GAME 3 – A game of two halves

Number 3 vs Rookies,
1 Nov, 2005, Pachaiyappas College ‘A’.
Rookies won by 62 runs.

What a day. We went through a complete range of emotions during this one, a game played on Diwali day. The league organisers had called up the captain the previous day asking if we were up to a match and he sceptically said he would check if we could muster an eleven. Arriving at Studio, it took him all off three minutes to receive enthusiastic confirmations from the entire team!! We were playing a match on Diwali, and it was the skipper’s ‘Thalai Deepavali’ to boot. One only wonders what the in laws had to say.

The roller coaster ride began as we walked in to Pachaiyappas college, to see our opponents from the previous game playing the morning match. Greeting them, we watched them fall short of the target as our opponents began to assemble. Rookies, did they say? Rookies, my ass! The group assembling was a bunch of young, fit and apparently well experienced players. They won the toss, chose to bat, and proceeded to confirm our worst fears. Vik’s first over was tight but comfortably negotiated. The fourth ball of Vishesh’s first was slamed over fine leg for six, and a hard slap down the wicket in his next over made contact with his little finger, and broke it. An inauspicious beginning, followed up by what was our worst fielding performance since the inception of Number 3. By some distance.

Dropped catches, misjudgements, misfields… they all served to fuel the confidence in the batsmen’s strokes. The captain’s temper was rising, our shoulders were drooping and by the tenth over they were swinging at everything and we were ambling along like zombies on the perimeter, walking to pick up balls that didn’t reach the boundary and rolling throws in. In hindsight, this was probably where we let ourselves down the most. We let go of the best thing we have going for us, our morale. As a result, even when balls did go up in the air, no one believed that they would be taken. And with the exception of one by the captain, none of them were. Anand and Sriram kept things as tight as they could by taking the pace off the ball, Visesh came back and bowled a decent second spell in spite of his broken finger, but by the time we had finished bowling the 29 overs we managed, they had rattled up a massive 219 for 3. The mood at the innings break was easily the lowest we’ve felt as #3.

Then, it happened. The performance that turned the mood right around. Anand’s eight over spell had tired him out a little too much to open, and Venkat (back in for the unavailable Narendra) opened the innings with Jubbs. They walked out to face an overconfident side, not short of a few words. Mistake. Sufficiently wound up, Venkat let loose. A snorter accounted for iiii, caught at slip, but Kishore stayed in for a bit. And Venkat decided that he didn’t quite like their aggressive, three slips and a gully field and decided to spread it around by scoring boundaries all round the wicket. One hook shot in particular stood out, and was applauded long and hard. Kishore holed out but that only meant a well rested Anand went in. This partnership began to seriously worry our opposition as Venkat continued on his merry way and Anand settled in to a lovely rhythm, timing and placing the ball to perfection. At the end of the 12^th over, believe it or not, we were up with the asking rate of 7 an over. Venkat’s wicket for an excellent 37 set off celebrations in the opposing ranks, but poor devils, Narahoo was next. A quick bowler was brought on specifically to get his wicket. Two thumping straight fours took care of that, his spell lasting only one over. And amazingly, the scoring rate continued. The hundred was up, and in good time too. We were right back in it, and in fine voice again.

But the fall of Sriram put paid to any dreams of the miracle victory. I managed to heave a couple which pushed our total beyond 150 for the first time, but wickets tumbled in the slog. Anand was left stranded, last man out for a superb 42 to a sharp catch by one of their fielders who had been Rhodes-like throughout, and we finished at 157 all out. We had lost the match, but the handshakes and their reactions showed that we had earned their respect. From a team who had been picking and choosing which singles to run and fighting among themselves to get at our bowling, they knew they had been in a scrap.

The Diwali bash at Kishore’s house turned out to be a celebration, after all. (And how!!)

#3 was supported at the ground by the Crutch, Self, Bawb, Arup, Victor P and Anand. Thanks for being there guys, every cheer helped bring the spirit back.

In Game 3, #3 was: Jubbs, Venkat, Anand, Kishore, Sriram (c), Tony, Druck(wk), Huiyyaps, Visesh, Joy & Vik.