Game Report - June 21, 2008
MCC verses Crusaders
Teams from:
Zafar Khan (c)
Paresh Daharwal
Neil Day
Lokesh Popli
Pratik Sawana
Khan Barech
Nishant Chadha
Roberto Anitori
George Mukalel
Nish Parikh
Miten Bharia
ScorecardMatch Details
MCC played its 2nd game
of the regualr season today versus the new look Corvallis Crusaders. Combining
three teams to form one team, teh new look Crusaders were coming off a thumping
victory over Portladn Cricket Club and were looking to avenge last season
semi-final defeat to MCC. MCC
were without the services of a few key players including captain Shuaib
Muhamed.
After willing the coin to fall their way during the toss,
Corvallis Crusaders decided to field and make use of the overcast conditions
and they were immediately rewarded when Zafar could not control a low full toss
and hit it right to the short mid on fielder. If CorCru were to take a
hold of that game, it was imperative that they get Zafar and the on-field
celebrations after his wicket showed that. MCC
were faced for the first time in a while having to negotiate the early innings
without Zafar. In the 9th over, Nishant tried to reach the train tracks with a
shot that fell right into the fielders hands about 1/2 a mile before the tracks.
With 2 down and only 39 on the board,
things were only going to get worse for MCC.
In the 9th over, a sharply rising delivery found its way through the visor and
hit Nish just above his left eye leaving him speechless
for once. As he hobbled back to the pavillion, MCC
was going to need a long partnership if they were going to put up any fight. After
Miten fell shortly after, Lokesh and Paresh started rebuilding the partnership
reminiscent to someone rebuilding a house. One run at a time, they put on a
very valuable partnership of 85 runs for the 4th wickets in 15 overs. Trying to
increase the run rate, Lokesh fell first and Paresh shortly after. The rest of
the batting line up went in and came back without bothering the scorer or
umpire too much. MCC ended their innings
losing their last 7 wickets for 30 runs
for a well made 168 in 30 overs.
MCC needed a few quick
wickets to peg back the attacking CorCru batsmen and Paresh in the 4th
over pulled a blinder off his own bowling. Roberto not to be outdone got the
next two wickets and CorCru were 36 for 3 in 9 overs. A 45 run 4th wicket
partnership slowly brought CorCru back into the back into the game. With not
too many runs on the board to defend, MCC
kept attacking and CorCru found themselves in a battle at 132 for 6 andthe
match was evenly balanced. With a couple of shots falling in no-mans land a few
edges going for boundaries and attacking batting by the CorCru skipper
Janardhan Rao, MCC found itself on the
losing side of this game.
Paresh and Roberto picked up two wickets each and Nish
and Zafar got one each. Zafar Khan also had to be carried off the field after a
torn muscle and may be quiestionable for the next few games.
After the end of the game, a battered and bruised MCC
finally got a little to cheer about when Zafara receieved the Best Batsman and
MVP for the 2-20 tournament. Thank you to Ellen again for fighting through a
over heated car and being there with her treasure chest of goodies. Also,
Prateek Sawana played his last game for MCC
before heading back to India
and the team wishes him safe travels and good luck.
There is not going to be practice on Monday to let the bones
and muscles of the players today to recover.
