MNL - CWCC Game

So, the beginning of the end is here... 


On the 188th day of the year, we start the first game of the post-season... MNL (Monday Night League) kicks off for DCC today with the same team that kicked our behinds less than 9 days ago... 


The defeat on that day was still lingering in our minds and we have made up our mind to play seriously henceforth... Probably we played too seriously, because... 


DCC starts MNL on a grand note... Batting first, DCC scored 195 / 7 in allotted 15 overs. Neil did most of the damage scoring 97 off just 30 balls. He smacked 14 sixes and 2 boundaries... Chasing 196, CWCC were down and dusted at less than 50 until the last wicket salvaged some pride and took the eventual score to 78.

Yep, we made more in a 15 over game than what we usually score in a 35 over game. More importantly, we were not out until the end... 

Neal and Nikhil started the innings in Ivan, Sanjeewa and Ravi's absence. Neal was in top gear from the first over. He was lucky to have 3 lives but as the saying goes, fortune favors the brave. He was hitting and was hitting it big. He finished his 50 in 17 balls and the next 47 were scored in 12 balls. He got out on the 30th ball. By the time he got out, the team score was 108 from 6 overs, with Nikhil on 6 and extras being 5 runs. After his dismissal, everyone continued the good work, albeit at a humane pace to end at 195 in 15 overs only.

Defending 196, the first over from Nikhil started with an edge off the first ball which ran off to the boundary. Rest of the over went with the batsman trying to locate the ball. Newcomer Aditya had some problem controlling the excessive swing. Nikhil got 2 wickets in the next over - catches held very well by Divesh with the keeper gloves and by Trip in the slips - and had one catch dropped in the slip by Trip. Next over Aditya finally mastered the swing and clean bowled Chetan. Rishi and Trip were brought in and they too got things going their way. Both got 1 wicket in each of their 2 overs. Soon CWCC was 40 odd with just 1 wicket to go. Sid and Neeraj were brought in but the last wicket was too tenacious to fall. The other guy got a life when the catch was lost in the dark background. He capitalized by swinging his way to glory. Eventually, the last wicket fell the only way it could have, run out.

Awesome game to witness and be a part of... 

CWCC Game

Date -- 06/19/2010
Location -- Lee Field, NCSU
Link to scorecard


On a high after the last game where a larger than life performance from Mahesh earned a much needed victory for Team DCC and a Player of the Week award for himself, Team DCC landed at Lee Fields in NCSU to take on CWCC.


Probably due to the record of CWCC or due to the powers that be at home, Sanjeewa decided to take a day off. Shrini thought his work was done after doing his bit to get the team across ANZACs hurdle and flew back to Jakarta, just a couple of hours before the game. In came Prasad and Divesh to slug it out in the middle.


The game was supposed to start at 9.30 am but it felt like the game began at 12 noon. The sun was beating up the field so bad that even though DCC had the luxury of not setting up the field, just sitting on that open uncovered bench was uncomfortable enough.


Neeraj lost the toss this time and still emerged the winner. We wanted to bat first and CWCC chose to bowl first. Everyone was happy, especially everyone at the DCC end, only until they realized that one of the two openers was missing. Ravi decided to live up to his standards and actually raise the bar a notch up this time. 


The umpires were ready at their designated positions, CWCC team was itching to get things going, Prasad was padded up and ready to step in but Ravi was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, his Highlander showed up, just in time to avoid being the first opener to be timed out in TCL. Neeraj then gave a testimony of why he is called the eternal team man of DCC. Everyone saw the fabulous scene where Ravi was tying his right pad and Neeraj was tying the left pad for Ravi. Neeraj carried Ravi's kit bag back to the team dugout. First time ever, one opener walked in from long on and the other opener walked in from Square Leg. Better late than never was the motto when Prasad took guard against Rupesh.


Rupesh drifted on to the pad at the first delivery and Prasad elegantly dispatched the ball to backward square leg boundary only for the umpires to play spoilsport and declare the ball to be dead since it pitched before the flix pitch started. DCC did not like this so the bowler obliged by bowling 3 consecutive wides in the first over itself. Prasad was patience personified, displaying solid defense and immense concentration. Sadly, Ravi thought that Prasad's virtues were good enough to carry the team through. He got out on the 2nd ball he faced nicking a wide one to the keeper.


CWCC got the perfect start to their innings and were on cloud nine. If there is a crash landing demo, Ivan gave the demo to CWCC on the first ball he faced. He thwacked the ball with utter disdain over mid off and CWCC realized that the game was on. A long off was placed from that point onwards, until the end of the game. Prasad continued mixing his defense with crisp hits to the off side and Ivan was rotating the strike prudently. All was well, or so it seemed, until Prasad was caught on the backfoot off one that slid off the flix pitch. The umpire took his time, mimicked Bucknor, and then raised the finger to send Prasad into the cozy confines of the dugout.


Neal was promoted at #4 and joined Ivan. He was middling the ball right from the onset and everyone was optimistic until Ivan decided to test out the long off fielder. Instead the ball took the outside edge and went all the way to sweeper cover for Milton to hold on to the dolly. Divesh went in and showed his presence of mind immediately -- he took the bat away from Ivan on his way in to ensure that there was no broken bat this time around. Immediately, everyone in the dugout scrambled to keep their personal bats in hiding and Ivan had to twiddle his thumbs instead. Neeraj was quick to mark this as the basic strategy for the next game -- Divesh has been nominated to steal the bat again, irrespective of Ivan's score.


Neal and Divesh started moving things again. Both were aggressive in their running and decisive with their calling. They were managing the run rate well -- Neal hit 2 boundaries to break a spell of 12 dot ball -- and the bowlers were sprinkling wides to ensure that the batsmen do not get too bogged down. Things again started looking rosy when Neal was tricked by one that came in. The bowler was consistently swinging the ball out but got one to drift in this time, to catch Neal unaware and castle him. Komal went in and started playing as if he was resuming his fluent innings after a drinks break. DCC was maintaining a run rate of 4 consistently, amidst all these wickets. At the break, DCC was 50/4.




Both Komal and Divesh continued the good work after the drinks break and took the score to 72 in the 18th over when a nicely tossed off spun one on the leg stump took the leading edge and lobbed ever so gently to the short mid wicket player. In walked the player-of-the-week. He was slightly short of numbers in the runs column off late but Pratik had demanded more runs frm him and how can anyone hurt an injured mate? Mahesh deposited a full toss all the way past the boundary and signalled his return to form. If Pratik was present on the field, he would have danced inspite of a operated knee.


Divesh and Mahesh were playing SO well. They were consistently scoring 6+ every over without taking any chances. Divesh was seeing the ball like a football right now and was smacking anything off the safe zone. Numan was greeted with 17 off his only over. DCC reached 123/5 by the second drinks break and everyone was dreaming of 200. The partnership reached 48 in less than 8 overs when Mahesh did a Komal. Same bowler, same ball, same shot, same fielder and same result. Another promising partnership ended abruptly, crashing all the dreams.


Rishi stepped in and began supporting Divesh in the same calm and assured way that we know of him. Things were about to look optimistic when a deadly misunderstanding on wide ball ended up in Rishi getting run out. In went Nikhil. If Divesh was seeing the ball like a football, Nikhil was seeing it like a ping pong ball. He could not connect the first 2, and when he did, he was lead footed to reject the single. Later he managed to connect ever so gently, but the wicketkeeper connected his gloves to the ball as well and sent him packing for a duck. If Nikhil was seeing it like a ping pong ball, Neeraj was seeing it like a ball bearing. He liked the duck so much that he wild-slogged his first ball to miss it completely. The ball did not miss the stumps though, hitting them right where it hurts the most -- base of the middle stump. Sid went in with no intentions to emulate the glorified N-power and actually gave good support to Divesh. Divesh smacked a six and rotated strike smartly but soon, his luck ran out. Sid was cleaned up by a searing yorker by Oni and DCC innings ended at 151 -- way below the high skyline of 200. Divesh played a mature innings of 62 of just 65 balls and stayed not out. He smacked 5 boundaries and 2 sixers, displayed the sort of innings we always expected out him. It was immensely satisfying to see him do justice to his talent.


DCC was confident after the stupendous bowling performance from the ANZAC game. So we decided to change something that worked last time. DCC opened the bowling with Neal and Rishi.


Sadly Neal had a tough time gripping the new ball and the openers took full advantage. Rishi had trouble at the other end as well. CWCC reached 29 off the first 2 overs. Nikhil was brought on in the 3rd over and got 2 wickets off the first 2 deliveries. The first one was a stroke of luck because the ball stayed lower than the ankle and hit the base of the leg stump whereas the second one was a genuine outswinger which gently kissed the outer edge and safely landed in Ivan's palms at first slip. DCC was all charged up and egging for the kill. Sadly he could not get his radar fine tuned and struggled with his wides as well. CWCC had reached 49 off the first 5 overs.


Sid was brought in and he too struggled to get the line alright. In his first over, he bowled a beauty to get Chetan clean bowled when he was in single digits but sadly, he had overstepped. Immediately, Mahesh had a chance to get a wicket when Chetan nicked one to second slip. The ball was travelling so fast and all credit to Neal that it was even attempted. Had he held on to it, it would have been a superb take. Chetan was surviving his luck when another one travelled through the slip. Mahesh flickered the DCC hopes when he trapped Ali LBW.


Bowlers were shuffled around without much success. Sachin came and struggled but Chetan held fort at one end. Mahesh finally ended Sachin's misery by getting him plumb. Sunny Motwani came in and played the innings that matched his reputation. He smacked one straight six and ensured that the pressure never mounted. Chetan was playing fluently at the other end, treating every bowler with utter disdain. Ravi was brought in and struck twice in two overs -- Komal held a nice catch at long on to send Sunny back and later castled Milton -- but it came too late to cause a flutter.


Chetan played very well to stay not out at 65, albeit with a few sparkles of luck early in the innings. But the important part was that his mates stayed on the wicket with him to give him company. However scratchy, the partnerships were very effective in blunting an inspired DCC bowling attack.


DCC batsmen need to learn this lesson, the sooner the better. In 3 out of the 6 games this season, we failed to cross 150, purely because we did not support the in form batsman (Neal in RCC, Divesh in this game). Its high time we understand and implement this.


Today, we probably were overawed by the demons in the flix pitch or we took CWCC for granted and they taught us a very good lesson by ending our playoff hopes, even mathematically. If we do not learn it, our subsequent games / seasons will not be any different. Presence of a Sanjeewa or a Pratik or a Faraz can not change this.


High time DCC, lets give more than our 100% for the next 3 games and end the season with our heads held high.

ANZAC Game

Date -- 06/13/2010
Location -- Shiloh
Link to the scorecard




Team DCC had choked while delivering the killer blow last time and the season was almost over, for all practical purposes... The team spent a lot of time introspecting and analyzing what went wrong for almost 3 weeks... Reinforcements were brought in again -- Shrinivas was summoned from Jakarta, Sanjeewa was promised a monetary gift and lured back to Shiloh by Ivan and Mahesh was humbled by the sarcastic barbs of Tripurari. Murali was made the batting coach and Aditya was made the bowling coach.


On a hot day where the temperature threatened to touch 3 figures , ANZAC and DCC squared on the hallowed tiger-turf of Shiloh. Ravi showed up in time and was warming up whereas this time Sanjeewa decided to do a Ravi by showing up way after the scheduled reporting time.


Captain Neeraj in his first attempt at leading the team in TCL won the toss and decided to take team opinion for the first and the last time in the day. The opinion was as confused as team DCC -- whether to bat first or to bowl first. Eventually, Neeraj took the call by himself -- not for the last time in the day -- to bat first and out walked Ivan and Ravi.


Sriram started the proceedings from the non-basketball end and had trouble getting his rhythm in the first over. Ivan capitalized with a boundary off the first ball and then gave strike to Ravi to have his share of the offering. Ravi duly obliged and DCC were off to 9/0 in the first over. Anzac was a seam bowler short and Vishy opened the bowling from the other end with a 2 step run up bowling consistently full and wide of the off stump. Though Sriram was leaking runs off the other end, Vishy was surprisingly consistent and miserly from the other end.


DCC galloped to 34 in the 6th over when Ivan tried to clear Vishy and was caught at sweeper cover. He reminded the newcomers of the Ivan of yore by smashing his bat into the water roller and breaking the bat. In walked Mr. Jakarta. Sadly, the practice on Saturday morning could not offset the rust of past 3 months and he was out trying to smash the leather off another full-delivery-way-outside-the-off from Vishy.


Ravi was surprisingly quiet to the gentle medium pace of Nagaraj but suddenly woke up after a few nasty comments from the pavilion launching Nagaraj into the leg side boundary for 1 boundary and 2 sixes in the same over. Nagaraj's bowling analysis changed from 2-0-2-0 to 3-0-21-0. He was taken off from the bowling and never brought back again. But Ravi took it to heart probably. The 30's claimed Ravi again and he was clean bowled behind the legs trying to flick one from Vishy.


Sanjeewa in the meanwhile had warmed up nicely (pun intended) and welcomed Ketan by sending the ball to Mr. Barbee's backyard. Sadly in the next over, the last ball of Vishy's spell, he dragged one on to the stumps to end a promising innings. The disappointment was very evident on his face.


Vishy finished his spell of 7 overs at a go -- a commendable effort considering the sultry day -- with excellent figures of 7-0-24-4 and claiming the first 4 batsmen of DCC.


Komal and Neal continued DCC batting. Neal was displaying the same form which has listed him as the 3rd highest run getter in TCL so far. He launched Sriram for a six at Barbee end whereas Komal was helping him run well between the wickets. Another well hit cover drive took DCC score into the 90s when disaster struck.


Komal called for a tight yet gettable single but Neal was playing with caution and did not respond positively. The NO from Neal was lost within the noise and Komal and Neal ended up at the same end. The fielder misfielded initially and then threw at the wrong end. There was enough time for a mad dash to the bowler's end but sadly neither batsman was in the mood to do that and eventually Komal was run out without scoring a run.


Mahesh walked in to give support to Neal. He played the customary steady defense and then tried to launch Ketan out of the park when the attempted heave took the upper edge of the bat, ending up in a vertical sixer (Upar ka Chakka) and caught and bowled. Rishi walked in but this time Neal had enough. He shuffled to the offstump to flick one from Sriram and was caught in front to be adjudged LBW. Nikhil walked in and this time Rishi found the heat in the middle too much to deal with. His off drive was smartly held by Sriram in his own bowling. Suddenly, from 91/4, DCC collapsed to 95/8.


Captain Neeraj joined Nikhil now and both decided to do the same role that they had played in game 1. They initially played the ball on its merit, primarily in the V and were content with 1-2 per over with occasional extras sprinkled by the bowlers. Slowly, they gained confidence so much that Neeraj nonchalantly flicked Nagi to a sixer near the scoreboard. Sadly, with this shot, the confidence bloated into overconfidence and Neeraj attempted the same stroke off the very next ball and was caught near midwicket by Nagaraj.


Nikhil was joined by Sid. Arpit was brought into the attack and his loosener was dispatched into the trees for a sixer by Nikhil. Strike was rotated and in the next over, attempted chip shot was well held by Jeff to end the DCC innings at 124. The 29 runs for the last 2 wickets turned out to be very valuable in the context of this low scoring scrap of a game.


After a unnecessarily long break where Ravi vanished for 30 minutes and then turned up with the lunch from Saffron, the game resumed. DCC opened with Sid and Rishi and both took some time to get adjusted to the situation. ANZAC were 19/0 after 2 overs, simply because their opener Anirudh came swinging at everything he could see. Especially against Rishi, Anirudh was the perfect illustration of how-not-to-bat. Rahul on the other end started by smashing Sid for a fluent sixer but went back soon trapped LBW by a faster one from Rishi.


Sid soon got into a rhythm, the wides disappeared and the swing started testing the batsmen. Ketan started with a boundary but then edged the next ball only for Neal to drop it in the gully. Luckily, the miss did not prove costly at all. Ketan got out in the same over when the ball came in to trap him LBW. With 2 wickets, the DCC tail was up, the hustle suddenly appeared and the DCC voice was suddenly audible.


Vishy, the most dependable batsmen from ANZAC came in at Ketan's fall and was playing a safe foil for Anirudh's antics. Anirudh was swinging wildly at anything within his range and anything connected was travelling fast to the boundary. Luckily for him, anything that he missed, missed the stumps as well. He never gave any catches off the bat, but loved the pace of the ball coming on to the bat.


So, Neal was brought in the 9th over and Mahesh was brought up in the 10th over. In the 11th over, Neal finally got Vishy LBW and suddenly the DCC team found the spark to keep going. Anirudh on the other end was going on with his show.


ANZAC went into the first drinks break at 61/3. Sriram the leading run-scorer for ANZAC walked in to support Anirudh. The drama from Anirudh continued but now the bowlers had control over the run leak. Neeraj rolled his arm over without much success. Things were again going into a dull motion and the match was threatening to slip away from DCC.


By the 15th over, ANZAC had reached 78/3 and needed just 46 runs from 20 overs with 7 wickets in hand. Something had to be done and Mahesh was brought back on. Anirudh finally finished the swing and miss game with a swing. Finally he connected one which hit the stumps. Although not appealing to the eyes, he played a very important innings of 38.


At this point, DCC applied immense pressure. Arpit, the hero from last year's game, was sent up the order. But Mahesh sent him packing with another LBW -- yes another LBW. Shaluka was sent back the next over by Mahesh again for a duck when Sanjeewa held on to a nick. At the other end, Neal was wrecking his magic when Nagaraj was held smartly by the magician with the gloves - aka Sanjeewa. Nagi was sent back by Mahesh, again with -- LBW -- thats right.


Suddenly, ANZAC collapsed from 78 / 3 to 89 / 8. They immediately got into a shell. Luckily for them Sriram was still playing smart cricket and scoring a few runs but the runs were very hard to come by at the other end. 


But the DCC bowlers were tiring out now and Neal was bowled out. Mahesh was exhausted by the heat and was struggling to bowl off the full run up. The ANZAC batsmen followed the same strategy that DCC lower order followed -- defense first and runs second -- because wickets were at a premium and overs were plenty.


They took the score to 95/8 when Mahesh had enough. He shortened his runup, put a lot of shoulder and took the last two wickets clean bowled in the same over. The batsmen had no clue what had just happened and before they realized, DCC players were lapping the ground to glory. ANZAC were 95 all out and lost the game by 29 runs. The 29 runs scored by last 2 wickets of DCC turned out to be very valuable.


After losing 3 games in a row, DCC turned the tide when it mattered the most. The grit and determination of the team was on display today. They never panicked or succumbed when things were going tough. The way Mahesh and Neal fought it out when the sapping heat was getting the better of them was really remarkable. Neeraj led the team with conviction and never lost his cool even when things were not going his way.


Mahesh was adjudged the MOM for his fabulous performance of 5-1-13-5. He won the $100 award for taking 5 wickets in the innings. Once the sponsor is identified, the money will be sent to Mahesh, hopefully before he declares retirement.


Neal provided awesome support at the other end with 7-1-18-3. Sanjeewa was amazing behind the stumps as usual. His mere presence behind the stumps gives the opposing batsmen enough doubt that they never attempt to walk out of the crease. Sid and Rishi gave a good start by grabbing 1 early wicket each. Komal, Anand, Ravi and Shrini were fielding like hawks on a hot day, especially Komal and Ravi who had to walk all the way across the field after every over. In the batting, Ravi and Ivan gave a good start and Neal and Sanjeewa sincerely attempted to build on that. Nikhil and Neeraj scored very important runs at the bottom of the innings. Ivan was meticulous in his field placing. Shrini gave us a good omen with his presence and taking a day off from the family inspite of a short vacation.


Anand and Prasad were on the field for the entire day in a supporting role. Anand fielded for most of the second innings. Trip, Aditya, Murali and Ashutosh showed up on the field to support the team. They were present almost until the end of the game. Aditya never hesitated to give a piece of his mind to the ANZAC team when their tongues were wagging. Trip was gracious enough to break the good news to the team at the earliest. Ravi was kind enough to bring lunch for the entire team. All in all, a day to remember for a team hungry for a win.


BUMBA BUMBA!!!