A day to forget in CCC history

 

What started off as a gorgeous day for Cricket ended as a “black day” in the history of CCC. My heartiest apologies for making this report an anticlimax but this is how the sad story goes.

 

CCC was pitted against Nationwide in this MOCL clash which was going to ensure the playoffs berth for both the teams. After winning the toss, CCC elected to bowl first with conditions suited to help the bowlers. CCC bowlers did reciprocate very well to this decision by taking some early breakthroughs. Sekhar was at his usual best swinging the ball prodigiously to keep the NCC batsmen fishing. He was rewarded for his accurate bowling with good early wickets. Vineel shared the new ball with Sekhar and bowled fiery spells getting good bounce and nip off the wicket. Accurate bowling and good field placement had Nationwide reeling at 50/6 at one stage. Amit and Mike also contributed well with the ball with some accurate bowling. However, a good partnership by Anando and Anil at that stage and some justified experimentation by CCC helped the two Nationwide batsmen get comfortable.  Some good hitting by both Anando and Anil helped NCC end with a respectable score of 152 in 35 overs. We had failed to capitalize on the great start given to us by the bowlers. However, 152 was still a very easy target given the comfort that CCC had playing at Nationwide.

 

But what happened in the CCC innings was just inexplicable. It was Anando Mukherjee all the way! He seemed to be getting everything right on the day and was pitching the ball in the right spaces and was swinging the ball just enough to make himself simply unplayable. At the same time, there also seemed to be a lack of application by the CCC batsmen. The result was obvious and shocking – CCC was in an unbelievable position at 18/8 – much to the shock and awe of everyone present at the ground on that day. None of the CCC batsmen made a real effort to stay at the crease and everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get back to the pavilion. Amit Atrey was the only batsman who made an attempt to take the bull by its horn and counter-attack. But at that stage that just wasn’t enough. CCC innings ended at a pathetic total of 31/10 – the worst drubbing that the club has ever received in its history of 10 years, the lowest total ever scored by CCC.

 

Hopefully everyone will just shake this off, although it might not be too easy to take it off the mind, and focus on the upcoming games in the tournament. At least that will redeem us of this terrible defeat.