Season 6, Game 1: Even Stevens

#3 132/8 (Tony 28) vs Enigmas 132 all out (Mohan 5 wkts, Joy 4 wkts) at Mayajaal. Match Tied.

An incredible match, a match of many firsts. First game of a new season, first game without Sriram in #3 history (a good time to marvel, once again, at what this maniac has actually achieved) and OUR FIRST TIE!! It was also the second game under the new captain Jubbs, and he showed he's growing into his role with a few runs and some smart calls in the field.

Let's start at the very beginning, though. I've heard it's a very good place to start. With the Chennai rains, and the December drinking all over and done with, it was time to start the cricket up again, and Blue Sky duly obliged us by fixing a game at Mayajaal, aother first for us. A turf wicket again, then, which predictably meant low bounce, and a tough day behind the stumps for me. Karthik's brother Srini made a guest appearance, and with Ling and Kishore being drafted in along with usual suspects Mohan, Beer, Tony, Visesh and Joy, we had our XI. We won the toss and Srini and Kabir opened things up. Srini edged one to gully pretty early, and Tony and Beer dug in for a bit of old fashioned platform building. It was soon pretty obvious that back foot play was sort of redundant, and that timing the ball wasn't going to be easy, at least until one got one's eye in.
Things kept ticking along until Beer started cramping up, and he got out soon after asking for a runner. Karthik didn't last too long, but then the old firm of Mohan and Tony got it going. Tony was timing it nicely by now, and Mohan always times it nicely so the runs started flowing. We looked set for a big one, but then Mohan mishit a waist high full toss to point, just as he was starting to open up and Tony left shortly thereafter. Jubbs and I made sure that the collapse from the last game wasn't repeated with a steady partnership, before Jubbs decided he had enough. Remembering to keep the bat straight he started to skip down the track or back away and make room and heaved some good clean hits to the fence. I was lbw trying to get a bit too cute, but Ling, Joy and Kishore stuck it out as we ended up at 132 for 8 in 25 overs. They helped us out considerably with wides and byes, which we were determined not to return.

The skipper felt that we had been losing things with the new ball in recent games, and decided to mix things up a bit. In what was to prove an inspired move, he held Joy back and threw the new ball to Tony and Visesh. The first two overs were a bit loose but they both settled into a nice rhythm and the runs dried up. It was classic Gavin Larsen/Chris Harris stuff, stump to stump at a nagging pace, backed up by sharp fielding inside the ring. We could sense the frustration building as runs slowed to a trickle, and the first bowling change broke the game open. Mohan beat the opener's frustrated heave and splattered his stumps, and then Joy picked two up quickly, with sharp catches from Visesh and Srini. But the fielding effort of the day came from Kishore, who picked up on some hesitant running by swooping in from point and scoring a Jontyesque direct hit with an underamrm flick to run the batsman out. Mohan picked up anothe one as well, and we had them at about 50 for 5.

That's when things got interesting. Their no.6 batsman (named Jaishankar, rather annoyingly) took strike, and casually flicked his first ball over midwicket for four. When he went one better the next ball, and slammed it over long on for six, we knew we weren't quite home yet. Suddenly, their score was racing along, and even though Mohan struck again before drinks, things felt pretty even at 92 for 6 with 9 overs to go. He just looked like he was batting on a different wicket from the rest of us. We regrouped at drinks, and pulled things back really well for the next few overs. We denied Jaishankar the strike, spreading the field and choking the batsmen at the other end. Mohan was immense, bowling his 6 over spell straight, keeping it tight and picking up a five-for. Visesh had come in for a second spell and bowled a very clever spell, bowling cross seam and slow, giving the batsman neither pace nor bounce to work with. By the end of his spell, they needed 24 off 18. The death bowling duties were with Tony and Joy, and they responded magnificiently, even though the awesome hitting off one man's blade continued. A six reduced the target to 18 off 17., and things were on a knife edge. Here is where they lost the plot a bit, refusing singles and playing out dots, while we chipped away at the wickets. We kept it down to a run a ball, and with six needed off the last over, Joy came on to bowl. Jaishankar managed two and a single of the first 2 balls, and then joy struck timber. 3 balls to go, 3 runs to get and the last man on strike. Joy bowled another dot, and then a chinese cut went down to fine leg. They scrambled two, meaning that they got the tie, but the main batsman was off strike. With all the field up, Joy fired one in fast and straight and cleaned the no. 11 up. A tie.

The whoops were unreal, and we all shook hands in good spirit for a match well played. Jaishankar, with half their score at 65 not out to go with two wickets, was the clear man of the match, and then revealed that he had got 60 off 25 balls in their previous game here! Some suggestions of a bowl out were quickly dismissed with suggestions of a drink out, which we were sure to win!! Which we subsequently proved with a trip to 9ft high, this neat bar in Neelankarai.

A great match, with many more to come soon. See you then, and welcome back.