BRITISH CLUB” Vs “SPIRITS”

WEATHER:        Bright and sunny (rare) with patches of dark clouds passing by, never threatened the game though.

BACKGROUND:  Match 3 of the annual 4-game rubber. Spirits leading 2-0 in the series. Had an overflow of players, so donated a few to British Club (big mistake).

RESULT:          “Spirits” lost by 3 wickets.

HIGHLIGHTS: 

¨       Abhishekh Sardana 16 runs and 2/21 off 6 overs.

¨       Sandeep Puri 30 runs and 2/21 off 4 overs.

¨       Ollie’s memorable return on the cricket field with spouse Glen.

¨       Glen’s wonderful all-round display (or lack off) that day, thanks to Ollie.

¨       Grant proves that preparing for a half-marathon gets you 22 runs easily.

¨       G-Man hit 20 off 12 balls, and then an impressive spell of 6-2-14-0.

¨       Kalpesh ensured the rubber stays alive at 2-1 with a game to go.

¨       Amar observed the entire game and wrote this match report…!!!

REPORT:     ‘Spirits’ won the toss and elected to bat. At 17/2 after 5 overs it seemed like we were in trouble having lost two key batsmen in Glen & Gaurav already. However, stoic Bryan Deane and skipper-of-the-day Kalpesh steadied the ship with a 3^rd wicket stand that took the score past the 50’s, but the BC bowlers struck back and the scoreboard read 55/4 end of 12 overs. Since we were nearly halfway through the game, the need to score more runs quickly was obvious. At that point, Mr. Reliable Sandeep marched out to the crease and guided the score with a well made 30 runs to a respectable, defendable total with good supporting knocks from Grant Hume (22), Abhishekh (16) and Tushar (13). The final score for the ‘Spirits’ was 165 all out in 30 overs. Not bad.

It should have not been so hard for the “Spirits” to defend the total, given the variety of the bowling attack available to them, however, the uneven outfield (synonym for ‘not so good fielding’) and the previous night’s net practice in Boat Quay helped us make heavy weather of it.  To be fair, the BC batsmen played well and patiently, waiting for the loose ball (there were plenty) or a special ball (the ‘vodka full toss’ or the ‘heineken short n wide one’) to find the boundaries, some of which were just between the “Spirits” fielders wide legs! And going back to mistake #1, we (or me) donated Shankar & son to the BC to make up their shortfall, nobly wanting to keep father and son together, and what did Shanks do……smashed 30 in 10 balls and retired….supported by a couple of good knocks by the home team batsmen. It was all over in 28.1 overs, so we did (ahem!) shave off 25 minutes off the official beer starting time. Abhishekh bowled well, the others tried, picked up a wicket or two, but runs still flowed, so the British Club eneded up deserving winners. The “Spirits” boys promised to have more nets sessions, but change the pitch from Boat to Clark Quay as it may prepare us better for the next encounter.

The important thing was a lot of cold amber liquid flowed into the ample tank spaces of the “Spirits’ boys afterwards at the clubhouse, with some samosas ‘n curry ‘n nachos flying around and not a single dropped catch there (!) -  thanks to our gracious hosts – the British Club of Singapore. Cheers!!