Match 18 against Doyle Devils on 08/28/2010

The match against Doyle Devils was played at Cypress Canyon Ground (Small). We had to borrow four players from two different teams to make up a playing eleven.

Doyle Devils won the toss and elected to field first. Manish and Gopal opened up the inning against Ashwin and Anand. The bowling to begin with was good with only a few extras being scored in the first four overs. Manish hit a boundary over point to begin scoring of the bat. Naman played a good knock of 25 runs (3*4, 1*2) and stood on the crease almost until over number 16. The three hits on the leg side were in the region of mid-wicket and square leg. Pavel scored a brisk 18 with two straight sixes hit of consecutive balls off the bowling of Vipul. Later on he was kept quiet with Anand and Ravi bowling a tight line and length.

Mid-way into the inning we were at 40/3 but only managed another 41 runs for the loss of 6 additional wickets in the second half. A score of 81/9 seemed low on the wicket at Cypress Canyon Ground. Doyle Devils bowled well throughout the inning conceding four boundaries and two sixes amidst a high number of extras. The fielding was good throughout with a couple of hard chances being spilled. Sampath held an excellent running catch square on the leg side to deny Pavel a boundary (it could have been another six).

In reply Sam and Giresh opened up the bowling, followed by Sudhakar and Pavel continuing the good work. Sampath lofted one straight over long-on for a six. Tushnim was run-out being asked to go for a non-existent second on a fielding lapse. We did pick up wickets at regular intervals at the top. A dropped catch or two, quite a few wides, byes saw the Doyle Devils go into the break at 45/5. Venkat and Ashwin held fort, played their strokes over the infield to stop the slide while batting. Doyle Devils moved to a comfortable victory in the 17th over with an all-round performance on the field. We were left to think over catching lapses, lack of aggression when faced with tight bowling, lack of support in the field amidst good bowling etc.

Venkat hit a few good hits to long-on or the extra cover/mid-off area to negate the possibility of a collapse in the second half of the second inning. Venkat made most of the lives he was offered, waiting for loose balls and thus made up for quiet periods. Ashiwn finished the game with two consecutive fours when seven were needed for a win with four overs to go.

Summary:-
FAC - 81/9 in 20 overs
Naman : 25, Pavel :18
Anand, Ravi and Ashwin were the top bowlers

Doyle Devils - 82/7 in 16.2 overs
Venkat and Ashwin were the batting heroes
Sam, Giresh, Sudhakar, Pavel were all among the wickets

Match 11 against Real Panthers on 08212010

The team was back to practicing after a period of irregular cricketing activity. The match with Real Panthers was played on August 21st at Cypress Canyon Ground. Although we had arranged a team to 12, Manish, Aravind and Srinivas K dropped out or did not show up.

The game began close to 9am. We won the toss and were forced to bat due to just about half the players being around at the time of the toss.

The grass at Cypress Canyon was thick akin to the one at Miramar College Ground. The top half collapsed within the first 6 overs with Vijay S, Gopal, Naman, Umesh and Parag losing their wickets in different ways. It was clear that the batsmen were short on match practice and rusty. Half way into the inning we had reached 52/6 and an early closure seemed a high probability.

Hari R has been playing regularly and was the only one confident on our side. His demeanor was one of mixed caution and aggression. None of the bowlers troubled him while at the crease. A face savings inning (score unknown ?) studded with about 5-7 boundaries helped the team get to 110/10 in 20 overs. Hari remained unbeaten at the end of the inning with one hard chance being dropped down the leg side by keeper Anil N. Hari dispatched a few for boundaries in the region from long-leg to long on and one in the cover point region. Satish M provided good support to Hari in the second half of the inning. Helped by a healthy number of extras throughout the inning and the occasional boundary the score moved along despite the collapse at thre top.

In reply Real Panthers opened with Anil and Naveen. Our bowlers bowled tightly at the start of the inning. Helped by two dropped catches the openers put on a 52 run opening partnership before Naveen was held in the slips by Srinivas N. Anil N continued to bat with confidence despite the asking rate increasing in the second half. With 44 needed in 36 balls, Vilas M gave Hari the charge and hit three boundaries in over number 15. This changed the match equation in favor of Real Panthers. Until then a victory by our side looked probable discounting the very few wickets we had secured until then. At the end of over 19, Real Panthers had all but wiped out the target. With 5 wickets in hand and 2 runs to get in the final over the match was all but pocketed by Real Panthers. Gopal was able to make the match last for four additional balls but in the end we could not stop Real Panthers from winning the game.

Anil (47 in 59b, 2*4, 1*6), Naveen (21 in 22b, 3*4), Vilas (15 in 13b, 3*4) took the side to victory with 2 balls and 5 wickets to spare.

Real Panthers were without their complete side and most of us were rusty after a period of hiatus. Despite that it was a good fight considering the collapse at the top and the couple of dropped catches. The slim bowling attack did well to keep us in the game until the final over.

Great job Hari, the confidence while batting on this day was supreme. Amit ended up as the most economical bowler on our side with figures of 4-0-18-1.

Summary :-
FAC - 110/10 in 20 overs
Real Panthers - 111/5 in 19.4 overs

Let's better our performance in the next few games.