Match Report for Cosmopolitans vs. Corinthians - 21st May 2009

Sathesh B: 43 - Sunil: 42 - Kushal: 19;

Doubts & speculations prevailed even before start of third league match against Cosmopolitan Club-Mannheim as it was widely expected weather will play spoil sport, eventually weather god did show some mercy for our 80+ kilometers travel to Mannheim.

It was a tricky ground for cricket, where you can score 6 within 40meters and for 4's ball has to climb up the hill and more interestingly within 10 meters behind wicketkeeper there was a boundry zone, sounds like power cricket haaaa.

Earlier, due to unavoidable circumstances Danny has to pullout & we had to play with 10 Corinthians. Having won the toss we opted for bowling. Due to delay in start match was reduced for 37 overs. SatB & Rajesh started the bowling, SatB opened his account almost immediately, it was good catch from Sunil in the wide third man, while Rajesh was still trying to find his rhythm right and leaking some runs. Sunil came in as first change bowler and start hitting the right length with no time. On his first over he got a LBW decision on his favour and on his 2nd over he disturbed the timber and SatB got a good LBW decision on his favour of a ball hittting in line in his 3rd over. Both the bowlers continue to menace the batsmen, but due to nature of ground almost all the miss hits and edges finds it way to boundry and Cosmopolitans maintained a healthy run rate of 7+ inspite of the fact they were loosing wickets. At the end of 7 overs, Cosmopolitans were 50/3. Within 30mins of the game ball had to be replaced, we knew less at that time this was going to be a decisive factor for the match. Replaced ball was completely worn-out and offered near to no assistance for Corinthian bowlers, home-team realised this and gone berserk, hitting the ball mercilessly. At one point of time runrate was cruising towards 10. Mahe did his best by setting more defensive field and continuously rotating the bowlers, but it all looked like bootless. Finally lady luck shown her grace by returning the ball we started off with, Mahe this time imposed himself into a spinnish/medium bowler role and not only applied brakes but took 3 valuable wickets, Madhu & Kush supported well with their economical spells. Sunil on his second spell took 3 more wickets And finished with this year’s best figure of 6 overs 39/5; whilst Mahe with 6 overs 35/3 ; and SatB with 5 overs 32/2 . Cosmopolitans were all out 195 in 27 overs.

Corinthians fielding was much better this time especially Jeet behind the wickets stopped several boundries considered the 10 meters distance, Fawzi was kept buzy in the square leg; There were couple of dropped catches overall, though not an easy chance. Some changes were made on the batting line-up, Kush & SatS were made to open the innings. Both the openers started cautiously against the pace bowlers, Kush broke his shackle in the second over by hitting a good straight 6 and from then runs started flowing. SathishS timing the ball well too. On 4th over Kush hit another 6 towards the square leg boundry and attempted to send another one towards long off but misread a low straighter one; this time timber was disturbed, he made 19 runs.

Madhu was promoted to No.3 to boost the runrate; but he didn’t last long before being bowled by a Yorker delivery; he made 2 runs. SatB was No.4; as usual he started with utmost caution, trying to play himself in. A big blow came when SatS had a ball clearly going down the legside on his pad and was adjudged LBW; he made 5 runs. Within 4th over Corinthians top-order was back in the pavilion. Score now was 38/3. Rajesh came in as No.5 and started timing the ball immediately. Couple of successive boundries eased some pressure; SatB & Rajesh were looking to consolidate; when things started looking bright another blow came when Rajesh padded a ball going on probably 5th stick outside the off stump and was adjudged LBW, he contributed 15 runs; Scoreboard was reading 63/4 in 10 overs. Sunil was promoted to No.6. Both Sunil and SatB frustrated the bowlers by taking absolutely no risk and negotiated good deliveries. Meanwhile, SatB switched into a scoring mode and start scoring in 4’s, while he was aptly supported by Sunil; both these batsmen batted sensibly until 22 overs. They waited for the loose balls instead of going after every ball. SatB continue find his gap on the covers region; he also managed to hit a 6 in this region. When the ship was almost steadied and asking rate was well below 6 rpo SatB on an attempt to clear wide third man ballooned straight into the fielders hand and a priceless partnership was broken. He made 43 valuable runs.

Mahe joined Sunil as No.7, this time Sunil took the responsibility of keeping the scorer busy; Sunil flicked one on the onside for a 6 and nudged 1’s & 2’s. Mahe was caught in double mind as Corinthians tail will be exposed after his wicket, he managed to score a boundary on the covers, but unable to get his timing right; he was bowled by another straight ball; he made 9 runs. Now, Corinthians needed 50 runs from 12 overs. Jeet joined Sunil. There was no sign of affright shown by either of the batsmen and continued to rotate the strike. When Corinthians needed fewer than 40 runs in 9 overs, another straight and lower ball finds it way under the Sunil’s bat and dislodged the bails. Frustration on his face was evident as he put in lot of hard-work & concentration. Well played lad!! It was your day and you made the most out of it. Keep rocking…

Jeet and Shaizad tried their bit to see us through, Shaizad hit a nice flick for a boundry to keep the hope for a victory alive; but Jeet fell for 9 when he tried to clear the third man. Fawzi was the last man to join Shaizad, on an attempt to take a quick single Fawzi was unfortunate to run himself out and finally Corinthians conceded a defeat by 15 runs with 4 overs to spare. Overall it was a mixed day, on the plus side: Sunil emerging as batsmen in a testing condition and came back hard while bowling inspite he has gone for 20 runs in an over ; SatB’s valiant batting effort on a demanding situation, Ability to apply brakes on scoring to an extent by Mahe, Sunil & Kush ; Jeet’s glove work behind. On the flip side: Fast bowlers need to learn the art of bowling with softer ball, though it may not happen all the time to bowl with a ball of that kind, it’s handy to have it in their repertoire.

Batsmen should take responsibility while chasing and not to succumb under pressure. Room for improvement in catches and run outs. Its worth to review umpiring as well, as it proved to be a decisive factor for this match. Quality of umpiring is far from desirable, though both the teams are affected; it was Corinthians who took most of beating. Umpired answered most of the question asked from earth by showing the way to heaven. When the batsman was tampering the ball to remove the shine umpire didn’t intervene. Though we can rue about bad decisions, we left with less options and hence need to counter it by avoiding playing on the pads, bowlers need check with umpire regularly on remaining deliveries per over etc., We are still in the process of learning and we need to continue learning and never repeat the same mistakes, if we have to see ourselves at the top.

Match Report for Hellas vs. Corinthians - 1st May 2009

Mahesh: 45* - Ashwani: 39 - Madhu: 23; Sathesh B.: 4-0-25-4 - Sunil 4-1-33-2

The HCV T20 Cup opener between Corinthians CC and Hellas started in mid-afternoon on Friday, 1st May. Recent weather had left some moisture in the air and on the ground, although by the time the game started much of this had evaporated. Nonetheless, following recent success with the tactic, the Corinthians invited their opponents to bat and took the field with enthusiasm.

The bowling was opened by Aymon and Sathesh B, in partnership for the first eight overs. While Aymon effectively contained the openers, restricting their scoring chances and coming close enough often enough to make them think twice about hitting, Sathesh from the other end produced a deadly spell after which his figures read 4-0-25-4. Aymon added a wicket to push Hellas to the precarious position of 35/5 after 8 overs.

From this seemingly lost position, and to their credit, the Hellas opening batsman and a series of middle and late order partners combined big hitting with shrewd running and managed to pull their score to a very competent 159 from 20 overs. The real damage was done during the last 4 overs, during which the Corinthians conceded 47 runs.

The Corinthian innings started steadily, with Sathesh S and Ashwani opening and looking very secure at the crease. They did their opening job soundly and after 10 overs, the Corinthians were more or less level with their opponents' score at the same point, having dropped only one wicket in contrast. Sathesh B took over at the crease and set himself effectively to frustrate the Hellas bowling, which was in fairness quick and effective. Unable entirely to take a grip on the game, the finale came with 4 overs to go and, remarkably, the Corinthians in the same position that Hellas had been in previously. To win, we needed 48 runs from 4 overs. It seemed very unlikely, and it is to the credit of Mahesh and Sathesh that we came this close, losing by one agonising run. As the Corinthians crowded the boundary, the required run rate was anxiously recalculated. 20 runs needed from 11 balls turned, thanks to some breathtaking hitting from our elegant captain, into just 9 runs needed from 8 balls, and then 7 needed to win from the last over. Alas, their bowler gave nothing away and fate was against us today - we finished one agonising run short of their total.

Well, we can learn more from defeat than from victory; and there was no shame in our performance which showed energy throughout and perhaps lacked concentration more than skill. A lot of it was about sharp swings; we took the first 5 wickets for 35 runs but then conceded a further 124 which kept the opposition in the game. Likewise, we turned an almost lost position with 2 overs to go into an almost won position with an over to go, and came as close as it gets.

Let us return for the next game even more conscious that one run can be the tiny margin of victory; that every sharp fielding action that saves a run or every quick turn to make 1 run into 2 could be the action that wins the game.