Two months since the end of rainy season and the Gods still haven't forgiven us for something. On cue, at 1pm, it poured and the sky rumbled with thunder and lightening as they took a good dump and try to put the game out of play. Our skippers made us wait, watch women's cricket on TV (sadly we realize they play & look much better than we do) until it slowed to a drizzle and the openers walked out. Normally a groundsman would say "no taking the covers off when its still raining" but we knew he wasn't too familiar with the rules when he tried to use the face of Akash's bat to hammer in the stumps. So the opening blow was delivered under a drizzle by Akash with a sharp "What you doing man!"
By now you can guess Spirits won the toss and decided to bat against Giri's "Cricket for all". A few players were left in the bar from the previous night so they only had 9 but we lent them Spirit Zac and it was 10 a side.
Akash didn't last long and Rajesh followed with the CFA boys bowling a tight line in the first few overs, especially Anand and Thambu. They both faced 12 balls but got 3 & 5 respectively with one stump knocked out of the ground a piece. The run rate truly died and Spirits were 2-25 at the end of the 7th over and it was looking to be a low, slow & wet scoring game.
Ralston, glad the game wasn't cancelled after driving from JB, joined Dave and they labored, struggled and scrapped through the next 8 overs of the shortened 25 over game hitting shots along the sodden ground and running lots of 1 & 2's. When drinks were called the score had accumulated and stood at a more respectable 2-80 off 15 overs with 150 looking to be the target against a team that was bowling and fielding well in the conditions. At the end of the break, Ralston realized "I'm stuffed" walked out grabbed his bat and returned to the shed without facing a further delivery... Retiring for a hard fought 28 off 30 balls. Dave finished off his retirement a few overs later scoring 44 off 41 balls just getting over 100% RR. 17 overs, 3 down and 98 on the board, 150 still possible.
Seeing a need for acceleration Ashok shook up the batting order sending in Sandeep, fresh from arriving at the ground 2 hours late for the game. The extra sleep must have worked as Sandeep played some classic shots. 4, 4's in his 26 off 14 balls he was down on one knee cover-driving in Brian Lara fashion.... Darhsan, Jai and Zac's getting a bit of punishment. Logu, the other heavy hitter was called up the order and the battle of the only two players on either side without beer stomachs ensued. Logu batting with his new, not knocked in bat in the wet, and Zac lent to CFA, whom had been firing in recent games, bowling. Despite the promise it ended up being a one sided affair as Logu went berserk hitting 20 runs off the over and Zac not finding his footing in the wet. Logu retired for 29 off 16 (4, 4's), his new bat knocked in and Zac knocked out.
The loss of Sandeep brought in Graeme. He started with 4 & 6, and finished with 6 & 4... a few balls in btw, and he also retired for 40 off 16 (3, 6's). Ashok, didn't trouble the scorers going for a swing and Suresh played a little cameo giving the hitters the strike with his 5 singles. Overall Spirits through a Sandeep inspired rage and Logu's bat at the end managed a solid 5-204 off 25 overs.
CFA knowing they had a big chase on a wet ground started off solidly. The opening bowlers Dave and Sandeep were taken for the requisite 7 or so an over though Logu bowled very well with his confidence riding high from his new bats performance. After a good first 6 overs a cheeky single to Sandeep didn't pay off when he and Chiro combined to take a sharp run out and the second wicket came shortly after from a ball that didn't bounce, hitting the soggy seam rolling onto off stump. This was all prefaced though with Rajesh dropping an absolute dolly of a catch...!
2 down 60 on the board, CFA now were starting to see issues... By now Rajesh had, had time to reflect what went wrong. Next over a catch presented itself and instead of running over taking it in his chest he deployed the stumble, dive and roll in the mud approach. Snapped up. His parents and daughter on the sidelines cheering at their sons/dads athleticism...
Ashok, In his wisdom saw the best bowlers are his batters turned to Himself, Akash and seeing he was on a roll, Rajesh. Ashok was unlucky to not take more wickets and shared a few choice words with his bad luck 5-34-1. Akash threw the ball up and bewildered the batters with his spin bowling and finished with a very respectable 5-0-25 at the time when the CFA should have been knocking it out of the park. The real story though was that man Rajesh. A low caught and bowled (followed by a roll) and another mid wicket catch (and roll) saw him take two quick wickets off his own bowling. He combined with Chiro from that point on to get a further two wickets. The first, being a looping, spinning, slow, bouncer that went Batsman Stomach, Bat, Chiro's Stomach to Glove in one of the more unusual dismissal for the year.... Finally he was taken out of the attack with the figures of 3 overs, 4 wickets for just 8 runs!
On the CFA side there were some good batting performances. Their openers fought well at the start. Mani 12 off 13, Annad scored 21 off 30. Thambu 43 off 38... The middle order struggled against spirits spinners so Zac became the last man standing and compiled 26 off 33 in the tough conditions. Though it was said he probably could have had more if he used Logu's bat.
All in all a very enjoyable and satisfying win for Spirits. CFA 8 for 137 off their 25 overs and victory by 67 runs. The CFA team were a good bunch of lads and the captains made a good choice by pushing ahead with the game at a time most people would have caved in and headed to the bar.....
Many thanks to Zac for taking Paul Mclean's roll of being the guy lent to the other side!
With a full schedule in the next few months please clear your weekends and hope you also remember the AGM on Tuesday, April 23rd at Harry's Boat Quay.... 7pm....
Cheers,
Spirits.
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