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A solid team effort fell just short of gaining Columbia a victory in the face of a spirited batting display by the Scorpions. Going into the last match of the regular season, Venu reversed his luck with the toss and elected to bat. Madhura, back from Sri Lanka, opened with Suraj who took strike to Seep sand, Scorpions’ left arm strike bowler. After a couple of crisp drives through extra cover, Suraj fell trying to play too many shots too early. Sunil joined Madhura and kept the scoring rate up around 8/over with some lofted drives. However, when Sunil fell for quick fire 18, followed by Madhura after a patient 6 and Michael after a promising 11, Columbia was at 67/4 after 11 overs – a healthy run rate but a wicket or two too many for comfort. Sayan and Arvind joined forces and consolidated while playing some rousing shots. A lofted six over cover by Sayan was memorable and they took CUCC into drinks without further loss at 89/4 after 15.Sayan fell trying to force the pace after making 23 (117/5, 22 ov.). The Scorpion bowlers bowled a few tight spells in this phase and pulled the run rate down to almost 5/over. After a partnership with Venu, Arvind fell for a patient, stabilizing 32 (162/6).At this point, Venu pulled out his nine-iron and took over the game , and single-handedly pushed the scoring rate back up past 6/over. 70 runs came in the 8 overs until Venu was stumped in the last over , finally breaking the 50 jinx, ending up with 67 of just 42 balls. Ajay, Raj, Ashok and Dileep all chipped in with useful stands to keep the total going until the last ball. Columbia ended up with a fighting 217 after 35 overs (6.2/ov). The Scorpions started their chase sedately in the face of some disciplined bowling from Dileep and Madhura, and as usual, had some close shaves that didn’t fall the bowlers’ way. As the openers started taking more chances the run rate climbed to 6.4 before a smart piece of bowling by Madhura and field placement by Venu forced a top-edge from a shot across the line. The resulting skier was well taken by Venu at square-leg (51/1, 8 ov). The other opener fell soon after to Venu, lofting to Raj at long on (58/2, 10 ov.), followed by a straight, fast one which caught their No. 4 on the back foot (65/3, 12 ov). Sunil then had their No. 5 skying to Raj at long-on and Scorpions went into the drinks break at 89/4 after 15 overs, tantalizingly poised at the same score as CUCC was at the break. After the break, their No. 3, A. Khan kept the chase going with some classy shots and had CUCC on the back foot. Sunil produced a peach of an out swinger that feathered Khan’s edge and sent him packing on 20 (100/5, 19 ov). At this point, with Sunil bowling an inspired spell, the runs dried up and the run rate plunged to 5/over (123/5, 24 ovs). With almost 100 needed from 11 overs, Persaud and Kallika stitched together a stirring partnership that took the game away from Columbia. They managed to get the 100 runs in less than 10 overs, with Kallika hitting 3 huge, well-timed sixes at just the right time for the Scorpions and the wrong time for CUCC. In the final analysis, both batsman scored well-deserved 50’s, with Sunil making a nice comeback with figures of 7-0-2-30.A well-played game of cricket with motivation for the playoffs.