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!!!