Corridor of Uncertain Tea - TGCC vs PTCC

19th Apr 2009 was not meant to be a ‘Sun’ day, as it woke up on the wrong side of the bed and the cloudy forecast suggested interruptions during our first league match against PTCC. When I reached the ground, I had a mixed feeling, one that of eagerness; for it was our very first of the many outings against some stalwart teams in the tournament, and another of apprehension; that rain might have the last laugh.

But, as they say, “all well that ends well”

Both the teams were at the ground by 10 am, and we looked all set to start the match pretty soon until we realized that we were 1 short of our playing 11. The missing person in this case, as always, was Abhimanyu. Chaos ensued and Satish was requested to fill in the shoes for Abhimanyu and he obliged by reaching the ground in less than 30 mins. Bravo! Kudos to Satish’s passion for the game.

Unlike our last two encounters, Prashant, our captain, lost the toss this time and the opponents elected to bat first. Our bowlers ensured it was a fine toss to lose and we made the most of it by wrapping the opponents for a paltry total of 115 in less than 30 overs.

Biv and Rohan started the proceedings, and they meant business from the word go.Well, not exactly from the word go per say as Biv was slammed for 11 runs in the very first over. But for a fine bowler that Biv is, he came back strongly in the next over and gave us the first breakthrough by trapping the overweight batsman from the opponent team right in front of the wicket by some smart bowling. He continued to bowl well and picked up another wicket in his spell of 5 overs. Rohan supported him well and also picked up couple of wickets himself.

The captain introduced me as the first change and held fort from the other end himself. Both of us struggled to find the rhythm going and the opponents were happy to take singles-doubles coming their way. Just when things were looking stale without any break for us for long, Mayuresh produced a very accurate throw from outside the inner circle from the mid-wicket area, to run out one of the key batsman for the opponents. I helped in a way by reacting intuitively and letting the throw pass me, as I thought it had a chance to hit stumps. I was glad that I stood corrected or else I would have been the butt of many jokes from Sunny later in the match, as he also produced a brilliant piece of fielding to inflict another run out which buried the opponents further.
Spin was introduced from both the ends after 18 overs, with Natty and Mayur bowling together. Natty was a treat to watch with the bowl as he picked up 2 wickets along the way and although Mayur struggled to find his line-length, he still managed to keep things tight. When the opponent’s tail wagged for more than 25 runs, the captain brought himself on and uprooted the off stump of the last batsman to bring an end to their innings.

We were very happy with our bowling and fielding effort as we just needed 116 runs to register our first win of the season.It looked like a very easy task and our batsman made sure we were not mistaken.

Mayur’s batting was a viewer’s delight as he caressed the bowl through the fielders to find the other end of the rope frequently. Satish was promoted to open the batting as he had to leave early owing to his work commitments. There was brief fiasco when we lost Satish and Sanjay in quick succession. I was sent in, and along with Mayur, we ensured that it was smooth sailing from there on. A scorching on-drive off the second ball I faced calmed my nerves and I played a little cameo to take my side to safety before getting out.

Mayuresh joined Mayur and made sure no further damage was done. Mayur completed his half century and remained unbeaten on 66, displaying some master strokes on the way.We won the match very comfortably by scoring 116 runs in little under 20 overs.

It gives us the perfect head start for our season and we look to build upon this momentum going ahead.


CAPTAIN'S CORNER-

The Captain writes-

"Once again excellent effort by the team. PTCC started aggressively by hitting Biv for 4 in the very first over, but soon Biv and Rohan brought them under control by taking quick wickets. Both Rohan and Biv utilized the overcast conditions very well. Natty also bowled well and kept PTCC under control. Our fielding was good, rather I would say it was a very smart fielding effort. A combination of excellent throw by Mayuresh and quick thinking by Amar to get run out was one example. Sunny’s throw was also spot on. We still have to improve our fielding as we also missed couple of chances. We will try to bring more structure to our fielding and efficient use of our fielders in the next coming matches.
During our batting Sanjay and Satish got out cheaply but Mayur, Amar and Mayuresh batted sensibly and won the match for us comfortably.
Player of the Match - Mayur ( 66* runs, 4-0-18-1)
Mayur’s batting was a delight to watch, very good shots selection and excellent placements. He performed as I asked him to do at the beginning of the inning. I am nominating Mayur as MOM."

Corridor of Uncertain Tea - TGCC vs WSCC

Another beautiful day for outdoors, the temperature was in high 70s and the weather made a perfect case for cricket, although the ground’s condition ruined it again.
Nevertheless, the occasion was the practice match against WSCC; in an effort to get comfortable in the middle ahead of our first league match on 18th april.
Although only a practice match, it was significant in terms of some radical changes in the team; We were playing under a newly appointed captain; Prashant Dixit and there was no vice-captain in the team; owing to some nincompoopery amongst some team members.

NOTE: In an effort to better reach out to the group using this blog as a medium, the Captain has agreed to have a space in the blog where we will be enlightened by Captain’s thought process, and he will also adjudge a Player of the Match after every game.
So from now on, I am going to post the Captain’s thoughts, verbatim, in the sub-column “Captain’s corner”, at the end of the blog.
Now back to the match details-

We were playing with nine players, as couple of players became unavailable citing health reasons.

Prashant won the toss and decided to bat and make the most out of the allotted 35 overs.
Mayur and Sanjay opened the innings, and soon Mayur was adjudged run-out in the 3rd ball of the 1st over, without troubling the scorers. Sunny was the next man in and he started cautiously and scored 11 runs before his stumps were castled; I was sent in next and along with Sanjay, we had a small partnership going to stabilize the innings; I was rusty initially but started to play confidently after spending sometime in the middle and just when I thought I would up the tempo; I caused a minor contretemps by running myself out on 33.

Running between the wickets is something that we would have to sort out before the start of the league matches, as we miss out on opportunities to take quick singles and are not sure about each other’s calls; this is something which might cost us later in the season.

Biv was next and in a bid to hit an opponent bowler; who thought he can even turn the ball on glass (ok, I can’t even type that with a straight face), Biv perished at the long off boundary and soon we were reduced to 100/7 in 21 overs. Prashant and Sudarshan made sure that the opponents stay on the field was prolonged as they batted watchfully and collected whatever runs came their way. We were able to play our full quota of 35 overs and set a target of 172 runs. We were happy with the runs on the board as we thought anything above 150 would be a competitive score on this pitch.
Biv and Prashant started the proceedings with the ball. Biv bowled beautifully and was unlucky not to find the outside edge of the batsmen, as he bowled meticulously outside the off stumps and got the ball to swing. Prashant looked out of rhythm as he bowled a handful of wides and only occasionally bowling a ripper to surprise the batsmen. The opponents were 38/0 in the first 8 overs. I and Rahul Mandewalker were brought in as first changes and we together bowled a tight line and picked wickets at regular intervals and soon the opponents were reduced to 49/3 in 15 overs. I was personally happy with my bowling today as I was consistent more often than not and was able to bowl in rhythm, and try a couple of slow variations which helped me pick wickets as I finished with the figures of 5-1-7-2. Mayur was the next bowler in, and having missed out on the opportunity with the bat, he more than made up for it with his good leg spin bowling; and picking 3 wickets on the way (which included a very good caught and bowled effort). Biv was introduced from other end and he made merry with 2 wickets; a reward for his consistent line and length. The captain also used the generally under-utilized bowler in our side; Sunny, and he too bowled beautifully and immediately picked a wicket in his 1st over when he trapped the batsman in front of the stumps. The opponents were all out for 80 odd runs and we won comprehensively, thanks largely to a good team effort once again.
But we have to guard ourselves against complacency and make sure we keep performing better and better through out the season.


CAPTAIN’S CORNER-
The Captain writes--
“Although we scored a little less than what we expected and we gave away wickets with not so good running between the wickets. But we still managed to bat full 35 overs and scored a fighting total of 171. Our bowling was lacking sharpness in the early overs but we came back very strongly and wrapped up WSCC under 90 runs. Overall good team effort by everyone. Thanks and keep it up.
Player of the Match – Amar (33 runs, 5-1-7-2)
Player of the match truly goes to Amar for his valuable knock and excellent bowling spell. Amar scored 33 runs with good strike rate and kept the momentum going at a time when we lost Mayur and Sunny cheaply. During bowling also Amar got us our first breakthrough and brought us back into the game. He took 2 wickets, with good bowling economy rate. Keep it up Amar.

I would also like to mention Sudarshan's name for staying at the batting crease till the end and making sure that we reach to a respectable total.”