Our annual game at Merion could not have been on a more perfect day.
The ground looked beautiful as always and was a real thrill for some of
the
new members who had not played there before. We won the toss which is
always
a bonus when playing Merion who are traditionally a weak opponent. We
opened
our batting with Mushtaq and Maruf. Maruf, playing his first game in a
while, held up one end while Mushtaq started playing aggressively from the
beginning. Their opening bowlers were complete polar opposites. One of
them
was a 50-yr old (at least) gentleman who bowled slow drifters while the
other one was a 20 something who was fairly quick and was bringing the
ball
in to the batsmen. In the 8th over, the young one had Maruf out lbw, a
decision that Maruf spent a fair amount of time analyzing in the pavilion
and on the car ride home. Nasser joined Mushtaq and together they really
accelerated the scoring rate. When Mushtaq was eventually run out for 75
off
75 balls (his first half century of the season)in the 24th over, the two
had
put on about 130 runs together. Robyn joined Nasser in the middle and
proceeded to play in typical Robyn fashion launching the ball to all parts
of the field. Nasser retired himself at the end of the 29th over for 68
off
48 balls when the total score was just shy of 200. Jay joined Robyn and
they
added another 30 or so runs before Jay and then Robyn were both out in
quick
succession, Robyn for 41 off 22 balls. Ben and Rizwan continued the
onslaught in the last 2 overs taking our final tally to 251/4 off 35
overs.
Another solid batting performance built around an excellent opening knock
by
Mushtaq and the 100 plus run 2nd wicket partnership.
We took the field, after a nice lunch that was served on the
balcony/terrace, and opened the bowling with Imran and Omer. Both bowled 3
good overs. In Imran's 2nd over, Charu was dropped in the slips by Ben
(who
more than made up for it with his excellent fielding the rest of the day)
and somehow we knew that it was going to cost us. Charu was eventually run
out for 70 but not before the match started to look like a scary replay of
the Gypsies game, at least in terms of how we bowled which at times was
anywhere but the mat. Jay and Ksitiz (pronounced SITIJ) replaced our
opening
bowlers and Ksitiz bowled their opener with a yorker. However, their one
down batsman (the 20-something opening bowler) looked pretty good despite
being dropped behind the stumps (very difficult chance near 1st slip.
Mushtaq made a great effort and almost had it). Our bowling started to
slip
badly and their run rate accelerated. We did not have much success with a
combination of Sarkar, Ksitiz and Jay as each of them had control
problems.
At one point, the leg umpire called Sarkar for throwing and there was talk
of convening an ICC panel. However, the consensus that was reached on the
field was that Sarkar's "faster" ball was suspect and he was told to cut
it
out. That episode did not help his control as he sent down a series of
wides
and probably lulled their number 3 batsman to sleep because he was
completely beaten by a straight one that uprooted his middle stump just
before drinks which were taken after 17 overs with their score at 117/2.
After drinks, Mushtaq came on to bowl and Jay took over wicket keeping
duties from him. Mushtaq proved to be our most effective bowler as he
bowled
at the stumps but we continued to have problems from the other end and the
scoreboard kept ticking at about 7 an over. Mushtaq finally made some
critical break throughs (one of them was a nice stumping by Jay) and Charu
was eventually run out. They needed about 40 odd runs with 5 overs to go
and
the match was far from over. One of their middle order batsmen was having
a
lot of luck with cross batted shots to random parts of the field but when
Robyn took a nice catch at the square leg boundary off Ksitiz we knew that
we had saved the day. The highlight in the field, however, was a stunning
catch that Robyn pulled down at long off that only he could have caught.
The
ball was hit like a rocket downwind and Robyn caught it about a foot over
his head. Merion was eventually all out for about 220 in 34 overs. Our
wicket takers were Mushtaq (4), Ksitiz (2), Sarkar, Imran, and Rizwan (1
each). Omer bowled well but did not get a wicket. Besides Robyn, Ben also
worked really hard in the field and saved several runs.

All in all, it was a wonderful day of cricket with more than a few
anxious moments. Our bowling clearly needs a lot of work. We are not doing
a
good job of bowling at the stumps, especially in the clutch (we bowled 37
wides and it was not because of the umpiring). Our bowlers really have to
learn to focus on line and length versus speed because at this level of
cricket we will get wickets by simply bowling at the stumps and forcing
the
batsmen to play good shots in order to score runs. The good news is that
our
batting seems to be clicking early in the season as this is the third 200
plus (and second 250 plus) total for the President's XI. If our bowling
improves we will be tough to beat.