After the loss last week I was a bit more superstitious I guess... Last match I played with a gold watch on which I removed and in this match I reached a bit late from the usual so I made a point to reach early.
So as planned myself and sijo reached the ground around 6.55am for the 8am match you can guess how eager to play. Though I am not much involved in the matches except for being the team captain and I am enjoying with the bunch of players I have nothing to do...
The place is a bit tricky you can have the rain anytime but the ground is being maintained so you can have a match...
By 7.30 about half of the team was in the ground from our side and the opponents too were their. You feel good when you have opponents like Mariners the people playing in the Mariners are friendly and cordial.
Then came the role of the main people the umpires and the worse part for us was that one of the umpires was the same umpire who was the reason for the washout of the last match with the same opponents. And he was trained by Mr.Kili hope all know who he is...
Anyways the way the umpires were doing the inspection the 8am start was not at all possible. On head count again found 1 guy missing. But he was there by 8.15am he he he not at all allowed.
Anyways after all the inspection and ground rectification I would say, the umpires agreed to start the match at 8.40 with 22 over a side.. I was calculating how come they have reduced 8overs per side when the loss is only 40mins, but at that moment the mind was not working may be excited then when I came back and talked to the team (there are 8 sca qualified umpires in the team) I was clear in what I was thinking and informed the same to the umpires which after lot hesitation agreed to have a 25overs a side match. As the captains were in the middle we did the toss immediately to avoid any further delay in the start. As usual lost the toss and the opponents asked us to bat. Loosing toss is good because it doesn’t leave u any chance to make a decision he he he he he he….
One of the players from the so called opening pair was not available to open the innings had to change the pair with anuroop supporting Ramesh on the other side..
Though it was not a partnership which we would liked, because Ramesh was out in the 3rd ball of the innings. Then Karthik joined Anuroop in the middle though the wickets were not falling the runs also was not coming as required the ground was very wet and it was helping the opponents he he
Then we lost 2 quick wickets in the form of Anuroop and Rakes our score read as 24/3 in 6.3 over. Then had to send Mani still the runs were not coming in as required by the 12th over we were 49 with another loss of wicket with Karthik back. I wanted to ask Sijo to go and join Mani in the middle they have a good partnership record in our team, but from the request and suggestion from others I had to change the mind and asked bobby to go in the lucky mascot for me if u believe me or not..
It was a blessing in the disguise both started playing well with bobby giving majority of the strike to Mani who was playing with fluency. He was able to reach his half century in less than 40balls. With Bobby giving a supporting roll from 49/4 in the 12th over we reached 160 for 5 in the 24th over with Mani closer to 1st century of GCC2 and in the div 5 But it was not to be is was out in the 25th over for an individual score of 89 well batted even the opponent fielders came and congratulated him for his batting excellence..
We scored 175 for 6 in the allotted 25overs a good display with the bat.
In the break I was thinking of the opening pair of the bowlers as one of the dependable with the new ball is away for holidays with his family. But no choice I had to ask Tariq to open the bowling with Manesh. They did 3 over each in random but the success of wickets eluded them. Then I had to replace the second pair. I am writing as pair because they are set in that position and not giving me enough time to play me in also. Doing the job of an onlooker. He he he..
Mani the star of the day (it was his day) he got us the 1st break through in the 9th over when Sijo took a well judged catch to get the batsmen out. Then the opponents started losing wicket at the regular interval with bobby also doing good job at the other end with 3wickets. Vishnu who came after a long lay off from cricket due to personnel commitments was good in his rhythm though I was a bit hesitant about his line and length due to lack of matches. But he proved me wrong and did the best and took 2 wickets. Hence we were able to restrict the opponents for 118/9 in 25overs. An all-round performance by mani who took 4 wickets by just giving away 28 runs from 5overs.
If there was any MOM award it would have been Mani. We won the match with nine points.
All the mistakes which we have made in the last match with CW we tried to reduce it though it is not completely eliminated.
After the match we had a refreshing beer time at the same food court which is nearby.
Hope we have a good beer time next time too.
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