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Season 2006/2007 By John Thangarajah
Game 8 vs Flemington Colts - by Rohan Singh
Flemington colts 143 - Atif 5/35, John 2/8, KD 1/29, Maka 1/22, Alkesh 1/8 RMIT 182/2 - Maka 100 no, Danish 55
Day1 After a good break it was important for us to start positively. John won the toss and elected to Bowl on a nice sunny day with good breeze. Next over was by Roy who was bowling into the breeze. He bowled with
really good control. Atif was called upon with the breeze after sameer finished with his spell. After shedding some rustiness he was back to his best and getting the
opener with a great catch by john. KD got a wicket with his first ball and bowled beautifully for his spell, beating the bat a lot of time. He was again unlucky to get more wickets. After loosing 3 wickets very quickly the opposition made some ground while spinners operated. But then once again atif was called back and he bowled a well set batsman with a great inswinging yorker. That was to start the collapse. With John getting two wickets, maka chipping in with one. Alkesh got his first wicket for the A grade. One of ATifs wickets was a great bouncer which was pouched by a diving rohan (A simple catch, made to look spectacular). We rolled the oposition for 143. Rohan and maka went to open the innings. Maka played a great flick of his toes to open the innings with a four, which was one of many to come. Danish was promoted to one down as rohan got out early with a faintest of snicks. From then on it was well paced innings from Danish and Maka. They both played with great composure and playing great strokes on both side of the wickets. Maka reached his 50 before the end of the play. By the end of day 1 we were 1/101. Great effort from all the bowlers to keep the opposition to a low score. Good sensible batting from maka and danish to end the day on a high for
us.
Day2
We started with overcast conditions and rain forecast for the day. We were 42 runs behind and would really like to get those 6 points as soon as possible. Again Maka and Danish played with great flourish. Both taking quick singles and twos as the boundries were tough to come by majorly due to ground being wet. Still there were lots of good shots played by both and soon Danish reached his well deserved 50. Danish got out trying to up the score rate. Sachin was next to go in and he started off well but pulled his hamstrings while going for a quick single, Danish had to rush back in to be his runner. Mean while maka was playing with great timing. He reached his VERY WELL DESERVED 100 with a great shot straight down the ground for a four. Just before the umpire called off the play due to heavy rain. We won by first innings total. It was a magnificent effort put in by Maka and Danish to play so sensibly with good run rate. Once again Atif bowled really well to get his 5 wickets. KD bowled really well but once again was unlucky to pick more wickets. John,Maka,Roy,Sameer (bit unlucky not to get a wicket in his first over) and Alkesh all bowled very well and picked important wickets.
All in all everybody played well, with high energy, great quality and good spirit. Well played Team and congratulations to all for a great Win! We Must continue the same in the games to follow. Captians Man of the Match - Maka 100 not out Game 7 vs Royal Park Reds - by Makarand Dhuri
Royal park 178/6 - Roy 1/33, Doug 3/37, Maka 1/10 John lost the toss and we were fielding on glorious day for cricket. We were playing the top team in the league and as expected from a good side, they made a solid start. It was yet again Milroy who gave as the breakthrough helped by a sharp catch from Sachin, at first slip. Milroy contributed again by taking a very good outfield catch at mid-on on Dougie's ball. Doug bowled a beautiful line and length, and dried up the runs picking up 3 crucial wickets. He was well supported by KD on the other end, who was unlucky not to get any wickets. We worked hard in the field and bowled really well in the last 10 overs to restrict league leaders to 178 in 40 over. RMIT 184/3 - Rohan 32, John 54no, Sachin 60no
Chasing 179 was never going to be easy but we were confident we could get there. Sameer and Rohan started confidently, but just when runs were coming freely on both sides a mix-up resulted in Sam's run-out.
KD was sent in to accelerate the run rate. He managed to hit a few boundaries. Rohan, on the other side, was middling the ball beautifully. He hit few crispy boundaries and looked like he would take us all the way through. His innings were cut short when he was caught on the long off boundary.KD followed soon.
John joined Sachin and that was start of mission demolition. Sachin was at his destructive best and John as usual played his natural attacking game. Sachin hit 5 massive sixes, couple of them landing on the railway tracks.
John joined the party hitting crisp cover drives and couple of sixes. One of them appeared to be heading towards the apartment windows nearby. It was an amazing display of power and timing from these two, both reaching their fifties in style.
It was John's 3rd fifty of the season and for Sachin, it was about time that he got one. Well done fellows. Good to see Sachin back in form. All in all it was convincing win for us defeating the top team in the league with great authority. Our bowling was tidy, fielding was good and batting was simply magnificent. Good work team. Hope we carry on this form in the coming year. Captain's Man of the match - Sachin 60 no
Game 5 vs Aberfeldie St Johns
Day 1 : Aberfeldie 245/7 - Roy 2/71, John 2/55, Doug 2/39 I won the toss and put the opposition in, which was risky as there was not a cloud in the sky. As it turned as soon as we took the field the clouds appeared and the ball was swinging all over. In fact it was swinging too much for the bowlers to control. Despite a poor start we got the first break through at 51 with Roy getting through the defence of their captain. Roy bowled very well beating the bat many times. KD found it hard to control that ball which swung miles and was unlucky when he had a caught behind not given by the umpire. With the runs flowing for the opposition on a lightning quick short outfield it was upto Doug and I to put the brakes on and we did just that. We had the opposition at 147/7 with Doug, Roy and I taking two wickets each and Dougie throwing the stumps down for a brilliant run out. So having done quite well upto that point, the last hour of play did not go our way. I had one batsmen trapped right in front on the backfoot midway and much to the amazement of everyone including the batsmen the umpire did not give it out. We had a few dropped catches and some costly misfield which we paid for at the end. I guess it shows that you can't make mistakes when you play against a good team. So although the umpire and the last hour spoiled the day for us the total 245 is certainly attainable. Am looking forward to next week.
Day 2 : RMIT 94 - Sachin 32 Chasing 245 we had the worst start losing Rishi on the third ball of the day. As decided before this game we shuffled the batting order with Sachin opening and he played very well to get to 32 but then got careless. The rest of the batting was very ordinary and everybody threw away there wickets. The opposition bowled well at a good line and length, add that some poor batting and we were bundled out pretty fast. There were a few controversies over the umpiring again but its no excuse for the loss. At the end of the day we didn't bat, bowl or field as we normally do and hopefully we will come back strong in the next game. If there is one positive we take from the game that is Sachin's form which seems to be revived, and I feel for the opposition to come!
Captain's man of the match - Sachin 32
Game 4 vs Flemington Colts Day 1 : Flemington Colts 84 all out - Atif 6/17, John 2/1, KD 1/14 RMIT 92/1 - Rishi 40, Rohan 39 no I won the toss and put the opposition in, although they were short on a few players it didn't affect my decision. As it turned out, Atif's day of glory finally arrived. He had bowled so well in the last games but went wicketless, today he hit back with 6 wickets with 5 of them clean bowled. The conditions were perfect for the bowl to swing and combined with Atif's pace and accuracy the opposition didn't stand much of a chance. The non-bowled wicket was caught at slip by Sachin. It was a very good catch as the ball was travelling at very high speed.
The opposition however was not a bad batting side, and there were periods where it seemed difficult to get a breakthrough, but I tried to shuffle the bowlers and make changes to induce a wicket and more often than not it paid off. It took us 44 overs to bowl them out. Roy, KD, Maka, Rishi, Rohan and Myself were the other bowlers that I tried, everyone bowled very well. KD also knocked the stumps over for his wicket providing a vital breakthrough. I got 2 wickets, the first from a terrible doosra that should have been hit for 4, but it went to Roy's Hands, the second was a caught behind off a quicker ball by Ajay which was a good catch staying low. Once again Ajay did a great job behind the stumps.
We then went into bat with 28 overs left for the day, and I wanted to get the first innings win today, taking no chances of rain next week. Rohan and Rishi went in again to open and this time they clicked together, batting beautifully to take us all the way passing the first innings score with no loss. They both were scoring at an equal pace, no rush, just taking singles and putting the odd bad ball for a boundary or 2 runs. Great batting, just what the doctor ordered. Rishi unfortunately played across in the last few overs of the day and was adjudged lbw. I then sent in Sameer who batted cautiously with Rohan to end of play. Well done to every single one in the team !
Day 2 : RMIT 222/5 - Rishi 40, Rohan 54, Sameer 39, John 64 no Flemington Colts 93 all out - Atif 3/33, Roy 3/25, Maka 2/22
I started the day with the aim of declaring at the first water break (17 overs) so that I don't loose any overs at the change over and hoping to be ahead by 100 runs at the least. We started well with Sameer and Rohan. Rohan resumed his innings by launching a six off the first ball he faced for the day, and took his score from 39 to 50 in just 4 balls. Rohan's 50 was well deserved but he got out soon trying to up the scoring. Sachin followed without success and Ajay didn't too much better but given the circumstances it wasn't a worry. I then went in and joined Sameer and together we put on 108 runs off about 12 overs. Sameer played a very elegant and classy 39 while I clobbered the bowling to get to 64 not out. The boys reckon I took about 20 balls to get there. Danish had an over to bat once Sameer got out, so he managed to get his eye in for the next game. I declared at the water break as planned at 222/5. The plan executed to perfection! well done batsmen!
With 3 sessions to bowl out the opposition and the menacing Atif on our side, we were very confident of winning this outright. As it turned out it was Roy who really created the problems for the opposition running into the wind like a Ferrari on top gear. Atif got the first wicket then Roy took the next 3 with some superb swing bowling on an excellent line and length. Maka got into the wickets in the middle and then Atif came back on to wipe out the tail. Once again Sachin held on to a good catch at slip off Roy and Rohan took a beauty in the deep running from mid wicket to long off like a cheetah chasing a deer. KD wasn't his usual king ship as he was in the first innings but am sure he will be back at his throne the next game around. Alkesh also had a cameo in the field substituting for Atif.
All in all a brilliant performance by the whole team won us a well deserved out right win. Well done boys, a great win! Captain's man of the match - Atif match bag of 9/50
Game 3 vs Pascoevale Utd
Day 1 : RMIT 278/9 - Rishi 62, John 54, Ajay 30, Danish 30 no I lost the toss, and we were put into bat. Given the conditions I didn't mind that too much although I would have liked to have bowled as I normally do. Rishi and Rohan opened well and got us off to a good start. When Rohan went out we were 37/1. I went into bat and watched from the non-strikers end while Rishi played a well controlled but aggressive innings of 62. Sachin fell cheaply but then Ajay and I rebuild by picking up singles and twos regularly to keep the scoreboard ticking. Having batted for 40 overs in the middle, with not many bad balls coming my way, I finally got to fifty and fell soon after to a ball that kept low (182/4) Danish then batted through and the lower order made useful contributions and we ended up making 278/9. A key feature of the batting was the fact that none of the batsmen tried to hit the ball out of the park, but played through the line and valued their wicket. Great effort guys ! Day 2 : Pascoevale Utd - 215 - Rohan 6/30, KD 2/29, Ravi 1/34, Roy 1/18 With the threat of rain we took the field shivering in the cold. Atif and Roy took the new ball and bowled very well. Atif terrorised one of the openers but he did very well to survive. It was a great spell of fast bowling and was unlucky not to get a wicket. I then bought on Ravi with his left arm spin and straight away he got me the first breakthrough with a good catch from Roy. Then the madness began, we could not hold on to any of the catches that came are way and there were plenty as the spinners, Ravi, Myself, Rishi and Dhaval bowled very well. When the score reached 164/1 I threw the bowl to Rohan, who proved to be the golden boy, although his first wicket was dropped, he struck in the very same over and got the breakthrough that we needed. From that point the tables turned and we were back to our normal fielding and Rohan cleaned up the batsmen with some great swing bowling. KD cleaned up the last couple of wickets and we got them all out with just 5 overs to spare. All the bowlers bowled well, but were unlucky with plenty of chances going down. However, we still kept our heads up, backed each other, and kept on doing the job which ultimately paid off. A special mention should go to Ajay who had an off day in terms of the catches and stumpings but did an immaculate job behind the stumps on a day where the ball had an awkward bounce off the wicket and off the ground. Being a keeper myself I can appreciate what a good job he did. Well done to everyone, a great team effort got us through once again ! Captain's man of the match - Rohan 6/30
Game 2 (One day game) vs Oak Park
Oak Park 86 all out - Rishi 4/12, Roy 2/17, Sameer 2/20, John 1/1, Maka 1/5 I won the toss and given the clouds in the sky I didn't hesitate to put the opposition in. While our bowlers were not at their best, the opposition batsmen batted recklessly and paid the price. We cleaned them up for 86 in 27 overs. Dhaval and Danish was outstanding in the field. We had a few dropped catches but we bowled well enough to compensate that fact. RMIT 90/7 - John 28, Sachin 20 Chasing a small target always proves to be more difficult. We lost Rishi 2nd ball and I went in at 0/1 and then lost Rohan the very next over. With two wickets down for nothing Sachin and I put on 40 runs before Sachin fell. I then got out with the score on 57/4 . Soon after that Ajay fell then Danish and then Dhaval leaving us all biting our finger nails. Sameer and Maka then scored the last few runs that we needed and took us over the line. Close call, but a win for us again !! Hopefully the Batsmen will value their wickets a lot more in the games to come and play more carefully. All in all in wasn't the most convincing win but its a win nonetheless.
Captains Man of the Match - Rishi 4/12 and John 28
Game 1 (One day game) - vs Maribyrnong Park by Rohan Singh
RMIT 181/8 - 38 Maka, 37 Dhaval
John won the toss and the day was perfect to bat on our home ground and so we did choose to bat. About half way through our batting, we were 70/2 in 20 overs. After the drinks break two wickets in consecutive overs gave the edge to the opposition. Then came along Maka and Dhaval who batted with real courage, combining to score 80 runs in a span of 12 overs. Then KD and Roy stood up to the opposition in the end overs, Both of them showing good hitting ability. We ended on 181/8. The batting was real good and everyone contributed. Well batted guys !
Maribyrnong Park 171/9 - John 6/13, Rishi 2/40, Ravi 1/23
Looking very confident with our score we went to the field knowing that few early blows can get us a quick win. KD bowled really good into the wind but then had to go off due to shin problems. Opposition was batting really well scoring around 4-5 runs an over. And then Ravi came to bowl and took a blinder of a catch on his follow through. Looking to capitalise on it we attacked a bit with spin, but were not able to contain the scoring. At the half way mark they raced to 90/1. After getting some easy scoring opportunities in the overs after drinks, the game seemed lost for us, but then the captain (John) took the matters in to his own hands. At that time they needed 37 runs off 74 balls with 8 wickets to go. The match was good as over for us, but something special was to follow. John bowled tightly on one end and Rishi from the other end started to tighten the screws. The pressure was too much to handle for the opposition batsmen and the wickets started to fall regularly. In the end they both just conceded 25 runs in 12 overs to win the game for us. We won!!!
Captain's Man of the match - (The captain himself) John 6/13
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