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Saturday 10th April vs. Penn @ VCP
Unfortunately Penn cancelled at the last minute, but we were able to get enough people together for an 8-a-side game and so we didn't waste what was a beautiful spring day. As it was an intra-club hit out I'll give you just the highlights and not the full card of the 25 over match.
The two teams were captained by Michael and Saad. Michael won the toss and decided to bat. The batting was a little fragile and, well, lets just say Michael's team didn't quite manage to bat through the (ahem) allotted overs. Laks (17) and Venu (22) had promising starts but weren't able to capitalize on them, and Michael (26no) was left stranded. For Saad's team, Ratesh and Saad each took two wickets and Nabil, standing in as 'keeper, snagged three catches. Despite facing only 14 overs Michael's side managed to get to 96 and in the first game of the season with only seven wickets to get anything was possible.
Saad's side started well with Nabil and Adil opening. Nabil was looking good but was adjudged (yeah, right Safdar!) leg before on 14. Anwer (18) also looked good but it was Adil (31no) who was able to bat through the innings and get Saad's side to 100 in 17 overs. For Michael's side, Dileep looked strong in bowling five overs and taking two wickets. Prabhu bowled well too and also took two wickets.
Overall it was a good days cricket and we were glad to see some promising new comers as well as some early season form for the oldies.
Another glorious day for cricket on Saturday was made even better with a strong performance from CUCC. Michael won the toss and elected to bat. A good opening partnership (42) from Ashok and Gokul made for a promising beginning. Unfortunately, a few of the top order were unable to capitalize on good starts. Laks was the best with 24, followed by Ashok and Michael, both with 22. There was a worrying collapse in the middle order but the lower order contributed mightily, and not without luck, to take CUCC to a competitive total of 171 on a low, slow wicket. Contributions from Asad, Anurag (who fortunately was on hand to fill in for Vivek who suffered a back strain while warming up) and Dileep (oh, and a certain S.Undries) were invaluable.
Then Cornell had lunch. Strictly speaking, given that it was almost 4pm (they bowled 34 overs in 3.5 hours!) it was tea, but Burger King makes awful tea so we'll give them the benefit of the doubt and call it lunch.
While CUCC's batting had been competent, our bowling, however, was dominant. Asad opened the bowling and had an eventful first four deliveries; 1) wide, 2) sublime outswinger that beat the outside edge, 3) straight ball smashed down the ground for four and 4) inswinger taking out leg stump. All in all, not a bad first over. Pranay came in at first change, bowled well and was unlucky not to get a second wicket, having a tough chance dropped at slip. Raj also performed well and could have claimed a second wicket if Michael hadn't moved Gokul from slip to gully. The defining period came after drinks with Laks and Madhura bowling a tight spell. Madhura, who was encouraged by his captain to take up off spin in his old age, did a good impression of Colin "funky" Miller. He took three wickets bowling offies and another bowling his "regular crap" (his words). Behind the stumps, Gokul botched a couple of attempts to give Madhura a fifth scalp but, fortunately for all concerned, Laks effected a run out to put Cornell out of their misery for 109.
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Sunday 25th April, 2004 vs East Meadow CC at VCP1
Game started with Hassan, who hasnt sent out the scorecard in 3 weeks straight decided to take home the socrecard with him, and we were running around to get some white paper to do the scoring. Thanks a lot Hassan.
Thanks to Robyn for helping us out with the Mat/Van and the storage after the game. Shankar for helping us out in the field. Guys I dont have the folks who took catches, I only have Robyn who took a catch. Rest of you send in an email to Michael Partridge if you took a catch. These need to go into the final stats at the end of the season for the trophies.
CUCC won the toss and elected to Bat. Started off with Gokul and the new guy Somil (promoted up since our opening batsman was stuck in traffic). Having 67 runs from a previous game under his belt Somil started of well with Gokul to take CUCC to 30/0. But soon we were in trouble loosing 3 quick wkts, with Somil falling to a superb catch at point. Somil was soon followed by Vivek, Who (in his own words) was busy looking at the bowlers feet rather than the ball itself and lost his middle wkt to the very first ball. Of course having looked closely at the bowlers feet he thinks the bowler over stepped and it should have been a no ball, yeah right). Robyn went in next and played a shot he has always scored on, but unfortunately this time he got a thick top edge and was gone for a duck. So there CUCC was again on 32/3, and in a bit of a spot. Nabil finally arrived at the ground and was sent in immd. Gokul who looked nervous at the start, started to play some glorious shots and getting the scoreboard moving. Nabil joined in soon, and picked it up from where he left off in the last game, started taking the attack to the opposition. Who I should say did a fair bit of our work making our 1's into 2's and 2's into 3's and the occasional 4's between the legs, plus a bunch of extras and dropped catches. We went to drinks with Gokul on 47 and CUCC well placed at half way mark with 120/3. A great partnership between Gokul and Nabil getting us out of a spot of bother. Soon after drinks Gokul reached a well deserved 50 and the captain sent in a word he had 2 overs before he retires hurt to give the rest of the guys a go at batting. He obliged, only lost his wicket trying to up the tempo. Venu joined Nabil who was dropped the previous ball, tried the same shot and was caught by the same guy. Nabil went for 47 and was close to a very well deserved 50. Madhura Joined Venu who decided to up the tempo with 5 wickets remaining and about 10 overs left. Venu hit a quickfire 31 before he screwed his back and promptly walked away without taking any further part in the proceedings. Madhura fell trying to up the tempo and Safdar and Pranay saw CUCC past the 200 mark. Gokul, decided to be fair with the opposition and considering the time they spent in setting their field reduced the game to 30 over a side. All those who did not get a chance to Bat say thanks to Gokul.
Neways 203 to win in 30 overs not that easy and we started off with Saad and Pranay, while madhura took over the captaincy and Shankar who came along to watch the game, duly obliged to field in place of injured venu. Saad getting some movement earlier on went for a lot of wides (8 of them in his first over). Pranay at the other end was troubling the batsmen with his pace beating them repeatedly. Saad soon found his rythm and uprooted the opening bat's off stump to get us the first break through. Pranay came off after a very good first spell and was replaced by Rashid while Saad was replaced by Nabil. Rashid was quick but erratic and saw his figures mauled thanks to a couple of wides which went for 4 byes too. A lil rustiness from the long lay off, still the start of the season Rashid, keep it going. Nabil at the other end was the pick of the bowlers and soon had most of the opposition's middle order wiped out. He took 4 wkts in his alloted 6 overs to return the best bowling figures for the game. Madhura repalced Nabil while their number 4 bat was the only guy who looked like he could bat. Soon both batsmen were hitting madhura around the park, who was bowling off spin (yeah right, so much for spin). Soon he got frustrated and bowled his usual crap (acording to him) and bowled the next guy in through the gates. Safdar too got a wicket, but the surprise came from the new guy Shankar, who bowled just 2 balls to get 2 wkts and wiped out the tail affectively ending their resistance. Nick their no 4 bat got 41 and was their highest scorer. In the end was a good game but the oppsition gave away way too many runs in extras and some sloppy fielding which saw quite a few catched dropped (then ofcourse it was freaking cold with temp constantly in early 40's).
Great job guys a good win, thats 4 in a
row now. Excellent batting from Gokul and Nabil, while Nabil did a great
job in bowling too and certainly the man of the macth for the day. Get
working on the extras guys we gave away almost as many as our opposition
(37 in all) did.
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Saturday 1st May Vs. Hoboken at VCP1
The day started out well when Michael won his third toss in a row and chose to bat. After Gokul's complaints that he didn't want to be an opener were totally disregarded, he and Suraj began the innings, putting on 27 for the first wicket. Anush joined Gokul after Suraj (8) was dismissed and another partnership developed. However, Anush's dismissal signaled a minor collapse and CUCC, at 4 for 53, were in some trouble. As Michael (quack, quack) can attest, Hoboken's modest bowling attack did have the ability to bowl a reasonable line and length, making scoring difficult and, with the ball not coming on to the bat, forced some lofted drives and leading edges that went to hand. A steadying 44run partnership between Ajay (11) and Gokul took CUCC to 97, but in quick succession both were back in the "pavilion". Gokul's well made 62 was his second half ton in a row and with form like that his protestations that he wants to bat further down the order will continue to fall on the deaf ears of his skipper.
What CUCC needed at this point was a quick fire 50 run partnership to get the innings back on track. Instead, we got a quick fire 67 run partnership between Mushtaq (23) and Rashid (33) who were able to do what most of the top order were not, namely, score runs quickly and without risk. With a final contribution from Dileep (8) CUCC ended the innings with 185 from 35 overs.
Dileep opened the bowling for CUCC with his best spell of the season so far. All of his three wickets (2 bowled, 1 LBW) came by employing the novel technique of bowling straight at the stumps, and that set the tone for the innings. Ajay started from the other end and was unlucky not to be rewarded for a strong spell. Rashid and Ratesh also bowled well but it was the slower bowlers who finished off a weak Hoboken team. Mushtaq and Madhu each took two wickets bowling off and leg spin, respectively. The final, and unlikeliest, hero was Shamik who managed to collect 3 wickets off his 1.1 overs. In truth he had, um, a few more than 7 deliveries in his 1.1 overs, but when he got the ball on the pitch he was, well, quite productive in the wicket-taking department. In the end CUCC was able to wrap up the Hoboken innings for 89 giving us a comfortable victory.
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One of the first away games of this season
began without a hitch. All members of the playing eleven reported on time
at 32nd and 6th and packed in 3 cars we were on our merry way. Some new
inductees were making their debut for Columbia. After a pleasant hour and
a half drive, we reached the Old Bridge Cricket Club ground situated immediately
adjacent to a dirt track where (annoyingly) drag racing took place all
day.
Safdar won the toss and elected to bat.
The grass on the outfield was very thick and the pitch under the matting
was still moist(ish) that suggested an aerial game for the most part. Interestingly,
there was a 20 yard circle on the field and the fielding restriction rule
was enforced in the first 12 overs.
Ajay Chopra and Anush opened for Columbia.
Disaster struck in the 3rd over when Anush was run out for 1. The next
two batsmen, Vivek and Safdar departed quickly, both victims of a viciously
erratic pitch ? Vivek playing too early on a ball that slowed up on him;
Safdar playing late on a ball that rolled along no higher than his ankle.
At this time, at 22 for 3 things looked extremely bleak for Columbia and
the instruction for each batsman was to stay in and play the entire 35
overs. Ajay on the other end was playing well and played a few great shots.
Jay and Baji departed as well bringing in the Assassin from Cochin, Dileep
Varma. He played a few elegant forward defensive strokes reminiscent of
Sunil Gavaskar but was bowled pretty soon after, reminiscent of Ajit Agarkar.
Again, with the score still hovering in double digits and 3 wickets to
go Ratesh "Bollywood" Chopra entered the field and played some intelligent
cricket that saw us past 100. At the time of the toss, one felt that a
score 150+ would be ultimately defendable. Good contribution from Madhu
enabled CUCC to reach a respectable 118 in 33.2 overs. PLUS we were saved
by 56 extras bowled by Old Bridge CC. The way the pitch was playing at
this point it seemed a reasonable target to defend if we could take our
catches and field intelligently.
The Old Bridge innings began shakily.
Ajay and Dileep bowled extremely well given the rather hot conditions,
troubling the batsmen with their probing line and length. The first to
go was Munir who was bowled an absolute snorter by Dileep, pitched at middle
and leg and moving away. The batsman played and got a healthy edge that
traveled quickly to first slip. First slip was non other than Baji, our
senior most cricketer. With dedication, agility, grit and spryness expected
of players 1/3 his age, Baji caught the catch ? low and to the left resulting
in him splitting the webbing between his fingers. Over the raucous cheering
at our first wicket, Baji was heard to say "I havenít done this for over
30 years!" Well done Baji! Next to go was their batsman number 2, Ketan
caught by Anush at point ? what an incredible catch again ? running backwards
looking up TOWARDS the sun. Perfect. Unfortunately, we also dropped 2 catches
at key intervals of players that eventually went on to spray the ball all
over the outfield. Dileep "I-believe-in appealing-before-I-deliver-the-ball"
Varma was brought on for a second spell and he took another wicket but
by this time Old Bridge has pounced on the initiative and coasted home
with 7 wickets to spare.
Overall a good performance in the field
and with the ball ? the team played well under pressure with a LOT of team
spirit and a never-say-die attitude. Kudos to Shamik for working so hard
in the field as well as everyone. In the end we just didnít have enough
runs to defend.
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For the fourth time this season CUCC was SHAFTED by the opposition last Saturday. The logistics and timing weren't perfect to begin with; Cavaliers were finishing a 6-a-side game from the week before in the morning in Flushing and wanted a 1pm start. With only two of the opposition at the ground by 1pm (in contrast to 14 CUCC players at the ground and ready to go), Michael called the opposition skipper and was assured theyíd be there by 1.30. I could recount in detail the next hour and a half of phone calls, reassurances theyíd be arriving in 20-30 minutes, waiting, and conversations with the increasingly embarrassed and frustrated two Cavaliers that were at the ground, but Iíll spare you that sorry tale.
At 2.30 Michael cancelled the game and a 25 over, 8-a-side match (which included the two Cavaliers' players, Faisal and Iqbal) was organized. Intelligently delegating away any further responsibility for the day's proceedings, Michael appointed Nabil and Rashid captains of the two teams. Nabil won the toss and batted.
Clearly the snooze in the shade that Nabil had while waiting for the game to start helped his batting. He and Prashanth started strongly in the first few overs and then, well, batted strongly for a few overs more. After 12 overs Nabil and Prashanth were still batting, um, strongly. Drinks were scheduled for the end of the 13th over, but they were mercifully taken early after Nabil holed out for 34. At this point Rashid and Nabil negotiated a new rule; that batsman retire once they reach fifty. This was fortuitous for Rashid's team but somewhat less so for Prashanth, who, having scored 55 found his innings circumscribed new legislation.
After this the blistering attack that Rashid had at his disposal was able to get on top of the batting. I donít have progressive over totals or the fall of wicket scores (who was doing the scoring?) so the exact amount the last six wickets were able to contribute to Nabilís teamsí total is a statistic lost to history. Suffice to say that Rashid's team took 6 for not a lot, dismissing Nabil's side in 19 overs. Only Suraj (13) offered any real resistance. Firaz and Jay were the best of the bowlers taking 2 wickets each. Jay also took a couple of catches, one off his own bowling.
Chasing 138 to win, Rashid's team had a bad start with two of the "recognised" batsmen, Ashok and Michael, going cheaply. However, Rashid (35) and Ajay (18) were able to steady the ship and put some semblance of competitiveness back into the match. Some lower order hitting from Firaz (15), Jay and Ammer actually put Rashid's team within reach of the total, but with overs running out and some good bowling and catching from Nabil's team they were able to dismiss Rashid's side for 115 in 22.2 overs. Of the bowlers, Atif, Venu and Faisal each took a wicket, but it was the new quick bowler, Mansoor, who stole the show taking 4 for 18 off 5.2 overs. Behind the stumps, Prashanth, playing his second game, took a couple of catches to go with his half century with the bat.
So, what started out as another pain in the arse cancellation became, in Nabil's words, not a complete waste of a day. Thanks to all the extras who turned up and hung around waiting for a chance at a game. Thanks also to the two Cavaliers players who turned up on time and participated in the 8-a-side game.
Post Script:
In fairness to the Cavaliers I should
mention that, in contrast to opposition teams from other cancelled games
this season, a full team did eventually turn up........................AT
3.15!!!!
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Saturday 29th May vs. Mad Dogs @ Greenwich, CT
The Sunday before last CUCC went to the ghetto in Poughkeepsie, last Saturday we traveled to the most affluent county in the country, Greenwich, CT. Despite the differences in surroundings the result of the two matches was identical.
CUCC's bowlers were keen to get stuck into Mad Dogs batting line up and with breezy, cool conditions Michael won the toss and bowled. Madhura and Mansoor opened the bowling and were unlucky not to have some early success. Madhura, in particular, bowled a tight and probing line and after 4 overs had gone for only 4 runs. He also had one edge dissect 1st and 2nd slip and roll down to third man, and another fine nick to the 'keeper given not out. Ratesh and Ajay took over the attack with Ratesh bowling his best spell of the season. Ajay was a little expensive early in his first spell but overall also bowled well. But for one over at the end of the innings when Mad Dogs best player, Prasana, took a liking to Ajay's bowling his figures would have been much more impressive. Laks, as always, bowled a miserly spell, going for only 18 runs off his 7 overs. CUCC kept Mad Dogs to only 159 off 35 overs, a very gettable total on a small ground,
The target looked even more modest when
we got a look at Mad Dogs bowling attack. A team of trundlers would be
an apt description. With their two regular opening bowlers unavailable
for the match, only Prasana, bowling a mix of Kumble-like leggies and probing
medium pacers, looked in any way threatening. However, CUCC still had to
get the 160 runs needed to win. Things started poorly with both openers,
Anush and Rashid, out cheaply. Michael then join Laks and looked to get
on top of the bowling and avoid the slow "Velcro-grass" by hitting over
the infield. Michael's eyes were spinning like a slot machine when he was
given a short slow delivery. He smacked it to cover but foolishly hit it
just to the right of the fielder who took a sharp chance. Suraj came in
next and both he and Laks looked comfortable and kept the score ticking
over. Suraj then suffered a muscle strain and needed a runner. On cue,
Suraj, who was having his best innings this season, was out when Mad Dogs
Prasana, fielding off his own bowling, ran out the runner with a direct
hit. Although wickets were falling steadily, while ever Laks remained in
the middle CUCC were in with a better than fighting chance of reaching
the target. Enter, again, Prasana, who got one through the gate to dismiss
Laks (36), CUCC's top scorer. Improbably, CUCC had one last chance at getting
to 160. Madhura (35no) batted intelligently, and with occasional bursts
of power hitting, to get us near the target. What was lacking was a supporting
bat-on-ball type innings from the other end to keep rotating the strike.
CUCC was all out in the last over 14 runs short of the target. In the end
it was a disappointing end to an otherwise good days cricket.
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CUCC hosted Einstein College CC- Laks' answer to the void left by the dissolution of the Snyder's XI- on a damp, overcast day. Asad won the toss and elected to bat. Ashok opened with Prashanth and the two established a solid opening stand against Raj, whom we knew well, and a more wayward opening partner. Prashanth took the aerial route more than once, as the outfield was heavy, moreso with the morning/recurring rain. Ashok was finally undone by a well disguised slower ball from Raj just after one that shot up at Ashok. Nabil joined Prashanth and capitalized on the 35 run opening stand taking CUCC to a position of strength. Both Nabil and Prashanth looked well settled, taking comfortable one's and two's and Nabil pitched in with a well struck six over square leg. Nabil was finally undone by Laks himself, top edging a pull shot that flew high enough so that Laks would have to do the honors himself. Unfortunately, Prashanth followed very soon after, trodding onto his own stumps while pulling a ball.
After a brief appearance from Jay, Ratesh joined Suraj for the second strong partnership of the innings. Ratesh lived a bit of a charmed life; being dropped twice and having the benefit of his brother umpiring for what looked like a very strong shout for caught behind. But in that time he middled a few, while Suraj was content to play the much needed sheet anchor role, rotating the strike in a well balanced innings. With the overs coming to a close, the usual flurry began and while we made it to 202, we did not play out the full 35 overs. Good balanced innings from Suraj, Ratesh, Prashanth and Nabil was the backbone of the innings, with ample help from the bowler's wide balls.
With Einstien's side, we knew little else beyond Laks' capabilities, but we knew that would be enough on its own to win the match for them if he got stuck in. Asad and Saad started well enough for a couple of bowlers coming back into the side after long layoffs. Asad knocked back middle stump in the first over, while Saad took a couple of leg before's to have Einstein's on the back foot right off the bat. Enter Laks and he was middling the ball from the first delivery faced, playing Saad completely across the line with authority a couple of times off of decent deliveries. Saad was replaced by Nabil, while Ratesh replaced Asad. Both challenged Laks from time to time, but it wasn't until he played a half-hearted shot off of Ratesh straight into his brother's hands that we breathed easier. Incidentally, this was the only catch we took in the day, as a few sitters went down early. But the real treat was to come. Anwer came on to replace Nabil and bowled a fast, aggressive, bang-on-target maiden first over. Asad quickly decided to apply the pressure and for the rest of his spell Anwer bowled to a 7-2 offside field, being virtually unplayable. He took only 2 wickets in the end, but his spell was clearly the highlight of our bowling attack. Good team effort with all the runs and wickets being fairly evenly spaced out. Special thanks to Laks and Suraj for bringing this match together on such short notice after a cancellation on Friday.
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This game had a gloomy buildup, with our original opposition (RPI) canceling, two last minute drop-outs and transportation issues. However, Holmdel obliged, friends/relatives filled in and Jay, Saad, and Vivek helped out with the transportation.
Holmdel won the toss, and after much strategizing, decided to bat. We started with Anwer and Saad and both kept the shackles on the batsmen. The outfield, typical of Holmdel, was a jungle with groundstrokes not counting for much. Anwer worked up a fait bit of pace and had several near misses, while Saad maintained a tight line mixed with his patented slower ones, but was let down by a couple of dropped catches. Saad finally tempted one of the openers to loft a full toss to Suraj at deep midoff. Soon after, he got the other opener to slash at a wide one and Ratesh dived full lenth to his right at point take a stunning one handed catch, to leave Holmdel at 26/2 after 10. The Chopra brothers, Ajay and Ratesh took over the attack and kept it tight until drinks. Holmdel were 48/2 after 17 at the break. By contrast, the next 18 overs yielded 121 runs. Jay kept things in check with a spell of 23/2 from 6 overs, inspite of a couple of sixes. Both wickets came from sharp catches, one a two- handed diving effort by Ajay at square leg, while the other was a chest high catch at point by Anwer. Unfortunately, a couple of dropped catches and some wayward bowling cost us dearly, with one of their batsmen, Hemendra, scoring 74 with extras being the second highest at 47. Anwer finally bowled Hemendra and ended with 23/1 from his 7 overs. Holmdel finished with 169/5 from their 35 overs.
Columbia started the chase with Suraj and Ajay, and faced some quality outswing bowling from Holmdel's opening bowler Sriram. Ajay fancied his chances against the other opening bowler, but was too early in his lofted drive and only managed to lob the ball back to the bowler. Suraj hung around for some time before top edging a hook to the keeper. Columbia 17 for 2. Vivek and Jay steadied the innings before Jay top edged a pull to square leg. Ratesh followed soon after for a duck, another top edge, this time to point from a square cut. 53/4 from 17 overs. Ahead of Holmdel at this point in runs, but fast running out of batsmen. Around this time, a Red Stripe six pack found its way to the ground which further reduced the number of remaining sober batsmen. After the break, Vivek and Anand (new guy filling in) took the score to 71 before Vivek fell driving uppishly to midwicket for a patient 17. Saad followed soon after, bowled for 1 - CUCC 72/6. This brought Anwer to the crease and he played a scintillating innings. Anand provided support and took the score to 98 before being bowled trying to swing one to midwicket and missing the line. This brought another last minute replacement, Othello, to the crease with a big, Red Stripe induced, smile on his face, only to be caught in the deep with the score on 104. Anwer simply switched the spanking new Slazenger V900 with the trusty CA and spanked the bowling to all corners. Shamik displayed a solid defense and provided gutsy support, raising hopes of a victory with 8/over required in the last 5 overs. Unfortunately, Shamik was run-out in a misunderstanding and Javier was bowled by one of the three balls that must've been coming at him, to leave Anwer stranded on a fighting 53 from 40 balls, with 2 sixes and 3 fours. Columbia folded up for 137 with almost 3 overs to spare and 32 runs short.
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CUCC played Eight Mile Creek (EMC) last Saturday in a charity match benefiting leprosy sufferers in India. The same charity that Steve Waugh is associated with. The day was perfect for cricket, add a BBQ and a good crowd of supporters and a great time was assured.
CUCC lost the toss and bowled. Michael R struck in the first over bowling EMC's opener for a duck. Not to be outdone, Saad, starting from the other end, bowled the other opener, also for a duck. At this point we were wondering if the hardened CUCC players would overwhelm EMC's team, many of whom hadn't wielded a bat in anger for a number of years. Our concerns were quickly shown to be unjustified. Trent, who had looked capable but a little out of sorts early on (we later found out that it was his birthday and he'd been out partying the night before until the early hours) was soundly beaten by pearler of a ball from Michael R. Next delivery, Trent stepped out of his crease and imperiously played a lofted on drive that cleared the mid wicket boundary. This, in the middle of an excellent spell from Michael R, was somewhat disconcerting. In the space of a couple of overs CUCC had gone from worrying about rolling EMC embarrassingly quickly to worrying about spending a long day chasing leather. The question was, after Saad bowled Jack, EMC's number four batsman, who was going to hold up the other end in support of Trent? The answer came first from Vinay who also proved to be a capable batsman. Prior to drinks Vinay and Trent were looking very comfortable, capably playing Ed, who was swinging the ball and keeping a tight line and length and Madhura, who was also bowling well down the hill. So after the break, Michael P decided to add some variation by bringing Jay on. It proved to be a lucky decision as Jay bowled Vinay for a well made 23. Chris then joined Trent and, although somewhat agricultural in style, proved to be quite effective. His 17 runs, and the solid 13 from Doogs (along with Vinay and Trent's contributions) had taken EMC from 3 for 23 to 6 for 137. The departure of Trent, well caught in the outfield by Nabil off Saad, for an excellent 66 brought Tim to the crease. Tim had an excellent technique........for baseball, but one that also proved effective against a field set for a cricket batsman. It took a couple of fours before Michael P realised that he should really set a baseball field in front of the wicket to combat Tim's lusty hitting. There was one final contribution from Frank, frustrating the hell out of Ed, before CUCC finally finished off EMC for a respectable 158. Of the bowlers, Saad was the best with four wickets. Michael R bowled very well until he was shelled by Trent in his final two overs, and Ed and Madhura also bowled well taking 2 and 3 wickets, respectively.
CUCC opened the batting with Ashok and Nabil, and promptly lost Ashok, bowled by Chris. Nabil, however, was batting with his usual aplomb and Suraj, although starting slowly against Chris's excellent bowling hung on, taking some blows to the arm from rising deliveries but not losing concentration. Fortunately (for CUCC), EMC didn't have an amory of bowlers like Chris and our batting with Nabil and Suraj took on a dominant edge. At this point, those in the outer who were meant to be paying attention to the cricket (so they could write a match report) became distracted, first by some of the supporters (not all of them male) playing a pick up game next to the BBQ, and secondly by the antics of Michael R. Michael R had been using Madhura's phone (his first mistake) for a considerable amount of time. He returned from his wanderings while on the phone with a big smile and an air of contentment. Upon being asked why he was in such a good mood he replied that he'd gotten "lucky" the night before (his second mistake). He then endured some rather pointed ribbing about his bowling performance and how he'd faded towards the end of his spell, how he usually bowled like crap and that maybe CUCC should invest in some "company" for him the night before match day in the future etc. etc. Then Michael R went over to the BBQ to get some food (his third mistake). Madhura immediately took his phone and dialed the last number called. Those gathered around Madhura waiting to hear what he would say to ms "lucky" (or unlucky, as the case may be) fell about laughing when Madhura was heard to inquire "I'm sorry, what company did you say you worked for, RICKY?" Michael R heard the peels of laughter and came back for a second round of even more intense ribbing ("I would offer you a seat Michael, but I know you'd probably prefer to stand"). Michael R claims that he'd never met Ricky, the gay guy from the cosmetics company, and that the office was filled with girls, one of whom he'd gotten to know, in a biblical sense, the night before and that if you just dialed the number again...........Michael R, we're a tolerant and inclusive bunch of guys, we understand that all people have different desires and we never judge anybody.........
Now, where was I? Ah, yes, the cricket. Suraj and Nabil had taken the score safely beyond a hundred and Michael P was contemplating retiring Nabil to give some others bat. Problem solved, Nabil was out bowled for and excellent 60 and Bob went out to bat offering some parting shots at Michael R. Suraj was then out for a well made 20 and Venu, briefly, joined Bob. Jay then went out to bat and he and Bob, who scored a quick 35, guided CUCC past the total.
All in all it was an excellent days cricket
and a good win for CUCC, taking the David Hookes trophy in the inaugural
match of what will be a continuing series between EMC and CUCC. There was
a presentation following the match and photos of the teams were taken (I'll
post them on the web when Ed sends them to me). There was a raffle, an
auction for a 6 pack of VB (Bob won the auction), the best players on each
team (Trent and Nabil) won a $50 voucher for dinner at the restaurant and
the day raised a little over four hundred bucks for charity. The trophy
is on display at Eight Mile Creek (the bar/restaurant, not the cricket
team) on Mulberry St, 2 blocks south of Houston St.
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Well the usual start of a saturday game... we were to start at 11:30 but didnt start till 12:45 since we forgot to get the cones from the storage. Siva, Suraj and madhura found some flower pots instead at the local hardware store and it was a fight till the end of the game to keep people away from talking them home. Neways CUCC won the toss and no hesitations in sending our opponents into field. Started with Prabhu (playing his first game of the season) and Triyal (first game for CUCC).
We started off well and our opposition helping out with lots of wides and things were going smoothly till we lost Triyal.. Ashok joined prabhu and started smacking the ball around but coulndt last long being given out LBW. Suraj then joined Prabhu who was going at a steady pace. Suraj soon started upping the tempo with a few exquisite shots, but was soon running out of steam becos of excessive heat/humidity. He wanted to retire and the captain refused to call him back, this actually got suraj going who started opening up even more and eventually fell for a well made 39 dragging one back onto his stumps. Siva joined prabhu breifly and started carting the bowlers around. Prabhu in the meantime moved to 32 before he was asked to retire, to allow others to have a go at batting. Venu joined Siva and both started accelerating as the final 10 overs started, Venu went for a quickfire 29 getting caught off a no ball while dileep at the leg umpire position didnt know that a full toss above waist height was a noball (wakey wakey). Neways Siva was timing the ball perfectly and raced to 32 before he too decided to reitre to let others have a go. CUCC ultimaltely crossed 200 with Anand too joining in on the fun. We lost a few quick wkts at the end trying to get as many runs as possible in the last 2 overs. Surprisingly CUCC ended with 255 runs!!! with not a single batsman reaching double figures. The highest scorer being extras 79 NOT OUT (This i think is an all time record for any columbia opposition i guess).
255 in 35 - 7+ runs/over - no sweat, so we thought, CUCC opened the bowling with Dileep and Ajay and were soon chasing leather with Amin (their no 1 bat) taking a special liking for our bowlers. By the end of the 6th over they were going at 8/over. Amin was playing one too many shots towards square leg prompting venu to move out of slips and get himself positioned there. Soon enough Amin cut dileep and Venu took a sharp chance moving to his left. Dileep followed this up with a great first up ball to the new bat to remove him for a duck and soon the procession started. Ajay too struck to get rid of their no 4 bat who started to look threatening (of course not to miss out the ball went straight up with Ajay shouting mine and Triyal not hearing the call went for it and had a big collision but hung onto the catch). Venu and Ratesh replaced Dileep and Ajay and soon both stuck with venu removing the no 2 bat and ratesh getting their next bat in to nick one to first slip. Ratesh bowled well and soon was running thru their middle order as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals and East Meadows had lost the plot. Ratesh ended up with 4 wkts for an excellent spell.
A couple of catches dropped (luckily didnt cost us much) Good batting effort by Suraj, Prabhu and Siva, good bowling by Dileep and Ratesh. Good Job Columbia, lets keep the momentum going.
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Saturday 17th July vs SUNY-IT Utica at VCP1
Given that our opposition was coming from about 5 hours away, we did well to start around 1:30. We lost the toss and were asked to bowl. Asad struck in the first over yorking an opener who displayed little in terms of footwork. Then some suspect umpiring saw Saad denied a couple of very close leg before~Rs and Asad denied a clean caught behind; probably what we should have expected from a young, college team.
Anwer replaced Asad, while Ajay struck in his first over, replacing Saad. Their third wicket pair was pretty sensible though and took them to 80 for 2 at drinks. After drinks we decided to give some slow bowling a try and immediately saw dividends with Masood picking up wickets in each of his first two overs, missing out on a third when Asad dropped a straightforward chance. From the other end, Ratesh had come on and this tandem bowled well together to restrict the scoring and took wickets when a partnership looked like developing. But as these two ended their spells and the eighth wicket pair came together, the bowling struggled a little, and the fielding fell to pieces, as we were testing with some hard hitting and cheeky running. Though we got them all out in the end, they probably scored 30-40 runs more than they should have.
With no opening batsmen in the side, Asad
decided to open with Ratesh. In the second over, after three successive
wide deliveries down the leg side, Asad was bowled a yorker that rearranged
his stumps. Anand joined Ratesh for a brief partnership, but the fun didn~Rt
really begin until Ashok came in and he and Ratesh, helped by an ample
helping of extras proceeded to score at least 10 runs an over between overs
number 5 and 10, so that we were at 105 at the end of 10 overs. Our opposition
had, at that point, bowled 33 extras already! Ashok continued whacking
the ball around, while Ratesh was content playing the support role. Ashok
was looking well-set for a quick-fire 50 when his concentration lapsed
and he touched one behind. Suraj and Ratesh continued to keep the score
ticking before Ratesh finally fell by dragging one on to his stumps. When
Anurag came in for a 3 ball duck SUNY fancied their chances. But Suraj
played a patient innings, with Ajay keeping him in good company. They both
played sensibly, waiting for the extras that they knew would come, deftly
placing easy singles and whacking the odd boundary. In the end they were
able to see us through very comfortably to a well-paced win.
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The day began badly for Suraj with all kinds of issues with the van, and then a wrong turn taking him into Jersey. We began at about 1:30 with UBS winning the toss and electing to bat. Asad opened bowling into the breeze and saw his third ball imperiously despatched to the mid wicket boundary. The next ball was fuller and spooned right to Jay at mid on, who pocketed it after a few juggles. Their next man in was reputed to have hit 5 centuries this season. Asad's first ball to him pitched on length and cut away, taking the edge and seeing Suraj pocket a nice falling catch in first slip. The quick wickets didn't deter the hitting from UBS as everyone seemed to go for it. Asad and Dileep both went for a few runs in the next couple of overs before Dileep took a well judged caught and bowled circling backwards and landing on his back. Asad finished his opening spell with a well judged catch from Madhura at mid off while Dileep got another one to the batsman playing across the line. 5 wickets fell in the opening spell and UBS were in trouble.
After a last minute cancellation we were able to recruit Vincent, our Sunday league umpire, who was hanging around, to play for us. He came on first change and was cutting the ball in sharply, so much so that he bowled a fair number of wides down the legside. When the lefty came on to face, you almost knew that he would get a nick to the same ball, which he did, and was dropped by Gokul. Madhura joined Vincent from the other end and after a few very close leg before's and a catch off of a no ball, saw a couple of quick wickets fall as well. By the time the 7th wicket was down, the UBS guys were already asking if we wanted to play a second match!
Vincent continued, taking a sharp return catch, while Ajay bowled a rough first over, but was then able to pick up the last wicket.
Chasing 83 didn't look like it would be tough on a pitch that was really ideal for batting. Anand opened with Aditya, who was gone second ball, playing back to one that stayed a touch low. Suraj joined his brother and after nearly being run out in their first over together, they settled innicely and patiently accumulated runs. Both saw a chance go down and then Anand finally played a lazy shot, as the heat/humidity got to him. But all that did was allow Sathya a chance to knock a few balls around.
On a hot day, the short game was probably
a relief. In the end, quite a surgical performance from Columbia, with
the bowling and fielding holding up against an aggressive batting lineup.
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Saturday 7th Aug
vs Cheshire at Cheshire Conn.
Guys, sorry - no time for a full report
- dashing off to Chicago.
Nabil and Jay scored the runs for us to win on a tough pitch, against some comedy Cheshire bowling. "The staring assasin" Ranga had no run-up, stood next to the stumps, bending over & looking at the batsman, then just turned his arm over. Jay complained that he was being stared at. And this is not the guy who's action Dileep laughed at.
Everybody bowled reasonably well, and Masood exceptionally well. Some dodgy umpiring made it close, Ed lost his cool (soory guys), but in the end we won, deservedly, by 13 runs, with one over to spare. Arjun (Rana jr) deserves special mention for batting and fielding well.
Ed
I'm not dashing off to Chicago, so I'll help Ed fill in some of those blanks....
Very entertaining day in a beautiful rural Connecticut town. Strange pitch that popped and dropped. Ed's temper flared enough so that the home team's umpire furiously threw Ed's cap in the dust and demanded an apology from him! It also got him yelled at by Suraj and Dileep....
The umpiring was so suspect that three clear caught behind decisions were not given and that clearly accounted for the match being as close as it was, along with a little help from dropped catches at strategic times. Lets just say that their man who made 70 had only 3 lives left....
Asad
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With the remnants of hurricanes Bonnie and Charley bringing rain on Friday and then on Saturday night, we were lucky to get an uninterrupted 30 over game on Saturday. The outfield was moist and the pitch was slow, making run scoring difficult, and it was bloody humid. Mercifully it wasn't 95 degrees.
Michael lost the toss (again) and Hyderabad Blues chose to bat. Madhura and Anwer opened the bowling, each of them immediately hitting the perfect line and length. The progressive over totals weren't in the scorebook, but at around 6 overs or so, HBCC's scorers yelled out that they were only 8 and needed to pick it up. On cue, their opener lifted his head and completely missed a straight one from Anwer, a well-deserved scalp for a tight spell. Arjun (Jay's nephew, this time filling in for the opposition but undoubtedly a future CUCC star), was looking good facing Anwer, but he, too, lifted his head and Anwer was rewarded again. Rashid took the baton from Madhura (it is Olympic time, after all) and continued to keep a stranglehold on HBCC's scoring. Anwer bowled six overs straight and, excluding his fifth over (which also took him out of contention for the best figures of the day), was the best of an in-form attack. Ajay took over from Anwer, bowled 2 wides and then encouraged their hacker at number 4 to sky a catch to Madhura (it should have read Caught Jay bowled Anwer in the book, but that's a story I'll leave to Jay). Nabil replaced Rashid and also bowled a tight spell. It would have been tighter had he not insisted on mixing up his increasingly effective offies with leggies. Nabil took two wickets, one of which was Ashok's one handed, "Swan Lake," grab (See Suraj's comments below). Nabil ended up bowling 6.1 overs (6 overs max per bowler) because the two players on the field who claim to call themselves Doctor, Nabil and Michael, couldn't count to six. The opposition captain came running onto the field to enforce the 6 over max rule. This turned out to be mistake as Rashid, who completed Nabil's 7th over, immediately took a wicket. It was then a race between Madhura, who had bowled two batsmen in his previous two overs, and Rashid to see who would get the last wicket. Rashid got there first and CUCC kept HBCC to only 102 off 29 overs.
Priyal and Gokul opened the batting with
Priyal departing early due to a great diving catch at backward point. Gokul
was then given out caught behind. There was some dispute about the validity
of the Ajay's call (although an umpire can only call it as he sees it)
and when Ajay followed it up by calling over after 4 balls Gokul decided
to replace Ajay in the umpiring position. With Ashok and Suraj at the wicket
and only 6 runs on the board, CUCC's batsmen needed to keep a cool head
in pursuit of HBCC's modest total. Suraj did this, Ashok was not quite
so temperate. Never the less, Ashok did manage to get the scoreboard moving
and, along with bunches of wides, took the score to 25 before holing out.
Michael then joined Suraj and another 20 runs were added before Suraj was
out to another excellent catch at gully. Jay briefly looked to take the
attack by the scruff of the neck until he missed a straight one. Nabil
(demoted for failing to count to 6) then joined Michael and the pair immediately
decided that they had two goals: not to let Madhura have a bat and to get
a N.O. next to their names in the scorebook. Given Michael's average for
the season thus far the second goal was understandable. Although there
was some tight bowling from HBCC in patches, their desire to take wickets
meant they rotated the bowlers around leaving them vulnerable to heavy
run scoring in the opening overs of a spell. A 13 run over and later a
couple of 9 run overs essentially destroyed HBCC's chances of winning the
match. Then it was just a matter of ignoring Madhura's jeering from the
sideline and fulfilling the first of those two goals. In the end it was
a strong win for CUCC who showed some good form, especially with the ball.
From Suraj:
Hi All,
The Saturday games keep getting more entertaining.
Here are a couple of interesting moments from the latest one...
1) Ashok's rendition of 'Swan Lake', with a gravity defying, one-legged tip toe stretching catch, that would have done a ballerina (with 200 lbs less to worry about) proud.
2) Suraj's rendition of 'Nutcracker in the Bronx', showing the ultimate commitment in the field by using his balls as the last line of defense to stop a run or two. (Just hope it's not the expense of an heir or two).
From Ashok:
Slight flaw to the skipper's report card
regarding Suraj's "cool head". What the skipper fails to know is the conversation
that Suraj and Ashok (while batting) had between the change of overs. Suraj
being desperate, wanting to go for a suicide, "no doubt possible run-out"
attempt of a run, approached Ashok and said..."I wanted to get off the
duck mark". To make things worse, Suraj was getting irritated by the heavy
outfield but the true reason to his "bad day" with the bat was......
his mother-in-law is in town and along with the wife were at the mall shopping...raking up his credit card bill...
So as you can see, Suraj's "cool head" was clouded by his duties of a son-in-law.. No worries Suraj, we know we can always count on your balls of steel at slips any time...
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As always seems to be the case when we take on the Gypsies, it was hot and humid on Saturday afternoon. And again, as always seems to be the case, the Gypsies were late enough for us to start about 90 minutes after scheduled. In any case, that allowed us the time to offer every possible explanation for why the matting seemed to have shrunk, given last week's soaking and subsequent drying.
We won the toss and elected to bat. We decided to throw caution to the wind, sending Madhura and Masood out to open. The Gypsies opening bowling certainly didn't look to present much of an issue, so we thought. Over number 2 saw Madhura flash at every ball and miss, with a nice helping of wides along-side. Over number 3 saw Masood lose his leg stump to a full toss. Anush joined Madhura and the two of them settled in nicely from that point on, scoring at just above 5, until our old friend Anurag (playing for the Gypsies) was introduced into the attack for over number 10 and proceeded to concede 17 runs in a 13 ball over, taking us to 70 for 1 in 10. Given the heat, the first drinks break was taken and Madhura, batting on 42 was told that the century was there for the taking, at which he frowned, telling me that the last time I said that to him he was out 2 runs later. This time he was able to add 5 more, falling short of a well-deserved half century. Anush was joined by Suraj, though it seems that Anush missed Madhura and was soon back in under the trees with the rest of us. Sandeep came out and played a few nice shots, but was lazy taking a single, didn't ground his bat and was back prematurely. Ashok was out to a decision that didn't please him. Ajit, playing in his first match for Columbia played some nice shots, but then didn't commit to one and was gone. Ajay joined Suraj and finally built a partnership that took us well past 150, both playing patiently, but punishing the loose stuff. To his dismay, Ajay was bowled by Anurag. Suraj was gone just before the end, but Dileep showed his class, playing along the ground and show-casing some batting skills and taking us past the 200 mark, which was going to be a tough chase on a hot day.
Asad and Madhura started with the new ball. Nicely enough, the sky clouded over and a slight breeze came in so that conditions were much better for bowling/fielding. Madhura struck in his second over, with a catch lobbing up and Asad taking a tumbling catch. Asad struck in the next over, getting their number three to edge to a nice falling catch from Anush in a third slip position. From then on, Asad and Madhura bowled to a field of three slips, a gully and point, with nice seam movement. Unfortunately, another wicket didn't fall for a while, though the rain came, around the tenth over. We played through it, but bowling got a little challenging. Masood came on and had a hard time gripping the ball, but bowled well within himself. From the other end Dileep bowled a mix of stuff, some very nice and then other loose stuff. Masood finally struck, getting their opener to play back to a turning ball that clipped off stump. From there it was pretty much downhill for the Gypsies who were perhaps intimidated by the red on the Columbia hands from the wet ball....
Madhura came back for a couple more and Ajay got his revenge, bowling Anurag and was on a hat trick. He didn't get it, but cleaned them up nicely, taking three wickets and partnering with Ratesh to execute the final run out. Along the way, we noticed that the pitch went from looking short at the beginning of the match, to becoming loose, possibly as it dried out more, and then being almost perfectly placed as the rain came down again.
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Gents,
We lost a close game on Saturday (actually heartbreaking loss). Chasing 222 to win in 35 overs CUCC at one point needed 10 runs from 3 overs with 3 wkts in hand and eventually lost by 3 runs!!!! (with 1.5 overs left). Intelligent batting by Ajay and some great hitting by Jay saw CUCC close to the opposition total. Unfortunately both could not get to well deserved 50's fallin 1 run and 2 runs short respectively. Their wickets proved crucial as Stanford CC came back to beat us. While the rest of the team did not perform as well to see us loose by 3 runs. Ratesh who looked like he could take us home comfortably was left stranded on the non strikers end.
Earlier some bad bowling by
CUCC had seen the opposition rack up runs before Ashok bowled an excellent
line and length to peg them back with a couple of wickets and a tight spell.
Their number one bat might be the luckiest guy we ever came across - about
15 edges falling in no mans land and a few edges periliously close to his
sticks, yet he went on. He was the top scorer and made all the diff at
the end. Some sloppy fielding and dropped catches by CUCC didnt help our
cause either.
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It was hysterical when we saw the score
card during the drinks break for the names they had for our bowlers. Excellent
all round effort while ratesh was unstoppable with ball Ed blasted their
bowlers all around the park. LEts not get into the catching of Ed though.
Ashok supported Ed well to get CUCC a victory. 2 Outstanding catches taken
by Yes Ed and Ratesh which could have cost us a lot. A good all round effort
by CUC with bat as we batted well enough all through to get us a win. A
good team and always nice to beat a tough team.
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