Match Summary of Storm Riders Vs Team Highlanders on 4/24/2010 in 600 Davis Avenue, Kearny, NJ.
Coming into this match after defeating Striker the morale in the team was high. The team was boosted by the arrival of Jeeva, Prabhu and Pandi. All of them with lot of experience and were expected to strengthen our Batting and fielding (Jeeva will Bowl too). Our pool of resources just got bigger. The day before the match Karthik sent out the playing 11. A team composing of 11 batsmen and 7 bowlers. So we had the skill, we had the confidence and we had the win. Few concerns were there regarding the availability of the ground but the opposition captain arranged for a beauty in the middle of Kearny. It was not a 360 degree ground but a nice hard pitch and a long leg side boundary.
We won the toss and elected to bat. The winning combination of Karthik and Sriram was left undisturbed. Unlike the first match the opposition were not giving any loose balls in the first few overs. We lost Sriram and Karthik in quick succession. Jeeva went to the middle, played couple of handsome shot particularly a short arm jab to midwicket for four. Hemchand faced 10 balls for his 6 and he could not repeat his heroics from match 1. He was bowled by Lakshman. Prabhu strolled down to the center in his calm demeanor unfazed by the loss of wickets. Sivaram and Rakesh of Team Highlanders made no mistake in their line and length making it very difficult for the batsmen to score. The flow of runs was restricted and they were taking wickets at regular intervals. Jeeva was out for 12 from 20 and Saurabh was out for 6. We were staring at a below par total at the 8 over break.
Prabhu is a prolific hitter of the ball and with his power he can clear any boundary. That was our lucky day and he played a blinder of an innings with calculated risks. He made 25 from 27 with a six and a four that boosted not only the score but also the team morale. The team started believing that we would get to a fighting score and the bowlers would take it from there. We put on 71/6 which is a below par score but it gave something for our bowlers to Defend. Prabhu's innings needs a mention again because it was the only standout performance in the first half of the match. He literally saved the face for us.
Second half. Curtains raised, Rakesh, Karthik Manoharan to bat and Saurabh steaming in. Wait there was a delay. Our manager fielding in short cover is on the phone. Saurabh express was stopped and waiting for the signal. Call Over. Green Signal. Saurabh steaming in. With good pace and accuracy our bowlers hit the deck and under the score of 10 the opponents were 2 down. Saurabh had removed both the openers and Sabeer even though was unlucky not getting any wickets bowled a tight spell of 2 overs for 7 runs. The first wicket was Karthik who heaved towards midwicket. The ball didnt have enough to sail over the boundary but found place in the safe hands of Hemchand. All the team members mobbed him and here comes the new found intensity in the team. Couple of balls later Saurabh had Rakesh's stumps cart wheeling and the opponents found themselves in a really difficult situation.
Four overs done. The batsmen could not handle the heat of our so called "S" factor - Sabeer and Saurabh. Time for one change and Karthik threw the ball to Jeeva. Team Highlanders probably had a sigh of relief thinking that here comes the weak link in Storm riders. Is that so asked Jeeva? Not thru words but by pitching the ball in good length and rising the ball chest high. The batsmen had no answer. Sivaram managed to hit the ball on the offside and started running towards the non striker's end. He reached there and turned around for the second only to find that his partner Lakshman is walking towards the pavillion.
What happened there? Action Replay. Sivaram hits the ball and runs. Rahul fielding in Short point runs and picks up the ball in one hand and throws it to Keeper Karthik. All in one motion. Karthik breaks the stumps. Lakshman was short of crease. It was an intent moment that caused the intensity in the team to go even higher. Mobbing of Rahul now.
Am I missing someone in the middle of all this. Oh yes. Hemchand is with the ball now and he bowled his stock ball - A fast, on the good length in the line of the stumps. The batsman misses he hits. Senthil prabhu is back in the pavillion. 4 down. Shaan joins Sivaram, Jeeva to bowl, plays a ball in the offside. Now Sivaram runs to the striker's end and gets the taste of our Rahul medicine. Same routine - run, take the ball and throw all in one action. This time he was even faster, he beats the keeper and bulls eye. It was a direct hit. Sivaram is short by inches. Rahul mobbed again. 5 down under 20 in the 8 over break.
Who are we? We are Storm Riders. You cannot forget that as Saurabh kept on saying " There is a Storm around here". Yes it was a whirlwind performance. Hemchand found himself in the middle of the action again by taking one more wicket. Shaan caught by Pandi for 5. Jeeva took 2 quick wickets and a run out before anyone could notice and not giving away any runs at all. He completed his spell 2/8 out of 4.
9 down and the last wicket pair added 22 runs to the score. Again another frustrating session of play with missed catches, bad fielding . Ramesh and Vishwa got to bowl and could not feature in the wickets tally. We were sluggish and put up an Indian like performance. But no harm done they were way short and we had bowled our quota of 16 overs.
They ended with 59/9.
Another team effort and for the second time we proved that our bowling is spot on. This time our fielding was commendable as we manufactured 3 run outs and caught almost everything until the last wicket pair frustrated us.
Summary
League - NJSBCL
Match number - 25
Storm Riders -
71/6 in 16 (Prabhu 27, Lakshman - 2/23, Sivaram - 2/18)
Team Highlanders
59/9 in 16 (Muthu 18, Saurabh 2/15, Jeeva - 2/8)
Storm Riders won by 12 runs.
Man of the Match - Prabhu for his Gutsy 25 that helped the team put on a fighting score.
Playing 11 - Karthik*, Sriram, Jeeva, Hemchand, Ramesh, Saurabh, Vishwa, Sabeer, Rahul, Pravhu, Pandi.
Team Form factor
Batting - Average
Bowling - Good
Fielding - Average
Team Bonding - Excellent
Intensity - Good
Match Summary prepared by Vishwa Balachandran
