Match 10 against Real Panthers on 09232009

We won the toss and elected to field in the game against Real Panthers at Spring Canyon Ground (Small). The wicket was on a firm patch of grass and we knew pretty well batting second would be easy on this pitch given the morning dew on the wicket at the start of play.

Amit picked up two wickets in overs 1 and 3, resulting in Real Panthers going on the back foot right from the start. Ajay bowled a quiet 4th over and Shekhar picked up a wicket caught behind in the 5th over. The Real Panthers squad today seemed weak and it was time to get overs from the 5th bowler through. Real Panthers were 20/3 in 6 overs and seemed to have been started on a wrong note. The next four overs produced 8, 12, 7 and 9 runs respectively and Real Panthers went into the break at a confortable score of 56/3. Fielding was a bit erratic with a lofted drive to long-on resulting in a two when there should have been a single. To make matters worse, an went for a boundary resulting in 6 runs when there should have been a single.

Amit C began well after the break conceding only a single. Hari R, however started badly in the 12th over, going for two boundaries, having been hit for one in his first over, the 10th of the inning. Manish and Veeru had steadied the inning, aided by loose bowling and poor fielding. Shiva however provided the break with the wicket of Manish in the 13th over. Hari then picked up Veeru and Giresh in the very next over, the 14th of the inning. Nitin B, held the second catch this time at mid-wicket, while the previous one he had taken was held at short fine leg. The fielding and bowling thereafter tightened up with Hari and Naman holding good catches square of the wicket on the off side. Hari picked up two wickets in his final over, the 16th of the inning.

The final wicket fell in the form of a run-out. Anup and Anil N, laid a partnership for close to 4 overs to protect the final wicket. Real Panthers scored 95/10 in 19.5 overs. This was a targe t only 10 less than what we could not successfully chase at the same wicket only a week back. This time however the opposition bowling was different and seemed relatively weak with quite a few of their regulars missing.

Amit C had excellent figures of 4-0-9-2. Hari R picked up three wickets despite bowling a few loose balls.

Hari R and Amit opened the batting. Hari lofted Giresh to long-on for a good looking boundary. The first over thus yielded 6 runs of the bat. Amit C played out a quiet over from Veeru who started well. Sanjay bowled a good 3rd over but we were placed well at 19/0 in 3 overs. The 5th over however produced two boundaries and thereby 10 runs. Hari hit one over short cover for a boundary and then lofted one to long on for a two and followed it up with four in the same area. Anil N bowled an erratic 6th over giving away 5 wides a no-ball and two boundaries to Amit C. Amit C seemed to have been set with these hits and enjoyed the hits too. Anup had Hari caught at a deep gully position on the first ball of the 7th over giving Anup his first wicket. Nitin B however walked in and struck a 2, 4 and 6 in four balls of that over. Over pitched balls were hit towards long on and a full toss was hit to mid-wicket for a six. Giresh struck back by getting Nitin B bowled in the very next over. Shekhar played Giresh out bringing in Amit to the bowling in the next over for the Real Panthers.

Amit started with two no-balls that raced to the boundary behind the wicket keeper resulting in 10 runs without a ball being bowled. Amit conceded a boundary to Amit C but struck back to get Amit C bowled. Another 5 runs on another no-ball followed, coupled with 4 wides. Having conceded 23 runs in four legitimate balls Amit had to be replaced by Giresh to just get the over done with. The score raced from 64 to 91 in the 9th over. Shekhar struck Narasaiah for a boundary straight behind the keeper to finish the game giving us victory by 7 wickets and more than half the allotted overs to spare.

Real Panthers were a weak side today. Despite conceding 33 extra and dropping three catches on this day we managed to beat the opposition emphatically.

Hari 22 (18b, 4*4) and Amit 25 (28b, 4*4) did extremely well and displayed good form. Nitin B impressed with 12 runs in just 6 balls. Well done guys, its been a while since we thrashed an opposition to this extent.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0ArRZKVChcIaXdGxtOEZ6eWNEVjhOMGZ2czJmbVFyTWc&hl=en