3rd XI Victorious - Winning spree continues

Saturday saw an important match between the 3rds and Maritime CC with the 3rds on a 5-match winning streak after a disastrous first half of the season. A rare achievement in the recent history of the 3rds occorred early on when all 11 players were at the ground by 12:45 pm.

Boundary rope and 30 yard markers sorted, Vipul won the toss and decided to bowl first, conveniently ignoring a majority decision to bat first ( I wonder why he asks us in the first place!). Satya missed the pre-match team prep talk under the pretext of looking for stumps and bails
(important accessories for a game of cricket). Going by recent experience though, pre-match team talks generally cover a lecture from Vipul re being at the ground on time, strategies, irrelevant statistics and below the belt digs at each other at high decibel levels…

Any way, the game kicked off at 10 past 1 ( that is not late by the way!) on a literally sticky wicket, with our hearts filled with positivity and lungs with reasonable amounts of tobacco smoke. Field setting was confirmed after a minor disagreement between three team members about where Satya should field ( Yes, there are at least four captains with their own views about field setting in the team). Raghu struck first with a fantastic catch off his own bowling (though body language and facial expressions suggested he did not want to be there). The next two Maritime batsman steadied the innings thereafter scoring at 4.5 runs per over. Fielding standards were generally high with some superb catches by Vipul, Pankaj and great fielding by the youngsters ( Akshat, Vedant and Dom) barring a ‘difficult’ skier dropped by Satya at deep mid wicket (typically one where Satya had enough time to run to the bar, order drinks and still come back to take the catch).

Anyway the match resumed after caps were flung to the ground and clumps of grass were kicked off by a few fielders in frustration. Also noteworthy was a superb stumping by Piyush to dismiss Sukumar where his vociferous appealing significantly contributed to the wicket (I could swear I saw the umpire’s ears flapping and his face resembling that of someone on the front seat of a roller coaster ride!). Akshat, Vedant and Dom bowled impressively and took circa 5 wickets between themselves with Pankaj, Swaraj, Raghu and Sanchit responsible for the rest of the damage. Maritime Cc were restricted to 119 all out in 35 overs. AJay played well, contributing with a fluent 45 runs.

The second innings kicked off after a 30 min lunch break with the 3rds needing to score at 3 runs per over. Openers Sanchit and Piyush took to the field with stomachs filled with lunch and lungs topped up with tobacco smoke. Sanchit’s plan to finish off the match in 5 overs was soon derailed after an irresponsible first ball heave over the bowler’s head was he gobbled up at long on. Piyush survived an early scare after being dropped in the covers. The Maritime bowling was irritatingly accurate but Piyush and Vijay steadied the innings thereafter with a circa 40 odd run partnership. Vijay was out next on 26, followed by Vipul. Piyush and Satya added 31 thereafter before an ‘uncharacteristic’ run out sent Satya back to the pavilion ( only his 3rd run out this season). Swaraj and Piyush batted sensibly before Piyush was out next, caught and bowled by Naseem. Piyush scored a brilliant 54( including 4 byes which we suspect Vijay forgot to signal). Akshat ( unbeaten on 10) and Swaraj then saw the match through with Swaraj scoring the winning runs to be 17 not out. An emphatic win by 5 wickets and circa 15 overs to spare for the 3rds.

Victory was followed by consumption of alcohol, copious amounts of tobacco smoke, interspersed with sharing of statistics, tactics and strategies for the next 6 matches and below the belt digs at each other, again at high decibel levels. We’ll do this again next week……

By new reporter S.Velasker.