Last Sunday was a bummer because of incessant rains during the morning hours and we missed an opportunity to play against the Stallions.
Today's match was against the Skippers.
'Da Freaks assembled: Maddy, Vicky, Freddie, Jagan, Jack, Raghu, Sri, Muthu, Vivek, Yogi and Sudarshan
The match was played at Alfonso, this ground is getting ever so bad.
Jagan and coins, there seems to be some kinda connection. How else would you explain his winning streak?! Yeah, he won the toss and we decided to bat first. Sudarshan and Freddie opened the innings but it was not vintage Freddie as he lost his off stump in the second over. Yogi came on next. Sudarshan, for a change, was looking to attack the ball from the word go and he got himself to a bright start but it wouldn't last long as he was caught out somewhere between mid on and mid wicket. I went in next and the second ball I faced I scooped the drive only for the fielder to mis-judge it for a single. On the other side, Yogi was undone by a beauty, he was caught behind. Raghu was next and he meant business from the word go as his drives thru the off side helped our innings tick along nicely. I was on the other hand playing dangerously, skying almost every ball and eventually was caught out after getting 3. Vicky and Raghu bought parity back into the innings but it was not long before Raghu got out. It just seemed like one of those days where no one converted any kind of start that they got. And what about Sri? He is our main stay at the fag end who can deliver some lusty blows. But it just seems that he was destined to get out from the word go and he skied the very first ball to cover which was let-off and a fortunate one. But he couldn't capitalize on it as he got, guess what, run out again!! There was absolutely no communication between Vicky and Sri and he came for a non-existent second run. Actually both of them seem to have committed to the second run but mid way thru they just stopped. Here I have to say that the Skippers' throws from the outfield were simply amazing, most of them right on top of the stumps. Vicky was hanging in there rotating the strike and with some good hands by Vivek, Muthu and Jack at the end we managed a some what decent compilation of 60 runs from 14 overs.
Even at the start we were confident that we could defend this score. Jagan bowled the first over because he had done pretty well for us in the past. But today he was so rusty that almost all the deliveries he bowled were full tosses. Skippers capitalized and scored 9 of that over. Jagan's pair was Jack and he didn't bowl that great an over either except one delivery in which he castled the stumps of one of the opening batsmen. He was just too short but luckily for him all the short pitched deliveries were not punished and in fact it presented us with two run out opportunities. Raghu behind the wickets and Muthu at cover were ever so vigil to get those two wickets. 3 down at the end of second over, we were oozing confidence. Their fifth wicket partnership was steadying their innings. As we were defending a low total any one partnership could do the trick for them. Vicky got hold of the ball and dismissed two wickets but they were cheaply given away by Skippers. I held on to a low catch to my right to dismiss one but that was a full toss on leg stump! Freddie on the other hand held on to a stunner to dismiss Salim, one of their potent players, cheaply. With the fall of those two wickets and the partnership broken, we were back in the hunt. But you can always scrap ones and twos without any risks and still be able to chase 60. That is exactly what the Skippers were doing in the middle after the Vicky over. There were no absolute momentum to anyone for a while as we kept tightening the screws with some good bowling by Sri, Raghu and Vicky (Freddie managed another good reflex catch off Raghu), but the Skippers were grinding away the runs ever so precariously. The statement is a paradox but you'll know what I mean when you are playing. With 10 needed off 2 overs, Sri bowled a magnificent penultimate over giving away just one run. Six balls, 9 runs, 2 wickets and one of them was holding the innings from the middle overs. Raghu came up with the trumps to get rid of one of the tail. A couple of deliveries gave away 4 runs, we kept chopping and changing the field leaving a huge gap on the on side. It all came to the last ball in which the Skippers needed 3 and they managed only a single, leaving us victorious by a single run!! Yogi kept guard behind the stumps after a few overs and he did a wonderful job off it. Think that there is a run granted for every ball that goes behind, if the keeper misses it. Of course, the game is not without its fair share of controversies, Vicky judged out when we didn't rule him out, what the hell is a dead-ball, side crease judgement, a couple of run outs we effected but not given, etc.
But at the end of the day, 'Sathyameva Jayathe'
Kinda cheesy but we will take the victory any given day!!
Cheers,
Madhavan :)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Batting came to the fore
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
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
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
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Slow wicket, bad adaptation
Saturday night turned out to be a dampner and forced us to cancel our Sunday's morning game. With Alfonso looking like a quicksand and triangle ground not in any better conditional, we were staring at a gameless Sunday. But as luck would turn out, we had our evening game at the triangle ground. There were sand in the good length area enough to build a home!! I think you get the point, the ball would bounce or keep low and it would be very hard to judge the ball as well as the pace of the wicket. wonder why we didn't play in our usual area, it looked deserted when I came in.
Our team: Mani, Vicky, Maddy, Raghav, Raghu, Sridhar, Jagan, Karthick, Ram and Sudarshan (only 1o this time)
Our opponents: Some local team
It was a 12 over match. Freddie is quickly turning out to be our lucky mascot as far as the toss is concerned. We won that and choose to bat as Mani came pretty late. We started off with Sudarshan and Freddie and the opening pair got us to a good start as we strolled to 36 in 6 overs, Freddie looking particularly good. As is the norm, once we start loosing wickets, we keep losing a bunch. When Sudarshan got run out without knowing where the ball was, Freddie soon perished trying to bludgeon the ball which was way too offside to where else but his favourite leg side and got caught out. Thats when the run dried down. Raghu's miserable spell with the bat continued as he got bowled. No one else came to terms with the slowness of the pitch and to make matters worse, the opponents weren't trying too hard to bowl and it looked like we didn't have any powerful hitters. A lot of deliveries were not connected by us and in the process we wasted too many deliveries. Sridhar too was unable to rapidly increase the score. Jagan's friend Karthick looked like a misfit for slow bouncy pitches like everyone else and he too misfired. Vicky stayed till the end running hard and even got a boundary that stretched the score to 59 off 12 overs. I kept Vicky company till the last over. You can imagine the way we lost the total plot after Freddie got out. We had two more wickets at the end, though Mani turned up only when we started to bowl.
We started off with Jagan and Sridhar for the opening spell and Jagan was impressive as he took a couple of wickets. Sridhar got one in his opening spell as the opponents were teeterring @ 16 for 4 in 4 overs. Mani then bolwed a wild 5th over but gave away not more than 6 runs. Vicky was taken apart for 14 in his first and only over as somehow they started adapting to the wicket well. Since we were only defending a paltry score, they were never under any sort of pressure for runs. So even after the initial hickup, they started flourishing. Raghu and Mani bowled 3 overs each, whereas Jagan only bowled two. I thought it was one over too many for Raghu, probably trying to make amends for his batting. He could have let Jagan bowl another over or looking at the wicket even I could have had a dig, not saying I am better bolwer than Raghu just could be a better option at this wicket. But at the end, no one really wanted to take any risk with me. Alas, we lost the match too. But it was already lost after the first 12 overs. Only we had a brief lifeline during their start of the innings but it wouldn't last.
It seems like our mind is set to one way of batting that we simply couldn't adapt. Either you need to be powerful enough like Freddie to not care about the wicket or sensible enough to pick the gaps and increase the score. We had one look at their bowling and we said to oourselves that we could hit basically everything outta the ground, which didn't turn out to be true.
We tried a 6 over game as an afterthought and we miserably failed in batting again. Raghu was again take to the cleaners though Ram hit a boundary I think. But we couldn't complete the match as the ground was taken over by football lovers.
Do not be hasty or underestimate the opponents or the pitch.
Cheers,
Madhavan
Our team: Mani, Vicky, Maddy, Raghav, Raghu, Sridhar, Jagan, Karthick, Ram and Sudarshan (only 1o this time)
Our opponents: Some local team
It was a 12 over match. Freddie is quickly turning out to be our lucky mascot as far as the toss is concerned. We won that and choose to bat as Mani came pretty late. We started off with Sudarshan and Freddie and the opening pair got us to a good start as we strolled to 36 in 6 overs, Freddie looking particularly good. As is the norm, once we start loosing wickets, we keep losing a bunch. When Sudarshan got run out without knowing where the ball was, Freddie soon perished trying to bludgeon the ball which was way too offside to where else but his favourite leg side and got caught out. Thats when the run dried down. Raghu's miserable spell with the bat continued as he got bowled. No one else came to terms with the slowness of the pitch and to make matters worse, the opponents weren't trying too hard to bowl and it looked like we didn't have any powerful hitters. A lot of deliveries were not connected by us and in the process we wasted too many deliveries. Sridhar too was unable to rapidly increase the score. Jagan's friend Karthick looked like a misfit for slow bouncy pitches like everyone else and he too misfired. Vicky stayed till the end running hard and even got a boundary that stretched the score to 59 off 12 overs. I kept Vicky company till the last over. You can imagine the way we lost the total plot after Freddie got out. We had two more wickets at the end, though Mani turned up only when we started to bowl.
We started off with Jagan and Sridhar for the opening spell and Jagan was impressive as he took a couple of wickets. Sridhar got one in his opening spell as the opponents were teeterring @ 16 for 4 in 4 overs. Mani then bolwed a wild 5th over but gave away not more than 6 runs. Vicky was taken apart for 14 in his first and only over as somehow they started adapting to the wicket well. Since we were only defending a paltry score, they were never under any sort of pressure for runs. So even after the initial hickup, they started flourishing. Raghu and Mani bowled 3 overs each, whereas Jagan only bowled two. I thought it was one over too many for Raghu, probably trying to make amends for his batting. He could have let Jagan bowl another over or looking at the wicket even I could have had a dig, not saying I am better bolwer than Raghu just could be a better option at this wicket. But at the end, no one really wanted to take any risk with me. Alas, we lost the match too. But it was already lost after the first 12 overs. Only we had a brief lifeline during their start of the innings but it wouldn't last.
It seems like our mind is set to one way of batting that we simply couldn't adapt. Either you need to be powerful enough like Freddie to not care about the wicket or sensible enough to pick the gaps and increase the score. We had one look at their bowling and we said to oourselves that we could hit basically everything outta the ground, which didn't turn out to be true.
We tried a 6 over game as an afterthought and we miserably failed in batting again. Raghu was again take to the cleaners though Ram hit a boundary I think. But we couldn't complete the match as the ground was taken over by football lovers.
Do not be hasty or underestimate the opponents or the pitch.
Cheers,
Madhavan
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Thrilling game of Cricket!!...But the Jinx Continues!!..
Team eleven: Raghu,maddy,mani,vignesh,ram,sridhar,freddie,kailesh,yogesh,suresh,jagan
Finally we managed to have a good day of cricket after rain playing spoil sport for a couple of weeks. We made the most of it had two great games, as usual we won one and lost one yet to break the jinx!!...
First game of the day was played in the kozhipannai ground after a struggle to reach the ground due to the Chennai marathon and the opponents found it even more difficult to reach and the game started as late as 8.30 but we managed to have a good round to practice before that which was a much needed one after a break of couple of weeks.
We managed to win the toss third time in a row courtesy our new toss captain Freddie!!..We opted to bat with the smaller dimensions of the ground coming into play we had our sights towards reaching a target around 80. We got to the worst possible start by losing quick wickets and with very little runs on the board. Ram made a comeback into the team after a long break but failed to open his account!!..We lost wickets to needless run outs with yogesh getting out by backing up way too far in the non striker end, then raghu ran for a non existing single when maddy stroked the ball straight to the fielder in mid wicket he just committed suicide considering the running potentials of maddy and his poor run of form with the bat continued....Soon after we lost Sridhar to yet another run out and maddy playing his part again this time around running for a second run which was not on and the throw had Sridhar well short of the ground!!..Lesson learnt never have these two guys batting together again because this might well be the fourth or fifth time this pair had resulted in a run out. Finally we managed to get some partnership going between myself and maddy but both of us got out at the wrong time and with wickets tumbling we just played 13 over’s scoring 55 runs.
A very poor total to defend considering the opponents bowling attach which was never potent to dismiss us for such a target and as i stated earlier considering the ground dimensions the bowlers had a tough task ahead. I started of the bowling along with Sridhar. I managed to bowl a brilliant third over where i got rid of two wickets of the successive balls including the key wicket of their team. It was a satisfying over and we were back in the match with Sridhar picking wickets in the other end and we managed to keep a check on the scoring and picked up wickets at regular intervals. Raghu and Suresh bowled well in the middle to maintain the pressure. They required 16 or so in the last 4 over’s when Sridhar bowled a brilliant over to just give away 1 run. With 10 needed of the last 2 over’s it was decided i bowl that over and thanks to some great wicket keeping by yogesh i picked up 2 more wickets in that over leaving 7 runs to win of the last over. Yogesh kept his cool bowled well for his first over of the match we dismissed them in 13.2 overs for under 50 which i felt was a remarkable bowling performance backed up by some good fielding and excellent wicket keeping by yogesh and he seems to become a specialist there!!...
All in all a great team effort and very satisfying win but leaving us to ponder upon our batting which has failed yet again to post a good target...
Coming to the second game of the day with couple of changes in the team sudarashan, muthu and jagan friend coming in place of vignesh, yogesh, suresh. I lost the toss and we were bowling first. Jagan started of the bowling and what could have been a great started was spoilt as i dropped an easy chance and what that triggered off was a very poor performance in the field where catches was dropped at will and misfielding in the deep we just lost control over the game. We managed to do well in the middle where i bowled a couple of good overs. Maddy came with two good catches in the deep and we finished off the innings well with all bowlers leaving the disappointment of the fielding behind to restrict the opponents to 72 in 12 overs which we felt was a another great performance from the bowlers considering the fielding display.
Batting was yet another let down with losing of wickets regularly and we were in a spot of bother when sridhar and jagan played well to bring us back in the game. But the turning point was the partnership between the most unlikely pairs of all Sridhar and maddy!!...with we needing almost needing 33 odd runs in 4 overs the pair really did well to keep us in the game it came down to 27 in the last two as sri played a one run over but could not blame him he tried to whack the ball. He made up for it in the next over maddy stroked the first ball for 5 runs and god did he ran well to make it may be the marathon in the morning inspired him since he did not want a runner in the morning and as well as in the evening game. Then sridhar took control of that over leaving us to get 12 runs of the last over with maddy and myself dismissed in that over. Jagan friend played well to smacked the ball around in the couple of balls he played and we needed 3 from 1 ball managed to get a bye of a wide and leaving jagan’s friend to face the last ball with 2 needed but he missed to get a bat on ball and we fell short by 1 run in wat was a great game...
The jinx of not winning two games in a day continued it was so near yet so far!!...great display there by maddy and sridhar with the bat and sri has become very well in finishing the innings for us or in chasing with his lefty blows may be if he could increase his range of strokes he could be far more effective...
A great day where we had two close games but our batting being a disappointment in both the games and for a while now we need to get it right now since the bowling is being put under pressure way to often!!...Hopefully we will have that corrected next week!!...Cheers!!...Well played guys!!...
Finally we managed to have a good day of cricket after rain playing spoil sport for a couple of weeks. We made the most of it had two great games, as usual we won one and lost one yet to break the jinx!!...
First game of the day was played in the kozhipannai ground after a struggle to reach the ground due to the Chennai marathon and the opponents found it even more difficult to reach and the game started as late as 8.30 but we managed to have a good round to practice before that which was a much needed one after a break of couple of weeks.
We managed to win the toss third time in a row courtesy our new toss captain Freddie!!..We opted to bat with the smaller dimensions of the ground coming into play we had our sights towards reaching a target around 80. We got to the worst possible start by losing quick wickets and with very little runs on the board. Ram made a comeback into the team after a long break but failed to open his account!!..We lost wickets to needless run outs with yogesh getting out by backing up way too far in the non striker end, then raghu ran for a non existing single when maddy stroked the ball straight to the fielder in mid wicket he just committed suicide considering the running potentials of maddy and his poor run of form with the bat continued....Soon after we lost Sridhar to yet another run out and maddy playing his part again this time around running for a second run which was not on and the throw had Sridhar well short of the ground!!..Lesson learnt never have these two guys batting together again because this might well be the fourth or fifth time this pair had resulted in a run out. Finally we managed to get some partnership going between myself and maddy but both of us got out at the wrong time and with wickets tumbling we just played 13 over’s scoring 55 runs.
A very poor total to defend considering the opponents bowling attach which was never potent to dismiss us for such a target and as i stated earlier considering the ground dimensions the bowlers had a tough task ahead. I started of the bowling along with Sridhar. I managed to bowl a brilliant third over where i got rid of two wickets of the successive balls including the key wicket of their team. It was a satisfying over and we were back in the match with Sridhar picking wickets in the other end and we managed to keep a check on the scoring and picked up wickets at regular intervals. Raghu and Suresh bowled well in the middle to maintain the pressure. They required 16 or so in the last 4 over’s when Sridhar bowled a brilliant over to just give away 1 run. With 10 needed of the last 2 over’s it was decided i bowl that over and thanks to some great wicket keeping by yogesh i picked up 2 more wickets in that over leaving 7 runs to win of the last over. Yogesh kept his cool bowled well for his first over of the match we dismissed them in 13.2 overs for under 50 which i felt was a remarkable bowling performance backed up by some good fielding and excellent wicket keeping by yogesh and he seems to become a specialist there!!...
All in all a great team effort and very satisfying win but leaving us to ponder upon our batting which has failed yet again to post a good target...
Coming to the second game of the day with couple of changes in the team sudarashan, muthu and jagan friend coming in place of vignesh, yogesh, suresh. I lost the toss and we were bowling first. Jagan started of the bowling and what could have been a great started was spoilt as i dropped an easy chance and what that triggered off was a very poor performance in the field where catches was dropped at will and misfielding in the deep we just lost control over the game. We managed to do well in the middle where i bowled a couple of good overs. Maddy came with two good catches in the deep and we finished off the innings well with all bowlers leaving the disappointment of the fielding behind to restrict the opponents to 72 in 12 overs which we felt was a another great performance from the bowlers considering the fielding display.
Batting was yet another let down with losing of wickets regularly and we were in a spot of bother when sridhar and jagan played well to bring us back in the game. But the turning point was the partnership between the most unlikely pairs of all Sridhar and maddy!!...with we needing almost needing 33 odd runs in 4 overs the pair really did well to keep us in the game it came down to 27 in the last two as sri played a one run over but could not blame him he tried to whack the ball. He made up for it in the next over maddy stroked the first ball for 5 runs and god did he ran well to make it may be the marathon in the morning inspired him since he did not want a runner in the morning and as well as in the evening game. Then sridhar took control of that over leaving us to get 12 runs of the last over with maddy and myself dismissed in that over. Jagan friend played well to smacked the ball around in the couple of balls he played and we needed 3 from 1 ball managed to get a bye of a wide and leaving jagan’s friend to face the last ball with 2 needed but he missed to get a bat on ball and we fell short by 1 run in wat was a great game...
The jinx of not winning two games in a day continued it was so near yet so far!!...great display there by maddy and sridhar with the bat and sri has become very well in finishing the innings for us or in chasing with his lefty blows may be if he could increase his range of strokes he could be far more effective...
A great day where we had two close games but our batting being a disappointment in both the games and for a while now we need to get it right now since the bowling is being put under pressure way to often!!...Hopefully we will have that corrected next week!!...Cheers!!...Well played guys!!...
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