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Match Report for Game 1 : by Rishi Game 1: RMIT v ROYAL PARK REDS played at Popular Reserve
First game of the season and as usual everyone was excited with the start of yet another season. Bright sunny weather and perfect conditions for cricket added to the excitement.RMIT lead by sachin lost the toss and were put into bat. The composition of the side was a bit different from the premiership team of 07/08 with the loss of a few personnel. John and Rishi, the two openers kicked things off but lost Rishi in the third over. Rohan the next man in, started off shaky while john was blazing away on the other side with a few big ones. The two put on a century partnership in no time unitl rohan perished in his 40’s. This triggered of a mini collapse with the loss of a few quick wickets including the wicket of john for a well made 66. Dhaval and ajay resurrected the innings a bit with dhaval on the attack from ball one but lost ajay soon, From here on in it was the dhaval and hussain show smashing the ball to all parts of the ground which enabled us to reach a score of 258 at the end of 40 overs. Dhaval and hussain scored 69 and 44 respectively.A excellent score on the board which meant that the opposotion had to attack from ball one and attack is what they did. Royal park got off to a bad start with roy picking up and early wicket but didnt stop the opener from attacking. At the 15 overs mark, Royal park were looking on track and the game was well poised for a good finish. At this stage RMIT needed a few quick wickets which would help stem the flow of runs.Rishi and dhaval provided excatly that, 20 over spell between them kept the scoring to miserly 4.5 runs an over and picked up five valuable wickets which probably ensured a very good victory. Dhaval and rishi where well supported by hussain and john in the end and the two quicks early on for a hard fought win.This was probably one of the best team effort by RMIT with contributions from everyone. Well done guys.
Captains Man of the Match – Dhaval Lekhi (well made 50 and great bowling to get 4 wickets)
******************************************************* Match Report for Game 2: By Sachin Rabade RMIT Vs Aberfeldie St Johns: Aberfeldie won the toss and surprisingly elected to bat first. Our
opening bowlers both KD and Roy bowled a good line and length and soon
the opposition wickets started to tumble. KD got the first break through
in the 5th over of the match bowling Steve Wills. Soon Roy followed with
a wicket in the next over. Suddenly Abers were 2 for 12.
KD and Roy kept bowling beautiful line and length and the wickets
started falling one after another although there were couple of dropped
catches. Aberfeldie were 7 for 33, thanks to KD who bowled 10 over for
just 20 runs and 4 wickets and Roy 9 overs for 25 runs and 3 wickets.
RMIT were in a very strong position and as it always happen the
opposition came back strong. Rohan, Dhaval and DJ couldn't keep the
momentum for RMIT and Abers got few quick runs. Thanks to Hussain and
John T who came back strong and bowled a good line and length and got
the opposition all out for 116. RMIT would have taken 117 to chase on any given day. Ajay and John went
in to bat for RMIT. But Ajay could last for 3 balls and Rohan went in but was adjudjed first ball LBW(Golden Duck).
After the first over RMIT were restricted 2 for 0 (not a good start at
all). John cut loose in the next few overs and with some nice shots got
RMIT a few quick runs. But he couldn't keep going and soon lost his
wicket and RMIT were 3 for 30. Hussain and Dhaval tried to consolidate
but Dhaval couldn't last long trying to play over the midwicket and
getting out for just 6 runs. Soon RMIT were 5 for 41 when Sachin went
in. Rohan was running for Sachin as he had pulled his thigh muscle while
fielding. Hussain couldn't last long and soon RMIT were 6 for 45. The
next two wickets fell on the same score with Aberfildie's K.Logan
bowling a beautiful line and length. RMIT were 8 for 45 when KD walked
in. He couldn't last long and was given out caught behind (poor decision
by the umpire). Sachin was standing at the other end watching all these
wickets fall in quick succession. Roy walked in and showed tremendous
character and gave a glimpse of hope to Sachin with a great lofted drive
over the bowlers head for four. As it was a last wicket thus Sachin
decided to play some shots and hammered 3 boundaries but got done by a
rising delivery from C Polo and was caught in the slips ending RMIT's
innings. RMIT got bowled out for 66 - ending a very dissapointing day of
batting. Captain's Man of the Match - KD for 4/20 off 10 overs (Great
performance! Keep the your form going). ************************************************************************* Game 3: RMIT vs Maribyrnong Park Played on 18/10/08 and 25/10/08 By Maka Day 1: Sachin lost the toss on the bright ad sunny day and the opposition captain had no hesitation in batting first. We have always preferred to bat 2nd so we didn’t mind that except for the heat. We didn’t have our regular keeper Ajay so John was donning the gloves. KD and Roy as expected opened the bowing for us and both bowled well without much luck in the first 10 overs until KD struck with a beautiful bowl to shatter the opener’s stumps. Such was speed of KD’s delivery that stumps were broken and needed to be replaced. Hardik was introduced into the attack and soon got rid of the other opener. Maribyrnong were going on nicely till Dhaval with his wristy leg breaks got one to rip through and John held on to a smart catch. After that the 2 batsman at the crease put their head down and batted sensibly. Sachin tried everything but our old nemesis Evan Long wasn’t budged and went on to score his second hundred against us. We had to wait till the end of the day to get some joy when Hussain was introduced into the attack for a second spell. Bowling with great accuracy he managed to run through Maribyrnong lineup with magnificent 6 wicket haul including the wicket of the centurion. Maribyrnong ended the day with a very competitive score of 296 for 9. John was terrific behind the stumps ending the day with 2 stumping’s and a catch. It was a good effort in the field by everyone on a very hot day. Day 2: Alkesh and John opened the innings for us. Chasing nearly 300 in a day wasn’t going to be easy and we needed a solid start but it wasn’t to be. Alkesh departed in the second over and was soon followed by Rohan. Scoreboard read sadly 2/2 for us. Captain went in to bat next and we could see he was determined to take us through. On the other side John after hitting a big six perished to a catch at point and we were 3/18. I went in next but was bit edgy to begin with. Sachin and myself steadied the ship a bit to take us to 85 when I was sucked into a slower delivery holding out to gully. Hussain joined Sachin and runs were coming thick and fast and we were goin at almost 6 an over. Sachin lost his wicket to another good delivery from N Fernaux who had 3 wickets at this stage. This bought Dhaval on to the crease. He started watchfully only to launch his attack on the Maribyrnong bowlers. Dhaval was hitting them long and clean and soon bought up his second 50 of the season just before tea. We went to tea at 200/ 5 in only 32 overs. Still needing to get the remaining 97 runs Hussain and Dhaval started cautiously after tea. Hussain soon reached his well deserved 50 and Dhaval on the other side cut loose again eventually hitting 5 biggies .We were racing to the target till Dhaval was bowled 13 short of what would have been wish come true for him (remember his post of dedicating the century to Hussain J) . his wicket ended an excellent 150 runs partnership. As so often happens after a long partnership one wicket leads to other, Hussain lost his wicket followed soon by Roy. We lost our way in between losing 3 wickets on score of 259. Hardik joined DJ in the middle and DJ wanted to get on with things and hit 2 back to back sixes. We still needed 14 when DJ was clean bowled and KD joined Hardik. It was tense moment for all of us watching those last 4 overs till Hardik played a glorious cover drive for a 4 bringing us within couple of runs to victory. Just as John was starting to feel his hand go numb KD sealed the victory for us with a sweetly timed hit towards midwicket for 4 all along the ground. It was one of the closest victories we ever had and rightly celebrated wit a few beers after the game. Captains Man of the match : Hussain Mujtaba (Taking 6/58 and making a half century. Great Performance!) Also an honourable mention for an explosive batting by Dhaval Lekhi (it was great watching that knock) ************************************************************************** Round 4 – RMIT V/s Flemington Colts By Ajay Kulkarni Day 1: It was a perfect day for cricket. RMIT CC lost the toss and was put into bat. RMIT opened the innings with Makka and John. Both of them played carefully for the first 10 overs with 41 runs partnership and looked set to play long innings until John got a leading edge and was caught at mid- on for 21. Captain for the match Rohan Singh took the crease at 41/1 but was out soon after trying to drive the ball and was caught at point and RMIT was 46/2.Ajay joined Makka at the crease trying to build a partnership and steady the innings.At the other end Makka was playing some sensational shots and it was a treat to watch him play those shots. Makka and Ajay put on 47 runs partnership before Makka was out LBW for a well made 39 and soon Amit and Hussain got out. Ajay looked set for a big innings but was clean bowled for 29 and from there on RMIT kept on loosing wickets at regular intervals and soon the score was 170/9. At this stage RMIT was in deep trouble. The last pair of KD and Hardik batted sensibly and played some brilliant shots. Both of them put together 59 runs for the last wicket which turned out to be the highest partnership for the match. Hardik got out just after Tea for a well made 32 runs and KD remained the not out batsman on 20 runs. RMIT scored 229 all out in 50 overs which was a good fighting total. RMIT had 22 over’s to bowl on the first day. Roy struck on his very first delivery with a brilliant inswinger which uprooted the off stump. Flemington Colts kept on loosing wickets at regular intervals and at the end of the day’s play they were reduced to 66/7. Roy was the main destructor with 4 wickets and was very well supported by KD, John and Hussain with 1 wicket each. Day 2: Saturday was mostly overcast and thus there was an urgency of getting the remaining 3 wickets. Hardik struck in his very first over of the day as the batsman nicked one and was caught behind. Flemington Colts had a 9th wicket partnership of 75 runs. John was brought into attack and got the much needed breakthrough by bowling a brilliant delivery which went and crashed into the off stump. John struck again in his next over and RMIT won the game on first innings lead. Roy finished up with 4 wickets and John finished up with 3 wickets. With 3 wins in 4 matches RMIT is now on 3rd position on the ladder. Man of the Match: Hardik ( For a well made 32 with a last wicket partnership with KD and making the initial strike on day 2, Also honourable mention to Roy for great effort of taking 4 quick wickets on day 1)
******************************************************************* Round 5 – RMIT V/s Coolaroo By Hussain Mujtaba The day was very nice, warm and balmy and the team arrived fairly early and did all the warm ups and exercises and anxiously waited the arrival of the opposite team.They soon arrived at about 10 minutes before start of play, at which point our captain and his opposite number had the toss. RMITCC won the toss and elected to field. Our bowling started very well with both Roy and KD holding their lines and lengths and denying their batsmen any width. But for all their excellent bowling, the batsmen managed to scrape through without losing their wicket. Sachin decided time was ripe for bowling change and on came Dulanka and Hardik. Dulanka quickly snared a wicket with what was a peach of an in-swinger to a right hander after a few before that one had pitched and gone on straight. Hardik began bowling and quickly became a night mare for all the left handed batsmen as he managed to swing the ball late into them and at good pace. One batsmen among them, a teenager who was probably their best batsmen managed to hold his own amongst the wreckage but Hardik rose to the occasion and produced a jaffer which moved from short of length into the batsman and hit the top of middle and off. John came on to bowl with is wily spin bowling and snared four wickets from the other end, managing to maintain absolute pressure in tandem with Hardik, which eventually resulted in CoolarooCC succumbing for 85 runs all out. The best thing about this performance was that RMITCC managed to bowl out CoolarooCC by about midday, which gave the hosts an excellent shot at an outright win Hardik ended with superb figures of 5 wickets for 38 runs in 10 overs and John managed an excellent 4 wickets for 16 in 6 overs. Dulanka managed to snare the remaining wicket. RMITCC started their batting with John and Maka opening the innings and they started in a fairly positive fashion. Maka's scimitar coming down straight and fast resulting in a flurry of boundaries while John at the other end was more than holding his own. John got out for 22 trying to glide one past gully, at which point he was joined by the RMITCC captain who decided that it was about time someone mowed down the trees beyond the boundary. Maka managed an extremely elegant half century while at the other end Sachin revelled in a gluttonous boundary fest. Maka was bowled out 50 and Ajay missed a full toss which hit the top of off. Hussain was run out for 13. All the while Sachin managed to cart all and sundry over the boundary with a dismissive swing of his bat and reached a wonderful chanceless 100. The day ended with RMITCC having won the first innings and Sachin Rabade not out on 121 and Dhaval Lekhi not out on 21. Rain washed out the next weeks play resulting in RMITCC obtaining 6 points and ending up 2nd on the ladder, behind Aberfeldie St.John CC. Man of the Match Award goes to RMITCC Captain Sachin Rabade. ***************************************************************************** RMIT CC Vs Strathmore – ROUND 6 The match was marked by the return of one of our own, Sameer Khan. After dabbling breifly with turf teams and not being satidfied, he decided to return to the madness that was and is, RMITCC. This was an away match for us and we all reached there promptly on time. RMITCC won the toss and we decided to field (Surprise!). The bowling started well with Rishi picking up two quick wickets. From the other end Sameer announced his return with very good and fast bowling which unfortunately went unrewarded. Ameet and Jacob both chipped in with wickets and John stepped in and with his usual mix of guile, spin and more guile, snared 3 wickets while Neel on the other hand flighted the ball well and took 2 wickets. Then Hussain managed to drop two very easy catches of the tailender, which eventually led to a score of 120 (ish) for 9 ending up in 185 all out. The last wicket being finally taken by the skipper himself (Something which he had to do to prevent Ajay from bowling). This left a fair few overs in the day for our batsmen to negotiate and the opening pair of Makarand Dhuri and Sameer Khan did that and more. Moving at a fair clip of five runs an over the ended the day at about 80 runs with no wickets down. Next week, a balmy day greeted us and the batsmen again went in to finish the job. Makarand was caught behind of a left-arm pseudo fast bowler at a very stylish 39. John went in and both Sameer and John started to up the ante. Fours and Sixes were mixed with front foot defences and the score was rapidly achieved. John reached a rapid fire 50 and Sameer was caught on a very well played 94. At this point RMITCC had won on first innings and the skipper decided to end the things for the match. Man of the Match ... Sameer Khan ***************************************************************************** RMIT CC vs Pascoe Vale – Round 7 The toss was won by Pascoe Vale and they decided to have a bat first. Against some tight bowling by Sameer and Rishi, the openers could hardly open up and had to play extremely circumspectly. One of the openers tried to open up against Roy but got caught. This started a steady stream of wickets while the other opener tried to hold the innings as best as he could. An appeal for caught behind turned the proceedings a bit sour as there was an altercation between their captain and Ajay over the veracity of the appeal. Sweet lady revenge sided with Ajay later as he managed to run out his counterpart with a direct hit. This put the final nail in the coffin as Pascoe Vale was routed for a meagre 112. RMIT started as they always do with guns blazing. Sameer and Makarand started briskly and Maka was out for 32. Dhaval came next but departed quickly as he skied a ball to cover. John went in next and started testing out the boundary immediately but was out, I kid you not, because his shots might have hit the kids who were near midwicket and he changed his shot. Sachin went in next and cleaned up proceeedings with Sameer, who remained not out on 37. Man of the match = Rishi (4/12) ***************************************************************************** RMIT CC Vs Flemington Colts – Round 8 The toss was won by RMIT and we chose to bowl first on a warm day. This provided extra motivation for the bowlers to finish things early. The bowlers started great with Sameer picking up both openers and rishi picking up the next two. Their best batsmen and wicket keeper managed to clear the midwicket boundary a few times but wickets were falling all around him. In keeping with a weird tradition that he has had this year, Ajay picked a fight with this keeper as well :P. After some moments of altercation, the match resumed but the batsmen concentration was gone and Rishi duly picked him up. This again, started a procession of wickets and Flemington Colts was all out for a nelson (111). Rishi and Sameer picked up 3 wickets each while John had a couple. RMIT started batting once again in the only way they know how and Maka and Sameer had us racing along with an outright win in mind. Maka mixed gorgeous over drives with stylish flicks but was out for 39 to a very good catch at square leg. John went in and again started testing the middle of his bat with some very good hits down the ground, but was out when the ball hit his arm and went on to hit the stumps. Sameer quietly managed to accumulate runs as he was joined by Sachin. And Sachin decided that a lead of 150 was necessary and went on about accumulating it. RMITCC declared next saturday with SAchin having scored and brilliant 102 and a very nuggety innings from Sameer for 76. RMIT declared at 257/7. Flemington colts were put into bat once again but didn't start well. ROy and Rishi started the proceedings well, picking up the openers After which the rout started. Roy managed to hit there wicketkeeper below the belt (Literally) and then prised him out with a magnificent yorker. John and Hussain cleaned up the tail with two wickets each and the innings ended when Maka took a stunning, full length diving catch in covers to make up for having broken Rohan's finger last saturday. Thus RMITCC got an outright win. Man of the Match = Sachin Rabade for a brilliant 100. Special Thanks to Rohan who still came and fielded brilliantly at fine leg all day even though he had a broken finger. ***************************************************************************** RMIT CC Vs Pascoe Vale – Round 9 On a very dry and humid day, RMITCC won the toss and decided to field. There were a few changes in the squad. Rohan, John and Ajay were out due ot injury and in their place, Alkesh, Shameera and Anand were in. Rishi started the proceedings very early by removing one of the openers through a caught and bowled. Sameer on the other end bowled very well and got ample support from Roy. The scoring however was decent as even half timed shots were going for fours. Sachin soon introduced spin and that put a little bit of hold on the scoring rate. Sameer got an LBW turned down when he had managed to hit the batsmen in front of middle with a slower ball, on the full. Hussain got his LBW turned down when he managed to hit a batsman on the full, again in front of middle. A few catches were dropped as well, but like always, RMITCC rallied behind its bowlers and managed to get the opposition out for 194. Sameer and Rishi bowling very well, taking 3 and 2 wickets respectively. Makarand polished off the tail with some brilliantly flighted spin. Maka and Sameer started the proceedings with some brilliant shots. Even though the fielding in hot weather had taken a toll on them, they did not flinch from quick singles or long threes. Maka was unfortunately out in the last over of the day for a well made 23. Next week, Dhaval went in and started proceedings with Sameer and they upped the ante to a considerable extent until Dhaval was given LBW for a blistering 48. Sachin joined the ever dependable Sameer at the other end they managed to finish the score of with sixes and fours before lunch. Sameer ended up making 64 not out and Sachin on a very fast 55 not out. A highlight of the innings was that Sachin ran 3 threes, all for Sameer. Man of the Match : S Khan (64* and 3/41) ***************************************************************************** RMIT CC Vs Royal Park Reds – Round 10 On a very good day (temperature was a temparate 26 deg Celcius), RMITCC won the toss and decided to field. KD and Roy started the proceedings. KD started bowling with the wind and combined pace with accuracy and roy combined guile with seam movement. This resulted in a lot of pressure for the openers. They could not score freely. A few shots across the line released it to some extent but Roy extracted revenge when the perfected picthed leg cutter took the outside edge and John snapped up a sharp catch at second slip (Which he remarked was the first catch that had come to second slip all season). Roy then removed the second opener as well when Dhaval snapped up a very good catch at short mid wicket. Rishi and Sameer then came on to bowl and they both kept on the pressure but sloppy fielding went against us, some of them due to a rocky field but not all. Hardik replaced rishi but had a catch dropped off him whereas on the other hand Sameer got rewarded for some bowling with two wickets. A run out and some good ground fielding in the end resulted in the Royal Park reds being restricted to 7 for 187. One of the features of the fielding was the slip catching, which was exemplary. Our innings started with Sameer and Makarand Dhuri opening the innings. Things did not start well with Sameer finally proving he too is mortal by getting out early to a swipe to mid wicket which was well caught. John went in next and with typical non-chalance cleared the boudary, both through and over. However due to a misjudgement of line, John got bowled for a swift 20. Sachin went in next but was very well caught at gully even though sachin had creamed that cut shot And Ajay was unlucky in gloving a rank leg side bowl to the keeper. All this time Maka had been working diligently. Gathering singles and twos. But now with the main responsibility of taking the team home, he rose brilliantly. It was as if a coaching manual was on show with drives, flicks, pulls, both of front and back foot. Unlike previous innings of Maka this season, no chances were given. With a gimlet eye, Maka wanted to take his team across the line and he did. With support from Hussain (26) and Rishi (25 Not Out), Maka made a superb hundred (and a very well deserved one) and took us to the winning total. Hussain batted well before he topedged a sweep shot to Fine leg. Then came in Rishi who was a bit shaky at the start but played some glorious strokes as the innings progressed. RMITCC won the game by 6 wickets with 8 overs to spare. Man of the Match = Makarand Dhuri. Special Mention = Great catching in the slips and outfield. ***************************************************************************** RMIT CC Vs Aberfeldie – Round 11 1st innings ------------ This was the last league match of the season and one that was highly anticipated by us. Last time RMITCC had played AberfeldieCC, they had beaten us comprehensively, even though our bowling effort had matched theirs. But this time, we were better prepared, both cricket wise and mentally. The day was nice and balmy and RMITCC won the toss and elected to field. We had worked out plans for each of their batsmen and experienced hands like Sachin and John helped bowlers devise field settings for each of them. We started with Rishi and Roy, with Rishi keeping an incisive spell and roy bowling gun barrel straight with hardly a drop of width. Their opening bats man Wills and Altus could not get off to a rapid start and suffocating field settings finally resulted in Wills getting caught at midwicket trying to swipe across the line off Rishi. Altus tried to cut Roy hard but could only find the safe hands of Sameer at point. Rishi then got the big wicket of Rizio when he found the edge of his bat which John caught at second slip. Polo tried to up the ante but a vicious in cutter from Sameer rattled his castle. This wicket bought together Siomos and Brohaska who started batting sedately, picking up singles and doubles and finding the odd boundary. With the score on 151, the teams went to lunch. Spin was introduced after lunch and immediately obtained the reward of Brohaska, who was caught behind by Anand. Barnyard tried to swipe across the line and was caught at midwicket by Maka which bought Gourlay to the crease. An eager bit of running by the two resulted in a hamstring injury for Siomos who was finally caught at short mid-on for a well deserved 55. This bought on Logan to the crease, someone who usually bats at number 3 or 4 emerged at number 10. A missed chance at the start of Logan's innings put the RMITCC players on backfoot as after that, Logan launched a ferocious assault on all and sundry . Spin and fast alike were treated with contempt and hurled outside the boundary. John Thangarajah bowled with his usual guile but a stumping chance was again missed off his bowling. On the other hand, Powell was controversially given not out when a stumping chance was taken. Logan finally became Rishi's 5th wicket after he tried to swipe him across the line as well. Aberfeldie ended up on an extremely competitive score of 340 for 9 in 79 overs. 2nd innings RMITCC came next week having practiced a fair amount knowing that even though 340 looks a lot, in about 80 overs, it is just 4.2 runs per over. Also, RMITCC knew that if they stayed on the crease, they would win this game as run rate has never been a problem for this side. Our usual opener, Maka was running a bit late hence Sameer and John Started the opening stand. For the other side, proceedings were started by their captain Stoevski and Logan. The latter claimed the wicket of Sameer for 8 runs as Sameer tried to play across the line to a bowl that kept a tad low. By this time Maka had reached the ground and joined John at the crease and what followed was pure, unadulterated revenge. Logan was carted everywhere by John for sixes and fours while at the other end bowlers struggled to pierce the obdurate and stoic defence of Maka. They both put on nearly a 150 run partnership and we went to lunch with our score at 152 for 1. After lunch, Stoevski decided to not be too greedy and bought on Polo and Rizio, the spinner. Both openers played him deftly but John fell short of what would have been a magnificent hundred when he was caught of the spinner at gully to a ball that bounced a lot more than expected. In stepped our skipper Sachin and both Maka and the skipper kept the required rate in control. Maka fell on a extremely well made 66, claimed by Stoevski. Sachin fell shortly to an ugly short to Logan. Rishi fell shortly after to peach of an inswinger and with the score at 242 for 5, Aberfeldie sensed an opening. Ajay Kulkarni however had other ideas. He combined brilliantly with the lower order and bought the asking rate down again. Hussain and Ajay fell in quick succession and once again Aberfeldie sensed that they could pull it off but the ever brilliant Dhaval and the efficient Anand had other ideas. Dhaval blasted to a quick 32 and Anand held together for a stoic 6 and managed to pull off a sensational victory. One of the best innings and victories by far this season and a rare one at that. If Aberfeldie had ideas that they could roll us over for 60 odd again, I think they got a pretty rude shock. Captains Man of the Match = John Thangarajah | 
