Well, Schroeter cricket has been yet again, another disappointing moment this season, but this time there was a difference. We played Alak last year in our 2nd group match and played them first up this time. Alak missed the services of their studdest bowler, DB. We missed (not sure if we missed or not) our last year's captain and sports sec in the team. In essence, we were really underdogs but we had a heart and passion to win, something which we lost halfway during our previous encounter thanks to certain misgivings. Cricket is something according to me where statistics cannot tell you why things happened but how they happened, in terms of the scorecard. Of course, it never gives the complete picture but I'll attempt to fill in the blanks wherever necessart. In summary, this is how it was :
Jam lost the toss and were put in to bat :
After 10 overs, 50/2
After 13 overs, 64/6!!
After 18 overs, 102/7 (thanks to a superb batting display in between by our captain this year, Sixty, playing his final schroeter match!)
After 20 overs, 111/8
Well, the question posed by the umpires to us was a valid one "Do you think you guys can defend 111 on this track ? " Frankly, we didnt know it ourself. All we knew was if we gave it our best, we were through to the leagues and would have definitely pulled off what other hostels might call an upset.
Begin Alak's batting :
5 overs : 31/0
9 overs :69/2
10 overs : 80/2 ( this was my only over in the match where my plan to get one of their best batsman out was foiled thanks to a dropped catch when most would agree it was a regulation catch! The guy went on to add another 17 runs after that and maybe he could be in a position to remark in Steve Waugh style "You've dropped the cup mate!")
16 overs : 104/5
18 overs : 109/7
18.5 overs : 112/9!!
The last 4 overs were rivetting to say the least, and the last over drama was comical from a non-biased sense of thinking. It was senseless batting, good captaincy and field sets, and barring the 5th ball of the 18th over, it was definitely good fielding where Alak batsmen committed harakiri. The 5th ball is an interesting thing to be noted : They need 2 runs to win of 8 balls, with one wicket in hand. The batsman played a shot to point-- non-striker calls for a run--fielder picks up and throws over the keeper from a peaceful place-- ball collected by backup who throws it to the bowler's end-- bowler is halfway down the pitch, and misses the ball, which misses the stumps by an inch, -- bowler's end backup fumbles-- Alak completes the second run and there goes the match which we could have won :( It just went on to show how teamwork and great fielding can have the probability of beating even the best of sides although bygones are bygones and I wont continue to discuss about it.
I blogged about this just because of the fact this was very close to my heart; was one of those cases when one was so near and yet so far, and this being cricket and me being a part of the team, I just could not digest this loss. My performance in the match of course was forgettable to say the least, and hopefully, we'll be back next year and even more hopefully, I would be in a position to write about our victory!
