Marina 1 Vs SIA Match Report

A very good morning to all. I'm wishing you a pleasant day and an eventful week ahead. Yes! this email is a match report as the subject line says but I sincerely hope that this means much more to every one of us and the club we all play for.

I was having a kind of heartache when I went to bed on the 3rd of April. Marina had just lost two games they played on the day, the first one was sad and the second even bitter. And today the 18th of April it is just before bed and I'm sitting pretty relaxed, happy and my heart is beating with a sense of fulfillment. We won the game today being the very simple reason behind all this. And boy! what an emphatic difference from the 3rd April.

It is never fair to compare but hey! hold it for a moment. Are we doing as well a club we did five years ago? certainly not. I'm just pondering my reasons why. It is every bit human to like getting appreciated for what you have done and also nothing beats the feel of winning, the rush of blood and off course the peaceful sleep you get after all has ended. So why are we suddenly not doing well? What has gone missing? Yea..there are a few good players we lost to other clubs, better jobs and greener territories. But one thing which has been happening consistently for Marina is our ability to attract good like minded cricketers. As always, we make a good bunch of blokes who knows how to have fun on the cricket field. The best thing or things we can do to bring back our lost glory is to create more opportunities or rather conducive situations to interact more. Net session is one, going out together for drink is another, playing other sports, celebrating occasions etc etc. These would help to bring out other sides and hidden talents of each one of us. Trust me, all this would bring more fun and camaraderie which would eventually bring us back the Marina Magic. I would like every one of you reading this email to share your thoughts and ideas. It would be a smart step forward for a wonderful beginning.

Okay! back to game we played today, hope you don't mind my lighter vein.

M1's 'captain responsible' did no favors to guys like me who simply relies on emails for information. I told my wife my normal excuses for a Sunday morning game. It went something like, my butt is getting bigger, I need exercise, playing helps reduce cholesterol which means lesser chance of cardiac arrests etc etc. I would've been eating my words if we had no game to play this Sunday. Thankfully I was only wrong in the timing.

Yes! the afternoon looked bright and dry enough to have a good days cricket. So without knowing the complete eleven I got ready for the game. Prem had to be woken up, dressed and fed to get him on time for the game as he landed just hours before. Finally we started with nine guys on the field. This would've sparked some bad comments had we lost the game, but since it was a win we can afford to happily forget the mistakes.

Naveen started well in the first over but ended conceding a well hit boundary. It was a well timed loft over the bowlers head, it is not a pretty sight for the fielding side or bowler getting hit straight over the head. The very next over Prabhu, who incidentally troubled SPA top order with his new found 'swing', had SIA with his bounce!. Prabhu hit good length almost all the time over his eight over spell. However, in the first over he got pulled for a sweetly timed six over mid wicket by the same batsmen. Wow! Good shot. Are we chasing another 250 plus?

If the rabbit had to die it will surely. In the second Naveen over we struck gold, it was a good length delivery from Naveen which stood up to the same dashing SIA opener, he kind of scooped it to the covers. And now! who in world is going to catch it? Thanks to Ganesh, it was one of his two catches of the game which from all catch-ables were taken safely. And then we started our marathon of drops it was as if like.. oh you dropped an easy one? I'm gonna beat you. In a way it was good, all the initial droppers got back their confidence. If Sris drop was bad, Sushanth's was badder, mine was pathetic, then Arun beat me hands down dropping a golden lolly. Finally everything was sealed off by Prem's 'deal ya no deal' drop. End of story.

For the next few overs it was a Prabhu show, he troubled every batter with his bounce and good length. He got four scalps back to back which almost wrote SIA out of the game. But looking closely, we could've restricted them for much less had we kept the intensity alive through out. We got complacent and got them to register small cameos in the later part of their innings. SIA ended with 148 on the board, neither too big or too small. Always tricky these kind of targets.

Marina started well with Vignesh and Ganesh scoring freely, SIAs wayward bowling also helped our cause. We lost Ganesh and then Prem, both playing pre-meditated heaves. We were not looking good for 10 points. Then enter captain real responsible. This SIA spinner who was bowling then somehow managed good credits within the team. He did it with his expressions and gestures he gave out after every ball. BANG! here goes his theatrics over country to the deep Turf city ditch. SIX. The very next over there were few more effortless classics from the man we all know would certainly throw it away pretty soon. And soon he did. But by the time we needed just 3 runs of 9 balls to make it a 10 points win. We made those easy runs and that ended a good days cricket.

Cheers
Mags