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-
