Thumping win for TCC over OCC.

TCC defeated OCC by 8 wickets at the Richmond ground on Sunday, July 10, 2005. Thanks to Saleem and Ahmed from GRCC for officiating this game.

Having beaten OCC last year in the same ground, TCC was quite confident going into this game. The conditions were perfect surprisingly and after a 3 hour drive to Richmond, the match started at about 11:30 A.M. OCC won the toss and elected to field after a prolonged decision making process. Aravind and Manoj started off the proceedings for TCC. Aravind got his line and length spot on and got the first breakthrough. Shibu held onto a sharp reflex catch at second slip off of Riaz's glove. OCC were on the back foot immediately and wanted to see off the new ball. Rajesh U came on in the forth over and maintained a tight line and length. Some clever piece of bowling got Tanmay in the sixth over. A slow and low full toss got Tanmay to hoist the ball over to long on, Aravind held on to the catch comfortably. Ninad was next to follow, Manoj held on to the catch at point off of Sundar's bowling. Sumeet and Rahim seemed to steady the ship when Sumeet went for a huge slog over square leg, only to miss the full toss completely. He was lbw for 7 off of Shibu's bowling. Rahim on the other end was striking the ball quite well. TCC had to contain him on one end and get the wickets on the other. Right after the drinks break, Nataraj got Harish lbw trapped right in front of the wicket. Vijay was introduced in place of Shibu on the other end. Rahim slogged one over to long on off of Vijay's bowling only to find Aravind. Rahim went for 32. OCC just wanted to play out the 30 overs at that point and did not worry about scoring runs. Aravind introduced himself onto the attack and Manoj on the other end. Manoj was quite effective with the older ball. He had a hat trick opportunity in the 25th over. The first wicket was Hussen, caught by Vijay at covers. It was a solid drive and Vijay held on to it quite well. Ashish followed the very next ball caught off Shibu at point. Umer survived a huge lbw shout the very next ball. Manoj had the last wicket in his 5th over. It was a low full toss and Umer slammed it towards point, the ball went like a rocket, but Shibu was too good for that. This was Shibu's third catch of the match. OCC were all out for 94.

Aravind and Cashif opened the batting for TCC. Cashif started off with a mighty six over mid wicket in the first over. He fell in the third over though, an uppish drive to the man at cover. Aravind seemed to be in good knick after his century in the previous match but fell at 14. Vijay J who came in at #3 looked solid. Vijay's pulls and cuts were vicious. He was especially severe on Tanmay, scoring three consecutive fours off his first over. Tanmay, one of OCC's better bowlers, lost control from there on and ended up giving away 25 off 3 overs. Shibu was his own self at the other end rotating the strike. When Ninad was introduced, Shibu took on the scoring mantle with some pretty good pulls. Shibu scored a brisk 25. Ninad ended up giving away 24 runs in just 2 overs, Shibu scoring bulk of those runs. Vijay and Shibu saw TCC home. TCC finished the match in 14 overs. This should help our NRR.

MoM - Vijay J. for his 40*, priced wicket of Rahim and a good catch.