Sunday 9th May  CUCC vs. Albion @ VCP
 

CUCC 113 all out (38 overs)
Albion 114/3 (21 overs)

To start, we should thank the league for continuing to give us their finest umpires....one couldn't see and the other didn't know the rules. I'm sure their ICC panel applications are on the verge of being accepted and it would be a deep loss to the league for losing these vastly experienced umpires.

The league in all earnest couldn't have started worse for CUCC. Having being asked to bat in overcast conditions on a damp pitch, we lost Nabil to the first ball of the game, nicking it behind to be smartly caught inches off the ground. Michael and Gokul then negotiated a difficult phase with the ball swinging around like a banana. Both batsmen played patiently, content with not trying to get bat on too many of the deliveries. When Michael did get bat on ball (and then on to pads) it was only to be given out LBW!! With the partnership broken, we quickly lost 3 more wickets to fairly ambitious shots as Faisal, Siva, and Gokul tried to raise the tempo. At 33 for 5 in 11 overs, we were clearly deep in the hole. Venu and Dhruv then buckled down to take the hosts up to 80 in the 24th over without any further panic. Venu played with the gay abandon we are accustomed to seeing. The partnership was broken when Dhruv got run out going for a sharp single. Venu surpassed all kinds of records as number of balls faced approached 50. Then the Sehwag instinct kicked in, and he was bowled trying to slog sweep a ball on middle stump for a top score of 36. The lower order did manage to almost bat out the 40 overs but no one, barring Venu really had any measure of the bowling.

The innings break was signaled by the clearing of skies and bright sunshine. We should have had the opener with the first ball, a big inswinging yorker in front of middle and off, but, as you guessed, the umpire didn't have a clue! Atif also had a great shout against him, but unfortunately he was bowling from the same end and got the same result from the umpire. Dhruv, Atif, and Madhura picked up a wicket each, but it was too much of an ask to defend 113.

I hope this performance was just early season rustiness and we had better shake it off if we're to compete effectively this season.
 
 

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Seven Stars 6/195 (35 overs)
CUCC all out for 95 (30.2 overs)

The start to Sunday's game was, annoyingly, somewhat delayed. Michael P forgetting the new ball and having to fill the van with gas didn't help, but they were, in the end, relatively minor delays in what should have been a 25 min trip to Whitestone Park. The mess on the Cross Bronx ultimately turned a 11.45am meet time into a 1.30-1.45pm start. The game became a 35 over affair and CUCC forfeited the toss due to lateness.

Predictably, CUCC bowled first.

There was some tentativeness from the bowlers in the first few overs. Michael R, bowling his first spell of the season, took a few deliveries to find his range. Omar, in his second game, suffered from an extremely strict off-side wide interpretation bowling up the hill. He was pinged for 7 wides in his first over. Curiously, that umpire became much more lenient thereafter. When Michael R found his rhythm he bowled a very tight and threatening spell. His 1 for 15 off 5 overs were the most impressive figures among the bowlers. Haseeb, replacing Michael R, started poorly but after he took a wicket in his third over (and after Michael P asked him if he needed a rest) finished strongly with 1 for 33 off 7 overs. Pranay bowled all his overs up the hill and was impressive in his two spells. Unfortunately, CUCC was never able to get on top of the batting, either by taking wickets regularly or by restricting the scoring. Half a dozen sixes over the short straight boundary, as well as 31 extras, contributed to seven stars finishing at 6 for 195. Reducing the extras and sixes would have been a huge help, and been a truer reflection of what was a solid bowling and fielding (5 catches taken, only one dropped) performance.

CUCCís batting started slowly, but promisingly. Nabil, in particular, looked to be getting the better of their attack and, along with Siva, put on 28 before Nabil was out caught. Faisal joined Siva and he, too, was looking to get on top of the bowling. For the second week in a row, however, a bad LMW decision, this time against Faisal, robbed CUCC of one of their top order Batsman. (Why donít tailenders get dodgy LBW decisions?) Faisal was given out sweeping a ball down the leg side. At the other end Siva, who hadnít even considered an LB a possibility, was a third of the way down the pitch looking for a quick single as the ball bounced off the pad out to the leg side. He hurried back to the bowlers end wondering why Fasial was just standing there, glaring at the umpire. After this CUCC stumbled badly, losing 5 wickets for only 12 runs. The only real bright spots were a solid innings from a new club member, Shankar, and a lusty knock from top scorer Haseeb (24). For the second week in a row, CUCCís poor batting meant that we were not really in the game and ultimately fell 101 runs short of the target.
 
 

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The day started with heavy rain in the city and the expectation that we wouldn't be spending 6 hours playing cricket in the cold and damp at VCP. However, Lesly insisted that there hadn't been that much rain in the Bronx, the pitch was fine and the game should be played. When we got there pitch was OK, but the long grass in the outfield was very wet. Whatever, we played.

Michael lost the toss and CUCC bowled. Starting with 8 players (Robyn had a flat tire, Nick and Pranay were just plain old late) wasn't a problem for the first over. Omer, starting with a new, dry ball in overcast conditions was unplayable, bowling beautiful outswingers missing the bat ball after ball. Not surprisingly, one ball in the over swung a bit too much and was called wide, but even that delivery beat the bat as the batsman waved his wand well outside off stump. Unfortunately, in the next over Haseeb had a run scored off him and that was it, the ball was wet and it never swung again. Despite this Haseeb and Omer bowled well and both were unlucky not to pick up wickets in their first spell. Haseeb, in particular, was hard done by, having one clear nick caught by the keeper, Michael, given not out  (the umpire claimed to be unsighted and the batsman did a good impression of an Australian by not walking) and the very next ball got another edge to a full toss that Michael couldn't get a glove on. Haseeb did manage to hit two balls straight, together and it resulted in a broken box and the removal, if only temporarily, of their opener, bent over in some serious pain. Pranay and Ed replaced the openers and Pranay had immediate success having a short, slow, wide delivery hit straight to Haseeb. Ed also had early success when Siva took a catch to remove their number 3 batsman. With Silverwhip's opener back at the crease (with a new box, different brand) and their best batsman looking comfortable, Michael brought Venu and Madhura (bowling spin) on to try and break up the partnership. Michael was half-right, with Madhura, for the most part, bowling well and being rewarded with a wicket when he forced the departure of their opener, stumped. Pranay replaced Venu and, as was the case in the game against Seven Stars, bowled much better in his second spell. He was economical and took two more wickets to end up with the well deserved figures of 3 for 19 off 7 overs.

In the end it was another competent bowling and fielding performance from CUCC, however, we never threatened to dominate. This, combined with some lusty hitting at the end saw Silverwhip end up with 213 off their 35 overs.

CUCC's run chase started positively with Siva and Omer batting confidently. Once again, another questionable LBW decision saw to the departure of Siva, despite being well down the track when the ball struck his pads. Nick joined Omer and departed again soon afterwards, not having troubled the scorer. Robyn followed soon after a bad mix up running between the wickets. Venu and Omer then put on a 50 run stand and were batting well. Unfortunately, the departure of Omer, CUCC's top scorer, triggered a middle order collapse with Venu, Michael, Haseeb and Madhura all falling in quick succession. At 6 for 110 CUCC were going to have great difficulty batting out the overs, let alone reaching the target. In fact, if not for a late stand between Pranay and Ed, CUCC would have been dismissed much earlier. Unfortunately, another disappointing performance from the League side made a gray day even grayer.
 

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Sunday 25th July, 2004 vs. ACS at VCP

The bad news:
we were beaten on Sunday by ACS. Not so badly as before though...

Good bowling from Prabhu and Ed with some good catching restricted ACS to 196. A very dodgy not out decision against their top scorer who clearly gloved a Prabhu delivery to Suraj when on about 5 may have made all the difference...

A good opening partnership but then we gave it away with Robyn caught off a full toss Ed run out without facing next ball (not realising where the ball was head up his arse)Venu slogging and Suraj stumped soon after.Still a good effort from 10 men.
 

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Sunday 12th September vs Golden Ducks (not a joke) at VCP5

The game started in the usual fashion, late and with Michael P. losing the toss. Michael R. opened the bowling and hit his line early. Unfortunately, GD's opening batsmen were more hitters than strokemakers which played merry hell with the field placements. Fours from nicks over the slips, slogs that just cleared the fielders and, in fairness, one or two shots that cleared the boundary. Irrespective of the good shots, it seemed only a matter of time before a straight one cleaned one or both of them up. Alas, that was not to be. Saad had opened from the other end and was off his line and took a bit of punishment. In truth, he was unlucky not to get a wicket from an edge which fell wide of the fly slip, but Michael needed to get some semblance of control over a rapidly increasing scoreline and so Saad was replaced by Madhura. At the other end Michael R. was still being frustrated by the batsmen's agricultural technique, but had managed to entice the batsmen into a couple of lofted shots that went to hand (actually, enticement wasn't necessary, they were hitting everything in the air). The bad news was that in the meantime the openers had put on 50 and as I say, played merry hell with the field placements. Madhura, meanwhile had immediately hit his line and in his second over got rid of the the other opener and we thought that the scoring frenzy would have abated. It did, but when we went to drinks GD's had racked up a score in the high 70s off only 15 overs. After the break, Madhura struck again, and then kept striking. Bowleds (or bowlden as the scorecard read), caughts and an LBW thrown in saw Madhura eventually take five wickets. Two of them were ducks, one of them an eponymously titled "golden duck" and consequently Madhura was on a hat trick. Fortunately, we were to be spared the inevitable gloating that would have resulted had Madgun succeeded in taking three in a row. Prabhu replaced Micheal R and it immediately became apparent that their batsmen were actually as bad (and as lucky) as we had thought. Once again, CUCC needed to employ absurd field placements with a fly slip, a fly gully and a deep point for the edges that came from the angled bat slogs as well as a short fine leg to field the odd french cut. Prabhu was unlucky not to get more than two wickets and was easily the tightest of CUCC's bowlers, going for only 19 off his 7 overs. A frustrating period at the end which saw GD's put on 20-odd lucky runs for the 8th wicket saw them to a total of 133, a very getable target.

CUCC opened with Siva and Nabil. Both looked composed against an attack that was easily better than their batting. The pair put on 33, but it was clear that playing actual cricket shots made scoring quickly difficult on a pitch that was generally low and slow, but which also allowed the odd one to bounce off a good length. With the dismissal of Nabil, and shortly after Siva, Faisal and Gokul came together for a solid partnership taking CUCC to 66. Gokul was out caught at wide fly slip off one of those deliveries that bounce a little more than expected and Michael P came in to join Faisal. This partnership took the total to 103 before Michael P. was out to a delivery similar to the one that dismissed Gokul. This time, however, the edge went to the 'keeper. Venu then played one of the more subdued innings we've seen from him, scoring only 4 from 12 deliveries. Fortunately, Faisal was still scoring freely at the other end despite a minor scare when he played a smashing drive and was caught at short cover....off a no ball. Faisal ended with a well made 44 n.o. and, with assistance from Suraj, saw CUCC's League team to its (wait for it, and while your waiting chill the champagne) first WIN of the season.

Through some convoluted algorithm and weird Lesly logic (and no doubt a good deal of frustration and lack of concrete information) CUCC will be playing next Sunday in the knockout section of the League. (Lest you be puzzled, the knockouts should not to be confused with the semis and finals that other teams will be playing.)

Bring 'em on!
 

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