COLUMBUS CRICKET CLUB
Rain mars an exciting game; robs CCC of a victory.
We all knew what this game’s real significance was: to gain a psychological advantage over the only other unbeaten team in our group, rather than win points for MCT. What better than to beat them at their own ground?
The game started about an hour behind schedule, thanks to our own rather less-than-disciplined road-trip. Cleveland2 (C2) won the toss and decided to bat – these days it doesn’t seem to matter to us whether we bat or bowl first!
Pretty soon, C2 found the going tough, with accurate and swinging bowling by our opening bowlers: Sekhar and Amit. By the fifth over, they were firmly on the back foot, with three down for 16, including the danger man, Nikunj – Sekhar accounting for two of them. C2 found no respite in our first bowling changes: Vineel and Srinath – Vineel with his usual fire and aggression and Srinath keeping a tight line and length and bouncing the ball chest-high. Soon both Vineel and Srinath were rewarded for their work – Vineel’s almost an unplayable one bowling Lokesh and Srinath’s teasing one catching the outside edge of Siddiqui. Shiva Birdi was one C2 batsman who stuck to his task of keeping an end going. He with Lokesh and Hiren, ran the singles well, hitting an occasional boundary to keep the scorecard ticking. Finally, Bharat took him out with a cunning slower one – caught and bowled! Six down for 79 – one would think they’d never cross 100 – but this is where CCC faltered. We dropped no less than five catches, three of them sitters and messed up at least two run out chances … allowing the tail enders to make merry and reach 139. But more importantly, eating up time, which proved to be crucial in the end. Willy bowled two expensive but good overs and was unlucky not to have snared his second wicket as well. This failure to close the deal could cost dearly in future – a cause for some concern for the Captain.
In any case, a target of 139 called only for one thing: avoid silly mistakes and just play steady, basic cricket. Ravi M and Ravindran went about doing just that. Credit to the opening C2 bowlers who came in with some serious performance up front: fast, mostly accurate with little width – that did not impress our irrepressible Ravindran, who blasted two boundaries in the covers area that rattled the rafters – C2 guys were talking about those two shots after the match! Then, going for one more, he holed out at point. In comes Srinath, and after a couple of tentative overs, found his feet and confidence and soon started going for his shots, while letting anything outside the off go without much fanfare. Ravi Mangipudi was determination personified. He was middling the ball well and was looking good for a long innings. CCC was totally in control of the game at the drinks break (12 overs 54 runs) after weathering the best of C2’s attack. You could see in C2’s eyes that the game has for the most part, slipped out of their hands. That’s when the heavens opened up and it rained for an hour like there was no tomorrow. It was a draw and we split points.
Yes, technically it was a draw, but you could ask a bird on the ground as to who was winning and the resulting chirping would leave you with no doubt --- CCC dominated all but one sessions of the game and barring a miracle, would have won. We achieved what we really went there to achieve: gained the all-important psychological edge!!!
Lost they may have, but C2 was a pleasure to play with – they were gracious as hosts and professional in their conduct – it’s always a pleasure to play with teams like that!
Points of Appreciation & Lessons learned
1. The bowling was again spot-on! Sekhar, Amit, Srinath and Vineel really showed everyone why we are the most feared bowling attack in the league.
2. Ravi M and Srinath played brilliantly for the situation and we all have a lot to learn from the way they were chasing a target. The backbone to their innings was the singles they were taking every over. Soon the singles turned into well-run twos and then boundaries.
3. We had an inexplicable slump on the field after taking 9 wickets. After putting the opposition on the mat, with only one wicket to go, we need to actually up our aggression and go for the kill. Instead, we dropped simple catches; missed straightforward run outs. In retrospect, I think the humidity was killing and it was very tiring out there. We need to be prepared and do better in such situations in future.