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.