Summary:
Shrewsbury Cricket Club 95/8 in 20 overs, lost to MCC 96/8 in 19.5 overs.
Played on 25 July 2009 @ Mary Dennison Playground, Framingham.
Match Report
Some matches stay with us forever – this was one of those! Certain matches we remember with fondness for the way a team played, the way a team fought to come out on top, to come out triumphant – this was one of thos! It could be the 2 run win for England in the 2005 Ashes. It could be the 2002 NatWest final where India won over England via Yuvraj Singh and Mohd. Kaif. It could also be any one of the 1999 World Cup matches between Australia and South Africa – the one where Gibbs ‘dropped the World Cup’, allowing Steve Waugh to engineer a dramatic and famous win or the WC semi-final where SA were so close, yet so far (the infamous Donald run-out)! It could also be the Srinath, Kumble special at Bangalore vs. Australia in the Titan Cup in 1996.
While there is no debating that cricket at the international stage is a completely different ball game when compared to hard tennis ball (HTB) cricket, we play our cricket with just as much passion as our counterparts on the international stage. We take our cricket just as serious as those on the international stage do. Each match in this league means just as much as the World Cup means to international players. The win on Saturday vs. Shrewsbury Cricket Club (SCC) will most certainly join the list of matches that I will remember fondly, for a very long time to come. It is extra special for me just because I played a part in engineering this famous win. This match was an instant classic – something that would have been all over ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Classic a few dozen times by now, had the match been recorded!
Chirag top-scored for us – 32 not-out off 49 balls with 1 six. He also picked up 2/18 off his 4 overs, which in my books get’s him the man of the match award.
SCC batting
SCC won the toss and opted to bat first. They got off to a steady start, adding 21 runs for the opening partnership, before a double strike from Sachin sent two catches Akshat’s way – 25/2. Viral, making his debut in the league bowled beautifully with pace, making the batsmen hop around clueless. SCC consolidated and moved to 41 before Ganesh took a blinder at short mid-on (the ball getting stuck in his left-hand as he went full-stretch towards the ball) to get Jai a wicket.
SCC continued to play steadily and advanced to 66. Ganesh and Ankit bowled their quota of four-overs in tandem, and struck in tandem as well, and in similar fashion (I know, weird!) – taking a sharp catch each of their own bowling. This double strike had SCC at 67/5 at the start of the 16th over. Their captain played a good knock as the inning drew to a close – making 20 off 20 deliveries with 2 boundary hits. Mukesh picked up a wicket in the 19th over, and Chirag got two wickets in the last over of the inning as SCC set us a target of 96. Our bowler’s had an off-day as we conceded 16 wides, and 1 no-ball.
MCC batting
Viral and Ankit got the chase started. We were off to an easy start with the SCC bowlers conceding 8 wides in the first three overs. But a double strike in the third over left us at 17/2 after 3 – Viral and Ankit were back in the hut. Akshat and Matt started to rebuild the inning as we proceeded to 25 before disaster struck. We lost four wickets without adding anything to the score – Matt, Ganesh, Sabhay, and Mukesh back in the hut with the scorecard reading 25/6 after 6 overs; defeat seemed inevitable.
Chirag joined Akshat in the middle as they steadied the ship, while SCC stood at the doorstep of victory (or so they must have thought!). As Akshat got his eye-in, he started to work the ball around for singles before exploding in the ninth over – sending the ball over the boundary for the first six of the inning – and we got 11 runs of that over. Chirag was well set by now, and added five runs in the 10th over. While still behind, we were making progress. At the end of 10 overs, we were at 45/6. 51 to get off the last 10 with Sachin, myself and Jai to follow.
Just as we started to get our chin-up, we were dealt another blow as Akshat was run-out while going for a second run – 51/7 after 12 overs. Sachin joined Chirag in the middle, and looked good from the very first-ball. However, he was out controversially – caught at long-on (as the fielder caught the ball, he chipped his nail, and let the ball go. It wasn’t clear if he had control of the ball for a duration long enough to claim a clean catch – similar to Herschelle Gibbs’ dropped-catch off Steve Waugh in the 1999 World Cup.) This left us at 57/8 at the start of the 15th over.
I joined Chirag in the middle and we gave the tale a final twist with an unbroken match-winning stand of 39 in 5.4 overs.
We were 59/8 after 15 overs – 37 runs required in 5 overs with 2 wickets in hand. SCC’s strike bowler returned for his final over, but struggled to get his line and length right – bowling 3 wides – and we got 8 runs for the over. 29 needed off 4 overs. Their captain – Raga – came in to bowl the 17th over of the inning – his first – and that went for 9 runs, as I picked off a boundary off the last ball of the over. 3 overs remaining, 20 runs to get, and tension all around! We got 6 runs off the next over, to leave us with 14 to get off 2 overs.
Chirag who was now as well set as one can be was ready to finish things off – he scored 10 out of the last 14 runs.
Raga returned for his 2nd over – the 19th of the inning. Chirag and I picked up singles off the first two deliveries – 12 needed off 10 deliveries. Chirag smashed the third ball over long-on for a huge 6 that truly put us in the driver’s seat – 6 needed off 9 deliveries. He, very smartly, took a single off the next ball. Raga buckled under pressure and bowled 2 more wides. We’d picked up 11 runs off that over and needed 3 runs going into the final over.
Chirag took a single off the first ball. I played out 2 dot balls (as the tension piled up even further) before taking a single to hand things over to Chirag – 1 run needed, 2 deliveries to go, 2 wickets in hand. As soon as the bowler delivered the 5th ball, I took off for the other end, like a plane on the taxi-way. Chirag connected well-enough to get the ball to short mid-on. The fielder, unable to stay cool under pressure, fumbled the ball all over, and couldn’t get the ball into the bowler’s hand to effect a run-out. Chirag made his ground, and we won dramatically, with 1 delivery to spare.
Hugs and smiles all around the MCC team, and a heart-breaker for the SCC team. A huge win for us. A very memorable win.
League Round-up
- Juntas hosted Franklin: Juntas (108/6) lost to Franklin (109/7 off 19.5overs) by 3 wickets
- Norwood hosted Milford: Milford (129/6) beat Norwood (93/10 in 18 overs) by 36 runs.
- Natick hosted eClinicalWorks: Natick beat eClinicalWorks (details not available yet)
The points table has been updated with the above results.
– We are behind Franklin on NRR, although tied on points.
– Franklin host Shrewsbury followed by Natick.
– Milford’s big win over Norwood serves us well. Norwood’s NRR dropped from 0.528 to 0.016. Norwood has 12 points (3 wins, 2 losses).
– Norwood won against Franklin earlier in the season, and Franklin won against us. Can we win against Norwood (on August 15th)?
– Norwood hosts eClinicalWorks and TechPro prior to visiting us.
The odds of a 3-way tie for the 3rd spot are very good. We can take care of business by winning against Natick and Norwood (both home games for us).
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