Raghu calls himself the fielding captain and I guess that is how it is now. He came into this match with a very poor form with his bat. To see him score freely last sunday was definitely a sight to rejoice.
Our Team: Maddy, Vicky, Mani, Sri, Raghu, Jagan, Kailash, Yogi, Balaji, Suresh and Goutham
Opponents: Wild Wings (Dinesh and co)
This is first of the two matches played last sunday and the other one will be updated by Vicky. Lost the second match I understood, now I am beginning to believe this voodoo s***
Anyway, our toss captain Jagan, won the toss again and we elected to bat first. Jagan and Kailash opened the innings. Disaster of the first ball as Jagan was bowled by a delivery that kept very low. I entered the scene as I wanted to play like Lance Klusener but right handed!!! Kailash soon got out caught behind in the same over without scoring. Balaji was tasked to build the innings with yours truly and we kept the score ticking and managed 28 runs in 6 overs and that is when I got run out, actually my bye got me run out. Either way I got out. Yogi and Raghu then steadied the innings with some quick running and some Raghu screamers. He played a captain's knock and would have probably scored 35 odd. Along with Sri and Goutham, we managed to get a big total of 94 in 14 overs.
Defending a big total like this, we had to worry mainly about Sriram and Dinesh as we know they are our biggest threats. Sri and Jagan bellowed some fast stuff down the track as we negated the Sriram impact. Gopi for them played well and Dinesh has improved his batting quite a lot it seems as he stood there till the end as they struggled to chase the target and fell short by 18 runs. We took the nine wickets as they played only 10 men.
Along the way, we got to see Mani as usual dropping a sitter but since we all kind of expect that Suresh kept a vigil and took the rebound. Vicky from the covers tried some Azar like throws to non existent stumps :p
Are we seeing a better approach to fielding these days? I know standing at long, we sometimes miss the ball but overall we were not that bad as we used to be in many matches. If we can improve upon this, we might be a really good fielding set up. Most important is to keep the right person in the right place. Something for our fielding captain to think about.
Who is getting tired of our jersey?
Cheers,
Madhavan
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Victorious on Vijayadasami
Team: Maddy, Mani, Raghu, Freddie, Sridhar, Jagan, Suresh, Sudharshan, Goutham, Yogesh and Vignesh.
Result: Won by 8 runs.
Almost everything fell in place today; except the toss, which we won. Jagan won the toss and this is his second toss won in a row. And there was a lot of confusion after that. Mani gave a SWOT analysis of our team and just to stop him we decided to go with his decision – which was to bat first.
Fred and Sudharshan opened but Fred got run out in the first over. Sudharshan didn’t stay for long either. Raghu and Yogesh forged a mini recovery and both of them looked good until Raghu was caught and bowled. We were 23 for 3 after 4 overs. Good start in terms of runs but we had lost 3 wickets. Goutham was slotted at No.5 and he was finding it difficult to score initially as he was batting after a long time. Yogesh was at his usual run-scoring self picking up 2s and 3s. Goutham got into the act a bit later with a boundary through covers but got out when he was looking good for more and Yogesh was run out immediately after. But the two had put us on a position of strength. We were 48 after 9 overs.
I joined Sridhar in the middle and we found runs coming easily. Sridhar is turning out to be our “Finisher” and he seems to be getting better with every game. He struck some power packed blows. I decided to churn the strike and give it back to Sridhar but I found that there were a lot of over pitched stuff which fetched me lots of doubles. Together, we had got 41 runs of the last 5 overs. Our total was 89 at the end of 14 overs. Good total and Mani was happy that his decision was right
Jagan and Suresh started off the bowling. Jagan bowled a good spell with 3 tight overs. His pace was good and he was not bowling loose balls. Hope he continues this form with the ball. Suresh was struggling at the other end. He bowled a lot of wides and also taken for runs. Maddy replaced Suresh and he bowled a couple of overs which went for 6-7 runs. I had told Mani that his 4 overs would be the key and he delivered a fine spell of 2 overs. The opponents had only scored 37 off the first 8 overs and had lost some 2-3 wickets.
We brought on Suresh and he did bowl a better second over giving away only 6 runs. Jagan was taken for runs in his final over with a mighty 6 over long on. But something special happened too. Raghu held onto one of the best catches I’ve seen. He was at long off. The ball was hit flat and to his left. Raghu ran for a few yards, held out his left hand, dived and took a beauty. There was applause from all those who witnessed and we were over the moon. They needed 35 off the last 4 overs and Mani bowled a tight over for just four runs which was courtesy a misfield by yours truly. Suresh bowled another over for 8 runs. Mani was taken apart in his last over for 10 runs but he had picked 4 wickets for 21 runs in his 4-over spell. With 13 needed off the last over, Raghu completed the proceedings with two wickets.
The batting had clicked well with two well constructed partnerships. Mani and Jagan were good with their bowling. Hope we carry on from this as I feel the team is shaping up well.
Cheers
Vignesh
Result: Won by 8 runs.
Almost everything fell in place today; except the toss, which we won. Jagan won the toss and this is his second toss won in a row. And there was a lot of confusion after that. Mani gave a SWOT analysis of our team and just to stop him we decided to go with his decision – which was to bat first.
Fred and Sudharshan opened but Fred got run out in the first over. Sudharshan didn’t stay for long either. Raghu and Yogesh forged a mini recovery and both of them looked good until Raghu was caught and bowled. We were 23 for 3 after 4 overs. Good start in terms of runs but we had lost 3 wickets. Goutham was slotted at No.5 and he was finding it difficult to score initially as he was batting after a long time. Yogesh was at his usual run-scoring self picking up 2s and 3s. Goutham got into the act a bit later with a boundary through covers but got out when he was looking good for more and Yogesh was run out immediately after. But the two had put us on a position of strength. We were 48 after 9 overs.
I joined Sridhar in the middle and we found runs coming easily. Sridhar is turning out to be our “Finisher” and he seems to be getting better with every game. He struck some power packed blows. I decided to churn the strike and give it back to Sridhar but I found that there were a lot of over pitched stuff which fetched me lots of doubles. Together, we had got 41 runs of the last 5 overs. Our total was 89 at the end of 14 overs. Good total and Mani was happy that his decision was right
Jagan and Suresh started off the bowling. Jagan bowled a good spell with 3 tight overs. His pace was good and he was not bowling loose balls. Hope he continues this form with the ball. Suresh was struggling at the other end. He bowled a lot of wides and also taken for runs. Maddy replaced Suresh and he bowled a couple of overs which went for 6-7 runs. I had told Mani that his 4 overs would be the key and he delivered a fine spell of 2 overs. The opponents had only scored 37 off the first 8 overs and had lost some 2-3 wickets.
We brought on Suresh and he did bowl a better second over giving away only 6 runs. Jagan was taken for runs in his final over with a mighty 6 over long on. But something special happened too. Raghu held onto one of the best catches I’ve seen. He was at long off. The ball was hit flat and to his left. Raghu ran for a few yards, held out his left hand, dived and took a beauty. There was applause from all those who witnessed and we were over the moon. They needed 35 off the last 4 overs and Mani bowled a tight over for just four runs which was courtesy a misfield by yours truly. Suresh bowled another over for 8 runs. Mani was taken apart in his last over for 10 runs but he had picked 4 wickets for 21 runs in his 4-over spell. With 13 needed off the last over, Raghu completed the proceedings with two wickets.
The batting had clicked well with two well constructed partnerships. Mani and Jagan were good with their bowling. Hope we carry on from this as I feel the team is shaping up well.
Cheers
Vignesh
Saturday, October 16, 2010
The CURSE of not winning two games in a day
This looks straight out of a fiction. A team probably cursed with the non ability to win two matches in a day. Ok, probably not that kind of fiction, but this is getting to a point of insanity. We have never won back to back matches in a day, and that was the case last week too.
Our Captain Raghu was not available last week and we lost his insightful thoughts on the field :) The opening game was against the Skippers team, which had won all the games we had played against them and this match was for revenge. After losing the toss, we bowled first, which I personally don't mind considering the heat afterward. Mani was in his element in his opening spell, the highlight of which was a spectacular return catch of his own bowling. The only thought is he needs to consider if he wants to bowl all 4 overs all the time. But no complaints from the team so far as he doesn't gets to bat often. The skippers managed around 70 runs which we chased without any sort of problem with help from Fred, Sri and Vicky with 7 balls to spare.
A pretty good victory in the morning was overshadowed by a shoddy (bowling first and at the end of the chase) performance in the noon. It was against a local team, which with their slightly different approach to batting stance put up 72 to chase in 12 overs. It didn't seem like much of a problem for us as we put up a pretty good chase and set ourselves to chase 13 in 3 overs with 3 or 4 wickets still available. Thala had a game today and he batted pretty well. And that is when Sudarshan got himself into the crease, he seems to waste a lot of deliveries these days. With Sri at the other end, he could have taken a single, but no, trying to play aggressively he wasted the 10th over getting only 2 and 11th over for just 4. And with 7 needing off one over, he struggled to work the ball for a single and eventually got out 4th ball of the over. Vicky took the next two deliveries but unable to put up the required runs.
Who believes in Voodoo?
Unable to post the blog on the same day. So missing a lot of details. This is a problem.
Cheers,
'DaFreaks
Our Captain Raghu was not available last week and we lost his insightful thoughts on the field :) The opening game was against the Skippers team, which had won all the games we had played against them and this match was for revenge. After losing the toss, we bowled first, which I personally don't mind considering the heat afterward. Mani was in his element in his opening spell, the highlight of which was a spectacular return catch of his own bowling. The only thought is he needs to consider if he wants to bowl all 4 overs all the time. But no complaints from the team so far as he doesn't gets to bat often. The skippers managed around 70 runs which we chased without any sort of problem with help from Fred, Sri and Vicky with 7 balls to spare.
A pretty good victory in the morning was overshadowed by a shoddy (bowling first and at the end of the chase) performance in the noon. It was against a local team, which with their slightly different approach to batting stance put up 72 to chase in 12 overs. It didn't seem like much of a problem for us as we put up a pretty good chase and set ourselves to chase 13 in 3 overs with 3 or 4 wickets still available. Thala had a game today and he batted pretty well. And that is when Sudarshan got himself into the crease, he seems to waste a lot of deliveries these days. With Sri at the other end, he could have taken a single, but no, trying to play aggressively he wasted the 10th over getting only 2 and 11th over for just 4. And with 7 needing off one over, he struggled to work the ball for a single and eventually got out 4th ball of the over. Vicky took the next two deliveries but unable to put up the required runs.
Who believes in Voodoo?
Unable to post the blog on the same day. So missing a lot of details. This is a problem.
Cheers,
'DaFreaks
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Easy Victory
There is nothing negative to talk about our last week's match except the fact that we managed to field only 10 and many gathered pretty late.
We gathered with 10 men to challenge a local group. To be honest they never looked like any kind of challenge. As Suresh pointed out, we had played once against them in the triangle ground and won that game fairly easy.
Our team line up was: Mani, Fred, Maddy, Raghu, Sri, Jagan, Suresh, Yogi, Vivek and Sudarsh. It was a 12 over a side match.
Freddie lost the toss, since we didn't have enough guys assembled at that point, we were graciously asked to bat first. Jagan and I opened the innings with Jagan looking particularly in striking form and we got ourselves to a good start. Soon after Jagan and I were dismissed in a space of six balls. Raghu's poor form continued this week as well but he was unfortunate to get out the way he did, the ball hit the bottom left corner of his bat, thumped against his feet and lobbed in front of the fielder. He didn't score any run. Yogi, Freddie, Suresh and Vivek to an extent helped us cross 72 in 12 overs, which was a decent score in 12 overs.
Sri and Suresh started the proceedings with the ball. Except for the opening pair which occupied the crease for 3 overs, others did not bother us at all. Our fielding was pretty good as well as Raghu effected a couple of run outs. The bizarre sequence was that in the two overs that I bowled, 4 wickets fell, two credited to me and two run outs. Sudarsh bowled brilliantly was well, as we were checking our bowling options and he accounted for three wickets.
I don't now their exact score but surely they would have been 15 runs short at the end.
Good practice for all of us, a decent game.
Looking for much tougher matches in the future.
Cheers,
Madhavan
We gathered with 10 men to challenge a local group. To be honest they never looked like any kind of challenge. As Suresh pointed out, we had played once against them in the triangle ground and won that game fairly easy.
Our team line up was: Mani, Fred, Maddy, Raghu, Sri, Jagan, Suresh, Yogi, Vivek and Sudarsh. It was a 12 over a side match.
Freddie lost the toss, since we didn't have enough guys assembled at that point, we were graciously asked to bat first. Jagan and I opened the innings with Jagan looking particularly in striking form and we got ourselves to a good start. Soon after Jagan and I were dismissed in a space of six balls. Raghu's poor form continued this week as well but he was unfortunate to get out the way he did, the ball hit the bottom left corner of his bat, thumped against his feet and lobbed in front of the fielder. He didn't score any run. Yogi, Freddie, Suresh and Vivek to an extent helped us cross 72 in 12 overs, which was a decent score in 12 overs.
Sri and Suresh started the proceedings with the ball. Except for the opening pair which occupied the crease for 3 overs, others did not bother us at all. Our fielding was pretty good as well as Raghu effected a couple of run outs. The bizarre sequence was that in the two overs that I bowled, 4 wickets fell, two credited to me and two run outs. Sudarsh bowled brilliantly was well, as we were checking our bowling options and he accounted for three wickets.
I don't now their exact score but surely they would have been 15 runs short at the end.
Good practice for all of us, a decent game.
Looking for much tougher matches in the future.
Cheers,
Madhavan
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