A four match series against the SCC Saturday XI (essentially the SCC social side) kicked off on Saturday with the first match at CSC. Unfortunately we were behind from the beginning with a couple of players not showing, leaving us with 9 players for most of the game - a tough ask against a team which is often tough to beat when you have 11.
Sivam, as captain, gloriously failed in his most important duty and lost the toss, ensuring that we had a bowl first. It being a bit overcast for most of the day, this was not as tortuous as it usually is so we happily set about bowling on the brand new CSC artificial wicket (which, by the way, is as wide as a bus, thus avoiding the awkward situation where you bowl a wide so far outside off that it hits the edge of the mat and rockets off for a boundary somewhere between point and third man - a real boon for me and my bowling at least).
Madhu (5/1/23/2) and Shane Meyer (6/0/44/0) opened the bowling with aplomb, Shane bowling his six back to back in a spell that got better an better as it went on - a shame not to get a wicket. Madhu looked dangerous and managed to snare an early wicket when Shane held on to a sky ball. During the middle overs Paul Mclean (2/0/20/0), Vijay Jeyaratnam (3/0/23/0) and Sivam (5/0/48/1) all bowled well, their task made a lot harder by the resulting gaps in the field that inevitably arise when only playing with 9. After drinks Bala (6/0/47/0) came out from behind the stumps and had a turn with the ball. Unfortunately his figures don't reflect how well he bowled as SCC were in search of the boundary at this stage with overs running down and wickets to spare. Dan (3/0/16/2) came in for a late spell and managed to bag a couple but unfortunately SCC by the end of the innings had amassed 240 runs - a mammoth total to chase in 30 overs.
After the break Spirits, true to their name, went out to bat with a positive attitude. Paul (4) managed to keep the run rate in check with the first few balls he faced but was unfortunately out early. Noel Matthews (29) and Mike Mehaffey (45) then put together the partnership of the innings and can be credited with getting the Spirits in a position by drinks were a win was not completely out of the question. Unfortunately it seems both Mike and Noel quite preferred their time in the clubhouse during drinks and therefore returned there very soon after play resumed. Next in were Bala (1) and Sivam (5) who were both victims of LBW decisions from impartial umpires with itchy fingers.
Vijay was the centre of perhaps the most interesting incident of the game being ruled out Caught Before Wicket (or otherwise known as CBW). This is a little known type of dismissal that I wasn't aware of prior to this weekend. For CBW to apply the ball must hit the batsman's pad outside off, the wicketkeeper must then catch the ball off the batsman's pads and appeal for a regulation caught behind. The umpire then gives the batsman out and when the batsman informs the umpire that the ball went a good mile wide of his bat, the umpire calls you out LBW anyway. Thus the score book reads Vijay Jeyaratam, Caught Before Wicket for 0. Vijay was not a happy camper.
The unflappable Madhu (37n.o.) then came to the crease and played a very good innings for what was essentially now a lost cause. He partnered with Venkat (11), Dan (10) and Shane (2n.o.) before then end of the allotted overs were upon us and we were left 74 runs short of SCC's total.
Result
SCC won by 74 runs, SCC lead the series 1-0.
Man of the Match
Upon starting this report I had intended to say Noel and Mike jointly deserved this for a valiant attempt to keep us in the game during the second innings however after looking at all of the figures it is clear that the best man on the field was Madhu with 37n.o. and 2 wickets for 23 runs - good work Madhu.
Wooden Spoon
Need I say it, the chaps that were a no show.
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