‘Tail-less’ Commonwealth A Beats Caricom
(By: Soumendra Basu, Commonwealth
C.C)
It is said that one of the good problems a captain might have, is to provide all his players with ample batting opportunities. Caricom found out about the lack of a Commonwealth A batting tail in an engrossing and well-played match at the GE grounds on May 23, 2004. The pregame doubts about the overnight thunderstorms and the high water table in swampy Lynn were laid to rest when the wicket and the field was found to be damp, but definitely playable. Undoubtedly, the ball was expected to keep low, and Commonwealth captain Fazal was almost relieved to lose the toss, and was sent in to field by Caricom captain, Simon.
A. Sealy along with Elvis Odlum strode out to start the Caricom inning. Strangely, Elvis was a picture of quiet concentration when he took guard. The unusual silence seemed to unnerve Commonwealth opening bowler Sameer Masurkar, who proceeded to bowl several wides in the first over before he settled into a good line and length. At the other end, Sai Vajha found his line right away, and bowled tidily. In spite of some decent bowling, Sealy and Elvis played very sensible cricket, picking up ones and twos, to get to an opening stand of 54. It took Fazal to introduce himself as the first change bowler, to pick up Sealy as the first victim, out LBW. In came Simon, who after surviving some anxious initial moments, especially against Ali who was introduced from the other end, settled down to some sensible stroke making. The wicket showed variable bounce and the batting never looked easy. However, the edges and lofted drives always seemed to fall just short of the fielders, and the LBW shouts looked close but never plumb. Under these conditions, the pair took the score to 116, before Nataraj was introduced into the attack and had Elvis caught by Ashish. After scoring 24 runs in roughly 24 overs, Elvis had finally left the building!
Although Perkins got out quickly, Simon carried on the good work, first with Spencer and then with Basil Collymore. However, at this stage, in spite of having wickets in hand, Caricom could not really open up due to some tight bowling by the Commonwealth bowlers. In an increasing sign of desperation, the Caricom batsmen started to step out and loft the ball, and were lucky to survive two diving catch attempts by Ghaz and a muffed stumping attempt by Mark. Some ‘end of the inning’ hoiking, capped by a last ball six by Basil took the Caricom score to 179, decent and defendable, but perhaps less than what they would have scored with so many wickets in hand, had the Commonwealth bowlers not maintained their line and length in the death overs.
The Commonwealth innings started slowly, with openers Tariq and Basu batting carefully without forcing the pace. The scoring rate was helped by several wides by Elvis in his first over, almost all outside the off stump. Odlum, however, soon settled down, and bowled an excellent spell, repeatedly troubling the batsmen. With the run rate dwindling, Basu went after Thomas, hitting him for three fours in quick succession. The opening pair took the score to a respectable 41 after 10 overs, before Simon introduced himself and was immediately rewarded with Tariq’s wicket. It was a strange dismissal as the ball hit the back of Tariq’s bat as he was squared up and carried to gully. The new batsman, Nataraj was out the very next ball, trying to flick a ball that kept low and being trapped plumb in front of the wicket. Ghaz came in with Simon on a hat-trick, and luckily for Commonwealth, began to middle the ball right away. On the other end, Basu, not learning a lesson from Nataraj’s dismissal, played an across-the-line heave to a short ball, which did not get up more than a few inches and crashed into the middle stump. In came captain Fazal, and two balls latter was out LBW to Simon. So Commonwealth had gone from 41 for no loss in 10 overs to 50/4 at the end of the 13th over, with Simon bagging all the wickets, and one could not blame Caricom for thinking that they had the game in hand.
In came Ali, fresh from an unbeaten century for MSCL on the day before. It was obvious that he was the man in sublime form. He played himself in with firm pushes for ones and twos. All of a sudden, batting looked very easy, and the ground was filled with the sound of the ball meeting the sweet spot of the bat, as both Ali and Ghaz played some delectably wristy leg side strokes. The pair did not go for any expansive hits, but scored on almost every ball. Simon, astutely sensing a definite change in momentum, reminded his players that Caricom had not won yet. Soon, the batsmen started to open up, and Ali hit Licorish for an amazing all-along-the-ground straight driven four, with the long on fielder hardly moving; while Ghaz hit a huge six into the parking lot well over long off. The pair took the score to 125 at the end of the 24th over, when Simon, sensing that the match was slipping away, brought back Odlum. Ghaz tried to repeat the lofted straight drive, but was nicely caught by Edwards on the deep, the 5th wicket falling in the 25th over at the score of 129. In came Dave, the hyper-kinetic Aussie, and he and Ali ran like hares, turning ones into twos and twos into threes. Just when it looked like Commonwealth had the match wrapped up, as it often happens in this wonderful game, things got really exciting again. Ali and Dave fell in quick succession in the 34th over, both to Elvis, who bowled his heart out in this game, and the score at the end of the over was 163 for 7. Obviously, Elvis’s serious knee injury is a thing of the past. There were still 17 runs to go, and everyone was on the edge. Except the two batsmen, Sai and Ashish, who were a picture of calm. With Sai blocking anything straight in copybook defense, Ashish called for a new bat and then proceeded to pull a ball over square leg for 4. Finally, Sai lofted one over midwicket for 2 for the winning runs, and Commonwealth reached their target of 180 runs in 37.5 overs.
As usual, after the game, Caricom provided an excellent meal, and there was friendly chatter over a well-played match. It was a close affair, but ultimately, it was the tight bowling in the death overs, the deep batting line up and the superb ongoing batting form of Ali that brought the game home for Commonwealth A.