There was plenty of confusion in the week preceding the match. We
finally decided to play the game in Mannheim. The ground had short
square boundaries and a very quick outfield. The average score was
around 300 in 40 overs.
SCE lost the toss and TSG Wiesloch (TSGW) chose to bat first. Sunil
and Manish started things off for SCE. They were both swinging it away
at good pace. Sunil, in his second over, got Balaji to nick one behind
to the keeper. Manish followed suit in his third over and got an outside
edge to carry to Mani at first slip. The scoreboard read 38/2 in 6
overs.
Sandeep then came on as first change and bowled a fine spell. Mani
took another fine catch at first slip when Raghu edged another
outswinger. He went on to take 3 wickets in 7 overs. He beat the batsmen
almost every second ball. Shades of Glenn McGrath!
Adnan came on as second change and troubled the batsmen on occasion.
Then came, the star of the day, Prasanna! The batsmen had a tough time
facing his gentle in-swingers. He finally removed the well set TSGW
opening bat Vinay with an lbw shout and got Rami Reddy with a slower
full toss.
By the 20th over, TSGW were 120/7. After drinks, Raghu and Prasad of
TSGW decided to take on the bowlers and went for their shots. On a
small ground, this paid off. Raghu, in particular, took the SCE bowlers
for 46 runs. The 23rd over went for 17 runs.
Then, Adnan brought on Sridhar who took Prasads wicket and then
finished off the tail with 3 wickets in 4 overs. TSGW were all out for a
179 in 27.4 overs.
Prasanna and Shakhawat (on debut) went in
with the aim of batting as long as possible. They played the new ball
with care. Once their eyes were set, they both let go. Shakhawat, in
particular, cover drove and square cut a la Gundappa Viswanath.
Prasanna, at the other end, was pulling and flicking with disdain. SCE
chased down the small TSGW total in 19.3 overs at an amazing run rate of
9.48!
Shakhawat scored 77* and Prasanna 67*.
It has to be said that
this was our best effort in the field so far. There was plenty of
chatter and energy. Fielders were sharp. It was the bowling and fielding
that set up the game in our favour and the way both openers batted was
encouraging to say the least.
This is the first win in the league for our club and we are proud of
it!
P.S.: We thank Jai Ramamurthy for selflessly offering his car.
