The last game between the two teams was hard fought one which had seen Real Panthers sneeked through with 3 balls and a wicket remaining. FAC were playing almost the same team with Abhishek returning after a hiatus and Aravind back in the fold. The game was being played at the Hourglass field.
Vijay S won the toss and invited Real Panthers to bat first on a cloudy Saturday morning. There was quite a bit of moisture in the air which was to be exploited. Also, given the fact that the Real Panthers (RPs) struggled against us in the first 10 overs the last time it was a calculated decision to field first this time.
Rosie - who had a brilliant match last time taking 3 wickets and bowling three maidens on the trot - started the proceedings. Navin and Amit started for RPs. Rosie started off well first two balls on a perfect length. The third ball though was a rank full toss which demanded a due treatment. But such was the effect of Rosie's previous exploits that Amit managed to hit the ball high towards the short fine leg where Srini sprinted 8-9 steps towards his right to take a brilliant catch. What an effort! To top that off Rosie bowled a maiden over to give us a perfect start. Vijay S started off the second over and immediately got into action by claiming the wicket of Siddhartha who edged a short and wide delivery to Parag behind the wicket the very first delivery. RPs were 2 down without a run on the board. Giresh entered and started well by dispatching a full pitched delivery towards long on for a single. RPs were struggling at 2 runs for 2 wickets at the end of 2nd over.
The third and fourth over by Rosie and Vijay S just gave away 5 runs. The fifth over by Rosie scalped Girish who hit a low full toss high over the bowlers head. Rosie due fully accepted the catch and as the cliché goes FAC were right on the top. Hari was introduced in the 6th over and started out well but bowled a half tracker which was dispatched over the point by Navin to give a welcome boundary to RPs. Srini the bowled the next over and immediately got into the action with a wicket of Ajay. Ajay tried slogging a length delivery from Srini but only managed to sky it towards Samir at point. I guess everyone knew Samir would take the catch 101 times out of 100 but what happened last time just added a bit of concern. RPs were 4 down with less than 25 runs on the board.
Vilas joined in and belted one over the midwicket region for two runs off Srini. Runs were hard to come by and the bowling/fielding from FAC was near perfect. Samir started off well by taking a wicket off his first over by edging out Navin in the safe hands of Parag. Navin played well for his 18 runs but played 36 deliveries in the effort. By the end of 12 overs RPs were 6 down and just 46 runs on the board. Mudit joined in and immediately removed Vilas. Mudit pitched one at a shortish length and Vilas went for a pull over the square leg but only managed to hit one to Srini. Srini stretched both his arms and took a wonderful catch to send Vilas packing for 12 runs. What an effort from the same guys who looked terrible in the field the last week (including yours truly).
Hari started the 15th over and gave a boundary to begin with but struck immediately. Naveen hit a short ball towards the point region where Mudit took a reflex catch! Yes, Mudit, catch and reflex in the same sentence :). Mudit has taken some really amazing catches but this was one of the best you could see anyone. Samir bowled the 16th over conceding 5 runs and taking a wicket and RPs really tottering at 67 runs and 9 wickets down. Mudit started the 17 th over and the very first ball took a wicket. Well, almost! The square leg umpire for some reason (best known to him) looked at the other umpire and gave it a no ball. Srini again took a great running catch but was of no use. Now it was very evident that there were non-cricketing reasons behind the decision. It's a different issue if a team want's to win every game, but there is a fine line between trying to win a game and trying to make all the decisions in your favor to win the game. Sadly, RPs were just doing that. Just a few overs earlier Sanjay had edged one towards slip where Shekhar held a good catch lunging forward. How the heck the umpire at the non-strikers end saw the ball falling short is still a mystery. The leg umpire on the other hand was non-responsive although he definitely had a good view from that angle.
Anyway, Mudit ended up conceding 10 runs in the over and RPs were placed at 76 for 9 at the end of 17th over. Not a bad score but most folks from our side felt cheated. Vijay S bowled his 4th over and grudgingly got Kailas out by hitting the off-stump.
Rosie again did well (3 - 1 - 4 - 2) with the ball and was well supported by Srini and Samir. So just 77 runs to win and FAC started off with Abhi and Gopal as the openers. First over by Navin was very good with Abhi defending off the first few deliveries on the back and front foot. RPs striked in the first over though by scalping out Gopal who misjudged everything and got an inside edge to Girish off Navin. 1 down and only 2 runs on the board. Not an ideal start.
Shekhar joined Abhi and began the consolidation phase. The line and length by RPs Sanjay and Navin was pretty good and FAC just managed 11 runs off the first 6 overs. The 4th over by Sanjay saw Abhi hitting two brilliant boundaries off the last two balls and lifting the score to 32 runs off 8 overs. By now Parag had joined Abhi with Shekhar bowled out by Sanjay in the 6th over of the match. Nothing was going right for RPs hereon. Abhi pulled a short one but only managed to lob the ball at square leg where Siddharth made a mess of it. Even my mum would have catched that would have been the cry by Geoff Boycott. It was that simple.
Finally Abhi was out caught and bowled by Upendra not before making a well made 16 runs of 25 balls with two boundaries. Hari walked in next and was beaten first ball by Upendra. The next ball was a disaster. Hari tried a lofted shot over mid-on but completed misjudged the length and angle of the ball and was bowled off an inside edge. Samir K joined Parag with 39 runs required off 10 overs. Parag started brilliantly along with Samir (who was playing with a brand new bat) and seemed to find the singles and twos at will. Parag hit a memorable straight six to Girish who seemed a bit lost after that. Samir played some exquisite shots off the back foot while Parag nudged the ball beautifully for singles and the occasional two.
In the end it was fantastic win by FAC with Parag, Samir and Abhi coming good. Parag made a brilliant 25 off 37 balls and Samir provided excellent support playing an entertaining knock of 19 runs off just 18 balls. Not to forget the brilliant fielding effort put in by Srini who took 3 catches along with Samir who took two. Of course Mudit's catch was a blinder and would be remembered for a long time.
Most of us were appalled by the way RPs conducted themselves. They are probably one of the most talented team ; but the win at any cost attitude will not win them any friends. The sooner they realize it the better.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rRclD6aUBEn19U1Y9Cd9C4Q
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Match 13 against Doyle Devils on 05162009
As reported by Ajay K:-
We have witnessed Hari Rajagopalan decimate the opposition with his batting, but on Saturday 05/16 we saw Hari do that to the opposition with his bowling as well.Doyle Park won the toss and chose to bat first. They probably wanted to try something different from last time. Batting first on the moist pitch did not seem a very wise decision.Karthik and Srini opened the batting for Doyle, just like the last game and Vijay opened the bowling for us. Vijay bowled a tidy first over conceding only a single. Hari started the proceedings at the other end and drew first blood in his opening over itself, knocking off Karthik’s leg stump.In his second over Hari struck again, this time knocking off Srini’s leg stump. That brought Tushmin to the crease. Vijay continued his tidy line in his third over, yielding only a single. Hari continued with his spell and we saw the back of Ranjit, who had stuck around for surprisingly too long. The third delivery of Hari’s over was a high full toss. Tushnim tried to play across the line, missed it completely and to Hari’s glee, it found Tusnim’s off stump! Mudit at mid-on was convinced that the stump that fell is called the leg stump. Vijay finally got rewarded in his final over as he cleaned up Sampath’s off stump. So far the score had just been ambling along and I was confident that if we continued to apply pressure, I would get to open the innings once again.Sam and Samir replaced Hari and Vijay. Between the two of them they maintained the pressure though Sam bowled a few wides in his opening over.I got their captain Venkat with the first delivery of my spell as he moved his bat too gently to the gentle pace of my delivery and lost his off stump.We were next witness to a brilliant run out from Naman. Fielding at point he quickly collected the ball, had just one stump to aim at, and hit bulls eye! But there were several more brilliant saves from Naman around the point-gully region.
Prashanth and Vipul then settled into a partnership and steered the Doyle Park score towards respectability. Though Sam, Mudit and Samir contniued to bowl a tight line, yet they did not lose an opportunity to steal runs. Samir went for 12 runs in his last over and lost his cool over a mis-field at long-on. By now Hari had lost his patience and brought himself on and got into business rightaway as Prashant tried to evade a shotpitched delivery from him, only to balloon a simple catch to the keeper. The next man Janatha took a baseball like stance, holoding the bat with virtually just one hand. Didn’t take Hari more than 2 balls to clean bowl him. The Doyle Park innings wrapped up in the last over as I yorked Vipul who was trying to step out to every ball. Doyle – 93 all out. Not a difficuot target at all especially since the pitch had dried up by now.Sam and Shekhar opened the innings for us. Shekhar unfortunately was run out in the 2nd over to a direct hit at the non-striker’s end. Nitin came in next and it was entertainment all through . Nitin started plundering runs at will especially towards long on. The shots were lofted and somehow Nitin targeted Sampath at long – on, who vainly tried to hold on to the lofted shots. Once the ball poppedout of his hands to sail over the fence for a 6 and the other time, it just dropped short of the fence for a 4. Sampath was moved to a close in position in the hope of a better fielder holding on to the next chance. Nitin continued unabashed hitting his shots freely. Sam on the other hand swung and missed, but nibbled a few deliveries here and there. Close to the 10 over break, Sam was out to a brilliant delivery from Shiva. It pitched out side the off and as Sam made room for his shot, it came in and konocked off the middle stump. Irrespective of the 2 wickets we had lost, we were at a healthy 50 at the 10 over break. The key was not to lose sight of the run rate while keeping our wickets intact. But in the 12th over itself Nitin found a full toss too tempting not to pull and yet again found Sampath, this time at deep mid wicket. But this time, the law of averages caught up and he held on to the catch. Nitin was out to a well made 26 off only 24 balls, laced with a six and 2 4s. Naman and Satish followed soon after, out to good catches. Doyle suddenly saw its fortunes reversed with our scoreline reading 67 for 6 at the end of 13 overs.Hari yet again had other ideas and along with Samir, saw us through in 17 overs. Though Samir had his hits and misses, Hari made a steady 20 off 15 deliveries with 3 glorious 4s. It was a only fitting to wrap up the day with a great batting performance too. The all round performance puts Hari as the man of the match. I guess, Hari is shaping into a good captain. Keep it up Hari and keep it up team. Great performance!
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rwqSbqvaam3HX2Ca2UKNnlQ&hl=en
We have witnessed Hari Rajagopalan decimate the opposition with his batting, but on Saturday 05/16 we saw Hari do that to the opposition with his bowling as well.Doyle Park won the toss and chose to bat first. They probably wanted to try something different from last time. Batting first on the moist pitch did not seem a very wise decision.Karthik and Srini opened the batting for Doyle, just like the last game and Vijay opened the bowling for us. Vijay bowled a tidy first over conceding only a single. Hari started the proceedings at the other end and drew first blood in his opening over itself, knocking off Karthik’s leg stump.In his second over Hari struck again, this time knocking off Srini’s leg stump. That brought Tushmin to the crease. Vijay continued his tidy line in his third over, yielding only a single. Hari continued with his spell and we saw the back of Ranjit, who had stuck around for surprisingly too long. The third delivery of Hari’s over was a high full toss. Tushnim tried to play across the line, missed it completely and to Hari’s glee, it found Tusnim’s off stump! Mudit at mid-on was convinced that the stump that fell is called the leg stump. Vijay finally got rewarded in his final over as he cleaned up Sampath’s off stump. So far the score had just been ambling along and I was confident that if we continued to apply pressure, I would get to open the innings once again.Sam and Samir replaced Hari and Vijay. Between the two of them they maintained the pressure though Sam bowled a few wides in his opening over.I got their captain Venkat with the first delivery of my spell as he moved his bat too gently to the gentle pace of my delivery and lost his off stump.We were next witness to a brilliant run out from Naman. Fielding at point he quickly collected the ball, had just one stump to aim at, and hit bulls eye! But there were several more brilliant saves from Naman around the point-gully region.
Prashanth and Vipul then settled into a partnership and steered the Doyle Park score towards respectability. Though Sam, Mudit and Samir contniued to bowl a tight line, yet they did not lose an opportunity to steal runs. Samir went for 12 runs in his last over and lost his cool over a mis-field at long-on. By now Hari had lost his patience and brought himself on and got into business rightaway as Prashant tried to evade a shotpitched delivery from him, only to balloon a simple catch to the keeper. The next man Janatha took a baseball like stance, holoding the bat with virtually just one hand. Didn’t take Hari more than 2 balls to clean bowl him. The Doyle Park innings wrapped up in the last over as I yorked Vipul who was trying to step out to every ball. Doyle – 93 all out. Not a difficuot target at all especially since the pitch had dried up by now.Sam and Shekhar opened the innings for us. Shekhar unfortunately was run out in the 2nd over to a direct hit at the non-striker’s end. Nitin came in next and it was entertainment all through . Nitin started plundering runs at will especially towards long on. The shots were lofted and somehow Nitin targeted Sampath at long – on, who vainly tried to hold on to the lofted shots. Once the ball poppedout of his hands to sail over the fence for a 6 and the other time, it just dropped short of the fence for a 4. Sampath was moved to a close in position in the hope of a better fielder holding on to the next chance. Nitin continued unabashed hitting his shots freely. Sam on the other hand swung and missed, but nibbled a few deliveries here and there. Close to the 10 over break, Sam was out to a brilliant delivery from Shiva. It pitched out side the off and as Sam made room for his shot, it came in and konocked off the middle stump. Irrespective of the 2 wickets we had lost, we were at a healthy 50 at the 10 over break. The key was not to lose sight of the run rate while keeping our wickets intact. But in the 12th over itself Nitin found a full toss too tempting not to pull and yet again found Sampath, this time at deep mid wicket. But this time, the law of averages caught up and he held on to the catch. Nitin was out to a well made 26 off only 24 balls, laced with a six and 2 4s. Naman and Satish followed soon after, out to good catches. Doyle suddenly saw its fortunes reversed with our scoreline reading 67 for 6 at the end of 13 overs.Hari yet again had other ideas and along with Samir, saw us through in 17 overs. Though Samir had his hits and misses, Hari made a steady 20 off 15 deliveries with 3 glorious 4s. It was a only fitting to wrap up the day with a great batting performance too. The all round performance puts Hari as the man of the match. I guess, Hari is shaping into a good captain. Keep it up Hari and keep it up team. Great performance!
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rwqSbqvaam3HX2Ca2UKNnlQ&hl=en
Sunday, May 3, 2009
SDCS Winter 2009 Final Game :- Panthers v/s Blasters on 03282009
The much awaited final of the Winter tournament organized by RBCC was played in the morning at Cypress Canyon Ground (Big) on 28th March 2009.
Blasters won the toss and promptly elected to bowl with the intention of utilizing the early morning conditions.
Panthers chose to open with Santosh and Suresh as the opening pair. The first few overs by Ibrar and Vikram were pretty tight with very few runs being conceeded. Suresh was needlessly run-out early on as he did not wait for the ball to cross the fielder at short cover. Ashish stopped the ball moving to his side and flung the ball to the keeper with accuracy. Shekhar provided the early acceleration with a boundary on the leg side. Santosh returned hurt to the pavilion and Vijay S joined Shekhar. Together they picked up runs at a steady pace to bring some respectability to the score and stability of batting. Shekhar (18 in 27b, 2*4) was bowled by Shailesh but Vijay S continued to bat with confiddence. Santosh resumed his inning but hit one gently and uppishly to point. Samir was brilliantly caught by Rajesh down on the leg side on the first ball he faced to add pressure to the batting.
Hari struck a boundary and also hit one high over point but was bowled by Nitin just when he seemed to get into groove. Ramesh B replaced Hari and along with Vijay tried to increase the momentum of the inning. Vijay S played a steady, face saving knock of 37 valuable runs (37b, 2*4) but was caught in the quest of quick runs towards the end. Ramesh, Rupesh and Yogesh lost their wickets in the search of quick runs. Rosie struck an accurate Vikram for two boundaries towards square leg to take the Panthers to a score of 106/10 in 19.5 overs.
Previous experience had indicated that this would be a score that was very much achievable in the less than the alloted quota of overs for the side batting second. Panthers did not plan on scoring run a ball, giving importance to saving wickets at the top, which did not materialize in runs thereby added pressure on the batsmen and relieved any anxiety for the fielding side.
Ibrar launched an assault in the second over after a relatively quiet first over bowled by Vijay S. Harish was dismissed but the replacement Rajesh struck two hige sixes towards long-on to surprise the Panthers opening pair of Vijay S and Ramesh B. Short balls were dispatched in the vacant field behind square on the leg side and anything pitched up was hit straight in the V behind the bowler. Rajesh survived a confident appeal for run-out, courtesy of a dismal call made by Nirav P. 42 runs were scored in 4 overs thereby leaving the Blasters with an easy task of scoring 65 runs in 16 overs.
Captain Rupesh then enforced a couple of bowling changes to pick up the wickets of Ibrar (27, 20b, 6*4) and Rajesh (24, 12b, 1*4, 2*6) but the brisk start at the top had left the dressing room at ease about the chase. Shailesh walked in and continued the aggressive approach hitting Samir for a boundary. Ishwak continued in the same vein, lofting one over cover and mid-wicket for a boundary. Ishwak (19, 3b, 2*4) and Shailesh (17, 14b, 2*4) fell when just a few runs were required for victory.
Blasters, literally blasted their way to victory in a meagre 14 overs making it a one sided game in the second half. Ibrar with 2 wickets with the ball and a trend setting 27 runs with the bat was declared Man of the Finals. Shailesh remained a puzzle throughout the series with figures of 4-0-12-3 in the final. Blasters did very well to win this extended tournament that spanned almost three months with eight teams participating.
The much fancied Panthers could not keep the same momentum as in the early part of the tournament to bring disappointment to many a player of this side.
PS:- A few have asked for the blog and I had to finally give in to keep the posts complete. Details might be a bit hazy as more than a month has gone by.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rhkOSA1zP4g28bA3WpSJSOw&hl=en
Blasters won the toss and promptly elected to bowl with the intention of utilizing the early morning conditions.
Panthers chose to open with Santosh and Suresh as the opening pair. The first few overs by Ibrar and Vikram were pretty tight with very few runs being conceeded. Suresh was needlessly run-out early on as he did not wait for the ball to cross the fielder at short cover. Ashish stopped the ball moving to his side and flung the ball to the keeper with accuracy. Shekhar provided the early acceleration with a boundary on the leg side. Santosh returned hurt to the pavilion and Vijay S joined Shekhar. Together they picked up runs at a steady pace to bring some respectability to the score and stability of batting. Shekhar (18 in 27b, 2*4) was bowled by Shailesh but Vijay S continued to bat with confiddence. Santosh resumed his inning but hit one gently and uppishly to point. Samir was brilliantly caught by Rajesh down on the leg side on the first ball he faced to add pressure to the batting.
Hari struck a boundary and also hit one high over point but was bowled by Nitin just when he seemed to get into groove. Ramesh B replaced Hari and along with Vijay tried to increase the momentum of the inning. Vijay S played a steady, face saving knock of 37 valuable runs (37b, 2*4) but was caught in the quest of quick runs towards the end. Ramesh, Rupesh and Yogesh lost their wickets in the search of quick runs. Rosie struck an accurate Vikram for two boundaries towards square leg to take the Panthers to a score of 106/10 in 19.5 overs.
Previous experience had indicated that this would be a score that was very much achievable in the less than the alloted quota of overs for the side batting second. Panthers did not plan on scoring run a ball, giving importance to saving wickets at the top, which did not materialize in runs thereby added pressure on the batsmen and relieved any anxiety for the fielding side.
Ibrar launched an assault in the second over after a relatively quiet first over bowled by Vijay S. Harish was dismissed but the replacement Rajesh struck two hige sixes towards long-on to surprise the Panthers opening pair of Vijay S and Ramesh B. Short balls were dispatched in the vacant field behind square on the leg side and anything pitched up was hit straight in the V behind the bowler. Rajesh survived a confident appeal for run-out, courtesy of a dismal call made by Nirav P. 42 runs were scored in 4 overs thereby leaving the Blasters with an easy task of scoring 65 runs in 16 overs.
Captain Rupesh then enforced a couple of bowling changes to pick up the wickets of Ibrar (27, 20b, 6*4) and Rajesh (24, 12b, 1*4, 2*6) but the brisk start at the top had left the dressing room at ease about the chase. Shailesh walked in and continued the aggressive approach hitting Samir for a boundary. Ishwak continued in the same vein, lofting one over cover and mid-wicket for a boundary. Ishwak (19, 3b, 2*4) and Shailesh (17, 14b, 2*4) fell when just a few runs were required for victory.
Blasters, literally blasted their way to victory in a meagre 14 overs making it a one sided game in the second half. Ibrar with 2 wickets with the ball and a trend setting 27 runs with the bat was declared Man of the Finals. Shailesh remained a puzzle throughout the series with figures of 4-0-12-3 in the final. Blasters did very well to win this extended tournament that spanned almost three months with eight teams participating.
The much fancied Panthers could not keep the same momentum as in the early part of the tournament to bring disappointment to many a player of this side.
PS:- A few have asked for the blog and I had to finally give in to keep the posts complete. Details might be a bit hazy as more than a month has gone by.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rhkOSA1zP4g28bA3WpSJSOw&hl=en
Eagles v/s Panthers 5 Match Series Game 4 05032009
Game 5 of the series was played in the afternoon at Cypress Canyon Ground (Big). Sam won the toss and elected to bat.
Vijay S made the right move by introducing Ajay into the attack. Ajay began well by deceiving Hari on just the third ball but was slow to run around towards the leg side and did not even get hand to a easy high catch. Another lobbed catch behind the stumps was dropped with the keeper and slip fielder not calling for the catch. Nevertheless both the openers were shaken and unsure of how to proceed. Amit kept Shekhar quiet in the second over. Shekhar drove Ajay for a two and then pulled him behind square for an easy boundary in the 3rd over. Amit continued the 4th and kept Shekhar tied to the crease beating him frequently outside the off stump. Hari launched Ajay towards long on, only to realize he was trying to loft against the wind. The only hope was Suresh taking it easy, playing safety first. Suresh walked a few paces (late as usual), saw the ball come to him at a good height and held the catch above the shoulder. Rupesh walked in and launched a magnificent pull towards mid-wicket for a boundary in the first over bowled by Samir. Samir struck the very next ball with Rupesh edging behind the stumps.
Srikanth came in to give company to Shekhar. Rosie bowled an excellent second over keeping Shekhar quiet for the first four balls. Shekhar tried to hit Rosie behind square leg by walking outside off stump. To his surprise the ball kept relatively low and Shekhar managed to hit the ball onto the stump. Naman was uneasy against the bowling of Mudit and fell once again to a full ball that was hitting the stumps.
Parag and Srikanth saw the Eagles to the break with the score reading 47/4. Eagles lost the plot at the top of the order and scored just 27 runs in the first 6 overs. The weak looking bowling of Ajay proved more than a handful for the top order of the Eagles.
Amit conceeded 13 runs in the 11th over with Parag hitting a couple of good cover drives and Srikanth hitting one for three towards point. Rosie was introduced into the attack in the 15th over and picked up two wickets in the first three balls. Parag moved outside off and hit one high towards mid-wicket. Aravind ran few yards and held the catch over his right shoulder to bring joy to the Panthers. Satheesh lofted one straight to mid-on that he felt would sail for a six. On this day though the steady wind held the ball back and Suresh made no mistake. Panthers were delighted and seemed to be making up for the four catches that were dropped early on.
The 16th over bowled by Vijay S yielded 10 runs with Sriknath hitting a full toss in the gap between deep square leg and mid-wicket. Vijay S however picked up Srikanth to a low catch behind the stumps. Sriknath played a good looking knock of 23 (26b, 1*4) proving his utility value as an ever-reliable batsman with his positive but unconventioanl approach to batting. Sam hit a good looking boundary to mid-wicket in the 20th over but lost his stumps within the next few balls to give Vijay S a second wicket in as many overs. Vijay V and Sam ran their singles well and converted a few singles to a two.
In the end the Eagles reached a score of 106/8 in 20 overs proving their strength at batting on each ocassion they chose to bat.
The question, though was whether they had the balance in their bowling to defend the score on the easy batting wicket. The wind had died down and the Eagles were playing with just five bowlers of any mettle.
Nitin B and Suresh walked in with the intent of making full use of the 6 over restrictions. The third ball from Rupesh had width and lacked enough pace. Nitin launched one over cover for an easy boundary. Sam kept the batsmen relatively at bay in the second over but the Panthers were placed at 13/0 in 2 overs. A few loose balls in the third over by Rupesh took the Panthers to 22/0 in 3 overs. Satheesh bowled a loose 6th over conceeding a boundary but came back to pick up Suresh at extra cover. Panthers were well placed at 43/1 in 6 overs, a good 16 runs ahead of where the Eagles were at the same time. A couple of catches were not picked up behind the stumps. A ball flew past Parag, another one fell short of Shekhar, another one brushed Shekhar's hands but was too high for him to hold. Eagles were frustrated and the Panthers, particularly Nitin thanked lady luck.
Panthers moved steadily to 65/2 in 10 overs. Eagles bowled their main bowlers out in the quest of elusive wickets. Samir edged one to the keeper. Gopal had edged one to slip (prior to the break) where Shekhar held a low catch with ease. These were to be the only occassions of joy for a hapless bowling attack. The fielding was much to blame for dropped catches but a few just did not carry to the fielders. Aravind and Nitin B continued to launch the weak Eagles bowling to open gaps in the field on either side of the wicket and romped to victory with about 19 balls to spare.
Nitin B, easily hit a loose ball from Vijay V behind the stumps on the leg side to bring up his maiden 50. Nitin scored 50 in 51 balls, studded with 4 hard hits to the fence and remained unbeaten.
After a win in the first game where their bowling had sting, the fielding and bowling of the Eagles just fizzled out. The 5th and 6th bowlers lacked substance and the frontline bowlers did not have enough potency to cover up for the weaker bowlers. Captain Sam and deputy Rupesh, tried their best to inspire and inspire the limited bowling talent but could not get the results no matter what strategy they tried to follow.
Panthers saw themselves as the weaker team on paper, were shaken in the first game but then utilized their ample resources well, to a reach a 3-1 unassailable lead. It just goes on to show, you never know your strength unless you put it to test. Eagles were let down by a lack of quality and variety of bowling. Eagles will have to bowl and field twice as well to snatch a consolation win in the final game.
Rosie was the pick of the bowlers for the Panthers with figures of 3-1-9-3. Amit did not have the wickets to show but deceived batsmen on most of the balls he bowled. Srinivas put aside his recent lack of form with the ball to conceed just 12 runs in 3 overs. Saran on the Eagles side was the pick of the bowlers and Sam bowled well as usual.
Nitin B, for once proved his ability with the bat. It was a fifty he will remember for long. More so, it was one that sealed a series win for the Panthers. He can now use this blog to gain permission at home for regular cricket games.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rrHrXe5GQct-LWNsTdDqe5w&hl=en
Vijay S made the right move by introducing Ajay into the attack. Ajay began well by deceiving Hari on just the third ball but was slow to run around towards the leg side and did not even get hand to a easy high catch. Another lobbed catch behind the stumps was dropped with the keeper and slip fielder not calling for the catch. Nevertheless both the openers were shaken and unsure of how to proceed. Amit kept Shekhar quiet in the second over. Shekhar drove Ajay for a two and then pulled him behind square for an easy boundary in the 3rd over. Amit continued the 4th and kept Shekhar tied to the crease beating him frequently outside the off stump. Hari launched Ajay towards long on, only to realize he was trying to loft against the wind. The only hope was Suresh taking it easy, playing safety first. Suresh walked a few paces (late as usual), saw the ball come to him at a good height and held the catch above the shoulder. Rupesh walked in and launched a magnificent pull towards mid-wicket for a boundary in the first over bowled by Samir. Samir struck the very next ball with Rupesh edging behind the stumps.
Srikanth came in to give company to Shekhar. Rosie bowled an excellent second over keeping Shekhar quiet for the first four balls. Shekhar tried to hit Rosie behind square leg by walking outside off stump. To his surprise the ball kept relatively low and Shekhar managed to hit the ball onto the stump. Naman was uneasy against the bowling of Mudit and fell once again to a full ball that was hitting the stumps.
Parag and Srikanth saw the Eagles to the break with the score reading 47/4. Eagles lost the plot at the top of the order and scored just 27 runs in the first 6 overs. The weak looking bowling of Ajay proved more than a handful for the top order of the Eagles.
Amit conceeded 13 runs in the 11th over with Parag hitting a couple of good cover drives and Srikanth hitting one for three towards point. Rosie was introduced into the attack in the 15th over and picked up two wickets in the first three balls. Parag moved outside off and hit one high towards mid-wicket. Aravind ran few yards and held the catch over his right shoulder to bring joy to the Panthers. Satheesh lofted one straight to mid-on that he felt would sail for a six. On this day though the steady wind held the ball back and Suresh made no mistake. Panthers were delighted and seemed to be making up for the four catches that were dropped early on.
The 16th over bowled by Vijay S yielded 10 runs with Sriknath hitting a full toss in the gap between deep square leg and mid-wicket. Vijay S however picked up Srikanth to a low catch behind the stumps. Sriknath played a good looking knock of 23 (26b, 1*4) proving his utility value as an ever-reliable batsman with his positive but unconventioanl approach to batting. Sam hit a good looking boundary to mid-wicket in the 20th over but lost his stumps within the next few balls to give Vijay S a second wicket in as many overs. Vijay V and Sam ran their singles well and converted a few singles to a two.
In the end the Eagles reached a score of 106/8 in 20 overs proving their strength at batting on each ocassion they chose to bat.
The question, though was whether they had the balance in their bowling to defend the score on the easy batting wicket. The wind had died down and the Eagles were playing with just five bowlers of any mettle.
Nitin B and Suresh walked in with the intent of making full use of the 6 over restrictions. The third ball from Rupesh had width and lacked enough pace. Nitin launched one over cover for an easy boundary. Sam kept the batsmen relatively at bay in the second over but the Panthers were placed at 13/0 in 2 overs. A few loose balls in the third over by Rupesh took the Panthers to 22/0 in 3 overs. Satheesh bowled a loose 6th over conceeding a boundary but came back to pick up Suresh at extra cover. Panthers were well placed at 43/1 in 6 overs, a good 16 runs ahead of where the Eagles were at the same time. A couple of catches were not picked up behind the stumps. A ball flew past Parag, another one fell short of Shekhar, another one brushed Shekhar's hands but was too high for him to hold. Eagles were frustrated and the Panthers, particularly Nitin thanked lady luck.
Panthers moved steadily to 65/2 in 10 overs. Eagles bowled their main bowlers out in the quest of elusive wickets. Samir edged one to the keeper. Gopal had edged one to slip (prior to the break) where Shekhar held a low catch with ease. These were to be the only occassions of joy for a hapless bowling attack. The fielding was much to blame for dropped catches but a few just did not carry to the fielders. Aravind and Nitin B continued to launch the weak Eagles bowling to open gaps in the field on either side of the wicket and romped to victory with about 19 balls to spare.
Nitin B, easily hit a loose ball from Vijay V behind the stumps on the leg side to bring up his maiden 50. Nitin scored 50 in 51 balls, studded with 4 hard hits to the fence and remained unbeaten.
After a win in the first game where their bowling had sting, the fielding and bowling of the Eagles just fizzled out. The 5th and 6th bowlers lacked substance and the frontline bowlers did not have enough potency to cover up for the weaker bowlers. Captain Sam and deputy Rupesh, tried their best to inspire and inspire the limited bowling talent but could not get the results no matter what strategy they tried to follow.
Panthers saw themselves as the weaker team on paper, were shaken in the first game but then utilized their ample resources well, to a reach a 3-1 unassailable lead. It just goes on to show, you never know your strength unless you put it to test. Eagles were let down by a lack of quality and variety of bowling. Eagles will have to bowl and field twice as well to snatch a consolation win in the final game.
Rosie was the pick of the bowlers for the Panthers with figures of 3-1-9-3. Amit did not have the wickets to show but deceived batsmen on most of the balls he bowled. Srinivas put aside his recent lack of form with the ball to conceed just 12 runs in 3 overs. Saran on the Eagles side was the pick of the bowlers and Sam bowled well as usual.
Nitin B, for once proved his ability with the bat. It was a fifty he will remember for long. More so, it was one that sealed a series win for the Panthers. He can now use this blog to gain permission at home for regular cricket games.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rrHrXe5GQct-LWNsTdDqe5w&hl=en
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Eagles v/s Panthers Game 4 of 5 on 04242009
Game 4 of the series had to be abandoned after about 16 overs had been bowled by the Panthers. It was one of those ocassions where we were kicked out of the Cypress Canyon Ground half way in the inning but this time no further play was possible.
The day belonged to Satheesh T who has been the find of the new year. Coming in to bat at the fall of the wicket of Parag in the second over Satheesh T started cautiously to steady the inning with Srikanth. After about a dozen odd balls of defense Satheesh began scoring runs at will. The highlight of the inning was the 14th over he faced against Mudit. The second ball was hit for a boundary. The 5th ball was a good length ball that was dispatched on the rise over long on for a huge six. The 5th ball of the 16th over bowled by Amit was hit straight over the bowlers head for another huge six. It is a pity that the match was abandoned when Satheesh was stranded at a score of 48 (37b, 1*4, 2*6, 3*3, 7*2). The Panthers for a change were looking shocked and Eagles had scored 101 in 15.5 overs. The Eagles might very well have been robbed of a series levelling win. No wonder, hardly any of the Panthers was enthusiastic of the chase at a modified venue ......
I have always enjoyed watching sixes (not just hitting them) at our level of the game (except the ones hit when bowling myself) but these were as confident hits as any others I have witnessed recently. The recent effort of Siva and Rajesh were equally good.
Anyway, join me in applauding Satheesh for a fantastic knock. Too bad the effort did not register a win for the Eagles. Until next time adios ..
The day belonged to Satheesh T who has been the find of the new year. Coming in to bat at the fall of the wicket of Parag in the second over Satheesh T started cautiously to steady the inning with Srikanth. After about a dozen odd balls of defense Satheesh began scoring runs at will. The highlight of the inning was the 14th over he faced against Mudit. The second ball was hit for a boundary. The 5th ball was a good length ball that was dispatched on the rise over long on for a huge six. The 5th ball of the 16th over bowled by Amit was hit straight over the bowlers head for another huge six. It is a pity that the match was abandoned when Satheesh was stranded at a score of 48 (37b, 1*4, 2*6, 3*3, 7*2). The Panthers for a change were looking shocked and Eagles had scored 101 in 15.5 overs. The Eagles might very well have been robbed of a series levelling win. No wonder, hardly any of the Panthers was enthusiastic of the chase at a modified venue ......
I have always enjoyed watching sixes (not just hitting them) at our level of the game (except the ones hit when bowling myself) but these were as confident hits as any others I have witnessed recently. The recent effort of Siva and Rajesh were equally good.
Anyway, join me in applauding Satheesh for a fantastic knock. Too bad the effort did not register a win for the Eagles. Until next time adios ..
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Eagles v/s Panthers Game 3 of 5 04182009
Game 3 of the series was played at Cypress Canyon Ground (Big) on a day that was to be one with rising temperatures.
Sam won the toss for the third time in a row and elected to bat first. Parag and Hari opened the batting for the Eagles.
Inning One Highlights :-
Eagles 111/9 in 20 overs
Parag 41(37b, 1*6 and 4*4)
Rupesh 16 (10b, 1*6)
Rosie : 3-0-14-4
Vijay S : 3-1-10-1
Parag scored 14 runs in the 10th over bowled by Srinivas with a mighty six and a four due to a mis-field. Eagles were 62/2 in 10 overs but could not accelerate at the same pace in the second half of their inning with the bat. Vijay S bowled a maiden in the 11th over. Rosie then picked up the wicket of Parag in the 12th over with Mudit holding on to a catch at deep fine leg. Earlier Hari and Satheesh were snapped behind the wicket to give Amit C and Vijay S a wicket each. Shekhar lobbed a simple catch to short extra cover. Rosie continued to pick up wickets in the next two overs to return with a 4 wicket haul. Rupesh hit a six towards mid-wicket in the 18th over being bowled by Samir that yielded 13 runs.
Inning Two Highlights :-
Panthers 114/6 in 18.4 overs
Mudit 28 (316, 4*4)
Samir 18* (14b, 2*4)
Sam : 3-0-15-2
Suresh and Amit opened the inning and both of them were run-out. Amit went for a tight third run and had to return back to the pavilion with a direct hit from behind the stumps. Suresh and Nitin have a history of getting one or the other run-out when batting together. Suresh did not call well and was run -out with Nitin B being stuck to the crease. Mudit walked into the crease with Amit C bowling. Loose balls at the start resulted in Mudit scoring 11 runs in an over increasing his ease at batting. Mudit went on to hit Sam behind the wicket for a boundary towards a wide third man. Mudit scored 28 (4*4) and was bowled to give Shekhar a much desired first wicket of the series.
Panthers had gone into the break with 54/3 and did not seem too worried about the chase. Runs continued to flow at a steady pace for the Panthers. Vijay S and Samir collected singles and twos at will towards the end. The wickets of Vijay S and Srinivas did not deter the chase. Samir hit two boundaries in the 19th over being bowled by Rupesh with the field being brought up with only 6 runs to defend. Panthers went to win the third game by 4 wickets with 8 balls to spare.
Panthers seem to be not making too many mistakes and might very well finish the series without any further defeats. Eagles would need to improve in their wicket taking ability as well as the ability to restrict the scoring of the opposition. On the batting front Eagles need to maintain the scoring rate without losing wickets in a heap.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcpp46gJYMQdIaw&hl=en
Sam won the toss for the third time in a row and elected to bat first. Parag and Hari opened the batting for the Eagles.
Inning One Highlights :-
Eagles 111/9 in 20 overs
Parag 41(37b, 1*6 and 4*4)
Rupesh 16 (10b, 1*6)
Rosie : 3-0-14-4
Vijay S : 3-1-10-1
Parag scored 14 runs in the 10th over bowled by Srinivas with a mighty six and a four due to a mis-field. Eagles were 62/2 in 10 overs but could not accelerate at the same pace in the second half of their inning with the bat. Vijay S bowled a maiden in the 11th over. Rosie then picked up the wicket of Parag in the 12th over with Mudit holding on to a catch at deep fine leg. Earlier Hari and Satheesh were snapped behind the wicket to give Amit C and Vijay S a wicket each. Shekhar lobbed a simple catch to short extra cover. Rosie continued to pick up wickets in the next two overs to return with a 4 wicket haul. Rupesh hit a six towards mid-wicket in the 18th over being bowled by Samir that yielded 13 runs.
Inning Two Highlights :-
Panthers 114/6 in 18.4 overs
Mudit 28 (316, 4*4)
Samir 18* (14b, 2*4)
Sam : 3-0-15-2
Suresh and Amit opened the inning and both of them were run-out. Amit went for a tight third run and had to return back to the pavilion with a direct hit from behind the stumps. Suresh and Nitin have a history of getting one or the other run-out when batting together. Suresh did not call well and was run -out with Nitin B being stuck to the crease. Mudit walked into the crease with Amit C bowling. Loose balls at the start resulted in Mudit scoring 11 runs in an over increasing his ease at batting. Mudit went on to hit Sam behind the wicket for a boundary towards a wide third man. Mudit scored 28 (4*4) and was bowled to give Shekhar a much desired first wicket of the series.
Panthers had gone into the break with 54/3 and did not seem too worried about the chase. Runs continued to flow at a steady pace for the Panthers. Vijay S and Samir collected singles and twos at will towards the end. The wickets of Vijay S and Srinivas did not deter the chase. Samir hit two boundaries in the 19th over being bowled by Rupesh with the field being brought up with only 6 runs to defend. Panthers went to win the third game by 4 wickets with 8 balls to spare.
Panthers seem to be not making too many mistakes and might very well finish the series without any further defeats. Eagles would need to improve in their wicket taking ability as well as the ability to restrict the scoring of the opposition. On the batting front Eagles need to maintain the scoring rate without losing wickets in a heap.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcpp46gJYMQdIaw&hl=en
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Eagles v/s Panthers Game 2 of 5 on 04122009
Sam won the toss and elected to bat on a windy day with overcast skies. It was an afternoon game at Spring Canyon Ground (Big).
Rupesh and Naman opened for the Eagles and Rosie and Mudit shared the new ball. The first couple of overs were relatively quiet. Rupesh launched one to square leg where the fielder Venkat let one go off his hands for a boundary. Rupesh launched two boundaries on the last two balls of Mudit's next over. The first was a hit straight over the bowlers's head and the next one was hit towards square leg region. The first 6 overs produced 28 runs for no wickets.
Samir and Ajay kept the two batsmen relatively quiet. By then the Panthers had let down about 4 catches in the outfield with the beneficiary being Rupesh on all ocassions. In the 8th over Rupesh edged down the leg side to give Ajay his first wicket. To his credit, Rupesh walked back by himself having scored 23 (33b, 4*4). Naman had been picking singles all along with straight drives on both sides of the wicket coupled with drives square of the wicket on the off side and hits square of the wicket on the leg side. Hari and Naman took the Eagles to the break with 49 on board and no further loss of wickets.
Aravind picked up the wickets of Hari and Naman in the 12th over. Hari was brilliantly caught at short mid-wicket (straightish one) by Samir stretching his left hand out and latching on to the ball. Naman lofted one towards leg and was held by Mudit above his chest. Naman played a solid inning of 30 (36b, 1*4) and definitely made an impression.
Satheesh and Parag scored a few runs until the 16 th over taking the score to 86/4. Yogesh picked up Parag on the 5th ball of his first over. Rosie held Parag on the long off fence just a few yards within the boundary. Panthers had dropped a couple of hard chances after the first four drops but thereafter held the catches that came their way.
Satheesh was run out in a mix up with Sam. Ajay picked up three wickets in the final over as batsmen lofted him in the outfield where fielders made no mistake. Eagles reached a healthy score of 118/8 in 20 overs.
Samir and Rosie were the most economical bowlers for the Panthers and Ajay came up with a four wicket haul.
Panthers began the chase with Santosh and Yogesh opening the batting. Satheesh bowled an erratic first over conceeding 11 runs with the ball landing short and posing no problems for both the openers. Hari bowling the second over was smashed for a boundary by Santosh. Karthik was hit towards square leg for a boundary by Santosh. Karthik however came back to knock the stumps of Santosh as he tried to play across to a fullish ball. Samir replaced Yogesh and there began a phase where both batsmen placed the ball well and ran quick singles at times even when the ball was headed towards the fielder. Loose balls were placed for a two or three with an ocassional boundary also coming along. Panthers had 39 on board in 6 overs with the loss of just one wicket. Sam, Rupesh and Shekhar then bowled three quiet overs yielding just 11 runs with Rupesh bowling a maiden in the 9th over. Panthers went in to the break with a score of 50/1 with Samir and Yogesh well set.
Yogesh was stumped by Rahul on a wide down leg side to give Parag a surprise wicket in the 15th over. Panthers were well in control of the chase by then with Eagles having used up most of their bowling options. The 17th over from Parag yielded 11 runs and Panthers seemed to be cruising towards victory. Satheesh bowled Mudit on the last ball of the 18th over but by then just 4 runs were required for victory. Shekhar did well to conceede just 3 runs in the 19th over to take the game to the 20th over. A wide from Giri brought a 7 wicket victory for the Panthers with an over to spare. Samir played a fantastic knock of 44 * (50b, 4*4). Yogesh played an equally stabilising role to come up with a score of 32 (44b). The patnership between Yogesh and Samir placed the Panthers on the path to victory and also forced the Eagles to utilise all their main bowlers in the search of wickets and hope of restricting the scoring. Sam, Rupesh and Shekar conceeded just 33 runs between them in the 8 overs they bowled.
The 5 match series is balanced at 1-1 with the next two games being extremely critical. Both sides seem to be equal in strength based on performances so far. The side that wins the next one might very well go on to win the series. Eagles went into the game without the essential seven bowlers and paid for it with a few regular bowlers not being up to the mark and part timers not being able to restrict the scoring.
It was an overall a good show on all fronts { cricketing and otherwise :-) } by both sides !
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcppl4hU7xUC3Nw&hl=en
Rupesh and Naman opened for the Eagles and Rosie and Mudit shared the new ball. The first couple of overs were relatively quiet. Rupesh launched one to square leg where the fielder Venkat let one go off his hands for a boundary. Rupesh launched two boundaries on the last two balls of Mudit's next over. The first was a hit straight over the bowlers's head and the next one was hit towards square leg region. The first 6 overs produced 28 runs for no wickets.
Samir and Ajay kept the two batsmen relatively quiet. By then the Panthers had let down about 4 catches in the outfield with the beneficiary being Rupesh on all ocassions. In the 8th over Rupesh edged down the leg side to give Ajay his first wicket. To his credit, Rupesh walked back by himself having scored 23 (33b, 4*4). Naman had been picking singles all along with straight drives on both sides of the wicket coupled with drives square of the wicket on the off side and hits square of the wicket on the leg side. Hari and Naman took the Eagles to the break with 49 on board and no further loss of wickets.
Aravind picked up the wickets of Hari and Naman in the 12th over. Hari was brilliantly caught at short mid-wicket (straightish one) by Samir stretching his left hand out and latching on to the ball. Naman lofted one towards leg and was held by Mudit above his chest. Naman played a solid inning of 30 (36b, 1*4) and definitely made an impression.
Satheesh and Parag scored a few runs until the 16 th over taking the score to 86/4. Yogesh picked up Parag on the 5th ball of his first over. Rosie held Parag on the long off fence just a few yards within the boundary. Panthers had dropped a couple of hard chances after the first four drops but thereafter held the catches that came their way.
Satheesh was run out in a mix up with Sam. Ajay picked up three wickets in the final over as batsmen lofted him in the outfield where fielders made no mistake. Eagles reached a healthy score of 118/8 in 20 overs.
Samir and Rosie were the most economical bowlers for the Panthers and Ajay came up with a four wicket haul.
Panthers began the chase with Santosh and Yogesh opening the batting. Satheesh bowled an erratic first over conceeding 11 runs with the ball landing short and posing no problems for both the openers. Hari bowling the second over was smashed for a boundary by Santosh. Karthik was hit towards square leg for a boundary by Santosh. Karthik however came back to knock the stumps of Santosh as he tried to play across to a fullish ball. Samir replaced Yogesh and there began a phase where both batsmen placed the ball well and ran quick singles at times even when the ball was headed towards the fielder. Loose balls were placed for a two or three with an ocassional boundary also coming along. Panthers had 39 on board in 6 overs with the loss of just one wicket. Sam, Rupesh and Shekhar then bowled three quiet overs yielding just 11 runs with Rupesh bowling a maiden in the 9th over. Panthers went in to the break with a score of 50/1 with Samir and Yogesh well set.
Yogesh was stumped by Rahul on a wide down leg side to give Parag a surprise wicket in the 15th over. Panthers were well in control of the chase by then with Eagles having used up most of their bowling options. The 17th over from Parag yielded 11 runs and Panthers seemed to be cruising towards victory. Satheesh bowled Mudit on the last ball of the 18th over but by then just 4 runs were required for victory. Shekhar did well to conceede just 3 runs in the 19th over to take the game to the 20th over. A wide from Giri brought a 7 wicket victory for the Panthers with an over to spare. Samir played a fantastic knock of 44 * (50b, 4*4). Yogesh played an equally stabilising role to come up with a score of 32 (44b). The patnership between Yogesh and Samir placed the Panthers on the path to victory and also forced the Eagles to utilise all their main bowlers in the search of wickets and hope of restricting the scoring. Sam, Rupesh and Shekar conceeded just 33 runs between them in the 8 overs they bowled.
The 5 match series is balanced at 1-1 with the next two games being extremely critical. Both sides seem to be equal in strength based on performances so far. The side that wins the next one might very well go on to win the series. Eagles went into the game without the essential seven bowlers and paid for it with a few regular bowlers not being up to the mark and part timers not being able to restrict the scoring.
It was an overall a good show on all fronts { cricketing and otherwise :-) } by both sides !
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pEn3926bpcppl4hU7xUC3Nw&hl=en
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