The opinions expressed in this post are solely that of the author. However, this report has been prepared with the help of some insider information, eyewitness accounts, and personal interviews. All errors are entirely their fault, not mine.
In order to keep some suspense about the 2007 season, when I provide a link to a player's page I shall link to his 2006 stats.
Game 12: WVUCC versus Hurricanes
With the retirement of C.S. Manish, a permanent opening spot had opened up. Ajay Nayak, as always willing to step up for the team, was considered but in the end the thinktank decided to revert to the old pair of Arvind Thiruvengadam and Sohail Chaudhry (who had once put on 152 runs for the first wicket.
Still smarting from the embarrassing loss to the Punters, WVUCC was ready for the rest of the league, and upon winning the toss Sohail opted to strike first. Coming back to his natural spot at the top of the order Sohail revelled, in typical fashion, slashing and carving fours, and running hard otherwise. But the revelation was Arvind. For a long time Arvind has been threatening to put up a big score, only to manufacture ways of getting himself out. Having Sohail at the other end was just the calming influence he needed and the Hurricanes did not know what hit them. Sohail put up impressive numbers in an opening partnership of 112, (42 runs in 32 balls, with 6 fours, and 1 six) but was completely overshadowed by Arvind. Don't let the numbers fool you - this was a very watchful innings by Arvind, carefully crafted to ensure that he did not throw his wicket away. 55 of his runs came in just 11 balls (6 fours and 5 sixes), 10 runs came in the remaining 38!
After Sohail got out, Abishek Muralidharan and Arvind continued in the same vein battering the Hurricane bowlers into submission. With the score on 136, Arvind perished but Abishek marshalled the middle order to ensure that the advantage was not lost. Abishek made an accomplished 53 in just 37 balls, (3 fours and 4 sixes) and WVUCC finished on an imposing 221 for 7 in 25 overs
All Hurricane hopes rested on their captain Naveen Peiris. The WVUCC strategy was to attack the batsmen around Naveen in order to make him feel the pinch of losing partners at the other end. Strategies are all well and good but you need the right personnel to execute them. The loss of Manish in the batting department was compensated by the return of the best left-handed new ball bowler (along with Usman Hashmi) to have ever played for WVUCC - Avinaschander Manivannan. Ajay and Avinash kept the Hurricanes in check and began eating through the top order. In his last over Avinash breached Naveen's defences and the Hurricanes goose was cooked. By the time the 10th over was bowled, the Hurricanes were 52 for 6 and sitting dead in the water.
Some aggressive batting by Vinod Nair and Krish Kalyanaraman made the margin of defeat a little more respectable but there was never any doubt that the Mountaineers were back with a vengeance. Arvind duly completed a good personal day for himself by snaring the last wicket to end the Hurricane innings at 164
WVUCC improved its record to 7-4-1 and was back in second place. Next up were the Lumberjacks and they must not have been too happy to note that Sohail had returned to the opening spot and was finally approaching the top of his game.
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