Cricket in the 'Burgh - part 6: Inching to a big win

The opinions expressed in this post are solely that of the author who, on occasion, had an out-of-body experience and was able to watch himself play.

Also, in order to keep some suspense about the 2007 season, when I provide a link to a player's page I shall link to the page that shows his 2006 stats.

Game 2: WVUCC versus Gladiators

After the loss to the SteelZags in the season opener, the resolve of the Mountaineers was tested. Next up were the Gladiators, led by Zeeshan Babar. The Mountaineers had not-so-fond memories of Zeeshan's prowess from the previous season. Zeeshan is a good fast bowler who tends to get discouraged if he does not get a wicket in his first couple of overs. As a batsman he bats like Shahid Afridi, swinging his bat like there is no tomorrow. The Gladiators are a very experienced team but take some time getting into the swing of things. The strategy against them was simple - when bowling, attack with our best bowlers up front and, when batting, preserve wickets to frustrate the bowlers even if it means the run rate takes a hit.

The Gladiators played into WVUCC's hands by opting to bat upon winning the toss. In the morning the ball does not travel as quickly over the outfield as it is still damp from the dew and the fielders are fresh and able to run harder for longer periods of time. Ahmad Choudhary (Ahmad bhai to everyone at WVUCC) could not get going and was cleaned up by Avinash Manivannan. By the time Avinash and Sohail Chaudhry finished their opening spells, the Gladiators were 24 for 4 in 8 overs. The stage was set for Amol Bhavsar to take charge and he did just that. With his disarming two-step run-up, Amol speared the ball on the good length spot and let his speed and movement (predominantly outswing) do the rest. A spell of 5 overs, 4 for 17 by Amol ensured that the Gladiators were primed for Sohail and Ajay Nayak to come back and dismiss them for 96.

The PCA league adopts a bonus point system. Every win is worth 4 points, a tie or washout worth 2. If the winning team gets to the target in less than 20 overs (the games are 25 overs) or restricts the losing team to less than 80% of its total, then an additional bonus point will be accrued.

97 runs in 25 overs. Step one was to prevent an early collapse, and who better to do the job than C.S. Manish. If you had to pick a batsman in the PCA league to bat for a whole day without scoring a run, most people would blindly pick Manish. The onus of frustrating Zeeshan was placed on him and he did just that, carefully watching out the increasingly frustrated captain while Arvind Thiruvengadam tried to pick off the single's and two's at the other end. The Manish-Arvind opening pair are superb between the wickets and pride themselves on taking two runs with a dab to the square-leg umpire.

After seeing off the opening thrust, Arvind departed with the team score at 28, dismissed by the very impressive left-hander Usman Lone. The stage was set for Sohail to take off. Content in the knowledge that the other end was secure Sohail did what he does best, nonchalantly flicking and square-driving sixes. 35 runs in 15 balls with 1 four and 4 sixes pretty much describes his impact and the march to victory was a mere formality after that. The strategy of holding back paid off and WVUCC got to the target in 19 overs to also secure the all-important bonus point.

After two matches, WVUCC's record was 1-1 and up next was a team that was new to the PCA - the Hurricanes - but was led by the most feared batsman in the league - Naveen Peiris.