JECC beat Echelon by 5 wickets.
Echelon were all out for 82 in 27.5 overs, batting first; JECC managed to score the required 83 in 20 overs for the loss of 5 wickets.
Man of the Match: Mital - for taking 4 wickets in an excellent spell of fast bowling resulting in a complete collapse of the Echelon batting order.
The figures of 5 overs 2 maidens, 4 wickets for just 5 runs were a reward of Mital’s consistent line and length and the effort he put into the wicket balls.
Bowling: Echelon won the toss and surprisingly opted to bat first in damp conditions. Suneel and Mital made good use of the new ball. Suneel got a perfect start with a maiden and Mital went one step ahead with a wicket maiden in his first over getting the opener off a fast, swinging yorker..
The batsmen had no clue to this type of quality bowling which resulted in mounting pressure and wild swings of the bat. Nothing connected though.. instead they kept losing wickets. Suneel got a wicket to a good catch by Sekhar and Mital followed it up by another 2 wickets to finish his first spell with 3 wickets.
The bowling change of Preetham and Sreenath was upto the task keeping a tight line, giving nothing away. Sreenath, as usual, got a couple of wickets ith good bowling.
Preetham was unplayable with his quick whippy action, zipping the ball past the bat regularly. He bowled unchanged for 7 overs going for only 12 runs. A wicket off his bowling was a brilliant catch in the gully by Ganadeep.
By this time, the lower order batsmen were swinging their bats to anything pitched up. One guy- Vaibhav was a neat striker who was, clearing the ground very easily and threatened to run away with the game. Dhanushka kept things tight from one end with his variations in pace but the last overs of Sreenath, preetham and a couple of overs by myself leaked some sixes that got them some momentum. Mital came into the attack and immediately got rid of the troublemaker. Dhanu got a couple of wickets to clean up the tail ending the Echelon innings for 82. He is on a hatrick going into the next game.
Batting: Preetham and myself came out in a positive mode and started the innings briskly. A couple of overs later, preetham got out to an top edged pull and Mital followed him soon after getting out, attempting a big shot. Suneel and myself steadied the innings a bit taking the extras and chipping in with ones and two’s.
Suneel was out later on, unfortunately to a good shot. With only 30 odd runs to go, I was involved in a mix up with Amit and got run out. Dhanu and Amit got us within striking distance with some good hits, but Amit too was run out in a similar fashion, letting Sekhar hit the winning runs for us.
Echelon: From the time they stepped on the ground, Echelon was trying to get into unnecessary fights hurling abuses for nothing. I think they were looking for a rained out/abandoned game might that might atleast give them a point! The umpire was also visibly upset with this behavior. They argued very much about a chipped catch to shot cover while they batted and an attempted stumping during our batting; walking off the field to complain to the officials. The umpire and CLNJ sorted it out after they figured that they were risking giving a walkover.
This was one of the worst teams to play with in terms of behavior..
Kudos to JECC ..we realized that it would be our loss if there was a fight and we played the game almost in silence, not even celebrating much for a wicket; we might risk provoking them into an argument! In the end, hopefully we showed them how a good team has to be..how to conduct yourself on the field..
Verdict: We knew that we would win this game but were cautious not to take things easily. The effort in the bowling paid off but batting was a bit too aggressive.
All were gifted wickets to Echelon and a 150+ score might have troubled us. We have to make sure that we play clinically no matter who the opposition is.
Once the other batsmen -Suneel, Mital, G, preetham etc.. - get into some form and fire, we can expect big scores going into the playoffs. Its only a matter of time!
Score card: http://www.dreamcricket.com/clnj/scorecarddisplay.aspx?gameid=1866
Monday, June 15, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Match Report: JECC vs Hightstown, 06/07 @ Far Hills
JECC beat Hightstown by 52 runs
In the allotted 35 overs, JECC scored 151/8 and got Hightstown (HCC) all out for 99 in 34.1 overs to leapfrog to the top of the points table.
Being undefeated this season, we are a good 2 points ahead of Warriors and HCC.
Scorecard: http://www.dreamcricket.com/clnj/scorecarddisplay.aspx?gameid=1843
Man of the Match: Rushi Amin for scoring an excellent 60 runs in a 50+ run partnership with Les, that held our innings together;and a brilliant spell of opening bowling with Suneel that left the HCC batsmen utterly helpless.
Water: We toiled for a better part of 3 hrs in the ground mopping up puddles and a smallish pond that was oozing water all along. It was a back breaking effort from the entire team to get the ground in shape so that we don’t share a point with the opponent.
This sort of attitude is what separates us from the average teams. It was easy to call off the game with the water on the ground, but the work we put in shows the heart that our guys put in..we just wouldn’t give up a point so easily.
A wet vacuum pumped out the water and everyone drained out big buckets of water..man..water is heavy! We used everything we could to cover up the remaining puddles..bits of mats, old tarp, new tarps..which turned out to be very good effort, as not even one ball in the entire game went there or was wet! Kudos to everyone!
Batting: Coming to the game, HCC won the toss and put us in on a heavy outfield and ‘damp’ conditions. The ball zipped around a bit initially but their dibbly dobbly bowlers didn’t have enough pace for us to work with. Mital and I opened the innings, giving some respite to Rajesh, who, along with everyone else was tired after a ‘yard work’. Well, the very slow bowlers did the trick as I spooned an easy catch to get out for nought. Suneel negotiated some good deliveries before getting out to a jaffa from their only pace bowler. Mital looked good for a while but was out soon after for 9 and we were in spot of bother with 3 wickets down in 7 overs.
Les and Rushi played a match winning innings together to get us back in style. Rushi started off blazing with a string of boundaries before settling down to play out the innings. Les supported him well initially but opened up when he got used to the pace and bounce of our wicket.
Together, Les and Rushi negated the slow to very slow bowling of HCC by running well and hitting only when they got to the pitch of the ball. Les hit some big shots, placing them well and was looking set for a big score. Both the batsmen played sensibly taking the singles on offer in a spread out field. They got the score to 94 in 24 overs and were looking to get aggressive in the last 10 overs.
Just when things were looking ominous for HCC, Les and Rushi got mixed up in calling resulting in Les getting run out. Rajesh and Dhanu were out without scoring. Amit played some good shots but was out soon after, but we still had some batting left and were looking for a 150+ score. It was a nice situation for Himanshu to enter and swing his bat around. He played some lusty blows to pile on the score and ran well. Meanwhile, Rushi got to his 50 with a stylish boundary and was looking good for a bigger score. He got us close to 150, but was out trying to accelerate. Murali and Himanshu got us to 151 which was plenty on our ground to defend.
Bowling: Suneel and Rushi showed the awestruck batsmen from Hightstown just how well they can use the new ball. With perfect seam position, Suneel started off brilliantly with a wicket maiden and a catch in the slips by Rushi. The 8-1 test match field with 4 slips and a gully didn’t seem enough as the batsmen weren’t that good to nick the deliveries from Suneel and Rushi and were beaten consistently. Asif leapt up into the air and caught a brilliant one handed catch in the gully to Rushi's first wicket.
Amit kept well to the swinging ball to get get Suneel's second one and it looked like we were going to wrap em up for under 50.
Mital and Himanshu bowled after the changeover from Suneel and Rushi but gave no respite to the batsmen. With their zip, bounce and movement, they amazed the Hightstown batsmen, who were looking to get settled after the first bowling change!
Mital bowled a very good spell, unchanged and was rewarded for his consistent line and length. He got their main batsman Ubaid caught behind off his second ball. Himanshu was unplayable too either beating the bat or hitting the batsman on their pads/body. Runs were very hard to come by.
The bowling change off Himanshu's end leaked some runs off Asif and Dhanushka, but our dropped catches didn’t help their cause at all. Asif got a wicket off an excellent swinging Yorker, but wasn’t himself , tired and dizzy with the heat and exhaustion from the all day. Murali bowled well at the end but it was himanshu, who put the final nail in the coffin, letting the stumps fly off a brilliant yorker. We let the innings drag on a bit but were able to finish off HCC for 99 in 34 overs.
Verdict: A win is good to rejoice and overlook the errors, but a retrospective of what we missed and where we can improve is good. Our batting needs to chip in with atleast 20 runs from everyone. Three ducks doesn’t look good on a scorecard and I am the first one to blame. A tired body with all the hard work didn’t help matters but the focus needs to be there when we step out to bat. Les and Rushi are looking very consistent every game and the rest of us need to step up .
Our bowling attack seems to be the best in the league and the expressions on the batsmen facing us said it all. Asif, Dhanushka, Murali and Myself weren’t used much inspite of which we troubled the hell out of the batting lineup. It’s a nice headache to have for a captain with so many excellent bowlers, but I do feel bad for some of the guys who wait all week to bowl and don’t get enough chances with the ball.
This kind of dragged on proceedings a bit, as I had to rotate the bowling, but we didn’t let the game out of the hand any time.
Some brilliant catches were taken, but more easy ones were dropped. Practice and concentration is the key as a spilled catch can be very costly some times.
Next game against Echelon is manageable but still important as we are looking to win everything. Please sign up and make yourselves available.
In the allotted 35 overs, JECC scored 151/8 and got Hightstown (HCC) all out for 99 in 34.1 overs to leapfrog to the top of the points table.
Being undefeated this season, we are a good 2 points ahead of Warriors and HCC.
Scorecard: http://www.dreamcricket.com/clnj/scorecarddisplay.aspx?gameid=1843
Man of the Match: Rushi Amin for scoring an excellent 60 runs in a 50+ run partnership with Les, that held our innings together;and a brilliant spell of opening bowling with Suneel that left the HCC batsmen utterly helpless.
Water: We toiled for a better part of 3 hrs in the ground mopping up puddles and a smallish pond that was oozing water all along. It was a back breaking effort from the entire team to get the ground in shape so that we don’t share a point with the opponent.
This sort of attitude is what separates us from the average teams. It was easy to call off the game with the water on the ground, but the work we put in shows the heart that our guys put in..we just wouldn’t give up a point so easily.
A wet vacuum pumped out the water and everyone drained out big buckets of water..man..water is heavy! We used everything we could to cover up the remaining puddles..bits of mats, old tarp, new tarps..which turned out to be very good effort, as not even one ball in the entire game went there or was wet! Kudos to everyone!
Batting: Coming to the game, HCC won the toss and put us in on a heavy outfield and ‘damp’ conditions. The ball zipped around a bit initially but their dibbly dobbly bowlers didn’t have enough pace for us to work with. Mital and I opened the innings, giving some respite to Rajesh, who, along with everyone else was tired after a ‘yard work’. Well, the very slow bowlers did the trick as I spooned an easy catch to get out for nought. Suneel negotiated some good deliveries before getting out to a jaffa from their only pace bowler. Mital looked good for a while but was out soon after for 9 and we were in spot of bother with 3 wickets down in 7 overs.
Les and Rushi played a match winning innings together to get us back in style. Rushi started off blazing with a string of boundaries before settling down to play out the innings. Les supported him well initially but opened up when he got used to the pace and bounce of our wicket.
Together, Les and Rushi negated the slow to very slow bowling of HCC by running well and hitting only when they got to the pitch of the ball. Les hit some big shots, placing them well and was looking set for a big score. Both the batsmen played sensibly taking the singles on offer in a spread out field. They got the score to 94 in 24 overs and were looking to get aggressive in the last 10 overs.
Just when things were looking ominous for HCC, Les and Rushi got mixed up in calling resulting in Les getting run out. Rajesh and Dhanu were out without scoring. Amit played some good shots but was out soon after, but we still had some batting left and were looking for a 150+ score. It was a nice situation for Himanshu to enter and swing his bat around. He played some lusty blows to pile on the score and ran well. Meanwhile, Rushi got to his 50 with a stylish boundary and was looking good for a bigger score. He got us close to 150, but was out trying to accelerate. Murali and Himanshu got us to 151 which was plenty on our ground to defend.
Bowling: Suneel and Rushi showed the awestruck batsmen from Hightstown just how well they can use the new ball. With perfect seam position, Suneel started off brilliantly with a wicket maiden and a catch in the slips by Rushi. The 8-1 test match field with 4 slips and a gully didn’t seem enough as the batsmen weren’t that good to nick the deliveries from Suneel and Rushi and were beaten consistently. Asif leapt up into the air and caught a brilliant one handed catch in the gully to Rushi's first wicket.
Amit kept well to the swinging ball to get get Suneel's second one and it looked like we were going to wrap em up for under 50.
Mital and Himanshu bowled after the changeover from Suneel and Rushi but gave no respite to the batsmen. With their zip, bounce and movement, they amazed the Hightstown batsmen, who were looking to get settled after the first bowling change!
Mital bowled a very good spell, unchanged and was rewarded for his consistent line and length. He got their main batsman Ubaid caught behind off his second ball. Himanshu was unplayable too either beating the bat or hitting the batsman on their pads/body. Runs were very hard to come by.
The bowling change off Himanshu's end leaked some runs off Asif and Dhanushka, but our dropped catches didn’t help their cause at all. Asif got a wicket off an excellent swinging Yorker, but wasn’t himself , tired and dizzy with the heat and exhaustion from the all day. Murali bowled well at the end but it was himanshu, who put the final nail in the coffin, letting the stumps fly off a brilliant yorker. We let the innings drag on a bit but were able to finish off HCC for 99 in 34 overs.
Verdict: A win is good to rejoice and overlook the errors, but a retrospective of what we missed and where we can improve is good. Our batting needs to chip in with atleast 20 runs from everyone. Three ducks doesn’t look good on a scorecard and I am the first one to blame. A tired body with all the hard work didn’t help matters but the focus needs to be there when we step out to bat. Les and Rushi are looking very consistent every game and the rest of us need to step up .
Our bowling attack seems to be the best in the league and the expressions on the batsmen facing us said it all. Asif, Dhanushka, Murali and Myself weren’t used much inspite of which we troubled the hell out of the batting lineup. It’s a nice headache to have for a captain with so many excellent bowlers, but I do feel bad for some of the guys who wait all week to bowl and don’t get enough chances with the ball.
This kind of dragged on proceedings a bit, as I had to rotate the bowling, but we didn’t let the game out of the hand any time.
Some brilliant catches were taken, but more easy ones were dropped. Practice and concentration is the key as a spilled catch can be very costly some times.
Next game against Echelon is manageable but still important as we are looking to win everything. Please sign up and make yourselves available.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Match Report: JECC vs Crescent @ Woodbrook - 05/31
JECC beat Crescent by 71 runs
Man of the Match: Shared between Les and Dhanushka. Les scored an important 50 runs to stabilize the innings with Sekhar in a 74 run partnership. Dhanushka took a 5 wicket haul (5/30) to dismantle the Crescent batting lineup.
Batting: We won the toss and elected to bat on a sunny, but windy day. Rajesh and me had to just negiotiate the bowling as the Crescent bowlers were leaking wides every over. After a 33 run partnership in 8 overs, Rajesh was run out in a mixup with me which brought Mital to the crease. I was out bowled soon after to a ball that hit my pad and rolled on to the stumps. Preetham and Mital played some delightful shots to take us into the break. Mital was looking ominous with some wonderful shots down the ground but was soon out caught to a checked shot on a full toss delivery.
With Preetham and Suneel out quickly, Les and Sekhar had to negiotiate a difficult passage of play. They played intelligently, cutting down the risks and taking the singles on offer. The score was ticking along fine with 3-4 runs an over. After settling down and facing a change of bowling, both batsmen opened up and hit some wonderful shots with placement and timing. The second break got us to 140 in 30 overs and a 200+ total was on the cards. Sekhar launched into their strike bowler hitting a huge six, straight down the ground. With our intentions clear, Crescent panicked on the field. Les played some big hits before getting out for a well made 50. Sekhar was out soon after for a neat 35. Dhanushka, Murali and Asif helped the score to tip over 200 at the end of 40 overs.
Bowling: With a psychological advantage of having 202 to defend, Suneel and Himanshu bowled to an attacking field. It had to take some talent to negotiate both of them which Crescent lacked, and lost their opening pair to Himanshu. One of his wickets was courtesy - Suneel, who took a binder of a catch in the slips. The next batsmen for Crescent were intent to scratch around, trying for a rain delay (there were some clouds) which didn’t help our cause to get wickets. LBW’s were out of question for this game, as the umpire was never sure..this kind of helped us as a couple of close calls went our way.
Murali and Asif tried in vain which caused Dhanushka to step in and show why he is an expert with the old ball. With me bowling spin tidily from one end, Dhanu made the ball dance around from the other end. This didn’t leave much of an option for Crescent than to succumb to Dhanu’s bowling. He got a wicket almost every alternate over with some excellent catches by Srinath, Himanshu and Mital in the deep. Murali kept wickets for a while giving Rajesh some well needed rest to claim one of the catches for Dhanu. Dhanu caught one off his bowling to get his 5 for in his allotted 8 overs. Asif cleaned up the tail as usual with his efficient bowling wrapping up Crescent for 134 in 34 overs.
Verdict: Very good outing for us against a Div1 team. The top order looked good but did not fire. It was left to consolidate first and attack in the last 10 overs which we did very well. We scored 74 in the last 10 losing 4 wickets. With wickets in hand, we attacked well in the last two games. It is important to keep wickets in hand to make the surge in the final overs and we should make sure we follow the template. Catching was excellent as we did not drop anything, but rather took some excellent catches. Fielding and bowling was tidy but we have areas to improve.
The next game is against Hightstown which is one of the best teams in the division. Please make yourselves available.
Score card: http://www.dreamcricket.com/clnj/scorecarddisplay.aspx?gameid=1820
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