First of all, I would like to thank everyone for making the effort to wake up so very early on a Sunday morning. We had to hit the road at 7am as our game was scheduled for 11am. It was a hot and muggy day and we were one short of a full eleven. But such was our team spirit that we took a 3.5 hours journey to Columbus for our second game of the season. This was a major improvement, as we had only 7 players for our first game which we played in Windsor. 

At the start of our trip we were pumped up and enthusiastic as always and were hopeful that are fortune would shine on us. We made it to the Jesse Owens Sports Complex right on time and decided to start the game by 11:30. After winning the toss, we elected to bat. Nadeem M. and Nadeem A. opened the innings for MCC. It was a very slow start. The pitch was in bad shape and we took our time to figure out what it was doing. Nadeem A. was dealt a few body blows as there was good bounce in the wicket. The muggy weather didn't help either. Anyhow, we decided to preserve wickets while trying to take singles and doubles. The outfield was extremely heavy and the best of ground strokes were yielding very little runs. As a result the run rate was just under 3.0 an over. When the score was 29, Nadeem A. drove the ball into covers and Nadeem M. called for a quick single. There was a fumble by the fielder and Nadeem A. hesitated. The fielder did not give a second chance as he quickly recovered from the fumble and threw the ball at the non-strikers end. Nadeem A. was out for a somewhat painstaking 8 runs. 

Pushkin joined his captain and the two took the score to 72 by continuing with singles and doubles. At the end of the 20th over the score was still only 67 and MCC were falling way behind their intended target. After the 20th over Pushkin and Nadeem M. set about increasing the run rate by taking cheeky singles and looking for 2s and 3s. Pushkin was eventually out for 17, when he tried to heave Ravi over the infield, but mistimed the shot. Soon after, when the score was 76, Nadeem M. was run out for 26. A courageous effort was made by the remaining batsmen, which kept the scoreboard moving, but we kept on losing wickets. The final score was 108 all out and was always going to be tough to defend. 

We came out to with a winning attitude, as always and tried to attack. The two openers from Columbus, Athiri and Vasu, hit and missed a few but still seemed comfortable against our opening attack of Vijay and Tanveer. We made a change in the 5th over to create a mix and keep the batsmen thinking, by bringing on Susheel and Deepak. It worked as the batsmen started fishing at the ball and weren't able to score as freely. Athiri was finally run out when the score was 18, followed by an injury to Vasu off the bowling of Deepak, when he tried to cut the ball and it hit his forehead. When the score was 27, Susheel struck with a brilliant ball to Suresh trapping him plumb in front of the stumps for an lbw decision. In a bid to keep the batsmen on their toes, we kept making bowling changes ... perhaps a few too many! Susheel and Deepak bowled really well and were given good support from Tanveer and Vijay who came back to pick up a useful wicket towards the end of the Columbus innings. Ajay and Gopi seemed to lack practice and didn't get a chance to settle in. Pushkin's style of bowling wasn't suited to the sort of pitch we were playing on. We kept on picking up regular wickets, two of which were a result of some sharp fielding from Deepak and Nadeem A. But one man stood between MCC and an improbable victory, Bharat. He was the only batsmen who scored freely and eventually remained unbeaten on 51 as he saw Columbus home. A deserving victory indeed and the player of the match was no doubt Bharat ... 3 quick wickets to his friendly bowling and a fine fifty studded with four 6's and three 4's.

Nadeem Muqueem.