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MATCH REPORT OF MARINA CC 2 VS. BENGAL CC (MATCH ON 30TH MAY 2009 AT FERNVALE ‘B’ GROUND, 1.00 PM START)

MARINA CC 2 BATTING

To describe the match vs. Bengal CC was a perfect start for Marina. As usual our captain Sri the great lost the toss, and Bengal CC captain gifted the marina batsman with electing to field first. Would have been worst decision in the cricket field fielding only with 9 players.

Nothing went right for the Bengal CC by opening with an offspinner just taking cue from Shane Warne captaincy in IPL T 20 for Rajasthan Royals. Bengal CC could be compared to Kolkatta Knight Riders team, they were all at sea but they had one thing in common, guess what BONG GALI ?

Ganesh hit the second ball of the match over long on for six which set the tone for things to come. Ganesh unfortunately got a bad bounce tried to flick, checked the shot and was caught & bold for 8. Ganesh was ruing his chance for a easy fifty today, but it happens we just witnessed batting prowess from guys who followed….

Anshul looked good in the crease with straight drives and he looked confident from the previous innings he played vs. Wanderers CC. He looked in good touch until he had a soft dismissal caught at covers off a slower ball. Anshul one advise stop hitting in the air till you get set, because you should not get out on your strong off side strokes. It needs a little bit of power and if you improve your leg side shots you would be a formidable opening batsman for the season for marina.

Then came the barrage of boundaries from Sushant with square cuts, pulls and lofted six straight down the ground. Sushant was a treat to watch but I am sure he would be ruing himself he got out when he could have played a long innings. He made 34 off 21 balls which set the tone for marina bringing them to 63 for 3 in 9 overs.

The dismissal of Sushant brought in Chandru, the stylish Mohammed Azharuddin Look alike. At one end there was Kiran who seem to be in a hurry for a light ?, but with Chandru taking most of the strike, it brought in Kiran’s one of the best innings I have witnessed. 6 fours and 3 sixes in 39 balls was not easy and bowling was taken to cleaners by Kiran. The square cut shot off the bowling of Alok reminded me of Herschelle Gibbs in Action. I hope he gets more runs for the season, as I am sure he will overtake other batting prowess of Marina if he is on song! Kiran you rocked man, I am sure I can pay and watch you batting from the stands….

Chandru was at his sublime best when he is taking the strike and stroking for singles. It ensures danger the opposition when a batsman like Chandru gets set and eyes for the big one, his boundaries inside out off the Slow bowlers and left armer medium pacer were one to be remembered. The swivel pull off the fast bowlers was one of the shots which only Azhar could play according to me, next one coming close was our star batsman Chandru….

Chandru keep it going as there seems to be a healthy competition in the batting with Sushant, Ganesh close to your batting score after 6 games in the season. Not far but coming near are Kiran and Anshul, I am sure this makes marina a formidable batting unit…..Captain please come to the party, you have a big one coming your way…..

Chandru hit 8 boundaries and 1 six scoring 67 runs off 63 balls before going for a lofted six caught at long off…

Chandru and Kiran had a record partnership of 126 runs in 15 overs highest for the season for Marina CC 2.

Kiran went for a big one just after Chandru just went, he was dismissed bowled. He scored 61 off mere 39 balls…..

Sri and Haroon did not impress the scorers with both becoming leg before candidate, I am sure they will come good in the future games. It is only good, that batsman are looking to score, it only makes the team stronger in the batting…..

Then came Naveen and Ramji pair which was like a Dominic cork and Phil Tufnell pair ? But marinoids cheered lankashare with our own Ramji being called Flintoff. I am sure Flintoff would have some thinking to do with his fitness giving him problems, Ramji is more fitter than flint off for his age.

Naveen scored 3 boundaries and one straight boundary was a beautiful shot… Ramji scored a boundary and he was ready to run almost as if he is going to other end to save his life…. Both had a crucial partnership  27 runs in 1.4 overs….

MARINA CC 2 FIELDING AND BOWLING PERFORMANCE

The opening pair of Bengal CC looked in a hurry with taking 26 runs of 2 overs, then came the surprise move with Anshul brought in cleverly by Sri….

He got hit for a few boundaries but it made him throw more in the air the bowl he got the opener Arshud was wonderful delivery, a leg spinner beaten neck and crock, stumped easily by Sushant….

Similar stumping was around the corner but this one was superb reaction from Sushant with Sri getting the one down batsman. 

Sometimes I feel Sri does not have good variations in his bowling, but his line and length is immaculate. He has lot of confidence in his bowling and his length is perfect not front not short, he just keeps it on the area of uncertainty. Sri took 3 crucial wickets.

Pareet was excellent, getting some bounce. His line was immaculate with people struggling to get him off strike, he may not be pacy for his age, but he is damn accurate. He got the main batsman LBW and that set the win for Marina CC 2.

What followed was barrage of wickets, Bengal CC from being 95 for 3 they went to 113 for 8.

Superb bowling performances by Sri, Pareet and Anshul with great keeping from Sushant.

I am sure Naveen and Siddharth must be ruing their chances with the ball. They will surely bounce back with Turf city giving them more bounce and carry than the slow Fernvale wicket….

Siddharth bowled well for his 4 overs giving only 20 runs.

Bengal CC then struggled to get to score 150 by some tight bowling from 20 overs to 30 overs from Ganesh, Chandru and Siddharth. I am sure this brings in more bowling options for Marina CC 2 in future games….

Ganesh 5-1-20-0
Siddharth 4-0-20-0
Chandru 3-0-6-0
Ramji 2-0-18-0
Naveen 1-0-12-0

Highlights of the match

Batting

•    Chandru 63 off 61 balls
•    Kiran 61 off 39 balls
•    Sushant 34 off 21 balls
•    Naveen 23 off 14 balls

Bowling

•    Pareet 6-0-21-3
•    Sri 6-0-21-3
•    Anshul 3-0-26-2

Fiedling

•    Sushant 4 stumpings and 1 catch

The next matches for Marina CC 2 is against Marina CC 3 and IA.

I am sure both are gonna be a cracker, Marina CC 2 vs. Marina CC 3 is match against brothers, but whosoever wins is a joy for the club, but on paper Marina CC 2 looks stronger.

Next big step for Marina CC 2 will be beat IA for their chances to lift the trophy in DIV 3.

IA Struggled against Horizon CC but the match was tied which means they just got 5 points with them. That is really a good sign!!!!!!

All the best guys and you all are playing well! May the best team win!!!!!!!

Yours sincerely,
Ganesh

Match Report: M2 Vs Bengal CC, By Sri

M2 registered our 5th straight win of the season yesterday, beating Bengal CC comfortably by 78 runs. (9 points)

 

Batting first, M2 made 228 in 30 overs and then restricted BCC to 150/8 in their 30 overs.

 

Standout performances:

 

Batting

Sushant: 34 (21 balls, 5*4s, 1*6)

Kiran: 61 (39 balls, 6*4s, 3*6s)

Chandru: 67 (64 balls, 8*4s, 1*6)

Naveen: 23 (14 balls, 3*4s, 1*6)

 

Kiran & Chandru had a brilliant 126-run partnership for the 4th wicket after we were 63/3 in just 8.1 overs!

 

Bowling

Sri: 6-0-21-3

Pareet: 6-1-21-3

Anshul: 3-0-26-2

Sushant: 4 stumpings


Special Thanks to Bips, Redkar and Kunal who were there at the ground to cheer us on!

Detailed match report will follow soon.

 

GO MARINA!!

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