The tail almost wags the dog

OCCC 124-8 (40)

beat

MDAFS 4 120ao (39.3)

by 4 runs

It was a tale of half-chances taken, and chances half-taken as MDAFs 4’s fell agonisingly short against Old Contemptibles CC.

 Playing on a turf strip at Inverleith Park(Dulux reference: Highland Green) and a “lush” outfield, OCCC won the toss and batted.

 A steady opening spell from Subhranil and Rohil made the going tough, before a cleverly disguised change of pace from Rohil bought the first wicket, chipped up to cover, with the score at 16.

 A double change bought Raghuram and Rajesh to the bowling crease. Rajesh soon claimed the big scalp of of the opposition skipper Mohanon.

 The fall of the second wicket convinced the opposition that the pitch wasn’t one for innings building, and attempts at lusty blows remained constant thereafter.

 Rajesh continued his excellent spell, removing the remaining opener, an absolute screamer caught at slip by Sandeep.  Raghuram also held his line and length excellently against the counter-attack, rewarded with a splattering of the stumps to make it 47/4 at drinks.

 After drinks, Calder and Slaney built a crucial steadying partnership for the batting side. In the 26th over Neil deceived Slaney and Pushpendra whipped the bails off for a quality stumping.

Again though, the batsmen managed to build a solid partnership, punishing anything that strayed too full. The return of Sub bought another excellent stumping by Push, just after the score had ticked into triple digits. One more each came for Sub and Rajesh but Calder and the tail managed to bat through the overs the score ending on 124/8. Probably 20 more than it should have been.

A glance over at the other pitch showed a game already completed, DT2’s chasing Grange 3’s miserable effort in 3.1 overs.

Opening the batting, Sandeep holed out on the offside in the 4th over. The opening bowlers came off after just 3 overs each and bought in a bowling tandem in form. Dush and Push soon departed, Neil came and went to an unplayable ball, and Bala’s valuable resistance from first drop was ended in the 12th over, all four bowled by Reddish. Raghuram and Sub managed to halt the collapse and came within sight of drinks, before Raghuram was prised out.

45/6 at drinks was not a promising sight, but refreshed, and with skipper Sunny entering at 8, consecutive partnerships of 23 with Sub, and then 24 with Ben, should have been match defining. Instead both wished for Mulligans, playing poor shots to leave the opposition in the game. Sunny meanwhile, alternated between accumulating and punishing, compiling an excellent knock. Rohil joined him, needing 31 off 34 balls. A stylish southpaw that drew sideline comparisons to Ganguly and Lara, he looks too good for number 10.

With the game coming down to 11 off 12, then 6 off 6, a superb catch was needed to remove Rohil.  Rajesh scampered off strike with a leg-bye, before Sunny swung the ultimate blow, but alas, all that was left were shattered stumps and broken dreams. A captains knock ending in heartbreak on 35, just four short of the total.

Figures of 5-11 from Reddish and 41* and 3-7 from Calder proved to be decisive for the home team. A good game, a close game, a good effort from the tail, but in the end not enough.