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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 batting innings. © The CouchExpert

THBS batting innings. © The CouchExpert

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

Rakesh 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.

Boltz batting innings. © The CouchExpert

EMC batting innings. © The CouchExpert

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.

Unisys batting. © The CouchExpert

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

TCE T20 Championship Week 1 Round-Up: CECC, GE and NSN Post Wins

Posted: July 17, 2013 by The CouchExpert in Club Cricket, Cricket, TCE T20 Championship
Tags: ACT, CECC, GE, The CouchExppert T20 Championship, Unisys, Wowzers

The rains stayed away and The CouchExpert T20 Championship got off to a sparkling start with NSN, GE and CECC registering wins. Here’s how the games panned out:

Match 1: NSN versus ACT

13^th July 2013 (7:30 am – 10:30 am)

ACT won the toss and elected to bat first

The game started under gloomy skies, the occasional odd drizzle and lazy soothing breeze best suited for a lazy weekend extended morning sleep. Yet, ACT openers Prashanth and Vinay started brightly punishing a slightly errant NSN opening spell by both Manish and Nitin. Prashanth, coming back from a shoulder injury shrugged off the indifferent form he showed in The CouchExpert Sunday League T20 two months ago and got into his stride with confident feet movement and strokes. If anything he seemed hesitant finishing his strokes showing signs that the shoulder injury was still preying in his mind.

Anil's big hitting in the end overs proved crucial for NSN. © The CouchExpert

The pair kept rotating the strike thereby ensuring that they were really under no pressure for any length of time to attempt a rash stroke. Runs flowed and by the time Vinay got out in the 10^th over, the runs were flowing at 8 an over. Deepak joined Prashanth and the pair stuck to the formula of keeping the dot balls to a minimum. Deepak ensured that Prashanth got as much of the strike and Prashanth gradually opened up to up the scoring rate post the 12^th over. Prashanth showed tremendous fitness as he pushed Deepak into taking many 2s and 3s well into the innings. Prashanth’s 57 set the platform up for ACT to get to 170-plus, but a late stutter meant they had to settle for a score of 152. As for NSN, barring captain Gangadhar, the rest struggled to bowl to their field or to a set plan.

NSN responded to chasing 153 quite brilliantly as openers Avinash and Jithendra started quite confidently against the pace-spin combo of Paddy and Thomas. The pair was measured in its approach keeping the risks to a minimum whilst always keeping abreast with the required rate. Only the extra pace of Rakesh seemed to hurry them up in an otherwise easily constructed opening wicket partnership of 61 in slightly over 8 overs. ACT, over time, have relied on their many slow bowlers to restrict opposition batsmen and quite successfully too.

Bowling pitchmap - ACT's batting innings. Anil's big hitting in the end overs proved crucial for NSN. © The CouchExpert

Bowling pitch map - NSN's batting innings Anil's big hitting in the end overs proved crucial for NSN. © The CouchExpert

The spin combination of Shithu and Rohit slowed down the innings with Shithu accounting for Jithendra and Arun while Rohit accounted for Prakhar. And when the captain Gangadhar was run out in the 14^th over, the asking rate had crept up to 8.3. Anil, then, played a cameo taking ACT’s captain for 17 runs in the 15^th over to reduce the chase to slightly over run-a-ball. In the span of an over Anil had turned the game on its head and Sharath was left to rue his decision to bowl a second over.

Sharath quickly turned to his quickest bowler Rakesh and he responded by knocking over the very dangerous Anil to even things out. With 25 still needed and Rakesh still breathing fire and NSN already 6-down, ACT still had a chance.

As it turned out, 10 were needed off the last over with 2 wickets in hand for NSN bowled by Paddy. In a remarkably eventful over, Deepak dropped a catch at covers that cost his team 2 runs and Paddy missed to collect a throw from the boundary to effect a run-out as well. With 3 needed off the last ball, Paddy bowled a wide down the legside. The batsmen then scrambled a 2 to long-off to round-off a remarkable win for NSN off the last ball.

Brief scores: ACT 152/4 in 20 overs (Prashanth Mathur 57 (51b, 5X4), Deepak 32 (27b, 1X4), Rakesh 1/31, Prakhar 1/34) lost to NSN 153/8 in 20 overs (Jithendra 36 (28b, 5X4), Anil 26 (21b, 3X4, 1X6), Shithu 2/28, Rakesh 1/19) by 2 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: Prashanth Mathur – MVP points 16.45 (Batting: 14.45 Fielding 2.0)

Post-match presentation

Match 2: GE versus Unisys

13^th July 2013 (11:30 am – 2:30 pm)

GE won the toss and elected to bat first

GE won the toss and elected to bat under skies that was bright for the first time in the day as daylight broke through the clouds seemingly vanishing the gloom with it. Having won The CouchExpert T30 Quadrangular only a fortnight earlier, GE started the game and the tournament as one of the title contenders. The opening pair of Shimjith and Rajnikanth that had served them so well in the previous tournament were in their elements as they went after Unisys’s new ball pairing of Prashanth and captain Harish from the word go. They rattled along at a rate of 10 an over in the first 4 overs before Rajnikanth was snapped up by Sanjeev off Murthy.

Abhsihek Pathak of GE seen in action. He produced a quick spell. Anil's big hitting in the end overs proved crucial for NSN. © The CouchExpert

Abhishek joined Shimjith and the pair looked to keep the score rattling along. In the quest of scoring quick runs, GE lost quick wickets as Unisys clawed their way back with back-to-back wickets of Shimjith, Abhishek, Dheeraj and Mayank in a span of 4 overs. It required the calm and reliable hand of Arvind in partnership with Harsha to steady the ship as GE ground out runs with singles and twos and the odd boundary. Arvind opened out towards the end to play punishing strokes on the leg side as he took GE past 150.

Unisys had a horror of a start losing Sharath and Vivek in the very first over to Dheeraj. The GE bowlers Dheeraj and Abhishek kept the lid tight as Unisys struggled to score any runs at all. Almost every mistake of theirs was punished by GE with their wickets. Even slacking slightly between the wickets cost them their wicket as Harish found out while going for a single in the 4^th over.

Sanjeev and Bharath then went about repairing the innings with a careful partnership. With the run-worm hardly getting off the floor, GE were firmly in control of the game by now, it was a case of minimizing the margin of defeat for Unisys. Gradually Sanjeev and Bharath found their touch and eventually the odd boundary as well once the opening bowlers gave way to slow bowlers. The pair managed to put on 58 runs for the 4^th wicket in just under 10 overs before Sanjeev fell victim to another run out by Vinoth.

Pitch map during Unisys's batting innings. Anil's big hitting in the end overs proved crucial for NSN. © The CouchExpert

The introduction of Vinoth into the bowling attack also spelt doom for Unisys as he snapped up 3 wickets in his 1.1 overs. In between all this, Arvind managed to hit the stumps from deep point to runout Mallik to round off a miserable day for Unisys where nothing much went for them. Their captain Harish acknowledged saying, “we are a far better team than what we have shown ourselves to be today. Just about everything went wrong for us. We should be able to do a lot better in our coming games.”

Brief scores: GE 153/6 in 20 overs (Arvind 50 not out (41b, 6X4), Harsha 25 (16b, 3X4), Murthy 2/12) beat Unisys 89 all out in 17.1 overs (Sanjeev 33 (42b, 3X4), Bharath 21 (31b, 3X4), Vinoth 3/1, Dheeraj 2/12) by 64 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: Arvind – MVP points 16.62 (Batting: 13.27 Fielding: 4 Bowling: -0.65)

Post-match presentation

Match 3: CECC versus Wowzers

14^th July 2013 (8:30 am – 11:30 am)

Wowzers won the toss and elected to field

CECC started the game without its captain and vice-captain as they were unavailable. After spraying his first handful of deliveries on either side of the pitch, Wowzers’s new ball bowler managed to land one on target that found the stand-in captain Goutham’s top edge to give Wowzers a tremendous start.

Pitch map of CECC's batting innings. © The CouchExpert

The pair brought up the team 50 in 5 overs and when Shoukath deposited one of his booming drives over the long-off boundary CECC seemed to be running away with the game very early. Things turned around when another screaming drive of Shoukath seemed heading to the boundary when Wowzers’s captain Ravi intervened to take a very sharp catch at covers. It cut open the skin on his thumb and had him tend to it and sit out for a bit, but there was little doubt that he had produced the magic his team needed in bringing his team back into the game.

The introduction of Karthik further dented CECC as he sent back Gokul and Bhargav off successive deliveries. Gautam joined Jobin and the pair resorted to milking the bowling while riding troubled waters. Just as Jobin seemed to be branching out into playing pleasing drives a break in concentration accounted for him. Gautam, then joined by his twin Gaurav, kept maneuvering the fielding with drives and dabs. The twins were busy between the wickets and they put on 45 runs in a little over 6 overs to put the innings back on track. Eventually CECC finished with 161 and Karthik was the standout performer for Wowzers keeping the CECC middle-order in check with his nagging accuracy.

Victorious CECC team at the end of the game. © The CouchExpert

CECC’s opening pair of Goutham and Gaurav kept Wowzer’s in check with their discipline and lines. Wowzers’s openers looked to shuffle to offside while looking to make runs on the leg side. Both openers perished in this pursuit. Captain Ravi walked in and played a watchful hand so as to prevent further damage. Bhargav, though, had Suresh caught pulling in his first over. The bowling hero for Wowzers, Karthik, came in and started out aggressively looking to play powerful strokes and looked the only Wowzers batsman looking to take the fight to the CECC camp.

The introduction of Dinesh changed all that. He rattled the Wowzers’s middle-order with his pace and soon sliced through the middle-over in a 3 over spell that fetched him 4 wickets. With Shoukath backing his thrilling batting cameo with 2 wickets with the ball, the innings hastened to an end in the 18^th over giving CECC a comfortable 75-run win.

Brief scores: CECC 161/9 in 20 overs (Shoukath 31(19b, 3X4, 1X6), Gautam Rajagopalan 33 (36b, 2X4), Karthik 3/21, Pruthvi 2/33) beat Wowzers 86 all out in 17.3 overs (Karthik 18 (21b, 1X4), Ravi 14 (23b, 1X4), Dinesh 4/14, Shoukath 2/18) by 75 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: Dinesh Poojary – MVP points 15.34 (Batting: 0.81 Bowling: 14.53)

Post-match presentation:

Points Table

Upcoming Games:

20^th July

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

21^st July

7:30 am – Boltz versus Unisys
11 am – GE versus IDM Cricketers
2:45 pm– EMC versus IDM Cricketers

First Test, Day Four, The Ashes: England inching towards victory as Australia fail to capitalize on start

Posted: July 14, 2013 by thecognitivenomad in Cricket, The Ashes 2013
Tags: Aleem Dar, Australia, Chris Rogers, England, Graeme Swann, Ian Bell, Investec Ashes 2013, Stuart Broad, The Ashes

It is something of an unfortunate oddity that the first test of the 2013 Ashes will be remembered more for dubious umpiring decisions as against the tide of sinusoidal sessions that have tilted the scales back and forth.

Swann’s exploits on a fourth day turner shifted the focus from otherwise folkloristic fervors provided by Bell, Broad and Beer (did you observe the stands these days?) all day. Swann’s delivery to dismiss Phil Hughes tested the very limits of technology, fractional math and yet another umpire’s uncertainty. Though Dharmasena can be absolved of blame in this instance. Technology won, and as many voices echoed, Cook has been the wiser of the two captains in effectively putting the DRS to use.

With a target of 300+ on the cards given the way Broad and Bell closed Day 3, Australia did well enough to restrict the lead to 310. A brilliant fight back followed Bell’s, possibly, match-winning century, and Broad’s fighting fifty. Siddle cleaned off the lower order to take his tally to 8 for the match. On a slow, low wicket, Siddle’s performance has been very commendable.

Australia’s response was reminiscent of the team they once were. Watson’s aggression setting the tone for a combative start, at the same time deriving an unspoken sense of satisfaction through Roger’s solid, defensive methods at the other end. Granted, the reality didn’t turn out to be quite as effective as their yesteryear opening stands. Australia’s top order woes continuously point to how no batsman is ready to proclaim a new dawn of Australian supremacy. The elite always ensure self-perpetuation.

Cowan fell victim to Joe Root’s first wicket in Test Cricket, offering a shot similar to that of the one he played against the pace of Finn in the first innings – only to be caught at slip. Earlier, Watson’s unsuccessful use of the DRS, after being trapped in front off a Broad in-swinger, proved yet another case of the all-rounder’s solid start not being converted in to a bigger score.

Rogers laid a strong foundation with his maiden fifty in Australian colors

Chris Rogers, resembling an old, bespectacled, gritty Lance Corporal looked every inch an effective blocker, notching up his first fifty before chipping Anderson to mid-wicket. David Saker’s dramatics from the pavilion indicated a well framed plan to reduce the pace off the odd ball to make Rogers play a touch early. Or whatever it was, it worked.

With much hope sheltering on the willows of Clarke and Smith, a brief spell of play indicated their resilience towards battling it out in the middle. A slow, but steady, progress towards keeping the scoreboard ticking threw brief light on a slow Australian recovery. But Broad and Swann had different ideas.

Within no time, Clarke, to his dismay, yet again inclining towards the DRS, unsuccessfully questioned Aleem Dar’s decision to declare him out caught behind off Broad. Swann sent Smith back after deceiving Smith with his guile, making him play back to a delivery that spun a mile and caught the Aussie trapped plumb in front.

Swann’s role on Day 5 will be critical towards England taking a lead this Ashes

Hughes followed to a successfully DRS-referred lbw decision by England, with Dharmasena turning the initial appeal down. The Sri Lankan couldn’t have been blamed for thinking that the ball pitched outside leg, for the replays showed a very thin margin that had fifty percent of the ball within the danger zone. A whiff the other way would’ve had pundits lauding the precision of Dharmasena’s eagle eye.

Agar’s dynamic innings with happy dashes of flair earned him a promotion up to number 8 in the second innings. Say what you want about him being a debutant, but he kept a still head to face off 24 balls to close off the last session.

With plenty needed for the Australians, England clearly have the upper hand to take a 1-0 lead. Swann holds the key on a wicket that appears to oddly turn like a minefield. But we all know what happened last innings don’t we?

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Archive for the ‘Cricket’ Category

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.

TCE T20 Championship Week 1 Round-Up: CECC, GE and NSN Post Wins

First Test, Day Four, The Ashes: England inching towards victory as Australia fail to capitalize on start

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