Archive for the ‘Club Cricket’ Category

TCE Sunday League T20: Clinical MCC win by 7 wickets

Posted: May 18, 2013 by The CouchExpert in Club Cricket, Cricket, TCE Sunday League T20
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The CouchExpert Staff

5th May, 2013

Match: MCC versus ODW

Venue: CECG, Bangalore

Teams:

SAM_0013

MCC

ODW

ODW

ODW came into the game in the hope to stem the slide post their brilliant first game. The batting has been dodgy and captain Swayam pushed himself to open the innings in an attempt to stabilize the top-order only to be dismissed cheaply. Melvin’s tournament also seemed to be nose-diving after the first two games as he was dismissed cheaply too.

Guna and Vijay kept the scoring in check with brilliant bowling that was ably supported by Venu. Arvind and Jyoti stemmed the rot playing carefully after the loss of initial wickets. Jyoti seemed to struggle for any fluency initially and a knock to the head seemed to shake him out of bad form as he started to find his range as he looked to cut loose. Just when ODW seemed to have set a base for their lower order to launch an assault the wheels came off and the innings went on a limbo to finish with 125/7 off their 20 0vers.

Prasad's unbeaten 44 set up an easy 7 wicket win for MCC

Prasad’s unbeaten 44 set up an easy 7 wicket win for MCC

With run rate being a factor, Bhargav and Guna seemed to be keen to get a move on early with Guna particularly being in a hurry. He was slightly unlucky as a powerful drive from him found Swayam in the way who took a tremendous catch. Sambit and Vinod put the lid on the scoring as MCC’s chase lost momentum and at 37 for 1 after 8 overs, the game was in balance.

Bhargav and soon Prasad put paid to any hopes of a revival for ODW with a quick 20 runs in the next 2 overs as Jyoti and Swayam failed to back up the good work done by the new ball overs. With Bhargav gone, Shankar joined Prasad and the two seemed to be in tremendous nick as they chipped away at the target with relentless regularity.

For the first time all week Prasad seemed to be the only one to have got the hang of the wicket as he found runs by waiting on the ball and finding runs square of the wickets with ease. His 44 and unbeaten 4th wicket partnership with Shankar brought up a comfortable victory for MCC in the 18th over.

“The bowlers set up the perfect platform for our batsmen. Arun, Vijay and Venu have been brilliant with the ball for us. Bhargav, Prasad and Shankar were great with the bat for us. Very happy with the win,” said Guna at the end of the game. Swayam on the other hand rued missing out on another decent start in putting up a decent total.

Brief Scores

ODW 124/7 in 2o overs (Arvind 34, Jyoti 26, Arun 3/17) lost to MCC 126/3 in 17.5 overs (Prasad 44 not out, Shankar 32 not out) by 7 wickets

Post match ceremony

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Performer of the Match: Prasad.

Match Result: MCC defeated ODW by 7 wickets

Points: MCC(2) ODW (0)

TCE Sunday League T20: A heart stopping last ball finish as CITI defeat ACT by 1 wicket

Posted: May 18, 2013 by The CouchExpert in Club Cricket, Cricket, TCE Sunday League T20
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The CouchExpert Staff

5th May, 2013

Match: ACT versus CITI

Venue: CECG, Bangalore

Teams:

ACT

ACT

CITI

CITI

In what was easily the most thrilling game of the competition thus far the game’s fortunes fluctuated wildly in the second half of the innings that would put a Russian science fiction novel to shame. A game of many shades – of the brash confidence and bravado in chasing in a low total in a trifle to the scare and fear of choking. There were all shades of anger, all tastes of frustration and all shapes of faces: the long ones in disappointment and wide-eyed-almost-eye-ball-popping-out ones in disbelief and ones with grins from ear to ear. This was easily the most satisfying of the games of the tournament for the neutral.

SAM_0293

Kranthi had a great game with bat and ball. He also led astutely in the field.

The most inconsistent and most mercurial of the teams in the tournament, CITI, decided that this would be the day when they bowled and fielded at their best. It started with the wiry sharp left-arm quickie Srikanth bringing one sharply back into Vinay in the very first over to have him trapped in front – his usual customary wicket in the first over.

Kranthi was on cue with his changes, field placement and even with his bowling today as all he touched turned to gold. ACT sought to rebuild with Sharath playing a measured innings. Kranthi though would have none of it as he sent Sharath and Deepak first ball in the 9th over as the ACT innings stalled.

Bharath though stylishly pulled a six over square-leg to announce his intentions. Niket, Naresh, Rehamathullah all had good days with the ball as ACT struggled to make pace off the wicket that continued to play slow through the weekend. ACT struggled to string any partnership of notice nor did they get any impetus to pull them out of the run. In the end ACT’s innings finished on 114 in the 20 overs, largely helped by Ajay’s unbeaten 35 towards the end.

CITI came out all guns blazing with Varun looking to go after Shankar and Paddy in the first few overs. The runs came in torrents though CITI lost Niket cheaply. Varun took to the ACT bowlers as 40 came in the first 4 overs. Kranthi continued his good batting form in the tournament as he looked at ease against everything ACT threw at him.

Sharath quickly moved to the theory that has held him in good stead all through the tournament – slow bowlers. Thomas had Varun stumped in the 5th over. CITI promoted their big hitter Srikanth in an effort to knock off the runs quickly.

Bharath's 4 for 20 all but won the game for ACT

Bharath’s 4 for 20 all but won the game for ACT

Srikanth perished to a steepling catch and then the spinners truly brought ACT back into the game. Bharath with his nagging off-breaks continued to stifle CITI’s batsmen who seemed to be torn between achieving the victory and achieving it rapidly. The dilemma would soon cause a jolt that would have their batsmen in a freeze. Thomas, Ajay and Shitu contributing handsomely as the scoring came to a grinding halt.

Wickets fell and attempted big hits found fielders accepting chances gleefully. The dismissal of Kranthi compounded matters for CITI as they seemed to lack a cool head in the middle to guide the chase. Winning with overs to spare was now a long forgotten as nails were chewed with 7 needed for win in the last over.

Paddy bowled the last over amid mad scrambling for non-existent singles and twos and wild grabs from the fielding side in the hope of finding a run out. It boiled down to CITI needing 2 runs off the last ball. There was a bit of gamesmanship with Paddy warning the non-striker not to leave the crease before he delivered the ball more than once. It built the climax to a crescendo as Manish swung at a length ball on the stumps from Paddy for it to find the mid-wicket fence.

It set off wild celebrations in the CITI camp as the victory ensured that they still remained with a chance of winning the competition.

Sharath was forlorn but proud of his boys and he said as much in the post-match ceremony when he declared, “I am proud to be leading this bunch. Our batting has been a disappointment in this tournament, but our fighting spirit has been sensational.”

Kranthi agreed to being stumped by the number of slow bowling options that ACT had. “Had I known they had so many slow bowlers I would not have promoted Srikanth up the order. It almost cost us the game in the end.”

Brief Scores

114 in 2o overs (Ajay 35 not out, Bharath 16, Kranthi 2/17) lost to CITI 114/9 in 20 overs (Kranthi 35, Bharath 4/20) by 1 wicket

Post match ceremony

Part I

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Part II

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Performer of the Match: Kranthi.

Match Result: CITI defeated ACT by 1 wicket

Points: CITI(2) ACT (0)

TCE Sunday League T20: Venu’s 3 for 8 sinks ACT in a thriller

Posted: May 17, 2013 by The CouchExpert in Club Cricket, Cricket, TCE Sunday League T20
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The CouchExpert Staff

4th May, 2013

Match: AMD versus ACT

Venue: CECG, Bangalore

Teams:

ACT

ACT

SAM_0013

In a game that would set the trend for the entire weekend for low-scoring games, MCC batted first and Guna and Shankar got off to a good start going steadily at run-a-ball through the power play. Paddy kept a check on the scoring tucking the batsmen for room by ducking the ball back into the right-handed openers. He was supported well by Shankar from the other end with a tight spell of his own.

Thomas too kept the runrate in check as MCC struggled to break the shackles even though they were not losing wickets. A game of cat-and-mouse continued till MCC decided to throw in their most dynamic batsman in Prasad at the fall of the second wicket in the 10th over.

The wicket was slow and Sharath picked up the cue by bringing in Bharath, Rohit and Shitu into the attack to slow down the pace and it worked like a charm as MCC lost wickets in an attempt to up the runrate.

Manhattan_AMD_vs_ACT

At 86 for 5 in the 15th over, the innings seemed to be heading towards self-kill before Arun steadied the ship for MCC with a measured partnership with Bhargav. Arun’s 30 not out helped MCC eventually put up a fighting total of 133 on a tough wicket.

Venu's spell of 4-0-8-3 was crucial in setting up a 10-run victory for MCC

Venu’s spell of 4-0-8-3 was crucial in setting up a 10-run victory for MCC

ACT were coming off a brilliant chase versus ODW just a few days ago. They lost their aggressive and in form opener Vinay in the third over followed by captain Sharath in the 4th over. MCC’s new ball pair of Guna and Chethan bowled tight lines as the ACT top order struggled to cope with the lack of pace in the wicket.

Bharath walked in with his team struggling at 19 for 3 and found his feet immediately. He was fluent in his little innings and looked set to dominate the bowling while Paddy scratched around for 21-ball 9 at the other end. Venu came in to scalp the crucial wicket of Bharath in the 10th over to even the scales again.

The match see-sawed in the last quarter of the game with P Mathur and Thomas holding the MCC bowlers at bay with a good partnership for the 7th wicket. Momentum seemed to be with ACT as 16 were needed in the last 3 overs. Thomas was run out in the 18th over and MCC built on that pressure and some tremendous death over bowling by Venu to push ACT back gradually.

Venu’s four overs cost him a mere 8 runs while he picked up 3 wickets in the bargain. It is quite remarkable that three of those four overs were bowled in the 16th, 18th and 20th overs of the innings.

His spell played the most pivotal role in MCC winning the game eventually by 10 runs.

Scoring patterns for the two teams:

Wagonwheen_AMD_vs_ACT

Full Scorecard

1st Inning Batting: MMavericks Cricket Club, MCC

                                                   R     B     4's    6's    SR
Shankar b Rohit                                    26    25    4      0      104.0

Gunashekar b Thomas                                17    17    3      0      100.0

Syed lbw b Shitu                                   14    23    2      0      60.87

Prasad run out (P Mathur)                          5     10    0      0      50.0

Bhargav c Rohit b Thomas                           15    16    0      0      93.75

Chetan c Shitu b Bharath                           3     5     0      0      60.0

Arun not out                                       30    22    4      0      136.36

Venugopal not out                                  1     2     0      0      50.0

Extras(w 18, b 1, lb 3) 22

Total (6 wickets; 20.0 overs)                      133                       6.65 RPO

Did Not Bat: 
Suman, S S, P C

Fall of Wicket: 37-1 ( Gunashekar 5.3 ov ), 64-2 ( Shankar 9.4 ov ), 81-3 ( Prasad 12.2 ov ), 81-4 ( Syed 12.3 ov ), 86-5 ( Chetan 13.3 ov ), 122-6 ( Bhargav 18.4 ov )

1st Inning Bowling: Alliance Cricket Team, ACT

                                                   O     M    R    W    EC     AV     EX
Paddy                                              4.0   0    19   0    4.75   -      (w 2)

Shankar                                            3.0   0    22   0    7.33   -      (w 4)

Thomas                                             4.0   0    31   2    7.75   15.50      

Rohit                                              2.0   0    19   1    9.50   19.00  (w 3)

Shitu                                              3.0   0    16   1    5.33   16.00  (w 3)

Bharath                                            4.0   0    22   1    5.50   22.00      

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2nd Inning Batting: Alliance Cricket Team, ACT

                                                   R     B     4's    6's    SR
Vinay c Chetan b Chetan                            8     9     1      0      88.89

Paddy b Arun                                       9     21    1      0      42.86

Sharat b Gunashekar                                0     1     0      0      0.0

Deepak c Syed b Gunashekar                         4     2     1      0      200.0

Bharath c Syed b Venugopal                         28    21    4      0      133.33

Ajay run out (Suman)                               12    11    2      0      109.09

P Mathur run out (Syed)                            19    32    1      0      59.38

Thomas run out (Prasad)                            20    17    3      0      117.65

Shankar c Syed b Venugopal                         1     3     0      0      33.33

Rohit c Gunashekar b Venugopal                     1     2     0      0      50.0

Shitu not out                                      1     2     0      0      50.0

Extras(w 17, nb 1, b 1, lb 1) 20

Total (10 wickets; 20.0 overs)                     123                       6.15 RPO

Did Not Bat: 
Tiru

Fall of Wicket: 14-1 ( Vinay 2.3 ov ), 15-2 ( Sharat 3.1 ov ), 19-3 ( Deepak 3.3 ov ), 57-4 ( Paddy 8.4 ov ), 59-5 ( Bharath 9.4 ov ), 82-6 ( Ajay 12.5 ov ), 118-7 ( Thomas 17.4 ov ), 121-8 ( P Mathur 19.1 ov ), 122-9 ( Shankar 19.3 ov ), 123-10 ( Rohit 19.6 ov )

2nd Inning Bowling: MMavericks Cricket Club, MCC

                                                   O     M    R    W    EC     AV     EX
Chetan                                             4.0   0    29   1    7.25   29.00  (w 5)

Gunashekar                                         4.0   0    22   2    5.50   11.00  (w 1)

Arun                                               4.0   0    22   1    5.50   22.00  (w 1)

Venugopal                                          4.0   0    8    3    2.00   2.67       

Suman                                              1.0   0    12   0    12.00  -      (w 3)

Prasad                                             2.0   0    16   0    8.00   -      (w 1)

Bhargav                                            1.0   0    12   0    12.00  -      (w 1, nb 1)

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Post match ceremony

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Performer of the Match: Venugopal.

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Match Result: MCC defeated ACT by 10 runs

Points: MCC (2) ACT (0)

CECC Match 27: Muthu, Bhargav and Shoukath star in CECC’s comprehensive win over GE

Posted: May 13, 2013 by The CouchExpert in CECC, Club Cricket, Cricket
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The CouchExpert Staff

11th May, 2013

Match: CECC vs GE

Venue: CECG, Bangalore

Toss: CECC won the toss and elected to bat.

Team Photo (match day):

Standing (L to R): Muthu (WK), Bhargav, Ashish, Sameer, Karteek, Gokul Squatting (L to R): Goutham, Kaustubh (C), Jobin, Gaurav, Shoukath, Gautam, Chanakya

Standing (L to R): Muthu (WK), Bhargav, Ashish, Sameer, Karteek, Gokul
Squatting (L to R): Goutham, Kaustubh (C), Jobin, Gaurav, Shoukath, Gautam, Chanakya

On a humid afternoon Kaustubh won the toss and elected to bat first. Goutham got CECC off to another quick start scoring 26 off the first 3 overs before falling in the 4th over. Jobin and Kaustubh looked to stabilize the innings before both perished to leading edges.

Bhargav continued his good form with the bat from the last game as he got stuck into GE’s bowling. Shoukath provided tremendous support as both scrambled quick singles and twos on a hot afternoon. Bhargav was adventurous in his strokeplay, often exposing his stumps and going over the off-side and repeated walking across his stumps to slam the ball to the on.

Shoukath, on the other hand, played a measured innings sticking to his powerful drives and ticking the runs with quick ones and twos. The pair put on an entertaining 4th wicket partnership before Vinod trapped Bhargav for 30.

GE pulled it back well with tight bowling and tremendous ground fielding as CECC looked to capitalize on Bhargav and Shoukath’s partnership. Shoukath fell for a very well made 48 as the scramble continued for quick runs as Ashish, Gautam, Gaurav, Sameer and Chanakya kept at it. A total of 167/9 in 25 overs was always going to be challenging even considering the firepower GE carried at the top of their order.

GE started fortuitously as Bhargav missed running out Manjunath in the first over that went for 5 overthrows. But GE would be rocked badly as their star batsman and captain Rajnikanth fell for a duck 3 balls later. Like in their previous game against HSBC, Gaurav kept a tight leash at the other end with his clever changes in pace and flight. The pressure told at the other end with wickets falling to Goutham.

Gaurav continued to haunt GE with his ground fielding as he accounted for GE’s opener Manju as his throw found the stumps at the non-striker’s end. It brought a very scratchy innings of 5 to an end that seemed to throw up a run out opportunity every second ball. The cat had run out of its lives the moment it found the dead-eyed Guarav.

Like in the last game, Gautam R and Bhargav backed up the opening pair with tremendous swing bowling. Bhargav generated pace and bounce along with the movement to mesmerize the GE batsmen. Even as he often struggled to control the prodigious swing, Muthu had a great game behind the stumps putting up a masterclass in wicket-keeping.

Muthu’s standing-up-to-the-stumps wicket-keeping to the medium-pacers has been an important factor in CECC’s success of late. Especially in the powerplay overs preventing batsmen from leaving the crease. His soft hands and tremendous footwork allow him to stay low and move up and side-ways simultaneously with the ball. His tremendous balance allows him to reach the ball with quick and short side-steps so that he never really has to dive much even for wide deliveries. His tremendous ground coverage ensures that his team rarely suffers wided boundaries or, more importantly, missed chances behind the stumps.

His two catches standing up to the stumps off the bowling of Goutham and Gauram R being the standout performance of this game even as GE’s chase continued to go off rails under the pressure put by CECC’s bowling and fielding.

The chase folded meekly in the 20th over when the last 3 wickets fell to some poor running between the wickets.

Brief Scores:

CECC 167/9 in 25 overs (Shoukath 48 (43b, 4X4), Bhargav 30 (23b, 4X4)) defeated GE 126 all out in 19.3 overs (Naresh 21, Guru 26, Goutham 2/20, Gautam R 2/21, Bhargav 2/25) by 41 runs

Performer of the Match (POTM): Muthukumar Ramamoorthy

Match Result: CECC beat GE by 41 runs

CECC Match 26: All round CECC defeat HSBC

Posted: May 13, 2013 by The CouchExpert in CECC, Club Cricket, Cricket
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The CouchExpert Staff

4th May, 2013

Match: CECC vs HSBC

Venue: CECG, Bangalore

Toss: CECC won the toss and elected to bat.

Team Photo (match day):

Standing (L to R): Gaurav, Bhargav, Harsha (WK), Jobin, Goutham, Ashish, Shoukath Squatting (L to R): Gaurav, Gokul LN, Kaustubh (C), Yugank

Standing (L to R): Gaurav, Bhargav, Harsha (WK), Jobin, Goutham, Ashish, Shoukath
Squatting (L to R): Gaurav, Gokul LN, Kaustubh (C), Yugank

CECC was playing its third game in 7 days as they took on HSBC. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Harsha and Goutham looked to go after the HSBC bowling straight away. The pair initially struggled to get used to the pace of the wicket that seemed slow throughout the weekend.

Goutham got out in the 5th over driving a full-toss to short cover. Jobin joined Harsha and the pair steadied the ship with a careful partnership. Harsha soon found his range as he found boundaries on both sides of the wicket. Jobin looked to go after the left-arm spin of Kunal and was able to take him repeatedly over mid-wicket and covers.

The partnership was steady but in the quest to up the ante, both Harsha and Jobin fell after making 20’s each. With wickets in hand, CECC looked to after HSBC bowlers and lost Ashish and Kaustubh in the process.

Yugank came in and was severe on the slow bowlers of HSBC as he raced to 16 when his off-drive was caught inches from the long-off boundary as he threatened to take CECC to 160 and beyond. Bhargav continued the onslaught as CECC continued to scramble for quick runs towards the end. Bhargav’s assault at the end eventually pushing CECC’s total to a competitive 143.

CECC’s bowling was very tight in the powerplay overs backed with wonderful fielding. Ankit and Vamsi came out swinging only to find thin air repeatedly against Goutham and Gaurav. Goutham soon accounted for Vamsi and Noor in the same over followed by the wicket of Noor in his next over.

Gokul backed-up the opening bowlers with a tremendous spell of quick bowling extracting considerable bounce off the wicket having the HSBC batsmen hobbling. Gautam R and Bargav rounded off a great day for CECC bowlers swinging the ball late and considerably never letting HSBC batsmen off the hook.

HSBC eventually wilted against the continuous onslaught of CECC’s bowlers eventually folding up for 118 in the 20th over giving CECC another comfortable win.

Brief Scores:

CECC 143/7 in 20 overs (Harsha 26 (30b, 3X4), Jobin 22 (23b, 2X4), Bhargav 20 not out (14b, 2X4)) defeated HSBC 118 all out in 19.3 overs (Kalyan 11, Goutham 3/19, Gautam R 2/28, Bhargav 1/10) by 25 runs

Performer of the Match (POTM): Bhargav Rao

Match Result: CECC beat HSBC by 25 runs

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