Second game of the year was against the (relatively) young social side "Media Players".
It was a very international affair from the Spirits side with players from Zimbabwe, England, Ireland, India, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand. More importantly, there were no Australians in the side (I am assuming they were all at the Australian national team open trials that weekend).
A two innings per team format was played with 15 overs for each innings and the batting order reversed for the second innings. Noel courageously won the toss and put the Spirits in to bat. With a 15 over format, there is little room to hold back at the crease, however, some impressive early hitting was somewhat thwarted by an incredibly slow outfield. Reddi (21) and Sarwana (21) got off to a good start with Dan coming in at first drop (9). The innings tapered off somewhat after that with Ian (1), Noel (6) and Sivam (3) however this is not to be held against them as the lack of overs left for them to bat necessitated a risk taking, attacking style. A bright spot in the middle order was Jim (18n.o.) with a solid knock to finish off the innings.
The Spirits first fielding innings saw some tight bowling from all seven bowlers used. Sivam (3/0/2/8) was the key wicket taker with Jim (2/0/0/8) and Shubam (1/0/0/5) being economical as always , Yiqi impressed with (2/0/0/9) and new Spirit, Keith was looking very dangerous until he managed to head-butt the ground diving for a low ball (1/0/0/3). The other wickets were taken by Rammy (2/0/1/13) and, in an unusual display of half decent bowling, Dan (3/0/1/20). With a maximum of 3 overs for each bowler and dot balls being at a premium, it was a team effort to ensure a first innings lead of 6. (N.B. Unfortunately the Media Players scorer was not really on the ball in the first innings so I apologise if any of the above figures are wrong).
The Spirits second batting innings unfortunately did not replicate the success of the first with the first 4 wickets falling before 20 runs were on the board (Yiqi (3), Shubam (2), Rammy (0), Keith (7)). Sivam (30ret.) had the innings of the match, being called off after quickly reaching the pre-agreed retirement amount. Unfortunately, if it were not for Sivam's retirement, the game may have had a different result as the lower order faltered just as much as the top order (Noel (6), Jim (4), Ian (6n.o.), Dan (2n.o.)).
The second fielding innings went well for the Spirits with each of Jim (3/0/1/12), Shubam (3/0/1/10), Sivam (3/0/?/?) and Rammy (3/0/1/21) taking wickets. Noel also bowled a very economical over (1/0/0/4) which along with a number of run outs provided a glimmer of hope. Eventually it was our second batting innings which let us down as the Media Players reached the total with an over and a half to spare.
Man of the Match
It is hard look past Sivam's second innings and his efforts in the field.
Honorable mentions should go to Jim for an all round solid effort and new Spirit Keith for excellent fielding and for looking by far the most dangerous bowler the Spirits have seen in a while.
Wooden Spoon
Very hard to pick one here from the on field performance as, despite the loss, the effort was there from everyone. Therefore the wooden spoon must be given for the off-field performance to the whole team (except for tried and true alcoholics Noel, Jim and Dan) who let the after match drinks be dominated by the Media Players whilst the Spirits variously drank orange fizzy drink and slid of early.
Result
Spirits lost by 3 wickets.
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