Match Report by
Ravi Kumar Suri
JECC lost to Franklin CC by 24 Runs.
Man of the Match: For JECC - Dhanu for 43 runs and 2 wickets and Murali for outstanding spell and 3 crucial wickets.
Toss: It was a beautiful summer day for cricket. Not too hot, just
a mild breeze, beautiful blue sky, terrific looking green outfield with looking
being operative word. All in all a perfect day for cricket. Murali spun the
coin and it was correctly by Bharat and Franklyn opted to bat.
Bowling: As has been the
practice this whole season our new ball pair of Y’ster (Venkatesh) and Sid bowled
magnificently and were extremely unlucky in not getting a bucket full of
wickets. Time and again the ball went past the edge without catching it. At the
odd occasion when the ball caught the edge it missed the umpire’s ear or the
slip fielder’s hands. Either way our opening bowlers were very unlucky.
The opponents were slowly getting into a strong position. At
first drink break the game was Even Steven at 42 for 1 but after that Paresh
stepped on the gas and hit some lusty blows. He was timing the ball very well
and Bhaskar was also prospering. The “Go To Man” Dhanu was pressed into the
attack and he did what he does most often which is get a wicket in his first
over. Paresh square cut a short rising ball to me at point. I held onto it
which gave us a crucial break. We piled the pressure from here on and all the
bowlers, Murali in particular bowled very well to bring us right back in the
game. Our catching was pretty good Srinath took two, Naga kept very well and
took a couple. From a safe position of 70 for one, Franklyn crumpled to 119 for
8. At this stage we had the game in our grip. A crucial 50-50 LBW went in favor
of Bhaskar and this turned the game in their favor.
Sid was brought in for his
second spell and after starting off with a couple of wides he brought one in which
I felt had the batsman in front. If this decision had gone in our favor we
would have wrapped up the game. Unfortunately it went in favor of the batman
who made most of it. Our bowlers were doing their best and were reasonably
supported in the field, but Bhaskar and the tail batted very sensibly adding 40
crucial runs. That partnership set us back and the momentum shift gave a huge
shot in the arm to the opponent. All our bowlers bowled quite well but we could
not drive the final nail in the coffin and allowed the buried to come out of
the coffin. Only observation I have to make is we are still giving away too
many wides.
It’s not about a particular
bowler, all seem guilty of this. In this match too ultimately it was the wides
which cost us. I would love an honest and open chat between the captain –
bowlers and maybe one or two senior players who can help the bowlers devise the
bowling strategy. As much as batsmen thrive in partnerships, bowlers also do
so. In a partnership we notice if one batsmen is at his attacking best, the
other batsman goes into a support role.
A great example of a bowler going into a support role was
seen in what Bharat did when we were batting. He bowled 8 overs for 20 runs 4
of which were maidens. This put huge pressure on our batting. Hats off to
Bharat as he knew his limitations and bowled within them. To the extent of
being boring he repeated one good ball after another.
Batting: Dhanu and I opened the innings in pursuit of 167 which was a
gettable target. I was totally out of sorts and could not time my shots. I was
hitting AIR whenever I tried to hit the ball. Dhanu was at his attacking best and belted his
trade mark shots. The lofted cover drive, lofted on drive and the pull were
timed sweetly and we were off to good start. If only I could get some runs, the
pressure would have been complete on the opponent. After struggling for 6 overs
I finally got out. I had two lives in between all this agony. Cricket is such a
funny game, when you don’t need or deserve the luck you get it and when you
badly need it you don’t find it. Hari replaced me and was not able to get the
run rate ticking. He too fell without getting in double figures.
Dhanu mean
time was batting really well. He was joined by Naga who settled in with a calm
approach. All this while Franklyn was tightening the screws and they had two
very seasoned and cool heads on their side. Pradeep and Bharat bowled
brilliantly and well within their limits. Bowlers in general, not necessarily
from our team, can learn a lot from Bharat in particular and Pradeep too. The
idea it to have a game plan and then attempt to implement it. Moment Bharat
noticed Dhanu was in full flow, he focused on an off stump and good length
line. This was defensive bowling at its best. But in defense lies the platform
for attack. Thanks to Bharat I became frustrated and to an extent that
curtailed Dhanu. Dhanu fell to Pradeep and this was a huge turning point. Any
time Dhanu gets out the match tilts a bit, that is how critical a player he is
for us.
Sid joined Naga and started to
build a partnership. Pradeep got Sid to drive a bit early and spoon a catch. With
wickets falling the pressure was building. Runs were coming only in singles and
doubles. Boundaries were scarce given the tight bowling. Chinmay joined Naga
and gave us some confidence of a re build. Naga was solid and rotating the
strike. Chinmay looked very good till Pradeep got the better of him. Flight is
always a teaser and makes you commit mistakes. Flight with control is a deadly
combination. Pradeep excels at this combination. He was making our batsmen
commit errors. Avi joined the battle and hit some lusty blows, just as we thought
we will pull one from chest nut out of the fire, Avi mistimed a pull to be
caught. Naga was his cool self and kept us in the hunt.
Vijay reminds me of a
Rajanikanth movie, it’s all ACTION with him at the batting crease. There is
never a dull moment. He took some unbelievable singles and converted
non-existent singles to doubles due to panic by fielders who could not believe
what Vijay was doing. One who lives by the word dies by the same. That’s what
happened to Vijay, he took off on a miracle which dint materialize, though but
for the direct hit he would have made it. Naga meantime got out caught
mistiming a pull. Y’ster was there and we had hope till he was at the wicket.
However he too perished pulling to mid wicket. Murali remained not out and without
support.
All in all a good game played in Great Spirit. We should
have won this game, as we could not close the deal while bowling and also
slipped while batting. The positives are our new ball bowlers continue to be a
huge threat, Murali has settled down into a new role of support and play to
situation, Dhanu is the back bone which is solid as always, much like
Dilip, Chinmay was very impressive with
field placements and bowling changes, the batting unit has done well but for
this game. We must use this wakeup call to good effect and ensure we get back
to winning ways. A downhill can be very steep and we need to guard ourselves
and ensure we don’t head towards the downhill.
Cheers
Ravi
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