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.”
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.”
posted by ASB at 12:53 PM
1 Comments:
acha hai bhai ab bas league ke match ka blog chahiye.
waiting for your next blog
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