Match 7 against Strikers on 10092010

Match 7 against Strikers was played on the picturesque ground at Cypress Canyon Park (Small). The ground does not offer opportunities to the batsman behind the wicket but the grass is always green and never too thick. The ground is relatively flat and the wicket has very good pace and bounce. What else can one ask as a cricketer ?

Strikers lost the toss and were asked to bat. Vinay struck two sixes right at the start of the inning in over number 2 and 4. The first was a full toss that he hit towards mid-wicket that travelled a few yards over the 70 yard boundary. The second seemed even bigger where he charged down the wicket and lofted about 5 yards over the 70 yard boundary in the direction of long-off. Over number 6 went for eleven runs wherein two boundaries were struck. A lofted drive over the bowler and another hit towards square leg/mid-wicket. While the first beat the slow moving fielder at long-off the second was a flat hit that arguably might have gone for six had the fielder not been in the way. The ball was dropped and resulted in a boundary.

Three overs of 11 runs each within the first six overs meant the score reached 39/1 in 6 overs. Hari had been bowling well at the other end making batting difficult even for a aggressive Vinay.

Excellent spells of 4-0-11-2 by Amit C, 4-0-14-1 by Rahul C and 3-0-13-2 by Amol K slowed down the scoring thereafter. Strikers finished with 92/8 in 20 overs that could have been a lot more looking at where they were in six overs.

Hari R however had the best figures of 4-0-9-2. Santosh pocketed as many as six catches behind the wicket a few of which were an excellent effort.

93 seemed to be a gettable target in good batting conditions even against a potent bowling attack. This Strikers team though had a pack of line and length bowlers. They made scoring very difficult for our batmen at the top of the order. Lack of runs in the first few overs and the loss of three wickets in the first 5 overs increased the pressure on the incoming batsmen. A period of consolidation went on for too long amidst tight bowling. At the end of 10 overs 59 were needed which seemed a possibility with six wickets in hand. The desired 3/4 good overs of 8-9 runs never came our way as the bowlers kept the batsmen quiet throughout the inning. 33 runs were needed in the final three overs with 3 wickets in hand.

Eventually, we lost by a margin of 20 runs. Amol K (15*, 27b, 1*4) and Samir (14, 29b) had consolidated the inning after the fall of four wickets at the top of the order. As the final score indicates not a single bowler from the Strikers went for more than 5 RPO which again is an indicator of how few freebies were on offer. On the other hand 4 of our most expensive overs yielded 43 runs. This meant Strikers scored only 49 runs in the remainder of 16 overs.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0ArRZKVChcIaXdHYwVkxkbDVrSVg3OTZaa3d5YUxaSVE&hl=en&authkey=CJ7p8rgB