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.