TCC score an emphatic 60-run victory over SCCA in the pre-quarters

TCC were just too good for a hapless SCCA in the pre-quarter final match that took place at SCCA grounds, Charlotte on Sep 11th, 2004. Once the playoff schedules were finalized, we were just too eager to make amends for our league phase loss against the same opponents. The match started only by 11am (thanks to Nataraj for trying to catch up on his sleep). TCC would like to thank Ashish Patel (CLCC) and Mushtaq (HPCC) for their excellent unbiased umpiring.

SCCA won the toss and after a 10-minute deliberation decided to put us into bat. I felt that their decision was probably made after looking at the heaviness of the outfield, thanks to the morning dew. Their opening bowlers bowled a lot of wides and so for every good ball there were 3 to 4 wides. Aravind seemed to struggle to hit the ball and eventually was out for a mistimed flick and the top edge was taken nicely by SCCA’s skipper Blessy running backwards from mid-off. Ravi decided to don the sheet anchor role and the left-right combo of Syed and Ravi took the score to 53 when Syed was caught brilliantly by Nikhil at the deep backward square-leg fence. He had hit a huge six off Matt’s previous ball and got out in trying to do a Sidhu. Shibu joined his skipper and they added 55 runs in just 9 overs running beautifully between wickets. They took the 1s and 2s as needed putting pressure on the fielders and gave the ball a nice thump when required. Shibu’s six over mid-wicket was a case of classic timing. The partnership ended when Shibu played across and was bowled all ends up off Sudhir. As it always happens with partnerships, Ravi followed 3 runs later caught by Blessy off Zeeshan for a patient 34 off 63 balls. SCCA bowlers started to get back into their rhythm and the scoring was getting harder. Sanjay, one of their bowlers, started to get cramps and there was a brief stoppage in play. When play resumed, Charan was bowled off a yorker! He missed out on showcasing his pinch-hitting abilities yet again. Rajesh and I carried the score to 154 trying to accelerate the pace with some innovative shot-making since boundaries and sixers weren’t coming easily. Sudhir dismissed me with a slower one and the top edge was taken by Vivek at deep-midwicket. Unfortunately, Uchil didn’t last long and was run-out for 4, but in hindsight the 2 back-to-back dismissals was exactly what the doctor ordered. Cashif played a stunning cameo bludgeoning the SCCA bowlers all over the place. 35 runs were added in just 3.3 overs! 16 runs came off Blessy’s last over with 2 sixers which screamed “who’s your daddy?” and a superb flick to the boundary behind square. Rajesh was run-out for a well-made 20 and Cashif was dismissed the same way off the last ball with Nataraj trying to scamper for a single. In our final score of 189, we had a whopping 48 extras!

There was a 20-min break between innings. Samir Arekar and I had gone to fetch some sandwiches (thanks to Anand Kangala for the ride) to make sure there were no missing sandwiches this time around. Aravind and Charan shared the new ball for us. With a couple of notable omissions from SCCA, we knew their batting strength wasn’t at its best. Matt and Blessy opened the innings for SCCA and the former made his intentions very clear by hammering anything that was a fraction short. One of his pull shots past mid-wicket off Aravind comes to mind. Ravi brought me in as first change and Matt hit a huge six over mid-wicket. Runs were coming in oodles and that’s when we regrouped. Aravind switched ends and that paid rich dividends ‘cos Blessy hit a full toss straight to Ravi stationed at cover. Now comes the turning point of the match. Zeeshan was the new batsman in and was wrapped on the pads and the ball rolled behind square to Cashif. Matt charged down the wicket for a quick single, but Zeeshan seemed glued to the crease. Since Aravind was appealing for a leg-before, Cashif was in two minds whether to throw the ball or not. Finally, he decided to just clip the bails off by running all the way to the non-striker’s end since the batsmen were in a conference at the other end. We sensed panic in their ranks and decided to go for the kill right away. I accounted for Milind’s wicket in my next over by bowling him through the gate off the very first ball he faced. Sri and Nikhil tried reviving the proceedings for a little while. Sameer got rid of Nikhil by having him caught behind by Syed down the leg side. Sanjay and Sri had a brief partnership and that ended with Sri gifting his wicket away off of a wide ball from Uchil. Charan rearranged Anand’s furniture and Sameer took care of Ravi. Rajesh and Ravi decided to roll their arm over as well since SCCA’s defeat seemed imminent. Both claimed a wicket apiece and SCCA were all out for 129. We did well to contain the sundries to about 27, but something under 20 would be a nice target for the future. Go TCC!