Main Umpire: Shastri Leg Umpire: Unknown
Report:
CCCC embarked on a 300 mile one-way trip to play the league
match on Friday evening and reached the hotel just before midnight. We were all
up around 7am in the morning and had the continental breakfast at the hotel.
Everyone looked excited and was looking forward to do their best.
Irfan of PCC and Shastri of the umpiring team (GRCC) had thankfully agreed to
start the game at 9:30am as we had a long travel back. Also, Irfan had then
checked the weather and alerted us of possible rain in the afternoon.
CCCC won the toss and elected to field first. Opening pair of PCC put up a good
show early on with few crucial catches which were dropped. A crucial break came
when Sarat took a great catch on a fast drive off a delivery in Dev’s bowling in
the 15th over. PCC was over 125 for 1 wicket in that 15th over. We took a break
and when we returned, Bilal was bowled in the very first ball. This started to
turn the tide for CCCC. Sam was still there showing off all good strokes and
hitting all around the ground.
Irfan seemed determined to lift the total well above 200 along with Sam. Hitting
a huge six above mid-on. But, Syed came through with a break and bowled him
right after. Then Sarat came through with an awesome ball and knocked off the
stumps and ended Sam’s splendid inning. Mani put up some good strokes but Kalyan
came through with his magic spell and took two wickets in no time. PCC was
restricted to 196 in 30 overs.
CCCC sent Bharat and Sameer to open their innings. They both played
conservatively while keeping the score moving. Sameer was caught on long on when
total was 22 in Omar’s bowling. CCCC lost two more wickets of Archie and Sarat
soon after and were 28 for 3 in 7 overs. Then Syed joined Bharat. This pair
played some great strokes off with several 4s and took the total to 70 runs in
13 overs. Then Syed was run out while trying to squeeze in a single. Then,
Siddharth joined well settled Bharat. CCCC was 77 in first 15 overs. Siddharth,
with hurt knee while fielding, showed some classic drives and helped lift the
total to 108 in 20 overs. He was caught and replaced by Kalyan.
CCCC was 113 in 21 overs and needed 84 runs off the last 9 overs. As if that was
not enough, weather turned nasty and it started to rain heavily. It rained for
nearly 15 minutes. PCC did a great job and prevented mat from getting wet by
folding it over and covering it with a tarp. Once the rain stopped, mat was
affixed again and the match continued on. Bharat looked even more confident and
hit 1 huge six off mid-off. Kalyan started to show his cool with fours and sixes
as well. Together they took the total from 108 to 165 (57 run partnership in 6
overs) with 4 overs remaining.
CCCC needed 32 runs off 24 balls. The score looked very achievable with two well
settled batsmen at the pitch. Then came a bad call and Bharat was run out. It
was devastating for Bharat himself and CCCC. All of CCCC was looking forward to
see Bharat making his 100.
Dev went in to bat and not having been settled, could not make a single run in
the remaining balls off that over. Then Kalyan started to thrash every ball that
he faced. The batsmen knew they did not want to loose any more wickets as every
ball was important. CCCC reached 182 at the end of the 28th over. Six more
valuable runs came off the 29th overs and the score now was 188 for 29 overs.
Now CCCC needed 9 runs off the last 6 balls. Dev and Kalyan added 5 more runs
off the first 3 balls with 1 wide. Then Dev tried to hit a boundary to win but
was caught at the cover. Kalyan was now at the strike with Parag as his partner.
Last 2 balls of the match were remaining and CCCC needed 4 runs to win. Everyone
was tense and the hearts were beating faster. Kalyan took a deep breath and
checked his inner sense, took a quick look at the team and found the fighting
spirit. The 5th ball was hit soaring to the skies into the oblivion, never to be
found again! IT WAS A MASSIVE SIX.
Needless to say that our MEN of the match were Bharat and Kalyan.
Our special thanks to Shastri from GRCC team, who came early and showed good
understanding of MACC rules and kept the game spirit alive.
Our thanks to Irfan Hasan of PCC for his eagerness to help us find the stay near
the ground and to help get the game started early.