Game 4: uBills Vs Sloggers

After the run fest in last week's game (record for the highest total) this was a low scoring affair. The uBills won the toss and elected to set a target. They thought 130 should be a defend-able score with their bowling line up. There were not many batting highlights from both sides but astounding fielding and some lovely bowling were at display.

uBills opened with Kamran and BigO. They needed a big innings from atleast one of them but Barry and Troy opening the bowling had other ideas. Barry bowled a tight first over. Troy bowled beautifully to BigO not giving him any width and keeping him on the leash with his length. BigO struggled to get off the blocks and tried to hit an over-pitched delivery over long on. He dint have enough power behind the shot and ended up giving a simple catch to Subbu stationed at mid-on. The skipper came in at 3 and needed to to provide his team with a good start. He played an exquisite cover drive off Barry that raced away to the boundary. This was one of the few batting highlights of the game. Troy in his next over bowled one that was wide and over-pitched; Raghu went for it and tried to slice over point. It had more elevation than distance and Barry was running backwards from point and took and amazing catch. I don't know a lot of people who would've caught that one. This was the turning point of the match as Raghu was crucial for their batting line up. Troy was bowling beautifully and I thought he was unlucky with some umpiring decisions that went against him as he appealed for a few lbws (I was the umpire; damn those lacrosse girls). He finally caught a break and Kamran, plumb in front of the wickets with a toe crushing yorker. Ricky tried to keep the runs coming with a few singles but was bogged down by some lovely bowling from Karthik and Vishan. Karthik bowled a peach of a delivery to get Ricks caught behind. It was amazing piece of fielding where Pankaj bhai dived to his right and held on to a one handed catch inches above the ground. Nadeem had a couple of boundaries that kept the score moving. Karthick then had a devastating spell (justifying his nickname as the destroyer). He got Nadeem and Srini out on consecutive balls. Pankaj bhai to get Nadeem out off a thickish edge and Srini was cleaned up the first ball going for an extravagant slog. The uBills were in a heap of trouble. Meanwhile, Ragu was playing some nice shots along with some very ugly heaves with mixed results. He did play some trademark shots that fetched him a few boundaries. He was quickly running out of partners as Matt, Lyle and Allan did not trouble the scorer (Misa) at all. Ragu was left stranded without anyone to support him. Matt and Lyle were cleaned up by Shabbir and Barry (who was bowling his last over and told me he'd make this the last one of the innings) caught Allan off his own bowling. Ragu's frustration was obvious as he felt he was playing a controlled innings without going all out and in the end was ditched by his other team mates. Not to take away anything from the Sloggers; they bowled beautifully, took most of their catches and were mostly very disciplined. uBills scored just 53 runs and the extras gave them a not so embarrassing total of 76.

Underdog Billionaires 76 all out in 16.4 overs

This was a tricky score to chase. The sloggers could not afford to take it too lightly and had to deal with it a little cautiously as a few wickets up the order and the pressure would be on them. Sloggers displayed a clinical performance with the chase. Travis and Vishan opened the innings. Vishan was a little uncomfortable playing and missing a few balls before playing on one of them off Kamran. Travis was a little cautious early on and then started rotating the strike with a few singles. Barry complemented his skipper beautifully by running hard between the stumps. Kamran maintained a nice line and length for the most part. With this total, the uBills needed something of a miracle with their bowling or a complete meltdown in the Slogger's batting to have any chance of defending it. It was up to Ragu to produce something wonderful to get a few quick wickets and he did try pretty hard. He bowled a beautiful bouncer at a mind boggling pace; Travis was the batsman and of course, as everyone expected, he went for the hook. He connected and the ball raced away to the fine leg boundary. It was a lovely reflex shot. Ragu then bowled an absolutely gorgeous slower ball that Travis completely missed and took his middle stump. This was the only bowling highlight from this innings. Troy came in and tried to stick around but was quickly cleaned up by Raghu. Both Pankaj bhai and Baz played a few lovely shots on both sides of the wicket and quietly carried their side over the victory line.

Sloggers 79/3 of 13 overs

This was a comprehensive victory by the sloggers who rightly lead the table with 11 points. They've played wonderful cricket all season and deserve this lead. Their great bowling along with some not so great batting from the uBills set this victory up for them.

Next week's game between the Royal Lions and Underdog Billionaires should be a very exciting battle. See you all at the preview...!!

Aloha

Preview : Game # 4 Sloggers Vs Underdog Billionaires

The king is dead. I felt like letting out a big scream. After blasting his music for the last coupla days its now sunk in that its just his music that'll heal the world. Only now that I can mourn no more, think of doing something else (like writing this blog). Oh well...back to cricket...

We decided to scrap the double header as it is pretty hard to fit in 80 overs (+ another hour of just bowling wides) in a day. The tournament will now follow the same pattern as the first three matches with the Sloggers and uBills going at each other this Sunday. If it is half as exciting as the first encounter between these two teams (remember the time?), it'll still be a thriller of a contest. Who would've thought that the uBills would be leading the table with 8 points (they were the 'underdogs' remember?). Though the sloggers are at the bottom of the table at 6 pts, both teams need to win this game to increase their chances of reaching the finals.

Teams:

Underdog Billionaires

Raghu Srinivasan (C), Ragu Vijayakumar, Kamran Masih, Owen O'Callaghan (wk), Vemuri Srinivas, Matt Hawkins and Nadeem Joseph

Ragu was the most dangerous player in this team the last match. It needs to be seen if he still shows the same motivation without Mark on the other team. He is the speed demon and if he can work up some chin music, there sure will be some blood on the dance floor. The skipper's been in great touch though he has not carried the bat all through the innings. BigO has not contributed as much as the team needs him to with the bat, yet. I am sure he's looking at his form from the previous season and going I want you back. Kamran is yet to fire with the bat and the skipper needs to show a little more confidence in him as a bowler and keep the faith. Nadeem has not shown any indications of the player he used to be (a little warm up jam with the team ahead of the match would do a lot of good). Srini could provide some vital discipline to the bowling attack as he bowls a pretty nice line most of the times and should be good for atleast a couple of overs.

Watch out for BigO. He is due a big score and this could be his match. He goes for the pull/hook at anything slightly short and just says I cant help it.

Sloggers

Travis Wilkinson(c), Barry Watt, Subbu Raman, Shabbir Hussain, Pankaj Bhanot(wk), Vishan Dookhu, Karthik Vijayarajan

I picked this team to be at the top but then they lost a couple of very good games that they wont cry for. This team has been leaning on their skipper to score most of their runs. Travis is in great form with the bat but some one else needs to step up and provide him some support. Barry has not shined too much as a batsman and its just too bad as he is much better than the scores he has had (He has compensated with his beautiful bowling though). Pankaj bhai's foot has not let him play the way he likes (going to the pitch of the ball and smacking the shnitz out of it). Though he might not be able to score runs in a hurry, he cant afford to be gone too soon as he will need to guide some of the others. Vishan struggled a bit to connect a few of his extravagant swings with the ball in last game when he opened the innings (I am guessing he has not opened too often and probably had a few butterflies in his stomach when he came out to bat). He needs to probably choose his bowlers and rotate the strike till they come on. This wont be mistaken for a disciplined bowling attack anytime soon. There is not just one person who is guilty for this and the whole team (Except for maybe Barry) could do well to look at the man in the mirror. They've gotten into this frustrating habit of indiscipline and will do well to just beat it.

Watch out for Karthik. He is definitely a smooth criminal with a gentle action and devastating results. He swings the ball a mile and is capable of getting rid of the best batsmen. Watch out for his lethal inswingers.

Key match up: Ragu bowling at Travis. This is a face off between the best bowler and the best batsman in their respective teams. If Ragu manages to get rid of the almost invincible Travis early in the innings, it'll prove to be a heart breaker for Sloggers.

This should be another exciting match. Who ever is batting first should just say 'Dont stop till you get enough' on the board as most targets are chaseable in this format. A win wont guarantee either team a place in the finals but a loss will definitely hurt their chances.

Good luck to both teams whatever happens...!!

Aloha till tomorrow.

P.S. I couldn't include another fav song of mine...what the hell...here it is...OFF THE WALL

P.P.S I suggest all the batsmen wear just one glove while batting in honour of the king...;-)...!!

Any takers??

Game 3: Sloggers Vs Lions (U've gotta be kiddin me...!!)

All the matches will just end up being compared to the first one between Sloggers and uBills. It was a perfect game with no losers. This match was the closest to it with almost no losers even though we (Lions) won the game by less than 3 feet. Both skippers played some fantastic cricket that showed why they were two of the best cricketers of the club. Pankaj Bhai turned up for this game with his half healed foot and displayed some lovely wicket keeping skills which would've made Allan Knot proud.

We won the toss and elected to bat as we figured we have a bowling to defend almost any target. Though I thought I'll be part of the middle order, skipper wanted me to open the innings with Lazar and I hoped I could score a few and not betray his trust (a faint HA again). I faced the first ball from barry and played a lovely cover drive to the boundary but...the umpire called it a dead ball as the bails flew away before the ball was bowled and I knew it was going to be one of those days for me. Lazar faced Barry after a single and played on to his stumps as he tried to cut a ball off a good length (Barry 1 Lazar 0). Mark came in at 3 and knew we needed a big innings from him today. Shabbir shared the new ball with Barry and gave away 12 runs off his first. Barry came back to bowl a beautiful one giving away just a couple of runs. Karthik came in at first change and bowled one on the off stump right in the slot for my aerial cover drive. I managed to sky the ball into the safe hands of Travis who was cleverly positioned halfway to the boundary just for that shot. Munna walked in at 4 and got out to an inswinging yorker off Karthik that started outside the off and uprooted his leg stump. He didn't trouble the scorer (bigO who did a good job) much with 3 runs and brought sachin in. We were in a heap of trouble reeling at 26 for 3. Mark was playing a very watchful innings accumulating some crucial runs for us. Sachin had other ideas. He will never be mistaken for a michael Bevan. His hatred for anything remotely resembling a jog is well known. Luckily, he has a few shots that help him play like he wants (dealing in boundaries). He hit a couple of sixes off Travis and Karthik that landed between mid wicket and long on and had three more more boundaries around the same area.. Travis's second over will definitely end up in the record books of HPL (for all the wrong reasons). He started with a not so bad a ball that was sent sailing over his head (Mark was the butcher, errr, I mean the batsman). He then lost the plot completely bowling 6 consecutive wides all going down the leg. I must mention that it was very windy with him bowling into it. He then came off of a shorter run up and tried bowling few slower ones. Mark got stuck into him and scored a couple more boundaries with the total tally reaching 23 runs in that over. Mark retired at 32 and brought Naveen in. He struggled to score quickly and got out at 4 bringing Misa to bat. He played an unlikely innings scoring 27 off 19 balls with edges flying to the boundary and some solid hits before getting bowled to Vishan. I thought he played one of the most crucial innings for us as he kept the momentum going in our favour. Troy added 5 runs when Vishan cleaned him up with another beautiful delivery. Allen hit a few runs before an astounding piece of fielding got him out. This easily slips into my top 10 catches of all time on tv or otherwise. Allen hit the ball very straight towards mid on and Travis was standing a little wide of mid on. He moved quickly to his left and dived towards the ball and pulled a blinder with his left hand. He hit the ground hard and managed to keep the ball firmly in his hands. Lovely piece of fielding. Mark came in and didn't add much to his previous score before getting run out. Sachin added 10 more runs to his 30. He made sure we did not concede a bonus point by not loosing his wicket.

Lions 162 for 9 in 20 overs

We thought this was a great target given our start and never saw that being chased; well, we were wrong. Travis was determined to make up for his bowling disaster and opened the innings with vishan. This was a really good move I thought as it does two things; first, it gives Vishan all freedom to go for his shots and then it leaves Barry and Pankaj Bhai in the middle order (which I previously thought was a little weak). Troy and Munna opened the bowling for us and I thought did a good job apart from a few extras. Troy erred a little in his line and pitched one on Travis's legs that was promptly put away to the square leg boundary. Travis played a predominantly quiet innings piling his runs slowly but steadily. Vishan was cleaned up by a great ball from Lazar for 17 and sachin did the duties on Francis. Misa bowled on over where he missed his line too much giving away 12 runs. Mark was handling the keeping duties (pretty well I must add) for us for the first 10 overs and then Misa took over it around when Travis retired after scoring his 30. Sloggers were well on their way with 77 for 3 at drinks. Pankaj bhai came in and valiantly fought for his team. He played a magnificent loft off a slower ball from Mark that landed over the long on cones. Barry who replaced Travis was batting wonderfully. He and Pankaj bhai seemed to take the game away from us. Mark then pulled the game back for us with some clever bowling. He mixed his pace and length and showed us why he was one of our better bowlers. He got both Barry and Pankaj bhai playing away from their bodies and were caught by Vishan and Allen respectively. Pankaj had 17 and Barry 16 at this point and we seemed to have the game.They still had Karthik, Shabbir, Subbu and Allen before Trav could come out to bat again. Our game plan was to keep them in until it was too late for Trav to do anything. Unfortunately, Karthik and Shabbir ran themselves out to non-existent twos. Alan was caught behind (a wonderful reflex catch by Misa) off my bowling. This brought Trav back in and we knew he was capable of taking the game away from us. Subbu batted brilliantly (though he could've done well to take some notes from last week's game and Sachin's innings where he retired drunk) giving ample support to Travis. The sloggers needed 19 improbable but not impossible runs off the last over. Our skipper took the responsibility upon himself and came on to bowl. They scored 5 off the first three balls and the next one from Mark was judged a wide (more about events stemming out of this call later). Travis slog swept the next ball over Lazar's head who was stationed at deep mid wicket. Subbu had piled up 16 runs in singles and twos before sacrificing himself to a run out going for an impossible second run (we were stupid enough to get him out and bringing Travis back on strike). They now needed a six off the last ball to win. We all knew what was going to happen but there is a thing about knowing what was going to come and the ability to do something about it. Travis was going to slog sweep the next ball no matter where it was going to be bowled (that was his most fruitful shot all day). Mark pitched it on the middle stump (ouch) and Trav went for his shot but unfortunately it landed about 3 feet inside the boundary where Lazaar dropped the catch (costing us a bonus point but managed to keep it inside the circle).

Sloggers 158 for 8 in 20 overs

Sloggers were not feeling down after this game and rightly so. This is one game I wouldn't have felt bad about if we had lost either. Both teams just played some unbelievable cricket. There was some lovely batting and great disciplined bowling (Barry needs a special mention here for his mind boggling 2 for 9 off 4 overs) and astounding fielding (well, just Travs catch made this a memorable match). Travis most definitely made up for his bowling performance by almost carrying his team all the way with an unbeaten 53.

As promised earlier I'll add a few comments about the fateful wide in Mark's last over. Travis moved into the line of the ball so he could pull it over square leg and missed it. Ragu (who was umpiring from the city end) called it a wide. Mark thought it definitely was not too wide and being the immensely competitive guy he is, argued with the umpire and added a few choice words. We all get frustrated with calls we don't agree with and in the heat of the moment and the competitive fire burning under us makes us do things we are not really proud of (I am sure

Sid can vouch for some of his ill advised disputes with the umpire). This was one of them and Mark realized that. He immediately after the game went over to Ragu and apologized as he realized his actions didn't live upto the high standards he set for himself on the field. I debated writing anything on this incident but wanted to share my thoughts with everyone. We should all realize that there will be moments that not necessarily end up in our highlight reels and in those circumstances, its best to come to terms with it and do the right thing right away just like Mark did. That way things on the field will be left on the field where they belong.

At the end of the day, this will be forgotten and the match will be remembered for Travis's courageous batting and the one catch that etched into the minds of a few fortunate ones who were on the field to witness it.

Much Mahalo to Raghu and Ragu for umpiring all day and bigO for keeping the score book immaculate.

Aloha till the preview of the next game between the Sloggers and uBills.

Preview : Game # 3 Sloggers Vs Royal Lions

Last week's loss still hurts. We now face an almost must-win game against the Sloggers this Sunday. Both teams need this one pretty badly (we more than them though) so we can put some 'win' points on the table. This week's game also decides who toils away in the hot sun the week after with a double header. The looser of this game pretty much ends up playing the other two teams in the league on a single day which can be very tiring. My guess is that this will be a well fought game between two well balanced teams.

Teams

Sloggers

Travis Wilkinson(c), Barry Watt, Subbu Raman, Shabbir Hussain, Pankaj Bhanot (wk), Vishan Dookhu, Karthik Vjayarajan

Pankaj Bhai unfortunately is still a game day decision with his broken foot which is pretty bad for the Sloggers. But it could mean that Danny might end up playing for them as a pool player if he turns up. Though technically he should be playing for the Lions (he's played a game each for the other two teams) it would just make more sense in letting him play for the Sloggers in Pankaj Bhai's place which would even out the teams pretty well. The Sloggers have a solid top order with Travis and Barry who can bat for long and still score at a very quick pace. The middle order looks a little too thin and have to help out their top order if those guys retire early. The bowling department looks very strong with Shabbir, Vishan and Subbu who can contribute a lot of variation to the attack. The key will be extras that killed them in the first game. They will have to bowl with a lot of discipline and cant afford to give away too many wides.

Watch out for Travis. The skipper's been in great touch with the bat. He played some lovely strokes in the first game and should definitely use him a little more as a bowler this time around. The key is for someone else to carry on if he retires after scoring his 30 runs.

Royal Lions

Mark Berwick(c), Munna Hussain, Lazar Joseph, Sachin Shah, Naveen Margankunte, Misa Tupou and Sankar Venkataraman

I still cant believe we lost the first match with this line up. The top order looks pretty good with Lazar bhai, Munna and Mark who are all aggressive batsmen capable of scoring loads of runs. The middle order with both Misa and Sachin can keep the score moving at a brisk pace. I reckon I'll be batting with the middle order after my debacle as an opener in the last game. Thinking back, I feel like I had cost the team vital momentum early in the innings.

We have a pretty decent bowling attack like I've mentioned earlier. Infact, we dint even get the chance to bowl two of our regular bowlers in Misa and Naveen the last game. Munna was a little expensive up front but cant be blamed for some lovely batting by Danny and we are sure that was a one off game as he is a really good bowler. Mark and Lazar are the guys we will depend on when things start getting nasty for us as they can both bowl at pin point accuracy with a very good pace. Sachin could be very interesting as he mixes a bunch of no-balls pitching off the turf with some really beautiful deliveries.

Watch out for Mark. He is a player who is born for this format of the game. He can hurt teams with his power hitting and clever bowling. He is one of the very few bowlers I've seen here who can create a surprising amount of bounce off a good length as he bends his back a lot more than others (strictly for bowling purposes)

Key Match-up: Lazar facing Barry. Lazar Bhai's a batsmen who will quickly decide the fate of a team. He is someone who can give us a great start with his explosive batting and Barry is one of their strike bowlers. He would be looking to get Lazar out instead of containing him which is an almost impossible task.

This should be an exciting match and I look forward to contributing to the success of our team this Sunday.

Tidbits

Its almost impossible to recollect everything from the match while writing the recap. I managed to miss quite a few highlights from the last few games. I should've definitely mentioned Sashi's catch (a very difficult chance) that almost dismissed Ragu last week. A little thing being it was caught right after it sailed over the cones (a taller guy would've had that easily...;-)....).

I also forgot to mention that it was Rick's first game as a proud father (If I remember correctly, he dispatched the first ball he faced to the backward point boundary).

Good luck to both teams...!!

Is it Sunday yet ??!!

Game 2: uBills Vs Lions -->Shit happens

Lousy day...You wake up to the news of India being knocked out of the T20 world cup and you get your hinds thoroughly whipped at the hands of uBills. I'll say it again; Lousy day.

All credit goes to the uBills for bowling beautifully and holding on to their catches (am not looking at anyone but maybe just a Lankan who speaks some Gujarati). The game started pretty well for us (the Lions). Though they got off to a flier we took a few key wickets early on to keep us in the game. Danny turned up and played for the uBills today. We opened with Sachin and Munna sharing the new ball and they had Danny along with Kamran open their batting. Danny was off to a quick start with a cut to the boundary off his second ball. Sachin started a little shaky and but came back pretty well. Danny then went to work on Munna with some power full hitting on the on side. Sachin then bowled a lovely delivery that uprooted Danny's off stump that brought BigO in at number 3. Kamran then tried to hit one over point but ended up slicing it up in the air and was caught by me. The skipper then came into bat and went straight to work with a lovely cut between point and gully. BigO had a couple of boundaries at exactly where everyone expects him to score (slice the ball thru gully and a hook behind square). He got out to Mark with a thick edge giving a comfortable catch to Misa who was handling the keeping duties for us. Must say that he did a pretty nice job behind the stumps except that he needs to bend over a lil bit (to stop the ball from running between his legs u pervs). Raghu kept going at the other end with some lovely stroke making. I thought we could've had a better fielding placement for him (we let him play his fav cut shots and flicks way too easily) but to his credit, he exploited the situation and was very aggressive with his shot selection.

The skipper gave me the nod at the last over before drinks. I was bowling at Raghu and knew he'd go for his sweep. I started with a wide down the leg and then bowled a really bad one; a full toss on the pads which was promptly packed off to the boundary. With some tips from Lazar I knew I had to bowl on his off stump and changed my bowling side. I bowled one on the off and he tried to cut it even though it wasn't that short a ball. Troy held on to a nice catch and we were relieved to see Raghu's back (he was 3 runs short of 30 when he could've retired). We had Nadeem walk in and all of us knew his instinct was to go after the ball and slog it over midwicket. I tried to bowl it a little quicker and on the off stump. He went for his shot and hit it high up in the air; it landed in the safe hands of his brother (lazar). My hatrick ball was to Ricks who was batting pretty well up till then and he denied me any further joy with a lovely drive. In my next over, I got rid of Srini tempting him to play his favorite shot over mid-wicket against the wind which was caught by Mark. The next scalp in the same over was one of the few bright spots of my day. I cleaned up Ricks with a yorker on his leg stump (I enjoyed this coz I know its usually pretty hard to get thru Ricks defence even though he ALWAYS moves back and across and looks as if he's going to get out every single ball). Since I've dedicated a paragraph to my own spell of 2 overs I'll stop it here (there's a lil red-horned devil sitting next to me yelling "Its my bloody blog; I'll dedicate the whole thing to my 12 balls"; and the white winged guy just gave him the bird from the other side and told him to shut up and be nice").

The Lankan tiger (aka ragu) was in next (which could explain the move of pulling the plug on my lovely spell of 4 for 10 off 2; I promise to stop mentioning myself soon). He wrecked a havoc as soon as he came in and looked as if he knew exactly where he wanted to hit every ball (which is pretty rare for him). He played some lovely shots all over the park. Mark then gambled a bit by bringing back Sachin to bowl at Ragu. Here's the thing with this one (I know hindsight's a 20-20 and it was what it was, a gamble); Sachin bowls on the middle and leg with his lethal ball being the one that beats the batsman and crashes into the stumps. The wind was heavy and blowing from the off to on. This fits snugly with where ragu loves playing his shots. He heaved a couple of humongous hits over mid-wicket and another crashing boundary to go past 30. This though wasn't a game changing moment but nevertheless was a momentum shifting one. With 127 off 16 overs, I thought we bowled pretty tight to get them all out for 135 in the 19th over. I thought our skipper may have missed a trick in not bowling me a little more as I fancied my chances of getting Ragu stumped (I've had some success in doing that) and I was on a roll till I was pulled off the attack (devil 1 white winged man 0) . The bonus point was definitely an icing we all relished.

uBills 134 all out in 19 overs

We opened our batting with Munna and myself. It wasn't a daunting target and we figured we'll get our eye in and start the fireworks. Little did I know it was going to pan out drastically different. Ragu opened from his favorite Beach-end with an absolute beauty that pitched on the off and moved away ever so slightly to catch a decent edge off Munna's bat. BigO completed the formalities by taking the first of his many catches behind the stumps today. It was a massive blow to our chase but we still had Mark and Lazar who could go ballistic. Danny shared the new ball and bowled a pretty tight line. He got Lazar playing a back foot cross-batted shot that hit him in line with the stumps. The umpire (Karthick) had no doubt in his mind that it would knock the middle stump off and prompty raised his finger; but the square leg umpire and myself (At the non-striker's end) agreed that the ball hit him a little too high (not trying to call out the umpiring decision but...well, I think I am). This was key wicket which brought Mark in and I saw Ragu turn all green and I swear I saw his shirt bust a few seams. This was a key match up and it was still just ragu's second over. First up was a full toss on the legs which was smoothly guided to the fine leg boundary. I thought Mark had his number today (I heard a faint HA from the heaven). Ragu's plan for Mark is usually to bowl on the off and let his natural angle guide the ball onto the middle and make him miss the line (all this at a blurring speed). He tried too hard and bowled a couple on his legs. I faced the brunt next and managed to not get out playing all of Ragu's 3rd over. He not so surprisingly came back for his last over (which he hardly does) and had a final go at Mark. After some friendly (I use the word pretty loosely) banter between the two, Mark survived a couple of deliveries before finally succumbing to some brilliant pace. He went for a cut off a not so short ball and managed to snick it into the safe gloves of BigO. This was a killer blow. I did not play my natural shots owing to some very good bowling and the fact that wickets were falling pretty fast at the other end. I thought it was McGrath bowling at me as Kamran kept the ball right around the off stump and moving away after pitching (A better batsman would've definitely edged one of them). I realize now that time was running out and I should've played a few more shots or at least rotated the strike better. Maybe it was the pressure of no runs from my end that prompted the others to go for a much more aggressive batting. Or maybe not. Well, I was waiting for Raghu and Ricks to bowl before I launch myself and made a pathetic attempt at it. I tried to slog Raghu over extra cover but just managed to find the lower edge of my bat (and of course, BigO was behind the stumps to gulp it down).

Our target now shrunk to at least reaching 100 and getting a bonus point. Misa and Sachin were off to a good start and looked as if they would take us there. Sachin played some really great looking shots off both Raghu and Ricks and reached 23 before the vile he consumed last night got some action of its own and he had to retire drunk (I am surprised Symmo's not given out to one of those yet). Misa tried his best to get us the extra bonus point but fell short by 4 frustrating runs.

Royal Lions 96 for 5 off 20 overs

I thought both sides had a very disciplined bowling attack and managed to keep the total tally of wides at less than 30 (the last game saw about 10 extra overs being bowled). The uBills batted aggressively throughout their innings inspite of loosing early wickets and posted a pretty nice target while we collapsed early on and were kinda stuck in a rut without much momentum. As I mentioned in the preview that though we were the favorites on paper, things can turn pretty funny pretty fast. Ragu was definitely the man of the match in my book for his all round display. Though this wasn't as close as I expected it to be, we witnessed some lovely batting and disciplined bowling and generally had a good time out in the sun (NO; I HATE THIS;LIFE SUCKS).

Anywhoo...aloha until my preview of Game3 between the Lions and the Sloggers

P.S. In case you are wondering Munna; Yes I called you out for your dropped catches...;-)

P.P.S. This blog is just my attempt at adding some more excitement to the tournament and our games in general and hope you all take it easy on this...(I don't want my head blown off with a bouncer or a throw aimed at my fat ass instead of the stumps)

Preview : Game # 2 Underdog Billionaires Vs Royal Lions

Hooah...am pumped up for this one. It was pretty hard umpiring last weeks game without getting to play at all. Its finally almost Sunday (I know, its still Thursday night; still, its almost) and my team's turn to get our game on. Its going to be pretty hard topping last week's excitement but my guess is that this should be a pretty close one. On paper, we (words like we and our mean the Royal Lions which I am a part of) should be the favorites for this one. Well, any team with a guy like Mark on it should be the favorites anyways. But if last week's game and the ongoing T20 World Cup has taught us anything, it is that Shit Happens. There can never be any clear favorites in this format of cricket.

Teams:

Underdog Billionaires (I am tired of typing this longish name and will henceforth address them as uBills)

Raghu Srinivasan (C), Ragu Vijayakumar, Kamran Masih, Owen O'Callaghan (wk), Vemuri Srinivas, Matt Hawkins and Nadeem Joseph, Bishnu Ramsarran

Unfortunately, two of the best players on this team for the last game were out of the pool. Sid's gone and Doc might not be available. Troy (a Gayanese medium pacer and an excellent fielder) could play with uBills if he turns up.

I think the team unearthed an exciting bowler to share the new ball with Ragu in Kamran (more about his DESTROYING pace later). Ragu had a pretty good outing and was mostly very disciplined and thus effective with his bowling. Raghu has generally been in good form with the bat but got out pretty cheaply last week and this could be his game. It will be interesting to see if they follow the same strategy of opening their batting with Ragu. They will definitely have an advantage with BigO behind the stumps. He's been an outstanding keeper for any team that he's played on.

Watch out for: Srini; He is a tricky customer with both his power hitting and his more than medium pace. If he gets going, can cause a lot of damage very quickly and can take a bunch of wickets with his unsuspecting run-up.

Royal Lions:

Mark Berwick (C) Munna Hussain, Lazar Joseph, Sachin Shah, Naveen Margankunte, Misa Tupou and Sankar Venkataraman

Since we dont have a regular keeper, I reckon Misa, Mark and Munna will split up the keeping duties. I think we have a really good bowling attack with a lot of variation though we are the only team with two spinners in it (something tells me the rival skipper's going to enjoy it). Our two best batsmen are definitely Munna and Mark. It'll be interesting to see how we deal with it if one of them falls cheaply.

Watch out for: Munna. He is one of the most consistent members of the club. Bats aggressively and bowls with a lot of passion.

Key match up: This is the easiest one. Mark facing Ragu. There is something special about this rivalry. I suspect it creeps out of the immense respect they have for each other's skills. Ragu turns into the incredible hulk whenever Mark comes into bat; and boundaries off Ragu have a special place in Mark's book.

Tidbits:

As promised earlier, about Kamran's destroying pace; He bowled a toe crushing (literally) yorker that fractured Pankaj bhai's foot (will post a picture of the broken foot soon). That explains Pankaj bhai's lack of scoring opportunities last week. Kamran's got a pretty smooth run up and can definitely generate plenty pace.

May the best team (Lions) win...!!

Cracker of a contest...!!

HPL T-20 Game 1: Sloggers Vs Underdog Billionaires

What a game! This one swung more times than a pendulum would in an day. Both teams seeme

d to have the game wrapped up at different stages. The game had its own mind and ended up being the first tie in the history of this tournament. The sloggers won the toss and put the Billionaires in. The teams looked pretty balanced with sid and doc playing for the Billionaires and Danny (from Maui) and Yudi playing for the Sloggers as pool players. The Billionaires gambled a bit sending in Ragu in to open the batting with Doc. Travis pulled a Crowe and had Danny open the bowling with Barry. Unfortunately, the Billionaires move misfired and Ragu got bowled without causing much damage. Sid walked in at 3 and along with Doc raced away to pretty good start. Doc was in great form and scored a bunch of runs with his favorite pull shot. He quickly reached the retiring score of 30. Sid got going but fell to a brilliant piece of fielding from Barry. Sid moved back and across to a ball from Subbu and tried to glance it fine. Barry anticipated the shot and started moving to his left and took a great diving catch to get rid of Sid. The Sloggers got a few quick wickets to get back in the game but then gave away too many extras (40+) to hand over the advantage. Interestingly, Travis held himself back till the 18th over. It could be a tactic to bring in more unpredictable bowlers but I believe that he under uses himself when captaining a side; especially as a bowler. Some lusty blows and caressing drives from BigO, Rambo and others kept the Billionaires in the game with a decent run rate. Fall of the last wicket brought Doc back but they lost his wicket to an ill timed run out in the last over to gift a bonus point to the Sloggers and missed a point themselves by falling 4 runs short of 150.

Underdog Billionaires: 146 All out in 20 overs

The Sloggers innings started with Danny and Travis firing away. All eyes were on Ragu to see if he starts his spell without any extras (which he managed to do) but it was Danny who stole the show. He made his intentions clear with an astounding flick over the mid-wicket boundary off Ragu. That pretty much set the tone for his innings. Out of the many shots he played a couple of flicks were unforgettable; a little thing being that the ball was chest high and at a more than brisk pace with him walking down the track. I've seen pull shot being played in that fashion; not flicks. Travis soon joined the carnage and played a couple of his trademark pulls. One of them, a half pull half sweep should've been scored as a dozen. They both retired pretty comfortable at 30 each and were set to take over the match with about 85 runs in the first 10 overs. Surprisingly, the Billionaires did not panick. Though they did not get many wickets they knew they still had a few overs from their top bowlers. Between Sid, Ragu and Kamran, they still had about 8 overs and bowled brilliantly to suffocate the batsmen. Yours truly had the pleasure of witnessing Ragu's ridiculous pace from square leg (as an umpire). Sid maintained the same pressure from his end choking the batsmen. I think Travis missed a trick in not sending Vishan up the order but the way Ragu and Sid bowled, I am not sure many could've scored. Even Pankaj bhai was tied down without many scoring opportunities. One crucial over from Kamran in the wee end released some pressure off the batsmen with a few wides and some misfielding but Sid tightened the noose back and gave away just a run from his last over to set a target of 11 from 12 balls. Kamran bowled a very good over to concede just 3 runs and the tally reached to a tricky 8 off 6 balls. The skipper brought himself on for the last over and promptly got a wicket of the first ball. The game looked out of reach for the Sloggers with a few dot balls following that. Raghu almost always bowls around the off stump and sometimes tries too hard to keep it there. This tendency cost him dearly today as he bowled a couple of crucial wides bringing the tally down to 4 off the last ball. Shabbir was on strike and did not connect too well till then. He went for an extravagant drive and the ball saw a fair bit of his bat's outer edge finding the gap between gully and third man. Two runs were a possibility but a fumble at the keepers end made sure the batsmen completed their game tieing third run.

This was an exciting game all the way with some clean hitting and beautiful bowling from both teams. I am sure there were many more lovely moments during this game that I missed in this blog. Though each team could think they clearly should've won the game, it would only do them good if they realize they both looked out of the game at some point and played some really good cricket to get back in and managed not loose.

Watch this space for the preview of the next game: Underdog Billionaires Vs Royal Lions

HPl season 3; Bring on the balls...!!

Aloha...

This was meant to be a blog covering the Honolulu Premier League season 2. As always, I lazed away but hope to keep up with the tournament this season. It would've been great to do this the last season as yours truly was part of the winning team (Silly points); well, anywhoo...

We have an exciting season of HPL on the cards with three teams from Oahu. Skippers for this season are the Club president Mark Berwick (an American butcher of a batsman ), Travis Wilkinson (the Australian who lives and dies by his pull shot) and Raghu Srinivasan (the sweeping Indian) and have chosen what appears to be well balanced teams. We have few regulars missing for this season. The inimitable rambo (a hard hitting Guyanese and one of the oldest members of the club), snail Bob (the quickest Englishman on the ground; ever), Aadi (who'll never be mistaken for Arnie), Pete (who is a tobacco farmer in Raleigh now), Ricks (the soon to be dad and the best silent scorer I've seen) and the others will be sorely missed. We will also be missing a couple of guys (Sid and Yudi) who've been a very significant part of the club for the last few years but will act as pool players for the first match. Sid's one of those players who you would want to play against; someone you want to beat the shit out of coz you know its not going to happen often. I am sure everyone here has cherished playing with him and will miss him when he leaves the island after the first match in pursuit of greener pastures and colder climates. Yudi's been one the most entertaining members of the club and is joining us from Nashville for the first weekend.

The Teams

Underdog Billionaires

Raghu Srinivasan (c), Ragu Vijayakumar, Om Das, Kamran Masih, Owen O'Callaghan(wk), Vemuri Srinivas, Matt Hawkins and Nadeem Joseph.

Royal Lions

Mark Berwick(c), Munna Hussain, Lazar Joseph, Sachin Shah, Naveen Margankunte, Misa Tupou and Sankar Venkataraman

Sloggers

Travis Wilkinson(c), Barry Watt, Subbu Raman, Shabbir Hussain, Pankaj Bhanot (wk), Vishan Dookhu, Karthik Vjayarajan

My take on the teams: I feel that one team usually ends up looking weaker than the two on paper. But that doesn't mean squat as we, the Silly points showed last season. I reckon the Billionaires look a tad weaker than the other 2 teams with at least one explosive batsman and one attacking bowler short and hence the name 'Underdog' I guess. More on the two teams playing the first match later.

Schedule:

7 June: Sloggers versus Underdog Billionaires 10:00 AM - 1:30 PM Pool players: Sid, Yudesh, Vinoo, Jacob, Francis, Deon

14 June: Lions versus Underdog Billionaires 10:00 AM - 1:30 PM

21 June: Sloggers versus Lions 10:00 AM - 1:30 PM

Teams will be seeded after the first round of play. The third place team will play a doubleheader on 28 June, one match against each of the others teams.

28 June: Doubleheader (all teams play at least one match) 10:00 AM - 1:30 PM and 2:00 - 5:30 PM

5 July: 1st place versus 2nd place 10:00 AM - 1:30 PM

12 July: HPL Summer Grand Final

Preview : Game 1 (Sloggers Vs Underdog Billionaires)

Sloggers

Sloggers are in my book the favorites to win it all this season (I am being nice; the Lions with me in the squad are going to devour em all). They've got a perfect balance of attacking batsmen and guys who can accumulate runs pretty briskly. They've also got a tremendous bowling attack with plenty of variation and everyone capable of turning the game around on their day.

Watch out for: Barry who is one of the most consistent all rounders in the club. He paces his innings immaculately and can bowl at a very good pace consistently.

Underdog Billionaires

The Billionaires would have been the underdogs for this one but a turn of events evens this out. Om from this team tore a ligament in a practice match and the Billionaires would get the first pick of the pool players. I wonder who it'll be (I got 5 bucks saying its Sid). Having a regular keeper in Big O should be a huge advantage though Pankaj Bhai is no slouch behind the stumps.

Watch out for: Ragu (the Lankan firebrand of a cricketer). He is one guy in this team that can turn a match upside down in a jiff. Much will be decided in his first over with the new ball when he is prone to have a few too many wides. If he can control the swing and his swagger he'll be a potent weapon in this line up.

Key Match up: Big O (Owen) Vs Barry; Much depends on how Big O opens his batting against a potent pace attack. He's one of those guys who goes all out and can swing the game either ways pretty quickly.

Good luck to both teams...!!

I want to add a disclaimer that this is my personal take on the HPL and the events that unravel during the 6 weeks of the tournament the way I see it.