Match report: JECC vs Piscataway @ Piscataway - 06/27

JECC lost to Piscataway by 4 wickets.

Batting first JECC were all-out for 121 in 26 overs and Piscataway managed to score 122 in 25 overs for the loss of 6 wickets.

Scorecard:http://www.dreamcricket.com/clnj/scorecarddisplay.aspx?gameid=3573

Batting: Only 2 batsmen got into double figures. Not that the Piscataway bowling was menacing or unplayable. Apart from one dubious decision against Sid by our ‘favorite’ umpire, Mr. Diwakar the rest of the batting line up just collapsed to big shots off dibbly dobbly bowlers.

Lucky’s innings was the only bright spot in our batting. He played a classy innings of 38 not out with no support from the other end. Asif played a brief hand to support but got out to a slower ball. Lucky hit three magnificent sixes and a couple of fours all of which were wonderfully timed and placed. With some support, Lucky could have got us to atleast 150 which would have been a fighting score on the ground, but unfortunately, we got all out for 121.

Bowling: We had to take wickets, and the catching positions yielded a couple of tough catches that were dropped. Edges kept flying to the boundary and within no time, Piscataway were off to a flying start. Karthik and Sid’s bowling was good, and they beat the bat regularly, edges were coming, but wickets weren’t – until a lbw decision went our way and an excellent diving catch by Mital at third man got us going. Murali came in to bowl as the pace was getting easier to hit for the batsmen and got a wicket immediately.
Mital and Dhanu put on the pressure later on but we couldn’t generate any wickets as the batsmen were looking to just block it out. Asif and Ajay then came on to bowl a wonderful spell together and almost got us through. With accurate bowling, they created the pressure and took three wickets amongst them. But the spark in our field and bowling came a bit too late and with very few runs to defend, we lost the game in 25 overs.

Verdict: It was almost a 20-20 game. All our batsmen were in a hurry to hit and got out. We couldn’t do much in bowling as the score on that ground, with short boundaries was just not enough. We have to look to play 40 overs, even if you just block out the bowling. That will atleast fetch us 150 and tire out the opposition.

Match report: JECC vs Prince @ Far hills, 06/20

JECC lost to Prince CC by 35 runs

Batting first, Prince were allout for 178 in 39 overs. In reply, JECC got allout for 143 in 35 overs.

Brilliant fighting knock of 45 by Ganadeep was the only saving grace in our batting.

ScoreCard: http://www.dreamcricket.com/clnj/scorecarddisplay.aspx?gameid=3727

Bowling: Prince won the toss and elected to bat on a hot and humid day. One of our new players – Sushanth didn’t bother to show up or inform us about his absence for the game and we fielded with 10 throughout the innings. A sick Ganadeep answered the teams call and came into play as 11th player.
Bowling in the heat was difficult as the batsman were able to negotiate the opening spell by Suneel and Sid. Suneel got the first breakthrough, lbw but the next couple of batsman stuck on. Mital and Dhanu, came in as first change and kept things tight.

The pressure mounted and an sparkling fieling and direct hit run out by Vishal dismissed their main batsman. Another run out ensued, with Suneel and Mital getting into the act. Our new player Ajay came onto replace Mital and was spot on with his line and length and movement off the seam. With Dhanu settling into a nice rhythm on the other end, things looked bleak for the Prince batsman as the overs kept rushing by without any runs. A couple of quick wickets came in the process. The highlight was a tough but cool catch in the slips by Ananth off Ajays bowling.

The prince batsmen meanwhile got settled and were looking ominous towards the later part of Dhanu’s spell in the slog overs and went for some big shots. The change in the bowling got them the needed momentum and they launched into Mital’s, mine and Rishis bowling, a 5 over spell going for more than 40 runs. A couple of dropped catches didn’t help our cause and the heat caused fielding lapses that got them the runs needed. Two of Prince’s batsmen, a lefty latched on to our bowling, hitting Mital for three consecutive sixes and a couple more off mine and Rishi’s bowling.
As with the earlier games, the last 10 overs yielded a majority of runs. Suneel came into wrap up the things and got two wickets in the process. Prince were allout for 178 in 39 overs.

Batting: Ajay, opening with me, hit the first ball of the innings for an uppercut four ala sehwag, signaling our intentions chasing 178. We had to resort to only pull shots as the Prince bowlers repeatedly bowled short and into the body. Runs kept flowing as we scored 25 in 5 overs when Ajay got out for 11 to a mistimed pullshot. Ananth’s stay was brief as he was out bowled to a skidder off their fast bowler Irfan. I was out bowled soon after to a slower ball for 12 and Mital followed soon after.

Sid with Suneel and later with Gana kept things in control, scoring off bad deliveries and saw off some tough overs. But Suneel and Sid got out soon and we were staring down the barrel.
Karteek came into support Gana for a while and to kept things in check, but the mounting run rate built up the pressure, resulting in Karteek and Vishal’s wickets.

Ganadeep, meanwhile was looking in good touch, ignoring his fever. He ran well and timed the ball all around the park. Dhanu and Gana went into counterattack mode for about 5overs when runs started to flow. Sixes, fours were coming regularly when Dhanu got out to a mistimed shot leaving Rishi to support Gana for the last wicket. And boy, did he support well!
He stood up bravely to the hostile bowling and close in fielding. The Prince bowlers showed no mercy to the little boy and kept bowling short. Gana farmed the strike well and hit a cuple of glorious sixes, getting us into striking distance of the target. Prince tried to hurry up things and get Rishi to take strike but both of them batted intelligently and kept things at bay.
With 35 needed off five overs, Gana was out bowled to a yorker and JECC were allout for 143 .

Verdict: With some support, Ganadeep could have pulled things off for us, but we gave away too many runs to begin with. We have to rethink our strategy as we’ve been seeing in every game that the lower order batsmen are making runs and we are losing plot in the slog overs. A bit of energy in the field and catching might have saved some runs, but 5-8 overs of bad bowling cost us the game in the end.

Match Report: JECC vs NJIT, 06/13 @ Far hills

Match Rained out .

JECC won the toss and elected to bat, scoring 191 all-out in 39 overs. In reply, only 2 overs were bowled by us when rain came down and the match was called off.

Scorecard: http://www.dreamcricket.com/clnj/scorecarddisplay.aspx?gameid=3526

Batting: We gelled together as a team and batted really well where everyone contributed to the total against some good bowling by NJIT.Our batting clicked with all of the top order getting good starts and kept the momentum going.
A 50 run opening partnership in 10 overs between Karthik and myself set the tone for the batting order to follow. We started off cautiously but made sure the runs kept on trickling and flowing after the new ball lost the shine. Karthik scored a classy 19 which included a mighty six and some good twos but he fell to catch in the gully , just when he was looking set. Ananth came in to bat next and was in his groove immediately, playing some delightful shots around the ground and a couple of amazing sixes off the spinners in a 18-run over that almost demoralized the NJIT bowling. He fell for 25 trying a big shot. I played the anchor role, rotating the strike for Ananth and Suneel, who was beginning to score freely at the other end. We crossed 100 when Suneel got out for 16 and I followed soon after for 38, trying to accelerate the score.

Mital and Gana picked up the momentum with some wonderful shots and good running between the wickets. Gana got out for 20 after a good partnership after which Murali came in and gave good support to Mital, who was looking set after hitting a big six and a boundary. They crossed the 150+ mark for 30 overs and when Mital got out for a well made 27. Murali hit a six and ran well but was run out in a mix up with Vishal. Dhanu, Vishal, Srinath and Uday, played well in the end to get us close to 200.

Verdict: All the batsmen clicked in this game but got out after being set. NJIT kept everyone on leash without letting the match go out of their hands. The outfield was very heavy and the muggy conditions didn’t help the running when batting. We missed a big hitter in the last 10 overs too. With wickets in hand, we should have easily got 70+ runs, but 191 was a good total to defend on our ground.

Match report: JECC vs Paki Hawks @ Far hills, June 6th

JECC Won against Paki Hawks by 20 runs

Setting 159 target to Paki Hawks, they were all out 120 in 28 over’s (Revised target of 139 in 35 over’s due to rain affect).

Brilliant team effort and superior fielding helped us achieve our first win. Half century by Ananth was the highlight of our batting.

Scorecard:

Batting: Winning the toss and selecting Batting was no brainer. I opened with Karthik. Karthik was out soon without opening his account due to unlucky decision of lbw (previous shout was close). Ananth and I played cautiously and we put away the bad balls with ease. I was out for a cut shot for 15 runs and Sid came in. Sid and Ananth partnered well, though Sid scored only 5 he stayed there for 25 balls and gave good support to Ananth. Mital came in next and came into the grove fast and also gave good support to Ananth who now looked to score at every opportunity he was given. Ananth got out just before the break trying to accelerate. Two run outs was unfortunate which slowed our scoring and we had reduce our achievable target. Gana ,Vishal scored well at the end of the innings and we ended up 158 in 40 overs with 9 wickets.

Everyone pitched in and I am very happy with the way we batted. The key was staying on the wicket and supporting the batsman who is in form.

Bowling: I and Mital opened the bowling and immediately I got an early breakthrough. I picked up three wickets and one was due to a brilliant catch from Dhanu at short cover. Mital also got us the breakthrough but since there was rain at horizon I brought in Sid to fasten up our over rate. Sid bowled his trademark line and length inswinging deliveries but alas after 8 over’s rain started falling and I was bit tensed if the rain would stop us getting our first win.

The target was reduced to 139 in 35 over’s which helped their cause.

But rain stopped and we started our quest for wickets. Due to the rain ball became wet and stopped swinging. Asif, karthik bowled well but the batsman started to pick them for runs. I was desperate of wicket so I brought dhanu and he picked the wicket in his first over. Later on the partnership started to build again and so I brought Gana and he supported my decision by picking up the wicket.

This is the third time but again the partnership started to build and the target was really close 36 runs in 9 over’s with 3 wickets in hand. So I gambled by brining Srinath in and he picked up the most needed wicket at that time. After that Mital and Karthik took the last two wickets and we won comfortably with 20 odd runs.

Verdict: We caught well but still have to improve our ground fielding specially inside the 30 yards. Depending on how the batsmen are running fielders have to move in or move back if they aren’t taking the cheeky singles. Guys you know your ability how fast you could run so based on it start as far as you can but need to stop the singles. If the batsmen aren’t taking the cheeky single stay back if they are come in front.

Other than that this was a team effort and we won because of a team effort.

Go eagles……..