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