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Match 11: GE versus Boltz

3^rd August 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)

Boltz won the toss and elected to bat

The two unbeaten teams from Group A squared off against each other. The long and powerful batting lineup of Boltz versus the all round strength of GE promised a lot more than what panned out over the next three hours after Sandeep won the toss and elected to bat.

Sandeep pushed himself to open the batting and it lasted all of one ball. He square drove the first ball of the match to Arvind at point and took off for a non existent single. Arvind swooped in and threw it to the keeper to bring GE their first wicket – a gift of sorts on a lazy Saturday morning.

Exactly two overs later, it was action replay as Arvind this time chose to throw it to the bowler for the run out. The Buy One Get One offer seemed to be the order of the day with Boltz.

Boltz, true to their batting depth kept coming at the GE bowlers but struggled to put any decent partnerships (a highest partnership of 25 for the 7th wicket is a story in itself). All the while GE’s bowlers and fielders had the Boltz batsmen in a tight leash. Only Jyoti and Vikas had the measure of GE’s bowling, but didn’t produce big enough scores to hurt GE. For GE, the slightly erratic Mallikarjun was benefited immensely by the pressure built at the other end, especially by Arvind, as Boltz’s batsmen tried to go after him and often lost their wickets. Mallikarjun’s 5 for 29 hastened a struggling Boltz innings to a quick end in the 17th over for a paltry 95.

Sandeep took a chance defending a low target by opening with the left-arm spin of Aseem. Aseem had Shimjith caught at point with his second ball and the bizarre batting day continued to chug along in its merry way. Soon, Amit batting at 3 was sent back by Aseem and the possibility of another collapse loomed.

GE’s batting mainstays Rajnikanth and Arvind would have none of it as they built a strong partnership. Rajnikanth was his usual self in taking the attack to Boltz’s bowlers while Arvind seems to relish repairing torn innings and be there at the end. He did so for the third time in as many matches this tournament.

The rate picked up immensely as the pair spent more time at the crease. Rajnikanth helped himself to another half-century, with the straight six being the highlight of his innings. The win soon came half-way into the 15th over.

Sandeep rued a miserable day all round and hoped that his team would bounce back in the remaining games.

Brief scores: Boltz 95 all out in 16.1 overs (Jyoti 31 (34b, 4X4), Vikas 22 (21b, 3X4, 1X6), Mallikarjun 5/29) lost to GM96/2 in 14.3 overs (Rajnikanth 59 not out (45b, 8X4, 1X6), Arvind 27 not out (34 b, 2X4), Aseem 2/20) by 8 wickets

Full scorecard of the match can be found here

Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here

Performer of the Match: Mallikarjun MVP Points – 18.3 (Bowling 18.3)

Post-match presentation:

Match 12: Unisys versus EMC

3^rd August 2013 (11 am – 2 pm)

EMC won the toss and elected to bat

In start contrast to the morning game, this was a contest where both teams were looking for their first win of the tournament. Both teams were coming into the game having  suffered defeats over the last few weeks.

EMC won the toss and elected to bat first – a sign of improving confidence (they had inserted the opposition in previous occasion). Their captain and perhaps their best batsman, Krishna got out for a duck in the first over to Sanjeev. Ramesh, opening the batting today, looked steady with the bat though he was dodgy between the wickets.

Unisys’s opening bowlers were steady and kept the EMC batsmen in check in the powerplay overs. A change of bowling massively altered the pace of the game.  Mallikarjun came into the bowling attack and immediate accounted for the wickets of Umesh and Jeethendra.

But his bowling fell away drastically as Kushal went after him initially and when Fredrick eventually joined Ramesh, the fielding was losing its wheels too as he was gifted two over-thrown boundaries of the first two balls he faced.

For the best part of the next 12 overs the batting pair of Ramesh and Fredrick tore into Unisys’s bowling that was considerably weakened by the absence of its regular captain Harish. The pair was relentless in its strokeplay as boundaries were struck with great regularity. Soon, Ramesh brought up his half-century and kept pressing onwards though he looked tired. Fredrick fell with on ball left in the innings, but he had done his bit in ensuring that Unisys would have to chase a massive total to defeat them.

Chasing 160 to win, Unisys opted to come out swinging and they targeted Suresh initially. Though Vivek and Sharath lost their wickets while on the lookout for quick runs, it was Sanjeev who looked to be in total control. His balance was good as he flicked boundaries on either side of the square-leg umpire when the bowlers bowled straight. He was able to showcase deft hands and touch play when the fine-leg was brought inside the circle and he beat them with regularity.

Sanjeev found and able ally in Vikram. Vikram, who plays more with his hands and not his full arms was contrasting in style to the flourishing mannerisms of Sanjeev in play, but equally effective. He found power when he needed it and when he punched them, he found enough timing.

The pair soon had the captain and bowlers confused for field placement and lines to bowl as all they tried was being sent to the fence. It was inevitable in the end that Unisys won the game quite easily with 14 balls to spare.

Brief scores: EMC 159/6 in 20 overs (Ramesh 69 not out (58b, 11X4), Fredrick 47 (35b, 3X4, 2X5), Mallik 2/49) lost to Unisys 162/2 in 17.4 overs (Sanjeev 76 not out (50b, 10X4), Vikram 46 (36b, 7X4), Jeethendra 1/21) by 8 wickets

Full scorecard of the match can be found here

Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here

Performer of the Match: Sanjeev – MVP points 27.97 (Batting: 20.29 Bowling: 7.68)

Post-match presentation:

Match 13: CECC versus THBS

4^th August 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)

THBS won the toss and elected to field

Overnight drizzle had greased the outfield a little as THBS won the toss and inserted CECC into bat. CECC’s openers Goutham and Harsha soon got off their team to a quick start with 26 runs coming in the first 3 overs. Shreyas then produced a sterling over generating steep bounce off a length troubling both openers. It was a sign of things to come as THBS settled on a decent length from which none of the CECC batsmen could break the shackles from.

Both openers were soon sent back as THBS made a sterling comeback to end the powerplay on a high having reduced CECC to 35/2. The pattern of struggling to get legs into the innings continued as Jobin and Shoukath found it difficult to force pace. Jobin soon was castled and the Gokul who joined Shoukath in the middle resorted to safety first option.

Shoukath too fell looking to up the ante after another promising steady partnership. Gokul and Ashsish struggled with a nagging middle-overs spell of 4 overs for 13 by Arun. The restless pair tried to make up for the many dot balls at the other end with mixed results. And soon the disappointing CECC batting performance closed at 100 at the end of 20 overs.

Chasing 5 an over can often mess with the approach of the chasing team. THBS started off with aggressive intent as both openers – Lalith and Arun – looked to go over the top with mixed results. Crisp lofted drives were interspersed with many play and misses. Some connections – like in the case with Arun – sent the ball out of the ground and misses – as was with both openers cost them their wickets.

CECC kept the field up making THBS to go over the top. With the opening pair having reduced THBS to two down for not a lot in the powerplay overs, the game was still in the balance. It all changed rapidly as Bhargav came in to bowl.

Managing massive inswing with a bit of pace he repeatedly found the stumps in a memorable spell of swing bowling. THBS batsmen were caught between being aggressive and assertive and kept losing wickets as Bhargav sliced through the entire middle-order with his pace and swing. He was ably supported by Jobin in keeping the runs down at the other end which meant that THBS were to take risks against Bhargav and they came up short.

A total of 6 wickets in a little over 3 overs changed the game on its head and Bhargav played catalyst in CECC defending a very low total.

Brief scores: CECC 100/5 in 20 overs (Gokul 26 not out (31b, 1X4), Ashish 19 (28b, 1X4), Arun 2/8) beat THBS 78 all out in 13.1 overs (Vibhav 15 (11b, 2X4), Bhargav 6/13, Shoukath 2/18) by 22 runs

Full scorecard of the match can be found here

Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here

Performer of the Match: Bhargav – MVP points 32.59 (Bowling: 32.59)

Post-match presentation:

Match 14: NSN versus Wowzers

4^th August 2013 (11 am – 2 pm)

Wowzers won the toss and elected to bowl

Wowzers won the toss. That’s just about the only thing that went right for them through the game against table toppers NSN.

Rakesh hurt his ankle while bowling and it soon reduced Wowzers to a bowler less. Having already accounted for two NSN batsmen by then, it was a massive blow to Wowzers. Soon recurring issues of extras hurt Wowzers badly even though they managed to bowl enough good deliveries to keep producing wickets they were unable to build any sustenance of pressure which hurt their chances of keep the run flow in check.

NSN capitalised on Wowzers’ largesse on a day when not many of their batsmen could build on Wowzers’s wayward ways. Only Deb seemed to be in the mood for a long haul as the rest were looking to bash quick runs and invariably perished. With a score of 100 looming at the end of 12 overs NSN managed to give away 5 wickets to open the danger of being bowled out without consuming their overs.

Captain Gangadhar and Manish played with calm heads and feasted on the loose balls on offer as Wowzers’s bowling started to wilt after Karthik finished his overs in the last 3 overs and took their team to a big total of 162.

The batting of Wowzers, if anything, was even more disappointing than their batting and Lalmani went about dismantling its top order with ease. He reduced Wowzers to 18/5 in less than 5 overs to shut the game down completely. Only Karthik backed up his good bowing with another spirited fighting performance with the bat that seemed to be lacking in most of his teammates. He played handsome strokes and remained unbeaten on 22 at the end of the innings.

It was inevitable that Lalmani who had taken the third 5-wicket haul of the weekend should end the match with a direct hit from mid-off to run out Rakesh.

With the win NSN move to the top of Group A with 6 points.

Brief scores: NSN 162/6 in 20 overs (Deb 39 (41b, 3X4, Manish 28 not out (20b, 4X4), Rakesh  2/20) beat Wowzers 45 all out in 10.2 overs (Karthik 22 not out (21 b, 2X4), Lalmani 5/14, Gangadhar 2/1) by 117 runs

Full scorecard of the match can be found here

Full match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here

Performer of the Match: Lalmani – MVP points 32.65 (Bowling: 28.65 Fielding 4)

Post-match presentation:

Points Table

Upcoming Games:

10th August

• 7:30 am – GE versus EMC
• 11 am – Boltz versus IDM Cricketers

11th August

• 7:30 am – Wowzers versus THBS
• 11 am – CECC versus ACT
• 2 pm – CECC versus NSN