The match which was supposed to start at VCP 3 actually started at VCP 5, which according to Nabil “left people discombobulated”. Fetch your dictionaries people. The match started under cloudy skies and a light drizzle. Laks won the toss for a change and after much tossing and turning, CUCC decided to bat. Sriram and Michael opened the innings and Michael picked up from where he left off in the last game batting steadily. Sriram as is his vein, started with a bang and ended in a whimper losing his middle stump to a straight ball. Nabil joined Michael and the two put on 72 at almost a run a ball, when Nabil was given out LBW to a ball that was heading to square leg. Well not quite but you get the picture. One atrocious decision followed another when Michael was given out LBW for a well made 42(38), when the ball hit bat. Michael showed his displeasure to Richie, but was dismissed from his presence. Laks was run out with bat hanging in the air and Vishnu patted a stray ball to hand, and at 114/5 with 15 remaining CUCC was in a bit of trouble. Sunil joined Kunal and the pair put on 44 before Sunil became the third LBW “victim” of the day. With 6 overs remaining Laks sent Dileep in “to throw his bat around”. Dileep patted a few balls back, and when people started clamoring for runs had a rush of blood and went for an almighty heave. Ball went over square leg, and bat went up in the air and straight back to the bowler who incidentally caught it and to everyone’s surprise appealed and lo and behold was given out “Caught Bat” by Richie. Apparently these are the rules that people play with in the W. indies backyard cricket, one unnamed source said. Ajay and Prabhu were out trying to up the ante, Madhura caressed a couple of boundaries before being the last man out bowled while trying to be cheeky. So the innings ended with 179 on the board, which all felt was a bit on the lower side but defendable.
The MCC batsmen started conservatively, trying to find their feet against some new ball swing. They survived a few LBW shouts and a dropped sitter (attributed to the wind) for close to 7 overs, when “Pop Gun” Madhura (whisper this: we later found out he was on steroids) got his first wicket. The second batsman walks in, drives the ball to that man Madhura again on the cover boundary, Madhura fakes him with a lazy approach to the ball, the batsman falls for the trap and takes off for the non existent second and is caught short by a rifle throw from the boundary. At the other end Dileep is operating economically tying the batsman up. But by now Madhura is all warmed up and that opens the flood gates and a procession of batsman to the “pavilion”. At the end of his spell, his figures read 7-0-20-6. Prabhu is brought on to finish things up, which he duly does getting some good drift and taking 2 wickets. The match which could have gone either way ended in a comprehensive 100 run victory for CUCC with plenty to spare. Only two of the MCC batsman got to two figures. Was again an all round team effort, with good contributions from Michael, Nabil and Kunal with the bat. But with Madhura having his hand in 8 of 10 dismissals is surely the man of the match.