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!!!

TCC Game

Date -- 05/22/2010
Location -- Shiloh
Link to the scorecard



After a heart wrenching loss to RCC, DCC was all geared up to uphold the rivalry against TCC. DCC had reinforcements in the form of Ivan and Nikhil while Sanjeewa and Rishi chose to stay away from this game. Weather gods tried to play spoilsport and it rained very well overnight, early morning and even 30 minutes prior to the rain. Surprisingly, Shiloh was pretty dry and when Niranjan won the toss and decided to bowl, only 6 DCCians were actually on the field. Habitual timeline offenders lived up to their not-so-lofty standards. Ivan had almost padded up to be the keeper when Ravi decided to make a grand entrance and take over the keeping duties from Ivan.

TCC opened with seasoned veterans Shibu and Aravind whereas Niranjan started the proceedings from the basketball court end for DCC. The first over was trademark Niranjan with outswing flirting with the edges of the bats. Mahesh was about to mark his run up from the other end when overcast sky prompted Ivan and Niranjan to hand over the ball to Nikhil instead. Nikhil began spectacularly by getting Shibu misjudge an outswinger, keading edge to an attempted flick ended up high in the air at gully and Komal judged it to perfection. Amar came 1-down and was just content with bidding his time. Sadly, that was not to be. Nikhil got him with a quick reflex caught and bowled in his next over for just 1. At the other end, Niranjan was getting his groove and had Aravind top edge a superb delivery. Mahesh, Neeraj and Prasad attempted the catch. Mahesh and Prasad called for it, so Neeraj smartly stayed out of it, sadly there was confusion between Mahesh and Prasad. Both went for the catch and ended up grassing it. Aravind was playing on 15 at time.

Nikhil and Niranjan continued to bowl well, albeit without much more success. Ravi and Aravind were now playing positively but cautiously. Mahesh was brought on now along with Neal, but in spite of good aggressive bowling from both the bowlers, there was 1 bad delivery per over and that was enough for Aravind to score. TCC went into the first drinks break at 62/2 from 12 overs.

After the break, the batsmen started playing their shots. Aravind was the aggressor whereas Ravi was smartly rotating strike. Niranjan intelligently rotated the bowlers around so that the batsmen do not get used to the pace of the bowlers, but without much luck. All the bowlers were bowling 3-4 good balls, getting anxious to eke out a wicket, try something different and lose the plot. There has to be a mention of 2 valiant catch attempts by Komal -- each one would not have been even a half chance, but Komal actually converted them into dropped catches. The jury is still out to decide where to commend the effort put in or to criticize the dropped catch. But, in spite of clinical and risk-free batting by the TCC duo, DCC fielding was pretty good. There were no misfields (Shiloh magic not withstanding), no overthrows, no catches dropped and most importantly, no lethargy on the field. TCC went into the 2nd break at 145 odd for 2 from 24 overs.

After a 135 run partnership, Neal eventually got Ravi out when an attempted flick landed in the safe palms of Trip at backward square leg. Aravind was very aggressive at this point and everyone else just came in and was looking for easy runs. Aravind eventually completed his century and got out for 112 off just 107 balls. He hit 8 easy sixes and the dropped catch really hurt us. DCC actually bowled pretty well in the 3rd session taking 7 wickets and giving less than 7 runs per over. Neal, Nikhil and Trip got 2 wickets each whereas Mahesh got 1. There were 2 smart runouts as well. TCC finished at 220 from their allotted 35 overs. Mahesh was fabulous in the slog overs though the numbers depict a different story. Niranjan was unlucky to end up without any wicket. Neal came back after an uneasy first spell but bowled well at the death.

Chasing 221 (almost 6.5 an over), Ravi and Prasad gave a fabulous start. Prasad was kind of rusty out of the blocks but Ravi more than made up for it with his amazing timing. The openers ran very well between the wickets initially. They dismantled the opening bowling for Aravind and Vijay and scored 40 odd in the first 6 overs without any risk. At this point of time, DCC upheld their tradition -- mastering the good bowlers and succumbing to innocuous ones. Sundar came on with his gentle medium pace and our top order gift wrapped their wickets to him. From 47/0, DCC was suddenly 67 odd for 6. Prasad's drive ended up at point in Uchil's hand whereas Ravi was dubiously adjudged LBW to a high one. Ivan attempted to hit Sundar out of the attack but he was very well caught by Shibu at deep midwicket. Anand was judged LBW to Shibu. Neeraj's attempted chip shot was well held by Sundar off his own bowling whereas Mahesh's attempted cute leg side shot was smartly grasped by Ramadass at short midwicket.

The game had changed in a matter of 1 spell and everyone was thinking of damage limitation. Fortunately, Neal was in a world of his own. Even at that point he was thinking of winning the game. He started well with singles and saw through Sundar's spell. Once he was confident, he was playing confident strokes. The confidence rubbed on to Komal and he played perfect foil to Neal. Soon, DCC crossed 100... 150 and everyone started thinking of winning the game...

TCC started panicking. Senior bowlers returned. Shibu was thwacked for 2 sixes in the same over, the second of which ended up in the ball being lost. In the next over from the same end, Vijay was hit for a boundary and a huge six. Neal was lucky when he was dropped first by Ramadass at sweeper cover and then a top edge was dropped by Henry. When the equation was slightly tight, Komal scored 11 off 3 consecutive balls and got things back into control. Soon, the equation was 22 needed off 24 with 4 wickets in hand. At this point of time DCC was confident of victory.

But when have DCC-TCC games been this easy? Komal's attempted glide down to 3rd man was very well held by wicket keeper Samir. Nikhil walked in and continued taking singles and doubles with Neal. When 15 were needed of 15, a bullet straight drive was deflected off the bowler's foot and crashed into the non-striker's stumps only to find Neal agonizingly short of the crease. This was the luck factor that TCC needed. Soon, Nikhil was out to a ball that stayed low. Niranjan walked in to join Trip with 11 needed of 9 balls. Crazy running, dropped catch and sledging followed. Tempers flared but the game continued. Last ball of the 34th over, 10 runs needed off 7 balls. Niranjan attempted a lofted drive in the vacant cover boundary but Aravind athletically covered a lot of ground and held on to a difficult catch to snatch the victory by 9 runs.

DCC were crestfallen after having fought so well during the entire game. Neal and Komal fought brilliantly, one of best fightbacks ever witnessed by DCC. It was just a matter of who keeps their nerves when it mattered and TCC did it, albeit with a stroke of luck. DCC bowled well in the first few overs and in the 3rd session. As mentioned above, fielding was above par, with 1 dropped catch being the only blemish. In batting, Ravi and Prasad gave a solid start whereas Neal and Komal were just too good. Rest of the batting needs to step up and do their job, else Pratik has to come back sooner than the doctor allows and show how it is done.

Murali and Ashu ji showed up to cheer DCC and Sid efficiently did the 12th man's job for most of the day.

TCC Practice Game

Date - 04/17/2010
Location - Shiloh

A hastily arranged game... Everyone's cell phones buzzed at around 4.30 pm on Thursday when Mahesh "fixed" a game with TCC for Saturday afternoon... Soon he had 6 "Aye" and the game was a go... Slowly but surely, there were 11 ready for game... For that matter, before the game kicked off, there were 12 people on the ground ready to play for DCC... and if that was not enough, a realtor mysteriously appeared on the ground mid-game with his pads on and not just batted, but even graced the most coveted position on the field -- Main Umpire -- for most of DCC batting innings... 

Yes folks, this is the story for the DCC's practice game against TCC held on Saturday 04/17 at the cricketing paradise of Shiloh... DCC twitched their palms anxiously on the sidelines while they watched Anzacs and KMCC slug it out in the middle... While Faraz failed to take KMCC to safety, Neeraj was making plans in his mind about how to tackle a new look TCC... 

DCC won the toss and decided to bowl... The logic behind the decision was that we had failed setting up a good score, so lets put more pressure on us by chasing a big total and see how we perform... For geniuses, this might not make sense, but if DCC was made up of geniuses, we would have been working on patents and acquisition deals instead of match reports at 11 pm on a Monday night.... 

DCC started bowling with Niranjan and Trip while TCC opened with Arvind and Samir Tikare... Niranjan was bowling very well with his classic banana swingers and actually found a spot on the pitch where the ball bounced alarmingly... Shrini was competent behind the stumps against the pace of Niranjan but had some anxious moments keeping to the spin from Trip... First slip fielder Nikhil does not like his new fielding position and dropped another "almost held it" catch... Luckily this one did not cost a lost like the previous one... In the next over from Trip, Niranjan held a steepler from Samir off the bowling of Trip... 

Newcomer Taran was tried at 1 down and had a few nervy moments... Soon Mahesh made it all cosy for him when his first ball was edged behind for Shrini to hold a good catch... Muki came down at #4 and by this time Arvind was very comfortable... He smacked a couple of sixes and a few fours... This partnership actually threatened to take the game away from DCC when the umpire came to rescue... He gave Arvind out with a dubious high delivery... everyone including the batsman, bowler, fielders and the keeper were surprised, but accepted it with glee... 

Vijay joined Muki but this time Muki had to go when a outswinger from Nikhil took the leading edge and looped all the way to mid off where Rishabh judged it perfectly... Rajesh came in now and hoped to forge an alliance with Vijay... But Neal had other ideas... Though he was struggling with his line, he got one to uproot the sticks behind Vijay... 

Suddenly a big chunk of TCC batters were resting in the shade and the other chunk got equally lucky... Kranthi (newcomer) had one edge of Nikhil go abegging while a few catches were lost in the sunshine... However ugly it looked, it worked... Finally Rishi did a Rahul and run Rajesh out off his own bowling... A very commendable athletic effort... 

The rest of the batting story can be described in 4 words -- swish, connect, runs, wickets... Sid got one banana swinger to go around Bhavik's legs and hit the middle... There were a couple of smart runouts and TCC ended their innings on the last ball of the 18th over for 150 all out... 

The mystic realtor wanted to open the innings with Prasad but cunning captain had some other plans... so Ravi was made the main umpire and he gave some wonderful explanations for denied LBWs... Mahesh and Prasad opened the innings in their trademark slow and steady fashion... Mahesh was out attempting a cute shot off his legs and was welcomed with the choicest words of wisdom in the pavilion... From that point onward, the PDA was Mahesh's best friend... 

Shrini and Prasad continued the good work until Ravi had enough of being the good umpire and gave a questionable one... Prasad was not happy with the catch taken at covers, but probably Ravi thought that it was his turn to bat... That was not to be and Neal was sent instead... 

This was the most exciting phase of DCC batting... Every bowler was carefully dismantled, some with clinical precision and other with brute power... They had a partnership of 60 in 6 overs when Shrini was bowled off Shantan's faster one... Nikhil went in, took one on the gloves and thought thats enough for the day... He swung wildly at the next one and Samir took a steepler ("Upar Ka Chakka" in DCC terminology) to send him back... 

Neal came back soon after a well made 50 and Ravi finally had the opportunity to even the scores... He is still in Happy Diwali mode -- 1 boundary, 1 single and caught at the boundary... Suddenly, the wheels had come off the chase and DCC needed 32 of 18 balls with only Rishi, Divesh and Neeraj being the recognized batsmen remaining... 

But this time, the tough got going when the going got tough... Rishi smacked one wonderful pull and Divesh got a four to calm the nerves... Rishi got sent back with a tricky caught behind when the ball was no way close to the bat but captain cool was still there... He gave a piece of his mind to Nikhil when the latter threw his wicket and now he walked the talk... Practicing what he preached, Neeraj was there till the end smacking 2 high pressure boundaries and getting the game done and dusted with 4 balls to spare... 

Finally, DCC experiences the sweet smell of victory, albeit in a practice game... The timing could not be any better with a must-win game coming up this Sunday... 

The bowling was good -- everyone was adequate and Rishi was fast... Fielding could have been better, especially the catches... Bowling at the death can be more clinical... The batting undid most of the mistakes done in the past games but this one should have been scaled without any hiccups... We need to learn not to throw it away especially when things are going our way... 

Neeraj was admirable in his leadership and cleared any doubts that lingered in anyone's mind abt his captaincy qualities... He was clear in his instructions, unflustered on the field and had enough flexibility to cater to game situations... The fact that he had a lot of bowling options helped to one extent... Yet, he was impartial enough to give every bowler atleast 2 overs to bowl and selfless enough to to not bowl himself... In batting, he had a role for everyone to play and was there till the end to finish the game... And what more, he did what no other DCC captain has been able to do -- make Ravi the umpire... All in all, a very well executed job... 

Having said that, alls well that ends well... And this one did end well... We have the first victory of the season... And if we do everything that we did right this game, there is no reason why the game on this Sunday will not end the same way... 

So good luck DCC, lets even the parity this weekend... Its high time we turn it around... 

GAME 1 -- CCC

Date - 04/03/2010
Location - Shiloh
Link to the scorecard

Finally, the day envisioned by Rajesh U dawned... The first official game of the newly formed TCL kicked off between DCC and CCC at Shiloh... 

Home Minister Employment Services decided to allocate an additional resource to the Daddy Day Care project which has already consumed Ivan for the first 5 games of the season... Sanjeewa's wife decided to take a day off which meant Sanjeewa had to pull out at the last moment and take care of the future wicket keeper of Team USA... This led to a lot of rehashing within the lineup... Nikhil had to step into the 11 and Ravi had to don the keeping gloves... Along with these 2 absences, with Pratik nursing an injury, Faraz changing teams and Neal busy elsewhere, Team DCC had a new look... 

In one way, this took DCC to the other end of the spectrum from its last game... In the PACC playoff game last year, DCC played with 10 batsmen and 1 bowler whereas today's game, we played with 8 bowlers in the playing 11... Divesh, Prasad and Shrini were the only ones who were not qualified bowlers... That also meant that out batting was really thin for the day...

The game started with Mahesh and Divesh opening for DCC against the canny inswing of Pinku and the gentle outswing of Vijay... Mahesh was looking to be positive but the running was circumspect... Divesh was aiming to survive the new ball... Mahesh eventually mistimed a gentle outswinger from Vijay to be caught at point... 

Prasad went in with a motive to consolidate... He batted with responsibility, curbed his natural instincts and played solidly... Divesh and Prasad took the team to the first drinks break without any further damage but at the cost of run rate... At 12 overs point, we were about 25 odd for 1... 

Both started opening up after the break... Runs started trickling in but Prasad was out in a weird scenario... CCC appealed for caught behind which Ron Knight did not agree... When Prasad mentioned that the ball went of the pad and not of the bat, Ron gave him out LBW instead... 

Ravi was sent to bump up the run rate and his bat started doing the talking from the first ball itself... First one went for a DLF maximum and the second one for a boundary in the same location... But, it turned out to be a blink-and-you-miss inning... The third ball was mistimed and gently settled in the lap of deep point fielder... And Ravi promised a lot and delivered little... But those two shots brought the chirp back into the batting camp... 

Niranjan decided to promote himself and take things in his hand now... He came in and suddenly the game looked entirely different... He hit a boundary and ran aggressively between the wickets... It rubbed on to Divesh and he smacked a sixer at deep midwicket out of nowhere... But just when we thought that our innings was being mended, Niranjan attempted a risky double and caught short of the crease... 

Trip was sent in to consolidate... He and Divesh started to get things moving but Divesh lost his wicket as well... Trip was batting well but he tried to clear the infield without much timing and was caught at mid-off... Rishi soon lost his wicket when a ball bounced more than he anticipated and ended at first slip... We were at 96/8 at this time...

Then came the most exciting phase of the game... Neeraj came to the crease as if he was practicing for the last hour in the IPL nets and hit 2 sixers and 2 boundaries... All of a sudden, CCC was on the backfoot... Nikhil and Neeraj ran quickly between the wickets... Neeraj was striking it cleanly and the partnership was 30 runs before anyone realized what happened... 

The aim was to go all the way till the 35th over without any risks... But an inswinger got Neeraj and like the proverbial London bus, the second one followed immediately... Sid could not get his bat down in time and was castled... The innings ended at 126 in the 30th over... 

After a 30 minute break, DCC came on the field determined to defend 127... Niranjan started very well at one end and Mahesh attacked at the other end... Mahesh was not very lucky to be rewarded for his hard work but Niranjan got true rewards for his... He bowled 7 overs on the trot and got all the 3 wickets when the batsmen were playing solid defence... The one to take out Vishwas Putta was a gem... Vishy knew that Niranjan was bringing the odd one in and was playing safe, but he could not even realize what was going on when an inswinger got the top of the off stump... To sum it up, he led brilliantly from the front... 

Rishi took over from one end and Mahesh came back from the other end... Rishi was bowling well within the circumstances of the game and keeping it tight and interesting where Mahesh was giving a display of attacking bowling against 2 aggressive batsmen -- Keyur and Vinay... Finally he was rewarded when he hit the sticks of Vinay... At this point, CCC was abt 70 odd for 4 and still needed 50+ runs and anything could have happened... 

Sid took over from Mahesh and took the wicket of Pinku with his first valid delivery.... But he had real trouble controlling the swing... At the other end, spin in the form of Trip and Neeraj was tantalizing though not threatening... With the asking run rate dipping with every hit, we need some attacking option... Sadly, all the bowlers on show were not attacking enough... CCC won with 5 wickets and a lot of overs to spare... 

Not the best way to start the season, especially without important players... But, we can not change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand... And today we did not play our hand very well... A lot left to be desired... 

Stay on the wicket as long as possible WITH an intent to score... Try scoring the runs and they will come... No bowler is threatening enough to dish out maiden after maiden and we should not make anyone look so threatening... Follow the basics and the results will show... 

On an optimistic note, even though the team was weak and the batting was wafer-thin, the way the team fought was commendable... Neeraj impressed with his attitude while batting whereas Niranjan and Mahesh valiantly made it a close affair... Fielding was good with a few direct hits being really tight... Ravi stepped in the keeper role and performed well... 

Points of improvement -- Just because the big players are not playing, does not mean that we should give up without a fight... Not playing 35 overs is a crime... Throwing away the wicket after getting set is a big mistake and we are doing it in bunches every single game... 

While Mahesh fixes the next match against NCSU (fixing the availability of the field), lets do all the basics right... Next time when I write the match report, let it be a winning one... 

SECOND PRACTICE GAME

Date -- 03/27/2010Location  -- Shiloh

On a sub 50 day, DCC and KMCC started the game at 10.15 or so. Everyone, except a realtor who was sacrificing his business, were happy with the late start. Ex-DCCian Faraz was playing from KMCC and had a few uncomfortable moments off the field meeting his old mates. Captain Niranjan won the toss again and chose to bat first.

Prasad and Mahesh were chosen to do the honors this time. Mahesh was bowled by a cracker of an outswinger in the first over. The unhappy realtor was given an opportunity to display the timing of his new bat. The next few overs were a sight to behold. Ravi displayed the timing which we always see in practice and Prasad was giving lessons on classical batting. They played so well that we reached 56 odd in 7 overs. It was sheer timing and good cricket, with one cover drive by Prasad and one flick by Ravi standing out. The chirping KMCC was silenced.

But as good things have to come to and end, Ravi threw away his wicket to an innocuous looking bowler. Prasad was then joined by Trip. Their roles were clearly defined but Prasad threw away his good start and gave KMCC another entry into the game. Neal was sent in now. Both Neal and Trip started slowly grabbing the initiative back. Neal with his flicks and Trip with his clever rotation of strike brought DCC back into the leading position. Trip threw away his wicket when the game demanded more patience. But Neal darted to reach his fifty. He got out soon after that, but he had given what the team needed - quick runs to set up a decent target.

After Neal's exit, Shrini took over and smartly hit the big ones along with the cheeky singles. Niranjan, Shrini and Nikhil perished run out in the last over going for aggressive runs and DCC ended at a well above par 161. Well executed batting performance except that set batsmen went out when they should have continued to build on the hard work.

The batting scorecard is attached here for anyone who is interested in the statistical details of the batting inning -- 

With a target of 162, KMCC needed a good start. DCC continued the tradition of generosity when Nikhil dropped Fahad in the first slip on 0. He went on to hurt DCC with a punishing 50. On the other side, Mahesh settled his account by sending Shahid Alam back with a jaffa in his first over. The look on Shahid's face when the middle stump was flattened was priceless. Cashif was sent at one - down and they began punishing DCC bowling. Niranjan was first on the receiving end of Cashif's bat (borrowed from none else that Rao Bond). He hit a few big ones. Then Fahad started swinging his bat and making us pay for the dropped catch. None of the bowlers were effective. Nikhil, Neal, Trip - everyone was taken to the cleaners and the game was drifting away from DCC very fast. Before anyone knew, the scorecard read 81 for 1 after 9 overs.

DCC has to regroup at any cost. Neeraj and Sid started bowling in tandem and Sid got Cashif castled. This got DCC back into the game. On the other end Neeraj started bowling like the Neeraj of last year - flight and loop. He almost got Fahad stumped, but Ravi could not gather the ball cleanly. But soon, smart bowling got Neeraj the wicket of the two down batsman - Mahesh judged the catch very well. Sid got Fahad out when Ravi held the nick cleanly.

It was Suhail and Faraz chasing the score now. DCC then started fighting hard and making things difficult for KMCC. 44 of 36 to win --> 36 of 30 to win --> 19 of 18 to win. Then Mahesh bowled and excellent over to give only 7. 12 of 12 needed. Captain Niranjan bowled another peach of an over to give only 4 runs and take the wicket of Faraz. Shrinivas judged the steepler on the boundary to perfection.

Last over, 8 runs to win. Mahesh gave 2 singles and then Salman Moghul hit a sixer just out of the reach of Trip at sweeper cover to finish the game with 3 balls to spare.

It was a game which we lost between the 5th and the 10th over when we probably leaked 60 odd runs. Our fielding was not up to the mark, especially when a batsman is given a life at 0 and ends up playing a winning 50. Holiday season is over long back and we should not give any freebies to the opposition. Batting seems to be in order right now but bowling and fielding need more discipline. Captain is winning the toss, and leads by example with his bowling.

Its all going to start in a matter of a week. Next saturday, this time, I will be writing a match report of DCC - CCC season opener. Watch this space, more good news and great news to follow this season!!!