The CouchExpert

Author Archive

TCE T20 Championship Week 6 Round-Up: GE and NSN set up title clash

Posted: September 9, 2013 by The CouchExpert in Club Cricket, Cricket, TCE T20 Championship
Tags: ACT, Boltz, CECC, EMC, GE, IDM Cricketers, NSN, THBS, The CouchExppert T20 Championship, Unisys, Wowzers

Match 21: IDM Cricketers (A2) versus THBS (B4)

17^th August 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)

THBS won the toss and elected to bat

In what turned out to be a a low scoring thriller with a lot of needle between the sides, another poor batting display by THBS is what cost them in the end.

Opting to bat first, THBS put Siddharth up the order in a bit to change things up a bit and it lasted all of one ball as Goutham sent him back for a first ball duck. The old and trusted pairing of Lalit and Arun were left to take on the new ball from the second ball on the innings.

Arun continued his very fine tournament with the ball (also with the ball and also behind the wickets) by taking the new ball bowlers on. While he looked his confident fluent self, Lalit struggled against Goutham and Goutham soon sent him back for a duck as well.

Match wagonwheel. © The CouchExpert

Goutham’s first spell would prove to be a decisive factor in this game as his miserly overs and two strikes at the top also accounted for captain Chandan and the other form batsman Shreyas too to leave THBS tottering. With Arun holding fort with Vishal for a bit, a recovery of sorts looked promising, but the dismissal of Arun in the 14th over, put paid to any of those hopes as Nikhil ran through the lower order and had THBS bowled out in the 18th ovr for a paltry 87.

Chasing a modest total, Swayam and Nitin began cautiously looking to see off the threat of the new ball. The pair showed restraint in strokeplay and it worked in the sense of not losing wickets. Half way through, 44 for no loss seemed a perfect position to be in, but losing Nithin just past the half-way mark and Goutham to the next ball kept THBS’s spirits and hopes very much alive.

Swayam, continued his impressive run with the bat with another fine knock as he held the innings together. But a bumper to his head shook him a bit and he soon was out with the victory still another 30-plus runs away. A lot of needling and verbal volleys were exchanged in this final leg of the innings, but captain Kapil and Asheesh held fort to bring up what would be a comfortable win in the end.

Brief scores: THBS 86 all out in 17.3 overs (Arun 39 (41b, 3X4, 1X6), Vishal 13 not out (21b, 1X4), Nikhil 4/10, Goutham 3/7) lost to IDM Cricketers 87/3 in 18.5 overs (Nitin 22 (29b, 4X4), Kapil 18 not out (19b, 2X4), Madhusudhan 2/16) by 6 wickets

Full scorecard with wagonwheel, pitch-map is available here.

Full scorecard with individual performance chart can be downloaded from here.

Performer of the Match: Goutham – MVP points 18.77

Post-match presentation:

Match 22: Boltz (A3) versus CECC (B3)

17^th August 2013 (2:30 pm – 5:30 pm)

Boltz won the toss and elected to bat

Gokul took a tumbling catch at short midwicket to send back Aseem off Gaurav in the second over as Gaurav followed it up with the wicket of Praveen soon after. Botlz though fought back with Sachin and captain Sandeep, coming off a an injury.

Sachin was a tad lucky as his aggressive streak streak also produced chances only for the CECC fielders to spill them repeatedly. Captain Sandeep was let off by his counterpart Goutham as well.

Gokul though produced a fine spell as he sent back both Sachin and Sandeep in the same over to tilt the scales even once again. But Vikas and Nagaraj produced a brutal finish to the innings that produced 50-plus runs in the last 5 overs. The partnership had the fielders and bowlers scurrying as a the final kick pushed the score upwards of 140 and set CECC a stiff target.

Match wagonwheel. © The CouchExpert

CECC’s hot-and-cold batting came back to bite them on the back as the top order stuttered against Nagaraj who followed up his hard hitting innings with a wonderful spell with the new ball. Goutham was sent back in the first over and Shoukath was run out not long after as CECC struggled to shake off the slow start. Harsha continued to fight in a promising partnership with Jobin as both found their feet as spinners came along.

Things went astray when Harsha hit a long hop straight down the deep mid-wicket’s throat. Gokul and Gautam came and went as Jobin was left to wage a lone battle. When has was run out for 31, the pressure of the chase proved too much as Boltz coasted to a comfortable win in the end.

Brief scores: Boltz 143/6 in 20 overs (Nagaraj 35 not out (19b, 3X6), Sachin 32 (32b, 3X4), Gokul LN 2/26, Gaurav 2/30) beat CECC 118 allout in 19.4 overs (Jobin 31 (31b, 4X4), Harsha 24 (23b, 4X4), Naveen 2/6, Sachin 2/24, Avinash 2/26) by 25 runs.

Full scorecard with wagonwheel, pitch-map is available here.

Full scorecard with individual performance chart can be downloaded from here.

Performer of the Match: Nagaraj – MVP points 19.68

Post-match presentation:

Match 23: Unisys (A4) versus ACT (B2)

18^th August 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 pm)

ACT won the toss and elected to bat

ACT won the toss and elected to bat in this crucial league game for them. A win for them would force NSN to win their last match to qualify as group toppers to play the tournament finals. A lot at state for ACT going into the game. For Unisys though, Boltz’s victory over CECC meant they would qualify for as the 4th team from their group irrespective of the result.

A rather sedate Vinay was the first to leave after a mix-up with his opening partner and captain Sharath. Their best batsman and also the tournament’s best, Bharath walked in and looked to dominate from the word go. A steady partnership developed between the two and Bharath looked good to continue his outstanding run in the tournament when Sanjeev struck him. Soon Sharath and Deepak joined him in the hut as Unisys applied the squeeze on run scoring through Mallikarjun and the others picked wickets around him as a result.

Match wagonwheel. © The CouchExpert

Then, a crucial innings by Ajay in a good partnership with Bavesh pushed ACT above 110 which looked highly unlikely. But for the switch-hit that eventually proved his demise, Ajay looked in prime touch as he tackled all bowlers with aplomb. And a total of 114 was a fighting total given how well ACT’s bowlers were bowling through this tournament.

Chasing under 6 an over seemed to bring a relaxed approach by Unisys as their top order approached the target with great confidence though Bharath was out in the powerplay overs. Harish looked in prime touch and Sandeep looking solid, the team 50 was raised under 8 overs and the chase looked on course for an easy coast to victory.

Thomas, coming back from a leg injury soon struck a crucial blow and sent back Harish, With his stuttering run-up and low arm trajectory with a slight bend at delivery stride, he got the ball to skid on to the batsmen and kept them honest as ACT built pressure through Ajay with his accurate off-spin from the other end,

As ACT build pressure through spinners, overs were churned quickly over without conceding too many runs. Rohit and Shithu applied the squeeze as runs came to a grinding halt,

Rakesh though broke through with tremendous big hitting to keep Unisys in the hunt. His entertaining and enterprising 30 thought still was not enough as ACT held their nerve as Bavesh produced an outstanding last over to land his team a close but satisfying 6 run win that provisionally put ACT on top of Group B.

Brief scores: ACT 114/9 in 20 overs (Ajay 29 (24b, 4X6), Bavesh 24 (26b, 1X4), Kaushik 3/25, Prahshanth M 2/22) beat Unisys 106/8 in 20 overs (Rakesh 30 not out (28b, 2X4, 1X6), Thomas 2/19, Shithu 2/19) by 8 runs.

Full scorecard with wagonwheel, pitch-map is available here.

Full scorecard with individual performance chart can be downloaded from here.

Performer of the Match: Ajay N – MVP points 12.97

Post-match presentation:

The video is inverted, it can be viewed here.

Match 24: EMC (A5) versus NSN (B1)

18^th August 2013 (11:30 am – 2 pm)

EMC won the toss and elected to bat

ACT winning their last game meant the pressure was on the group leaders NSN to win their last league game to remain on top to qualify for the main finals of the tournament. And they looked up for the fight from the word go.

A brilliant run out by Satya in the first over sent back Chirag and NSN had already established a vice-like hold on the game from the first over. NSN didn’t let the opportunity go to try out a different bowling combination as Vidyasagar opened the bowling and held back Lalmani for a different role.

Match wagonwheel. © The CouchExpert

As the batting innings wore on and only Ramesh seemingly having the bearings to counter the challenges offered by the spin and medium pace combination of NSN bowlers.

Almost all NSN bowlers got a go as EMC never threatened to take the attack to the bowling allowing NSN to rotate bowlers and experiment at will. With Ramesh getting out in the 15th over, it was as best as EMC could do to stutter close to 100 at the end of their innings as Saravanan and an injured Krishna found some runs at the end.

NSN stuck to their mantra of opening with their regulars – Prakhar and Avinash – and the pair produced another good start as runs came in torrents in the early overs as EMC bowling struggled for consistency. Both openers rarely looked in trouble and looked good to finish the game by themselves as they raced to 50 in the powerplay overs.

Jeethendra though provided his team the much needed relief as he sent back both openers soon after powerplay. NSN chose to send their players that hadn’t had much of a hit so far in the series a go.

Ankit took the chance well as his high back-lift and flourishing follow through left-handed batting lit up a dull game with some sparkling strokeplay at the end. His off-shin was sharp in the game and with him finding runs at the end, he was the Player of the Match.

Brief scores: EMC 96/2 in 20 overs (Ramesh 35 (54b, 2X4), Saravanan 21 not out (20b, 1X4), Ankit 2/23) lost to NSN 98/3 in 12.5 overs (Avinash 35(31b, 2X4), Prakhar 27(22b, 2X4), Jeethendra 3/32) by 8 wickets.

Full scorecard with wagonwheel, pitch-map is available here.

Full scorecard with individual performance chart can be downloaded from here.

Performer of the Match: Ankit – MVP points 14.46

Post-match presentation:

Match 25: GE (A1) versus Wowzers (B5)

18^th August 2013 (2:30 pm – 5:30 pm)

GE won the toss and elected to bat

GE won the toss in a game they had very little pressure. Their net run rate was very high that even a loss guaranteed them a place in the finals. Like NSN, they chose to experiment a bit with the batting and bowling combinations a bit.

For starters, captain Abhishek pushed himself up the order and produced a chancy by stroke filled 79. His partner and one of the shining lights of the tournament Rajnikanth skied a lofted drive to be out for a low score in this game. Amit and Dheeraj batted up the order even as Abhishek was making the most of the many spilled chances Wowzers were guilty of giving him.

Match wagonwheel. © The CouchExpert

Amit and Dheeraj had short stays, but Harsha stuck around for a bit to be involved in a 56 run partnership with Abhishek in under 5 overs. Abhishek looked good to get to a hundred when he was out in the 15th over for 79. The scoring rate dipped at the fall of his wicket but a decent finish by Bhaskar ensured the work of Abhishek was not wasted as GE ended with 174.

Chasing a steep target, Muzaffer slammed the first ball he faced from Dheeraj over mid on for a massive six. Dheeraj struck immediately trapping Muzaffer in front the next ball. Suresh and Ravi looked good and as has been their bane through the tournament, converting starts to meaningful scores let Wowzers down again.

Ravi and Karthik looked to be in good flow as GE moved to rotating their fringe bowlers after the burst from regulars Dheeraj and Abhhisek Pathak. Vivek, Dyaneshwar and Ankit all got their chance to roll their arm over as Wowzers’s innings took a nose dive following the wickets of Karthik and Ravi. Vinoth bowled his offspin well to pick up 2/22 in the absence of regular frontline spinners Arvind and Mallikarjun.

Captain Abhishek rounded off an impressive league phase for his team by bowling himself and picking up the last wicket to give his team a massive win.

Brief scores: GE 174/9 in 20 overs (Abhishek 79 (54b, 7X4, 2X6), Harsha 20 (16b, 2X4), Rajesh 3/33, Karthik 2/25, Rakesh 2/31) beat Wowzers 120 all out in 19.4 overs (Ravi 30 (38b, 3X4), Karthik 15 (12b,2X4), Vivek 2/3, Vinoth 2/22) by 54 runs.

Full scorecard with wagonwheel, pitch-map is available here.

Full scorecard with individual performance chart can be downloaded from here.

Performer of the Match: Abhishek – MVP points 18.29

Post-match presentation:

Points Table

TCE T20 Championship Week 5 Round-Up: GE and NSN Top Groups

Posted: September 3, 2013 by The CouchExpert in Club Cricket, Cricket, TCE T20 Championship

Match 15: GE versus EMC

10^th August 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)

EMC won the toss and elected to bat

EMC won the toss and elected to bat. After a much improved batting display against Unisys, this seemed a good move.

After losing Chirag early, Ramesh and captain Krishna steadied the ship with a steady and solid looking partnership with tight batting in the powerplay overs. Ramesh in particular seemed to have taken off from his impressive show against Unisys the previous week as he played the senior partner in the partnership.

Srikanth played a pretty innings for GE. © The CouchExpert

The cautious approach turned into a slow approach as EMC were unable to wriggle themselves out of the slow yet steady start to capitalize on it. With the falling of Krishna immediately after the powerplay overs, innings came to a crawl as the runrate dipped below 5 at the halfway mark. Only the introduction of Robin began to hasten the innings as runs started to flow in boundaries.

However, any chances of pushing the score north of 130 fell aside with the wickets of Robin and the well set Ramesh within 10 runs of each other and the innings petered to a paltry 101/8 at the end of 20 overs. All the bowlers for GE had good returns to show for their toil.

Chasing a modest 102 for victory, Rajnikanth and Raja, coming back from an injury, started brightly before Raja was castled by Ramesh. Srikanth, playing for the first time today, matched Rajni stroke for stroke as the two tore into a modest EMC attack. Srikanth’s back cuts and elegance matched the power of Rajni as the pair marched at 10 runs an over and achieved the target with ease half way into the 11th over.

Brief scores: EMC101/8 in 20 overs (Ramesh 31 (43b, 2X4), Abhinav 2/10, Mallikarjun 2/20) lost to GE 102/1 in 10.3 overs (Rajnikanth 54 not out (35b, 8X4, 1X6), Srikanth 31 not out (24b, 6X4), Ramesh 1/39) by 9 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: Rajnikanth – MVP points 33.45 (Batting: 18.45 Fielding: 15)

Post-match presentation:

The post match ceremony video is inverted. You can watch it here.

Match 16: IDM Cricketers versus Boltz

10^th August 2013 (2:30 pm – 5:30 pm)

A slightly errant Boltz took on a rather confident IDM Cricketers unit in the battle of the equals. Praveen replaced Sandeep at the top for this game as Sandeep was out injured.

Boltz conceded early ground as some indifferent strokeplay and running between the wickets reduced them 27 for 3 in the 5^th over. Jyoti joined a belligerent Sachin in the middle as they wrested the initiative back with a good partnership with a counter attack. IDM Cricketers pulled it back quickly as Jyoti was sent back in the 9^th over.

Boltz batting innings. © The CouchExpert

IDM Cricketers batting innings. © The CouchExpert

His exit sparked a mini collapse as Boltz lost three quick wickets to be 6 down at the end of 10 overs. Sachin, though, continued to counter attack relentlessly as he stood between a mediocre total and decent one for his side. He controlled the lower order with calculated chips for twos and clear hits for boundaries and hogged the strike as often as he could. His 42-ball 76 went a long way in Boltz recovering from a perilous position half-way though to get to a decent total of 141 even though they were bowled out in the 19^th over. His innings set up a challenging chase for IDM Cricketers.

Swayam’s unbeaten half-century guided his team to a 9-wicket win. © The CouchExpert

IDM Cricketers’ openers Swayam and Melvin began solidly in pursuit of 142. Vikas generated good lift with the new ball, but the batsmen were content to see him through with minimal risks taken against him. They seemed to have a game plan to not lose wickets up early so as to launch an attack later. The openers found easy runs against Aniket and therefore were content to keeping things simple against the more consistent Vikas and left-arm spin of Aseem.

The openers milked the bowling to go at 6.5 to 7 an over for about 12 overs after which they looked to break free. A canny Avinash kept them at bay with clever bowling and field changes. With 6 overs to go, it looked to be anyone’s game when Melvin tore into Raja by hitting him for two huge sixes. The momentum gathered in the 20-plus runs in the over was too hard for Boltz to recover from though they managed to get Melvin out in the 18^th over.

With Swayam having a great time of it with the bat, he managed to see his team through quite comfortably with 9 wickets and 2 balls to spare in the last over.

Brief Scores: Boltz 141 all out in 18.4 overs (Sachin 76 (42b, 10X4, 2X6), Gretting 3/30, Melvin 2/20) lost to IDM Cricketers 142/1 in 19.4 overs (Swayam 66 not out (69b, 12X4), Melvin 48 (39b, 6X4, 2X6), Vikas 1/18) by 9 wickets

Full scorecard of the match can be found hereFull match report along with individual reports can be downloaded from here
Performer of the Match: Melvin – MVP points 24.68 (Batting: 13.18 Fielding: 2 Bowling: 9.5)Post-match presentation:

Match 17: THBS vs Wowzers

11^th August 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)

Wowzers won the toss and elected to field

It was a crucial match for both teams as both teams were looking for their first win in this Group B clash.

For THBS, it was their batting that was worrying coming into this game. And their batsmen responded to the challenge in kind. Openers Lalit and Arun were aggressive as they Karthik and Salvder. Arun was the aggressor as Lalit provided good support as the openers looked to race towards a century partnership. However Ravi got Arun just after he went past his half-century and Suresh made it a double blow to pull things back a little for Wowzers as he accounted for Lalit’s wicket in the next over.

Wowzers batting innings. © The CouchExpert

THBS batting innings. © The CouchExpert

The hard hitting Shreyas took it upon himself to ensure that his team did not mess up the wonderful start its openers gave them and played the aggressor in pushing his team upwards of 160. He found good support first with Dheeraj and then Vaibhav at the end as he motored the innings along at above 8 an over. He ended up unbeaten on 46 and ensured that Wowzers had to get to 174 to topple them.

Wowzers started swinging from the hip from the word go as they started with a bang managing to go at 10 an over. Suresh and Muzaffer though could not keep in going for long as they both were dismissed in the 5^th and 6^th overs. Wowzers continued to go for it, but THBS kept chipping away at the wickets without letting any partnership get out of hand. Varun played a crucial role here by picking up wickets and also keeping the runs down in a good partnership with Vaibhav for support from the other end. The two of them ate away at the middle overs keeping the Wowzers’s batsmen started of boundaries as they became more and more impatient. The strokeplay became more uncouth and the coda they needed never came at the end as they fell short by 36 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: Rajnikanth – MVP points 33.45 (Batting: 18.45 Fielding: 15)

Post-match presentation:

The post match ceremony video is inverted. You can watch it here.

Match 18: CECC vs ACT

11^th August 2013 (11 am – 2 pm)

CECC won the toss and elected to bat

In the closer of the two groups, Group B, both CECC and ACT came into this game with a realistic chance of being the group toppers at the end of the league phase. In that context, this would be a crucial game for both teams to win.

CECC got off to a rousing start with the openers Harsha and Goutham getting stuck into ACT’s new ball bowling. Both of them found it easy against Bhavesh and Benjamin, both of whom were slightly erratic with lengths, lines and extras. The openers ticked off the loose stuff and seemed content otherwise to keep the good ones out. With more loose stuff on offer than good ones, fifty was raised within the first 5 overs.

Sharath then changed the gameplan by taking the pace off the ball completely as he brought in the off-spin of Ajay at one end and Rohit at the other. Harsha who was in prime touch was castled by Ajay in the 6^th over and it set about a sequence of events that was dramatic to detail.

Batsman after batsman tried to bat at the same tempo of the powerplay and were done in by the simple plan executed by Ajay to great effect: keeping the ball outside off. Soon he had batsmen groping for timing and had batsmen caught everytime they looked to go after him. He was even cunning to turn some and skid some, a sequence of two balls that accounted for Gautam Rajagopalan, his fourth scalp and third in the eighth over of the innings. With that the innings was clearly detailed and CECC was now a train without its engine heading for definite crash,

CECC batting innings. © The CouchExpert

ACT batting innings. © The CouchExpert

Ajay came back to take out the other opener Goutham in the 10^th over of the innings followed by Gokul to pick up his fifth and sixth innings just to make sure that his signature would be written all over this innings. CECC’s innings came to a crashing halt in 14 overs as they lost all 10 wickets across a span of 26 runs in just under 9 overs.

Having reduced CECC to a paltry 80, ACT came out swinging in a bid to enhance its NRR. CECC went on the offensive with aggressive field placement in an effort to induce some chaos – their only chance of winning the game – and for a bit, it seemed to work as Vinay holed out to mid-off and Sharath to short cover.

Bharath stepped in to play a capital innings, a flurry of boundaries off his blade scorched the uneven patches of green on the CECG outfield, but he made sure he sent any close-in fielders scurrying for cover. The flurry turned to a torrent as he drowned CECC quickly in his majestic onside play. The death came quickly for CECC in just the 9^th over of the innings as Bharath ended the game with a six over long on.

Brief Scores: CECC 80 all out in 14 overs (Harsha 29 (20b, 5X4), Goutham (20 (22b, 2X4), Ajay N 6/13, Shithu 2/1) to ACT 86/2 in 8.4 overs (Bharath 49 not out (28b, 10X4, 1X6), Deepak 25 not out (17b, 6X4), Goutham 1/18, Gaurav 1/19) by 9 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: Ajay N – MVP Points – 37.68 points

Post-match presentation:

Match 19: CECC vs NSN

11^th August 2013 (2:30 pm – 5:30 pm)

CECC won the toss and elected to bat

CECC were playing back-to-back games and coming off the resounding defeat against ACT, they needed a win against table toppers NSN to stand a chance of topping the table. Again, CECC on winning the toss chose to bat first.

Like in the earlier game, the openers Goutham and Harsha started brightly against Lalmani and captain Ganga, both of whom were guilty of pitching it too full and offering runs square of the wicket on either side. Harsha feasted on such offerings being very severe on Lalmani in particular in the powerplay as his 2 overs went for 30. Ganga settled on a line outside off stump with gentle outswingers only to lose the plot in his second over drifting to the legs of the CECC openers who didn’t need a second invitation to cash in on them.

A punishing 78 by Harsha was the highlight of the washout. © The CouchExpert

Fifty was raised in the fourth over this time and by the end of the powerplay NSN were taken for 71. The openers slowed down a little to consolidate as they milked the NSN bowling over the next 4 overs as they brought up a hundred partnership in 10 overs and stepped on the gas again.

The introduction of Avinash in the 12^th over proved to be a double-edged sword as he was taken for 17 runs but also accounted for the wicket of Goutham who hit a short ball straight to the hands of the waiting point fielder.

And unlike the earlier game, there was no collapse as the middle order capitalized on the start to keep going at 10 an over as Harsha orchestrated a tremendous innings which was cut short on the stroke of the 15^th over with Harsha primed for hundred of his own.

The skies opened at the beginning of the 18^th over to cut short a blazing little partnership between Jobin and Gautam R. What looked like a passing shower turned to sharp shower stopping the game for a good hour.

The shower resulted in NSN being set a target of 131 in 11 overs as per the Duckworth/Lewis rule. NSN took 10 off the first over before rain intervened again. When the game resumed, NSN were now set a revised target of 108 in 9 overs. They lost Prakhar looking to get after the bowling as he skied a high catch that when it came down to Sameer’s hands seemed to bring rain also with it.

Soon the rains returned in the 4^th over never to abate in time to finish the game and both teams were awarded a point each.

Brief Scores: CECC 174/3 in 17.1 overs (Harsha 78 (44b, 14X4), Goutham 44 (33b, 5X4), Avinash 1/16) vs NSN 24/1 in 3.1 overs chasing 108 in 9 overs (Ankit 10 not out (8b, 1X4), Goutham 1/5). Match abandoned.

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: Harsha (MVP points – 20.28)

Post-match presentation:

Match 20: ACT vs THBS

15^th August 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)

With CECC splitting points with NSN, ACT’s chances of finishing on top now lay in the permutation of winning their remaining games and hoping that NSN would lose their last league game. ACT won the toss and elected to bat against THBS who were coming off a resounding win themselves.

Vinay and Sharath were cautious in their approach as they avoided taking any untoward risk initially as THBS kept it tight as they have been through the tournament. Slowly, Sharath branched out to play some strokes as the score went past 50 and but the run rate still hovering just under run a ball.

THBS struck with the wickets of the openers within 13 runs of each other and Bharath chimed in to take control of the center stage. As has been the case the previous two games, he restored pace into the innings with his belligerent strokeplay. He flicked sixes with ease and swatted flicks to the legside boundary with disdain.

He controlled the pace of the innings and scored runs aplenty in the back end of the innings as ACT rattled over 80 runs in the last 9 overs of the innings. Bharath finished with a rapid unbeaten 52 as he ACT to 142.

Bharath’s innings was the difference between the two sides. © The CouchExpert

THBS’s batting had been suspect, more precisely their middle order in the first two games, but with them having put 173 in the last game over the weekend, the chase promised plenty of action,

As has been the norm with Lalit and Arun, both came out swinging. The powerplay seemed promising as the first 4 overs resulted in 33 runs but also accounted for both the openers.

Sharath soon resorted to spin and they responded in kind by first drying the boundaries and then even regular singles. At the half-way stage, THBS managed to stay in the contest by not losing any further wickets and their captain Chandan had played himself in along with Shreas and a charge to finish seemed the plot with 8 wickets still in hand.

Rohit struck to push THBS back by having Chandan caught and bowled. Shithu entered the fray and his quickish leg-breaks were too accurate for THBS to put away. He choked the runs out of batsmen and the suffocating batsmen holed out trying to hit out as the innings began to fall apart.

In the end, fittingly Bharath got to roll his arm over for two wickets as THBS were bowled out for 111.

Brief Scores: ACT 142/3 (Bharath 52 not out (41b, 3X4, 2X6), Sharath 33 (38b, 5X4), Madhusudhan 1/23, Arun 1/24) beat THBS 111 all out (Shreyas 18 (28b, 1X4), Shithu 3/13, Bharath 2/12) by 31 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: Bharath – MVP Points 23.26

Post-match presentation:

Points Table

TCE T20 Championship Week 4 Round-Up: GE and NSN post huge wins. CECC and Unisys also win.

Posted: August 9, 2013 by The CouchExpert in Club Cricket, Cricket, TCE T20 Championship
Tags: Boltz, CECC, EMC, GE, NSN, THBS, The CouchExppert T20 Championship, Unisys, Wowzers

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.

Boltz Batting Innings. © The CouchExpert

GE Batting Innings. © The CouchExpert

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.

Mallikarjun of GE took 5/29. © The CouchExpert

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.

EMC Batting Innings. © The CouchExpert

Unisys Batting Innings. © The CouchExpert

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.

Sanjeev with the MoM trophy. © The CouchExpert

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.

CECC Batting Innings. © The CouchExpert

THBS Batting Innings. © The CouchExpert

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.

Bhargav’s 6/13 is the best figures at the ground. © The CouchExpert

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 Batting Innings. © The CouchExpert

Wowzers Batting Innings. © The CouchExpert

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.

Lalmani’s 5/14 earned him the Man of the Match award. The CouchExpert

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

TCE T20 Championship Week 3 Round-Up: Wins for IDM Cricketers, NSN, ACT and Boltz

Posted: August 1, 2013 by The CouchExpert in Club Cricket, Cricket, TCE T20 Championship
Tags: ACT, Boltz, EMC, IDM Cricketers, NSN, THBS, The CouchExppert T20 Championship, Unisys, Wowzers

Match 7: IDM Cricketers versus Unisys

27^th July 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)

Unisys won the toss and elected to bat

Unisys seemed to have brushed off the blues of their last two games as they seemed positive as they came out to bat against IDM Cricketers. The openers seemed to be in a hurry and the first five overs yielded 54 runs as IDM Cricketers found it difficult to stem the flow of runs.

As is the wont with Unisys batsmen through the series, none of their batsmen were able to convert their starts into big runs as IDM Cricketers clawed their way back into the game through Ajit who ran through the Unisys middle order to finish with 4 for 13 in his 4 overs.

Swayam’s unbeaten 63 set up second straight win for IDM Cricketers. © The CouchExpert

“I just stuck to line and length and Sudhanshu was a great help at the other end,” said Ajit at the end of the game. Unisys’s captain Harish was also of a similar opinion, “We got of to a great start putting up 50-plus in the first 5 overs but did not capitalize on the start and ended with 138 at the end.”

IDM Cricketers’s captain Kapil seemed pleased with the fightback. “We were poor in the power play overs giving away runs at 11 an over almost. But we came back really well through Sudhanshu and Ajit to restrict them to 138.”

IDM Cricketers started in a similar vein to Unisys as their openers found form for second straight game in a row. Sudhanshu was at his punishing best again as he tore into Unisys bowling while Swayam played the anchor at the other end. Sudhanshu’s 28 consisted of 5 boundaries and Swayam stayed solid as they raced at 9 an over for 10 overs.

Swayam held fort even as he lost Sudhanshu and Melvin in a short span of time. He stayed unbeaten for second straight game in a row as he brought up his second straight half-century for the tournament. He remained unbeaten on 63 as IDM Cricketers brought up the win in the 18th over.

Brief scores: Unisys 138/5 in 20 overs (Bharath 31, Harish 18, Ajit 4/13) lost to IDM Cricketers 189/5 in 17.4 overs (Swayam 63 not out, Sudhanshu 28) by 5 wickets

Full scorecard is unavailable for this game.

Performer of the Match: Ajit – MVP points 21.68

Post-match presentation:

Match 8: Wowzers versus ACT

28^th July 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)

ACT won the toss and elected to bat first

It was a day where just about everything (barring a freak accident to Thomas who stepped on a ball hurt his ankle) went right for ACT. All their batsmen found form and managed to get quick runs. All their bowlers were spot on. When they hit the ball in the air, often the fielders overran the ball or simply dropped them.

Vinay and Sharath opened the batting and looked to be positive from the onset. Vinay was the aggressive of the two and also the chancier of the two. Often looking to go over the top, he quickly spread the field around with some clean hitting. He maneuvered the field brilliantly often by stepping out and hitting over the top and then waiting for the short ball and then putting them away. He pushed the mid-on wide with his flicks and then would charge down the wicket to hit over straight-mid on. He seemed to be two steps ahead of the bowler and fielding captain all the while. He was also lucky as he did give more than a chance to the long-on fielder only for him to badly misjudge the first one and then drop the next one.

ACT's batting innings. © The CouchExpert

Wowzers's batting innings. © The CouchExpert

Sharath on the other hand was keen to put Vinay back on strike as often as possible in the powerplay overs. He played pleasing drives and cuts himself but seemed content to anchor the innings. He would often take the odd calculated risk, but seemed to be working to a plan as runs flew in a torrent as the openers put on over 100 in the first 10 overs. Vinay finally ran out of lives in the 12^th over when he holed out. But he had produced an outstanding innings to give his team a massive start.

Bharath joined Sharath, who by now was well set to take over the mantle of quick scoring from Vinay. Sharath and Bharath produced outstanding flicks to the legside in contrasting styles – Sharath all along the ground and Bharath often managing one-bounce hits to the fence. Sharath fell 2 short of his half-century, but Bharath was keen to push his team to a total closer to 200. 60 were added in the last 5 overs between Bharath and Deepak as ACT fell 11 short of 200.

Vinay and Sharath put on a century stand for the opening wicket. © The CouchExpert

Chasing 190 was going to be difficult against a good all-round bowling side like ACT and Wowzers understood the magnitude of that difficulty when Laxman was hit on the helmet grill by Benjamin in the second over. The batsman was run out as he wandered off the crease after being hit. ACT withdrew the appeal and let Laxman play. Both Bhavesh and Benjamin troubled the Wowzers’ openers and kept them honest with their pace and bounce. Bhavesh accounted for Laxman with a full swinging delivery.

Captain Ravi walked in and seemed to be in good nick as he started finding the boundaries from the start. His back-cut off the bowling of Benjamin being the highlight. With Suresh seemingly getting into the innings and looking solid at the other end, the prospect of an entertaining chase loomed.

It all changed when Benjamin was replaced by Shitender. Bowling quickish leg-breaks and often darting straight quicker balls, he troubled the batsmen. He produced a hat-trick in the 8^th over of the innings that killed the chase. His second ball of the over was a quick full toss down the legside which Ravi top-edged to give Paddy a swirling catch at short fine-leg. He had Suresh playing back to a quick ball that trapped him in front as the batsman went to hit it across the line and got hit on the back leg. He produced another quicker ball that hit the next batsman right in front of the middle-stump to bring up his hat-trick – and also the first at this ground.

Nani and Prithvi played out some pretty strokes in another attractive mini-partnership of 31 for the 5^th wicket before Ajay broke through with two wickets in two balls. Shitender came back to pick 2 more wickets with the last two balls of his spell to finish with 5 for 13 for the game that set up a massive 100-run win for ACT.

Brief scores: ACT 189/2 in 20 overs (Vinay P 57 (45b, 9X4), Sharath 48 (35b, 7X4), Bharath not out 46 (30b, 6X4), Lakshman 1/28) beat Wowzers 89 all out in 15.1 overs (Ravi 20 (17b, 3X4), Shithu 5/13, Ajay 3/21) by 100 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: Shitender – MVP points 31.68 (Bowling: 29.68 Fielding 2.0)

Post-match presentation:

Match 9: NSN versus THBS

28^th July 2013 (11:30 am – 2:30 pm)

THBS won the toss and elected to field

In a game that was under constant threat from the rains, THBS opted to bowl first perhaps thinking it best to chase in case the game was shortened because of the rain as historically it tends to favour the teams chasing under the Duckworth/Lewis method.

THBS captain Arun managed to get good nip off the surface and troubled both the NSN openers in his first over. But soon Avinash got the hang of the THBS bowlers and started to get inside the line and tuck the ball fine for boundaries. His partner Prakhar was solid at the other end and often pushed Avinash into taking the extra run everytime the ball went to the outfield. The openers opened up more as the first change bowlers Vaibhav and Dheeraj took a while to get their lines right.

NSN seemed to be on the way to a massive total when they reached 74 for 1 at the end of 10 overs with Avinash well set for a big score. His dismissal soon after slowed the runs down and THBS clawed their way back into the match with some tight bowling. Stand-in captain for the day Satya walked in and ensured that there was no more damage whilst accumulating runs with dabs and flicks to the outfield. He held an end up as Deb and Anil perished at the other end in the quest for quick runs as THBS bowlers found their radar. Even with Manish looking threatening to take the game away with his clean strikes, THBS bowled brilliantly to not concede more than a single boundary in the last 5 overs of the innings.

Chasing 134, THBS started off aggressively with Lalith in particular looking to take the attack to the bowlers. Manish for NSN had a mixed-bad bowling some very neat out swingers interspersed with boundary balls and Lalith cashed in. Lal provided the vital breakthrough for NSN when he sent back Lalith in the 5^th over. Vishal’s fun out soon after powerplay meant the game was in the balance at 35 for 2.

Rakes with the Man of the Match award. © The CouchExpert

Chandan and Shreyas played steadily to build a base for the final onslaught as they cut out risks and looked to rotate the strike. With 80 needed off the last 10 overs with 8 wickets in hand, they seemed to have played themselves into a good position to launch an attack. A very impressive Rakesh and an equally impressive Satya standing up to his medium pace soon accounted for both of them to push THBS back. Soon, it followed a similar pattern to NSN’s batting innings that struggled in the 2^nd half of its batting innings with boundaries hard to come by.

There were a few needless overthrows, but by and large, Satya and his team had a firm grip on the game by now and they eventually squeezed THBS batsmen of any momentum by drying out any boundaries at all. By the end the target was 16 too many for THBS.

Brief scores: NSN 133/6 in 20 overs (Avinash 44 (42b, 6X4), Satya 29 (30b), Shreyas 1/22) beat THBS 117/7 in 20 overs (Lalith 21 (15b, 4X4), Shreyas 21 (27b, 1X4), Rakesh 3/14, Deb 2/11) by 16 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: Rakesh – MVP points 16.65 (Batting: 0 Fielding: 0 Bowling: 16.65)

Post-match presentation:

Match 10: Boltz versus EMC

28^th July 2013 (2:30 pm – 5:30 pm)

Boltz won the toss and elected to bat

Boltz were coming off a good win last week while EMC were coming off a bad loss. Boltz won the toss and elected to bat.

EMC started off slightly better than they did with the ball last week as Ramesh gave them some stability with his medium-pace. Robin, on the other hand had an erratic day with the ball as Boltz’s openers Sachin and Aseem helped themselves to easy boundaries on both sides of the wicket. Sachin, other than the one ball that nipped back and hit him in the midriff seemed at ease punishing the EMC bowling. He perished slicing a drive to Fredrick at long off.

Captain Sandeep walked in and seemed edgy for the first few balls, but soon found his touch to be his fluent self again. Aseem on the other hand seemed to be enjoying himself as he repeatedly walked inside the line of the ball and punishing the ball to many legside boundaries. He was instrumental in keeping the runrate up and around 9 throughout his stay and looked good for many more than the 57 he made when he was runout.

Vikas had a lucky break to be dropped early at long on and he made the most of it by plundering runs all round the wicket as EMC bowling wilted under his onslaught. The fielders seemed to be distracted with the right-left combination at the crease and the bowlers’ lines also suffered as a result. Vikas’s whirlwind 49 propelled Boltz to a massive 192 at the end of 20 overs.

Vikas with the Man of the Match award. © The CouchExpert

Chasing a massive target, EMC’s captain Sreekrishna pushed himself up the order and seemed determined to go after Boltz’s bowling. Aniket and Vikas provided a steady start to Boltz without looking particularly threatening. Fredrick was the first to go in the 5^th over of the innings. But a very wayward Abishek struggled to get his line right and bowled and over with many wides. Sreekrishna, in the interim had played pleasing strokes to push the fielders back and looked set for a pretty good score when he top-edged a delivery from Abishek. The bowler dropped the straight-forward catch but ran Sreekrishna out as both batsmen found themselves in the middle of the pitch expecting the bowler to take the catch.

Boltz’s bowlers struggled for control as they conceded wides with constant regularity (a total of 30 wides in just over 17 overs), but the pressure of a huge chase ensured they kept chipping away at the wickets. Jeethu and Kushal had the wits about them to make the most of a very wayward Boltz attack as they strung together 41 runs for the 6th wicket in just a little over 4 overs. EMC’s innings folded up soon after as the lost the last 5 wickets for 8 runs to be bowled out for 133 in the 18^th over.

Brief scores: Boltz 192/5 in 20 overs (Aseem 56 (45b, 7X4, Harish 49 (25b, 6X4, 1X6), Chirag 1/21) beat EMC 133 all out in 17.4 overs (Kushal 23 (18 b, 3X4), Sreekrishna 22 (20b, 3X4), Vikas 2/13) by 59 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: Vikas – MVP points 17.96 (Batting: 10.45 Bowling: 7.51)

Post-match presentation:

Points Table

Upcoming Games:

3^rdAugust

7:30 am – GE versus BOLTZ
11 am – EMC versus Unisys

4^th August

7:30 am – THBS versus CECC
11 am – Wowzers versus NSN

TCE T20 Championship Week 2 Round-Up: GE and BOLTZ Post Wins. Mixed-bag for IDM Cricketers.

Posted: July 26, 2013 by The CouchExpert in Club Cricket, Cricket, TCE T20 Championship
Tags: Boltz, CECC, EMC, GE, IDM Cricketers, The CouchExppert T20 Championship, Unisys

Week 2 of The CouchExpert T20 Championship was marred with incessant rains on Saturday forcing the games to be pushed to a later date. On Sunday, GE and Boltz posted wins while IDM Cricketers won one of their two games on the day.

Match 4: UNISYS versus BOLTZ

21st July 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)

UNISYS won the toss and elected to bowl

Having lost their first game last week, Unisys opted to bowl first on winning the toss on a slightly damp outfield – result of incessant rains throughout the week.

Boltz opened with Sachin and Aseem and looked confident against a steady Unisys new ball attack. Sachin was his free flowing self though Aseem seemed to be struggling to force the pace initially and it was not a surprise when a strike-deprived Aseem was snared up by Harish in the 5th over of the match.

The powerplay yielded only 31 runs, but the heavy outfield did indicate that the scores would be on the lower side throughout the day. Captain Sandeep joined Sachin and the pair seemed to have got used to the pace of the wicket as they found gaps with regularity. The pace picked up as the pair added a further 36 runs in the next 5 overs when Sachin fell.

The heavy outfield ensured that the new batsman had to grind his way to quick runs with running between the wickets and Jyoti and Sandeep tried to up the ante with 8 wickets still in hand. A combination of Karthik and Mallikarjun denied Boltz any easy runs as the run rate was brought down to 6 after 14 overs. The pressure told on Boltz as the captain Sandeep was run out looking for those extra runs.

Things changed for the better for Boltz as Vikas walked in and showed tremendous ability to clear the long boundaries with his powerful hitting. Hitting through the field was a difficult proposition with the heavy outfield, But Vikas’s 14-ball unbeaten 30 with three huge sixes to mid-wicket in the last two overs pushed the total to 140 and set-up a challenging chase for Unisys.

Vikas followed-up his tremendous finish with the bat with a fiery opening burst with the wall and accounted for Unisys’s opener Vivek for a duck in the fourth over. Bharath, on the other end played a good hand and found support from Sharath first and Sanjeev next only for both promising partnerships to be broken just as they threatened to cut loose.

With 71 needed off the last 8 overs and 8 wickets in hand with a well set Bharath at the crease, Unisys seemed very much in the hunt before losing 3 wickets in the next 2 overs that set their chase back badly.

Unisys found it hard to recover for those set-backs particularly, and not withstanding the late fireworks from Sandeep and Mallikarjun they were always going to be short of the total and lost the game by 11 runs eventually.

Brief scores: BOLTZ 140/3 in 20 overs (Sandeep 41 (35b, 3X4), Sachin 33 (42b, 3X4), Vikas 30 not out (14b, 1X4, 3X6), Harish 1/23) beat UNISYS 129/8 in 20 overs (Bharath 35 (39b, 4X4), Vikas 3/17, Aseem 2/22) by 11 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: Vikas – MVP points 23.73 (Batting: 8.14 Bowling 14.59 Fielding 1)

Post-match presentationMatch 5: GE versus Unisys

21^st July 2013 (11 am – 2 pm)

GE won the toss and elected to bat first

GE won the toss and elected to bat for the second time in a roe in this tournament. Soon, their free flowing and attacking opening pair of Shimjith and Rajnikanth found it hard to tackle the tall IDM Cricketers new ball bowler Sathish. Sathish managed to extract considerable lift off the wicket and had them GE openers hobbling. Sathish had Shimjith caught behind in the first over with another delivery that bounced from a length.

Things turned bad for GE when its captain Abhishek perished in the second over. It brought Arvind who managed a half-century in the previous game to the middle. The pair of Rajnikanth and Arvind seemed determined to see off the very impressive Sathish and cut out loose strokes and managed to stitch a few overs together playing smart cricket.

Just as Rajnikanth seemed to be getting the hang of things, he played on to another short ball from Sathish leaving GE 3-down before the end of the powerplay overs.

It required the calm head of Dheeraj and Arvind to put the innings back on track. They relied on singles and hard running between the wickets to tick the scoreboard along. The left-arm spin of Sudhanshu along with the other slow bowlers – Nitin and Asheesh – kept GE in check throughout the batting innings as they struggled to build momentum into their innings. It was again left to Arvind to pull them out of the hole and he did that with tremendous planning and execution.

He ground out the difficult early overs and rotated the strike admirably to build a platform and opened up towards the end of the innings with some innovative strokeplay as he manufactured 35 runs in the last 3 overs to push GE’s total to 127 which was a fighting score nonetheless.

IDM Cricketers' Sudhanshu seen in action. © The CouchExpert

IDM Cricketers seemed to be in a hurry in the chase as Sudhanshu seemed to be following up his good bowling performance with a rapid start to the innings as he went after Abhishek. Nitin provided good company as the openers plundered runs in excess of 8 an over in the first three overs. With 27 up on the board just after 4 overs, the game was slipping away from GE’s grasp very quickly.

Then Dheeraj bowled the over that changed the game on its head and irrevocably so. Dheeraj knocked over the aggressive Sudhanshu with his first delivery. He sent back the other opener Nitin and captain Kapil off the fifth and sixth ball of the over to have IDM Cricketers tottering at 28/3.

Dheeraj came back to clean-up Swayam in his next over to knock the wind out of IDM Cricketers’ sails. Dheeraj’s spell had changed the fortunes of GE dramatically in 20 minutes and had IDM Cricketers reeling. Bhaskar took over the mantle from Dheeraj and delivered the knock-out punch with four wickets of his own as IDM Cricketers were bowled out in under 12 overs for a paltry 60.

“We bowled well and then we collapsed with the bat after a decent start,” said IDM Cricketers’s captain Kapil at the end of the game. On the other hand, Abhishek said, “We knew we had the bowling to defend a smallish target. Am happy that the bowlers responded well.”

Brief scores: GE 127/7 in 20 overs (Arvind 50 not out (50b, 4X4, 1X6), Mayank 22 (33b), Sathish 2/23) beat IDM Cricketers 60 all out in 12.5 overs (Nitin 16 (18b, 2X4), Bhaskar 4/8, Dheeraj 4/23) by 67 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: Dheeraj – MVP points 24.93 (Batting: 2.5 Bowling: 22.43)

Post-match presentation

Match 6: EMC versus IDM Cricketers
21^st July 2013 (2:30pm – 5:30 pm)

EMC won the toss and elected to field

IDM Cricketers were playing back-to-back games. And having seen them struggle against GE’s bowling, EMC’s captain Sreekrishna was quick to pounce on the low confidence of the IDM Cricketers’s batsmen and inserted them in.

IDM Cricketers made a change and sent Swayam to bat at the top along with Sudhanshu. The move paid off well as both Sudhanshu and Swayam got stuck into some very loosw bowling by EMC. Only EMC’s new ball bowler Robin managed to have any control over the batsmen as all others struggled for consistency in lines and lengths in the powerplay.

Sudhanshu seemed particularly in murderous mood as he stroked 8 boundaries in his 25-ball knock of 43. Swayam, on the other end, played a measured innings giving as much of the strike possible to Sudhanshu and opened up once Sudhanshu was dismissed.

The introduction of vice-captain Jeethendra paid dividends as he accounted for Sudhanshu and then Kapil and Asheesh in quick succession. Any intentions of a a EMC fight-back was thwarted by Swayam who paced his innings masterfully with fluent strokes on the leg-side in particular. He batted through the innings giving the much needed anchor it missed in the last game and branched out in the end to remain unbeaten on 73 while pushing his team’s total to 180.

Swayam n route to his unbeaten 73. © The CouchExpert

Chasing 9 an over against a tough opposition was always going to test the depth and caliber of any batting side and EMC were now facing the issues IDM Cricketers found themselves facing in the last game. Their inability to string any substantial partnerships ensured that there was no constant pressure on the IDM Cricketers’s bowling.

Only Fredrick, Jeethendra and captain Sreekrishna got into double figures but none went past the teens as EMC wilted under the pressure of chasing a monumental target eventually folding up for 88 in the 19th over. For EMC Cricketers, they had their second straight game with the ball with all their bowlers having a good time of it with the ball.

“We were unable to execute out plans well,” rued a disappointed Sreekrishna summing up his team’s dismal performance.

Brief scores: IDM Cricketers 150/5 in 20 overs (Swayam 73 not out (55b, 11X4, 1X6), Sudhanshu 43 (25b, 8X4), Jeethendra 3/31) beat EMC 88 all out in 18.5 overs (Chirag 13 (21b), Asheesh 2/3, Sudhanshu 4/11) by 92 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: Sudhanshu – MVP points 25.42 (Batting: 9.69 Bowling: 14.73 Field: 1)

Post-match presentation

Points Table

Upcoming Games:

27^th July

7:30 am – Unisys versus IDM Cricketers

28^th July

7:30 am – Wowzers versus ACT
11 am – NSN versus THBS
2:30 pm– BOLTZ versus EMC

The CouchExpert

Under the Couch

Podcasts

On the Couch

Join us on Facebook

Recent Posts

Author Archive

TCE T20 Championship Week 6 Round-Up: GE and NSN set up title clash

TCE T20 Championship Week 5 Round-Up: GE and NSN Top Groups

TCE T20 Championship Week 4 Round-Up: GE and NSN post huge wins. CECC and Unisys also win.

TCE T20 Championship Week 3 Round-Up: Wins for IDM Cricketers, NSN, ACT and Boltz

TCE T20 Championship Week 2 Round-Up: GE and BOLTZ Post Wins. Mixed-bag for IDM Cricketers.

CREDITS

The CouchExpert

Popular Tags