CHAMPIONS CUP FINAL - CCC Vrs NCC Detailed Match Report The scorecard for the final is available at http://www.columbuscricket.org/scorecards/database/2002/20021026.CCC_Nationwide.html The complete statistics for CCC and other teams are available on the CCC website http://www.columbuscricket.org/ Here's the captains report for the game: NCC started out on a good note by winning an important toss and had no hesitation in putting CCC into bat. It was a cold, cloudy morning. The outfield and the pitch (to an extent) were still wet. The ball was keeping low and skidding off the pitch. CCC BATTING: =========== Openers Arun Selvraj and Vindy Kumar (with a fever) gave a solid start to our innings and blunted the initial advantage enjoyed by NCC bowlers. NCC bowlers did their part in letting us get away with a brisk start by giving away numerous extras (esp. wides). We would've have been happy with a score of 25 in 10 overs, but we ended up with 47 runs after 10. Arun was bowled by a shooter around the 6-7 over, but by then we already had about 20 runs on board. Vindy and Abhi then had a small but important partnership and by the time Vindy was out we had around 50 runs and he had done his job. Srinath, promoted to #4, used the chance to full effect. He partnered with Abhi and put on around 70-80 runs in what was easily the most crucial partnership of the game. The key was running between the wickets. Never did they try to defend too much or slog too much. If you keep getting the singles and an odd two, you dont have to go for big shots. Hopefully our middle order will stitch more partnerships like this next season. The concept is simple: The number of runs you get by swinging at 2-3 balls and managing to get a single boundary is same as four singles which is the same as defending two (good) balls and getting two twos. We need to inculcate the importance of singles and twos at the time of stabilizing the innings from a quick fall of wickets. You could either hit-out (risking losing your wkt.) or simply put your head down and get singles and convert some to doubles by running well. By the time Srinath got out, we were comfortably placed at around 120 with Seven wickets in hand. Bharat got out immediately, surprised by a quicker delivery from Muddala. Avinash then partnered with Abhi to finish 30 overs. Avinash's support to Abhi was the second most crucial thing in our batting. He simply took singles and gave strike to Abhi, who by then was in full flow. It was a brilliant innings by Abhi and it came at a very crucial time in a very crucial game. We were definitely short of experienced batsman and half the team was comprised of new comers. The fact that there were only three boundaries (2 sixers and a single four) in his innings highlights the importance of singles and doubles and the excellence of his innings. Abhi ran for about 25 doubles (and > 10 1s) in the entire innings and that's the same as hitting 15 fours. While 15 fours gets a lot of attention and praise, 30 twos doesn't sound as attractive. But we are not pure spectators, we are (semi?)serious, learning cricketers - we *have* to inculcate the importance of 1s and 2s into our minds. That doesn't mean you should not hit boundaries - after all, if you can manage them with consistency, those ARE the best strokes to play - but there are not a *must* for building big innings as Abhi has proved. It was unfortunate that Abhi was stranded on 97* but that should give him enough motivation to get another big score and convert that into a century. He should by now know the 'technique' of building big innings :-) For all practical purposes it WAS a century and it helped us get to 178/4 in 30 overs. CCC BOWLING: =========== As usual Srinath and Avinash started out in a blazing fashion to restrict the NCC openers. Extras were given away but that was more because of the weather - we were in cold weather for more than 3 hrs by then and its was very hard to get a good grip on the ball. If I had only two words to describe the second innings of the game those would be "CCC Catching". We've had so many catches dropped this season, that it has become a part of our psyche. I regularly see (even experienced) members branding even a regulation catch as something that's "tough". Everybody has dropped catches. Yes! that includes You, Me , Everybody. At one stage, we have slid to a state where everytime ball goes up in the air, the bowler is almost certain that it would be dropped and he already starts planning his next ball. If it's caught, its not something normal - something we are *supposed* to do, but a cause for celebration. Instead of hoping a couple of very tough catches caught, we were simply reconciled to the fact that anything slightly tough will be dropped and were hoping atleast very easy ones would not be dropped! Compared to that standards, all the catches taken that day were "extra-ordinary". Avinash started out with a really tough catch low and on his left side. The hands were cold and the ball was new and the shot was hit reasonably hard by NCC opener Srikanth. Benarji and Verma then looked to get it right for the next couple of overs. Verma quickly latched on to a slower delivery from Srinath and dispatched it to the boundary and Benarji looked good in a couple of sweet stroked on the off-side. Verma was was really looking threatening when Srinath bent his back to get one sharply in. Abhi held on to a sharp catch at second slip. New comers Ravi Darbha and Bhavesh were brought in early (to minimize the pressure they might have) and they then shared the next four overs. Though wayward in their first overs, they fought back and gave only 4 and 5 runs respectively in their second overs. The key is not if you had made mistakes or not - everybody will, but how well you fought back. This helped the captain manage the bowling options well esp with Vindy not bowling due to his ill-health. Anand and Benarji from NCC acted as Vindy's substitutes during the last 12-15 overs - My thanks to them for helping us out. Predictably Benarji got run out. He is fast becoming the new Inzamam-ul Haq of NCC :-) To be fair to him it was not Soumil's call as the ball was in front of Benarji. There was a small mess up by CCC which was quickly fixed by Sreedhar Beeravol who picked the ball and cleaned up the stumps (really cleaned them up :-) Muddala and Soumil then steadied the innings, but not for long. They were comfortably placed at 70/3 after 15 but regular wickets pegged them back. Soumil was trapped in front by Bharat. A good piece of fielding from Bhavesh(?) sent Muddala to the pavilion. Notable mention is the way Salim bowled in a very crucial time of NCC chase. He stuck to an off-stump line and good length and did not give any width. In case you're wondering, he is now bowling medium pace (a la Gavin Larsen, Robin Singh :) ). He (6 overs for 24) partnered Bharat (4 overs - 2/12) to slow down NCC innings enough for their RRR to climb into the upper 8s. Salim complemented his good bowling with a nice catch. Yogi tried to pull a sharply turning delivery from Bharat and skied the catch. Salim did well to judge the catch reasonably well and held a tough catch above & to the back of his head. Abhi pitched in with another crucial wicket - Pankaj - who had struck a few blows and was looking for a few more. Bhavesh held a superb catch to make up for his earlier miss (which was really a tough chance) - lunging back at point. These are the kind of catches that give enormous confidence to the bowlers. Srinath was brought back in the 25th over and immediately struck gold. Sanjeev Deepak (20) was the only batsman looking to have a go at the chase and Srinath got him first ball, trying to force the pace - giving a regulation catch in the deep to Bharat. Two balls later Suresh tried a hiok and was caught brilliantly by Avinash. The ball went very high but by the time Avinash reached it, it was hurrying down towards the ground. Avinash held on to a low catch on his left side. He called for the catch at the right time to avoid confusion and got it! Again, two balls later, Srinath bowled Anando with a beauty - leg stump Yorker - to claim his first haul of 5 wkts. In a 30 over game, that's really an accomplishment! 5 overs 19 runs and 5 wickets. Well done Srinath! Sreedhar then held on to a good catch off his own bowling to send back Deepak Visu and end the NCC innings. Finals MVP: Abhijeet Deshpande (97* ) Honourable mentions: Srinath Nanduri (5/19) Raj Sundararaman officiated the whole game as the main umpire. Kudos to him for being firm and fair and doing a very good job, overall. It's takes some effort to umpire a whole 60 over game and we appreciate his voluntary gesture.
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