WCC Match Review – 30-Aug-2009

WEEKEND has the TORNADOS toppled

How probable do you feel it is for a team to emerge back victorious in a cricket match having given away control in the entire first innings and one-third into the second innings? How often have you witnessed a depleted bowling side running through an opponent team with a meager total to defend? How often have you sat open-mouthed since someone took a catch that resembled Adam Bacher dismissing Sachin Tendulkar at the Cape Town test in 1997? And how often has such a catch triggered a series of good catches to run down a team?

Anyone who can’t remember having seen all these happening in a single match have missed a match of their lifetime although this is club cricket. But this was club cricket at its best. It was a cricket match to be relished and remembered for more than a lifetime and generations to come. I’ll talk about this even to my great-grandchildren with everlasting freshness and I’m sure every team member would. It was a classic example of a match that contained unlimited team spirit, co-ordination, vigor, enthusiasm and a verve from one team that was destined to win. Even if God Fate had thought otherwise, WCC would have crafted its own script to rewrite it. Read on….

With all plans set on the previous evening for the big game, a must win game, I was most likely to sit out due to a thumb injury I picked up during practice. Vinod too had followed suit and that meant we had to pull in Sriraj to be a part of playing XI. And he generously agreed – a million thanks to him and more than that. More problems arose when Ragha had to rule himself out from the match due to unavoidable circumstances. The impact of his absence was not negligible – he was one of the 5 bowlers we had in our squad and of course he was our frontline bowler. With no other alternative, I had to play with the injured thumb although I wasn’t even in a position to hold my bat properly. We knew that the opponents were a pretty decent bowling unit as observed from the statistics of their previous matches – and we were prepared for it. As lucky as it can get, I called correct during the toss and immediately announced that we were batting first. That still might have been a debatable decision considering the fact that we were a bowler short, but we wanted to play to our strengths and not bothering about opponents’ weaknesses.

Venkat got off the mark first ball with a light tap towards mid-on and Karthik sent one above covers for our first boundary. He fell in the first over trying to make room only to see his off stump disturbed. Soon later, Vishak and Venkat gave some catching practice to the fielders trying to strike over them. 3 wickets down right at the start and with Venkat back in the pavilion –this was something very new to us. Andy went in and looked very much settled out there with 2 wonderful boundaries before he mis-pulled a new bowler straight to mid-wicket. Kartik, rechristened “Mangalam Sir” by Venkat, went in with high confidence and in Murali’s company ensured that we didn’t lose any more wickets through the first half of our innings. Come drinks break and soon after he lost his control to offer a sitter. Murali on the other end rotated singles much easier than any of the others and at the same time protecting his wicket very well. I joined Murali in the middle and it was important that we didn’t lose any more wickets until 25^th over. I wasn’t defensive, as I knew we definitely needed to rotate singles until I played all around a left-armer’s typical drifting spin delivery to see my middle stump rocked back. Batting at #7, I had to save the team from crisis as that was my key role in the team. That was very irresponsible of me to get out at that stage. I vow this will never happen again. But Murali showed immense persistence and few runs came in here and there with the help of Sriraj, Sunil & Ashwin – we put up a paltry 124 on the board for our depleted set of bowlers to defend.

Getting all-out within the stipulated time meant that “TORNADOS” (our opponents) had 30 overs to chase our target. We knew from ball #1 it was impossible to defend this score unless we bowl them out. Kartik started off with his big swingers and made life difficult for the batsmen whenever he pitched the ball. His full tosses were punished – but he produced a beauty of an in-swinging yorker to send the opening batsman back. But runs kept coming from the other end till I got a surprise bowler, Murali, into the attack. It was surprising even to most of our team members. It was a gamble taken by me, but a little calculated one, as I observed that the batsmen were not comfortable with swinging deliveries. Murali, although doesn’t have too much control of his swing, does swing the ball away from right handers and started with few wides. He then pitched one full outside off and the batsman driving it sent the ball over the cover region for what we all thought was a definite six – until Sriraj had different ideas. Converging towards the ball from deep cover, just as we all thought that the ball had reached maximum, he leapt up in the air timing his jump to perfection to pouch the ball safely with both hands that reminded everyone of Adam Bacher. This was the moment we all thought we could bring the match back within our reach. Andy’s words still ring in our ears – “If a person has taken such a catch we need to win this match”. From then on there was no looking back. I gave Murali another over – a bigger gamble – but he responded well with another wicket when Vishak held a good low catch at short mid-wicket. Few catches were misjudged and unattended, but we still kept on the pressure with Sunil being introduced. At that time they were 61/3 in 9 overs – well placed in their chase.

Sunil was at his mighty best right from start and kept the batsman on their toes with his rising deliveries. What was even mightier was the way in which Vijay started off his spell that left everyone in the field spell-bound. Few of his deliveries were untraceable as they fired itself into Andy’s gloved hands like bullets fired from a sniper. We kept an attacking field with Sunil and Vijay bowling in tandem and they bowled brilliantly to keep the batsmen in check and choking them giving little away. Sunil picked up 2 wickets before the drinks break with his deliveries that kicked off from good length – both batsmen offering sitters to point and short-midwicket fielders respectively where Venkat and Vishak made no mistake with their catches. At half time into the 2^nd session they needed 50 more runs and more importantly we needed 5 more wickets. Till then I hadn’t introduced Ashwin only because I didn’t know whether to break Sunil or Vijay – a confusion that Imran Khan would have had when Wasim and Waqar were ripping through any side. Literally I had to ask opinions from almost everyone on this and finally decided to break Sunil after another over from him – the only reason being that it was the end suited for Ashwin. First over after drinks, Sunil induced a thick edge from the opening batsman (who was still around) straight into the hands of “Passionate cricketer” who garnered the sharp chance with ease – of course with his usual facial expression. 4 more to go and I pulled in Ashwin for his first over from the far end. He started off well and suddenly let loose a full toss which the batsmen heaved to deep square leg far away from where Vijay was positioned. As strong as his bowling on that day, he raced towards the ball and caught it with mighty ease – a very very good catch. Not many would have held on to it with so much ease. Ashwin had striked in his first over. 3 more to go and we were all fired up in the field. Ashwin, in his next over, produced a similar full toss that again went to Vijay, who running in this time, took another gem of a catch at deep square leg. That was 2 in 2 for Ashwin with 2 more to go. At the other end Vijay kept on tormenting the batsman with his fearsome pace. Ashwin’s next over had a left-handed batsman trapped in front and then there was 1 more to go – not before Venkat split a dolly of his own bowling in the previous over. We almost had our hands on the victory but had to wait till one more fell. With 104/9 on the board, Vijay induced an edge in the 23^rd over of the innings straight to Andy’s gloves and that was the moment. All eleven of us went berserk and ran like mad. Vinod and “little Ashwin” came in racing from the pavilion to celebrate with us. I went straight to Murali, hugged him as tight as I could and immediately all smaller groups converged to form a huge hugging cloud of 13 people – 13 victorious people who formed the mighty WCC team that toppled the “TONARDOS” and redefined what a team looks like while playing this game of cricket.

For all I can say, we proved and discovered most of our real selves in the field. The energy we all displayed in the field was amazing and the bowling was awesome. The bowlers won the match for us more than the ever-persistent Murali who got to receive the Man of the match award for his 36 invaluable runs and 2 wickets. Vijay and Sunil were awesome with their length and I am proud of those guys. For once, our batting unit failed, but I ensure this will never happen again. Ragha was truly missed, but he would have missed the match much more. This was like winning a world cup in front of a home crowd. Millions of thanks to Vinod and “little Ashwin” – and this was one of the best matches I’ve ever played. And I hope every team member will agree to this.

Aditya Ravindran – Captain, WCC.

Scorecard

http://www.cmdn.com/scores/TORNODOZ-vs-WEEKEND-CRICKET-CLUB-5270

WCC Match Review – 23-Aug-2009

At the start of the tournament we were 14 and now, after the first half we were effectively 12. Still, I found it more difficult to choose the playing XI as every member deserved their place. With a weekend’s rest in between the previous match and this, we were storming to get to the field and clinch a win to create a path to the semi-finals. A Sunday morning match at DB Jain, rescheduled after we rejected the original venue at Hindu College – thanks to the effort taken by our “Passionate Cricketer”, meant that we had to leave home as early as 6:15 buying breakfast on our way. We geared off in 3 cars as we pulled Sriraj for company – a million thanks to him for accompanying us all the way through, and managed to reach the venue just on time.

“RUNS & WICKETS” – that’s what cricket is all about, but in this context that was the name of our opponent team. We did our homework pretty well on analyzing the stats of the team and thus decided that we could afford to play a bowler short than we usually did. And even that was tough as each bowler had his own uniqueness and dropping any would cause a gap in the bowling area. After a lot of thinking we decided to rest (mind you – rest, not drop) Sunil assuming it would be a 30 over game. More confusion arose when we got to the ground as the opponents were assuming this to be T20 match along with the umpires. After a quick clarification with the organizer, we agreed to play this T20 as a free match. I decided quick enough to pull Sunil back into the eleven in place of Ashwin.

I seriously think it was my fate to win alternative tosses only and luckily this time I called correctly and had no hesitation in choosing to bat. As usual Venkat and Karthik strode off eagerly to start off things in a smashing fashion. It was a slow start for us as Karthik tried hard to meet bat to ball and as and when he did it, the ball raced to the fence. He tried it once again and the ball hit the timber and in went Vishak. Vishak had not been at his usual best in the tournament and we depended heavily on him this time around to give us a blazing start. He thoroughly met the ball sending one straight back behind the bowler’s head for a maximum – man, what a hit that was. With that shot still in front of my eyes, we knew he was back to his blitzkrieg form. He scored a quick 19 of 11 balls and that was enough to set a good strong foundation for Venkat to build his innings.

It was a routine for Venkat to score a 50 whenever I won the toss (or) batted first and this time it was no different – it was in fact much better. He started off playing his usual strokes and especially the pull over square leg seemed to be the most evident. He toyed upon the bowlers and had no mercy for them. The ball met his bat at the right spot and went rapidly to the boundary line in all directions – few times over it. Murali accompanied Venkat after Vishak’s and Andy’s fall and played the second fiddle perfectly to put up a 60+ partnership before he fell in the 16^th over. By this time Venkat had already squeezed the juice out of every bowler and sent them tiring in all directions. What was more surprising was that the juice preserved for Venkat at the pavilion was slowly transferring itself into Sunil’s stomach (poor thing must have got tired watching Venkat’s innings) – probably this was what they call trans-quenching of thirst. We avariciously sent Ragha ahead of our “Passionate Cricketer” and me to search for a score of 200 but he looked like a Chris Martin facing Glenn McGrath in his brief test match like innings. Venkat continued his onslaught on the other end and reached his maiden century with a square cut to thirdman. What a feeling that was – to see our most consistent batter scoring a century and carrying his bat through the innings and that too in a T20 match. He settled for a score of 114* and by that time we had put up 191 in 20 overs. What a fantastic score!!!!!!! The match was half won there and by that time Venkat had booked his 3^rd MOM cap for the season. “Won’t he ever give us a chance to compete for that cap???????”

“Passionate Cricketer” opened with the ball at one end and for the first time in the tournament I offered Ragha the new ball. The first 7 overs were awesome from the bowlers – we got 3 wickets and didn’t let more than 41 runs with Kartik’s swing reminding us of John Rinnie and Adam Dale and Ragha’s accuracy reminding us of all Fanie De Villiers and Shaun Pollock and that was the time when I was assured by the opening bowlers that the match was indeed ours. Runs leaked only through a few of bad balls and edges but the control of the match was with us. During this time we held to 2 catches but more importantly dropped 2 of them – one dropper being Vinod as always (J) at gully and the other being Karthik at short mid-wicket. It’s a million dollar question as to how a person who could catch everything during practice not catch even once in a match. Vinod, you need to answer that next time you get into the field else you’ll go down as a person who would have played maximum # of matches without a catch – as told by our “Passionate Cricketer” who had been the unfortunate bowler on both the dropped occasions. The next 3 overs leaked 40 runs – thanks to our sloppy fielding and throwing – even our best fielder (Venkat) was disoriented during that period.

It was then time to bowl Sunil and Vijay in tandem to stop their scoring and the match was controlled well between 11-15 overs. With wickets falling after that, I threw the ball to Murali for the last over to have some fun before we won comfortably by 45 runs – a big win for T20. I did seriously think that we should have had a bigger win. Although we came victorious, I personally am not satisfied with the fielding performance – I really feel that we should have got rid of them below 100. That might sound too optimistic, but if catches had been plucked and fielding had been safe, that wouldn’t have been an impossible task. Andy was great behind the wickets as always although he must have hurt himself whenever he plucked on to Vijay’s deliveries – anyone for that matter dare not touch Vijay’s throw or deliveries. To summarize, we had the most exciting moment of the day when Venkat hit a 100 but the fielding department slacked – but I’m sure we’ll improve and get more professional. And I came back home doing nothing except captaining the side, fielding a few balls here and there and driving teammates back home.

Thanks Venkat – for that fascinating innings. Hope you continue this form throughout.

Aditya Ravindran – Captain, WCC.

Scorecard link

http://www.cmdn.com/scores/WCC-vs-RUNS-WICKET-5236

WCC Match Review – 08-Aug-2009

2 wins out of 3 matches on the cards, we were high in confidence going into the next. We were getting into a much disciplined mode and the improvement displayed by the team was dramatic. We wanted to start off a winning sequence as we knew that such a habit would be very hard to die. Most of us improved on fitness over the past week and ensured that we were self-responsible for maintaining our own fitness levels. Everything had fallen in place the previous match; only due to the fact that we had improved our fitness and we would always prefer spending more time on it rather than anything else.

We charged into the venue with one definite team change in mind – to bring in Karthik.R instead of either Andy or myself, and that too as an opener. With Andy confirming his unavailability at the last moment due to unavoidable situations, I had no option other than choosing my own self to play, despite my shoulder injury. As definite as Sun rises in the east and leaves drop themselves in autumn, WCC arrived at the venue an hour before scheduled start of play. Everyone had their own way of warming up as few of us were busy finding out the stature of our opponents. We expected a tough opponent this time but didn’t expect they would be playing with R.Ashwin. For those who don’t know who R.Ashwin is, he is the captain of Tamil Nadu state cricket team and a member of IPL Chennai Super Kings squad who even played matches in the season 2 of the tournament in South Africa. Our “stroke” of luck – the standard of WCC cricket reached such a level to keep few verbal “strokes” reticent. To tighten it all the more, they also played with another state team member, Vivekanand. Few others in their team were TNCA contract holders and were borrowed to play against the standard of cricket of WCC.

We lost the toss and had to bowl first. We knew each of their players was too good and we had to bowl and field well initially to restrict their “strokes”. Kartik as usual opened with his big swingers that restricted the batsmen’s “strokes” – he was really threatening as told to me by Murali. Vinod, at the other end, shared the new ball for the first time, got hit for a few runs here and there and did a pretty decent job on the whole. All of a sudden we got couple of breakthroughs from Kartik and at the wink of an eye they were 5 down for 30 – thanks to 2 run outs from a thorough disciplined fielding from us. At that moment the batsmen at the crease were R.Ashwin and Vivekanand – the 2 state players. Both of them, by their “strokes”, got little afraid of Kartik’s swing and even conceded a maiden to him. But the Big Bang theory began after that – they showed us why they were state players. They started belting around Ragha, Sunil and Vijay for runs all over the park – the 3 of them usually are the most economical and threatening bowlers for WCC. I was reluctant in introducing Ashwin – which I now think wasn’t a very wise decision – I should have introduced spin when they were fresh at the crease – my bad on strategy. To turn things worse for us, Vinod dropped R.Ashwin at mid-wicket which everyone unanimously thought he should have held on to it. Ragha being the unfortunate bowler on that occasion, was furious and couldn’t control his verbal emotions, and why not? In some sense, that dropped catch was a turning point of the match. We could manage 27 overs in 2 hours and they had scored 258 with Vivekanand scoring a well deserved century. A tremendous improvement on our side was that we let only 8 wides in all as compared to 20+ and 30+ wides in previous matches.

Now it was our turn to chase that massive score. We knew it was next to impossible but would have had a chance if the top order scored real quick runs. Venkat kicked off in style smashing a fast bowler behind square leg for a maximum that earned a verbal appreciation (“Semma shot da!!!” – “What a top shot man!!!”) from R.Ashwin. After that quick scoring didn’t happen as 4 wickets fell like a child’s toy. An optimistic change in batting order didn’t work well as Kartik fell fishing a delivery behind the wicket. I was very disappointed seeing that from the non-striker’s end. We were then 53/4. Enter Murali and we took a vow to stay for another 15+ overs. We were determined not to give away our wicket – as always. Murali and I picked up singles at will and were supported by numerous wides from few of their amateur bowlers. R.Ashwin’s sledges did not have any effect on our batting as we continued scoring runs, Murali being the prime run maker scoring 8 boundaries in all. I managed to edge one through the slips and later on sent a delivery out of the park. Before we realized, we had put up a 113 run partnership for the 5^th wicket in 15 overs – something which I had never dreamt before. A long time dream of putting up a huge partnership with Murali was realized. Murali reached his half century and immediately we went after the bowlers knowing that it was time for the big slog. That was the time the opponent got a little terrified to the extent that R.Ashwin, who was keeping wickets till then, opted to bowl himself to restrict our run scoring. That was indeed our moral victory. We showed them that we were brave fighters and would never give away in any situation. My mis-hit landed safely in the hands of the deep mid-wicket fielder and immediately after that Ragha and Sunil showed examples of irresponsible batting. Murali fell pulling to fine leg and at that moment the target was well beyond reach and it was time to play out the entire quota of overs which we did successfully.

Overall, it was a match that we never looked like winning except for the first 15-20 mins but had the pleasure of playing against couple of top quality players that gave us a lot of experience to take away. Each of us was very happy that the standard of WCC raised up to such a mark that critics’ verbal “strokes” can now be shut down. Our team was later to be appreciated by R.Ashwin himself. WCC is very proud of that.There was a considerable improvement from everyone in the team except the 12^th man who did not even reach closer to the benchmark set up by Karthik and Vinod. I hope every 12^th man understands that he should be responsible and vigilant enough to support the team right from “Play” to “Time” so that the playing XI don’t shed their energy into these matters. In a nutshell we are a much stronger unit right now and after that tremendous experience of a match ,every team member is keen to contribute more and more to the team in all departments. A new strategy of elaneer-nongu juice bet has been introduced for individual motivation – hope that provides enough encouragement for us to win 3 out of 3 to ensure a semi-final berth.

Aditya Ravindran – Captain, WCC

Scorecard link

http://www.cmdn.com/scores/RUCA-vs-WEEKEND-CRICKET-CLUB-5173

WCC Match Review – 02-Aug-2009

More than 2 days to submit a match review may not invite appreciations from readers and stake holders, but the series of events that led to the match and the aftermath will be seemingly interesting. My usual unwritten deadline of 2 days for the submission of extended due to an unexpected shoulder injury I developed during the match. Yes…… Read on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The pre-match scenarios were tales of twists – few of them shockingly unanticipated. Ajay was still out of the selection due to the prevailing toe injury he picked up from the previous match. Dan not having played previous 2 matches due to completely different reasons on both occasions was an obvious choice within the playing XI. Discussions went around picking out the 2 players who had to rest – Karthik was the unanimous choice #1, and with a lot of contemplation we decided to rest Vijay for his 2^nd consecutive match – so as to give him a continuous break. With Andy back into the side, Vinod had no choice but to drop down to as low as #10 in the batting order.

Tales turned on Aug 1^st when I started getting dehydrated after having swallowed a piece of rotten potato – a rotten luck I would call. I couldn’t carry on during the practice session being completely drained out. That prompted the first change to the playing XI – we decided that Vijay would be my replacement. Special instructions were sent to all team members as this was the first morning match – and that too at a very far place from home.

The match morning was exciting although I knew I was sitting out – a chance to witness the match from a different angle, a chance to witness my deputy’s control mechanism, a chance to rest the mind from the usual on-field strategies and a chance to laugh around with Karthik. As we were preparing to leave home, I saw Kartik with a piece of paper with bowling plans – poor thing, must’ve been preparing this whole night. Then came the big news from Murali – Dan was still sleeping and the only way he could get to the ground on time was by air – WCC wasn’t that rich enough and he should have known that. Everyone had a stunned look – the next twist in the tale, this being the most unexpected.

Vijay’s Scorpio and Ragha’s Alto raced off to the ground that was 24 kms away. The big question about Dan’s replacement raced through my mind all the way. After long contemplations, I had to prepare mentally to play. Off went my dreams of resting. We had picked up “little” Ashwin on the way to support whoever sat out.

The ground was the worst of all grounds we’d ever seen. It reminded us of the recently abandoned test match at Antigua between England and the West Indies. As usual, the umpires and opponents were late and we were forced to accept a shortened match. The toss turned in our favor and as always I had no hesitation in batting first. Venkat and Vishak started proceedings against a pretty decent bowling attack. Vishak had his stumps uprooted going for a full length stroke and the early breakthrough prompted us to send in Murali ahead of Andy – an elderly experienced thought from Andy himself. Venkat stayed on!!! Murali supported him very well and with extra(s) gifts from the opponents, both put up 49 for the 2^nd wicket within 6 overs before Murali was unluckily given leg before. Unhappiness mounted as Andy smashed the very next ball only to hole it out to the deep square leg fielder – a second consecutive duck for the old warhorse. Venkat still carried on!!!! I went in next ahead of Kartik to consolidate and had straight information to my partner – to carry on till the last 40 minutes of play. The wicket was not very easy to bat on- but we nudged and steered and glanced to put up a partnership of 55 in 9 about overs. I fell after nicking a spinner’s short ball to the keeper, but not before smashing him for a six over long on and a boundary towards third man earlier. But the mighty Venkat still carried on!!!!! During my stay with him he too had smashed the same spinner for a six over long on in the same over as I did and subsequently reached yet another half-century. Kartik went in next and then there was a lower order collapse as usual as Kartik, Sunil, Ragha and Venkat tried to score too quickly without realizing there were still considerable overs left. I was terribly disappointed at the collapse. Vinod ensured that we batted out the entire quota of 25 overs. We scored 180/9.

With respect to bowling and fielding, we had plans in place with corrections from previous match mistakes. Kartik opened and operated with wides uncontrollably. Sunil competed similarly sending down more of them till everyone got frustrated and I got myself thinking. Kartik continued, but I replaced Sunil with a Venkat, a spinner, in the 4^th over. 2 fours leaked through third man, but we spotted the batsman’s weakness. Venkat’s next over, we trapped him placing Ragha at deep slip and the batsman truly obliged first ball – a great satisfaction of a wicket. Same over, the next batsman, nicked a well-outside off stump delivery to Andy and that was the moment when Venkat virtually had both hands on the man-of-the-match award. With a couple of wickets already packed up, I replaced Venkat with Ragha and Kartik with Sunil. Their partnership was the turning point of the match – Ragha at his fearsome best taming batsmen and Sunil being extremely parsimonious that would have made even Gavin Larsen jealous. I decided not to cut them till they finished their quota of 10 overs and by that time the opponents, STALWARTS, needed more than a 100 runs to win from 10 overs. I still had 3 specialist bowlers unbowled – Vijay, Vinod and Ashwin. I pulled in Vijay and Ashwin and they wrapped off the innings – with Vijay being lethal with his off-cutters that sent the batsmen reeling. We finished them up at 125. A 55 run mighty victory.

The fielding unit was awesome, Kartik as usual electric, Andy brilliant with his gloves and words behind the stumps, throwing from outfielders were spot on, infielders were encouraging, catches were safely pouched and I became “Rithender Singh Sodhi” for a moment on the field – that’s how I injured my shoulder. Our fitness work had started to take effect – thanks to every individual for taking measures to improve fitness over the last 2 weeks.

Last but not the least, a “huge” pat for the “little” Ashwin who was so proactive in getting us water all through the match. A victory that will stand in our minds as one of the most improved performances of the team. A nice birthday gift for Karthik, Murali & me. I loved it.

Aditya Ravindran – captain, WCC

Scorecard

http://www.cmdn.com/scores/WEEKEND-CRICKET-CLUB-vs-STALWARTS-5087