M2 hands Wanderers the Verdict. by Ramji.

23^rd May 2009

The match - Preamble

On this day, the 25^th day of May 2009, it is hereby affirmed that a game of cricket, popularly called T20 took place at a ground slightly bigger than a table-tennis court, unpopularly called Fernvale Cricket Ground.

The Teams

The teams were a relatively lesser known team called “Marina Winners” (a new found name for this team which, unlike in the past, is really living up to its ability and expectations. The other team wandered around at the end of the game in search of their souls and was rightly called ‘Wanderers”.

The pre-match scenario

The day started hot and when people started turning up at the ground around 12.20 (Ramji, Chandru and Ganesh being among the early birds). The captain himself failed to turn up at the ordered time but could be excused for 5-10 minutes delay. Cold stares were promptly exchanged by the captain with the real late comers.

Marina had a very good fielding (or catching) session before the game and not many catches were dropped during the fielding session and it augured well for the game to come.

The toss and its nightmare for the Marina captain continues…

For the umpteenth time in the life of the Marina captain, the toss was promptly lost followed by exchanges of mathematics and quantum physics theory as to why Sri lost the toss, the theory aptly started by Sri’s father who went to the extent of ridiculing his son’s lack of hard work during his NUS engineering days as the main reason for losing the toss.

Luckily on this day, the only thing that Marina lost was the toss. The match ultimately turned out to be 20s game with Sri penalised 2 overs for losing the toss so that Marina were docked 2 overs from its batting which two overs were added to Wanderers batting.

Wanderers batting or Marina bowling

The sun started dropping its intensity as the Marina players took the field and it became a perfect UK summer weather making fielding such an unusually pleasant experience for the Marinoids, who are actually known to enjoy their fielding(!!!!).

Naveen and Siddharth started the bowling attack for Marina and bowled a good line and length albeit without luck. The first wicket came fortuitously through a run out and through a fantastic fielding effort with the batsman going for a non-existent 2^nd run.

The next wicket was not lucky though, with Siddharth, who was hit for a six the previous delivery, getting the batsman bowled of a fantastic delivery. The run rate remain at less than 4 an over after 8 overs. Sri brought on Pareet from one end and Ramji from the other end. The Wanderers batsman who had settled in by that time, started scoring freely, with Ram leading the way. Ramji though was unlucky to liss out on a wicket when a clear edge of the batsman to the keeper was not given out followed by a close stumping not given out. Ramji’s misery was added when a fantastic pick up and throw from backward square leg which was straight on target was interrupted by Sushant who misjudged the direction of the throw.

With wicket starting to dry up and the score reading 89-3 after 15 overs, Sri brought himself and Chandru on and there ended the resistance of Wanderers who fell like 9 pins. The highlight being 3 wickets of 4 deliveries by Sri (hat-trick missed by a whisker). Chandru from the other end bowled unplayable deliveries and knocked batsmen at his will. Sri ended the misery of the Wanderers batsmen by picking up his 4^th wicket and the last of the wanderers innings. Chandru picked up 3 wickets and there were 2 run outs with Siddharth picking the other wicket.

Eye-wash over: Ganesh’s insatiable hunger for bowling his leg spinners was satisfied when he was given an over and just an over (come on Ganesh – here comes Naradha, Narayana, Narayan!!) – the Captain lives to his promise – did that reflect in the unusually subdues batting of our stylish opener – Introspection and commission to inquire into this required?

Wanderers succumbed to 120 all out in 22 overs, leaving Marina 121 to make in 30 overs but the target fixed was 18 overs to get the full 10 points.

A note on Marina’s fielding standards

It was one of the best efforts by Marina on the field with no dropped catches and some very good ground fielding and fantastic work by Susi behind. While some good catches were taken, Sri’s diving catch at silly mid-on of Chandru’s bowling stood out. Two good rund outs were effected and some close run out chances were created by some excellent fielding.

The Marina Batting or do you want to call it the ANSHUL SHOW

Cricket is a team game, yes. The batsmen are up to prove it wrong all the time. Today it was Anshul’s turn to prove accusations against him that he often fails to match his extraordinary talent with scores. His one shot (shot of the day) where he walked across to the opening bowler and cut him over backward point for a boundary told the story.

With Anshul playing lovely shots and going aggressive right from the word go, Ganesh intelligently rotated strike and was rather subdued curbing his attacking instincts. The 50 partnership came in less than 8 overs and when it looked like that No. 3 will only remove his pads after the game without playing a single delivery, Ganesh got out to a full length delivery that brushed his pad and knocked the stumps.

Finally the Anshul show ended sadly with Anshul getting out for 49 and missing a really well-deserved 50.

The not so good batting display in general

The batsmen who followed Anshul had no tale to tell and were rather discreet in playing their shots in the pretext of going for 10 points. At that time, Marina still required only between 6-7 per over to get 10 points and there was no need for indiscreet rash shots. While Anshul was going strong on one end, wickets kept falling on the other end.

The other shot of the day came from the bat of Siddharth – a powerful straight flat hit behind the bowler which just landed for a six at the boundary rope in a flash.

Marina lost 7 wickets in the process. Susi stayed till the end to guide Marina to 10 points with the winning shot coming form the bat of our veteran Pareet of the last ball of the 18^th over. In fact, the Wanderers were puzzled to hear Marina shouts from the pavilion, 6 in 7, 5 in 4, 3 in 3, 1 of 1 as though it was the 30^th over of the innings.

Retrospection

While all is well that ends well, we really have to rethink about our batting today. While we have so much to carry forward in our bowling and fielding departments, our batting today, barring Anshul and towards the end, Sushant, has some thing to think about. We needed around 6.6 per over in the beginning of the innings for 10 points and after a fantastic 50 run opening partnership in les than 8 overs, we needed around run-a-ball or slightly more to get the targeted 10 points. Batsmen should have applied themselves better under the circumstances. While we were under no threat of losing the game, this is a game we should have won by 6 or 7 wickets and not by 3 wickets and made it look closer than what it should have been.

Let us carry forward this 10 point win as a great moral booster to our game against Bengal CC and go for another emphatic win.

GO MARINA WINNERS. From henceforth Marina 2 shall become Marina Winners.

Regards

Ramji

Team list: IA3 v/s Marina 3 at IA - 17th May - 0800

The team list for the Sunday game:

IA3 v/s Marina 3 at IA - 17th May - 0800

Akshay (not feeling well, if OK will play)
Shan
Arun
Mohan
Mohit
Ritesh
Rishabh (w.k)
Bansal
Vivek
Raj Kishore
Sridhar
Naman

Jabra headsets.

I think I first met him eight years ago. It must have been a junior-senior interaction session for the SIA scholars, and he must have been one of the wonder-eyed kids. He was one of the two Biharis, and by that association, butt of many jokes. He was the quieter of the two, but the sharper. But that was it, he wasn't in the same school and so I didn't really get to know him. We must have played schools cricket a couple of times against each other over the next two years, but I don't remember.

Our paths did cross at other times, however. It so happened that I often met him in flights to and from Delhi. This was in JC, as well as during the University years. He had gone on to NTU, and I was at NUS, and I kept running into him on journeys back home - on the flights, at the airports transiting, at the Delhi customs queue, in the Changi duty free shop. We shared a smoking room once in Bangkok's then-renovating airport. Maybe Colombo also once. Sometimes I heard of him through common friends. About his obsession with Shah Rukh Khan. How he sported SRK's Mohabbatein look for a whole semester. And then onto the next blockbuster. Maybe he was Knight Rider's fan. I don't know. I didn't know him that well. Towards the end of university and then start of work, we didn't see each other for a long time.

Then KV joined UBS and he popped up again. KV mentioned this grad trainee in his team, I recognised the name, and that was it. He was a Marinoid. Nets, games, daaru, sutta - the whole nine yards. What I remember most is that he would arrive at the ground always with his huge Jabra headsets on. He had a new Nokia thing which bluetoothed to the headsets. I was hooked to them, and he let me use it everytime I asked. Once for M3 I think he took a fiver. There was promise there and I remember Akki being an excited captain. He fitted too, not a huge persona, but an affable man. But then he disappeared again. Probably because of the pressures at work this time. Recession had hit and it had that affect on bank employees.

I did see him one last time two weekends ago. At Oosters in Suntec, I spotted the huge frame of KV, and then the headsets on the table. He was there. The two of them joined me for a ritual smoke, we talked about work and then I left. I didn't stay for a drink. It was the 25th of April.

Today he is on his final flight to Delhi, but I won't be bumping into Setu.

Marina2 vs Hyderabad Mughals.

It was a clash of trophy chasers when M2 played HMCC at Turf City on 2nd of May. HMCC had moved up from div 4 and hadn't yet lost a match. M2 had played lesser matches but had the same enviable position. In their only previous encounter, a friendly on the same ground, M2 had come out tops, but not without begrudging a reputation for the HMCC players. Tough, aspiring teams fighting for glory on a hot humid day without fears of rain. We had a game.

Sri won the toss and made an unwittingly brilliant decision to bat. Brilliant because by choosing to bat, we had rendered HMCC without their best batsman - who'd have played had they batted first. All the same, we had our own squad worries in that both our opening bowlers were not available for the game. A quick decision between Sri and me, and we decided to utilise our leftie trump card from the onset. Sushant opened with Ganesh and the duo got going immediately. Deft cover drives mingled with Sushant's paddle round the corner and punctuated by Ganesh's backfoot punches through point had the opposition flat. At times Niranjan Babu troubled both batsmen with tight in-swing, but the good balls were far and few between. Fifty came up in the 8th over and it brought the downfall of Ganesh who stepped out only to see the ball settle into the keeper's gloves and scythe over the bails. This brought Korean kimchi Prem to the crease who was soon to sizzle.

It took some time for Prem and Sushant to get into a scoring rhythm braving the sapping heat, disciplined bowling and outstretched fields. There were however no alarms and both batsmen looked to play to a plan. The plan to last till the drinks break at 15. Sushant was anchoring the innings while Prem began respectfully against the slow bowlers. At drinks the score was 86 and having lost only the one wicket we had the licence to create havoc.

After drinks the batsmen opened up. Sushant fell trying to cut one over point but Prem taught the Mughals a lesson or two. Two hits to sightscreen specifically. One off an overpitched delivery deserving punishment, the other deserving full respect in line and length and yet disappearing flatter and further than the first. Imtiyaz, a proud bowler, bore the brunt and I'm sure it'd have given him a nightmare that night. At 136 in the 23rd over, Prem came down the track and did himself in flight to get stumped. Meanwhile from the other end, Chandru had been playing a treatise on the leg side. His swivel pulls and dismissive flicks left us in awe. As always. But one pull too many and he too was back in the hut an over after Prem.

This brought the captain and Kiran together. One a compulsive puller, the other midwicket marauder. Only one was to come off that day. Sri played and missed and mis hit and then stepped out and missed a full toss, and the keeper put him out of his misery. Kiran meanwhile found his nick, ran very hard and put the bad ones away clinically between fielders. Gova ran hard with him and the last overs were a right frenzy. Quick runs, breathless batsmen, frantic bowlers, tired fielders and lofty balls. Haroon, Maggie, Manoj and I all visited the crease but failed to create an impact in the last overs. However the good work done earlier made sure we had 180 on the board at the close of innings. A really decent score on the Turf City B ground, easy to defend if we began well.

IF. If is a beautiful poem by Kipling. If's a tricky word. We didn't begin well. For all his Korean antics, Prem found it hard to shake off the rust. Six wides and an eleven run opening over. Chandru replaced him, but lately he's found it hard to manage the new ball. Specially, with the batsmen bent on attack. From the other end, Manoj tried honestly but with no pressure of score and some width, he found the going hard as well. It was quickly clear that we were digging a hole for ourselves. We needed to do something about the run rate then and there.

Sri stepped up to take the bull by the horns - to bowl the seventh over. Four dot balls and the HMCC ego combusted not being able to hit a slow bowler. Catch to point and we had our first wicket at 6.4 overs. It was the boost we needed. The kick up the butt, our dose of viagra. Because then came the SlowBowlers. First Sri and Maggi in tandem - choking, plugging, tightening, sucking the wind out of the HMCC batting. 2nd wicket to Maggi in the tenth over. 3rd to Maggi in the 12th over. Then I replaced Sri to bowl a new brand of Symonds' inspired halt-and-throw-flat off spin. It made run scoring a pointless frustrating exercise.

HMCC were still in game, but largely down to Niranjan Babu's batting. As long as he was at the crease we couldn't be sure of victory. So comes Sri's lollipop ploy. Lollipop delivered, batsman hits to midwicket, Kiran takes it head high 6 inches from the boundary. Only at Turf City. From then on it was a matter of time. Our wides did give us unnecessary jitters but not enough to derail plans of things. 5.33 pm, score at 146 in the 26th over, Kiran took out the last batsman leg before and we had to catch our breath before letting out the whoops and the yells and the Fucks !

A match of the trophy chasers indeed.

IF, if, we don't get over confident, and fight every game like this one - we'd be the only trophy chaser at the end of season. One game at a time, one team at a time. Helping, stepping up, backing up, fighting, not giving up - playing hard..


scorecard here: M2 v HMCC

Match Report: Anza CC3 vs Marina CC3 @ Turf City Ground A 0800 hrs

In our first morning game, we took on Anza CC3 at their home ground in the Turf City. A whole comedy of errors was encountered before the start. The umpires did not toss until 8am (official start time of the game), and had to reminded for the toss. The second event involved the roller and the ATV being stuck on the ground near the pitch. With a lady operator at the helm of the ATV, it was quite a sight to behold as she tried in various ways to get the roller towed out of the ground by the ATV. However, amidst her multitude efforts, the battery of the ATV gave way and the opposition side had to get another vehicle to jump start the ATV. Once started, the lady, for a reason that she only knows, pulled the roller to the square around the pitch and started rolling the square again. When can a day be over without Murphy’s law. The ATV broke down again. This time the umpire joined in the melee and tried to take things in his own hands (another car was brought in to jump start the ATV and the umpire almost ended up shorting the vehicle battery again as he connected the jump start cables to the wrong terminals). Finally however, they were able to clear the vehicle and the ATV from the ground allowing the umpires to toss. Due to the whole chain of unnecessary events, the game was narrowed down to 28 overs a side.

Akshay won the toss and decided to bat first. This being Pathaks second last match, he was promoted to open the batting with Mohan. He took first strike and scored a prompt 6 runs of the first over, Mohan on the other hand took his time to get started and was watchful. Pathak holed out soon trying to go for his shots upfront (caught at covers) and was promptly received back amidst applauses. Raj went out to bat next and concentrated towards rotating the strike. Raj and Mohan rotated the strike well before both of them were dismissed. Arun walked in and started stroking the ball into the gaps. His confident shots got Marina a couple of boundaries and raised the run-rate a little. Rishabh on the other hand took the singles and rotated the strike. The spinners were introduced soon after and herein the game changed. Their slow bowlers stuck to a line outside off and bowled slow and slower relentlessly, thus curbing the run flow. With no pace to play with, the batsmen tried forcing the issue. Arun fell trying to hit a full toss out of the ground (he got the top edge and was well caught). Rishabh and Bansal tried to curb the fall of wickets and play till the drinks break. A maiden over resulted before drinks break. At drinks the score read 72-4 in 14 overs.

The strategy for the second half was look for a total of around 170 to be competitive. Bansal fell soon declared lbw to a full ball by their spinner. Chopra strode in and an ensuing miscommunication between Rishabh and Chopra saw Rishabh being run out. With things not going our way, it was decided to try and bat out the 28 overs . However the wickets continued to fall, amidst the good bowling of their slow bowlers. Chopra continued to fight out with a quick fire 30 but the rest of the batsmen were not able to score consistently. We ended up with 129 runs in 26.3 overs.

We started off with Pathak and Shan bowling good lines and lengths. The first opener was caught behind while the second one was also soon set packing. At drinks the score was 60-4. It was quite comparable with our score and it was quite evident that we would have to play out of our skins in order to win from the situation. Some good tight overs were bowled and there was some sort of control. However, their captain decided to take things in his own hands. He started belting all our bowlers around the park. A crucial catch was put down when he was around 20, and the run fest continued. Arun was taken for 12 of his first over (last 4 balls bowled down the leg side again) and Sridhar was taken for 18 of his first over. Pathak and Akshay came back on and some sort of control was established. A slower one and a good catch on the boundary ensured the end of the opposing captain (he eventually scored a quickfire 50 runs). Some tight fielding and committed efforts saw the match heading for an exiting finish with 7 needed of the last 3 overs, and 1 needed of the last over. Two dot balls were bowled. However an edge on the third ball resulted in the batsmen scampering for a single to take their team home.
It was an exciting match to say for some consolation. High levels of commitment were shown in the field during the game. However, this should not distract us from the fact that our main area of concern was again the batting. The team was bowled out within 26.3 overs against an opposition not boasting of any good players.

As usual, we have our lessons learnt at the end of the game.. so for this case: THE LESSONS STILL NOT LEARNT:
Batting : Batsmen to ensure that they bat out the 30 overs and rotate the strike
Fielding : Catches, catches and more catches to be taken
Bowling: To cut down on extras as much as possible. (though cant blame the bowling since they don’t get a par score to defend)