Yet another win registered by Commonwealth against Caricom
(By: Commonwealth C.C)

 

Why do we play cricket? Is it to have a leisurely summer time? Is it to relive our youth in our respective native lands? Is it to play a game that we all love and even now cannot think of abandoning? Or is it to show our opponents how strong and industrious we are with leather and willow, that it is inconceivable to defeat us, save for cheating and other underhanded measures. The last meeting with Caricom in the regular league schedule was an unsavory event that highlighted the temperament of two very different teams. It also highlighted the fact that some people take this game more seriously than they should.

 

Both Caricom and CCC had already qualified for the MSCL semi-finals and this match was primarily to decide the second and third spots behind Conway, and really to decide who will be the hosts for the semi-finals the week after. Caricom lost to CCC at their home ground and came out to level the score. CCC wanted to avoid the territorial depression of the GE ground in Lynn, hence were determined to win.

 

Simon won the toss and decided to bat, and he himself came out to open the innings with Sealy. He was in a belligerent mood, and started to smash the bowling almost immediately. He was particularly severe on Sai, and hit some serious sixes behind the bowlers back in his first over. From the other end, Sameer was bowling extremely well and only in the third over got the prize wicket of the aggressive Simon, inducing a top-edge towards fine leg, which was brilliantly caught by Mark Wright, who ran backwards and dove and somehow came up with the ball. It was the best catch of the season, and certainly wiped the slate clean for Mark who was not having a good season with gloves, up until this point in the tournament. This is a great sign for Commonwealth, and a confident Mark behind the wicket is what is required to win the tournament.

 

With Simon gone, Caricom was on the back foot, and they started to rebuild with Yarde and Sealy. The latter departed soon, adjudged LBW off Fazal. Yarde played sensibly, and cautiously, especially against the roaring Sameer who was bowling with some pace and accuracy. Fazal had him bowl out his quota on a trot, and he returned impressive figures of 8-1-21-1 – a very welcome return to form, considering the stage of the tournament. Caricom rebuilt with some steady middle order batting by Yarde (18), E. Lane (24) and D. Lane (39 notout). The latter portion of their innings revolved around D. Lane who held it together and was instrumental in getting Caricom to a respectable 187 in 40 overs. CCC let their guard down in the final ten overs, where an overall lethargy or lack of application let the opponents off the hook. This is something that is needed to be checked and improved upon for the playoffs. For CCC Qasim (8-1-33-2), Fazal (8-0-34-2) and Ali (7-0-26-3) bowled well.

 

The CCC response started disastrously with 4 of the top order batsmen falling cheaply to some accurate bowling from the Caricom attack bowlers. CCC was 4-19 when Ali joined Fazal, and the two stalwarts started to respond to some hostile bowling. Simon greeted Ali, early in his innings with one that reared up from good length, but Ali’s response was reminiscent of the innings he played against the same opponents where he almost, single-handedly won the game. He started to pick Simon, and dispatched him all over the place. In one particular over from Simon, Ali picked up 24 runs, with two huge straight sixes off the ageing Antiguan. Ali raced to 49 off 38 balls, at which point he played a very uncharacteristic cross-batted hoick, to be bowled just before the drinks break.

 

At the break the score was 87 for 5 and Dave Hoyle joined his captain who was also batting very fluently from the other end. They started to build a partnership which was rudely interrupted by an injury to Dave, while he clashed with the wicketkeeper and twisted his ankle. He was taken off of the ground and was in considerable pain. The hope is that he recovers before our playoff game the week after. Venkat joined Fazal, who by now was punishing the bowling and had raced to a breezy 50 off 63 balls. When the score reached 137, Fazal attempted a sharp single, and Venkat responded. The fielder had a direct hit but according to the leg umpire, Venkat had made his ground by at least six inches. But this was not what Caricom thought had happened. They protested the decision, yelled at the umpire and marched out of the ground in protest – the implication being CCC has cheated them out of a run out.

 

It was a stunning decision from Simon to walk out of the ground. The game wasn’t lost yet, although CCC were in a strong position with 50 runs to go and 13 overs remaining. Perhaps the decision could be attributed to the way Fazal was spanking the ball all over the park, with Caricom already exhausting all of their frontline bowlers. With part-timers like Collymore and Spencer bowling, and Fazal and Venkat well set, Simon probably thought this to be his best opportunity to get out of the predicament. However, it was an unsporting decision. People who have played with Caricom certainly know that this is not the first time Caricom has walked out of the playing field. The slightly saner elements from within the Caricom camp called it a heat of the moment decision. Fazal pleaded with Simon to resume the game but to no avail. Though the game ended sooner than expected but the hope remains for a better semi-finals game between the two heavyweights of MSCL Division 1 !!!