The Star Vs Venturers, Wednesday July 16th

The Star 135/3 (20), Venturers 139/7 (16.5)

Play-Cricket Results

We hadn’t been scheduled to play the Star, or anybody else; but their opponents cancelled, and we raised a team to give them a game. It was something of a scratch team, with Gregory the reluctant captain, and we didn’t expect to win; but they were also below full strength. Gregory negotiated the retire-at-25 rule up to 30, won the toss, and fielded. Abhijat volunteered to keep wicket, since neither Krish nor Zubar fancied it; anyway, they are both useful bowlers. We hadn’t tested Abhijit’s keeping before, but it proved to be good. Basir caused immediate problems, but Ajeet, for the first time this year, did not bowl well. Gregory had a go himself, which was not a success, but one opener (Chan, who has played for us in the past) retired and Basir bowled the other. Debangan bowled one good over and one loose one. Jassim and Zubar tightened things up; our ground fielding was mostly all right and they didn’t offer any catches. We mostly put fielders in roughly the right places. It wasn’t a great performance by anybody, though Abhijat and Basir were both pretty good, but it was competent overall. But three overs from the end, Zubar trotted after a ball that had gone for four, clutched his back and crashed down just beyond the rope. He quickly signalled that he didn’t need attention, but he couldn’t field, much less bowl. Vijay took over and conceded only two, bowling the nineteenth over with ten fielders.

Zubar claimed to be fit to bat by the time the innings started, but we felt it was best to give him a bit more time. Again Abhijat volunteered for the job nobody else wanted, and again he delivered, taking sixteen off the second over of the innings. In the third over, Krish ran him out. The ball had trickled towards mid-off but Krish did not set off immediately, so Abhijat had started to turn back when he was called through. Moreover, there was a short cover…in fact, a dive might just have saved Abhijat, but he didn’t have the belief. Sweekar got out to a good ball and a good catch, Siddhant made a few and then top-edged a harmless slow bowler, and then we did send Zuber in. It wasn’t long before Krish reached the retirement score. Zubar attacked the spinner – nobody found spin effective on this pitch, possibly because nobody bowled it well – and reached the retirement score quickly. Most likely he wanted to go and lie down. The rules allowed him to bat out the over, but he holed out at deep square leg with a ball to go. This would matter later on.

By now we were close, and the run rate was no longer a problem, but we were running out of people who can bat: Jassim had replaced Krish and got out quickly. Viraj looked very uncomfortable but survived and started to find ones and twos. Ajeet contributed a few but not more. Basir seemed strangely confident: between them they got it down to nine needed, but we were conscious that Debangan was next in, then Gregory. And then Krish, but as Zuber had gone, he would be trying to get the last few runs with one tailender for company. Krish had gone to Lord’s and watched Jadeja trying to do the equivalent there, and was nervous at the prospect.

At this point, though, Basir suddenly hit a six over cow corner, and it started to become difficult to lose. A single by Viraj and another by Basir, and it was impossible. Viraj swung cheerfully at the next ball, and missed it. Debangan looked for his bat, couldn’t find it, and asked Gregory if he would go in. Gregory, as captain, felt he couldn’t refuse. All he had to do was block and wait for a wide, or for Basir to get the run next over. Of course the opposition knew he wouldn’t try to score, and brought the field in. But his first ball was slightly short and slightly wide, and he simply thumped it past the unsuspecting point fielder to the boundary.