Commonwealth brushes Caricom aside

(By: Nafis Ahmed, Commonwealth C.C)

Semi Final: MSCL League, 2004

Roberts Field was selected as the venue for the semi-final between Caricom and Commonwealth Cricket Club (CCC). The grass was cut short and the ground looked in an awesome shape, considering the wet Saturday that drenched many parts of the city. It was chilly and slightly windy, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, providing a golden Sunday for an exciting semi-final.

Notwithstanding, that it was the MSCL semi-final, the game was already a grudge match due to the circumstances under which these two teams were unable to finish their league game a week ago. CCC had won the previous two encounters with Caricom, and were favorites to win this one as well. The only cause for concern was the absence of the in-form all-rounder, Dave Hoyle, who got injured in the game against Caricom, a week ago.

Fazal won the toss and elected to bat. CCC opened with the right and left combination of Basu and Sai Vajha. Basu have been amongst the runs, especially during the later part of the tournament. But this was not his day. He drove back to the bowler in the second over of the innings and was neatly caught and bowled by Simon. Nataraj joined Sai but was immediately in trouble as he padded up to a delivery by Simon and was declared LBW. CCC was immediately on the back foot and Fazal joined Sai under pressure with the score at 7 for 2 wickets. Soon afterwards, Sai (5) was unfortunate to get run-out, as Fazal misjudged the second run, and he was left stranded. This brought Ali Rana to the middle, with CCC 3 for 13. Fazal and Ali started to rebuild the innings that looked in tatters at that point.

Caricom opened the bowling with Kevin Corbett and Simon, and they kept their opening pair bowling their allotted overs, knowing full well that they needed to take as many early wickets as possible, considering the quality of their remaining attack. The strategy from CCC was not to loose any more wickets against the opening bowlers, and continue to score carefully. Characteristically, Fazal was still punctuating his innings with some boundaries, whenever he saw the opportunity. He finished a magnificent half- century, under pressure, studded with some beautiful boundaries. After sixteen overs, the change of bowling did not bring the results that CCC expected. Ali, after playing a patient knock of 9 off 38 deliveries, was declared LBW off the bowling of Collymore in the 17^th over when the score was at 92. Nafis joined Fazal, but the latter departed almost immediately to a great running catch on the boundary by Perkins off the bowling of Carl Yarde. He made a brisk 65 off 56 deliveries and did the brunt of scoring (65 out of 95) till that point.

CCC were now precariously placed at 95 for 5 in 20 overs, as drinks were taken. With the majority of the frontline batsmen dismissed, and 20 overs to go, it was not a comfortable situation by any means. It was time to rebuild, and that is what the newly formed pair of Nafis and Venkat did by placing the ball in the gaps and running their singles and doubles. Both batsmen chipped at the bowling until Venkat (18 off 25) was declared LBW off the bowling of Yarde. He did the job at hand by not losing his wicket at a crucial point of the game and supported Nafis by rotating the strike as best as he could. It was a precious (65) run partnership, and was pivotal for CCC to come back in the game. Qasim joined Nafis, and continued the good work of Venkat, whereas Nafis continued to plunder runs, and finished his half-century in due course. Qasim (9) ran himself out by a direct throw from Layne. Soon after, Nafis (61 off 63) lost his wicket as he tried to accelerate the rate of scoring, skying the ball to be caught at the deep midwicket boundary by Corbett off the bowling of Layne, when the score was 198. Just as Fazal saw through the first half of the CCC innings, Nafis saw through the latter part and CCC was now in a good position to defend a total. The latter batsmen were not able to add considerably to the total and CCC was all out for 201 in 38 overs.

This was a score that CCC felt confident that they could defend. The spirits were high and CCC took the field with a substitute (Ashish) in place of Nafis who strained his calf while batting. Sai opened the bowling and was in his groove from the word go. Sameer supported him very well from the end, and even more so by taking a brilliant catch at the long off boundary to dismiss the big hitting Kenmore Spencer (2). Both the opening bowlers bowled with good accuracy and troubled the batsmen enough to keep them in check. Sai dismissed Sealy (7), trapping him in front of the wicket on a ball that straightened in the air. Both seamers were bowling well enough that Fazal decided to bowl them out. They both did a splendid job by keeping the score in check and picking up some valuable wickets. Sai had figures of (8-1-19-3) and Sameer had (8-1-21-0), which ensured that Caricom were less than 50 runs in the first 20 overs.

Simon took center stage and started to bat in the imperious manner that is associated with him. But he was a lone-ranger – a lonely crusader against an inevitable tide that swept his side. None of the other batsmen were able to withstand the dual spin attack of Ali and Qasim, and both spinners ran through the Caricom lower order producing exceptional figures of (8-1-26-3) and (8-2-17-3) respectively. Caricom were bamboozled and Simon could do nothing more than, watch from the other end, the procession of defeated batsmen. He remained 43 not out, with his team mustering 127 for 9 in 40 overs.

CCC’s effort was remarkable in the field, as all the bowlers employed their trade with consummate skill. However, just as a bad habit, there was some uninspiring fielding and at least three straightforward chances that should have been easily taken. But even this lapse was balanced by exactly three exceptional catches taken by Sameer, Ghazanfer and Ashish, in that order. All in all it was a great effort, and had the effect of strangulation of Caricom into a measly total.

There was a lot of team spirit displayed that day. Everyone chipped in with a decent effort, and it should be mentioned that even our non-playing members in the shape of Dave and Ashish turned out to help the team. Ashish fielded in place of Nafis, and Dave had the unenviable task of keeping score while sitting in the Caricom camp, and enduring the high-decibel anguish of Elvis. We were also supported by our lone supporter, Aditya Kothekar, who showed up (as he always does), on a cold and windy day, to see us through to the final. Thanks guys, it is this team spirit and support with which we want to enter the final to take on Conway, next week. Hope to see all of you there!!!