Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Game 9 - Win keeps us on top

On Saturday, August 15, we defeated Grand Rapids CC at Toledo to finish the Division 1 league phase this year by staying at the top of the ten team division. It’s a great feeling to end up at the top. I hope we continue to show our class as we move into the playoff (Super 6) stage. In the playoffs each team will be playing two games. Four teams will then come out on top to form the semis quadrant.

As for the game against Grand Rapids, it was a humid day all along at the Beatty Park. The outfield was razor sharp. Batting first Grand Rapids were all out for 131. And we chased that down in 15 overs!
Our bowling continues to be erratic as we bleed more than expected extras – especially the wide stuff. With Deepak, Chirag, Manu and Chandu forming the fast bowling team – I always expect fireworks as I have seen what they are capable of but on this day that sting seemed hard to see.
Anyways Grand Rapids did not have much to write home as for the batting is concerned, and I thought we should have had them packed in far less than the 131 they scored. On any other day I think we would stream roll them honestly but they enjoyed the freebies we gave.

Viggy and Anand combined well to make it hard for them. The fielding was not that bad but we still have the occasional misfields/ and catches that get dropped and we need to kick up a notch or two on that.

BTW:)– was able to get one stump victim today, when the batsmen missed a fast Viggy leggy and I took care of it. And having done that I can now relate to how thrilling this event is to a keeper. It’s a truly rewarding experience even better than catching/ running some one out. Also of note where the reflexes of the leg umpire. The moment I did my job and looked towards him, his arm was up and high! :)

When our turn came to chase the target, Devin and I opened the innings and the first runs were boundaries from Devin but he chipped one directly to midwicket and Grand Rapids got a big wicket in the very first over. Thereafter Anand and I combined to shut the gates and take the game away from them. We had an 75-odd run partnership, where I was happy to rotate the strike and Anand just tore into their attack, with delightful boundaries all over the lightning fast outfield.

Anand was in a bit of a hurry. It was just that he was getting married the next day! I am not kidding, he was going to get married the next day, and here he was playing with us in a game that really didn’t matter too much to our fortunes. It shows his (and Devin’s) passion for the game. He said in his typical style – suhail bahi, 2 hafta naheen khayla hai, aaj naheen kheyla toh bahaut lamba break hojata hai - I had the best time all along our partnership, I kept bickering about the next day, saying kal shaadi hai aur aaj inki layra hai and he kept blushing. But it was a good knock and I am sure it made his efforts worth it.

We did play some hurried shots (I played on when we still needed 45 or so runs and Anand skied one too often). Gaurav and Kranthi missed out on scoring. It took Chandu and Manu to finish the game for us. Goldy led the side in the absence of Ani (our regular skip) and I am sure he is happy to begin with one in the win column.

Scorecard.

Now we await the super six schedule but we know that we don’t have a game until Sept 12. I am eager to see the match ups. I hope that we continue on our winning habit.
=suhail=
8/23

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