Match report for game 6 vs Nova at Hyattsville

Result - Himalayan Won by 11 runs against Nova
Highlights:
Ajay- 23, Preetham- 20, Srini-2 wkts, Vijay- 2 wkts, Srujit - 2 Stunning catches, Saurabh - Awesome Direct hit (runout)..

Match Report
Game 6: 7 June 2009.
Himalayan (Home Team) Vs NOVA at Hyattsville.
With our first win in the last game vs Omnitech, the team was confident of a good game. The ground conditions after a rainy week was damp with puddle of water at one side of the pitch, which delayed the start of the game. We had to get "welch" from Home Depot to cover up the puddle and the game was reduced to 31 overs each innings. NOVA won the toss and put us in.

We did not have a good start and lost Srini and Suresh in quick succession. Srujith and Lali steadied the innnigs with a patient and watchful partnership. The pitch had inconsistent bounce and the dampness had not completely dried out which made shot playing difficult.
Lali was unlucky to be given out when he clearly had not nicked it and there was a daylight gap between the ball and bats' edge. The umpire however had an interesting explantion for Lali : "I go by what I see and hear, I herd a sound and saw you looking behind and was convinced that there was a nick." He definitely did not see the huge gap and then on none of our batsmen looked behind after playing . We kept losing wickets at regular intervals and a crucial partnership between Ajay and Preetham gave our innings soildity. Ajay was run out in a "Kapil Dev - Peter Kirsten" like fashion where the bowler ran him out for stepping outside his crease at the non-stirkers' end before the ball was bowled. We we all out for 112 in 27.4 overs and were guilty of not batting out the full 31 overs.

After a quick lunch break, we took the field and were keen on putting of a good performance. One of NOVA's openers' had taken a 10 over break during their bowling innings and we brougt it to the umpires' notice. The batsman was asked to go back and come only after the fall of 1st wicket. Srini was on the mark from ball one and with a unplanned shuffle at the top of the NOVA batting order, the openers looked unsettled. Deepak provided us with the first break through and Srini accounted for the other opener, their most consisten batsman of the season, with beautiful inswinger and castled him.

Ajay kept saying on the field...there is only one stick and that is off-stick... and our bowlers kept to that. From there on we kept chipping at their batting line with some very disciplined bowling and excellent ground fielding, which saw Srujith take two brilliant catched, again, and Saurabh getting a direct hit in a single pcik-up and throw. There were constant exchange of words between the two teams, but all within a good spirit. Srujith kept talking to the batsman and said to one left handed batsman " Novas' Ganguly ....an awesome international player" !!! Srinis' captaincy was spot on and everytime he brought on a bowling change we got a wicket. Their lower order batsman played with application and were builidng a good partnership but Srini brought himself back and got the curcial breakthrough. With 11 more runs to win we wrapped up their innings with the last batsman being run out.

The Umpire was funny, at one point of timehe told Srini, who was the leg umpire not to "coach" the batsmen in the middle during an over change!!!! The umpire was consistent with his decisions and explanations and went "BY THE BOOK".

This was a great game and great result team work and consistent pressure in our bowling. Kudos to all the bowlers (Srini, Preetham, Suresh, Jana, Vijay, Deepak) you guys bowled really tightly and did not give many extras. But there is still imporvement needed in our application and concentration in our batting. Our bowling and fielding was excellent again and certainly lifts the team. Great game team !!!!.

Cheers
Saurabh