Cricket after a long time!

No, not tennis ball cricket. Leather ball. Yes, I have experience playing leather ball cricket. Many don't know that about me.

Anyway, so there's a cricket tournament going on in my office, and I'm part of a team called "Aero2". The matches are 25 overs long, with 10 overs of powerplay(first 6+ 2 batting + 2 bowling) I was not able to go to last week's game, and we lost miserably to Aero1. Yesterday's match(against Honeywell Hyd.) was a do-or-die match for us.

We won the toss, and the captain chose to field. Hyd started off really well, scoring briskly without losing wickets. The captain, an off-spinner put himself on, and grabbed a couple of wickets. Hyd slowly built up the pace again, when, in the 12th over, I was given the ball. For those who don't know, I'm a leg spinner-middle order batsman. By the time I came to bowl, the batsman who opened the innings was looking menacing. I thought I'll first bowl a sliding one and see what he does. The ball looped in the air, swung slightly due to the half shine I'd worked on, and went straight on to the wicket after pitching. The batsman went on to the back foot, and I was almost going to shout for an LBW, when I heard the sweet sound of the wicket thumping on to the floor. A menacing batsman on the first ball. I finished the over giving away 2 runs. The captain had come to bat next, and he was quite a strong aggressive guy from what I'd heard. They say, deception is the key to the success of a magic trick. I spent the next over bowling straight balls to him. I knew I'd get belted all over the ground, but I didn't expect him to go on a rampage so soon. I ended that over, with him taking me for 14 runs(two boundaries and one six). I captain looked a little doubtful to throw me the ball again, but I assured him and took it. First ball, gave a single to the other batsman and got my man on strike. I could see the gleam in his eyes. I came in, bowled a slightly slower ball, and gave the best over spin I could muster. He danced down the wicket, and swung the bat with all his might. But instead of hitting the center of the bat, the over spin made sure that he'd edged it. One of the safest fielders in my team, whom I'd placed at deep long on, jogged along to the long off area, and after what seemed to be an eternity, caught the ball. 14 runs to make him feel invincible, and one ball to trip him. Yes. The rest was history, and we pulled a couple more trump cards with nice fielding and great bowling, to wrap the visitors for 147 in less than 24 overs.

The opening partnership went on great, putting up the fastest 50 of the tournament. The captain was playing a great knock, and we just needed someone to stick on the other end. Unfortunately, we lost three wickets quickly, and I was sent in next. I stuck to the wicket, and scored at a good pace. At one point, the captain knocked the ball softly and called for a single. I ran. He realized he can't make it, and called no. I stopped. Then again he called a yes, and soon we both were near the middle of the pitch. The fielder came in and threw the ball to the keeper's gloves. I decided to risk it, cos I knew the captain would definitely not be able to make it back with his tired legs. I ran and made it, but the umpire declared me out. Anyway, I'd ensured that we were on our way. We needed about 37 runs at less than 4 runs an over. We had a couple more hiccups, but managed to finish the game, with the captain unbeaten on 85. Needless to say, he was the man of the match.

I'm now looking forward to the next match on the next Sunday against a very strong team, "Functions", which is a mix of the strongest guys from various teams which weren't large enough to create an entire team among themselves. Aaah. Now to just relax and enjoy the sweet pain in the legs and shoulders.