Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Saturday CC v/s Dunford Devils Match Report
Shiv and Sanjay started the repair job by playing sensibly and running hard. Shiv was getting his first real opportunity to make a mark. And did he make most of it! He placed the ball beautifully on both sides of the wicket and ran hard. He had good communication with Sanjay as was evident when he just tapped the ball on the leg side and ran a comfortable single. Sanjay too looked in good nick. His trademark drives invariably found the sweet spot of the bat. Just when it looked like the partnership was going to take off, when Sanjay was run out to a direct hit from mid-on. Mid-on was brought in for that over and Sanjay could not beat his throw.
Shankar joined Shiv in the middle but was out without facing the ball as he took off for a non-existent run. Again, Saturday CC had lost 2 wickets in the space of 3 deliveries. Dunford Devils had their tails up and were expecting to wrap up the tail. However, they had no idea about the depth of Saturday CC batting. Kedar B walked in and immediately started scoring singles. Shiv was given out bowled for a very well made 14 while Alan got the best delivery of the innings. Kedar B and Wasim played intelligently and score 8 off the last over to take the score to 85 for 9. Kedar made a run-a-ball 7 while Wasim made 3.
With the ball not travelling on the very wet field, this was a pretty decent score.
Wasim started the proceedings and immediately found his rhythm and line and length. Kedar M complemented him very well and the Dunford Devils openers were already feeling the heat in the second over. On the last delivery of the second over, Sudarshan from Dunford Devils glided the ball in between Shiv who was keeping wickets and Sanjay who was fielding at widish slip. The ball ricocheted off the fence. Sanjay fielded it and flicked it to an ever alert Shiv who broke the wickets.
Wasim kept up the pressure by bowling a great maiden over. Naresh came on as the first change bowler and in his first over, the sixth of the innings, Shankar and Naresh combined to dismiss another batsman - out run-out. Kedar M then effected another run-out by brilliantly picking up and hitting the wickets from square leg. Sanjay followed suit by throwing the stumps down from gully and the Dunford Devils were running themselves out of the match. The score read 28 for 4 at the end of 10 overs.
With the required run-rate mounting, Dunford Devils started to become a little more aggressive. Some cross batted heaves to deep square leg and mid-wicket fetched them some quick runs. But they ran out of luck soon as they tried to hoist Wasim over mid-on. Kedar B ran and took a brilliant catch. It was the fifth wicket of the innings and it was the first for a bowler.
The run-out odyssey continued thereafter as Shankar got in the act and threw down the wickets from square leg. Alan and Madan joined the show. From the point of view of a non-playing observer, it was a combination of injudicious running and some agile and accurate fielding. There were eight run-outs in the innings and 11 in the match (probably a TCA record). Dunford Devils's innings folded at 50 and Saturday CC won by 35 runs.
Nadeem was adjudged the man of the match for his 21 runs. Wasim finished with the figures of 4-1-7-1 while Shankar returned the figures of 4-0-6-0
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Welcome to Saturday Cricket Club Blog
We will post match reports here so that they are readily available. We can also attach some pictures to match reports if available for that match.
The official Saturday Cricket Club website will continue to be the one maintained by Vishal (on geocities).
-Abhay