Events of the day
1. VCP was a sea of cross country racers from corner to corner.
2. We ended up playing at "VCP 1" at the north end of the grounds
where the grass height was that of a wheat field (ok...just exagerating !!).
High enough for the ball to be stopped within 30 feet.
3. The match finally got underway at 11:30AM. An hour later than scheduled.
4. Stonybrook won the toss and opted to bat.
5. Ajay started off the bowling attack with a maiden and on the other end,
Ashok came in.
6. Ashok struck with 2 wickets in the 4th over of the game, while Ajay
took 1 in the 5th over.
7.Replacing me was Siva who was having a hard time getting his line and
length. This became an expensive spell for Siva and was replaced by Sayan.
8. On the other end, Raj came in to take over Ajay's attack and he too had
to struggle a bit. Eventually he was awarded a wicket.
9. Sayan started off well but like the "tiger" he is and from the
look on his face, he was glaring at the batsmen for knocking his ball to the
boundary. Sad to say, he had an expensive 4th over which I am sure he wants
to forget.
10. Without any spinners, we had to keep doing the best we could. Replacing
Raj was Vijay who started off well but he too had the batsmen take a liking
to his bowling scoring boundaries in his spell.
11. Rohan and Pavan pitched in with their bowling spells which were costly.
Stonybrook ended up with 258, supposedly (230 according to bowling figures)
1. CUCC started the batting with Ratesh and Suraj.
2. Both men were facing some aggressive bowling from SBUCC but a lot of
extras came our way given this was their "first" game of this
season?
3. Suraj was looking comfortable and punishing the bad ones but was not able
hit the ball to the boundary thanks to the heavy outfield. He eventually got
out to a great catch.
4. Ratesh hardly got bat to ball before he was dismissed for 1 run.
5. Rohan was in next and started to get comfortable and what we thought
would be fireworks in the making, his fire was put off when he was run out.
6. Pavan, the "English guy" barely got any chance to hit when he
too got run out.
7. Shehrazad went to the crease looking like a pinch hitter and despite the
hard smack of the ball, he was able to scramble a few singles before being
bowled out for 7
8. Sayan, the "tiger" was determined to make these guys pay. With
3 boundaries in a row, he was looking good until he misplayed a short
ball to find himself caught but managed to put in 19 runs.
9. Vijay, making his 2nd appearance for CUCC, was looking good with the bat
but misjudging a ball caused his stumps to tumble for 7
10. The bottom order line up started with Siva who with his eloquent style
of batting managed to help CUCC come back alive. Joining Siva was Ajay and
like this brother, got dismissed to a ball that kept low. Raj at number 10 went
in to join Siva and instantly got into the frame of mind to score those big
boundaries. With the heavy outfield, Raj and Siva played sensibly and pushed
every ball possible for singles and doubles. Raj getting too aggressive lost
his wicket but not before contributing 28 runs.
11. Last but not least, Ashok joined Siva. After getting his eye on the
ball, Ashok too pushed every ball possible. Getting comfortable Ashok and
Siva were looking to take CUCC to victory. Unfortunately, Siva's great knock
ended at 46.
CUCC scored 189 all out.