Batting first after winning the toss, JECC were all out for 183 in 39 overs, thanks to superb batting efforts by Sid, Abhi and Chinmay. We got Middlesex all out for 164 in 36 overs in a tense finish.
Scorecard: http://www.dreamcricket.com/clnj/scorecarddisplay.aspx?gameid=8488
Man of the Match: Chinmay for a great batting effort of 53* that revived yet another batting collapse. His bowling of 4 crucial wickets turned the match in our favor.
Special mentions to Abhi's(50 runs) and Sid's (31 runs) batting that kept us in the match and saved us from a huge batting collapse.
Batting: On a fast bouncy pitch and fast outfield, Ravi and I went to open the innings and got a idea of the outfield and things to expect when my cover drive went to four all along the ground. I was out in the second over trying a lofted shot over cover. Ravi looked set when a cracking square cut sped to the boundary and with Ananth looking to get set, we thought we were in good shape. Unfortunately, both Ananth and Ravi got out quickly and Naga was run out soon after in a mix up.
Things weren't looking so good as we lost our top order within the first 10 overs and only about 30 runs on board. A tactical change - to send in Srinath at this juncture to hold one end up worked very well. His job was to just block the bowling and he did it very well with Sid on the other end ticking along the scoreboard. The lull in scoring kind of worked as a stabilizing mode for us and after Srinath's departure, we sent in Venki to do the same. He was out soon and it was left to Abhi (Avi) and Sid to start the repairs.
Inspired by his wife's presence on the sidelines, Sid unleashed some stylish strokes to up the ante...He hit 3 consecutive fours in a 15 run over to get our momentum going on, but was out unfortunately to a brilliant catch by their keeper. With the score reading 81/7 in 25 overs, Chinmay and Abhi set out to just play out the 40 overs quota.
Well..that was the plan :)..but Abhi in his typical attacking style went after the bowling to treat us to a run fest. With some brilliant counter-attacking shots, he demoralized their bowling and hit some huge sixes.
Chinmay joined the fun and went after the bowling with some powerful shots all around the park. He ran well for twos and threes and picked up the boundaries with some intelligent batting. With the sudden attack from Chinmay and Avi, the middlesex bowlers were left speechless and we were chugging along nicely at 150/7 with 6 overs to go, aiming for 200. We took the batting poweplay when Abhi got out trying a big shot.
With only Penchal and later Murali as company, Chinmay farmed the strike well and hit some big shots. He went past his 50 with a powerful boundary and remained not out at 53 getting us to a very defendable 183.
Bowling: With the momentum shifting in our favor, Middlesex went on the offensive and started hitting from the first ball that Venki bowled and went for 12 runs. Sid cut down the pace and tried to bowl to a tight line. We weren't used to such a fast outfield and it took us a little bit to understand the length and the field placings right , but middlesex raced to 20 odd runs in quick time.
With a gut feeling that pace will not work, I got in Murali to replace Venki after just one over. Murali's experience worked like a charm when he got rid off the hitter off his first ball, brilliantly caught at long off by Abhi. Murali got another wicket off the very next ball with a beautiful inswinger and suddenly he was on a hatrick. We were pumped up to get two quick wickets but the batsmen negotiated the bowling well and were content to block and prod for ones and twos..Sid and murali kept up the pressure but the pair stuck around and got the score board moving.
After the first break, I came on and was lucky to get the breakthrough with one that kept low. Penchal was bowling well from the other end to keep up the pressure, but I kept leaking runs..Chinmay came on to replace me and got us a important wicket off their set batsman. With some accurate line and cheeky change of pace, Chinmay was able to get two more wickets and we were able to sniff victory now..Sid came on to replace Penchal and got a set batsman out off a short pitched ball.
The middlesex batting line up went on our lines and kept some important guys to the end. With the target closing on and runs flowing off edges interlaced with some big hits, we started to get concerned. A easy caught behind off Sid's bowling was turned down by the umpire and we were left fuming...The target was now 40 odd runs with 2 wickets to go.
Chinmay got us another important breakthrough of Mustafa with a good catch by Ananth at short third man and we thought we had it in the bag..the last pair added some 20 runs off a few loose balls but Penchal ensured that they didn't get away and finished the match by getting them all out with 4 overs to go.
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