At this point, we let the pressure off a little. The fielding became a little slack, and the bowling no longer looked penetrating. The batsmen were running singles at will, and one almost wondered where a wicket would come from. Then all of a sudden, they took a single too many. Srikanth straight drove Krishna, who then performed the first of two strategic misfields on the day. The ball rolled out to Rohan at mid off, as the batsmen set off for a single. For once, Rohan actually picked up the ball cleanly, and had a shy. Unfortunately, Krishna ducked, and the throw missed his head as a result. Fortunately, the ball just happened to hit the stumps at the strikers end, and Vijay was well out of his ground!
The bowling was still lacking penetration, but it was tight, and they were forced into running the singles, and eventually, they presented us with the simplest of run out chances, Hrishi and Atul both showing great presence of mind in effecting it with ease. A drinks break followed, and during this, Atul handed the keeping pads over to Madan. Apparently Atul is a little short on patience these days, and Bruce's deliveries were coming through just a little too slowly for him to handle. At least, that's what we thought it was all about, but the truth surfaced in Bruces next over. Fielding at backward point, Atul made a complete hash of things, and the batsmen, haivng sensed this, set off for a comfortable second run. Atul casually sauntered back, and retrieved the ball, and then, out of the blue, sent the ball rocketing back, striking the single visible stump square in the middle. Rumour has it that the batsman is still undergoing therapy.
At this point, the entertainment really started, with Hrishi coming on to bowl his second spell. After his first ball, bowled off just half a dozen paces, he pulled up, and started stretching his leg. "It's just cramping a bit" he said, "Don't worry about it, I can still bowl." Next ball, and it was cramps again. What Hrishi didn't realise this time, was that it was the wrong leg which cramped up second time around! The remainder of his spell was a classic combination of cramps, legs, backaches, wides, Venu-esque appeals, and anything else you'd care to throw in. Intriguingely, it was his best spell of the match.
In the meantime, Vijay, who had batted with great intelligence thus far, started to launch an attack on our hapless bowlers. Rohan brought himself back on, thinking he could do better than the rest of the pack, and was promptly hit into the road for a tremendous six. An even slower slower ball next one up though, accounted for Vijay, with Nikhil making a very tough catch look very simple.It all ended in some style a little later. Bruce bowled the worst ball seen this side of Mars, a rank full toss on leg stump, and Subbu graciously patted it straight into Hamzahs hands at backward square leg.
Atul came in next, and did an Atul, for want of a better description. As usual, he looked absolutely solid at the crease, and was playing textbook cricket. What's more, this season he's added the ability to jog (as opposed to run, we understand he's still working on that part of it). Sohan and Atul put on 50 runs in good time, but the former was visibly tiring, and ended up patting a caught and bowled chance back to the bowler.
That brought debut-hero Hrishikesh to the crease, and Sunnyvale were quaking at the very sight of him. Having shrugged off the ill effects of cramps, Hrishi was straight into his element, pulling his very first delivery through square leg for 4. Three balls later, he suffered an attack of cramp in all his legs, or so we are led to believe. This resulted in the ball popping straight up in the air, and the fielder made no mistake.
Dominic was in next, in his newly adopted middle order position. He looked a little uncertain, but was all style as always. Unfortunately, there's a small problem with substance at the moment, and today it was the turn of the inside edge back onto the stumps. Just two games left this season for White Man Number Two, but we know he can bat, and we should be playing on a nice track next weekend.
Venu was in next, with Sunnyvale quite confident that they had the game under control. They were even more confident when Atul, after shocking Zain to the core by hitting a big six over mid wicket, played all across a straight one and was caught plumb in front. What they obviously didn't realise was that Madan is a batsman yaar.
It was smooth sailing after that. Venu and Madan shared in an unbroken 7th wicket partnership worth 47 runs, and guided us to victory. Each of them only twice tried to throw their wicket away, which was particularly pleasing to see. "You guys have a strong tail", an unnamed Sunnyvale player told me later.
An excellent win for us then. Sunnyvale were on a high after two very good wins themselves, and we brought them back down to earth. It's early days yet, but Sunnyvale and Berkeley look to be our biggest rivals for the league title. A win to complete the double over Sunnyvale next week, and that'll be as good a start as we could want to the season.
Worst Shot - Hrishikesh.
Silly Run Out - Atul. Never thought I'd award this one for a piece of fielding!.
Dommy of the Match - Hrishikesh, for his "He's out, out out, he's out" appeal. Hrishi - don't look to Venu for inspiration, it's not a good idea in general.
B-grade Actor - Bruce (I promised!), Rohan (diving effort to catch a bump ball!).
C-grade Actor - Hrishikesh. A special award and fine for this week.
Medicare Professional Award - Hrishikesh.
Lateness - Bruce.