Playing at Home:
Please report at the ground: 12.30 pm

Ground Details:

Please report at the ground: 12.30 pm

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Home Game | Report at Ground 12:30

1. Vinod K 2. Mukesh L 3. Praveen B 4. Sudhakar T 5. Jeewan R 6. Chakravarthy Y 7. Rajesh R
8. Ramesh V 9. Anthony M 10. Sadiq A 11. Vinods Friend (Spinner)

Address: Worple Road, Staines, Middlesex, TW18 1HR

Cramps.pdf

The long drive in was blighted by heavy traffic and the now accustomed negativity by Dr T. Fortunately with over 10 years marriage to my name I have mastered the skill of appearing to be listening whilst my mind transports me to another place. Hasib the IT whizkid was having trouble operating his Sat Nav and got lost trying to find the ground. We all arrived a little later than planned.
The ground was surrounded by a golf course set in lush green surrey countryside and it was a glorious British summer’s day. The perfect conditions for willow on leather. Regular as clockwork Hasib won the toss. Statistically speaking you are more likely to win the lottery than a toss with Hasib. I guess it is difficult for the opposing captains to distinguish between the words heads and tails when pronounced in a thick northern accent. Being polite gentlemen they just accept Hasibs jump for joy when the coin lands. We put them into bat even though we were still waiting for Adam and Charitha to arrive!
Our fearsome pace duo Atif B and Chanuska set to work in devastating fashion. Quickly dispatching their openers. The first one went LBW, he did not go quietly, giving Umpire Grier some lip on the way out because he believed the ball had touched his bat before his pad. Adam in unsympathetic mood directed the batsmen back to the pavilion. Hasib then took a sharp low catch in slips of Atif B’s fine bowling. I haven’t seen Hasib move so quickly since they announced an eat as much as you like offer at Krispy Kreme. The openers managed to pick up one more wicket each before our new paceman, Ardil was called into play. With some rapid deliveries he managed to pick up another early wicket as the ball rose on the batsmen who edged it for wicket keeper Charitha to take a sharp catch above his head. The next ball toppled the batsman’s bails and he was on a hatrick. They were 64 for 6 and we anticipating an easy victory and an early return home. Surely with their number 8 in and o ur bowlers on top we could get them all out for below 100 or 120 max. I think this excitement

detracted us from the job at hand. What followed was a spate of shambolic and lackadaisical fielding and the now accustomed poor umpiring decisions to gift the opposition a further easy 40 runs to reach their ton. Charly who had a nightmare in the field last week performed better. He seemed to be enjoying Chanuska’s sloppy fielding errors. Needless to say we had our regular visit from the cramp monster- this time Afzal was the victim.
Eventually we had bit of luck when Adam misfielded a drive from their batsmen who tried a quick second run only to be run out after a sharp throw in by Atif B and stumping by Hasib. Their 7th wicket partnership had put together a gritty stand of 60. We need to learn from this. From our bowling being on top the tables had turned. Their tail end smashed all our bowlers around allowing them to reach a respectable 185 all out off 48 hovers.

It was our turn to bat and Aumran and Adam were sent in. Our version of bill Gates AKA Hasib and Athar( expected due to advanced age) were struggling to operate the electronic scoreboard. Their opening bowlers were as hostile as ours and gave both the batsmen a good working over. One of their bowlers looked particularly venomous whizzing the ball around various parts of the batsmen’s anatomy. Aumran has not received such soft tissue injuries since he got disciplined by her indoors for failing to put the seat down after using the toilet. The same bowler was highly excitable in his appealing and umpire Grier was being put under some pressure. Our openers were dispatched quickly. Next in was Charly, he had the chance to be a hero and resurrect his reputation as a batsman. Today was not going to be the day for heroics from him as he was given out in bewildering circumstances. Another sharp deliver seemed to catch something on the way to the wicket keepers gloves. Charly indic ated it was his thigh pad, umpire Grier was not sure. The opposition were appealing vigorously so the square leg umpire was consulted. Somehow even though he was in no position to see he was certain a touch on the bat was made and Charly was returned to the pavilion with yet another failed batting performance.
Once again we were depending on Sammy to rescue us. To his credit he performed well comfortably handling the bowling that had so troubled his contemporaries until his wicket fell. He had scored just under 5o. Charitha and Afzal contributed to a slight stabilisation of our innings to get us to around 100 for 6 before both of them went in quick succession. Our tail end failed to imitate the important job that the opposition tail end achieved and we were skittled out 50 short of our target.

We need to learn from this defeat. First XI cricket requires application and concentration for the duration.

The 2nd XI are managing well with the limited resources at hand, with Mukesh coming in place of Anthony who will be missing this game, Rajesh will be pairing this time with Mukesh against Ripley. There are lot of other players missing, Sadiq is not available along with Fareed. This means a lot of changes to the team, but this also is an opportunity for the players to step up.

1. Vinod K 2. Mukesh L 3. Praveen B 4. Sudhakar T 5. Jeewan R 6. Chakravarthy Y 7. Rajesh R
8. Pramod C 9. Ramesh 10. Raja G 11. Umair P

Address: The Green, Ripley, Surrey GU23 6AN
Report at Ground: 12:30

To start, I would like to apologise to all players of Mershtam for the delay in starting the game.

The game did not start until 14:00 and that meant two things, all parties that arrived at the club well in advance were visibly disappointed with the proceedings and that OTCC would be penalised for the amount of overs that could have been bowled during the lost 30 minutes. The later could have affected the out come of the game on another day.

The OTCC skipper Vinod won the toss and after a successful win batting first last week, stuck to the winning formula and asked Mershtam to bowl. Regular opener Mukesh was missing and Rajesh was sent in as a replacement. A very orthodox start ensured and Rajesh played very well and looked like getting that ever elusive first half century, his highest score being 40 from 58 games he played, a let down for the flashes of brilliance he sometimes displays.

Anthony was not his fluent self and was struggling with his timing on the other end but kept going which was the important part. Both put on a very good partnership of 40 runs for the first wicket before Rajesh was out. Anthony also soon departed making 18, Praveen and Sadiq joined in the middle, Sadiq went in and batted like he was on steroids, he particularly took a liking to the left arm seamer who he consistently lofted merrily for boundaries from of the wicket. Praveen on the was all class, driving the ball and cutting it with amazing timing to the boundary, both had put on a solid partnership of 71 run when Sadiq could not resist the nagging slow leg spin of David Loader, he played well for his 35, which just like Rajesh’s 20 had come at run a ball.

Jeewan went in to join Praveen who was in the form of his life and was handling both spin and pace with finesse, both put on a 82 run partnership when Jeewan wan caught behind for 32, Praveen would go on to make a magnificent 80 not out and the team declared on 217 off 42 overs.

The teas were pathetic, we felt embarrassed to be the home team offering teas

Game underway and Mershtam got off the worst possible start when their opener hit an over pitched ball from Fareed straight to cover. Vinod and Fareed had started proceedings for the Tiffs, both seemed in good rhythm and bowled well but after the initial break through, found it hard to get another wicket. Pramod was introduced and bowled well, it was not until Vinod decided to bowl an over to change ends for Pramod with the score on 40 that the Tiffs would celebrate again. Vinod ended up bowling a beautiful over and the score went from 40-1 to 40-4 after that over, this was the defining moment of this innings. Deepak Sharma, the new boy failed to impress with this off spinners, fair to him, he was playing after a long break.

Praveen, the boy with the golden arm was introduced and Pramod persisted at the other end, as always Praveen bowled a strangling line and length and picked up 4 wickets for a miserly 20 runs, the most important wicket being that of the set left handed batsman who played well for is 47. Pramod also chipped in with the important wicket of the youngster who was playing as if he was paying in the nets, it was beautiful to watch. A great team effort this time around by the Tiffs, although Praveen dominated the whole game, there were lot of supporting roles, the catching was good, the batting was solid and Vinod as always picket up a bunch of wickets. Anthony did a good job substituting for Mukesh as wicket keeper and held on to all his catches.

The game was wrapped up in 34 over, a win by 83 runs.

Wow’s and oh No’s

Solid Batting Performance, no hiccups
Great catching by the SUB (Praveen)
3 Wickets in an over by Vinod
Praveen hitting David Loader for 4 Sixes during his 80*

Players not arriving by the designated time of 12:30
The Teas
Player Unavailability

1. Dipak Sharma (Bowler) 2. Jeewan R 3. Mukesh L Fareed 4. Praveen B 5. Sudhakar T 6. Vinod K 7. Chakravarthy Y 8. Sadiq A 9. Rajesh R 10. Anthony M 11. Pramod C