The game started late, with both sides being displaced from the clubhouse by an event held by Batu Corporation earlier in the day, with their 6s final watched on by both sets of teams. The adroitness of the players from Batu Corporation and their fine catching was somewhat undermined by the fact that they were playing with a tennis ball in use!
Captain of the day Sivam, using the Spirits lucky coin, lost the toss and we were put in to bat, which was sensible, considering we only had 9 players when the toss was conducted . Rajesh was stuck somewhere in traffic and refused to pad up in the cab despite being told by Chiro that he was to open (we later discovered that he did not want the pads in the way as he rushed to the toilet to take a much needed crap the moment he reached the ground) and Patrick was held up by some urgent work (on a Sunday?!). This meant that we were still one short and so drafted in Pravin from the opposition; meanwhile with Rajesh still indisposed in the lavatory Chiro and Shubam were sent out to open the innings.
The disruption to our pre-match rituals seemed to have put our batsmen out of their stride, Chiro playing across the line and losing his leg stump in the first over. The opposition’s 2nd bowler got some swing in the overcast conditions, and Rajesh, warned Shubam about this. Unfortunately, this did not stop Shubam from playing his shots, first bottom-edging a ball that would have been given as a wide had he not touched it, and then getting out the very next ball, popping a simple catch to mid-off.
Skipper Sivam came in, and Rajesh warned him as well, but that also didn’t work, and he edged the ball to slips for a golden duck. Madhu survived the hat-trick ball, and even had a few lusty blows before lobbing a wide one to cover.
At this point, only three overs were up and as many wickets had fallen!
Gaurav, who was umpiring with Jason till then, found himself having to pad up sooner than he had hoped. The pair managed to keep nudging runs although neither was playing with real fluidity. In addition the slow outfield meant the batsmen had to run for a couple where they usually would just watch the ball sail to the ropes. Ball-watching, however, restricted them to just a single, as both batsmen stood their ground time and again, using their fierce glares to will the ball to move as far as it could, running singles only when they found that the fielder was even more intimidated by their glares and chased the ball down. Mix ups were bound to happen, especially given Rajesh’s history of running out partners. One such incident occurred, with both batsmen at 1 end and the ball half-way down the pitch to the other, and only atrocious / non-existent backing up at the bowler’s end allowed Gaurav to survive. This did not last long, as he got run out to another mix-up.
Stability came in the form of Laksh, playing only his 2nd match for the Spirits, having valiantly broken his toe on debut at Turf City months before. One could not tell he was out of practice, as he left wide balls with assurance and defended well. The change in bowlers (1 of them, Anand, looks easily 6.5 feet tall) did not unsettle him as well. After getting his eye in ,while Rajesh was playing very sensibly at the other end, Laksh began to deal in boundaries, launching the ball to various parts of the ground. They saw the innings through to the break, with the scoreboard reading just 55, but they had at least steadied the ship.
The opposition then resorted to unsporting means to remove our set batsmen. First, they brought on 3 substitute fielders, to replace legs tired from running down the mortar shells launched from Rajesh and Laksh. Next, they brought on their chucker, who got tonked around a bit by Rajesh and even had the cheek to bellow a curse whenever there was a play and miss. The partnership lasted 4 more overs after the break, when Rajesh failed to clear long-on and was out for 46, a boundary short of a retirement, which ultimately proved crucial to our total. Laksh, who was by now getting used to Rajesh, decided to join him in the clubhouse by getting himself caught by one of the substitute fielders running in from deep the very next over.
Next up were Phil, who lasted till the end, and Pravin from Credit Suisse (who volunteered to play for us instead of being substitute fielder number 4).
Phil did well to hold his end up, but the same couldn’t be said of Pravin, who was under no obligation to do us any favours and lasted all of 2 balls. (Maybe that was the reason why the opposition allowed him to play for us.)
John came in at number 10, and after leaving a few, played a few shots that would have made the openers blush, and showing he deserves to be much higher up the batting order. He found the boundary on a few occasions but was caught soon after, bringing in last man Jason with only 23 overs completed. The last pair managed to hold out till the 26th over, before an inside edge onto Jason’s stumps ended the innings, with the score on 113.
It would have been a par score had the sun not decided to come out from behind the clouds at this point in time, but worse news was to follow back in the clubhouse.
John’s bag was stolen while he was out batting, even with the close attention of Phil, Patrick (who arrived at 1400h), and Jason, sitting at the table next to the Spirits’ belongings. Calls to his iPhone went straight to voicemail, indicating the worst. A search of the vicinity proved futile, and John proceeded to cancel his credit cards and call in the police to file a report. Patrick also had to leave at the changeover, which meant we fielded with only 10 players, while John awaited the arrival of the police.
At 15:50h, Madhu commenced proceedings bowling over the wicket, but couldn’t find his line, and his first 3 deliveries were wide down leg. Improvising quickly, he changed to bowling round the wicket, and his first legal delivery clean bowled the bemused batsman. A few wides later, he got an LBW decision to go his way, and suddenly the openers were gone and we were not even through with the first over. Gaurav at the other end however was given a torrid time by the next pair, Anand and Deepak. Balls started disappearing to the boundary for 4s and 6s, and even Laksh and Sivam could not stem the tide. With 8 runs to victory, Jason was brought on to concede the winning runs, and delayed the parade just a little by getting a 3rd wicket, Sivam running in to take a skier. The end however came just a few balls later, and everybody was back in the shade with the time at 16:40h. The police finished their work shortly after, and John asked us, tongue-in-cheek, “Did the police take so long?”
On the whole it was an afternoon to forget, the only stats worth looking out for were those of the batsmen – Rajesh on 46, Deepak (retired “hurt”) and Anand of the opposition on 38 and 42 (n.o) respectively
With such a poor performance all round, everybody was fined a flat $10.
There were only 2 positives from the afternoon:
- John will be getting a new wallet and iPhone
- We had more time for drinks, with the opposition deeming us unworthy of their presence, their captain rejecting Sivam’s invitation without hesitation.
Next up, the Legal Eagles, and hopefully a much improved performance from the Spirits.
Phil Rebbeck
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