Author: Kervyn Dimney
Submitted: Aug 13, 2007
This was the one of the best games (IMHO, The other two can be found here: 2005 KO Championship game and 2002 KO Championship game ) CSCC have ever played against Fort Collins, but definitely the best one where CSCC delivered a crushing blow to FCCC restricting them to perhaps their lowest score(63) ever.
From the start of the day CSCC felt that they were going to take this game away and there was nothing to stop them as on previous occassions. FCCC is aware that CSCC is a one of the teams that have a chance to spoil their lucky streak. Damn Spoilers !!!
CSCC got there well before game time after that long drive from Springs and had the opportunity to relax and inspect the outfield and the pitch (as Fort Collins had been receiving a lot of rain in the last couple of days) to determine what would be the best thing to start off with when we won the toss.
The umpires were late in arriving at the ground and that gave us an extra opportunity to do what was needed.
Yogish & Girish (the umpires from CSUCC) rolled in, and the toss was done ending in CSCC winning it. With the current damp conditions, the decision was made by CSCC to let FCCC bat first.
CSCC initiated the attack with Mehmood Khan, who set the tone this morning starting off with a fiery intimidating bouncer to Ganesh. That was the signal that FCCC should have taken as a warning that CSCC were coming to get them. According to Raymond, "He was constantly clocking 130 km/h (Don't ask me how I know that) reminding me of the famous Khan in his prime."
As usual Nadeem was out there for the on-slaught, but things were different today. Nadeem struggled a lot trying to connect a ball to send it out of the park, but was unsuccessful at every occassion. He started to calm down and tried placing the ball to get the singles. Mehmood was at his best with his concotion of lethal fiery balls, yorkers and bouncers. At the other end Ganesh struck a 6 and was looking comfortable. FCCC was moving along well.
Probably FCCC thought that Kervyn Dimney was going to be the next bowler in the CSCC attack. But suprise...CSCC brought in Narayan Madabusi. Narayan was equally deceitful at the other end literally making the batsman dance with his swinging deliveries, amazing not only the FCCC camp but also the CSCC players who had a few chuckles. It was really difficult for them to figure him out but settled down and looked for singles.
At the start of the fifth over, a ripper from Mehmood got the edge of Ganesh's gloves that saw him caught brilliantly by Shobhan Desai down the leg. There was frustration expressed by the batsman over the decision but the umpire (and so was the bowler and keeper) was very confident of his decision. The score was 30 for 1 after 5 overs initiating the collapse of FCCC.
With CSCC maintaining an attacking field and bowling with variable accuracy, Ravi Sajjan(1) did not stay for long. He was soon found in front of his stumps to Narayan Madabusi bringing up the second break thru for CSCC. The score was 33 for 2 in the 6th over.
Gopal replaced Ravi and played out Narayan Madabusi cautiously. Nadeem being impatient, was not going to go any further than the 10 he was able to score as he went for a wild hit trying to take on Mehmood Khan but was bowled on the very first ball of the 7th over. The score was still at 32, now for the loss of 3 wickets.
Dipal was the next victim to Mehmood's fury. After playing just one ball, he went for a drive outside the off stump and edged a catch to the keeper Shobhan Desai, out for 0, leaving the score still at 32, now for the loss of 4 wickets in the 7th over. A maiden over with 2 wickets. That was an awesome over for CSCC.
Gopal still unable to open his account with some runs, totally misread the ball that went the other way and edged Narayan where he was caught brilliantly by Mehmood Khan who was stationed in the 2nd slip, diving a great distance to his left to end up with an awesome one handed catch. Some awesome bowling from Narayan and the second FCCC player to get out on a duck. 10 overs done and FCCC were 35 for 5.
Mike Riley played for quite some time but was not able to score more than a run. He was trying to place the ball in the gully area but was caught by Narayan Madabusi who was placed appropriately in the short gully position. This was Mehmodd Khan's 4th wicket in his 6th over. FCCC were 6 down with only 37 runs on the board and we were not even at the first break. Last week's POTW Shashidher Reddy was brought into the attack hoping to bring about another break thru but was not successful in his only 1 over attempt.
The first drinks break was called in and FCCC's scorecard read as 39 for 6 in 12 overs.
Nitin Bhardawaj and Rajesh were the two that were trying to stay their ground and bring some decency to the FCCC total. Kervyn Dimney was brought into the attack and was unplayable by Nitin missing out on bringing his innings to an end. But the pressure of not scoring brought about the wicket of Rajesh Idate. The CSCC bowling attack was too good and the evidence of it was when Rajesh Idate was caught by Mehmood in the slip Off Kervyn Dimney. He had played 20 balls and was still not able to score. He was the 3rd FCCC batsman to be out for a duck. If the scoreboard was moving, it was because of the extras,
as none were coming off the bat. The score was now 44 for 7 after 14 overs.
Kalpesh joined Nitin and he did not play any big shots. He was looking for the occassional singles that were made available to them. Keshav bowled a tight 17th over and the score was 52 for 7. The 18th over was productive for FCCC as Nitin was able to find the boundary for 4 runs and ended up by acquiring a total of 8 runs from it.
With 60 runs on the board, FCCC was slowly inching to a better place than the 50 they should have been wrapped up in by CSCC. Keshav did not want the score to move any further. In his 2nd over, he ended Nitin's innings of 11 runs when he was caught behind by Shobhan Desai.
Tejas joined Kalpesh but was out the very next ball again by a good catch from Shobhan Desai. He was the 4th FCCC player to be out on a duck. This brought Keshav up for the chance of getting a hatrick, so the field was brought in to catch anything that was hit in the air. Prasad was able to thwart the hattrick as he was able to pick the ball and send it for 2 runs. At the end of the 19th over FCCC were at the end of their rope with 63 for 10.
As usual, Mehmood was brought into the attack to finish it up and capture a FIVER. Led by a fiery first spell, the very first ball was the wicket taking ball that was a toe crusher with Prasad being adjudged LBW, leaving Kalpesh not out on 2.
The FCCC innings was all done well within the second break. CSCC was successful in bringing the FCCC innings to an end being in the driver's seat at all times. The runs that came off the bat were 42 with the extras being 21 runs. Only Ganesh(14), Nadeem(10), Nitin(11) were the FCCC batsman that were able to get into double digits. A combination of persistent CSCC bowling and poor shot selection from the FCCC batsmen saw them in a lot of trouble.
This has been FCCC's lowest score ever, the previous lowest one being against CSU in 2003 (16-Aug-2003 CSU @ FCCCgame Scorecard)
Shobhan and Narayan were sent in to initiate the CSCC attack. The opening FCCC bowlers were bowling a decent line and length but could not break the CSCC defences. For most part of his innings, Shobhan faced Nadeem and got comfortable playing his inswinging deliveries. Shobhan walked down the track a couple of times without any intentions to hit but just to get under Nadeem's skin, and Nadeem responded with a few bouncers which were negotiated very well by Shobhan.
On the other end, Narayan too settled down comfortably facing Dipal and Nadeem. On one occassion, he was able to time a hook off Dipal Patel adding a couple runs to the scoreboard. Even though they did not score too many runs (mainly due to the thick outfield), they played confidently, timing the ball very well.
CSCC were looking comfortable at the end of the 8 overs with 13 on the board for no loss.
FCCC still didn't want to surrender without a fight. FCCC sensed a change in the bowling attack was needed and so Rajesh Idate and Gopal were brought in. Rajesh Idate was successful in further supressing the scoring with a maiden coming off his second over. Gopal was then able to get a ball to move away from Narayan seeing him caught behind by Ganesh. The first break thru had come for FCCC. The CSCC score was 19 for 1.
Kervyn Dimney was sent in, and impatient as he is, he swung at the first ball he faced hoping to score but was beaten, later settling down to play out Gopal's over.
Rajesh then was able to get the next few break thrus in that next over, finding Shobhan Desai caught in the slips by Nitin Bhardawaj. Robert Lezama replacing Shobhan was able to immediately pick up a over-pitched ball from Rajesh Idate and sent it for a huge 6 telegraphing his intentions of going for the victory target. Facing the last ball of Rajesh Idate's over, Kervyn was adjudged LBW. At the end of the 13th over the CSCC score read as 27 for 3 wickets.
Again CSCC was finding itself in a mini collapse. A situation that CSCC was capable of recovering, but it did not look promising. Hoping to get out of this situation, Vicky was sent it. Robert was able to add a few more runs to the scorecard and got Vicky on the strike. He hit the ball towards the square-leg area, and ran the first one quickly and went in for the second. Not expecting the throw to be a direct one, he found himself short of the crease and back in the CSCC camp. Score was 32 for 4 in the 14th over.
Known for his defences, Raymond was sent in to stop the fall of wickets and ensure a stable CSCC innings. Raymond played Rajesh carefully, but Rajesh was able to get one thru Raymond rapping him on the pads getting him out LBW. Score was 32 for 5 in 15 overs. Smooth progress became tortuous passage.
With 5 wickets down, CSCC was very much in an FCCC situation. Somebody had to stay and get CSCC thru. There was a lot of pressure on the in-going batsman Mehmood Khan. The fall of these two quick wickets caused some flutters but Mehmood downed the shutters calmly.
Coming together at a perilous 32 for 5, with FCCC's medium-pacers all fired up, Robert and Mehmood hit their way out. Rajesh & Gopal kept sending down tight overs, keeping CSCC in the hunt, but it was just a matter of a few good overs before CSCC crossed the tape.
Mehmood was aggressive in bursts - a string of dot balls being followed by a meaty blow. The 17th over was a one such productive over for CSCC with Mehmood dispatching Rajesh Idate for another 6 with minimum fuss.
Mike Riley was the next FCCC bowler. This was the first time CSCC is playing against Mike Riley's leg spin. Both the CSCC batsman played him well and got 4 runs off his over.
Dipal was brought back into the attack in the 22nd over. Playing very confidently, Robert whacked the ball and sent it for a huge six to the long on boundary, bringing CSCC closer to reaching the target with just 2 runs away from victory.
As far as CSCC was concerned, Mike Riley was bowling the last over. Robert picked up a single, giving Mehmood the chance to hit the winning run. When Mehmood is batting, and you expect him to hit a single, he goes all out and with contemptuous ease clears the long-on fence for a huge 6 bringing up the CSCC victory in style.
Robert Lezama and Mehmood Khan, playing with contrasting hands, added 37 precious runs to their partnership. Both delved into their back pages to produce a sparkling innings. Rajesh Idate was the pick of the FCCC bowlers claiming 3 wickets but not before receiving some tap.
A huge sigh of relief and an expression of joy followed from the CSCC camp applauding the performances of their batsman Robert(23*) and Mehmood(23*) for bringing us home victorious.
Mehmood Khan was declared the Man of the Match for his terrific bowling procuring him five wickets, taking 2 catches (one of them totally amazing), and his contribution of 23* that included 2 huges sixes.
[Scorecard]