Main Umpire: CCC Leg Umpire: Unknown Leg Umpire
Report:
It was very hot and humid day at Shiloh Park, Morrisville. After
winning the toss the QCCC captain decided to bat relying on his strong batting
line-up to impose a big total. RCC's opening bowlers Samay and Andy bowled a
steady line and length in the beginning overs and never allowed QCCC openers to
score freely. Andy got the break-through in his 2nd over with a beautiful late
out swinger shattering the stumps of QCCC's captain.
The very next ball he was unlucky as the wicket keeper dropped the new batsman
Saravana. Siddhartha on the other end was once again consistent with the bat.
After surviving a catch out chance behind the stumps in the 3rd over he was
playing cautiously, after a while he opened-up and started scoring freely at a
brisk rate hitting some very beautiful boundaries. Saravana got out for 16 in
the 12th over of the innings playing upishly to Vipul on the bowling of Keyur S.
After that Sameer and Ramesh gave a useful contributions of 15 and 14
respectively. QCCC's big hitter Yeshpal came to the stumps in 23rd over after
the departure of Ramesh with QCCC total at 125. Yeshpal immediately started his
ruthless attack on the RCC's bowling, he was most severe on Samay hitting 22
runs of his 2 overs. With Yeshpal and Siddhartha on the crease QCCC was well
within the reach of 200 runs. But the quick dismissal of Yeshpal and Satish in
the 26th gave them a setback. At the end of 26th over QCCC were 167 for 7.
Siddhartha reached his 50 in 27th over but was out pretty soon at 57 trying to
accelerate the run-rate. With some sensible batting from Kalyan and Sandip in
the end QCCC finally managed to get a competitive score of 180.
With the score of 180 on board, QCCC started its bowling attack on a confident
note. Saurabh bowled the tidy first over costing only a single.
However the 2nd over of the innings by Sandip costed 11 runs. Sandip bowled some
short deliveries and Samay was most happy to deliver them to the fence.
The other opener Nayak was rock-solid in his defence and was playing very
cautiously. QCCC got their break-through in the 5th over with Saurabh trapping
Samay in front of the wickets. With Sandip not bowling well, QCCC captain
brought Saravana into the attack in the 6th over of the innings. The new batsman
Chirag hanged in for couple of overs before being bowled by Kalyan for 9. His
dismissal saw Andy on the crease. Andy looked very confident from the beginning
and was scoring fast. QCCC bowlers were unable to put any kind of pressure on
Nayak and Andy and their partnership was growing at a brisk rate. Then came the
disaster for RCC, Nayak pushed the ball towards short covers, QCCC captain
misfiled the ball as it passed between his legs. There was a misunderstanding
between the two batsman in taking the single, and by the time Andy could reach
the bating end, QCCC captain picked the ball and threw it to Sameer (wicket
keeper) who did the remaining job. Andy was run out for 21. QCCC players were
excited and rejuvenated. But their excitement did not last long, as the new
batsman Keyur on the crease and took the bowling apart. He was hitting beautiful
strokes all around the ground. With the pace attack succumbing to the ruthless
hitting of Keyur, QCCC captain brought spinner Yeshpal into the attack. It
proved helpful. Yeshpal finally got Keyur stumped on a beautiful leg-spin. But
Keyur already did the work for his team. He scored a wonderful 47 and brought
his team well within the reach of victory. In his next over Yeashpal struck
again removing Nayak. But still with 5 wickets in hands RCC were in very
comfortable position to win the match. They required 2!
1 runs from the last 5 overs. Siddhartha bowled the 26th over of the i nnings,
after bowling 3 tidy deliveries he bowled 2 short deliveries wide on the off
side and both were shown the fence by Vijay. At the end of 26th over RCC were
171 needing just 10 runs of the last 4 overs. Saurabh bowled pretty tidy 27th
over giving 3 runs. Now RCC required 7 runs from 3 overs. 28th over was bowled
by Saravana. It was a very good over, on his first bowl Saravan got Vijay out
c&b., just 2 runs came from this over. By this time QCCC players started
smelling victory and were on their toes.
Kalyan bowled a very tidy 29th over giving just a single. QCCC captain gave the
bowl to Yeshpal, who bowled brilliantly throughout the innings, to bowl the last
over of the innings. RCC required 4 more runs, but Boy! What a great final over
by Yeashpal he not only took one more wicket in the over but did not allow even
a single run of his 5 deliveries, in the last ball of the innings Sridhat
managed to score 2 runs. But that was not enough to save RCC from loosing. At
the end they were 179 for 8 falling behind by 1 run.
What an exciting match! Great day for QCCC who desperately needed this win.
A couple of players had the chance to claim for the Man of the Match.
Siddhratha palyed a stable innings of 57, Keyur scored a fiery 47 and almost
took the match away from QCCC. But one man who emerged as the winner was Yeshpal
of QCCC. He contributed quick-fire 25 of just 16 deliveries while batting and
nothing more can be said of his bowling spell of 4 for 15 of 5 overs. He was
undisputed Man of the Match.
RCC were perfect hosts and gentlemen. They play cricket as it should be played-
fair and spirited. Thanks for their hospitality and sportsmanship.
Thanks to the main umpire from CCC who took pain on such a hot and humid day,
but then I think the match was exciting enough to be worth watching from such a
close-position!!