JECC beat SJCC by 2 wickets.
SJCC won the toss and elected to bat first. Bowling first JECC restricted SJCC to 94 runs and managed to chase the target with 2 wickets in hand in 28 overs.
Man of the Match: Rushi Amin his 5 wickets and a determined 18 runs not out . The knock must be especially hard for Rushi as he had to curb his natural instincts and play for the team by staying on the wicket. He scored 18 runs in 44 balls. Kudos to Rushi for playing according to team requirement.
Bowling: Suneel and Rushi started off as new ball bowlers with big swinging deliveries . Suneel got the wicket in first over. And Rushi got into act after he got warmed up from the second over. And he continued to pick up wickets at his will. He got SJCC reeling at 27/6 in the first 14 overs.
After that SJCC batsman stood on the wicket by not scoring many runs. Rest of the bowlers were pretty rusty giving away extras. Asif came back in the second spell and picked up two wickets along with a wicket to preetham. I picked up the final wicket but was hit for 2 sixes in that over.
All in all it was very clinical effort considering it being our first match. But have to control our extras and let the batsman hit the runs. 19 extras in a score of 94 is huge as it eases pressure on the batsman who just tries to stay on the wicket.
Batting: Enter Rajesh & Preetham as the openers. The bowlers of SJCC were very wayward initially. Preetham also couldn't get his timing right as he was trying to hit the ball very hard. but after couple of overs both the batsman started to play well specially Preetham. He scored 26 of 24 balls. I think he tried to force the ball hard because the grass was too high and it wasn't easy to get runs. We need to remedy that. After he got out, rest of the batsman fell like a pack of cards, providing SJCC with lot of confidence in their bowling.
To be honest, it was a division 3 standard bowling. We gave away wickets with some irresponsible shots. Dhanu supported Rushi for 15-20 runs and he got out trying his favorite scoop shot around fine leg and not noticing the fielder there. Asif played really well getting his eye in before scoring the last 15 odd runs in a span of 10 balls.
Rushi played really well supporting the other batsman. And its time the others have to step up and support him.
Verdict: A very good outing in terms of bowling and we made it difficult in batting as we were 50/1 in about 6 overs and we almost gave them the match.
Improvements: We should control our extras and let the batsmen make the runs.
Batsmen who are set should finish of and shouldn't expect the other guys to do the job. The rest have to take up responsibility and get your eye in before going for shots. There was no pressure on anyone for this match to score some fast runs. And try not to take it easy on any stage of the match. Even when we have to score the last run or take the last wicket. Never take the pressure off until the fat lady sings.
All in all this should be an eye opener for us. And all our rustiness in terms of batting should be gone by now.
Special thanks for Rajesh filling the role of keeper and doing an excellent job. And also Dhanuskha and Vishal for tracking the score.
Post your comments and suggestions.
Score Card:
http://www.dreamcricket.com/clnj/scorecarddisplay.aspx?gameid=1730
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ReplyDeletespecial kudos to rajesh the keeper. he was agile and showed his skills with the gloves while filling as the keeper in the last minute. his job wasn't made easy with suneel and rushi's swining deliveries in the opening spell.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations JECC! First win of the season..
ReplyDeleteRushi - awesome bowling and determined batting to see us through. The batting needs to click.
My congratulations to the team. We have started off the right foot, I am sure the rust will come off shortly and we will be a force to be reckoned with.
ReplyDeleteJust a correction, we won by two wickets. Kudos to Rushi who played a big role both as a bowler and a batsman. First of all his swinging deliveries were unplayable and when it came to batting, he curbed his natural offensive instincts and played defensive to meet the team needs. He continued to pick up singles and twos whenever available. He put ensured that win the game, as a loss here would have been very demoralizing.
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot of talent in our team, who didn't click today, but I am sure by the talent and depth of their batting we tailenders don't have to worry about batting at all.
Yes Asif, its 2 wickets..corrected that. We were in a similar situation last year against SGCC jr, a loss which hurt us bad..
ReplyDeleteThe initial rustiness should come off when the season starts and we should not allow ourselves to get into difficult situations especially against weak opponents.
Overall, a good eye opener to start the season.