Lost by 2 wickets - A batting collapse

What transpired today could be best described as : 'Well begun; but not persistent enough'.. It happened in both departments - while batting,we were 38-3 after 6 overs; only to be all out for 54 in the last over. And we had them on the mat - 28-6 after 6 overs. But they eventually won by 2 wickets in the last over.

The Team: Vignesh, Raghu, Sridar, Fred, Kail, Ram, Jagan, Sudharshan, Balaji, Muthu and Suresh.

The match was against Stalin's team - they were touted to be a very good team. We won the toss, courtesy Jagan and chose to bat.

After a lengthy discussion between Raghu, Fred and myself, I opened along with Sudharshan. But Sudharshan went first ball (bowled). Ram and myself laid a good start wherein we scored 23 off the first 4 overs. I got out caught at long off. Fred got bowled around the legs soon. Raghu and Ram took the score to 38 after 6 overs. This is where the collapse started with Raghu, Muthu and Sridhar out in no time. Ram, after playing one of his better knocks, got out. He looked in good touch until he got bowled. We eventually huffed and puffed to 54.

Defending 54 in 12 overs (the opponents insisted in a 12 over game)was never going to be easy but we drew confidence from our last week where we defended 63 off 14 overs. Jagan and Suresh started the bowling and the opponents scored 21 off the first 4 overs. I must say those two bowled well but our fielding let us down here with some overthrows. A couple of run outs, a wicket by Sridhar and 2 wickets in my over meant they were 28-6 after 6 overs. But after that we just couldn't contain the flow of runs. They scored 5-6 runs of every over. What was needed was a couple of tight overs. They lost a couple of wickets in the penultimate over by Jagan but it was too late. They won by 2 wickets.

Though it hurts to lose, I feel we gave a good account of ourselves against a team which was supposed to be tough. Next up is the Pongal weekend.. We are contemplating to play atleast 2 matches. Lets hope we don't commit the same mistakes again. Our middle order needs to put up a better show. I know there is no fixed batting order but those who fill up the slots should apply themselves better. And those over throws could be avoided if the fielders in the ring do a good job of backing up and also calling out which end to throw..

Best wishes for Pongal...

Cheers
Vignesh