary off a "zadu" shot the very first ball. Worth noting is the fact that Rupesh was playing after quite a while and to produce such a strike is simply beyond any one's understanding.

Just when things were looking bright Rupesh got a ripper from Ibrar which knocked his stumps over and a victory seemed far out from reach. Suresh had other ideas though and he kept pegging along with others smartly by picking singles and occasional boundary. The equation at one stage was a bit tricky with 30 balls and 22 runs to win and 3 wickets in hand. Ravi gave good support to Suresh once Rosie departed attempting a single.

3 overs and 14 runs required was the target and Ibrar was to bowl. Ravi was out at short midwicket. Amazingly Suresh went after Ibrar hitting him for a boundary off the last ball to make the equation a seeming possibility (8 runs off two overs). Harman bowled the penultimate over with tension mounting on both sides. In the end Suresh spanked one to the cover boundary for a two, on the last ball of the over to achieve a memorable victory for Panthers with two wickets to spare and an over.

Suresh played a lone magnificent knock of 23 runs off 30 balls studded with two glorious boundaries. Not to mention the able support by "Extras" which added 27 runs to the final tally. Suresh in the past has shown glimpses of his wonderful hand-eye co-ordination but none was evident before as it was today when it mattered the most. It was a fantastic innings one which would be remembered for a while. Rightly he is the MoM for this match.

Good job Panthers!







MoM :- Suresh Tudor 23 *(30b, 2*4) - I can play Ibrar and Nitin all day long, no matter what the pitch or the target





Scorecard:http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcpoKNU4xEZquDg&hl=en

SDCS Winter 2009 :- Eagles v/s Mavericks Round 1 01102009

Mavericks won the toss and elected to bat in the 20 over game against the Eagles in Round 1 on the Winter 2009 tournament.

Srinivas began with a few wides and was then hit for a four by Rajesh. He however came back with a wicket right after. In the very next over Srinivas held a low catch in the slips with Sam bowling and thus the other opener Sushmit was dismissed. Captain Anil walked in and seemed determined to make use of the 6 over restrictions. He struck Sam for a boundary and followed it up with a lofted drive towards long-off. Hari standing at the 30 yard circle held a one-handed catch with a few fingers clutched around the ball. In the very next over Srinivas dismissed Vikas and Balaji. At 26 for 5 Eagles seemed to be in control and could have easily dismissed the Mavericks for under 80.

Rahul C walked in to join Anil G and together they sticked a partnership of sorts. Rahul C launched the first ball from Rajesh for a six over mid-wicket and that shot would have calmed nerves in the dressing room and also increased his confidence. Mavericks went into the break without losing another wicket and moved to a reasonable 54 runs.

Saran had Anil G stumped in the first over after the break and conceded only a single. Hari followed it up with just two in the next. Raj however made use of a loose next over from Saran hitting two boundaries. Nitin was introduced into the attack who then broke the partnership but also had a chance of a hat-trick. Raj and Prasad were dismissed in successive balls and Hari standing at short mid-off was hit on the leg as Hanu avoided the hat-trick. The final over from Srinivas went for 16 runs and Mavericks finished with a healthy 116/9 in 20 overs.

The 6 most expensive overs from the Eagles went for 64 runs which meant that the good start of 26/5 in 5 overs was given away by spells of loose bowling. An inning of 47* (37b, 2*6, 3*4) by Rahul C, thus put Mavericks into a situation of ascendancy. Raj (20, 28b, 2*4) provided good support to Rahul and played a valuable knock.

Eagles began the chase with Nitin B and Suresh as openers. Just 6 runs were scored in two overs. Sushmit struck with two wickets in two balls knocking the stumps of Nitin and Mudit in the 3rd over. Sam was needlessly run out in the 4th over and thus returned without facing a ball. Hari struck Sushmit for a boundary in the 5th over and Parag then hit Rajendra for three boundaries in four balls in the 5th over. Parag then needlessly went for a lofted shot over mid-off but sent the ball high (but not far enough). Rajesh held the catch within the 30 yard circle on the second attempt. Hari was then caught and bowled in the very next over and thus the Eagles seemed down and out at 35/6 in 6.3 overs.

Rajesh and Srinivas then played out a few balls but Rahul dismissed Rajesh in his second over. Gopal and Srinivas then took the team to the break and a score of 53/7. Balaji and Prasad conceeded 17 in two overs and thus Eagles inched beyond 50 at the half way stage.

Srinivas was hit by a ball sent by Anil N and had to retire hurt and Gopal was also dismissed by Anil N. Saran and Narasaiah then got together with the intent of playing out the 20 overs. Saran did extremely well by hitting 10 runs in an over from Sushmit. Two crisp boundaries were hit on the off side by Saran and that brought some sheer to the dressing room. Loose bowling from the Mavericks then took the Eagles beyond 100.

The Eagles finshed with 101/10 in 18.4 overs, thereby losing the game by 15 runs. Mr Extras (40) outscored the score of the three highest scorers from the Eagles. Saran (14 in 23b, 2*4) did a very good job given a chance to bat a substantial number of overs. Narasaiah gave good company to Saran allowing the Eagles to narrow the margin with some hope of a win towards the end.

Eagles need to play well throughout the 40 overs rather than showing periods of brilliance for a few overs here and there.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcpra5LrLMAgXPw&hl=en

Match 9 against SDCricInfo on 01042009

We won the toss and elected to field in the 20 over game played at Cypress Canyon Ground (Big) on Jan 4th, 09. Conditions were wet and hazy and the ball was skidding a whole lot.

Vijay S and Srinivas exploited the conditions well and kept the batsmen quiet in the first couple of overs. Suresh (slips), Parag (keeper), Srini (square leg) dropped catches in the early overs to the dismay of Vijay S and Srinivas. Raj and Rajendra were the batsmen to benefit. Saran bowling the 6th over finally produced the wicket of Raj who was caught at long on at the edge of the inner circle. Anil coming in one down started with a boundary early on and seemed to be the batsman eager to score runs fast but Rajendra at the other end was defensive. Parag, Suresh, Narasaiah dropped catches to give lives to other batsmen of SDCricInfo. Spandan misjudged a hard hit to long and barely got a hand to the catch.

With Nitin B dropping out of the game on match day we had to include Srini from SDCricInfo team into our squad. After bowling two good overs Saran went for runs is his final two overs. Vijay S and Srinivas were impressive on the day giving away 25 runs between them in 8 overs and producing 3 wickets. Hari went for about 7 an over. Srini (SDCricInfo) did a good job for us in the final overs restricting the runs to less than run a ball.

SDCricInfo ended up with 95/6 in 20 overs. Anil top scored having contributed 24 (31b, 3*4).

We started the chase well with Parag and Shekhar as the opening batsmen. 8 runs came of the first over but Shekhar edged one to the keeper in the second over having faced only 3 balls in his inning. Suresh and Parag then played cautiously for a few overs and afer 7 overs the score was 29/0. Parag played the first aggressive shot square of the wicket but Sushmit held the high catch at the boundary holding on to the ball on the second attempt. Suresh was then dismissed in the 9th over being bowled by Rajendra. At the 10 over mark we were 40/3 and the second half seemed like one where acceleration was required.

Vijay S started with a boundary after the break but soon edged one to the keeper down the leg side. With most top order batsmen dismised the team was now under pressure. Hari however, kept his cool and played some aggressive shots after a few tentative shots at the start. Hari hit a massive six towards mid-wicket helped by the fielder Naveen, who popped the ball over the fence. Ravi M, Narasaiah were dismissed but Hari held fort. Helped by extras, runs of the bat from Hari and few runs from each batman coming in we inched closer towards the target.

With about 10/12 runs required for a win and 2 wickets in hand Hari was dismissed. Hari played a captain's inning of 25 (27b, 1*6, 1*4) but returned having not quite seen the side through. Saran and Srini then took the side closer but Saran was caught behind. Spandan was unable to bat due to an injury but Srini hung around for singles and helped by extras we finally won the game with 6 balls to spare.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcpqP16ZfUPA0MQ&hl=en

Practice games against SDCricInfo on 01/01/2009

We started the new year pretty well by winning two practice games against SDCricInfo team at Spring Canyon Ground (Smallest).

The boundary square on the leg side was short but nevertheless plenty of huge sixes were hit. The ball kept low and stopped a bit after pitching. It ended up at the perfect pace to go on the back foot and loft square off the wicket. Anything short or pitched up was hit a long way throughout the game.

Rajesh, Srinivas, Saran and Nitin B bowled well within the conditions. Parag, Nitin B, Suresh did plenty of damage with the bat.

Game 1:-
FAC :- 137/4 in 12 overs
SDCricInfo :- 87/4 in 12 overs

Game 2 :-
FAC :- 66/3 in 8 overs
SDCricInfo :- 49/5 in 8 overs