CUCC vs Friends 9th Oct
Friends CC is basically just that, a group of friends, playing in the
NJ
league. We were brought to them by Rajat, from Rutgers, who plays for
them
from time to time. As vague as the directions to the ground were, once
we got
there we found that it was well worth it. It was situated in a public
park,
but quite different from our very own VCP. The outfield was a lush
green, and
very even, though heavy. And they had a nice circular area in which
they had
laid a pitch. The ground was large, but quite picturesque.
Madhura lost the toss, and we were asked to bowl. Haseeb and Hassan
opened the
bowling for us, and opposite them were Rajat, and his skipper, Ketan.
Ketan
reminded me much of India's Vinod Kambli in his style, and once he
got to
face, his batting looked much like him as well, as he was timing the
ball to
perfection and hitting both Haseeb and Hassan quite hard. They got
off to a
resounding start, with 60 runs in the first 8 overs. Hassan finally
struck,
when he removed Rajat with an lbw that, though straight and on the
stumps, saw
the batsman forward enough for the umpire to have doubt, but he raised
his
finger anyway. Inder replaced Haseeb from the other end and had Ketan
lbw as
well, also a sporting decision, albeit after a quite loud snick was
turned
down a few balls earlier. In spite of the openers both begin gone,
at the
break, they were poised well at 100 odd for 2. Madhura rallied the
team then,
asking that we concede no more than 70 odd runs in the final 18. And
in his
first over after drinks (Madhura bowling spin) he took two wickets.
And then
the very next over, Mushtaq had two of his own, each of them bowling
one, and
having one caught in the outfield. So suddenly they were 110 odd for
6. But in
all fairness, every batsman who came to the crease after that paced
his
innings and took his time and built a score, so that they were still
around in
the end and were able to go for the lusty hits. They were all out in
the
penultimate over for 195, probably 15-20 runs more than we should have
allowed, given the post- drinks resurgence. All in all though, a good
batting
side, and a good fielding effort. Ground fielding could have been better,
but
only one catch went down.
With quite a chase ahead of us, Maurice began the innings with Nasser.
They
had their openers doing the job again, with Ketan and Rajat opening
the
bowling. Though the runs were not coming from the bat at all, Rajat
in
particular struggled with is line and bowled a great many wides. In
his third
over, he finally abandoned the run up and decided to toss a few down,
and one
finally pitched within the stumps and had Maurice bowled. I went in
to replace
Maurice and batted for a bit with Nasser, before an inside edge from
my bat
saw us pausing in the middle of the pitch, and Nasser being unlucky
in a
runout. Mushtaq joined me and we batted for a while together. The ground
was
big and runs were coming, but not in boundaries. Once they brought
their
spinners on, it slowed even more, as they weren't turning the ball
appreciably, but they had good direction. Mushtaq finally skied one
for our
third wicket to fall. Then, within two overs, we lost Suraj and myself
as
well. But that fall of my wicket came as a blessing in disguise, as
Inder
joined Rizwan at the crease and let loose on one of his typical blasting
episodes. Up to that point, we had registered only one boundary. Inder
proceeded to hit three sixes (Friends had only one in their entire
innings) on
the way to a fine 34 from 21 balls. He partnered with Rizwan to bring
the
scoring rate up, and then with Haseeb. Unfortunately, he too was runout
in a
mixup. Hassan joined Haseeb, but Haseeb was soon gone and with the
scoring
rate required up to about 10 an over, Madhura joined Hassan. Once again,
Hassan's batting strategy proved to be far different in practice than
from
theory. He had lectured me the previous week about how you should never
try to
hit the first ball of your innings for a six. Hassan first ball- straight
six
down the ground. Hassan and Madhura batted superbly together. Madhura
took the
ones and two's to rotate the stroke, while Hassan pounded the bowling,
hitting
2 sixes and a few fours as well. With six overs left, we needed 60
odd runs.
Two overs later, we needed 22! Unfortunately, Madhura fell with just
three
overs to go, being run out from a straight drive that Hassan hit, which
deflected off of the bowlers foot into the stumps. Deepak joined Hassan,
and
in the penultimate over, with 13 runs required, they could only get
2 runs,
and then Deepak was caught and bowled on the last ball of that over.
A good effort from Columbia, and one of the more enjoyable games of
the
season. Certainly one worth ending the season on. We have had some
very good
ones this season (this one, Commonwealth from Boston, both Gypsies
games). We have also received some sound thrashings Haverford Cornell But
all in all, we
had a good season, and hats off to Madhura for putting together a good
team,
and leading us well, and making sure that we had fun through it all!
Friends CC defeats CUCC by 10 runs
Friends 195 all out (Mushtaq 4 wickets, Madhura 2)
Columbia 185 all out (Hassan 35* from 21, Inder 34 from 20, Asad 25
from 31)
Asad
Going into last Saturday's match against the British Officers, we have
a split
record for the season against them, so this would be the 'series' decider.
Thanks to some very poor directions, we all managed to stagger in late,
with
Sridhar's chauffeur driven van coming in at just before 1. (He shared
it with
only the pilot- Hassan, and the co-pilot, Madhura). BOCC decided to
bat first
on a small ground with a heavy outfield. Madhura and Hassan opened
the bowling
well, not giving any runs, though the batsmen were not in any trouble
either.
There was a stark contrast in style of the two opening batsmen, with
one being
quite strong, especially off of his legs, while the other was one who
I
recognised from our match earlier in the season vs. Merion, who I had
despatched then with the first ball of my 99 season. He had not improved
much
since then. Anyway, once Madhura took himself off, I took over and
began well
enough, with a maiden over, and then 4 from my next, but then the stronger
of
the openers let loose on me, hoisting me for three sixes, losing the
ball with
one. At drinks, they had lost no wicket for about 70 runs. After the
break,
Nasser took off the 'keeping pads, and though Hassan was quite enthusiastic
to
don them, it was my limited experience behind the stumps some 7-8 years
ago
that won me the job. Sridhar and Nasser bowled well, with Sridhar taking
the
first wicket, having the weaker opener play on to his stumps. Through
this,
though, the stronger opener continued taking boundaries as he found
the
chances, and keep the score ticking. The highlight of their innings
came when
our old friend John Moore came to the crease and lasted but a few balls
before
one kept low on his off stump, and with him stepping away to try and
whack the
ball, it rolled casually into his stumps. That was really the only
one all day
that did that! We kept wickets falling at a steady pace from then on,
and the
introduction of Maurice into the attack saw them trying to hit out,
and him
ending with two good wickets. He took their opener, with a solid catch
from
Rodney, for 86. With a four from the final ball of the innings, BOCC
had made
it to 162 fir about 6 form their 35. Maurice showed us all the secret
to
taking wickets- don't let the ball bounce! A couple of wickets for
both him
and Sridhar.
Columbia began with Nasser and Rodney. Rodney, in his first innings
since
marriage gave us an orthodox start, by posing for his wife at the wicket,
letting her photograph him playing some outstanding shots, in the air!
When
BOCC finally decided to bowl a ball at Rodney we began well enough,
with their
opening bowler generating some pace. Due to our long-standing history
of
friendly matches with the British Officers, Madhura voiced no objection
when
one of their own asked to umpire for the first half an hour. He seemed
dot be
doing a fair enough job until one rapped Rodney on the pads, looking
to have
stretched well forward, but the finger went up without the slightest
hesitation. Rodney's brother Ravi proceeded to tell the British Officer's
just
what he thought of his brother's dismissal- he had been cheated! Nasser
continued on well, building an innings and sharing useful stands with
Rizwan
and then Suraj. But he finally fell for about 40, a solid start provided.
Sridhar replaced him and hit some big sixes, but Suraj was soon run
out, and I
fell to the spinner, and then Matt Rice proceeded to take his second
catch of
the day, having Sridhar out. Our chances fell a notch there, but we
had
maintained a rate that would see us needing only a run a ball through
the
balabce of the innings to win. Some good chasing from Maruf, Hassan
and
Madhura was not enough, as we fell short in the end by a mere 7 odd
runs in
the last over.
It was an effort that looked like we were at the end of our season.
Some tired
cricket from Columbia. Fielding was far from sharp, and bowling lacked
much
penetration. And though we batted well enough to keep us in the game,
nobody
built an innings barring Nasser. We've got a long off season coming
up guys,
but before that begins, we have one final weekend of cricket. Lets
go out on a
winning note.
BOCC 162/6
CUCC 155/9 (Nasser 40)
Asad
Another good show for the President's side, which puts us a game above
.500
for the season. WebSci has a nice ground in the Piscataway area of
NJ, but it
is very small. So much so, that they play only one end because the
straight
boundary on the other side is too short. Anyway, Madhura won the toss
and
elected to bat, as per the club standard. WebSci began well enough,
having us
at 44 for 2 in 10 overs, with runs not coming easily. Then Faisal joined
Nasser for a solidifying stand of 37 runs, before they were out within
2 runs
of one another, leaving us at 82 for 4 in 19. Faisal scored 30 at a
run a
ball. The middle order faltered a bit to have us at 97 for 7 in 23.
But then
the President's tail wagged mightily. First Haseeb and Madhura shared
a solid
stand of about 20 runs, then Haseeb and I for another 25 odd runs,
and then
Hassan and I for about 45 runs for the unbroken last wicket stand.
Some mighty
hitting in the end of the innings with Haseeb striking three solid
sixes in
his 44 from 31 balls. And of course, after a day long taunting of the
batting
in which Hassan was desperately pleading with fielders to take their
catches
so that he could get a knock, he vindicated himself when WebSci's skipper
decided to give the final over of the innings to someone who had not
bowled
yet, and Hassan dispatched him for 22 runs from that over, showing
me his
technique. Hassan ended on 25* from 10 balls, and our total was 187
for 9 in
35 overs.
Given that the pitch was a concrete surface with astroturf on top of
it,
Haseeb was always going to be a handful with the new ball. And Madhura
proved
to be his perfect foil. They both bowled a solid opening spell, picking
up a
couple of wickets each, both managing to uproot the stumps, and at
the break
(15 overs) they were 55 for 5. But they had a solid stand into the
21st over,
taking their score to 90, before I got three wickets from 4 balls,
and then
Mushy bowled the last two to wrap them up for 108. Once again, the
stark
difference between the two teams was our fielding, with only one catch
going
down (Hassan never got a well deserved second chance!), although our
bowlers
could have been a little tighter, with 10 no balls and 20 wides being
sent
down. Good win for Columbia though.
Columbia wins by 79 runs.
Columbia 187/9 (Haseeb 44 from 31, Faisal 30 from 30, Hassan 25* from
10)
WebSci 108 all out in 25 (Asad 3/6, Haseeb 2/4, Mushtaq 2/8, Madhura
2/19)
Asad
Saturday's match against Yale was the kind that a captain likes to see.
His
team running smoothly along to victory. I am sure that Madhura was
quite
pleased. We began the day somewhat surprised to find that the wicket
was a bit
damp, although rain had ended in NY late afternoon on Friday. But the
Yale
guys were able to roll the pitch, and let it dry for a bit, so that
it was
quite good. Madhura won the toss and elected to bat. But not before
we had our
usual controversy, when Yale tried to have their our representatives
umpire
the entire match, and allegations of ?!+mistrust?!, and ?!+friendly
match?!,
were
thrown around, but our skipper was relentless, and so he and I accompanied
Sridhar and Maurice to the crease. From the beginning, both openers
looked a
little uncomfortable, as the ball was not coming onto the bat comfortably,
and
then Maurice was gone in the 5th over. But that was the end of the
luck for
the Yale guys. Kabir came in, and then Nasser, and Jay, and all accompanied
Sridhar in his century innings. Though all of them batted well, the
bowling
was quite poor, with nearly 30 wides, and a 13 ball over, as well as
nearly
ten dropped catches. Having said that though, Jay and Sridhar batted
very well
to post an unbroken 120 run fourth wicket stand, taking us to a solid
232 for
3 in 35 overs.
Madhura led the bowling well, with two maiden overs, and a definite
gloved
caught behind that was not given. From the other end, I got a wicket,
with
Sridhar?!,s first fine slip catch of the day. We went to drinks without
another wicket falling, but then soon after, when Madhura took his first
catch of the
day, the second opener was gone, and then their batsmen, though looking
good,
continued to give us catching practice. Madhura ended with 3 catches,
while
Sridhar took 2, the second also in slips, a fine diving one off of
Hassan?!,s
bowling. The introduction of Kabir into the attack produced more wickets
(as
well as a fair share of extras!). In the end, the difference between
the two
sides was that we held all our catches, and they dropped whatever we
offered.
Columbia win by 91 runs.
Columbia 232/3 (Sridhar 108* from 86 balls, Jay 44* from 43)
Yale 141 all out (Kabir 3/29, Hassan 2/19, Asad 2/31)
Asad
CUCC 89 all out (Jay 30)
Cornell 90/3 (Asad 3/30)
After a few weeks of winning good matches for the President's side,
and
bringing our record up to .500 for the season, we were blown away on
Saturday
by Rutgers. They held their catches, and we did nothing to really push
them.
Madhura lost the toss, and with us bowling first, for the second week
in a
row, a 100 run opening stand was set up against us. This was in spit
of a
tight opening spell from Inder and Hassan. Inder was unlucky on a ball
that
surely nicked the bat of one opener and was taken well by Srikumar
down the
legside, and when we appealed the umpire not only turned us down, but
refused
to tell us where the very audible nick had come from. This same umpire
had a
unique style of calling my no balls after the ball was hit, and in
the air.
Hassan bowled well from the other end, with is length really improving
over
the last few games so that the short pitched balls that he does send
down are
far more effective, and do back the batsmen off. Unfortunately, unlike
last
week, where Mushtaq's first ball saw Brookhaven slide very quickly,
there was
no such luck here. IN their 35 overs, Rutgers lost only two wickets.
Mushtaq
took the first, of their skipper Suresh, who scored a fine 76 runs,
from a
full toss that Madhura bagged at a shortish mid wicket. The second
wicket fell
to Inder, in their closing slog as their number three played on for
34. Their
other opener, Navneeth, carried his bat for a well played 75. He started
quite
slowly, but was able to escalate the scoring rate towards the end.
The other
two points of interest in this innings were when their number three
skied a
catch to me at mid off, from Madhura's bowling, and I watched the ball
go
straight up, and disappear right into the sun, and proceeded to scream
out
that I couldn't see the ball, only to see it drop at my feet moments
later,
and then of course, Maurice's introduction into the attack, which resulted
in
a first delivery no ball (which was called only loud enough for the
bowler to
hear) because he failed to inform the umpire/batsman that he was coming
in
right arm over the wicket!
We began our response with Omar and Mushtaq opening, and both the Rutgers
opening bowlers seemed to be generating pace and bounce. It took a
couple of
overs for Omar to settle down, but then he lost his partner Mushtaq,
top the
first of the 10 catches that we gave to Rutgers. Clearly we had problems
keeping the ball along the ground. Robyn joined Omar at a score of
18, and
they shared a stand of 49 runs, accompanied by Robyn's usual fireworks.
He
fell for 24, with 4 boundaries. Jay then joined Omar and shared a stand
of 34
runs with Omar, before going for 19, including a six, which was actually
caught in the deep, at the mid wicket boundary, just under the trees,
but as
the ball grazed a branch on the way out, was ruled a six, much to the
fielder's dismay. That was the end of any real resistance that we could
offer.
Omar fell for a solid 33, including 4 boundaries, but nobody else in
the
lineup, barring Inder, hit double figures. It was a lazy effort, and
lacked in
discipline, to see all of us get caught in the outfield, on a wicket
where
chasing 231 was going to require just a little discipline
Asad
Brookhaven 165 all out (Mushtaq 6/13)
CUCC 168/6 (Andrew 79* Robyn 45)
Our annual trip up to Rhode Island completed what
sounds like an excellent weekend of cricket for everybody in the club.
Having taken 5 hrs last year to get there, we left at 7:30, so arrived
1.5 hrs early. The trip was not without incident - Rodney almost caused
a fight with a 5'2" Rhode Islander in McDonald's with his apparent queue
jumping antics, and Maurice steamed in without so much as an "excuse me"
to make matters worse. He almost appologised for not being able to see
her all the way down there.
And so to the cricket: on a warm muggy day, but
with a hint of sea breeze, the toss was lost and into the field we went.
Fortunately there were not many balls to chase to work up a sweat as the
SCCC batting proceeded at a snails pace. Circumspection is all very well
at the start of a two day game, but their captain, Lord Langston Esq, played
an innings of 6 in 17 overs, which I think is stretching the point a little.
20 overs from Madhura, Sridhar and Edwards conceded about 18 runs... As
usual, leg spin altered everybody's persepctive. Caution was abandoned,
runs were scored, and wickets fell; the game was afoot. Prabhu bowled Lord
Langston with a beautiful googly (so much more effective than the finger
spinner), and induced a variety of false shots to pick up the first 5 wickets,
at which point he was removed from the attack. The quicker bowlers had
toiled manfullly for no reward, but such is life. A combination of Richard,
Maurice and Andrew cleaned up the tail with Edwards even taking a leg side
stumping off a wide by Andrew (after taking the gloves from Andrew who
also had 3 stumpings), Prabhu finished with 6/40. SCCC 138 all out.
Atul and Andrew started our reply steadily with
Atul probably unlucky to be given LBW after several appeals had been rejected.
Maurice top edged a lifter to short leg, which brought together Andrew
and Sridhar for probably the best partnership of the game. They took the
score into 3 figures with Sridhar scoring a good 51, and Andrew 49 no at
stumps, which of course caused much comment that evening (would he be out
first ball next morning, would a 50 get him into the league side, can he
actually bat on matting etc etc). 125/3 at stumps.
The traditional barbeque was excellent as usual
with steak and BBQ chicken, and some very fine cream cakes. Madhura and
I were staying with Annie, so she asked us whether we would like to go
and take a shower. Andrew responded with the suggestion that she should
sniff his armpits to see if he needed a shower. Typical Australian social
skills. The beer had clearly started to have an effect. The green frozen
mango marguaritas with blue curacao curiously only compounded the effect.
Apparently breakfast at the hotel consisted of only a bagel, whereas Madhura
and I enjoyed steak and eggs, bacon, suasage, home fries, coffee and orange
juice - all those creature comforts which make life worth while.
We resumed on Sunday morning with the aid of Tylenol,
with quick runs imperative. Andrew completed an excellent 50 to a huge
round of applause, but soon perished in the run chase, and Suraj hit some
fine blows, but we then slowed a little as Cameron and Rodney picked up
a few singles, and Richard was a bit hit and miss. After an hour we had
a lead of 45, but enough was enough - we needed time to get them out. We
were probably 20-30 runs short of what I had hoped for in the hour, but
I declared at 188/6
And so back to the snails pace. Again Madhura, Sridhar
and Edwards were very economical, but failed to make the breakthrough.
This time Prabhu could not break the partnership, but Richard, having swapped
ends from the previous day, was the star. He bowled beautifully straight
for the most part with a little away drift and collected his first 5 wicket
hall for Columbia I believe. The highlight was a superb diving catch by
Suraj at mid-off to dismiss Lord Langston. Their number 3 got himself into
a groove (eventually) and proceeded to hit the ball around to extend their
lead to threatening proportions. Maurice, Andrew, Karl and Prabhu bowled
with probably less luck than the previous day and their figures suffered
for it. A few dropped half chances off the No. 3 probably cost us the chance
to bowl them out, and with some late order hitting they declared with 8
down to leave us 140 to win in 21 overs.
7/over is a tough ask at the best of times, but
on a difficult batting strip like this it would require something special
to get even close. Andrew opened the innings (with Prabhu), and proceeded
to provide that magic with a quite superb display of hitting. He had to
hit the ball in the air, and was perhaps lucky to be dropped a couple of
times, but that shouldn't detract from a wonderful innings of 79. His partnerships
with Prabhu and Sridar took us to about 70 off 10 and the crowd was going
wild. SCCC hadn't really considered the possibility of a Columbia win at
that asking rate, and were clearly rattled. Sadly the demise of Sridhar,
very quickly followed by Edwards sealed our fate. Andrew did his best but
was eventually out gloving a riser onto his stumps after fun partnerships
with Madhura and Karl. Richard and Suraj tried to score the 30 required
off 3, but the slow pace of the wicket made it impossible. At 21 needed
off 1 ball there was only time for a Rodney cameo golden duck, caught at
mid on off a skier.
And so a draw was a fair result although I think
we had the best of it, played more positive cricket, and were the better
side. We will regain the ashes next year!
Unfortunately the New England lobster was sold out,
but the swordfish was excellent and the crab legs looked good.
Maurice must have been vexed at our inability to
push on for victory, and he took out his frustrations on the staff at McDonalds.
How can an apple pie that cost $2.50 on the way up be $3.20 on the way
down??? Clearly we should never take Maurice to McDonalds again, but anybody
who has driven up I95 will know that there is not alot of choice.
An excellent game of cricket with everybody contributing
with bat or ball, and a MoM, nearly match winning, innings from Andrew.
SCCC 138 all out (Prabhu 6/40)
CUCC 182/6 dec (Sridhar 51 Andrew 59)
SCCC 184/8 dec (Richard 5/40)
CUCC 120/7 {target 140} (Andrew 79)
CUCC vs. Gypsies 24/7/99
Gypsies requested an early
start to the game, at noon, and assured
us they would arrive at 11 to begin their practice session. Anyone
with
any experience of cricket in North America will guess the rest. The
game
began at 1:30.
Mushtaq and I got the team
off to a bright start, with 50 off the
first 8 overs, but then both lost our wickets in the 20s with loose
shots.
Two more wickets fell soon after, and at 4/70 on a perfect batting
wicket
and lightning outfield, our situation, though not desperate, was not
good. The fact that their fifth bowler, who was introduced at this
point, proved to be a very competent off-spinner, augured worse things
to
come. But to the credit of all concerned, The President's XI batting
line-up fought back in great fashion. Debutant Ali, who appeared to
be
suffering from heat cramps from the moment he limped out to the wicket,
chose attack as the best form of defence, while Jay Rana supported
him
with his characteristic brand of stout defense and judicious clouts
to
leg. These two put on about 70 before drinks were called - from which
Ali,
to my surprise, never returned. Gunjeet went quickly but no collapse
ensued. Jay's innings blossomed into a terrific half-century, and Asad
made very useful runs at the end. Needless to say, we were pleased
with
our 225/7.
From the moment the Gypsies' opener
drove Dhruv's first ball
stylishly through mid-off for three, I knew we were in for a fight.
Their
batsmen were better than most league line-ups I've seen this year.
Dhruv
dismissed one opener with a nasty ball into the ribs which rebounded
onto
the leg bail. Hassan got the other opener through pure intimidation
also
(whether intended or not, you'll have to ask him), following up a
chin-duster and several fast bouncers with a good length ball which
the
rattled batsman chose not to get behind.
The game continued to be
very even, with Columbia's cause aided by
some excellent fielding in the conditions. By the final drinks, they
needed 8 an over off the last 12 with five wickets in hand. I liked
our
position. Unfortunately, our bowling dropped away suddenly and the
Gypsies' premier hitter, Mahesh, looked as if he might win the game
for
them. I wondered whether the heat might get to him before he did, and
so
it proved. Though Gypsies were ahead of the run rate, they were forced
to
keep hitting in the air. We held our catches and pulled off a game-turning
run out from the deep. At forty runs off five overs with 8 down, we
were
ahead. But at 19 off three with 8 down, they were. I brought back Hassan
who delivered mightly with an over which grabbed a wicket and cost
only 3
runs. At this nail-biting moment, a game that had been played in great
spirit throughout, de-generated into a shouting match when the Gypsies'
vice-captain first accused Hassan of throwing, then threatened to pull
his
batsmen off the field because we
questioned how an over costing three runs could reduce the runs needed
from 19 to 11. Sanity prevailed, fortunately, and after teasing us
all
with a couple of wides, Gunjeet snared the final wicket in the penultimate
over to secure a truly great win against quality opposition for the
President's XI.
All contributed to victory.
Special mention should be made of
Mushtaq (21 and 2 wickets), Srikumar (3 catches and important last
over
runs) and, of course, Jay for his matchwinning 50. But just pipping
Jay
for man of the match was Asad, whose 26n.o., 7 straight overs for 2
wickets and a superb exhibition of outfielding when the game was in
the
balance (2 catches and a brilliant run out from the deep) was a
magnificent all-round contribution. Well done, everybody.
Columbia 225/7 (Jay 54, Ali 34)
Gypsies 213 (Hassan, Gunjeet, Asad, Mushtaq 2 wickets each)
Gillen
p.s. Warning: for thse playing at VCP 2 in the next couple of weeks
--
If you come across a sticky
patch around long-on, with perhaps
some strange herbs growing and a nasty smell, that's where Dhruv barfed
in
the 28th over on Saturday. (Of course, the cricket gods made sure the
next ball was hit to him. Dhruv rose heroically from his death-crouch,
ran
twenty yards at a full sprint to get under the ball...and dropped it.)
On a pleaseant warm day, fielding first wasn't so bad. Excellent bowling
fielding and catching restricted Princeton to 149 from 40 overs. Madhura
and especially Hassan bowled economically, Asad, Sridhar and Edwards with
3 wickets apiece. Fielding included Cameron with a catch and a run out,
Suraj, Sarkar, and Asad with a catch each.
Our reply was based around a fine 75 not out from Sridhar which just
shows the value of partnerships and supporting the "senior" batsman, and
picking up plenty of byes and wides. Rodney and Maurice bore the brunt
of the ex Indian under-19 bowler in blue shorts, Mushtaq and Sridhar saw
him off. Suraj's batting is looking very promising, but work needed on
the calling and running, run out again. Rodney had not learnt the lesson
of keeping your finger in your pocket after being recalled after an LBW
(Hopefully Hassan has learnt the lesson), and Cameron was fired out caught
behind. Runs were coming steadily so that was never a problem, and Asad,
Edwards, and Madhura saw us through to a 3 wicket victory with a few overs
to spare.
Excellent team performance, first time we've won at their ground in many years.
Princeton 149/9 (Asad 3/33 Sridhar 3/32 Edwards 3/35)
CUCC 150/7 (Sridhar 75no, MoM)
Ed
Staten Island win with a 6 off the last ball!
>The question on everyone's lips: who bowled that last ball? (Almost
>certain to come up at the club dinner...which I hope everyone is planning
>to attend this year).
It will come as no surprise to learn that the last over was boldly bowled
by the captain. They needed 8 to win, and
took 5 from the first 5 balls. 2 to tie, 3 to win. The ball was a good
line a length, but just smote by the batsman to
long off where Haseeb was standing (on the fence by the road at Staten
Island). It just went over Haseeb's finger
tips for 6. Perhaps with a better timed jump...
A great game of cricket, 460 runs off 70 overs, a magnificent ton from
Kabir, but he especially paid the price for
the heat with the worst case of cramps I've seen for a long time. Semi-consumed
chicken curry mixed with
banana and Gatorade all over the Staten Island ferry.
Kabir was convinced he was close to death:
"Madhura, I'll ring you in the morning... that is, if I make it".
We batted well as a team in supporting Kabir, but really need to work
on running and calling. We didn't bowl
too well (although Kabir was the pick - 30 runs from his 7 overs),
and the fielding was a little ragged, but
commendable in the heat. I think 5 catches may have gone down, but
any time you lose on the last ball it's just a
great close game, and a pleasure to play in. Obviously Staten Island
were elated after that final ball, but maybe
next time it will be a Columbia batsman hitting the winning runs to
give us that elated feeling - these are the
kind of games that you remember for a long time, and remind us why
we enjoy playing the game.
Clearly Kabir man of the match
CUCC 229/6 (Kabir 111)
SI 233/6
LTCC 230
CUCC 130 all out
CUCC 130/9 (Richard 45)
BOCC 110 all out
After 3 weeks of frustration with opposition cancelling
games, the PresXI was finally back on the field of play. After the
usual buggering about by Staten Island we got under way at 2pm. Fortunately
Staten Island had their usual 15 players so we were able to poach Murty
to replace Brian - a no show.
We batted first on a decent track, and after a steady
start Fasial came in to enjoy himself. He scored an excellent 75 including
a couple of big sixes. He was supported by Robyn with an exciting 30, but
the tail fell away a little although held together by a Cameron cameo.
If Cameron can learn to use the bat instead of the bizzarre tactics of
a combination limbo/rope skipping he may score more runs instead of leg
byes... 171 from the 35 overs seemed a reasonable score, but with the short
boundary at SI, clearly it was not a huge score.
Crispy and Madhura opened the bowling and although
they induced several false shots, with a couple of catches taken, Charu
was batting pretty well for them. The runs were coming steadily but wickets
were falling. Edwards and Faisal continued this trend, but our lack of
a genuine 5th bowler let us down in the end. Maurice and Murty bowled well
enough taking 3 wickets between them, but the runs kept coming, including
some big shots from the No. 9. The 3lb 4 Lara trunk was used to good effect,
one Murty ball being deposited over the trees and over the house at long
on...
Sadly again the SI umpiring left a lot to be desired,
Clarance and Charu were not impressed with their own teammates which says
enough I think.
So it boiled down to SI needing about 50 to win
from 9 overs with the No. 9 slugger and Charu still in. A few more
big
hits reduced the requirement substantially, but then Madhura induced a
nick behind and we were back in it. Their No. 10 wasn't great and they
needed 30 off 6 with 2 wickets left. Sadly with several shots falling between
fielders we couldn't make the vital breakthrough, and SI won with 3 balls
to spare, Cahru making a good 85no.
A good close game of cricket with good batting from
Fasial and a pretty tidy effort in the field - Robyn taking 3 good catches
which should put him well in the lead for fielding awards at the moment.
Comic effect was provided by the
SI crowd insisting that a fielder could not stand 1 yard beyond the boudary
as the bowler started his run up. They claimed a foul. Fair enough I said,
you score one foul.
CUCC 171 all out (Faisal 75 Robyn 30)
SICC 172/8 (Charu 85)
Ed
Well, we knew that things were off on the wrong foot when we arrived
there
with only nine guys, and were told that we would have to wait for a
total of 1
1/2 hours for the women's softball NCAA tournament matches to end,
as our
pitch was in the middle of their practice field. Fortunately, the start
was
delayed by 45 minutes, and then we were able to get in 30 overs a side,
un
interrupted.
NOTE: Natasja was the tenth "guy" so we were only one short (Ed)
We lost the toss, and were asked to bowl, on what looked to be a fairly
hard,
true wicket. The wicket did maintain its integrity through most of
the game,
but the outfield was incredibly thick, so that it seemed that the harder
you
hit it, the slower it went. Anyway, we held them to a reasonable start,
with
all of the seamers- Venky, Sarkar, Jay and myself containing them fairly
well.
Their opener was lucky to survive an initial skied catch, which cost
us, as he
went on to score 66. Venky and Jay bowled very well, and were both
unlucky to
get a few wickets in the opening spells. At 15 overs, their score was
around
50, and in 20, it had jumped to 97. With the batsmen settled in, they
pushed
the ball around, taking advantage of us being short a fielder, and
pushed the
fielding, taking cheeky singles. And we responded by falling apart
at the
seams. Unnecessary throws at the wickets, poor backing up, and general
laziness in the field saw them get to 177 for 8, with a flurry of wickets
falling in the end. Only one batsman scored 66, with the rest all failing
to
reach 20. It was about 25 runs more than we should have allowed, with
a fair
share of extras helping them along as well.
We started well with the chase, as in spite of a quick wicket going,
our
numbers 2 and 3 pushed the ball around well. Both Omar and Hasan looked
very
comfortable against the new ball, timing the ball very sweetly, and
mixing
their shots well. But the runs scoring was tough, as the outfield was
heavy
and beautiful shots were 2 runs at the most. We were unlucky when Hasan
hit a
beautiful shot in the air, straight down long off, and it dropped just
in
front of the boundary. Both batsmen were sure to was a boundary, but
the balls
dropped and stayed in place, remaining a good 6 inches in side the
fence! A
resulting mix-up ensued, and Omar was run out. That was a shame as
the two
were looking good together. Jay went in and he shared a 40 odd run
stand with
Hasan before Hasan went to a good caught behind. And then the runs
stopped
flowing, as they brought on their slow bowlers, who were just too slow
to be
hit! I batted for a while with Jay, and then Masood, and when their
spinner
came on, Masood was laughing at me from the other end, as the guy was
just too
funny to watch. To his credit though, he was slow, but accurate, and
he
stopped the flow. These guys accounted for the rest of our team, with
Masood
remaining not out on around 20. Everyone pitched in 10-15 runs, but
our
batting line-up simply could not come to terms with the heavy outfield,
and
the incredibly slow bowling. The patience just wasn't there.
Asad 24/5/99