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[King]

I saw Donny writing some of his cricketing experiences and I felt I should write my one too. This was the best game ever I've been involved in. The game ended in a draw and it was hardly a close game but I still have special memories about this game. I've played at least about 20 odd games that were way too close but I choose this dull drawn 2 dayer as the best one I was involved in. In fact I only got 46 runs in this game and personally it is not a score I'm usually elated with. It is an OK type of score for me, it won't make me happy but neither sad if I get 46 in a game. This one is from a 2 dayer against one of clubs I used to play for before that season. Each side gets to bat 70 overs each in the first inning of a 2 day game. The teams can bat as long as they want in the second inning though. I had switched jobs and I was in no mood to travel 20 k to train thrice a week so joined a local club in the locality where I live. I had mentioned to the club captain of the previous club (club captain - organizer/convenor) but he failed to let the rest of the club know before he quit as convenor. Originally I wanted to skip this game as I had gotten close to few guys in the old club and didn't want to play against them but I was having a good run and was persuaded by my current club to play that game. We were out there an hour before the start of the game and as usual we started the warm ups. Just when we were sprinting towards the other end of the ground the opponents (my old club) were running in the direction against us. Couple of them waved at me and exchanged courtesies but I could see a lot from the old club gave me a cold stare. On my way back couple of lads from the opponent waited for me and spoke to me nicely. Just then the opening bowler (he had played domestic cricket and was known to be pretty sharp) walked by and said "Grab your helmet mate, you'll be smelling leather today". I pretty much knew what was going to come my way that day. I had a quick look at the pitch and for a change there was less green on the pitch compared to the outfield (those that have played cricket in NZ will know what I mean). I felt slightly reassured after I had a look at the pitch. As usual we lost the toss and we were invited to bat. I was feeling rather tense that day as I figured there was going to be a lot of animosity out in the middle. I went for my chest guard and the forearm guard. I hadn't used these two for a while now as most of the guys in the cricketing circle knew I was more comfortable on the back foot than the front. For some reason I changed my mind right after stepping out of the club rooms and dashed back straight to the club rooms again. I promptly took off the chest guard and the forearm guard, went out to bat again. I heard a few sledges on my way to the crease and the slips cordon was rather way too chirpy for my liking. I can't quite mention the "QUOTES" I heard that day here of course First ball was as expected, short and reared up to my chest. I played a delicate glance off the back foot to deep fine leg for a single. The bowler waited for me to cross him and said to me the helmet was looking good. I said to him I have my new club's logo for him to aim at and he said his target was not the logo but the space between the helmet and the grill. I said to him he can try his best but he won't be able to ruffle a feather that day. I usually avoid talking but that day for some reason I was happy to take them on both physically and verbally. We lost couple of wickets meanwhile and I was feeling pretty comfortable picking singles and rotating strike. Now the attention from me was slowly moving away and they started to show their anger on the other batters. One of our batter got hit so badly on his shoulder and he had to retire hurt The sledging was so much over the top eventually the umpires warned the bowlers and the fielders rightly so. I'm usually not an aggressive batsman and I reckon I score at say a strike rate of 70 or 80. I was in no mood to blast away that day and in fact I was determined to just bat on as long as possible. I was in fact looking to avoid strike by taking singles every ball I got to face. By then I had ducked against 10-15 short balls at least. The next ball was chest high and for some reason I couldn't duck. All I can remember is just swiping at the ball and the next thing it had hit the sweetest spot of the bat. It felt like I had hit thin air, no impact on the hand whatsoever as the ball had hit the sweetest possible spot of the bat. The ball sailed over the sq leg fence about 30 rows at least for a huge six. I thought WTF, I didn't even plan that shot From then on it was mayhem from our bat. I only scored about 46 runs but I reckon I hit about 3 sixes and 4 fours from what I can remember. My stoke play was so tremendous that day and I reckon I set the tone for the rest of the day. The fast bowlers were sick and tired of bowling short balls after a while. Both the opening bowlers had spent all their energy early on and they didn't have enough gas left in them in their 2nd and 3rd spells. The rest of the batters went on to pile big runs. There was one century and three 50s while we finished at 401 after 70 overs. We were accused of taking the result away from the game as we batted our full stipulated quota of 70 overs instead of declaring. Even the umpires suggested we should rather declare to make a match out of it. The declaration call was left to me and I didn’t want us to declare but wanted to bat out full 70 overs. The pitch had baked in the sun by then and I quite knew our bowling was not good enough to bowl the opponent twice on that wicket so I suggested to our captain we will make them toil hard in the ground rather than declare. We set the record for and against a club for scoring over 400 runs in a 2 dayer in 70 overs. The game dwindled into a tame draw in the end but the honours board in the club room still has the numbers painted Every time I walk past it I remember the special occasion. Oh BTW I earned few beers that night from my old club mates. They thought I thoroughly deserved it. Till date the old club mates are my good mates. Now when I face them they don’t sledge anymore :thumbs_up:

[Chandan]

I only scored about 46 runs but I reckon I hit about 3 sixes and 4 fours from what I can remember. My stoke play was so tremendous that day and I reckon I set the tone for the rest of the day.

:thumbs_up: Well done Ravi!!!

[Dhondy]

Very good read, Ravi! That place where you got to is called the zone. Once you get there, you are practically invincible. For that to happen in a crucial match, as in your case, was just great.

[apocalypse]

so you answered the Sledges with your bat...

[ludhianvi]

very nice Ravi, very well written. I still have to join a club to play cricket. Right now, I just play in my living room lol Perhaps, some day, I will turn the basement into nets with a bowling machine

[Brainfade]

Back in the day, in Florida we had a team of Indian students and a combined team of Pakistani students and businessmen. We played a 25-over match every weekend. I was your typical bits-and-pieces guy. Would chip in with 12-18 runs, usually singles and twos; and (bowling first change) would give you 4-5 solid overs of military medium with maybe a wicket to show for it. On that day, they were chasing a modest score (can't remember exactly, but it was less than 100), and as usual, I came in to bowl the 5th over. Much to my captain's chagrin, I started with .... get this ... 5 straight wides. And then a decent one. And then 2 more wides. My teammates started to get a bit restless (outwardly they were saying, "C'mon dude! It's OK! Focus now! It's OK"; inwardly, I could hear 'em go "What the **** is this idiot doing?"). I stopped at the top of my mark (which was like 5 steps, BTW), pretended my shoelaces were loose, tied 'em, and got my breath back. The next one was a shade (by my standards, that is) outside off, and Raghib went for a wild swipe; caught the edge, and Ram did the rest! After that, nothing could go wrong .... every ball, it seemed was hitting the "right area," shade outside off, good/short of good, moving just enough to disconcert the batsmen. Got in a couple of decent yorkers to boot (pun very much intended)... end result: 5-0-24-6! Needless to say, India won that one! :shades_smile:

[Rahul]

it was the summer of 1984. i had just come off the big high of watching the revenge series by the windies in IND (after WC83). and when me and my dad were watching the Tests and Mike (Rolls Royce) Holding bowled off of his new shortened run-up, my dad didnt speak for a long time. After his spell was done (spell-bounding), my dad sighed, had a sip of his beer and looked at me and said, "this man is amazing--i wish, heck no, i crave to see an Indian bowler re-invent himself into more effectiveness like this." the words hit home and i modeled myself on mikey's action--the slow deliberate run-up, slowly picking up speed, and just before the crease came, the leading arm going all the way across the body (preceded by the snatch of the ball from the wrong hand), followed by the sudden snap of the bowling wrist and the superb delivery stride. swear to god, i studied and studied and studied footage and practised and practised. we had pick-up matches every weekend. but occasionally, the boys from another town would come and meet the skips and ask him, "saala, tu bit (bet) match khelenga?" (will u play a match with money involved?) at some point, skips took the bait. and we played the rich boys from the next town on a sweltering afternoon. it was 20 overs a side. skipper fell sick, so as VC, i led the side and promptly lost the toss. the rich boys put us in. we slumped to 19 for 6. i came in at number 6. had a very compact defense, but if u packed the off-side, i couldnt score. we ended up getting bowled out for 49, with me scoring all of 14 runs--one two and 12 singles. during the lemon break, i told the boys, "i know u think we will lose, but boys, lets give them a fight they will never forget!" i opened the bowling. as is my wont, i walked across the pitch, closely looking at possible "spots" and mentally deciding my lengths. i noticed a dampy looking spot from one end (my end) and decided that i would land everything there. i marked my run-up. their best batsman opened and took strike. as he took guard and noticed my preparation rituals, he said, "abey hijde (eunuch), sunaa hai tu yeh nakli team ka Michael Holding hai, hahahahahaha. jaa kar kuch daal to main do chaar chhakka maaroon, bhosadike. (heard u r the Holding on this stupid team. so let's get the game on, and i can smack a few sixes off of you)." first ball, my wrist didnt c.ock (jeez, this is censored by our software!!) right and ended up as four byes. i fumed at myself and as i was walking back to the mark, Nitin from mid-off said, "Rahul!! fight, fight!! we will give them a fight!!" next ball landed at good pace right smack on the "dampy" spot. it did something wierd, skidded on, prolly, but the gavaskar mistimed his straight drive and in a reflex action, i caught him. the rush of my mates to congratulate and the adrenalin pumping REALLy got me going then. what followed was the finest moments of my life. my spell was 6-4-9-7. and we won the frikking match by 2 runs. i still remember the boys rushing and carrying me on their shoulders all the way to the gola stand to buy golas for everyone. (A "gola" can be loosely translated to "water-ice" in north america. dunno what they call it in Oz, Donny). that, friends, was my finest moment.

[kumble_rocks]

Nicely done Ravi and Rahul.:thumbs_up: I

[Rahul]

thanks, KR.

[Ram]

Excellent recollections by Ravi , Cricaddict and Rahul !

[Ram]

Ok, here goes my take ! We have a small cricket club here. We play matches once every two weeks. Its like a two-day tourney between four neighboring towns. Till that year, our team hadnt won the cup. Infact , we didnt even win a single match. Because our team consists of mostly students , we never could form a consistent combo. The guys will always have some assignment or project to finish. So for every match , we literally had a new team. The other three teams however , had a settled combo. They practised regularly , while for many in our team , the match was the first time they ever touched a cricket ball or bat. No wonder we didnt win. That season , i had just joined coll. They regulars in our team were looking for players and asked me to join in. Who would miss out on an opportunity to play some serious cricket ? So , i duly signed up. We drove to the ground on match morning. The captain asked me to bowl some warm-ups to him. I gave my all. Now , there is two things good about me as a bowler. No 1 , I am leftie. There arent that many left-arm quicks around , so i provided natural variations. No.2 , I dont bowl that many wides or no balls. Now this may seem silly , but for amateur bowlers handling the cricket ball , the biggest problem is not bowling 6 good balls in an over , but bowling 6 balls in a over ! Generally the extras is the top-scorer. So seeing my "credentials" , the captain decided i am going to open the bowling. Our match was the 2nd of the day , against Provo cricket club. The main player in their team was ironically, an Aussie. We watched him pulverise the opposition bowlers to bits and win the first match match of the day comfortably. We were pretty nervous. Our two bit bowling was going to be cannon fodder to this guy we thought We won the toss , and the team decided we will " use the early morning dew to see if there is some swing", when in reality, the match started at 12 in the noon. And because i had managed to beat quite a few of our batsman in the nets , they accidentally thought i was a good bowler ! So the expectations from me were high ! I started my first over. And facing me was Jamie , the rough Aussie. I gulped , said my prayers , ran up the wicket as though i had lead in my boots and delivered the ball. Jamie took a huge swipe. While i fearfully looked towards the square leg boundary , there was nothing there. The ball infact , was lying on the pitch. He had missed it , and it had hit his pads. The same happened again , 3 times in the over. I was perplexed ! "Maybe he is just pretending" , i thought . First over was finished, the keeper ran upto me and told " Sri, do you know why Jamie missed all the balls , your ball is swinging mate and he isnt picking the swing". " Swing ?? really... !!", i thought. I was buoyed by the fact that i was swinging the ball , when in fact, i had no idea what i was bowling. "Well, its not my fault" , i thought to myself. Lets keep it going. Before the start of my 2nd over , the keeper ran up to me again and said " Bowl one wide outside off-stump , lets see if he swings across the line" . I nodded. I marked the run-up and bowled. It was wide ,and outside off-stump. Jamie swung, got a top-edge and the ball soared in the air. There were 3 fielders converging on it, but there was no way i was going to let somebody else take it. I called for the catch, and duly took it. There was elation in the team. We had got the best batsman in their team cheaply. For the rest of my quota of overs ( which btw, was only 4 overs ) i ran in hard, and bowled quick and straight. It worked. I got 2 more wickets. The other bowlers too chipped in and we restricted them to 98/7. We were jubilant. A target of 99 in 20 overs wasnt that difficult. Our batting wasnt exactly our strongest point , but we managed to scrape through. There was joy in the team. We had won our first match in 12 attempts ! Both the captains decided that it my opening spell that was the difference between the two teams and i was given the man of the match award ! Not bad i thought , for someone who just wanted to play some cricket ! Below , is the scorecard of that match, which actually came in the tournament website !

[Zap_Brannigan]

Great read. Brings back memories. During my undergrad days, we had a game between 2 engineering departments. It was supposed to be a friendly game but as usual the tension during the game grew and it turned out to be a sledge fest. Back to the beginning, around 25 of us,2nd or 3rd year students then, decided to bunk out classes,travel around an hour and play a friendly game of hard tennis ball cricket. It was the south, so the temp. was really high. We bowled first and one of my best mates,who played for the other side, did really well and they did pretty well. But, as we all do back in India, the umpires being from the batting side, gave a few dodgy calls and there were a lot of protests in the 1st few overs. But then we decided that it was worthless arguing with them and we would return the dodgy calls when our turn came. Normally, i wouldn't oppose umpiring errors but this time it was a bit too much. I am usually an opener or come 1 down but i was coming back from 3 consecutive 0's in a trny i played a few weeks earlier, so felt a little out of touch and didn't wanna go in to bat. We kept losing wickets at regular intervals and when it came down to it, we needed 67 of the last 5 overs with just 3 or 4 wickets in hand. That's when i had no choice but to go in and bat,since the rest were bowlers. I was more the accumulating type back then as i used to open a lot ,so it was a kind of a bad situation for me to be in. Besides it was a huge ground and apart from my pull and hook shots, i dont take the aerial root. By this point, the tenison had grown so big that we were shouting "sledges" at each other between every ball. The 1st ball was a short ball which sat comfortably close to my face, and i am really good with my hook shot,so it was a no brainer for me......Got a 4 off a noball. The bowler lost his cool and bowled a really bad fulltoss near my hips. Just had to flick it in the gaps for another 4. The next was a really good yorker that i had to dig up straight back to the short mid-on. The fielder tried to get the non-striker run-out but missed and we ran 4 runs due to some erratic fielding. That's when i knew , that everyone is pumped up and nervous and all i had to do was play the field. I remember running a lot in that hot weather and atleast ran 2 more 4 runs. I was drinking water after every ball and had everyone from my team promising me treats if we won the game. We lost a couple of wickets when we needed 27 off the last 2.5 or something. So now not only did i have to protect my wicket but also make sure that the non-strikers stays the non-striker. I was on the edge of having a heat stroke when we needed 2 off 2 balls and i was on strike. I took a break and thought things over. I could go over the top and risk losing the game or get a single and leave it to the worst batsman in our side. I decided that not losing was more important(thanks to the animosity among the team now) than winning. So thats exactly what i did. Got a hard run single and watched as the last batsman sky the last ball and get caught. I ended up with 40 odd of the last 67 required with quiet a few extras for support. But it was really my partners running that took us that far.

[Dhondy]

What a thread! Thanks Ravi, Cricaddict, Rahul, Sriram, Zap. Those are some wonderful reads!

[Rahul]

^^ Doc,' what abt yr best game?? bas kya--mereko aur bhau log ko chane ke jhaad pe chadha ke masta paiki side mein kalti maara. subah ho gayee, maamoo. lets read yr best game.

[Dhondy]

I was hopeless, Rahul. My game was more football and athletics. Top scored and took most wickets in a Consultants v Juniors match last year, but with most of my teammates barely able to run a few yards before collapsing in agony, that wasn't too difficult.

[Rahul]

^^lol. given what i gathered from the "psych" thread, i thot u woulda killed Pras as the "spin doctor." BTW, why not resurrect that superb stab here, Doc?

[King]

Good read guys :thumbs_up: Zap, I find it really hard to get good timing against tennis ball. The ball bounces heaps, comes pretty slow to the bat and you don't really have to time the ball as the ball goes even if you hit from the bottom of the bat or the top of the bat or from the middle. The hard ball unless you hit from the middle it won't travel. The last time I visited India I attempted a game of tennis ball cricket. Strangely it was a 12 over game from what I can remember :omg_smile: That many overs I take to warm up my batting with the hard ball cricket. First ball I faced was a neat cover drive for 3 runs though it hit the bottom of the bat, second one was a glance through mid wicket for a couple and the next ball I was out to a full toss trying to hit over the top covers. I'm sure if I played similar shots against hard ball I would get no run of the first ball and will have got 2 fours off the next two balls. Tennis ball games seems to be a very short game, there will be several teams playing on the same ground and the stumps are just about 17-18 yards apart. I thought some of the bowlers were pretty handy particularly off 18 yards. The ball won't really swing or seam but it does cut. Some of the bowlers seems to run their fingers across and bowl cutters. The outfield was bare of grass and lightning quick. Full value for strokes :wink_smile: Check out couple of videos from youtube : jS3t6HGa0w4&NR=1 In the above video you can see how good the kids are. The batter shows a lot of skill even with running between wickets. You can see him sprint and slide his bat just before he approaches the crease. I'm sure that lad may not have gone to one single coaching camp in his life or not have played for any professional club but he does the right things naturally. Now watch the next one : Pizmh8CxtHs The above one seems like it is from one of the Carribean islands. You can see the bowler is quick and has fantastic side arm action. Amazing innit?

[Zap_Brannigan]

Ravi, its a different ball game when you play with a tennis ball compared to a cricket ball. I have played with a tennis ball almost my entire life and i know the sweet spots and which shots that i can pull off. I enjoy bounce but not spin or swing. A side effect of too much tennis ball cricket. With a tennis ball, even if you the get timing correct, its pretty hard to get a 4 or a 6 without power. Hence i am completely crap in the offside. My drives and nudges to 3rd man, never gets me more than a single. So i play a lot of leg side shots. I am a left handed batsman and lots of years of playing double handed backhand in tennis,made me stronger is those shots. Whenever i play,i usually get 3-4 player near the boundary on the legside from mid-on to behind square. Also tennis ball gives you the time to flick a ball pitched on the offiside. But i find the cricket ball hurrying on me and all my shots are more instinctive shots and hence i cant convert offside balls to the leg side. But my drives and cuts make it to the boundary. So i am a legside player with the tennis ball and an allround the wicket player with the cricket ball,unless its swinging......then i am a sitting duck. I have bowlers who can work magic with the tennis ball but cant even bowl a straight one with the hard ball. I find tennis ball cricket a lot less technical and the need to concentrate much lower(obviously) and hence i love tennis ball cricket.

[Predator_05]

Nice videos Ravi. Reminds me of my time in India - we used to play just like that. Cheap BDM bats and Cosco cricket balls we bought for Rs. 25. Fast bowling was my forte. As a batsman, i was quite useless - although i had my share of good days. I was a slogger; always attacking the first ball (no matter how good it was) - and like Dhoni, i always looked to play as straight as possible. It was the easiest way to score runs. I smashed 3 or 4 apartment windows in my time (the game would end the moment we heard the glass break...we all ran like hell in different directions before the security-guard got there). There was a small mosque right on the other side of our apartment complex. Once i smashed the ball straight into it...it was a huge six, went miles. The mullah was a pr*ck and never gave the ball back.

[The Outsider]

Wow! Fascinating reads there guys. Loved all the accounts. It was the semi final of out Intra University tournament at Panjab University. Our Physics department team was obviously not known as a cricketing powerhouse so it was a minor miracle we reached the semis in the first place. We were pitted against Law, who had 4-5 players in the University team and 1-2 went on to play for Punjab/Harayana in Ranji or atleast were in the reserves at some point. The classic David vs. Goliath battle. Law batted first and put on a massive 188 (yes I remember the score exactly even today) in 30 overs. My 6 overs of off-spin which had been pretty effective in the earlier matches was taken apart for around 40 runs for one wicket. We looked resigned to the prospect of defeat at the break. All except our wicketkeeper who kept on saying we can knock down the runs. His talk during the break renewed our ambitions to knock over a much better side and the chase began. Our openers started throwing their bats at everything and escaped with a few lucky edges to get us off to a flier. We were around the 40 run mark at the end of 5 overs with their opening bowlers having Samisque figures. The Law team started looking jittery and their captain brought on their first change pacer, Amit, from on end and his left arm spinner, Kulbir from the other. They immediately struck a perfect line and both openers departed trying to deposit Kulbir over long on. Despite the solid start, our middle order did not try to adopt a cautious approach against the two bowlers bowling on a perfect line and length and we were 70/5 in 12 overs when I walked in. A good friend of mine, Pant, was batting at the crease. None of us were dashers as batsmen but had pretty decent techniques and more importantly were very good at picking the gaps and taking singles. The task was onerous, still 119 to get from 18 overs with only our wicketkeeper and bowlers to follow. Pant and I buckled down and started working the field. Everything in my game fell into place perfectly that day. I was always good at executing the sweep shot, a stroke which is not very commonly used at that level of cricket but that day the placement of my sweeps came out perfect. Not only was I regularly picking up ones and twos on the sweep the left armer, Kulbir, and their off spinner soon lost their lengths. They tried to pitch shorter and shorter. I took advantage of that by cutting them to the fence a couple of times while Pant on the other end played some delectable cuts and pulls. Their used to be a break at the 20 over mark and I remember us being 115/5 at that point. The Law skipper brought in his opening bowlers immediately after the break and although they were super quick they were very wayward that day. Pant and I continued to cash in on the loose offerings and with 5 overs to be bowled we required 42 runs. The Law team was panicking and our dressing room was in euphoria. Then disaster struck. Their skipper handed the ball to their first change pacer, Amit, who had 3 overs left and having bowled so well in his first spell it was obvious he was going to bowl till the end. His first delivery was a give me down the leg side which Pant somehow manged to trickle into the keeper's gloves. Our keeper, Naresh, walked in a stole a single off the first ball. 41 needed off 28 deliveries. Third ball of the over came ripping in from just outside off and struck me on the pads. Everyone went up in appeal but to my surprise the umpire did not raise his finger. Next ball again cut in at tremendous pace and went through between my bat and pad over the stumps. 41 off 26 and the pressure was starting to build in the over. Penultimate ball of the over was again the perfect delivery, just short of a length on off stump cutting back in. I managed to play it back down to the bowler but at this point I was at my wits end. From 42 off 30 we were down to 41 off 25. I had to do something. Keeping in mind that all previous deliveries were in cutters and short of a length I braced myself for a hoick towards midwicket. The length was as expected but the pace and extra bounce meant that my stroke went straight into the keeper's gloves off the edge. I walked back crestfallen with my team mates lauding the innings. I had scored 41 classy runs but thrown it all away. Naresh, our keeper, had other plans. He kept hitting the odd boundary with the tail to keep us within striking distance of the total. We needed to get 16 off the final over with one wicket in hand to pull off a great upset. The first three balls yielded only 4 runs and Naresh was on strike for the last 3 balls with 12 needed. And believe it or not he hit the first two to the fence between midwicket and midon with our entire team devoid of fingers at that point. Could he do it again? It turned out to be a no as the Law skipper placed all his fielders at the fence, all nine of them with no rules about the 30 yard circle he was entitled to do so and Naresh could only pick up a single off the last ball. We lost and were crestfallen but it was one memorable match completely alive in my memory even today. David had gotten very close to slaying the Goliath.