Nashville Cricket Association

SUJAY AND ARUN STAR IN NCA’s VICTORY OVER NCC NCA beat NCC in the fifth match of the Tennessee Cricket League played on Saturday, 8/19/2006. First Arun with his four wickets and then Sujay with a lovely knock of 56 ensured that NCA registered their 3rd win in 4 matches.

NCC won the toss and elected to bat. Alam and Kishore opened the innings for NCA. Aniket and Ramadass opened the bowling for NCA and were right on the money. Both displayed some splendid seam bowling and the openers found it tough. Disaster struck for NCC when Kishore hit a straight drive off Aniket which went straight to the bowler at a good pace and was missed completely and Kishore took off for a run. Alam did not respond and Srimanth fielding at mid-on pounced on the ball and made a good return to Pratik and Kishore was well short of the crease. Sunny was the next man in for NCC. Aniket bowled an outswinger to Alam which he cut straight into the hands of Ramadass at point and at 9 for two wickets with both openers back in the pavilion, NCC were in dire straits.

Chintu joined Sunny and the pair started to rebuild. Runs were at a premium as both Ramadass and Aniket were operating a very good line and length with good pace. There were some good shouts for LBW and some very close calls. Both batsmen were content in rotating the strike and building the partnership. Sujay and Hitesh came into bowl. The batsmen opened up with couple of hits to the fence and a good partnership was getting built. At the end of 12 overs NCC reached 45 for the loss of two wickets. Arun came into bowl and with his very first ball deceived Sunny who was struck plumb in front of the wickets. Lyder joined Chintu and hit the first ball he faced for a four signaling his intentions. Chintu by now was well settled and was looking dangerous. In Arun’s next over Chintu lifted him for a huge six over long on. And the very next ball in trying to repeat the same lofted the ball straight to Srimanth who took a well judged catch. A very important wicket for NCA as Chintu was heading for a big score. He fell for 29.

Anish was the next man in. He was deceived in the flight by Arun and Pratik took off the bails in a flash but the leg umpire did not give the decision. But Anish was not to stay long as Mridul with his very second ball had him caught by Ramadass. NCC had reached 84 for 5 wickets in 17 overs. Lyder by now was well settled and started to play some lovely shots over the infield. Lyder was very lucky with a few shots missing fielders on the boundary line. Naseer was his partner and was trying to settle in. In Arun’s fifth over Naseer in trying to clear the midwicket boundary found the safe hands off Bala. The sixth wicket had fallen with the score at 106 in 20 overs. Lyder had crossed when the ball was in the air. The next ball was carted over long on for a huge six. But Arun had the last laugh with Lyder falling prey to a flighted ball hitting straight to Srimanth at long on who again took a well judged catch. This was Arun’s fourth wicket off the match. The middle order of NCC were all victims off Arun and all batsmen were well set to make a big score but were clearly outwitted by some good spin bowling. At the end of 21 overs NCC reached 112 for the loss of seven wickets.

Ramadass took over the bowling from Arun and uprooted the stumps off Gideon in the first return over. Bimal at the other end was getting some useful runs for NCC but could not hit big shots as Ramadass and Mridul bowled a tight line giving nothing away. Bimal was bowled by Ramadass in the 25th over and NCC made 136 for 9 wickets in 25 overs.

NCA started the chase with Arun and Bala as the openers. There was some swing in the afternoon air and both Naseer and Anish made full use of the conditions. NCC were determined to make a match of it and it showed in their intent as the whole team was pepped up. Bala was the first victim as a inswinger from Naseer caught him in front of the wickets. Sujay joined Arun to repair the early damage. Naseer and Aneesh were on target and gave no width to Arun. Naseer’s third over proved vital for NCC as out of desperation Arun heaved at Naseer and was bowled by a swinging delivery. A big wicket for NCC. Out walked Ranjit but his tenure was short lived as a beautiful delivery from Aneesh uprooted his off stump. And at 26 for 3 wickets NCA were staring down the drain. Pratik walked in and had to repair the severe damage inflicted on NCA by the NCC new ball bowlers. Sujay was cautious but was ably picking up the singles and the score board ticked by at a rate of 4. Pratik was very cautious and tried to first settle in and build the partnership. NCA needed this pair to go on as they can be very deadly once they get their eye in.

Alam came in to bowl and was greeted by a beautiful cover drive by Sujay, his trademark off side shot. As the outfield was a bit heavy a lot of handsome drives on the off side fetched only 2 runs for Sujay but more importantly the partnership was building. Pratik normally a very aggressive player realized the situation and played second fiddle to Sujay. NCA reached 50 runs at the end of 11 overs. By now Sujay was all set and opened up with a hook off Alam’s full toss. Pratik had already faced 20 balls and showed his real self with a hoist over midwicket off Bimal. The next two overs saw Pratik turn berserk as Alam and Bimal were carted to all parts off the field. Pratik was in ominous touch and even with the heavy outfield the ball raced to the fence. Pratik in this form was aiming to finish the match as quickly as possible. But to NCA’s dismay in trying to sweep a Bimal ball was adjudged LBW. Another crucial blow and a much needed wicket for NCC as Pratik was turning the match to a One side affair. The score read 81 for 4. Sujay-Pratik partnership yielded 56 invaluable runs. Srimanth joined Sujay and NCA needed 56 runs in 10 overs.

Srimanth took a couple of singles and then lifted Bimal for a huge six over long off. Sujay at the other end knew exactly what was needed and was content in taking singles and two’s and the required 6 runs were got with ease. Srimanth was the next man out when he was given out caught behind and Srimanth had not even touched the ball. Aniket walked in with a by-runner. But he could not be his normal self with a bad back ache and soon fell to Anish. At 104 for six at the end of 20 overs, NCA still needed 33 runs in five overs with four wickets.

Mridul walked in but could not stay for long and was out caught at long on off the bowling off Kishore and suddenly NCC were right in the match.

Sujay was running out of partners. Ramadass joined Sujay and tried to hit a couple of balls from Kishore but missed them completely. Still 18 runs were needed off 15 balls when Ramadass lifted Kishore out off the park. This was a great shot and the pressure was back with NCC. 9 runs were needed of 12 balls. Alam bowled the 24th over and the very first Sujay hit a magnificent pull which sailed over square leg. What a SHOT!!!! Sujay reached a well deserved 50. A knock of great character and patience. Sujay finished off the match with a single and NCA won with 8 balls to spare and by 3 wickets.

Sujay’s knock of 56 had 1 six, 1 four and a fiver, there were 29 singles and the rest were two or three runs. Hence only 15 runs were scored in boundaries. The bulk of the scoring was in pushing into the gaps and taking the runs taking no undue risks. It was a knock which was the need of the hour and Sujay had curbed his natural attacking instincts to produce a gem of an innings. Sujay stayed till the end and was there to finish off the match. Sujay was at the crease in the second over of the match and stayed till the 24th over, tiring himself during the course of the innings but at no point played a false stroke and give NCC a chance. Sujay was duly awarded the man of the match.

Scores
NCC – 136 for 9 in 25 overs
Lyder – 40
Chintu - 29
Arun Paul – 4 for 41
Ramadass – 2 for 14

NCA – 137 for 7 in 23.4 overs
Sujay - 56 n.o
Pratik – 32
Naseer – 3 for 13
Anish – 2 for 22

RESULT: NCA won by 3 wickets.
League Table