Hawkes Vs Arslan (12/4/11)

The match against Arslan was the last one of the round-robin group and an important one. It was going to decide whether we would qualify for the Platinum or would slip into Gold. Winning was a must but we also needed a good DRR, just to be on the safer side. Don won the toss and elected to field which turned out to be a good choice in the hindsight.

We started off very well with Don picking wicket off the first delivery. Next in was Aleem, the left-hander who was swinging at every delivery and thankfully didn't connect a single one. A lot of credit goes to the bowlers here who bowled strict line and length. Finally, Ashish put an end to his misery. Sagar K. had earlier dropped a fairly easy catch of Intesar but Sachin helped to ease his guilt by claiming Intesar's wicket soon after that. The first 10 overs were so tight that Arslan only managed 22 odd runs. After 10 overs we started to drift a little and Arslan took advantage of that and started getting runs. Some clean hitting by Arshad off Srini's bowling helped them reach 75.

Sachin and Srini opened for Hawkes. The idea there was to get a RH/LH combination. They both gave a good start. After Srini was caught on long on, Ravin went 1 down. Arslan took Bowling PP, which was shrewd thing to do with the new batsmen in. To our pleasant surprise, Ravin didn't hold back. He took advantage of the PP and repeatedly hit over the infield to get ones and twos. After Ravin's wicket, Don promoted himself in an attempt to improve the DRR. He justified that move by scoring 10 of 7 deliveries. Sachin played some good shots on the off until he was involved in a freak run out dismissal. In the dug out, we unanimously blamed Don for his dismissal ;). Soon Don got out in an attempt to hoist another 6. In the end, Shreenath and Anil took us home safely.

Sachin was adjudged MOM for his 2 wickets and 16 runs. On the same day, with Aryans beat Fighting Clan and some other favorable results, we managed to sneak into Platinum group.

Go Hawkes !!!

Hawkes Vs. Reapers (RS4-11/05/11)

Kudos to Sagar D. for writing this wonderful article.

Game 4 of the season, Hawkes Vs Reapers with Hawkes starting as favorites. A must win match to keep the contention for platinum alive. Hawkes won the toss and selected to bat first. Keeping a target of 100 plus in mind, the new opening pair of Eran and Asintha got off to a flyer. Eran stuck boundaries all over the park while Asintha taking a back step and playing the anchor role, making sure that the wickets are intact. An outside edge saw the departure of Eran before which he scored 25 runs of just 11 deliveries smashing 4 boundaries. With a solid start, Hawkes failed to capitalize on it and lost a couple of wickets in quick succession. Sagar K and Sachin steadied the innings taking singles and rotating the strike. However an unfortunate run out saw the dismissal of Sachin right on the last ball before the innings break. Hawkes were 48 for 5 after 10 overs.

Innings resumed but Hawkes continued to loose wickets at regular intervals. Some aggresive running between the wickets by Swamy and some help from extras helped Hawkes reach a score of 80 plus. Hawkes failed to play their full quota of 20 overs and were bowled for a total of 82 runs in 17.2 overs. A score with which Hawkes were not satisfied but were positive that it can be defended. All Hawkes wanted was a solid backup from their bowling department.

2nd Innings started with Don and Swamy opening the bowling for Hawkes. Swamy got the 1st wicket in the 2nd over with a catch at square leg by Sagar D. The next over by Don was a blinder. 3 wickets, 3 clean bowled.A superb over with 0 run and 3 wickets. Hawkes were right on top of their game. Next over saw a run out by a direct hit from Sagar K, reducing Reapers to a score of 8 runs and 5 wickets. With the intention of wrapping up Reapers for a low score and improve their DRR, Hawkes became over aggresive and tried to go for the kill. Change of bowling from both ends dint help and Hawkes lost momentum. Trying to protect singles, Hawkes gave away too many runs in 2's and 3's and extras. Ashish came in and got a wicket, but their next two batsman stuck in. Different bowling options were tried but all in vain with a couple of dropped catches. Hawkes wanted a wicket to break their partnership. In came Sachin and provided the much needed break through, getting the most important wicket. He stuck gold with 2 more wickets and a run out by Srini helped Hawkes see through with Reapers getting all out for 71 runs with 2.5 overs to spare.

Hawkes won the match by 11 runs. This victory boosted the morale of the team and kept their hopes still alive to enter Platinum, with Hawkes all pumped up to take on Friends X1 the following weekend.

Go Hawkes !!!

-written by Sagar Doshi-

Hawkes Vs. Top Guns XI (RS3-10/30/11)

Kudos to Aditya for writing this wonderful article.

Fall season Third game for Hawkes, much Awaited game as many of us are waiting to prove our mettle and prove to other teams that we are a good contenders.The game is with Top Guns XI

A sunday game , Hawkes was the home team and Starting from the first , we won the toss this time but fielded first in a dry outfield. Don and Swamy continued their form by opened the bowling with a decent start and kept the batting team to make their own runs.Innings started with decent bowling and good supportive fielding this time mainly by vidhyadar and Asish who took two catches each to dismiss dangerous batsmen wicket at 3rd over and started to build pressure on batsmen who looking to captalise on their starts.After the first spell by both the opening bowlers its turn for Sagar and sreenath compelled each other well with some slow balls and picked wickets and with lovely support from Piyush and sagar the score after the first 10 overs was 41 for the fall of 4 wickets which was quite good with some decent bowling.Then after Aditya and sagar continued to bowl in tandem and make the batsmen to make mistakes.the batsmen started to to build some partnerships to cut loose in the final overs with few tough catches going down.But fortunately by learning from the past games , we hold ed our momentum till the last overs which restricted the opponents to 92 even after some big hitting in between the overs.

The first target of our team is to get a good partnership with rotating strikes in the first 10 overs.Asintha and piyush opened the innings but this time lost both the openers very soon and the following batsmen also followed the same path quickly and with no time Hawks were at 26 for 4 wickets after 7 overs.With Sagar and vidhyadar in the crease , we slowly felt a little bit of pressure but both the batsmen took their time and tried to consolidate the innings and made sure they don't loose their wickets which was very crucial at that time. And watchful rotating strikes and by taking some calculated risks both sagar and vidhyadar turned the game and made the bowlers to commit mistakes.And soon after 17th overs both batsman's made sure that Hawks are in Driving seat and assured they remain unbeaten till the end and finally won the game from no where with beautiful and sensible cricketing shots.

Once again Thanks a lot to both Sagar and Vidhyadar for their awesome partnership where sagar lead from the front with his 36 and vidhyadar supported very well with his run a ball 19.

This win boasted the team with confidence and made sure that we are on Hunt for few more wins with the very following game coming on 5th November.

ALL THE BEST TO OUT TEAM...GO HAWKES AND PROVE OUR METTLE.

-written by Aditya Konduri-

Hawkes Vs. Mavericks (RS2-10/23/11)

Kudos to Aditya for writing this wonderful article.

Fall season Second game for Hawkes,much Awaited game as we know that we are playing with one of the good teams in our pool,Mavericks.

A sunday game , Hawkes was the visiting team and Starting from the first , we lost the toss and

fielded first in a wet outfield which was a blessing to our opposition. Don and Swamy opened the bowling with a decent start and picked up 1st wicket at 3rd over and started to build pressure on batsmen with a little bit of support from fielders. After the first spell by both the opening bowlers its turn for Sagar K and Sreenath compelled each other well with some slow balls and picked wickets and after the first 10 overs we restricted them to 47 for the fall of 3 wickets which was quite good with some decent bowling.Then after Sreenath continued to deliver some outstanding deliveries and finally gifted with wicket of the first ball after the mid innings break.But unfortunately we lost some rhythm in the bowling and with some poor performences on the field due to dew we lost the way and the opposition capitalized on it and started to build some partnerships and began to cut loose in the final stage of their innings with some mis hits and good shots which sailed the team score to 119.

The first target of our team is to get a decent score in the first 10 overs. Asintha and Parijath opened the innings steadily and slowly felt the pressure. Parijath tried to punish a bad ball but failed to connect it a bit and was out.From there on Asintha was the man to guide the team with his Monstrous Hits but was runout due to the communication between him and Murali who also supported Asintha and made an Useful Contribution. After 10 overs reached a decent score but lost too many wickets. And each batsmen lost their way on course of scoring some quick runs which finally resulted in loosing quick wickets leaving Srini undefeted who gave maximum efforts to push the score .And disappointingly Lost the game by huge margin. But few good points are the efforts made by Sreenath for his beautiful bowling AND Fielding of both Swamy and Sagar in the out field.

We just keep this game back of our minds and try to focus on our job and onceagain try to fall in winning Streak with the very following game coming on 30th October.

ALL THE BEST TO OUT TEAM...GO HAWKES AND PROVE OUR METTLE.

-written by Aditya Konduri-

Hawkes VS Weilders (RS1-10/16/11)

Fall season first game for Hawkes, Anticipated game for few reason, major turn over, new talents joining. Brilliant performances by players individually and as a team. Special recognition Asintha, Purab, and Piyush for standing out.

Game was on a sunday, beautiful day. Hawkes was the visiting team yet playing on our home ground. Hawkes discussed what we should do "IF" we win the toss, before we know it Prab did the unthinkable won the toss. Hawkes decided to bowl first, and cut Wielders around a score of 60. Chai opened the first over, very tight over and got a wicket. Swamy continued second over, getting used to new pitch bowled very consistent. Wielders had their wickets falling consistently till the 4th over, batsmen settled down and scoring tactically. Sagar K cmae for the spell with a very tight over and excellent variations. Hawkes finished strong 10 over 28 runs. Wielders batsman looked settled and confident. Piyush came for 11th over after the break, taking three wickets in that over, putting wielders in a very tough spot. Than comes Sagar D dismissing two key batsman followed by swamy for an maiden over. Hawkes restricted wielders for 65. Hawkes needed 66 to win in 20 0vers, challenge was to do it in 15 overs to improve our DDR.

Asintha and Piyush opened the inning, looking calm, confident and furious Asintha started his Batting. Asintha punished bad bowls to the extreme especially his hook shots was a delight. Piyush gave a short stand to Asintha, got dismissed soon. Ravin was the next batsman for the job came back after giving a easy catch to the bowler. Parijit was the man sure to finish the job with ASINTHA, Parijit was a victim of a poor official decisions, a very unfortunate decision. After much debate who should be the man for the job, our one of the most consistent batsman Purab was sent. Before we know it Purab got in his routine, was very well backed up by Asintha. Asintha's straight six was a delight clearing boundary by a feet. Purab's textbook shots was a delight. Purab and Asintha got Hawkes to comfortable position to have a great win.

Hawkes finished 66 in 12.3 overs.

Asintha got Man of the match for fearless batting display and PIyush got POW(player of the week) for his discipline bowling.

Great start to the season, with many new talents in the team, I can say this with confident, one of the most balance team in a long time. Lets keep the momentum going.

GO HAWKES!!!!!!!

Hawkes Vs. Spartance (RS8-06/19/11)

Kudos to Vinay for writing this wonderful article.

The much awaited playoff game had finally arrived. Much to the our delight, we were put into bat by the spartans. The openers gave a very good start, ably helped by some very poor bowling by the spartanz. Pranai was at the batting best, blocking deliveries when needed, taking singles and doubles when on offer and dispatching boundaries when the opportunity presented itself. After purab's wicket, caught at point, Raj and pranai carried on and in no time we had 50 on the board. We were really excited and felt 110 was a gettable score and that is when all hell broke loose. Some very good bowling by spartanz and bat shot selection from Hawkes batsman ensured that we put up only 79 on the board.

A very determined Hawkes team didn't want to go down fighting and the reliable bowling attack showed up once again. I believe we were exceptional in this department. Everybody the skipper turned to bowled his heart out. Everybody held on to tough catches and it looked like we had a chance to defend yet another low score, but it was not to be. Maybe another 15 runs would have done the trick. We have played as a team all season long and this game was no different.

I would like to single out pranai's extraordinary all round performance though. He batted brilliantly, bowled really well and took a terrific catch in the deep in the dieing moments of the game, keeping us in the match. He is definitely my MOM.

Match Highlights -

* Pranai Scoring 26 runs in 27 balls with a boundary and a massive six.

* Pranai taking Spartance #1 batsman out with a awesome catch on the boundary.

* Vinay taking 2 extraordinary catches.

* Piyush taking a awesome catch behind the wickets.

- Wretten by Vinay Krishnappa -

Hawkes Vs. Daakus (RS7-05/15/11)

Kudos to Raj for writing this wonderful article.

This was the 7th and the last match of the first round of the league in our group. All team members were determined to ensure that we get all 7 wins and to be the top most team in our group. Everybody was aware that if we don't win this game then Mavericks will be the top in the group. The climatic condition was little cloudy with some overnight showers. Pranai went for the toss and as usual we again lost the toss but to everybody's surprise, we were asked to bat first.

Pranav and Piyush Jain started the opening batting but we lost the first wicket quickly in the form of Piyush. Sankar was send as first down batsman but he also couldn't do much and go out cheaply. Raj was send as second down batsman and he started stabilizing the batting with Pranav by consistently taking singles and doubles.At the end of 10 overs, Hawkes were 39 for the loss of two wickets.

It was time to accelerate the run rate and in order to accelerate, Pranav lost his wicket in the form of very good catch by bowler. Pranai was the next batsman who also got out cheaply with a very good catch at short leg. Ravin came as next batsman and he also got out quickly in order to increase the run rate. We lost 3 wickets in quick succession and it was time to again come back to game. Then came Vinod and he started rotating along with Raj.

The score was 64 runs at the end of 16 overs and the big hits were needed to reach decent score. Vinod & Raj tried to hit big shots but missed most of the time as Daakus bowled good line and length and didn't gave any short balls. In the 18th over Vinod managed to hit 2 big shots and Hawkes managed to get 84 at the end of 20 overs.

It was the bowling time for Hawkes and Pranai started brilliantly with made in wicket over. Vinod bowled the second over and got the second break. At the end of 4 overs, Daakus were 8 for 2 wickets. Don and Raj started after 4th over and Raj got the 3rd wicket on his very first ball. Daakus were struggling to increase the run rate and were 21 after 8 overs. Piyush Yadav and Piyush Jain bowled very tight bowling and gave only 3 runs each in their spell of 4 overs. Mayank from Daakus started increasing the run rate with a boundary and was looking little threat but at the right time, a full toss ball from Don surprised him and he got bowled out.

Now at this point Daakus lost all their hope and started playing very slowly. Pranai and Vinod finished their remaining spell and Vinod got 2 wickets in the due course. After 19 overs, Daakus needed 30 runs to win and on public demand Purab bowled the last over and finished the game by giving 1 run and getting 1 wicket in his last over.

Hawkes managed to register all the 7 wins and topped in the group.

Raj was awarded man of the match for his battting (32 runs) & bowling (2 wickets) and Vinod was awarded player of the week.

Match Highlights -

* Raj playing well established inning with 32 runs

* Vinod playing an attacking inning with one six and one four

* Ravin changing a six to a 2 runs with great fielding effort.

-written by Raj Pasi-

Hawkes Vs. Seamers (RS6-05/08/11)

Kudos to Vinod for writing this wonderful article.

This was the most anticipated and billed as the toughest game of Round 1 for Hawkes. A glimpse of all the tension was visible on the day when game got abandoned due to rain. Team management worked hard to reschedule the game this weekend as most players were available this weekend.

Week started with emails flying with lot of suggestions and analysis. Piyush's email had all the fielding positions assigned to players; Pranai had suggestions around batting, bowling and wicket keeping. Don had analysis of runs needed on Fischer Park, opponent’s strength and suggestions around how to be focused for the win. All this activity reminded me of the days when I started playing cricket in Bay Area 10 years ago. We use to be bunch of friends playing only for fun and then decided to be more competitive and joined TCA. We started analyzing every opponent, ground conditions, strategy to surprise the opponents, extra practice during weekdays etc. The desire and hunger to be the top most team goes a long way, it took lot of dedication and effort but over the years we did win every single format of multiple tournaments at least once. I see the same hunger and desire in Hawkes now :-)

The entire team was on ground practicing when opponents were still trickling in. It was one of those days when you question if it is spring or summer. It was cold and windy morning even though Sun was out with clear skies. Ground looked like more of a golf course than cricket ground. First surprise of the day was when opponents put the pitch perpendicular to what I thought will be the regular pitch. Second surprise was when I heard we won the toss ( Raj claimed that his presence is what made the difference ).

Pranai and Vinod started the bowling steadily with Pranai getting the first break assisted by excellent uphill running catch by Vinay. At the end of 4 overs, Seamers were around 10 runs in 4 overs with loss of two wicket taken by Pranai. Piyush started his over with couple short pitch balls but quickly settled with his line and length to get a fast moving snick taken by Raj in slips. Vinay was as usual fast and furious. Uneven bounce and wind assisting the bowlers justified that decision to bowl first was the right decision. Opponents were 32 for 4 wickets at the end of 10 overs. All the bowlers were bowling to the field and hardly gave batsman any opportunity to score and were well supported by the fielders.

After the break Don, Vinod bowled some very tight overs and Seamers were pushed on the back foot. With still 5 wickets in hand, Seamers had no other choice but to go after the bowling. Couple big hits in the last two overs got them to a respectable score of 73. None of the balls they hit were bad, it was just that batsman took the chance and risk paid off. They made around 20 runs in last two overs.

Sunil from Seamers ended up making 25 not out followed by wides as the second highest score for Seamers. Don, Vinod, and Piyush ended up with economy of less than 3 runs per over. Vinod finished with 7 runs in 4 overs and Don gave just 12 runs with 2 wickets in 4 overs. Piyush gave 6 runs and Raj 8 runs in two overs each they bowled.

73 was still a good total for Seamers to defend given the ground and weather conditions. Mitesh and Purab made the intentions clear by scoring 9 runs in very first over with Mitesh hitting an excellent boundry. Mitesh was out soon trying to hit against the wind. Anil joined Purab and continued his good form. He ensured to not lose wicket as pitch was very unpredictable but also ensured to punish bad balls. From 12 runs in 4 overs, Hawkes reached to 44 in 10 overs with loss of Purab. Ravin and Anil continued to play with caution and soon it was evident that Seamer had given up. Piyush's call for a single challenging the Slips was amazing and highlight of some of the quick singles Hawkes batsman took. This is the area Seamers failed because they never concentrated on quick singles, either they blocked the ball or tried for big hits.

In the end to finish the game with big bang, we lost couple wickets trying to hit 6. Even though scorecard says we lost 7 wickets but Seamers were never in a position where they threatened Hawkes. A very good win for the team and Hawkes making to Platinum for the first time was a great feeling for all the members.

Hawkes has announced its arrival in the big league :-)

Vinod was adjudged man of the match for his bowling and Anil was awarded player of the week for his excellent batting.

Cheers.

-written by Vinod Pasi-

Hawkes Vs. Bay Area Titans (RS5-05/01/11)

Kudos to Vinay for writing this wonderful article.

Hawkes kept up their good form and ensured they had yet another boring win. It was a good all round effort. It is just amazing that each one of our wins have come from the contribution of more than half the team on any given weekend and this game was no exception.

Hawkes lost the toss and again much to our delight were asked to bat first. Purab and Mitesh started off for the Hawkes. We were unlucky to lose Mitesh early who tried real hard not to let the bowler be called for a wide by trying to force a wide delivery outside the off stump into the ON side. Purab mistimed a cut shot straight to widish gully. Sreenath tried to get a little too cute with one that was pitched up and in trying to pinch a single on the off ended up edging to the keeper. We kept loosing wickets but managed to get runs at a good clip managing 16 of the first 3 overs. Our most consistent batsmen back in the pavilion it was left to some of the others to put up a good score for the bowlers to defend. Anil and vinod did really good by making sure we dint lose any more wickets and built a good partnership. We were 46 at the 10 over break for the loss of 4 wickets. Another couple of overs of good running and we were back in the hunt of a score in the upwards of 100 and that’s when hell broke loose. We lost way too many wickets trying to up the tempo and ended up losing 8 wickets in the 17^th over and were in danger of not making use of the our quota of overs. Titans sure were in a generous mood; the highest contributor to our score coming from extras. Some big hits towards the end of the innings ensured we ended up with more than respectable score at the inning break.

We started really upbeat with Pranai hanging on to a very tough caught and bowled chance. Titans never looked like making a game of it. We kept picking wickets and regular intervals. All the bowlers were on top of their game and ensured a boring win, much to the delight of our captain. It was a much better bowling effort compared to last week’s in terms of the number of extras we gave away.

Keep up the good work guys. We are into the home stretch, two more to go and I am told both are good teams. Let us keep up the good work.

Highlights:

Anil and Vinod's wonderful partnership.

Sreenath's direct hit to get a run out.

Some very good fielding in the infield.

- Wretten by Vinay Krishnappa -

Hawkes Vs. Inglorious Blasters (RS4-04/24/11)

Kudos to Mitesh for writing this wonderful article.

It was a game without some of our star players like Pranai, Kartik, Raj, Vinod. We thought the game would be easy but it was not as we gave extra 21 runs. At the end we managed to chase 94 runs with 11 balls and 5 wickets left and continued to have the winning streak. It is 4-0 now. We are doing our best this time and we all can see the cup.

Ground conditions and Weather

The ground was in San Jose this time. It was surrounded by residential area. It was a baseball ground that we all usually do not like to play. Moreover on the leg side it was all bumpy and with had a lot of grass. We thought 75-80 would be a good total for any team to defend. It was little cloudy morning with slow wind. The sun was playing hide and seek.

Toss

I think no one is interested in reading this as we all know the result of the past and may be future games’ toss results. We lost the toss and were asked to bowl first.

Bowling

We were there to get going and give them a hard time. Sreenath opened bowling with Piyush at the other end (same end actually). In the very first over Sreenath took an excellent catch on his own bowling. As we took power-play other opening batsman decided to go after Sreenath and he was caught out by me at deep mid-wicket. Vinay was given the bowl in fifth over. He was very fast for them but the bad pitch caused few extras for him. Don took couple of wickets. After 10 overs they were 38/4. Then they started getting runs quickly. They scored 3 sixes and 3 fours which helped them to accelerate scoring rate and putting up a good total. One of their batsmen was given couple of chances in a catch and a run out. He took it and went after bowlers in batting power play. His 33 runs and 20 extras made them to reach the score of 93 which is a very good score on a baseball ground.

Batting

I and Purab went to open our innings. It was not an easy chase of 94 on a baseball ground. We took 3 runs in first over. As they took power-play Purab decided to go after their second bowler. Unfortunately, he got catch out on point in the second over. Anil joined me. He tried to go after the bowlers. He was swinging the bat very hard but was not able to connect. Meanwhile I got my eyes set and connecting well for singles and doubles. We were 41/1 after 10 overs. We needed 53 of last 10 with 9 wickets in hand. Anil got out soon after the break. Ravin joined me. We took few couple of runs. I was hitting hard on leg side but did not get a six or more than one boundary. But Ravin was pushing me hard for 2’s and 3’s as I was tired. I got out at the total of 65 and the equation was 65/3 after 14 overs. We needed 29 of 36 balls. Piyush got couple of good shots and got run out after that. Ravin was doing it smoothly by pushing it for 1’s and 2’s. It was getting closer and Vinay came in to bat. Effortlessly, he went for a big shot and it was an awesome flat six that took us closer and made the equation easy. After a long discussion b/w players, captains, and umpires Vinay was given not out. Soon he got out after that. Don went in and finished the game with Ravin in 19th over.

For his excellent performance Sreenath was declared PoW for third consecutive week. I was given MoM for the 40 runs I scored. Actually I wanted to get 50 but I think umpire’s bad decision on run out did not allow me to reach that. I will do it in some other game.

It was a good game. We were good on field except for couple of misfields. We need to be careful on extras it is not acceptable. Without extras they would have not passed the score of 80 which makes the equation very easy on any day.

- written by Mitesh Patel -

Hawkes Vs Legends (RS3-04/17/11)

Kudos to Pranav for writing this wonderful article.

On a cloudy Sunday morning, league clash between the teams Legends and Hawkes was played. Legends was morally down by their consecutive losses in last games and Hawkes wanted to continue their winning streak

Team news:

Hawkes management continues their team rotation policy to keep their all team members match ready. I think it’s a good strategy when you have abundance of talented players. It`s a good problem to have from a team management perspective.

Hawes decided to give rest to Purab, PJ and Kartik. There is a rumor that Kartik decided to opt out so he can be FRESH for BIG the event in his life.

Congratulations and Good Luck!! Kartik

Legends - They kept their team combination from their previous match.

Ground Conditions:

Summer is around the corner which make ground conditions little dryer from the previous league games. So now players with good batting techniques can play shots along the ground and get good runs.

Toss:

Legend won the toss and elected to bowl first. This seemed the right decision as the ground becomes drier and drier and scoring runs will be easier in the second half of the inning as ball will be comparatively dry for batting second.

It was an interesting move by team management to send Pranai for toss instead of Chai. To break the loosing tosses streak, but no luck. Team management is thinking about asking Chai to come to the ground after the toss, which might help with toss winning - just a rumor.

Batting:

Hawkes got off to a poor start in the absence of regular opener Purab. Ravin fall after making two runs which brought Sreenath on the crease. Both Mitesh and Sreenath steadied the inning and scored at decent rate. Especially Mitesh was very prolific on both sides of wickets. So far Mitesh has been a good find for Hawkes he is regularly scoring as an opener and bowls his slow left arm spin. After the fall of Mitesh, Pranav was sent up the order, but could not contribute he got out to a simple catch on the long on. Piyush struggled miserably in the middle and scored 4 runs in 15 balls. At this stage it seemed that match will be an easy win for Legends to end their losing streak.

But Pranai had something different in mind, he seemed very determined and little angry when he walked out to the field.

There were some comments made by the Hawkes team members in dressing room regarding his batting performance in last couple of seasons.

Pranai took away game from Legends in a span of couple of overs, he batted with great confidence and scored runs along both sides of wickets. Especially the inside out shot between long on and Mid off spoke in volumes about his timing and his current form. Pranai scored 40 runs in only 27 balls. Sreenath too contributed good with the bat in their partnership.

Chai also contributed with batting, which was a welcome surprise for the team members. The highlight of the Chai`s inning was not even a single dot ball in his innings. Which gave a perfect end to the Hawkes inning. By the time storms ended and Legneds came to their senses they already conceded 106 runs, it was a perfect example of some furious batting and some street smart running between the wickets.

Bowling and Fielding:

Sreenath and Vinod opened the bowling for Hawkes, Vinod is another good find for the Hawkes he bowls very accurate medium fast bowling and with some excellent in-cutters and also performs with bat with some lusty hitting down the order.

Both opening bowlers did well Vinod tied one end while Sreenath picked up three important wickets from the other end. First change bought Vinay, who quickly produced an excellent off-cutter to get one of their top performer, which was very well collected by Piyush. After the departure of Vivek , Legend was almost out of the game they needed a miracle to come back in the game. But with some accurate bowling by Raj and Vinay completely destroyed hopes of any miracles for Legends. Chai also join the party by picking up three wickets in mere 10 balls. But by then writing was on the wall.

Overall it was a very good win for the Hawkes, which has long list of bowlers with lots of variations and after this performance they are coming very good on their batting side also.

Pranai was rightly awarded man of the match for his batting performance. In the post match ceremony he did mention that he wanted to perform well with bat and it was a good time to find form before we get into the crucial phase of the league.

Team Quotes:

Piyush-“Pranai should do scoring sheet as he is not contributing to team in batting department”. Piyush friendly bantering inspired Pranai to perform well with bat.

Pranai-“ I have 50% chance of winning toss so far”. Pranai defending his luck, after losing the toss and blaming Chai for rubbing his bad luck to him for the toss loss.

Team-“It will take little less than four years to cheer him (Chai) up”. Team still celebrating India’s win in the worldcup final.

- written by Pranav Bhajiwala -

Hawkes Vs Mavericks (RS2-03/27/11)

It was a game for Hawkes to cherish for a long long time.

Pre Match:
There was a period during the week, where Mavericks want this game to be abandoned since the ground is not conducive to play, if that is gonaa happen, then Hawkes will be out for 4 weeks without any league games, so we were pushing hard on to have a game.

Toss:
The day started with both teams some how agreeing to play even in the wet conditions. Most of the Hawkes were pumped up to play and few had their doubts, holding back due to slippery conditions of the ground. Finally all hawkes came together and decided to play. This lead chai to go for the toss and as ususal no wonders, Mavericks won the toss and decided to field. Few players were hilariously quoting why does we need the toss, hawkes can voluntarily give the option to opponents without going for toss since we had a very bad record with the toss and didn't win in recent times.

Batting:
Hawkes happily accpeted and decided to go with Purab and Mitesh as openers. 1st over PP, both were cautiously negogiated nudging the ball into the gaps to score 6 runs, and 2nd over bowling PP resulted in favour of hawkes which yielded 11 runs with a good shot from purab to score a boundary, at the end of bowling PP hawkes were comfortably placed with 22 runs in 3 overs. In the process of scoring quicks runs, purab got run out, for which there is no single. Kartik joined Mitesh and steadily managing to scores runs. Out of a blue, kartik went for a big shot and got caught in the deep. Sreenath went in 2nd down and rotating the strike with 1's and 2's in the middle. Mitesh too got out soon and this gave a chance to Raj to prove. Both had a decent partnership with cuts and drives, at the end of 10 overs hawkes were 41/3. This shows that neither team had a real upper hand so far. Few say Hawkes nose is little ahead.

After the break both resumed cautiously. Raj got out when the score was 51. To up the run rate few of our players tried to play big shots but they managed to find the fielders in the deep. Credit should be given to Mavericks fielders for holding on to a good catches. At the end Hawkes folded to 54 allout prem taking 5 wkts for Mavericks was something special.

All our players were little disappointed for not converting the start to a decent final score. Neverthless considering the wet conditions we realised chasing 55 should a stiff task with the bowling attack we have.

Bowling:
Vinod started the innings with the ball, batsman improvised a shot to score a boundary in the 1st over. From the other end sreenath continued by bowling tight line and not giving batsman any room. Pranai came to bowl 3rd over and bowling a decent line to contain the batsman. It was in the 4th over sreenath provided the intial break through for Hawkes by getting rid of unorthodox player Prem. Towards the end of pranai intial spell he got rid of Navjeet, where piyush caught a good catch behind the wkts. At this stage Mavericks were realising that wkts might chip away so they were very cautiuos from here on. Small partnership b/w prashant and abhishek looks treating for hawkes, then there came Vinay to bowl a very tight line and to his credit he got rid of Abhishek, vinod catching a simple one at gully.Sreenath finished his spell with 4 overs 11 runs and wkt. Chai came to bowl the 9th over and he too kept the pressure on with his pacey bowling. At this stage we realised that one more wkt b4 the break would give us a upper hand. That where we introduced Hawkes sharn warne, Sankar. He is into the rythum right from the 1st ball. He didn't disappoint the captain, he got prashant go for a big shot against the spin and it looped up in the air, but hawkes fielder didn't hold onto this crucial catch, but this didn't discourage the bowler, the very next bowl, he got ride of Amol with piyush doing the rest behind the wkts. Mavericks were 27/4 in 10 overs.

In the break we were discussing that if we can get rid of prashant right after the break then we have a very good chance of closing the game.

After the break they resumed the innings very cautiuosly, since we didn't take the Bowling PP yet, they opted to go for Batting PP with 12 and 13 overs, right here we had a chance to get rid of prashant one more time, but we gave him one more life to go on. Chai was steaming in and he got some help from the pitch and got the ball to bounce a little high than the batsman anticipated and its is good enough take the gloove and lopped into the air where Pranai took a simple catch in the slips. Vinay finished is wonderfu spell with 4 overs for 9 runs and a wkt. The very next over chai was little off in bowling giving easy runs as wides, pranai and chai gather and had a discussion on how to come back from here with a couple of quick wkts, pranai was suggesting to chai to stick to his strength (pace). chai did the same and got rid of prashant with a beauty of a dilivery by ratlling his leg stump. This is were hawkes were even more confident on closing the game. By end of 16 overs they were 47/6. Needing 8 runs in 4 overs with 4 wkts in hand.

Pranai took the ball, he is well aware what team is expecting from him this over. To his credit he bowled a maiden over to Rajeev.

Everyone on the field were very tense and hawkes decided to go with Vinod to bowl the 18th over. 8 runs needed in 18 balls and 4 wkts to go for hawkes. As a senior pro vinod delivered a very tight over giving only 1 run and grabing a wkt where sreenath holding onto a very good high catch.

Hawkes had no choice, they went on to take the Bowling PP 19 and 20th over. Sreenath, Vinay and Pranai were finished their quota of overs. Now its all left to skipper,chai to deliver. He delivered a one more fantanstic over where hawkes pulled off 2 wkts, one in the form of a runout and the other with a beauty of ball where piyush did the rest behind the wkts.

So finally it boil down to 6 to get from 6 balls. And for hawkes victory we need only one more wkt.

Vinod was brought in. He knows how to bowl for a tailenders in these situations. Rightly so, he bowled a perfect yorker to get rid of 11th batsman right on the 1st ball of the over...
That is enough for hawkes to go crazy in the middle and all hawkes players were celebrating the win as if they were in their backyard with wine/beer bottles in hand.....
All players were jumping and shouting, awesome scenes on the Thornton Track pitch.

All in all friendly league game turned out to be a friendly-rivalry game!!!!

Chai got the MoM for his 3 crucial wkts and Sreenath got the PoW for his allround performance.

Highlights of the game:

Sreenath(14), Purab(11), Raj (7)
Chai 3/10 the rest of the bowlers too chipped in very good.
Piyush for his 3 good catchs and a run out.

Comments/Players feeling after the win are welcome in the comments section..

-Pranai

Hawkes Vs Sharks (RS1-03/13/11)

Its 2011 Regular season and Hawkes getting ready for the battle with Sharks as their first game of the season. So much of preparation for this game since we have heard about new Cricbay rule of Power Play (Only 2 fielders on the Leg side) and how many other teams fail to use it in the games last week. Even though ranking says Hawkes have the higher ranking Sharks have (prior named Hammers) beaten us in 2008 with 117 to 93. So with that in back of our heads we came to our home ground in thronton jr. high for a second chance. Before I start talking about amazing Hawkes players, let me welcome the new talented additions to our team.

Its around 845am and Hawks lost the toss and starting to raise some eye brows in the team. Sharks decide to bowl first and we sent out our opening pair Purab and Mitesh. Purab is an experienced batsmen but Mitesh was an new addition. Here comes the first mandatory power play over and we scored 4 runs with nicely picking up gaps. 3rd over Sharks decide to take the bowing power play and we had 7 runs in the score card be then. In bowling power play 2 overs, our openers with amazing batting with placing the ball in to gaps manage to get 13 runs. Everybody start getting a good feeling about the game and by end of the 10 over inning break they have scored 50 runs without a wicket. This was one of the longest partnership we had in hawks history. they have beaten the bowlers and fielders with quick singles and great running between wickets. By this time all hawks players pumped up and giving encouragement's to the batsmen. unfortunately by end of 11th over we have lost Mitesh(26) and Vinod(1). with score 52 for 2. We got Purub and Pranai on the crease and lost Purab(24) in 12th over with score 56 for 3. Then our most trusted batsmen Kartik came to the crease and and of 13th over we lost Pranai(2)with score 60 for 4. Even though we had our top-order batsmen in Doug-out I (Don) decide to support Kartik(13). Soon We start putting the pressure on the bowlers and fielders with running doubles and singles. By end of 15th over we manage to score 73 and decide to take next 2 overs batting Power Play. End of 17th over Don (18) got out with making 17 runs in power play overs. So end of 17th over score was 90 for 5. Next 3 overs with good batting by Raj(6), Anil(15), Sreenath(2), Sankar and Pranav(4) Hawkes made 23 runs including Anil's 15 runs in 8 balls with a boundary. End of Hawkes inning we made 116 for 9 wickets.

Now we have made the runs its time to defend those runs. We start the over with Vinod and Sreenath. First over Power Play Vinod took the first wicket with Raj taking comfortable catch in the slip. 2nd over (Bowling Power Play) Sreenath, got the 2nd wicket with Raj taking another comfortable catch in the slip. 3rd over again manage to get a run out wicket by Don in the covers. 5th over bowled by Raj and another Wicket!!! this time Kartik took a diving catch at point. Now Sharks were 5 overs 13 runs for 4 wickets. Till 9th over Sharks were struggling to get runs and at the same time trying to stay alive before Hawkes great fielding and bowling. 9th over Pranai break the partnership they had by getting the 5th wicket with help of Pranav getting a great catch in long off. By end of 10 over break Sharks were 29 runs for 5 wickets. At 13th over Hawks "shane warne" Sankar took 6th wicket by deceiving the batsmen with a legspin bowled when the score was 45. 14th over Mitesh came to do some damage with bowling and took the 7th wicket with Vinod taking a comfortable catch in covers. End of 15th over Sharks were 55 for 7 wickets. 17th over Sharks decide to take the Batting power play and Don took the 8th wicket by Pranai taking a high catch in Long on. 18th over Vinod took the bowling and finished the game by taking 9th wicket bowled and last wicket getting Raj another slip catch.

Hawkes won their fist game by 52 runs with "Mitesh Patel" Man Of the Match. Player of the week "Purab jariwala" This was an amazing game with each and every player contributing their hands on win. We got our first game out and now looking forward for the next week game with Seamers. Congratulation on the winning and proud to be playing with such a talented friends. Lets bring more fire and GO to the top!!

GO HAWKES!!!!


-Don Jayatilake-

Hawkes Vs Kuch Bhi Xl (FO6-01/16/11)

Kudos to Pranav for writing this wonderful article.

On a very foggy Sunday morning, knockout clash between the teams Kuch bhi XI and Hawkes was played. Kuch Bhi Xi team failed to arrive on the ground by the scheduled time. Consequently, Umpires Suneel and Hamid forced the 2 over penalty rule against the Kuch Bhi Xi team. Both teams were riding high on their previous wins and confident to enter the Quarterfinals.

Team news:

Hawkes- Sreenath, Sarbajeet and Sankar were back after their injuries for this crucial match. They persisted with two new all rounders, Raj and Pranav, and middle order batsman Ravin to bring an element of surprise for the opposition team. On paper Hawkes seems to be a very balanced team, batting runs very deep, and always relying on Team Performance for winning matches rather than individual brilliance.

Venki is in his last leg of his professional cricketing career with Cricbay before he leaves for India. He has been an important asset to the team ,he has always scored runs in the top order with numerous MoM and PoW awards. Always cheering team from his Long position like a red shining beacon frequently reminding team to FOKUS (focus). His service will be hugely missed.

Good Luck!! Venki for your future endeavors.

Kuch Bhi Xi- They kept their winning match combination from their previous match. This team is a top heavy batting team with their star batsmen Sandesh whose batting average is among the highest in the competition.

Ground Conditions:

Due to very dense foggy conditions, outfield was very wet, which might have prompted the Kuchh Bhi Xi to send Hawkes to bat first and expect sunny conditions during later stages which could ease out conditions for them. Hawkes had their home ground advantage. Team captain Chai continued his losing toss streak. In the pre match team meeting Vice Captain Pranai stated that 80+ runs is a very good target on this pitch keeping in mind the current ground conditions.

Batting:

Hawkes started very well with our long time opening duo Purab and Venki. After the first 4 overs hawkes was in a very comfortable position at 24/0. But in the process of pushing the run rate up and capitalizing on the good start Purab got out to a simple catch on Mid On. This brought in Kartik to the crease, in a pursuit of a simple single in Mid On region and Kartik was given runout, although it was a bit harsh decision in the process he injured his leg. Two quick wickets in a span of 4 balls brought back Kuchh Bhi Xi right back in the game. Some extra pressure from Kuch Bhi Xi and some good bowling got Venki and Sreenath out in a quick succession. After 6 overs, the score was 26/4. New batsman Ravin, initially played cautiously and then got out to a blinder while trying to push the runrate. Meanwhile Pranai got in and provided some much needed stability and calmness in the middle with Sarabjeet. Pranav and Raj provided some good runs in the lower order to bring the score to 67 runs . Some wayward bowling by the visitors and three double digit scores helped Hawkes to reach a modest total. Extras contributed the highest runs for the match (16 runs with 14W and 2Nb). These 16 extra runs were little too many compared to 4 extra runs by Hawkes.

Bowling and Fielding:

Sreenath and Pranai opened the Bowling for hawkes with some very accurate line and length bowling. Constantly asking questions to the batsmen and creating chances for wickets. Kuch Bhi XI started very cautiously and due to good bowling by Hawkes, they could not score runs and their runrate althrough remained lower than the required runrate all through their innings. First run from the bat came in 3^rd over, which show cased the art of accurate bowling by the Hawkes opening bowlers. Home team was always ahead during the second half of the game and it was apparent by the constant chirping and enthusiasm shown by the home side on the field.

Pressure was building up on the Kuch Bhi XI batsmen to build up the momentum. Some edges and good shots in Raj and Pranav`s over gave them a hope of a birth in quarterfinal, they needed 30 runs of 30 balls. But their hopes were crushed by good bowling by Chai and Sreenath who brought the equation back in the favor of home team, requiring 19 runs of 12 balls. In the second last over, hell broke loose for the visiting team, they lost 3 wickets, 2 runouts one good running catch by Sankar and managed to score only 2 runs. In the Final over, the required equation was 17 runs from 6 balls, with one wicket in hand. This indeed was too much to ask for, from the last batsmen who eventually got run out for an elusive run which was never there.

Kuch Bhi XI lost the match much earlier in the game, when their top order batsmen failed to rotate strike and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. For picking up 3 key wickets at crucial junction Chai got the Man of the Match award.

Overall it was a fantastic team performance and winning those key moments in the match resulted in a comprehensive win, of which Hawkes are proud of.

Team Quotes:

Kartik-“we were low on runs but not on team spirit”. Kartik spirits were least hampered by his injury and was very positive after the match

Pranai- “We bowled very well, and it was good team effort, but batsmen need to perform better in coming games”. Pranai pointing out the flaw in the batsmen`s shot selection towards hitting the loose ball and throwing away wickets.

Chai- “Hawkes was the deserving team for the quarterfinal and for the Gold Championship” Chai was upbeat about the team performance and playing mind games against the next competing team.

-Pranav