Victorious team against UCC

Kneeling L-R: Venky, Mahesh, Gautam, Shiv, Razaa

Standing L-R: Vivek, Cheeru, Abhishek, Karthik, Subash (12th man), Samsi, Charan

UCC v/s PSCC match report

PSCC scored its first win of the 2006 season against UCC in the WMCB south league tournament. UCC having won its first league game against ACC was ahead of PSCC in the points table and a win was needed to be in contention for the championship game. In addition the PSCC players geared up for the competition because of the league decision last season in which the game was abandoned during the round robin trophy due to a player being injured robbing PSCC of its chances to make it to the semifinals of the trophy. But with two bowlers short, PSCC was on its backfoot in the match.

PSCC stand in captain for toss and vice captain Vivek lost the toss but PSCC was delighted with the decision of UCC opting to field first. With a stronger batting lineup, PSCC hoped to put up enough runs on the board to make up for the deficiency in the bowling department. Charan and Abhishek opened the batting and had a slow but sure start. The UCC bowlers bowled good line and length making it difficult for the PSCC batsmen to free their arms. Once again when it looked like PSCC had gotten a good start of 22 runs, Abhishek was runout with yet another direct throw from the cover. He must feel real unlucky to have been out in the same fashion twice in two matches. The high scorer from last match Shiv joined Charan int he middle and the batsmen set about to build a big partnership. The going was slow but the batsmen were willing to grind it out. A partnership of 25 runs in 8 overs and Shiv got out caught at slips in trying to go for a drive. Samsi and Mahesh never got going and the good start was lost with PSCC precariously positioned at 60/4. Charan was still in the middle and grafting out a patient innings. But the tight bowling and good fielding of UCC put pressure on the batsmen and in trying to go for an expansive drive, Charan was bowled and PSCC was losing its way at 69/5.

Vivek joined Rajaraman (Razaa) and started turning the strike over but Vivek got out when he lost his balance and was stumped by the keeper Manish Doshi with a good take. Razaa was batting well and picking up runs and Ramesh (Cheeru) supported him well to put up a partnership of 25 in around 6 overs. Finally the run rate was picking up as PSCC crossed the 100 run mark. Once again PSCC lost 2 quick wickets of the set batsmen Razaa and Cheeru to set PSCC at 106/8 at the 34 over mark. The inform batsmen duo of Gautam and Venkatesh got together for the second time to put up a breezy partnership of 38 runs in less than 6 overs. While UCC were licking their chops and hoping for a quick wrapup of the PSCC innings, the two batsmen frustrated them and put up valuable runs in the process as well. Having crossed the total from the last game of 142, PSCC got all out at 144 when both the batsmen got out caught in trying to get to 150 mark in the last over.

With Herman not playing, Venkatesh opened the bowling with Razaa and PSCC got an early breakthrough once again with Shiv taking an awsome catch at cover point off the bowling of Razaa. The ball was dying as it reached Shiv but he managed to get his fingers underneath. The jubilation of PSCC fielders was short lived as UCC one down batsman Laughton Sargent came in to bat and took an attack to the PSCC bowlers. Two huge sixes and a series of boundaries saw UCC score 34 runs of the next 2 overs and all the momentum had shifted to UCC. Captain Cheeru immediately made a double switch in bowling bringing in Mahesh and Charan to bowl and they quitened the storm. With the powerplay in action ot was difficult to contain the batsman and the situation was worsened by some missed catch chances by Gautam and Razaa. But the bowlers kept on going and finally PSCC got a breakthrough with the opener Reza Damani holing out to Karthik at short thirdman off Mahesh's bowling in the 8th over. Two balls later, Mahesh dug one in to climb up on the dangerous Sargent and Cheeru took a great running catch and PSCC was back in the driver's seat.

UCC went about building a partnership but Mahesh and Charan bowling in tandem were keping things tight. Mahesh who was bowling well at this time became a little frazzled when the umpire called him for a noball for a suspect action. Cheeru immediately made a bowling change bringing back Razaa and he picked up a wicket off his first ball of the second spell when he bowled Samir Dharia. Charan was finally rewarded for his good bowling as the new batsman Faraz holed out to Razaa at deep midon and Razaa added another scalp getting the UCC wicketkeeper Manish lbw to take PSCC to the second drinks break needing 4 more wickets to get the victory. Sajid Masood was in the meantime batting well and ticking the score along and the new batsman Bilal went about trying to whack everything in sight out of the park not connecting half of the time. A couple more dropped catches and missed chances and PSCC was getting frustrated. Charan bowled out his spell and Cheeru brought in Gautam to replace him. In his second over Gautam finally bowled Bilal with a straight one. Sajid running out of partners tried to score some runs to get close to the target and a drive of Mahesh saw a thick edge to gully only for Gautam to drop another tantalizing one. But he redeeemed himself when he picked up Sajid's wicket in the next over as Vivek took an easy catch at cover. With the only set batsman gone, Mahesh wrapped up the UCC innings by bowling with good pace and PSCC won a close one with a margin of 23 runs. Mahesh with a spell of 23/4 was awarded the match ball.

The final scores - PSCC 144 All out in 39.5 overs (Charan - 25, Razaa - 21, Venky - 20) and UCC - 121 All out in 27.3 overs (Mahesh - 23/4, Razaa - 40/3, Gautam - 11/2). The enitre scorecard can be viewed here.

Chantilly v/s PSCC match report

PSCC began its fourth season since its revival by playing its first game in the Main league South tournament against Chatilly Cricket Club at Kettering on May 14th 2006. Chantilly, the North league champion from previous years boasted the top run scorer from last year Raj Chintala and the prolific scorer Srinivas Garimella in their lineup. Having been defeated by Chantilly last year during the round robin trophy, PSCC was gearing towards its season opener. PSCC had until now lost each of its season opener and the daunting task of taking on one of the best clubs in the league loomed upon them similar to the weather throughout the approaching week. In addition PSCC was missing some of its key players from the previous season in this season's opener. Subash, the highest wicket taker for the club from 2005, was out with a shoulder injury, Viren having joined Monument in the offseason, Maninder, Parthu and Choksi attending graduation scheduled for the same day as the game. Last minute withdrawal by Charan for his candidacy meant that PSCC lost its opener and a seasoned bowler from last season.

Ramesh (Cheeru) leading the team for his second season won the toss by default since Chantilly did not have the required players by toss time and had no hesitation in selecting to bat first. Abhishek and Herman opened the innings for PSCC. Herman was the first to go in the 6th over when he knicked one to the keeper. Good tight bowling by Chatilly meant that the going was slow for PSCC and in an effort to get things going Abhishek was run out following a misunderstanding between him and Vivek. Shiv, the leading run scorer for PSCC from 2005, then joined Vivek and stabilized the innings till the first drinks break. The going was slow and just when the two batsmen looked like settling down Vivek was bowled and PSCC was in deep trouble at 24/3. Mahesh joined Shiv and both of them put up a good partnership. More importantly runs began to pick up. Shiv played some glorious shots including an effortless six over cover.

Mahesh too joined in with Shiv to put the bad balls away for runs but the second drinks break saw him lose his concentration. Rajaram then gave Shiv support and again built up a partnership. Two wickets on either side of the third drinks break of Rajaram and Shiv meant that PSCC had lost all its momentum and it looked like PSCC would fall short of batting out its quota of 40 overs. However some good contributions by Cheeru, Wagla and Venky saw the innings till the last ball and added valuable runs at a good pace to take the total to 142 all out in 40 overs.

With both the opening ball bowlers from last season not playing (Subash and Viren), Herman took the new ball and gave PSCC a dream start picking up a wicket off the first ball. With rain looming, Chantilly sent in Shiva Prasad to open and score runs quickly and he tried to pull the first ball only managing to sky the ball to short cover where Potineni took a good catch. PSCC was pumped up and a couple of deliveries later Herman got through the defenses of public enemy number one Rajesh Chellapan who had scored last year in Chantilly's win. 2/2 and Chantilly looked in deep trouble. In the meantime rain had started falling lightly and the ball kept getting wet. The bolwers Herman and Rajaram struggled to control and Chantilly began to up their scoring.

A few boundaries and just when things were looking bleak, a superb catch by Venky in the gully off Herman saw the WMCB leading run scorer from last year Raj Chintala gone. The jubilation was met by Srinivas Garimella coming to the crease and Cheeru immediately brought Mahesh into action. He started off right on line and picked up a wicket in his first over and all of a sudden Chantilly was 44/4. Srinivas Garimella and Ramana Darbha stabilized the innings and went about building a partnership. But PSCC started tightening things up and both teams tried to wait for the other to falter. Mahesh was bowling beautifully and was finally awarded when he sent Ramana's stumps flying and it was 74/5 in the 16th over. Rain started picking up and the PSCC players appealed to the umpire and play was stopped and break was taken.

PSCC took the field with light rain still falling and would have picked up another wicket but an appeal for lbw against the new batsman Vishnu was turned down and then a run out chance was missed by Rajesh when the batsmen went for a second off a misfield to Wagla at mid off. Chantilly had the run rate and both batsmen were keen of defense to ensure that they got through to the 20 over mark without losing another wicket to pick up the win and 2 pts. The rain had started to pick up and the ball was getting very wet. Finally with 4 balls left to complete the 20th over, the rain picked up and the players walked off the field.

There was some heated argument off the field with the Chantilly players accusing the PSCC players of wasting time and ensuring that 20 overs had not been bowled but rain poured down and the field became unplayable. Having waited out for more than half an hour, the umpire and the two captains inspected the pitch and the field and finally decided to call off the game as a draw. Finally today the WMCB website put up the result between the two sides as a draw and both teams walked away with a point each. Thus PSCC managed to get its best start in a season till date by drawing out the first game and picking up a point. More importantly the best team in the group also took away just one point and it will be interesting to see the final outcome.

The final scores - PSCC - 142 all out in 40 overs (Shiv - 48, Wagla - 16) and Chantilly - 90/5 in 19.2 overs (Herman - 42/3, Mahesh - 11/2). The entire scorecard can be viewed here.