[Match Report] SRC Knights vs Marina 3 @ IA

Match Report By Amit Pathak

SRC batted first and posted 174 runs in 30 overs.

Marina 3 in reply fail short by 11 runs scoring 163 in 30 overs.

 

SRC captain Paul won the toss and elected to bat first. It was a bright and sunny day. Nice conditions to bat and Marina 3 skipper would also have loved to bat had he won the toss. However Marina 3 opening bowlers had something else in mind.

 

Pathak started the proceeding by giving away just one run in first over. Shan started from the other end. Shan came with new found action, pace and run up from the bowling course. I must agree that there is certain difference in Shan’s pace. Shan’s line and length was slightly on inconsistent side as opposed to his earlier bowling spells.

 

Pathak struck in his 3^rd over getting the first break through for Marina 3. Attacking looking batsman tried to hit him over long off but only managed to loft the ball to covers. Shan took a comfortable catch. He struck again on the consecutive delivery, taking edge of the bat of the other opening batsman. Arun completed the catch behind the wicket.

 

Brakes were applied on score immediately. Maiden over followed. Shan struck this time. Pathak completed an easy catch at covers.

 

Akki came in as a first change bowler. He started with a maiden wicket over. SRC were struggling for 28-4 in 9 overs. I was thinking of 10 pointers from this game. But next batting pair of SRC had some other plan in mind. This pair played with a lot of patience. They played attacking shots as well as rotated strike beautifully. They tackled Mani’s pace and Naman’s spin beautifully. Run were flowing, run rate was rising. Score board saw 67 runs in 15 overs. Akki brought himself on again and provided a much needed breakthrough to M3. 

 

M3 guys were all set to wrap up the SRC inning. Naman provided another break through by taking wicket of the other set batsman. New batsman came in and started swinging his bat wildly! He accelerated scoring rate even further. Boundaries were flowing easily. Other batsman Paul (SRC captain) was having tough time in getting the ball away more than 15 yards while the other batsman was capitalizing on every opportunity to score. Sri was introduced in the attack and provided a break through. He got the wicket of the attacking batsman. However damage was already done. SRC run rate was close to 6 runs an over. Shan, Sri and Akki bowled last few overs tight and restricted SRC to 174 in 30 overs.

 

As usual M3 team was on top of the game in first half of the inning while completely of the track in the second half of the inning.

 

There were few misfields while Marina 3 was fielding and a lot of drop catches. M3 dropped close 6-7 catches. Some of them not judged correctly and some of them were difficult but at the end of the day had we converted even half of those dropped catches into wickets, results would have looked different.

 

M3 Inning:

 

M3 openers Mohan and Rishabh started on a cautious note. Marina 3 saw 19 runs on the board at the end of 6 overs. We could have scored slightly faster here. Mohan lost his wicket trying to hit over point, only managing to hand over a simple catch at point.

 

Mani joined Rishabh and suddenly runs started flowing in. At the end of 10^th over M3 were 45 for the loss of one wicket. Partnership was building and suddenly Mani lost his concentration tried to put away a juicy full toss from a spinner but found a man at the deep mid wicket. Immediately next ball Rishabh tried to hit a flighted delivery for maximum over long on but couldn’t clear long. Rishabh was back in the pavilion.

 

New pair Chopra and Sri went in. These two were building a nice partnership. M3 saw 78 runs on the board at the end of 15 overs for the loss of 3 wickets. 175 runs were definitely looking gettable here. Single, doubles and odd boundaries were flowing. Just when game was tilting towards M3, Chopra got involved in some sledging to a verbose bowler and lost his concentration and wicket. He already hit him for couple of boundaries in this over and in an attempt to hit another, lost his wicket.

 

Sri got out immediately after Chopra. Not sure whether it’s a coincidence or what but just when Sri’s wife arrived to see Sri batting, Sri lost his wicket J. Akki and Arun went in. Arun asked for a runner as usual. But both Akki and Arun didn’t last longer. Both came back to pavilion after hitting couple of boundaries in an attempt to accelerate score.

 

Shan and Pathak went in M3 needed 45 runs to get from 6 overs. They both had a small partnership of 10 odd runs Shan lost his wicket trying play across. He scored a boundary. Last man Naman came in, M3 needs 35 runs from 5 overs. Pathak and Naman kept rotating the strike with Single, odd boundary. M3 now needed 19 runs from 2 overs. 13 runs from 1 over. M3 desperately needed few boundaries in this over but duo couldn’t score any. M3 lost this match by 11 runs.

 

Again we were on top if the game in first half of the inning and lost the momentum completely in second half of the inning. We really need to keep the same intensity in both halves of the game.

 

Points to improve upon:

 

• Fielding:  Need to improve on catching.
• Bowling:  Need to continue with the same intensity and momentum in the second half of the inning. Extras need to reduce drastically and it is important to ball according to your field.
• Batting: Need to create partnerships at regular intervals. After scoring 30 odd runs, it is important to stay on the pitch and make the inning count. Rotating strike is equally important as hitting boundaries.