Played cricket with some office junta on Saturday. Unlike the previous time, this time the game was played in a strictly "amateur"-ish (to distinguish from the derogatory "amateurish" ) spirit, red tennis ball and no extra fittings except the stumps in a public ground in Ulsoor where there were many other such games going on. This ground situation reminded me of a time in class 3 or 4 when along with some junta from my flat and from the nearby basti, we used to go and play at the ground opposite Shenoy Nursing Home in Secunderabad.
The best feature of the game was that the junta tried to make it as inclusive as possible. Stuff like if someone bowled, he would bat after the junta who did not bowl, irrespective of talent. 15 overs each side meant that there was enough time to accomplish this even with the matches being 11-a-side.
My team fielded first and I was sent to the square leg boundary. A one bounce catch was my fielding highlight. After a leftie who could not hit the ball on the off side came to bat, I was shifted to the leftie's mid wicket (right hander's extra cover). But soon the leftie got out and then the ball came towards me only once, but the mid off fielder ran and cut it off before I had the chance. This position was also ideally situated under a tree and gave sufficient respite from the searing heat. The opposing team ended up scoring 102 in 15 overs.
Our openers added around 15 runs when one of them got out and I was given the chance to show off my batting skills. Started off pretty ok, taking singles and twos off shots hit along the ground. The batsman at the other end was also doing something similar, and we were moving on pretty nicely at the required run rate of 7.
After running 10 runs or so in the sweltering heat (it was around 4 in the evening), I was totally tired. (well some of the blame has to be attributed to my fitness also) With 8 batsmen still to come, it was time to get after the bowling. But I hadn't bargained for the ineptitude of all the fielders. I got dropped 4 times, this just meant more and more running. And in this manner we reached 47 in 7 overs. Early in the 8th over, I swung at a ball wildly, missed and was bowled. At that time the opinion of everyone in my team was that I had gotten out at the right time, with enough runs left for the others to hit.
But what happened next was a collapse of Indian (or English) proportions. We lost 6 wickets for one run in the next two overs. The match was over. We did have a last wicket fightback. Got it down to 16 off the last over and the stud batsman (the Misbah) hit the first two balls of that over for boundaries raising all our hopes. But we were destined to be the losing team. The very next ball, he got out holing out into the deep, the only catch caught in the outfield throughout the afternoon.
We did try to play another match, but that had to be abandoned after one team had batted. Again I fielded and was the keeper standing in the middle of a game of footer. Overall a pretty enjoyable Saturday afternoon, and some exercise too.
After running 10 runs or so in the sweltering heat (it was around 4 in the evening), I was totally tired. (well some of the blame has to be attributed to my fitness also) With 8 batsmen still to come, it was time to get after the bowling. But I hadn't bargained for the ineptitude of all the fielders. I got dropped 4 times, this just meant more and more running. And in this manner we reached 47 in 7 overs. Early in the 8th over, I swung at a ball wildly, missed and was bowled. At that time the opinion of everyone in my team was that I had gotten out at the right time, with enough runs left for the others to hit.
But what happened next was a collapse of Indian (or English) proportions. We lost 6 wickets for one run in the next two overs. The match was over. We did have a last wicket fightback. Got it down to 16 off the last over and the stud batsman (the Misbah) hit the first two balls of that over for boundaries raising all our hopes. But we were destined to be the losing team. The very next ball, he got out holing out into the deep, the only catch caught in the outfield throughout the afternoon.
We did try to play another match, but that had to be abandoned after one team had batted. Again I fielded and was the keeper standing in the middle of a game of footer. Overall a pretty enjoyable Saturday afternoon, and some exercise too.
1 comments:
11, 11.. we had an offsite a couple of weeks back too.. I bowled first given my pace :D.. but since I was a senior compared to rest of the junta, i got to bat 2 down itself.. then i and khimavath creamed the opposition.. and continued batting in the next match but rain played spoil sport..
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