Well though the subject matter says Saturday's match, we did play it on Sunday
given the weather conditions and of course the gods of cricket blessed us
with picture perfect weather.
As usual, Desi Standard Time always gets the better of us and the countless
number of people playing soccer and softball, saw us starting the game at
12:45.
Unaware of the condition of the pitch, we laid the new mat down with barely
enough nails. The bounce was going to stay low and slow , and pretty much a
deciding factor at the toss. As mentioned, the gods of cricket were watching
and we won the toss. Always a good sign to start the season, so we elected to
bat.
Starting the line up were Nabil and Prabhu. Both were looking good at the
crease and playing sensibly. They looked indestructible until Nabil was caught
at midwicket one handed. Arvind joined Prabhu and almost scored the first ball he
faced, he looked like he was on his way to a high score before given out LBW
with 16 runs.
Venu, our veteran batsman, went in and was not thrilled facing the
spinners. However, he looked comfortable working the bowlers with a couple of
boundaries before he too was caught.
Prabhu, the eldest and probably the oldest CUCC member of the team, was still
sharp at the crease. Ajay, one half of the Chopra brothers, joined Prabhu and
took his time before he opened up and smacked the bowlers around. By the 18th
over, CUCC was at 90 runs before Prabhu was dismissed at well batted score of
40.
The middle order of Pavan and Ratesh did not add much which brought in Sunil.
Ajay soon got dismissed but not before scoring a well deserved 21.
Ashok came up to join Sunil but due to misjudgment and haste, Sunil was run .
In came new member Raj and despite the advice of not keeping the ball air
born, he scored 17 before being bowled out. Our last batsman was new comer
Monty, who seemingly looked nervous, joined Ashok. Ashok was
eventually caught at mid wicket with 14.
CUCC's innings ended at 185 all out with 2 overs to spare.
Tisha our new social secretary/treasurer as always was very gracious and helpful
to take care of the beverages and pizza, which we hope will be a revived
tradition of CUCC for many years to come.
After the break Hoboken CC took to the crease and facing new comer Raj.
Despite the consistent good bowling at practice, he got a taste of
reality with his wild in-swings, which needs some adjustment. He did end up
with one wicket. Sunil making his second season debut got the chance to open
the other end and immediately on the first over got his first victim bowling
him out by nicking just the one bail with his on target out swingers. He
went on to complete his 7 overs giving 18 runs and taking 2 wickets
Monty replaced Raj, who too was making his debut, and had a bit of a
problem in controlling his line with his out swingers. He finally got his line
but it was not soon enough before being knocked around. Hoboken was at 65 at
15 overs which took us to a water break. It was now when the pace had to slow
down with Nabil taking one end and Ashok the other. Nabil with off cutters and
deceptive bowling kept troubling the batsmen and bowled on target and was
rewarded with 2 wickets in 5 overs. Ashok started well, despite the one
short ball which earned him a wicket thanks to Raj at deep square leg
taking a one hand over the head catch. But then Ashok retired after his second
spell after taking a beating. Nabil If anyone could trouble the batsmen, it
was Prabhu. His aerial flight of balls and spinners did the job getting the
batsmen to reach for the ball which rewarded him 3 wickets with
2 coming at being stumped by our one and only daredevil keeper, Venu.
Ajay replaced Nabil by then and bowled very well for 2 overs giving 4 runs
with his first being maiden.
Man of the Match goes to Prabhu with his 40 runs and 3 wickets.
This match was deserved to be won. Let's keep this season going on winning streak. A
great game played by everyone, fielding was good, batting was good with
7 players making it to double digits and bowling for new comers need adjusting.
A word of advice to the new comers and to everyone: BE VERBAL BETWEEN WICKETS
when batting. Miscommunication can lead to loss of wickets. Every run is
crucial to a game played.