Report by Mayank
Summary: Berkeley: 274/9 in 45 overs won by 95 runs
vs.
Sunnyvale: 180 all out
Innings 1: The day started out well when all the Dynamos were in the parking lot awaiting home team’s arrival to open the gates of Lorin Eden. 8:40 AM doors opened and field was set up quickly. Both squads were seen warming up for next 10 minutes, while Sunnyvale lost the toss and were asked to bowl first while there were no umpires to be seen. After scrambling to reach the league for the next few minutes about the missing umpires which were nowhere to be found, yours truly and the opposition captain decided to proceed forward without umpires with all the positive intentions until the umpires arrive.
Dynamos started day’s proceedings with Deepak and Atif on each end. Atif’s 2nd ball of his 1st over got a solid edge of the batsman who was uncomfortable playing Atif. He was adjudged ‘not out’ by the umpire and we knew what we were up against. After a few anxious moments with Berkeley skipper game resumed and both team went back to the game we love so much. Team’s enthusiasm went down the drain after ‘missed’ decision and it was very evident with players’ body language which resulted in another couple of dropped chances. Umpires decided to show up to the game after 10 overs of the 1st innings were already bowled. Just before the break Dynamos struck a blow to Berkeley’s momentum when Neeraj got rid of one of the openers, Natwar.
After the drinks break, Dynamos came back with fire and meant business. A spinner on one end and a medium pace combo of Jag and Mo on the other end came in handy where the fielding was tac sharp to help support the bowlers. Next few overs proved to be a few nightmares for Berkeley as Jag tore through their middle order which incorporated a direct hit run out from Priyankar, Jag castling a batsman with a lovely moving delivery coupled with a few nasty back handed slow balls which practically were juicy full tosses. Berkeley had no clue on how to handle Jaggu dada. Every time Jaggu was told it was going to be his last over for the spell, he ended up producing a wicket and then asked for another one (loved to see the confidence and as a skip I wouldn’t have it another way). Priyankar was all over the place; bowling and fielding like a super man at times along with Sunder contributing with his experience.
That 2nd session proved to be so fruitful that Dynamos came out of the ground realizing the end for Berkeley was near and went for a kill in the final session. Scoreboard read about 162/7 and we were set to rattle them for about 175. That would have happened, but Dynamos’ Gods had something else in their mind. After a multiple chances up in the air and Dynamos dropping them like they were too hot to handle saw the scoreboard ticking up and Dynamos players’ shoulders dropped even faster. During Berkeley’s innings we saw 8 catches being dropped and that summed up the big enough score Berkeley ended up posting.
Innings 2: Dynamos started the chase with a bang with Sanket and Jaggu dada were among the runs and continued their harmonious season. These guys look like 2 peas in a pod while they bat together complementing each other so well. It’s basically the story and mass amount of runs in between them. Dynamos were going about 7-8 runs per over while Sanket and Jag were in the middle. After about 78 runs on the board Sanket fell to a risky shot. Amar joined Jag in the middle, but was unfortunate to get bowled by a ball that stayed super low and breached his defense. Venky coming from the rest room as Amar fell, played some glamorous shots then mistimed a lofted shot and returned back to the pavilion. Shortly, after a good opening partnership stand; Dynamos were in a precarious situation yet again. Sunder and Jag resumed the innings and started to build a partnership but the heat got to Jag when he started to cramp up and ended up getting out.
Neeraj who was sent up the order and Sunder steadied the ship for a bit; but Jag’s bug caught up with Sunder as well as he ended falling soon. Where Dynamos were 78/1, all of a sudden they were about ~130/6. Atif and Neeraj played some sensible cricket and kept the runs flowing. Just as we thought Atif was set for another big innings as he has done throughout the season, he got stumped as he tried to reach an outgoing delivery and missed the line.
Neeraj and Mayank kept the runs ticking while going after a couple bowlers for a few boundaries and 6s. Neeraj ended up falling while trying to push the envelope a bit and now the scoreboard read 175/7. Wickets fell in bunch there after and resulted in the end of the Dynamos batting line up and losing the game.
Positives:
1. When things get going, we kick ass and then kick some more.
2. Good to see people among runs ex: Neeraj (high 30s)
3. Jaggu dada’s bowling along with his unorthodox batting style
Negatives:
1. When things get hard, we give up and don’t know how to bounce back
2. Catching…catching….catching
- Fail to capitalize during the final session. Energy is too low
Sunnyvale Cricket Club 