Match Report: Intone Eagles vs Princeton @ Far hills, 08/12/12

Eagles lost to Princeton by 3 wickets in a must win game to get promoted to Div B.

Batting first, Intone Eagles were all out for 140 in 38 overs. Princeton managed to chase down the total in 34 overs for the loss of 7 wickets. 

Sid’s composed 46 was the highlight of our batting.

Batting: We lost the toss and were put into bat in wet conditions. The heavy grass in addition to a damp outfield and pitch were going to make run scoring difficult and we lost quick wickets within the first hour of play. Most of our batsmen got a good look in and were settled, but got out playing expansive shots leading to a collapse.

Dhanu and Lucky opened the innings and started off cautiously. After getting a good look in, Dhanu opened up with a beautiful six off a casual flick. With a couple of big shots over cover, he looked well underway but he got out bowled off the slow bowler Rajesh. Lucky looked to stabilize with Ananth on the other end, but Ananth too got out quickly to a lofted shot after hitting a boundary. Nagarjun settled in and tee’d off with a big six, but got out to a bad lbw decision.

Sid replaced Naga and together with lucky, resisted a bit when against the run of play Lucky was out caught behind with the score at 40 for 4. I followed lucky soon after for a duck, again going for a lofted shot.

Chinmay and Sid went about reparing the damage from our batting collapse by a mix of aggressive shots and good running. A steady partnership ensued where Sid played some wristy shots and Chinmay walloped a big six off a pull towards the pavilion. Chinmay got out bowled for 14 just when he was looking good.

Sekhar came in and calmed down things  with quick running and well placed shots. Sid, from the other end got settled well and took it back to the bowlers with some great shots all round the park. His footwork and timing were good, but he was running out of partners when Sekhar got out off a close run out appeal for 10.

Venkatesh came in next and looked very good from the outset. A couple of delightful drives were a treat to watch. Things were looking rosy with a well set Sid and Venkatesh taking the attack to the bowlers. We took the batting power play in the 36^th over when Sid and Venki got out trying to accelerate the scoring. Sid made a very well made 46 in tough conditions which would equate to atleast 75-80 on a decent outfield.

Asif was the last man out again trying for a bit hit leaving Murali stranded on the other end. We were all out for 140 in 39 overs.

Bowling: In those conditions, 140 was a pretty good total to fight. 180+ would have been a winning score, but 140 meant that we need disciplined bowling with quick wickets against a good batting lineup of Princeton. Murali and Dhanu did just that resulting in a snap-it catch by Venkatesh off Dhanushka. It was Dhanu’s consistent swing and line that got us the catch of their big scorer Srikar. Murali continued the pressure with good line and length and the second wicket resulted in a spectacular catch by Asif at gully. He leapt forward and to his left to take this amazing catch! Dhanu and murali continued the good work and it paid off when Murali got another wicket, bowled off his indipper.

At this stage we got three wickets in 10 odd overs with only 30 on the board, most of the runs came off wides. A couple of wickets more should have got us in, but the next two batsmen resisted a lot and saw off Chinmay’s and Venkatesh’s spells with some quick runs. Murali got me in to introduce spin after the drinks break. It took me a couple of overs to get good loop and line going, resulting in a wicket off a quicker ball. A couple of more tight overs from me and Sid followed during which a few catching chances were given. I got another wicket with a good caught and bowled off my bowling. Asif was got in from the other end. He bowled well but the runs slowly kept coming off edges and mistimed shots.

Meanwhile, Dhanushka got injured hit on the head when he leapt up to attempt a catch on the boundary. He got a small bruise, but felt OK to bowl after that. A smart piece of run out by Nagarjun off a attempted legbye got us another important breakthrough. The runs still kept leaking through extras and mishits, but the pressure was always there on the batsmen. Dhanu got their captain lbw to lead us into the final session of the game with 40 odd needed in the last 12 overs. The settled batsman Sriharsha got some big hits off Venkatesh and Murali to get to his 50 and then got his team closer to victory. 

In the end, the runs just weren’t there for us to defend anymore and Princeton were able to win it with 6 overs remaining.

Verdict: 30 more runs would have made the match really tight. It was a good bowling performance, but we gave a lot of extras, almost 35. 

We took some good catches, but also left two-three catchable ones. We went in with a big batting line up and most of our batsmen couldn't cope up with tough conditions, outfield and the dampness. The ones who got a look in couldn’t build a innings worth a big score. 

Sid played very well with the support of Sekhar, Chinmay and Venkatesh. This should be a lesson for the playoffs and we should seriously put effort in playing/batting as a unit with a clear goal in mind.

Score Card

Match # 6177
Intone Eagles Cricket Club v/s Princeton Cricket Club
Far Hills
08/12/2012(40-over match)
Result	princeton Won Intone Eagles Cricket Club:140/10 in 39.0 Princeton Cricket Club:143/7 in 34.0
Comments
Toss	Intone Eagles Cricket Club
Umpires	BurgiRamlackhan
Man of the Match	1.
	2.
Intone Eagles Cricket Club Innings (40 overs maximum) R B 4 6 Niladhar Rao Caught Rajesh Soleti 11 0 0 0 Dhanushka Haputhanthri Bowled Rajesh Soleti 11 0 0 1 Ananthkrishnan Gopalakrishnan Caught Abhijit Shaw 5 0 1 0 Nagarjun Aleti LBW Tulasi K 8 0 0 1 Siddharth Jayakumar Caught Mohan Paribrajak 46 0 3 0 Dilip Kovuri Caught Rajesh Soleti 0 0 0 0 Chinmay Bhat Bowled Harish Gadre 14 0 0 1 Venkatesh Donavalli Bowled Girish Reddy 14 0 0 0 Shekhar Vajjhal Run Out 10 0 1 0 Murali Vijjapurapu Not Out 2 0 0 0 Asif Mahmood Caught Girish Reddy 0 0 0 0
Extras	(b 0, lb 0, w 0, nb 0)
Totals	(10 wickets in 39.0 overs) 140
FOW
Bowling O B M R W Abhijit Shaw 5 0 0 21 1 Rajesh Soleti 8 0 1 16 3 Tulasi K 6 0 1 19 1 Sriharsha Boddepalli 6 0 0 20 0 Harish Gadre 5 0 0 26 1 Mohammad Shaikh 3 0 0 16 0 Girish Reddy 3 0 0 12 2 Mohan Paribrajak 2 0 0 7 1
Princeton Cricket ClubInnings (target : 141 runs from 40.0 overs) R B 4 6 Srikar Reddy Caught Dhanushka Haputhanthri 7 0 0 1 Harish Gadre Caught Murali Vijjapurapu 0 0 0 0 Vimal V Bowled Murali Vijjapurapu 3 0 0 0 Sriharsha Boddepalli Not Out 60 0 5 2 Mohammad Shaikh Bowled Dilip Kovuri 18 0 2 0 Girish Reddy Caught Dilip Kovuri 1 0 0 0 Venkat Sarath Run Out 7 0 0 0 Rajesh Soleti LBW 1 0 0 0 Mohan Paribrajak Not Out 8 0 0 0 Tulasi K Did not bat 0 0 0 0 Abhijit Shaw Did not bat 0 0 0 0
Extras	(b 0, lb 0, w 0, nb 0)
Totals	(7 wickets in 34.0 overs) 143
FOW
Bowling O B M R W Murali Vijjapurapu 6 0 0 29 2 Dhanushka Haputhanthri 7 0 1 25 2 Chinmay Bhat 3 0 0 8 0 Venkatesh Donavalli 4 0 0 17 0 Dilip Kovuri 8 0 0 30 2 Siddharth Jayakumar 3 0 0 15 0 Asif Mahmood 4 0 0 14 0