COLUMBUS CRICKET CLUB
Hari Prashant Sundaram scored a Quickfire 69 to annihilate Michigan CC (MCC) in the first ever game between CCC and MCC. Set a modest 161 to win in 40 overs, MCC were not expected to pull off any miracles, but the manner in which they were decimated by CCC batsmen left them shell shocked. CCC achieved victory by 6 wickets at a impressive rate of 7.21 runs per over.
Earlier
in the day, Bharat won the toss and put MCC to bat.
Praveen
and Jagdish opened the MCC innings.
They were welcomed with some accurate and disciplined bowling by Amit
and Sean. MCC started slowly and were
kept in check by CCC bowlers. Sai
Margani brought in as first change was in great form. He provided CCC with the much-needed break sending Jagdish
back. Manju walked in to Join Praveen.
He was doing everything right, putting his head down and sticking to the
basics. Praveen was keeping one end
going with some sensible batting. Manju
(11) was sent back by a sterling piece of fielding by Bharat. He was run out by a direct hit. Abhijeet was coming very good with his slow
offspinners. Kaushik (15) and Ashok
(17) did well to contribute in double figures. Kaushik was beginning to free
his arms when Vinod Kosike held a tough catch to send back the danger man.
Praveen (20) was soon gone deceived by another beauty by Abhi. Seeing Praveen
step out, Abhi tried a faster one – a low full toss on the leg side, and
Praveen prodded at it. Wilson at short midwicket seemed a bit slow, but plucked
the catch at the last minute. He went on to take three important wickets
contributing significantly to the earlier damage done by CCC bowlers.
The
tail enders for Mich CC batted well with support from their Captain Anbu Selvan
who top scored with 34, to get their side’s total to respectability. First, it
seemed like MCC would not cross 150, but some good hitting by Anbu Selvan and
support from the tail let them get to a modest 160.
But
before that, at one point, the Mich CC batsmen were beginning to look
dangerous. But the key was, when the late middle order and tail enders seemed
to consolidate, CCC bowlers never let them settle down. First, Wilson got one
seam into Ephrim, who fell to a trap at midwicket. Ravi Darbha came back
strongly from him poor bowling before to bowl John Jacob – a beautiful ball.
Finally Abhi bowled John T. All the above batsmen made it into double figures
and were beginning to look good, when the CCC bowlers pegged them back. In
addition, our ground fielding was excellent also.
In
almost all the games we played this year, we have consistently dismissed all
the sides – an excellent quality, if kept in tact, will take us deep into the
playoffs.
Venky
and Hari gave CCC an electrifying start belting MCC bowlers all over Hannah
Park. Hari particularly pulverizing the
MCC bowling attack. Venky played a very
balanced innings giving good support to Hari.
They went about executing the task with clinical precision, rotating the
strike, punishing the bad ones. Their
running between the wickets in muggy conditions was a treat to watch. After putting on 105 runs for the first
wicket, Hari (69) was gone trying to clear the ropes one more time. His was an innings of perfection giving the
spectators a display of some breathtaking stroke play. Suhas Promoted up the order was soon gone. Venky made a composed 38 before being
retired hurt. When it seemed like a
mere formality to complete the game, Ravindran added Color coming up with a
flamboyant 34. His brilliant offside
play was on display again - A great asset to the team.
At
the end it was a well-deserved victory for CCC with Abhi and Hari coming up
with encore performances.
Wilson Fernando
Bharat Jataprolu
Abhijeet Deshpande
Ravi Mangipudi