Summary:
Franklin Cricket Club: 31/10 in 13.4 overs, lost to
MCC-2: 32/5 in 12 overs.
Played on 16 June 2012 @ Ashland Middle School, Ashland.

Match Report:
The cumulative talent of our group isn’t an issue. It’s our temperament that at times lets us down. As a bowling unit, we have more than enough to keep the opposition honest, but expecting us to run through batting line-up’s might be asking too much. Today though we put on a display like no other before. Talent, temperament, and effort all came together and the results speak for themselves.

Our bowling unit clicked like clockwork, and the fielders backed up the bowlers like a dream. It was a clinical exhibition of bowling and fielding, which ensured that FCC, following up on their disastrous 27 all out total from 2011, were bundled out for a meagre 31 in the 14th over. Our batting stuttered along, making it unnecessarily interesting, but we held on for a comfortable five wicket win at the end.

I won the toss – called tails correctly – and chose to field. It was a pitch that we hadn’t played on; the first time we were playing on this field. Having not played much for close to three weeks, I figured that it would be smarter to put the pressure on FCC to set a target for us to chase.

Kunal and Phani were running late, and we seemed to be two players short at the start. Swarooph, luckily for us, was at the ground, and joined us as the twelfth man – we drafted him into the playing 11 at the end of the fifth over as Phani hadn’t arrived. Kunal got to the ground mid-way through the first over, and joined us on the field at the end of it.

Krishna and Sachin opened the bowling and were on song from the word go. They bowled the first four overs of the innings; the scoreboard read 4/3 after four. We’d priced out a wicket in each of the first three overs – with the scoreboard reading 1/1 after 1, 2/2 after 2, and 3/3 after 3.

FCC had a number of new players in their mix, but there were some familiar faces as well. Santosh in particular is one of the more familiar faces, for he has burned us repeatedly in the past. He came in at the fall of the first wicket to steady their batting, and perhaps to counter-attack the bowling. Today however wasn’t his day, as he was caught by Swarooph at point, off the bowling of Sachin – Sachin’s third delivery, the second over of the match. Santosh was out for a duck, and we had out tail up.

Krishna, got their opening batsman, Nishanth, in the first over for a duck, caught by Sreeram at square-leg, and followed that up by getting Nikhil, their two-down batsman, caught and bowled, for the third duck of the inning, in his second over. FCC were slipping quickly and we were over-joyed.

Sashi, the other opening batsman for FCC, had done reasonably well, considering the mayhem around, to stand tall for his team, and score a few runs. Kunal came on to bowl the fifth over, and knocked Sashi over with his third delivery. Kunal pitched the ball up, which in turn dragged the batsman forward. To Kunal and me (at deep mid-on) it seemed like a play and a miss, as we both ooh’d and aah’d from our positions – we figured that the ball had just missed the stumps. However, Chirag, our wicket-keeper, and others around him were celebrating – the ball had clipped the off-stump and dislodged the bails. Chirag, and a few others saw it for what it was, and most importantly, so did the umpire. Their opening batsman, Sashi, after keeping Krishna and Sachin at bay, had been knocked over by Kunal.

Vikas, their captain, came to the middle and hit the straps right-away. He managed to disrupt Kunal’s rhythm and he conceded a few extras that over. However, the damage was already done. FCC were 4 down for about 12 runs after five overs.

Sachin bowled a third consecutive over, and kept things tight. Although there were a few wides in the over, the pressure was squarely on the FCC batsmen.

Aravind came in to bowl the seventh over, and managed to pluck out two wickets. Sachin, at mid-on, held on to a good catch – the ball dying on him, as he took it close to ankle high. Amol got into the action as well, as he took the catch at midwicket. With around 16 runs on the board, FCC had lost 6 wickets. Chirag reminded us, while ensuring that all of FCC heard him as well, about our (MCC) match against them from a year ago, when we’d dismissed them for 27.

Amol came on to bowl, and got a share of the spoils for himself. After toying and out-foxing the batsmen with loop, flight and turn, he sent down an arm ball – the faster one. The batsman charged down the pitch, pre-determined – likely tempted by the slowness and flight off the previous deliveries, looking to slog the ball to nowhere in particular. He got his wish, as all he managed was to nick it through to Chirag, who was fabulous behind the stumps. Just to play it safe, in case the catch isn’t given, Chirag dislodged the  bails as well, for the batsman was well out of his ground. However, the catch was given and FCC were looking down the barrel.

The next two overs didn’t get us any wickets, as FCC looked to steady a quick sinking ship – Aravind and Amol continued to play the song started by Krishna and Sachin, and there was no letup in the pressure on FCC. At the 10 over break, FCC had lost 7 wickets, with just around 22 on the board (due to the lack of a well kept scorecard, I can’t provide accurate numbers).

Chirag finally came on for a bowl in the 11th over of the inning, bowling off-spinners today. He kept the pressure on the batsman, although they managed to eek out five runs off his solitary over. Amol came back to bowl the twelfth over and bagged another wicket – Prasoon was caught (either by Malolan or Sreeram).

Amidst all of this, I’d felt a little left out, with the ball hardly making its way to mid-on. Liaqat, the FCC number 10, must have read my mind, as he hit the ball towards me and called Vikas through for a tight single. I attacked the ball and scored a direct hit at the non-striker’s end – FCC were 9 down in the 12th over.

Swarooph bowled the 13th over, and bowled with good flight. He managed to purchase some turn from the pitch as well. He managed to get an edge through to Malolan, which wasn’t taken – that however was the only down-side to an almost perfect day in the field.

Amol came back to bowl his fourth over, and got the big-fish – the FCC captain, Vikas, caught by Kunal at square-leg – as FCC folded for 31.

Chirag and Sreeram opened the batting for us. Chirag seemed to get off to a brisk start – two two’s in the first four deliveries, pulling them to the vacant area between square-leg and long-leg. However, he was out off the fifth ball, as the ball stopped on him while he was looking to flick it to the leg-side.

Nachiketh joined Sreeram and they started to build a partnership. The score had moved to 15 (or so) when Nachiketh hit a short ball, outside the off, straight to the guy at cover. I joined Sreeram, but was out soon – too early into the shot and the ball gripped the surface – for a straightforward catch to the guy at straight-short-extra-cover.

Malolan came to the middle to steady a rocking boat. Although he seemed to struggle, he refused to give up his wicket. Sreeram, who’d been in decent nick so far, fell to another catch. The stutter was on, and the match was getting unnecessarily interesting.

Amol joined Malolan, but was out for 1. We were just shy of 20 and lost half the side. The pressure was squarely on us. Sachin joined Malolan, and they held on for the next couple of overs. We went into the 10-over break at 22/5.

The break certainly helped us re-group as Malolan and Sachin went back to the middle, and kept their focus on the task ahead. After a few overs without any wickets, and as the runs trickled along, the pressure evened out. FCC had us in a spot of bother, but they didn’t have enough runs on the board.

We were entering the home-stretch and FCC couldn’t hang on. Amidst a few full-tosses, their opening bowler – Rahiq – bowling his third over, also bowled a couple of wides down the leg-side. Malolan capitalized on these by hitting the next two deliveries into the same area as Chirag had at the start of the innings, which got us within striking distance. Sachin got the final run, as we secured the win in exactly 12 overs.

Malolan and Sachin held on at the end. Our batting stuttered, and stronger opposition will certainly capitalize on this. Today however, we deserved the win for the bowling and fielding display that we put on. It was perhaps poetic that Sachin, one of the bowlers to have started this all in the first overs of the match, put the icing on the cake.

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