CS-10 XI levels 2-match series against Hyderabad XI

After the loss of the last match, all subcribers of CS-10 XI team yearned for one last game with pleasant memories before 2009 was done with. The ever reliable Krishna 'match-maker' Datta duly scheduled one with the Hyderabad XI aka 'Marybyrnong Magarmacchs', courtesy Soundar. Your correspondent was given the honour of captaining this very talented side.

Pre-match rules proposed by Hyderabad XI - no LBW, no leg byes, 20 overs with field restrictions. Cricket without LBW? What next - Hyderabadi biryani without spices? All of CS 10- XI led by a certain keeper-batsman-spinner voiced opposition to this 'rule'. Krishna helped your correspondent to negotiate with Tanveer, the genial opposition captain, to not push MCC to abandon the LBW rule and play cricket as it is intended to be, replete with the LBW rule.

That done and the toss lost, we were pleasantly invited to bat first.


Batting First

Soundar and Krishna were sent to make the most of the fielding restrictions. Captain Tanveer's genorosity then further extended to bowling juicy full tosses and hit-me half-volleys. Soundar fresh from having watched Sehwag videos for about 56.9 times over the weekend, graciously despatched the ball to all parts of the ground. At the other end, Safi bowled a testing spell by swinging the ball both ways. Krishna treated us to fascinating array of shots which would have taken us to 0-400 in 4 overs - if only the ball had connected with his bat.

Instead, we were at 1-40 after 5 overs when Soundar played all over a full toss from Tanveer and saw his stumps disturbed. Krishna too fell soon after by getting run out. Sharad and Kunal then threaded a valuable partnership. Sharad was eventually undone by a big hit which might have sailed over the boundary had it not been hit against the wind. That brought Jag to the crease. Jag quitely went about hitting four boundaries to contribute a well-made 21 before being tempted by their spinner Atik into a stroke that lost his leg stump. Kunal continued relentlessly accumulating singles, 2's and a few boundaries to top score with 33. He was joined briefly by Sirish and then by Sagar to build another valuable partnership. Sagar struck a memorable 6 over deep square leg, the only 6 of our innings. Pavan, your correspondent, Amar and Ravi made useful cameos to get us to a total of 160. This was not a great total for the ground, but not too bad either.



We fortified ourselves in the innings break with chai from the flasks of Sharad and topped it up further with more chai from the chai hall of fame worthy brew that Ravi never fails to supply at these events.

The Chase

The chase began with Sagar bowling with the wind and Amar taking on the tough task of bowling into the wind. The prodigious Safi was going after both bowlers with great gusto. Amar was relieved after his 3 overs by Ravi who continued with the onerous task of bowling into the wind.

Ravi bowled with a clear and well-thought out plan to get the rampaging Safi out. He started with a wide on the legside, then one on the offside and then let Safi hit a 6. He then cunningly let loose another two wides before luring Safi into hitting another 4 and a 6. By then Safi had grown with confidence. Then came the ball bowled just wide of the off stump to which Safi gave a big swipe. His hit gathered a lot of elevation, but stayed between Pavan at mid-wicket and your correspondent at mid-on. Using the captain's discretion, your correspondent took the swirling catch to complete the mission Ravi had set for himself. Safi then left for a well-made 42.



By this time 8 overs had elapsed and the score was as 2-80 with Amar taking the off stump of the other opener, Rohan. At the going rate, it looked like the Hyderbadis were set to wrap up the match in 16 overs and go home early. Then came Kunal, the man who could do no wrong today. He bowled with the wind for an unbroken spell of 6 overs. The 6 overs only went for 10 runs, a feat even McGrath would have been proud of. Meanwhile, a change in tactics at the other end was brought in by bowling spin into the wind non-stop from overs 10 to 24. The task of slow bowling was taken on by your correspondent and Soundar. The task of keeping then fell upon Sharad who was more than equal to the task by taking a catch behind the wicket.

Meanwhile, run scoring was reduced to a trickle by some brave fielding by the entire team. In particular, Pavan and Jag stopped some powerful hits from inside the circle which but for their superb interventions would have reached the boundary in no time. Sirish also took a sensational catch at point while Sagar's two catches at the slips for the spinners were not dissimilar to that of Kapil Dev's catch of Viv Richards at the 83 World cup final. Mention must also be made of a superb effort by Krishna at point to a great diving effort and throw to the keeper that resulted in a runout.



All of this pressure from our top fielders meant that the Hyderabadis moved from a strong position of 2-80 in 8 overs to a demoralising 8-114 in the 16th over. Still Captain Tanvir and the left-handed Asit looked dangerous while pursuing the task of getting 47 runs from 48 balls. the hustled and bustled, huffed and puffed and moved to a tense 9-138 in the 21st over, needing 23 off 24 balls. Having used up Kunal's quota, Sagar was brought back to use up his last over in the 23rd. Sagar bowled a tight over to the tailenders conceding only 3 runs in that crucial over. That meant the Hyderabadis needed 16 runs off 12 balls. Soundar bowled the penultimate over and kept it down to a measly 6 runs in spite a boundary being hit by Tanveer. That left the last over to your correspondent. However, all it took was one delivery that went past Sharad on the legside tempting Tanveer to get back on strike by stealing a quick bye. However, he forgot to account for the sharp and sprightly Sagar who collected the ball cleanly and fired it straight into the middle stump and run him out by a huge margin.

In the end, the Marybyrnong Magarmacchs were reduced to Mortiened Macchars, to paraphrase Peter Roebuck.



Rampant celebrations followed.



In keeping with the generally good spirit in which the game was played (despite questionable calls and mild disputes), hands were duly shaken and a commemorative photograph was taken.



Special thanks goes to David who gallantly cheered us from the boundary while cursing his dad for wasting his entire day.




Bouquets and brickbats



Positives



- Top notch fielding, with 5 catches, 3 runouts, and the conversion of many of the opposition's 2's into 1's
- Kunal's top score of 33 and 6 overs for 10 runs
- Soundar's 21 runs, 3 wickets, and keeping for 15 overs - is there anything the man cannot do??
- Jag's quickfire 20
- Sagar's 15, two catches, a runout and 1 wicket



Negatives


- Wides - while there is no count of this from the scorecards, we bowled quite a few wides to start with
- Not much else really!