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The Inaugural Division II Match
The Inaugural Division II Match |
Brief scores: CCL-Combined made 108 for 5 in 25 overs, FCCC-B replied with 109 for 6 in 19.3 overs. FCCC-B won by 4 wickets
The inaugural Division 2 game hosted by FCCC-B at Lincoln Jr High in Fort Collins was a tremendous success. The two teams played with great spirit as new players in the CCL competed with veterans, some of whom have been playing cricket in Colorado for over twenty years. This made the fixture competitive and enjoyable.
The game inevitably started late as we waited for three players from the CCL Combined team who never showed up. However, Mangesh Sahasrabudhe, FCCC’s 12th man and Steve Baker, there as spectator, agreed to play with the CCL Combined team. Albeit a disappointing pre-start, once Umpire Mike Riley called “play”, the action was fast and furious. Tahir Rana, the CCLC captain, won the toss and elected to bat. FCCC’s opening dynamic duo Brendan Allen and Tanvir Islam initially struggled with their line but both produced a couple of beauties in their first over. Brendan clean bowled Alagu Paulraj for a duck then Tanvir bowled Tahir off his pads for 1. CCLC were in deep trouble at 7 for 2 in 2 overs. CCLC went about consolidating the innings with a well-managed 3rd wicket partnership between Mangesh and Prasad Malvankar. Mangesh (35) and Rajendra Prasad (14) batted with great concentration blocking the good balls and dispatching the bad balls to the boundary. Mike King, FCCC-B ‘s captain, decided it was time for a change in tactics, so he spread the field and brought on Raju Jairam with his slow right arm off-breaks. Raju’s sixth delivery broke the partnership as Prasad was trapped plumb playing across the line
Tejas Tank, one of FCCC’s newest members who has crossed over from tennis ball cricket, distinguished himself during the slog overs with a short spell of 3 overs for 4 runs bowling an excellent length. Omer Syed also playing in his first match contributed with some enthusiastic out fielding and his first ever wicket in the last over of the innings bowling Aditya Dalvi, who made a very useful 17 off 30 balls: CCLC’s innings closed on 108 for 5 off the allotted 25 overs.
After the break FCCC-B started with a quick reply, however, in the third over the fiery Prasad produced a good quick away swinger and Ajay edged it to the keeper for a regulation catch. Sarfaraz, opening for FCCC-B, buckled down wanting to take full advantage of his opportunity. Bhanu Mudhunuri, came in at one down and looked threatening hitting successive fours before he edged Alagu Paulraj to the keeper. Sarfaraz (22) was the main stay for FCCC-B and helped his team with an intelligent knock.
FCCC-B looked like they were heading towards a comfortable victory at 73 for 2 in 13 overs, however, in typical fort Collins fashion, they suffered a mini collapse losing Prasad (9), Sarfaraz Khan, Brendan (8) ,Raju (0) in fairly quick succession. Mandar Sunthankar (17* off 18 balls) the veteran right-hander was lighting fireworks at the other end - timing the ball with great purpose which included two lofted boundaries, one over long-off, the other over long-on. Eventually, FCCC-B reached their target with 5.3 overs to spare.
In some respects the scores were somewhat secondary: The real winners of the day were all the players who demonstrated great sportsmanship and camaraderie. In the twelve years I’ve played in the CCL this game was probably one of the most enjoyable as it was a real celebration of cricket: competitive without being cut-throat, and watching players I’ve played with for years finally getting an real opportunity to participate in a game compared to just being there to make up the playing 11 in Div 1. We also witnessed the introduction of new players just learning the game like Nathan Baker and Sean Perkins.
A thank you should go out to Ganesh Sharma, Raymond Mascarenhas, Dipal Patel, Mike Riley, and all of the others who have been driving forces in the organization of a second Division. The future of the CCL looks bright if we can keep the development of Division 2 going.
Scorecard
CCL-B Batting: R B 4 6
T Rana b Islam 1 2
A Paulraj b Allen 0 1
R Prasad lbw Jairam 14 40 2
M Sahasrabuddhe b Sunthankar 35 65 3
A Dalvi b Omer 17 30 1
N Baker Not Out 1 3
S Perkins Not Out 0 1
D Tulsiani DNB
S Baker DNB
Extras (38w, 3nb)
Total (5 wickets, 108 runs, 25 overs)
FCCC-B Bowling O M R W
B Allen 4 0 12 1 (7w)
T Islam 4 0 9 1 (4w)
M King 3 0 13 0 (7w)
P Malvankar 3 0 26 0 (6w, 3nb)
R Jairam 4 0 17 1 (3w)
T Tank 3 0 4 0 (2w)
M Sunthankar 2 0 10 1 (2w)
O Syed 2 0 17 1 (4w)
FCCC-B Batting: R B 4 6
A Deshpande c Rana b Prasad 8 11 1
S Khan c Baker b Sahasrabuddhe 22 30 2
B Mudhunuri c Rana b Alagu 13 18 2
P Malvankar Run Out 9 19
M Sunthankar Not Out 17 18 3
B Allen c Mudhunuri b Sahasrabuddhe 8 11 1
R Jairam c Prasad b Alagu 0 4
T Islam Not out 5 4
M King DNB
T Tank DNB
O Syed DNB
Extras (23w, 4nb)
Total (6 wickets, 109 runs, 19.3 overs)
CCL-B Bowling O M R W
R Prasad 5 1 18 1 (6w)
A Dalvi 4.3 0 23 0 (6w)
A Paulraj 4 0 25 2 (2w)
D Tulsiani 2 0 23 0 (7w, 3nb)
M Sahasrabuddhe 3 0 16 2 (1w, 1nb)
T Rana 1 0 5 0 (1w)
Photos
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