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The Mouse that Roared: Edison Cricket Club
Vs Hell Raizers Cricket Club.
Surrounded by the humid air, I was in a
pool of sweat while sitting on my chair,
wondering how the Edison Cricket Club, my
favorite team, would play their game today
against the Hell Raizers Cricket Club. The
dry summer heat was going to greatly
affect this game on Sunday, July 15, 2007
at Johnson Park ground 2 in Piscataway. I,
along with the rest of the ECC team, who
sat in the shade of the trees, which made
up the cricket pavilion, was eager to see
what the days match held for them.
Around 1045 am, I saw both captains, along
with the umpire, walk up to the pitch for
the toss. Soon I saw Sriram Srinivasan,
the captain of Edison Cricket Club, walk
back with a smile on his face, for he had
just won the toss. Soon the team was in a
huddle trying to decide whether to bat
first or to bowl.
I am sure weather was on the ECC players
mind when deciding whether to bat or bowl
first as they were not going to enjoy
fielding, mainly because of the heat and
humidity. I was correct in my assessment
that they were discussing the weather but
for other reason than what I thought off.
There worry was that thunder storms were
predicated in the afternoon, which could
affect the game. Finally after a long
deliberation with his mates, Captain
Sriram decided that they would have a
bowl.
Will it move in or will it move out?
That’s the question every batsman asks
himself when he faces a new ball. But in a
hot and sunny day like today the ball
won’t swing much. What makes ECC bowlers
so dangerous is that each of them has a
different skill. Put all of those skills
together in a match and the poor batsman
does not stand a chance. That’s what
exactly happened today.
Rizwan struck with his fourth delivery in
his very first over, which was the second
over of the match. Priyank had his wicket
uprooted without opening his account as
HRCC was one wicket down for four runs on
the board in the second over of the match.
Catches really do win matches and they re
just as important as scoring runs or
taking wickets and that’s what just
happened in the second delivery of the
third over of the match. Sriram bowled the
perfect delivery to produce a catch to
Manish Bhanot at gully, which he gladly
accepted. HRCC was 2 wickets down without
adding to the score. Sriram is never
satisfied from just getting one wicket as
he strived to get better every over he
bowls. He did just that in his fourth over
trapping Mike Mabbishir, LBW with his
third delivery and uprooting the stumps of
Vinit in the last delivery of the same
over. He had claimed 2 wickets in the same
over without giving a single run, a maiden
wicket. HRCC was four down for 21 runs in
7 over’s.
In the next over Rizwan got rid of Amit
and HRCC was in deep trouble with their
top five batsmen in the hut with only 26
runs in 8 over’s. This was a total repeat
of the last game where Indus was
struggling for 25 runs with 8 over are
against the same bowling attack... Mayank
and Hiran slowly settled down to repair
the damage but not for long as Manoj Bagwe,
who replaced Rizwan, wanted to join in the
party. He bowled Mayank, who’s individual
score was on just 6 and HRCC was just 49
in 16 over’s. Vipul, on the other hand,
was finding it difficult to get his rhythm
and went for a few runs. Santosh Kumar was
brought into the attack and obliged his
captain immediately with a wicket in his
very first over getting rid of Juned. A
few over’s further, Manoj got rid of Hiran.
The two new batsmen in the crease were
Niraj and Sunil. Sunil settled down
quickly and started to play his strokes.
The fast bowlers are the ones who make a
batsman’s knees knock together with fear,
but the spinners are the ones who can tie
them up in knots with all their clever
tricks; that is what Farrukh Khan did the
moment he was pressed into services by his
captain. He got rid of Sunil by cleaning
bowling him with Sunil’s individual score
was on 18.This by far was the longest
partnership for 24 runs for the 9th
wicket. In his next over Farrukh got rid
of the last batsman when he drew Ankur out
of his crease only to find that wicket
keeper Rakesh Shah had the bails off in a
jiffy. HRCC was all out for 102 in the 33
over.
102 is not a big total to score specially
for batting side like ECC, who were
confident of scoring this easily in an
hour or so, but were unaware that a mouse
was about to roar. Sriram Srinivasan and
Manish Bhanot, the two openers, were made
to struggle at the crease at the fifth
over. Sriram was back in the pavilion with
his score reading 6 and the team score on
9. Manish's agony at the crease was put to
rest when he was adjudged LBW with his
individual score on 4 and ECC was suddenly
21 for 2 wickets. Mike claiming both
scalps.
Chirag Patel and Sanjay Sharma were the
new batsmen at the crease who were also
finding it difficult to pierce the inner
cordon of the field. Even though Sanjay
smashed a four, Mike had the last laugh
getting Sanjay cleaned bowled. ECC was now
following HRCC in their batting
performance with score reading 29 for 3
wickets. In walked Farrukh Khan and
planted a huge six in the mid wicket
region of Amit C bowling. Chirag on the
other end was slowly settling down.
Prinyak was brought into bowl and he
struck with his first ball. The ball was
short off a good length and after
bouncing; it skidded and kept a bit low.
Farrukh then found himself plumbing in
front of the wicket and was adjudging LBW
with ECC’s score on 4 down with 37 runs on
the board.
In walked the free hitting Rakesh Shah and
smashed the very first ball he received to
the mid on boundary for a six. When Rakesh
is in the crease, you know things are
going to happen. He is such an aggressive
and positive player. He is the only player
in ECC who does not care to respect any
bowler. His theory is simple; the ball is
meant to be hit and it should always be
hit.
In spite of wickets falling at one end,
the mood in the ECC camp was pretty cool
as Rakesh the free spirited batsman that
he is, kept stroking the ball in various
parts of the field. He is such a great
player to watch.
Chirag departed as he got caught at
backward square leg and Manoj Bagwe got
bowled but Rakesh kept moving along.
Suddenly there was pin drop silence in the
ECC camp when Rakesh was bowled by Mike
with his individual score on 24. HRCC
suddenly smelled victory as ECC now were
73 for the loss of 7. More trouble was to
follow as Santosh Kumar and Rizwan Bajwa
followed their team mates back to the
pavilion in addition of just six runs.
The last pair was in the middle with 24
runs required to win the match. Divyesh
and Vipul kept their cool for the next
couple of over as they went about getting
some run. The game was very tense as Vipul
kept adding every single and inching his
was to the magical mark. Amit C was
brought on to bowl and Divyesh got a full
toss delivery in fifth bowl of the over
and to everyone’s surprise he smacked the
ball over point for a SIX. That suddenly
eased all the tension in the dressing room
and you could here all sorts of advised
being shouted from the ECC pavilion. This
I believe was one of the turning points
when the game tilted in favor of ECC.
In the next two over, which were to follow
ECC, collected 3 wides and the score was
equal. The start of the 29th over the
scores was equal and Vipul smashed the
third ball over midwicket to get the
winning run and ECC was home. The entire
ECC team ran onto the field with joy as
they knew these two players brought them
home. Mike Mabbishir form HRCC was the
best bowler as he finished with 5 wickets
for 16 runs and bowled 4 maidens in his
spell of 8 over’s.
ECC had now notched up another victory
under their belt but life in the middle
was never easy for them. Besides the heat
and humidity which made playing conditions
tough, there was a mouse in the field this
afternoon and it roared and gave ECC a
fright.
There were a few good performances in the
ECC camp that day. Sriram Srinivasan
bowled well to dismantle the top order of
HRCC as he took 3 wickets for 12 runs in
his spell of 7 over’s which included one
maiden. Then there was Rakesh Shah's
inning of 24 runs coming at a crucial
point in the game and setting up the game
for ECC in the early part of the inning.
Not to forget the stumping he did to help
Farrukh get his second wicket. In the end
I guess the ECC management was still in a
mind set of “relief” which was provide by
Vipul Patel and Divyesh Patel. Hence they
awarded the Man of the Match jointly to
both players for saving the day for them
by batting with their cool heads and
getting the 24 runs to ensure them the
victory.
ECC has now got 14 points and with 75% win
factor. They are currently placed 7th in
the points table and are in a good
position to qualify into the quarter
finals. It is to be seen whether they
continue with their winning ways in the
next match, which is against Hyderabad
Blues on Saturday, 21st July at Johnson
Park 1. If you are a fan of Edison Cricket
Club, come to the ground at 1100 am sharp
to watch the action and if you can’t make
it, read the weekly report or check out
www.edisoncricketclub.org. This is Cricket
Bug signing off till next week.
Reported by Cricket Bug for Indianera.com.
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