Thunders V/s All4One

Living upto the name "Thunders", the team complimented the Rain and Storm which was part of the reduced pre-QF game played on the Centrville ground. We roarded, and we poured our hearts out in this convincing win, washing out the opponent and marching onto the QF's.

It was a good toss to lose as our opponents helped us by opting to bat first in the wet conditions; which are more favourable to bowl than to bat on. Maybe All4One wanted to play its strength and put a hold onto the reduced 15 over match by blasting out and put us in pressure chasing in the difficult conditions. But; that was not to be, with all 11 of ours players showing how the fielding can change results (instead of only ball and bat). This team is rising as a high quality fielding unit with the inspirational Sujay in the centre always raising the standards laid for all the rest. We were diving, catching and converting all the chances to Run-outs whenever there was a one. There was a 100% rate in catching and there were 3 run-outs with some amazing throws from the deep and some direct throws which never let the opponents breathe easy. Bowling was on the money, and with no extras given; All4one batsmen were always in pressure and had to work hard for any run. The team wrapped them up on a low score of 42 which was never enough for 15 overs unless there was a total collapse of our batting (which is not new to us also :-)) ).

But that did not happen and Kruttik opened the batting with some fast scoring helped by number of wides, and in moments we were 18 odd in 2 overs without loss. All4one did get some inroad with 3 quick wickets after that but with runs always coming the score was reached comfortably with everyone chipping in and Sujay taking the score to the end with a blasting 4 to reach the final runs, as if making a statement of dominance in the complete match.

It was a team effort that I would love to see everytime we walk onto the field and I take my hats off to every team member who played his part to full potential. It was a day when it never felt like that we could lose and that's exactly what we have to take forward from here. We are back in QF and this time we have to break the jinx of not going to the latter stages.

In the end I can thank all the team members for being a little biased to hand over the MOM trophy to me. To say the least that could have been given to all 11 on this day.

No looking back now ......" GO THUNDERS !!! "

Venue : Sunday, 24th Oct 2009 , Centerville Ground
All4One : 42 all out
Thunders : 45/4 in 9.3 overs.

Man of the Match: Gaurav - Bowling (3-1-5-2) and 5 runs in batting and excellent fielding

Other performances:
Bowling
Kalyan - 3 - 0 - 10 - 2
Sujay - 3 - 1 - 2 - 0
Kamesh - 3 - 0 -10 - 2
Prabhu - 3 - 0 - 17 - 1

Batting
Kruttik - 6 runs, Deepak - 9 runs, Kamesh - 5 runs and Sujay - 10 runs.

Thunders V/S IMF

It was a match within a match, with thunders already qualified for the knock-out stage the target was to win with a margin which would take us to the top of the team tally and automatically qualify us for a bye in pre-QF. Maybe calculations were wrong but we were supposed to score the target set by IMF in 15 overs......that we did only to finally know that 3 other teams did better and beat us to the top rank.

This win was smooth but not as subtle as it sounds in the above few lines. The struggle for our team started again with the collection of 11 players. Kalyan must be thinking, why me since I have taken over as captain of this team. Anyway all these times he has still managed to bring together a group who have been able to overcome their skill shortfalls with their passion and effort on the field. I want to start with the department of fielding which in a way has changed the outlook of the team with impeccable ground and catching effort. Bowlers look better even after straying with their line and length in the last 2 matches because of the make up by the effort on the field. Sujay not only fields like a champion but also makes others try harder with his presence and efforts (except Kalyan who still needs to bend down for stopping the ball ...but being a captain wants to keep his head high....LOL...just joking...or am I ...!!!)

The IMF were never let out in the open and our bowling had them suffocated by not not giving easy runs. They were able to notch up 85 runs thanks to a brialliant innings by one of thoer players who held onto what he had.

It was upto batting to gather these runs in the least overs possible and the target in mind was 15 overs and not 20 overs to finish. Things did not start as we had hoped for and in trying to hurry up the batsmen were trying to hit every ball and not connecting. At that time with score on 20 odd after 8 overs, the mentality changed to just winning the match first and not losing direction totally. But that was not be and the boat was stabilized by ever reliable Sujay who has a temperament to match his skills. IMF was bowling good but Sujay had other things in mind. Without slogging he made sure the run chase is back on average with flurry of fours and sixes. Playing an awesome innings of 37 n.o. he took it to the end with Deepak hitting classic shots for 2 consecutive 4's of his own on the other end. We managed to get to the score in 14.4 overs with 7 wickets intact.

A convincing win indeed and one must appreciate everybody with sticking to whatever task they had in hand. League matches finish with impressive 3 of 3 wins..."Go Thunders "

Next match ....Pre-QF knock out stage.....

Match Summary :

Venue : Mark Twain , Alexandria , Saturday 10th October 2009

IMF : 85/9 in 20 overs

Thunders : 86/3 in 14.5 overs , won by 7 wickets

MOM : Sujay 37* n.o , 1 wicket , 2 run outs

Thunders V/s Metro Tigers : Fall tournament League Match # 2

Calls were being made till late in the night. Kalyan was trying to get 11 players for this match and was thinking of somehow patching a team together which was depleted from pullbacks by regular line players and hoard of injuries to others. Finally a team was gathered (literally) and with untested bowling line up hopes were rested on the Batting to click and put up a score that could be made a match out of.......and delivered they did !!! Outstanding batting performance by the team and everyone was happy that finally after long, the batting lived up to the expectations. All the batsmen chipped in with useful runs but special gem was the partnership between ever reliable Sujai and blaster Kartik whose innings was high due. Though the runs were coming in nice and regular, the real momentum builder was an over played for 21 runs by Kartik by hitting hard big sixes and we all new the score would be crossing the 120 mark we had set in our mind to defend.

Sujai was as usual impeccable and played wonderful innings with mix of agression and collection of singles. The icing on the cake was once in a blue moon innings by Gaurav who did not let the advantage slip up and hit some good shots to take the final score to 135.

Confident from the score we put up, the bowlers took from there and made sure they utilized the big cushion provided to them. Revelation was Kamesh , who was playing his first match with the team and managed to scalp 4 wickets. The bowlers; though bowled the opponents out for a meagre 70 odd score, it could not have been possible without the dazzling fielding effort from the team. Led and motivated by live-wire Sujay on the ground effort (who had a stupendous run out also...a la Rhodes...), all others raised their level of effort to put up a great fielding effort, and to make sure nothing was given away other than what batsmen have to work hard for. Some wonderful catching was seen and bowlers bad line and length was covered well by the fielding unit.

Bowlers do have lot of work to do and have to learn to keep their line through the 4 overs that they get (in fact around 25 odd were extras from the 70 runs, the opponents scored). The idea to keep in mind for every bowler is that everytime the fielders and luck will not be on your side and one has to focus more on what is required of each bowler for every ball.

There is a lot to take from this but this time around I am going to give a slack and not write about it. For once let everyone relish the win, and only enjoy the positives out of that match .... the negatives shall be reminded of when we all meet next !!! :-))

One more win can take us directly to the Quarters and everyone has to make winning his habit !

Venue : Centerville , 11:30 am
Thunders : 135/7
Metro Tigers : 70/10
Highlights :
Batting : Sujay : 20+ , Kartik : 20+ , Gaurav : 20+ (Kalyan has scoresheet)
Bowling: Kamesh 4 wickets , Adi : 2 wickets , Sujay : 2 wickets

Thunders V/s 3C : 1st Fall League Match

And then it started....again !!!

Thunders started the Fall tournament and with it the quest to prove itself as a better team than what it was before. If you go by the way match went...this was certainly not the way how we can assert our claim to be better for sure.

Anand won the toss and as a golden rule for Fall conditions, chose to Bowl on the skidding Reston mat pitch. Bowlers made great use of the conditions and wrapped the 3C's batting line up with tight bowling and sharp fielding. The 3C could only give a target of 65 but which in the end was again made monumental with the now regular batting line up collapses. Again the lack of practice and temperamental issues plagued the team and wickets were lost to bad selection of shots and weakness of the mind.

Apart from the Stand between Sujai, who showed why he is respected in the team and Deepak, who is settling well into the team and position, the other batsmen could not stay at the wicket and in a flash we were 8 wickets down with still around 10 runs more to score for the win. In the end with able guidance from Sujai at one end, Gaurav (myself) managed to stay on the wicket and take it to the end.

It is high time our batting needs to show consistency and take it from here, as along the road now; this shall be more of a Batting Game rather than bowling. Next match 3rd Oct ...brace up!!!

Special mention for Bowlers : Gaurav(2 wkts), Anand(2 wkts) , Prabhu(1 wkt), Sujai(1 wkt), Gagan(1 wkt), Vijay(1 wkt) and Midhun(2 wkts) who were all among wickets and kept it tight for the other team till the end.