Game 10 – Season Finale.

Number 3 vs Fatima Jewellers.
Sindhi College, 23 Apr 2006.

I’m trying out a new format, where the result and brief scores will appear at the end. Let me know if it works, esp people in other places.

The fantastic journey that was our first season was to finally draw to a close, and we had to really earn it. Narahoo told us that we’d be playing at Sindhi College, ‘somewhere near Koyambedu’. Turns out it’s in Maduravoyal (how many of you guys know where that is?), a long, long drive away. Three starters from last game, Narendra, Joy and Anand weren’t available, but the places were duly filled by Bulavar, Arjun and, making his second appearance, Indrabeer. The stage was set.

Continuing our desperate player rotation in the hope of winning at least one toss, iii went out this time. No surprises there, though, and we were to field first on easily the hottest match day of the season. Oh well, what the hell. Vik was slightly unsure of his fitness levels, so the skipper decided not to risk it, and handed the new ball to Kishore. He struck with his fourth ball, a snorter that reared up off a length, collected a glove and was pouched by Bulavar behind the stumps on the second attempt. A good start. When Arjun, in the next over, got a wicket off his second ball (a leg stump full toss hit straight down the skipper’s throat at square leg) and we followed this up with a run out off the very next, a buzz of optimism began to spread through the team. Arjun bowled a neat four over spell, keeping it tight and picking up wickets at regular intervals, one of them a ‘sitter’ taken by iii. By which I mean when the ball headed in his direction, he sat down and awaited the ball, which reached him some time later. I’ll leave it up to the team to describe how funny this really was, I’m cracking up just typing this. Sriram and Ramesh came on in tandem, and a despite a stubborn 25 run ninth wicket partnership, our bowling was clearly too much for them to handle, and they folded for 82 all out in the 16^th over. A highly competent performance, symbolized by Kabir’s excellently judged catch at long on off Sriram. No errors to speak of, really but for a few wides and byes.

Kataan and Bulavar (in spite of 15 overs of keeping with a busted knee) walked out to open with instructions to finish the thing off and return. And while they set about attempting to do just that, the party was beginning at the team hut. Vik insisted that we’d already won, but was regularly reminded that it’s not over till the last ball has been bowled. And Kabir, encouraged by a delighted Sriram, was initiating a non stop flow of some of the poorest PJs ever heard. I’m not even going to try and list them, maybe the team can do this for us. In the middle the opening pair went on their merry way, and constructed a solid 49 run partnership before Ramesh was out to an ugly heave across the line. Venkat joined Bulavar and seemed in some kind of hurry. Strokes all around the wicket saw him rapidly overtake Bulavar before he was bowled with just six to get. Sriram walked in, played a sublime flick to the mid wicket fence off his first ball, smashed one ball right at a poor innocent little goat, and finished the game off with another boundary.

Our second win, and a thoroughly dominant performance, albeit against considerably weak opposition. What the hell, we were there not too long ago. All in all, a great way to finish the season, and a day which left Kabir wondering what all this talk of losing was all about. Seems to him all he needs to do is turn up and pad up as the winning runs are hit.

It's been a blast, folks. Pl chip in with end of season thoughts, one and all.

Fatima Jewellers 82 all out (Ramesh 3 wk, Arjun 3 wk) lost to Number 3 86 for 2 (Venkat 21, Ramesh 18, Bulavar 18 n.o.) by 8 wkts.

#3 was supported at the ground by a Sari clad Lodd, several goats and one thirsty dog.

In game 10, #3 was: Ramesh, Bulavar (wk), Druck, Narahoo (c), Jubbs, Kishore, Venkat, Hui, Vik and Kabir.

Hmmm...

Taking a step following the strategery post in expanding the scope of this blog to the more theoretical and abstract issues in cricket, take a look at this extremely interesting article on cricinfo..

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/wisdencricketer/content/story/244941.html

comments, anyone?

while on the subject of comments, what's with the silence following match reports? Come oun, guys, opinions and inputs are what make this blog worthwhile......

Game 9 – Déjà Vu

Number 3 vs Rookies (again).
Pachaiyappas ‘B’, 15 Apr 2006.
Rookies won by 79 runs.

The second game in a row against repeat opposition. But the build up was as incident packed as one could wish. Firstly, a no holds barred team meeting was called on Top T to discuss far reaching issues such as nets discipline, the future direction of the team and various other things. And as Sriram called Blue Sky Lakshmi to confirm the match, he was told that we’d be playing Rookies. Again. At Pachaiyappas B. Again. So that called for only one name, the man who got us going against Rookies last time around – Venkat. Only problem, he had moved to Poona, remember? Sriram still had his Chennai mobile number, and called it on a lark. Guess what? He picked up the phone, he’d been in Chennai for a month, and was itching to get back to action. He was in, and then, to complete the XI, Vik decided to defy his back injury and wield the new ball. All set to go.

Pachaiyappas B, and in a desperate attempt to win a toss, I walked out with the opposing player. No luck whatsoever, we were fielding first, so what else is new. Bulavar wasn’t available for today’s game, so I wore the big gloves. Vik and Joy shared the new ball, but were up against truly formidable opposition. We felt from the last game that Rookies were the best opposition we’d faced in the league, and they proceeded to confirm this beyond any doubt. Since just about half their team had shown up and they didn’t have their kit, they borrowed two pairs of pads and a bat from us and dismantled our new ball attack in spectacular fashion. Compounded by the fact that Kataan was stuck at work meaning that he was late and we had to take the field with 10 players, the new ball session was trouble from the word go. Vik, Joy and Anand were summarily dismissed by drives, cuts and pulls to the tune of over 10 runs an over. Narendra shrugged off two sixes of his first two deliveries to pick up one of the openers in his first over, and bowl a decent spell. But still, by the drinks break, they had scored nearly 150, at close to 12 an over. In keeping with the Déjà vu theme, as in the last game, the introduction of the spinners slowed things down somewhat – Kataan had arrived by now and bowled the best spell that #3 could muster, getting two and keeping the score down to some extent. Sriram picked up his mandatory couple of wickets, but they still went on their merry way, with one batsman registering the highest score against us of the season, a staggering 97. They finished on a spectacular 241 for 7 off the 25 overs we bowled in the time allotted.

In spite of the huge score conceded, the consensus was that it was an extremely improved performance in the field. Hard running and decent pick ups, keeping fours to twos and twos to ones, and one excellent high hard swirling catch by iii amply demonstrated that all the practice we’ve been putting in is having some effect. Special mention for Kishore whose outfielding has improved out of sight.

All right, the batting. Ramesh and Anand opened, and there was that déjà vu again. Anand got out in the third over with the score at 30 and Venkat joined Ramesh. Would you believe it, we were up with the asking rate after 7 overs, scoring close to 70 runs. Venkat even played his famous “hook shot against rookies” that is now part of #3 folklore on his way to a scintillating 30, and when he fell Sriram joined Ramesh. They took the score to over 90, but by now the match clinching spell was in progress. Two medium pace bowlers, bowling to carefully set fields (one of them bowling accurately with just two on the leg side) pegged the scoring back and when Ramesh fell for our top score of 39, capping a fine all round performance, we were well and truly behind the eight ball.

We weren’t done yet, though. Maybe a fallout of the team meeting, maybe not, but the middle order (the real rookies – we’ve got to get those guys to change their team name) came good today. Jubbs stuck around for a well played 18, and Narendra walked the talk, slogging his way to 25 hard hit and hard run runs. Kishore and I played a couple of overs to clout a few, pushing our score to a new high – an extremely respectable 162 for 7 off 25 overs. Not only was this our highest score to date, it was also the only occasion we’ve not been all out apart from the win.

All told, a very competent performance, one feels. To quote Greg C, in terms of “execution of skills” and “sticking to the process” probably our best performance, one that would have brought us a win against most of the teams in this league. Turning it on at the right time is the challenge now. The learning for me is that the practice is paying off. Keep at it, everyone

#3 was supported at the ground, as is now customary by the lovely Lodd, providing refreshment and support for the team and eye candy for the opposing team and the Pachaiyappas faithful.

In game 9, #3 was: Ramesh, Anand, Druck (wk), Narahoo (c), Jubbs, Kishore, Venkat, Narendra, Vik and Joy.

Strategery from Overseas

guys,

request one and all to check out inis's comment on game 8, and thought i'd start a separate thread to discuss it.. very very interesting, and opinions from all #3-ers would be highly welcome....

inis, firstly congratulations on your team rockinG it in your league... a true wagh for that. Hope to say the same for #3 next season. Also, super that you took the effort to document your team strategery for us.

one clap for the land of batting world records.. (hey come to think of it, it sounds lightly like the SA national team also copied your team's plan in THAT game....)

Game 8 – Turf Match

Number 3 vs Crown Tapes CC (again).
Pachaiyappas ‘A’, 26 Mar 2006.
Crown Tapes won by 62 runs.

More than five weeks since Game 7. These long, long breaks are doing us no good at all. They’re frustrating and, I think, extending the learning curve quite a bit. When the organizers finally called to confirm the game, two points of note emerged. Firstly that we were playing a team we had already played (we’re pretty certain the organizer manojed, even though he claims they have two entries or some such crap) and secondly, we were going to play our first ever match on a proper turf wicket – just like the big boys do. To give you some idea of how key this is, even our illustrious captain had played all of six or seven matches on turf wickets prior to this in his entire career.

Glad to be playing again, we were welcomed by the sight of a nice, green, well manicured outfield. We resumed acquaintance with the Crown Tapes boys (remember Jose, he of the no off side?) and the skipper went out to toss amidst much camaraderie. Need I say it? We lost the toss and were asked to field.

Rajesh and Joy formed our latest new ball pairing, and immediately served notice to the openers, the opposing captain and the agricultural Jose that this was a very different #3 attack indeed. Tight lines, sharp swing and a fair pace meant that their wild swinging yielded little or no result, and soon after I put one down at slip (the first instance of a forgettable day for me at that position) Rajesh decided he didn’t want my help and knocked one opener’s stumps out of the ground and picked up the one drop batsman lbw. Joy at the other end trapped the captain in front, a slightly contentious decision, but the wicket was ours anyway. Narendra and Kishore kept up the attack and Narendra scalped the opposition’s best batsman just as he was beginning to look dangerous. I could have spared Kishore a frustrating three over spell at a guy who played only the cut shot, and missed, to every ball, but I put down another sitter. Nevertheless, they shared three wickets between them and we had the opposition 80 for 6 at the break.

The no.7 batsman however, played the innings that probably made the difference in the end. He smashed 39 hard hit runs, including 22 of Hui’s only over, before a couple of the ‘magic balls’ that only Kataan can bowl started the wickets falling again, and they ended up at 157 for 9 off the 25 overs that were allotted. Gettable, but at least 35 runs more that they should have got, we felt. But overall, a tight fielding and bowling performance, and a tidy game behind the stumps for Bulavar.

Our regular opening pair of Kataan and Bulavar was reunited, and for the first few overs, they showed us wthe way with a solid 40 run opening partnership. Kataan was looking particularly good, but an ankle injury that Bulavar had sustained slowed him and, ultimately, the partnership down. He was bowled in a bid to accelerate the scoring and we needed more than seven an over. In the end, this proved too much, and in hindsight I wonder if the truncated game caught up with us a little quicker than we realized. For the record, Jubbs went in one drop and never really found his timing, I got run out (again), and Sriram was bowled shortly thereafter, having struck a couple of crisp boundaries. Ramesh had gone by this time too, for a well compiled 34, and when Kishore also failed to get the measure of the wicket, the game was pretty much up. Some late order resistance from Arjun and Hui for the last wicket, including a couple of sweetly struck boundaries ended with another run out, and our innings ended at 94 all out. Disappointing, in spite of the praise we received from the Crown Tapes guys. They left saying that we had improved out of sight from the last game, and were eagerly awaiting our entry for the next season. Hope they weren't just being polite, we'd love to prove them right when we next meet.

Learnings? Our bowling and fielding disciplines are looking pretty much up to Blue Sky standard, I would think. Batting remains another matter altogether. The experienced guys need to fire together, and the newbies need to put their hands up and move on to bigger things. Hopefully, more regular match play should help in that direction. Keep the faith, people.

#3 was supported at the ground by Lodd and the Wretch, who surpassed themselves by providing water, glucose, biscuits and watermelon for the hungry. May you live long and prosper. Also in attendance were injured #3 paceman Vik (the result of a heroic trek across cricket grounds from Teachers B northwards) and local Sreesanth lookalike Din Din, who shot no video footage whatsoever.

In game 8, #3 was: Ramesh, Bulavar (wk), Narahoo (c), Druck, Jubbs, Kishore, Arjun, Narendra, Hui, Rajesh and Joy.