Season 2, Game 4 – Gotta love it.

Number 3 vs Philips CC.
Loyola ‘A’, 17 June 2006.

#3 143 for 7 (Kataan 28, Sriram 24, Bulavar 23) beat Philips CC 67 all out (Vik 5 wk, Sriram 4 wk) by 76 runs.

Remember Game 1 of the second season? Well, if you do, I might as well save myself the trouble of writing this report. Following what was an almost identical script, #3 brushed off the rustiness and turned in a tight, relentless performance that led to our second win in four games this season. At the midpoint, (this season consisting of only eight games) and a 50% record. Way to go.

Number 16 proved the unlucky one for Kishore, as he missed his first game since the inception of No.3, making way for the return of Narendra. At least we had some continuity in terms of the overall appearance of the team ;-)

At he ground, it all started with the rarest of rare occurrences, winning the toss and batting first. Continuing the desperate experiments, Bulavar went out for the toss, proving the lucky charm this time. He’ll have to do it several more times before we’re convinced, though, such are the scars. Having won the toss, he padded up to open with Anand and again, one of the opening bowlers marked out a really long run up. Perhaps another quick of the level we’d faced in the last game? Within three balls, he had demonstrated that the most serious implication of his long run up was how tired he was going to get, serving up four wides in his first over, and being easily picked off for runs whenever he did manage to get it on target. The other bowler wasn’t much better, and the batsmen back in the hut were licking their lips and queuing up to have a go. Anand sadly was so excited by what was on offer that he played across the line too early and was bowled, but Sriram wasn’t about to let this one go by. He continued his superb form from the last match and was soon stroking it silkily all over the park, adding some powerful blows to the mix every now and then. He raced along to the mid twenties, before succumbing to a poor stroke, edging one behind. We now had a platform on which Ramesh and Bulavar could build and build they did, Ramesh with increasing rhythm and Bulavar grinding it out.

By drinks, it was obvious that we weren’t going to receive the full 30 overs and so the instruction was that with wickets in hand, we needed to push it along. Bulavar went first, for a rather scratchy but valuable 23 and Venkat and Ramesh also fell trying to push the scoring along. Narendra Joy and I ensured that the momentum was not lost wirth some hard running (we even stole a bye to the keeper off the last ball, what fun) and we finished at 143 for 7 off 27 overs.

It was in the field, though, that the party truly began. Vik bowled the first over as usual, and induced an edge that Bulavar unfortunately put down. And Sriram bowled himself at the other end, opening with off spin a la Dipak Patel all those years ago. Again, a missed stumping by Bulavar, and we were a little tense as a couple of boundaries flew off the openers’ bats. But that was about all the opposition were going to get their way. Vik bowled unchanged for eight overs and Sriram for seven. And it was good stuff too. Vik bent the ball both ways and dropped it on a dime pretty much at will on his way to a five wicket haul, including two wickets off successive balls, leading to two slips, a gully and a point for the hat trick ball. By the end, he was bowling with only one fielder in front of the wicket, a mid off, like the famous West Indians of yore. Stirring stuff.

Sriram proved to have the Midas touch today, as bowler and captain. He matched Vik over for over and wicket for wicket. Bowling with a nice loop and sharp turn even with the new ball, he tied the batsmen in knots. Bulavar made amends with one sharp catch and a stumping, a field change produced a catch at the very spot two balls later and I even held my first catch at slip, confirming that nothing could possibly go wrong today. At the end of the 15 over opening spell, we had them 49 for 9. Perhaps the best indication of our total dominance was the fact that the second half of our new ball attack, Joy, bowled his first delivery in over no.19. And that first delivery was all he needed, searing one in at yorker length to pick up an lbw and wrap the match up at 67 all out. Gotta love these corporate teams. And with a beach house party planned for the Sunday, life just couldn’t be better.

P.S.- Continuing with this new sporting Avatar of bikang, the beach house party was highly football dominated.. Pl check out the pics on the bikang blog. Who are these guys?

#3 was supported at the ground by the sudden appearance of Bawb, providing company, commentary and assistance in scoring.

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