JECC beat CFC by 8 wickets. Batting first, CFC scored 159/9
in 40 overs and JECC chased it down in 34 overs losing only 2 wickets
Bhasker also scored 51 in a great opening stand with Sid.
Murali’s 8 overs 18 runs and Venkis 3 wickets were the highlight performances
of the match.
Toss: We haven’t batted
first in a while, losing the toss on most occasions and chosing to field when
winning the toss on other occasions when we won it. Driving to the ground, Ananth made it clear
that he wanted to bat first, so I put the onus on him to go for the toss on our
teams behalf and win it. Dhanu and I gave him some good pep talk and told
Ananth to practice calling. Dhanu went with tails and told Ananth that it was a tails day,
but after assessing the conditions, Ananth called it heads. Bottom line, we
lost the toss and were fielding first :(. All Ananth's fault!
Bowling: On a hot day, our star bowlers Venki and Sid got
into a good rhythm initially, but with the fast outfield, runs were leaking as
the CFC openers started to time the ball well. We still attacked with catching
positions as the ball was moving a bit. One such ball off Venki’s took the edge
to me at second slip opening the wickets count for us. Soon Sid got a wicket as
well and with two new batsmen, Sid and Venki started to look very threatening.
The pressure was mounting and runs pretty much dried up from the 6th
over. We dropped a couple of catches during this time and there were a few half
chances as well, but the batsmen just hung in there. CFC were 33/2 in 10 overs.
A double change with Murali and Dhanu was equally effective
as both of them stuck to a wonderful line and didn’t give anything away. Murali
was exceptional moving the ball in the air and off the seam as he used to about
10 yrs back: ). He bowled unchanged for
8 overs and was unfortunate to have a few catches dropped off his bowling.
Dhanu from the other end was his old self again, zipping the ball through. They
took us to the second break with 57/4 in 20 overs with a wicket each.
We introduced spin at this stage with Srini, myself and
Ananth and got them to 93/5 in 30 overs. After the break, with pressure mounting, the CFC batsmen started hitting and connected a few shots. A fast outfield is tough to defend, but our bowlers did very well to contain the extras. Venki and Sid took a couple of wickets in between to stop the run flow. CFC got the score to
159 in 40 overs losing 9 wickets.
Batting: Our failures in batting became a conversation for
jokes if we can chase even 50 runs forget 160 or 200.. A drastic change had to
be made and I had decided to send in Sid and Venki to open initially with Srini
to follow, but instinctively sent Bhasker as a steady batsman to support Sid’s
stroke play.
Both batsmen played off a maiden each to start with.
Normally, this would trigger alarms, but we were kind of happy to not lose a
wicket in the first 2 overs as was happening before. 0/0 in 2 overs meant a few
taunts from the opposition, but after getting the pace of the pitch and
assessing the bowling, Sid unfurled some gorgeous drives to get us going.
Bhasker was content to rotate the strike initially dabbing good length balls in
the gaps for ones and twos.
Sid was in his element and was timing the ball beautifully.
Classy cover drives and flicks ensured runs were flowing fast and by the first
10 over break, we were 35 for no loss. Bhasker started to play some wonderful
lofted shots in the gaps and with Sid’s scintillating stroke play we were
happily trottering along for 80 runs in 20 over break, exactly half way. A
thundering pull shot was the highlight and our bench was laughing and enjoying
the fun. CFC was pretty much done at this stage and were trying out all the
bowling options they had. One kid with a balle-balle bowling action was
hilarious!
Against the run of play, Sid got out and I sent in Srini
holding back Ananth. Taking the attacking role, Bhasker upped the run rate with
some well timed shots all around the ground. and got to his first 50 for JECC.
Congrats Bhasker!
Srini played a very steadying hand rotating the strike well. Bhasker got out at 116 in 27 overs trying to finish things off quickly. Ananth went in and made sure nothing
dramatic happened and together with Srini, got us home with 6 overs to spare.
It was a clinical chase and made us look very ‘professional’.
Although one cannot expect the same performances every time, we should strive to
get this consistency in batting, atleast in the top order.
We all knew Sid capabilities and his 43 wasn’t too
surprising, but Bhasker’s composed yet authoritative half century was a
revelation indeed. This man can do everything! Keeping wickets, bowling and
batting, we see Bhasker pushing himself to perform well whatever he does. Thank you Sir!
We celebrated a surprise 40th birthday for Murali after the match with
his family, some old friends and kids. A wonderful end to the day and we didn’t let Ravi’s biryani lunch go
waste..We also disproved the biryani-loss jinx as well…Coming few games are
very crucial for us in making a playoff spot. Let’s stay focused and get into
this habit of winning!
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