Season 2, Game 3 – A Jolly but Disappointing Encounter

Number 3 vs Agasha Group.
Loyola ‘B’, 11 June 2006.

Agasha Group 219 for 7 (Hui 3 wk, Joy 2 wk) beat #3 158 for 8 (Joy 36*, Jubbs 32*, Sriram 25) by 61 runs.

Yet another build up marked by selection problems, but this time at the opposite (and worse) end of the scale. From problems of plenty to acute player shortage in the matter of two weeks, with reasons of work, travel and illness rendering Kataan, Narendra, Tony, Lex, Beer and even Arjun unavailable. So this game saw the addition of yet another player to the #3 fold, Sriram’s pal Mohan, a chap who has quite some cricketing experience behind him. Even so, only ten players assembled at Loyola by the appointed time, with Hui assuring us he’d make it as soon as he could.

Our best strategy obviously would be to win the toss and bat first, giving Hui two further hours to get there. Since we don’t win tosses as a matter of policy, however, that was out of the question, and we started the game taking the field with a man short. And continued from the last game in displaying rustiness in the field. Several wides in the first few overs from Vik and Mohan saw the score rattle along, and the openers were also demonstrating that they rather knew what they were doing. A steady flow of boundaries soon spread the field, and the fielding standards dropped. Even the normally reliable Jubbs put one down in the deep, and Vik rearranging one of the openers’ stumps was a welcome relief. The wides had stopped, but by this time, the ground fielding had touched some abysmal lows, enabling the one drop to just tip and run, feeding the strike to the remaining opener who smoothly progressed to a fifty. We went into to drinks having taken only the one wicket, and Sriram let us have it about the fielding. Almost everyone had messed up simple stops, with many of the balls going for boundaries. We had easily conceded over 30 runs more than we should have, and in 15 overs, that’s a lot of runs. Joy was bowling a tidy spell from one end, and he continued after the drinks break, and ended up bowling his 8 overs on the trot. Mohan took one sharp diving catch off Joy’s bowling after drinks, but runs flowed from the other end, Kishore having been expensive, and Sriram too unable to check the run flow though he did manage to dismiss the opener. Hui had arrived by now, and he was given another decently long spell after the last game. The opposing batsmen seemed determined to give Jubbs some catching practice, consistently picking him out with aerial heaves. He obliged by catching three and Hui turned in his best match haul for #3. But the runs flowed and we were left staring at 219 for 7 in 30 overs. The opposing team proved to be a jolly bunch though, not averse to having a word and a laugh and in particular keeping a steady stream of snide comments going at one of their own batsmen, every time he played a ball.

Anand and Bulavar opened, but our usually reliable opening pair didn’t fire this time, and Venkat was in early. He was displaying some nice form on the speedy Loyola outfield, and when Sriram joined him at the fall of Bulavar’s wicket, we were treated to some quality batting. The opposition’s response was to bring on a new bowler, a chap named Madan, who marked out a run up that was significantly longer than his predecessor’s. Sriram, who was on strike, watched as the keeper took several steps backward, and face up to some genuinely quick, accurate and hostile bowling. He lapped it up, and produced some rasping strokes square of the wicket on the off side, threading the needle even when they placed three men in a ring square on the off. Shades of Ganguly, all economy of movement and pure timing. The bowler responded with typical fast bowler’s aggression and we were being treated to quite a contest. In his third over, Madan produced the best delivery that’s been bowled at #3 in it’s short history and unfortunately it was to Sriram, and cut short an innings of immense potential. It reared up off a perfect length at tremendous pace and flicked the glove on it’s way to the keeper. Too good. We later learned that this young turk bowls for a first division team, and could certainly believe it.

Venkat’s rather promising innings ended in an lbw decision, and Madan then tore one past Kishore’s defences and the game seemed up. I survived a couple of his further overs, even taking a four off him and then wasted all that by getting out to a really dibbly dobbly spinner whose delivery took so long to reach me that I went through about four options in my mind before settling on a ridiculous swipe across the line. A terrible dismissal. But it did bring Jubbs and Joy together for a superb partnership. They started by smashing the spinners who were on at the time, and then handled everything the opposition threw at them, even a second spell from the fiery Madan. Jubbs even shimmied down the track and made to pull, but sadly didn’t connect well. They rained boundaries and even sixes, and though the target was well out of reach, remained unbeaten having taken the score to a very respectable 158 for 8 off 30 overs. Or maybe 32 or 33. By our count, more than a couple of extra overs were bowled, but no one was complaining. We were having a lot of fun watching and yelling at Jubbs to ground his bat.

The post match handshakes were full of joking and banter and bonding between the teams and we were all in a good mood. But somewhere, the nagging feeling that we were under performing, and mounting irritation at the lack of practice is certainly building up. We need a win, having gotten a taste of it a couple of times.

#3 was supported at the ground by Lodd, who left early, and the Wretch, who came late and really didn’t enjoy the sound of pigs being slaughtered. I tell you, the hazards fans have to face these days…Lex was there too, and drew inspiration from Madan to bowl faster in his next game.

In season2, Game 3, #3 was: Anand, Bulavar (wk), Narahoo (c), Kishore, Joy, Hui, Druck, Jubbs, Venkat, Vik and Mohan.