Game 1 of the 5 match series between Eagles and Panthers, began at a vacant Spring Canyon ground with Sam winning the toss for the Eagles. This being an afternoon game Sam had no hesitation in opting to bat first.
Naman and Rupesh opened the proceedings with the bat for the Eagles. Srinivas and Vijay S opening the bowling for the Panthers. Rupesh was held at a deepish square leg when he went for his regular "zhaadu" shot on the last ball of the second over bowled by Vijay S. Satheesh started with aggression lofting Srinivas for a straight six over the bowler's head. Naman opened up in the next over bowled by Vijay S to hit a boundary to a vacant mid-wicket. Eagles were 31/1 in 4 overs and it was just the start they had looked forward to.
Samir was the first replacement with the ball and picked up the wickets of Naman (15, 16b, 1*4) , Satheesh (10, 12b, 1*6) and Hari in overs 5, 7 and 9 going for just 8 runs in his spell. Mudit bowling at the other end troubled batsmen Srikanth and Hari to bring down the scoring rate of the Eagles. Vijay S bowled the 10th over of the inning and Eagles went into the break with the scoreboard reading 56/4 and Parag and Srikanth at the crease.
Parag (12, 13b, 1*4) went for the third run on a mis-field but was beaten by Samir and Vijay S combining to get a run-out. Shekhar replaced Parag to join Srikanth who was batting steadily. Shekhar hit one exquisite boundary towards deep point and gave good company to Srikanth. Srikanth played his usual strokes towards fine leg, mid-wicket and square of the wicket on the off side. He had begun cautiously but towards the end of the inning he managed to pierce the field with free will. Shekhar was dismised for 14 (14b, 1*4). Srikanth returned with an unbeaten knock of 30 (47b).
Eagles put on a healthy score of 120/7 in 20 overs. Vijay S provided an opportunity to as many as 8 bowlers thereby fulfilling one of the objectives of this tournament.
The new ball pair of Satheesh and Karthik opened the attack for the Eagles. Nitin B and Suresh opened the batting for the Panthers. Satheesh struck with just the 3rd ball when Nitin B edged one into the safe hands of Shekhar at first slip. Gopal and Suresh hung around for two overs but Karthik snapped Suresh in the 4th over as he tried to hit one with the bat turning in his hands. Shekhar pocketed the second catch. Samir then edged one very very low to first slip. Shekhar was buoyed by two catches already and picked up this difficult one with relative ease to give Karthik his second wicket in the over. Parag held Gopal behind the wickets to give Hari a much desired wicket.
Yogesh and Vijay S then played sensibly and prevented any further wickets. Panthers took a break at 10 overs with the score reading 52/4. Vijay S benefited from a dropped catch but otherwise played well despite the precarious situation and the weight of captaincy.
Satheesh bowling the first over after the break snapped Yogesh and Mudit with two short balls. Yogesh (18, 22b, 1*4) gave Satheesh the charge and lobbed one to point where Naman held a good catch. Mudit's dismissal reminded one of Sehwag's recent dismissal in the 3rd test against NZ. The bouncing ball hit the glove region and went to Parag, the keeper. Venkat and Vijay S did not call well resulting in the dismissal of Venkat. Sam and Rupesh had'nt bowled a ball and Panthers seemed to be down and out.
Rosie was bowled and Aravind edged Rupesh to the keeper. Vijay S tried to launch a few strokes after the 15th over. Karthik running from long-off held a superb catch to dismiss Vijay S in the 17th over. Vijay S (28, 32b, 1*4) top scored for the Panthers but did not have much support apart from Yogesh.
Panthers were bundled for 88 runs giving the Eagles an easy 32 run win and a 1-0 lead.
It was great to see complete squads for both Eagles and Panthers. Plenty of players on either side were provided an opportunity to bowl and bat by the respective captains. Well done all, let's make the remainder of the games a similar success.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcppOWc2n_9nXSA&hl=en
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