Friends grounded

Make-shift Engineers show their might

By Sandeep Thakker

What began as a cloudy Sunday morning at Edogawa, eased out into a good day and culminated in an interesting finish with a six of the last ball. The match was conceived only 2 days earlier and Engineers had a tough time putting up a decent team. In the end captain and president's hard work bore fruit and an eleven were gobbled together on Saturday less than 24 hours before the match. Early morning drizzles caused the Friends captain to call off the match but a determined Engineers skipper was able to persuade the Friends to the ground.

With 35 overs a side and the match starting at 12 noon, it was expected to be a tough fight but not without its ups and downs. Cleverly working out a winning strategy, the Engineers captain Sanjeeb Sahoo decided to bowl first against one of the strongest teams in Japan and KCL finalists for the last two years running. Having unknown entities in the side did not deter the skipper to take that courageous decision.

Biju and Sangan opened the bowling for the Engineers against Friends' usual opening pair of Asad and Saad. The script somehow did not have an auspicious beginning with the new comer Javed at long-off floored a skier in the 5th over off Saad, with Biju being the victim, robbing the Engineers of an early break-through. Engineers were quick to realise that there were more people with grease in their hands on the field as more than half-a-dozen catches went begging especially huge hits around the long off region. In spite of those initial hiccups, with fiery pace that Anurag generated Friends batsmen found it hard to handle the bowling. Soon the wheels started rolling and wickets began to tumble. With Ritesh on the other end not giving anything away the two pacers along with Biju gave the opposition much to think about and by the half way half way mark(17 overs), half of the batsmen were back in the hut with the score reading 79/5.

But there was one more batsman the Engineers would have liked to see the back of earlier. Aamir Ali. The beneficiary of most of the dropped catches. Just when the Friends thought they had their feet in, came a good throw from point to the 'keeper and with both the batsman stranded in the middle of the pitch the stumps were rattled resulting in a run out. But strangely enough, the decision went to the batsman's favor, as the square leg umpire wasn't convinced that the bails were taken off with the ball in hand. The exasperated Engineers continued without much fuss for the sake of the friendly game and maintained the discipline. It was as if one was inspiring the other and the good work done by Anurag and Ritesh were continued by Partha and Sanjeeb. On the whole the bowling appeared good, barring one over that went beyond double digits owing to a couple of high catches being dropped, butter fingers is what they say :-). Aamir, the captain coming lower down saved the day for Friends with some lusty hitting to finish with 69 and was the last man dismissed. Friends thus folded up at 173 well within 34 overs owing to some decent bowling performance by the Engineers, with Anurag being the chief destructor(4/17).

The script could not have been better for the Engineers with Friends being quite contrast to the Engineers' beginning in terms of discipline in bowling department. With at least a few wides in each over the task became easier for the Engineers and with a fluent 79 run opening partnership there was little to worry for the Engineers. After the fall of the first wicket Friends sniffed a chance and would have thought they would be able to cave their way back in whereas what happened was a total contrast. A hurricane by the name of Javed Jamadar came their way and they were swept off their feet with some lusty hitting. Its what pinch hitters are supposed to do, but none expected that boundaries would be cleared with such ease by this surprise package and last minute fill-in. Two of his hits landed in the river, prompting even the bowler to applaud. In fact even the Engineers did not expect this storm to hit the ground :). Though the Friends managed to get a couple of wickets but by the time they came it was too late for the Friends. In the end, an unfinished partnership of 49 between Raju and Sandeep saw Engineers home with Raju hitting a the winning runs by a six.

Brief scores:
Friends: 173 (33.4ov.). Aamir Ali 69, A Singh 4/17
IECC: 174/4 . S Ghadge 39*, S Raju 30*.

Tigers blown away by the Engineers with a fantastic display of all round cricket

Newbies show their potential

By Sanjeeb Sahoo

There were a lot of doubt on Friday and Saturday if this match can be played considering the weather forecast. Though we had both Shizouka and Edogawa grounds available , weather forecast was not looking good at either of the places but in the end we decided to stick to Tokyo. Light drizzle posed a threat of cancellation but the captains decided to take the chance at the weather and decided to get to the ground, one eager to play its only second match since inception and the other salivating the prospect of easy four points against their compatriot rivals. But the presence of Japanese women's team at the ground caused some confusion about who the ground was given to but soon sorted out with ladies agreeing to leave although the Engineers were tempted to take the help of the ladies to fill the no. 10 and 11 spot. You guessed it right, we had only 9 for the match, thanks to last minute drop outs with and without intimation.

As heavy rain was predicted late in the afternoon, 35 overs-per-side match was decided. Engineers skipper called the coin right and elected to bat first given the inexperience of the newbies. Skipper spent his first 30 minutes on the phone making frantic calls to have 11 on the field while some weak hearted ones engaged in the conversation with the fairer sex. Skipper at last hit the jackpot when he convinced Ashish join an hour later.

Vimal and Masood opened the innings but Vimal didn't last long as he nicked one to the slip trying to drive the ball that pitched almost on the edge of the pitch. Amol then walked in to give company to Masood who was batting well and looking solid after hitting a huge six over square leg. Seemed like he was in an aggressive mood. Amol playing his first match of the season, nicked a slower ball to the keeper and had to walk back quickly. As the score reading 2/35 skipper promoted Raju to no 3 for this game and he made his aggressive intent clear from the beginning. But a poor calling between Raju and Masood resulted in the latter running himself out. Score reading 3/41 at the 10th over, captain walked in with the intent to stabilize things a bit. Raju and yours truly batted and used caution and aggression intermittently and bailed the Engineers out of a tight spot. By the time Raju got out the score was reading 4/102 on the 21st over. Raju sent the Tigers on a leather hunt and one of the best was a straight six over long on that almost landed in the river. After Raju got out, Dinesh and Anurag gave company to the skipper and they managed to add another 50 runs. Jagan walked in the score reading 6/151 and opened his account hitting a lovely square cut for 4. Just 2 overs were left and Jagan fell victim to a poor calling , sacrificing his wicket for his skipper. Biju was next, and the field being well spread they decided to nudge the ball around and run as fast as they can. In the last over 10 runs were scored just by running and by the end both Biju and Sanjeeb were gasping for breath. Final score was 7/194 with Sanjeeb remaining not out on 59 hitting 5 fours and a six in the process.

After a quick 15 minutes lunch break Engineers borrowed some caps from the tigers to keep there head out of the rain and took to the field. Biju started the proceedings with the new ball. A 5/3 field was set considering that we had only 10 on the field. Biju on his 2nd over got the ball to bounce from the good length and Abraham the opener could only fend it awkwardly to Dinesh at the slip after it brushed the gloves of the batsman. Biju provided another break through again by claiming the Tigers no. 3 and vice captain and Engineer's former mate Anil. I remember some one saying something which meant that the "after the pressure of captainship is gone, the bounce in the bowling is back". All the bowlers bowled a tight line. Anurag was almost unplayable for the 6 overs he bowled. We took wickets at regular intervals and always kept the Tigers under pressure. In the end Jagan came in and took 2 wickets in just 3 balls and wrapped on Tiger's innings on the 20.3 overs for 66. He was on a hat trick but unfortunately no wickets were left to be taken.

The win came just before the heavy shower. Both the Engineers and Tigers deserve a pat on there back  for the spirit with which they played and made the match possible on a rainy day. Here are few highlights from the match.

- Masood maturing as an opener. A thumping Six over square leg showed that he can be aggressive if he chooses to.

- Raju played a crucial role as a pinch hitter. A huge Six over long on that almost landed in the river proves his ability.

- Partnership between Raju and Sanjeeb was the pillar of the IECC innings.

- We managed to play out all 35 overs without getting all out.

- Biju again leading the attack with the bowling and provided the crucial early breakthroughs.

- Anurag bowling with great pace and accuracy with the slippery ball and destroyed the Tiger's. Sanjeeb provided the support from the other end.

- Jagan taking 2 wickets in just 3 balls he bowled and on a hat-trick when he bowls in the next game. Certainly the long absence from the game has not dampened his pace and swing.

- Vimal doing a great job behind the stump in absence of our regular keepers.

- Our fielding was good. Dinesh's catch at the slip, high catches by Masood and diving effort by Amol at the point were some of the highlights of our effort in the field.

- Special thanks to Ashish who joined us on a very short notice, did not get to bat , fielded in the rain and saved around 10/15 valuable runs for us. Should go a long way to remind everyone that, a team is made from individuals but how successful and long lasting the team is depends on the sacrifices we are willing to make.

Brief scores:
IECC: 194/7 (35 ov.). S Sahoo 59*
Indian Tigers: 66 (20.3 ov). A Sing 3/15
 

Engineers record their first win panting and puffing

Kytes fly on Arbab 50

By Biju Paul

A new season couldn't have started better for the Engineers. After back-to-back washouts of the practice matches, Engineers set out for their first serious match with only a couple of net sessions behind them but those sessions  turned out to be good enough to beat the Kytes, though the Engineers new captain would have liked a much better performance from his batsmen.

The coin was tossed on time - thanks to the Kytes who had laid out the pitch before the Engineers arrived - Kytes skipper called it right and gave the Engineers what they wanted - fielding, much to the disappointment of the most vociferous (and noisy) advocate of batting first, Ritesh Kakkar. Joel and Todd opened the innings for the Kytes facing Anurag and this writer. The Kytes did not seem to be interested in scoring any runs as a vast majority of their runs came from extras. After 6 overs the Kytes scoreboard looked 1/14 with yours truly surprising himself with a bowling analysis at one stage having 3.4-2-1-1. Joel Chamberlain was the batsman out in the 4th over of the match, clean bowled after surviving a very close LBW shout in the previous delivery. Arbab replaced Joel and started jittery but settled down quickly with singles. No threats from Kytes so far as they progressed at a Test match run rate. After Dinesh had opener Todd caught at cover off an intelligently bowled slower one, his replacement Sharpe did not last long as he was caught at cover by Anurag off Ritesh, a decision that left the batsman fuming, as he thought it was a bump ball. Larry came, consumed 17 balls to for a score of 6 and the fall of Larry brought Abbot. But he didn't last either and fell to Anurag for 5 and the batsmen left screaming and cursing as if a well set batsman getting out to a careless shot. That brought skipper Neil with his bat thicker than Sharpe's thigh muscle and scored runs at a good pace. Arbab, meanwhile, at the other end continued to play his shots, with the Engineers skipper Sanjeeb bearing the brunt of his attack. Sanjeeb went for 22 runs in his first over, all by Arbab and the batsman completed  his 50 in that process. Sanjeeb, however, had the last laugh, having him caught at long on by Bobby - an excellent running catch that was but not before flooring a similar one in the previous over.

That brought the last man, Robert-Gills Martineau for company for Neil. Sanjeeb then brought your reporter to cleanup the Kytes tail, which prompted the umpire Anton McCloy to take out his pocket calculator to calculate the combined age of the two batsmen, bowler and the umpire himself. A combined experience of 200 years on the field at the same time! Oh, KCL you are the winner! When Sanjeeb had RGM LBW, the Kyes had scored 138, thanks to Arabab and Wides(38).

In the beginning, a target of 139 looked easy as long as the usual crumble didn't happen and it didn't to a certain extend. Opener Masood had held fort at one end with a solid 21 off 55 balls when wickets went cheaply at the other end. The Engineers did have a scare with the score at 6/91 when Bobby fell for a 17 ball 10, after a partnership of 21 with the come back boy Dinesh Singh. Ritesh joined Dinesh and the duo then set about scoring without resorting to any rash shots and put up a 39 runs partnership to sail the Engineers safe. Dinesh fell for a stroke filled 23(2x4, 1x6) when 10 runs required for the victory, which the next batsman Anurag and Ritesh completed in the 34th over, dashing the Kytes hope of a victory against the Engineers for which they had brought back the last successful captain against the Engineers, who had abdicated his duty two years ago.

Over all, the game was good, it was nice to see the old man on the field with a dead bat, ordering a mortuary like silence on the filed when he faced the bowler, walking away when the sound of the bowler's foot steps distracted his intense focus.

Thank you Kytes for the good lunch!

Brief scores:
S Kytes 138(35.3 ov) A Mohammed 57, S Sahoo 3/31
IECC 139/7(33.5 ov). D Singh 23, S Navod 4/37.