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 -