Cloudy day. Newly laid pitch. A batting beauty. Toss won and first dibs on the wicket. Washington playing at full or even somewhere close to full tilt would have won this match comfortably.
That is not how it panned out however.
On a batting paradise, Washington put itself in and had a good start with Sameer (31) and Raj (25) adding 49 for the first wicket at a clip of 5 an over. Raj started in fine nick playing lofted drives over the infield in the power play overs. Sameer then took over with a stand out off drive over long off all the way over the flags.With a good platform set , WCC was looking to carry on with the offensive which was cut short by a finely judged running catch by Karan. Sameer carried on while Vijay was looking to get himself in. A good length delivery on off which bounced more than expected surprised Vijay (4) and sent him back on his way.
With two quick wickets lost, a steadying partnership was required. At the stroke of the first break (taken at 15 overs due to cool playing conditions), Sameer attempted an ill advised shot perishing to a simple catch at point. A promising innings cut short. First break score - 75/3.
Post break, we continued to lose wickets with Viraal (1) playing on to the spinner and Palash (7) having never quite got in, played a sort of a nothing shot in the air to offer a simple catch on the off. Credit must go to their bowlers Sumeet and Masood who bowled with discipline and purpose. With half the side back in the hutch for less than 100 and plenty of overs to go, the situation was crying out for a decent partnership if not a substantial one. We got the former (25 odd runs) with Kalyan (18) and Taran (11) who rotated strike and looked at ease at the crease. Against the run of play, Taran timed one off the spinner straight to short mid off and a promising partnership was again nipped. Soon after, Kalyan, who was pacing his innings well, fell to a very good yorker from the left armer. With 7 down and and about 15 overs to go, the focus was now to play out 40. Handy contributions from Fawad and Murali (10 each) made sure we crossed 150 and Rajiv was left stranded as Ankit was the last man out.
WCC bats deep but on the day, didn't dig deep.
152 is a neither here nor there kind of a score. Defending it meant regular wickets and discipline in the field. Damascus got a decent start with 30 on the board. Murali got the first breakthrough when Avinash tried to hit him out of the ground only for Kalyan to pouch it with his usual ease. Unlike WCC, Damascus batsmen stitched partnerships together with the 2nd wicket pair carrying on the decent start. Ravi, their other opener lofted another high one off Sameer straight into Fawad's hands. Viraal who bowled his quota straight through, got two wickets off his final over. A good catch by Taran and a swipe across the line by Ankur had him out lbw. At 65/4, Damascus was in a bit of trouble. A quick wicket or two here and it was serious game on. That didn't happen as a constant drizzle materialized. The outfield became wet and hence the ball did as well. The spinners couldn't grip it and the seamers couldn't do anything with it except try and bowl straight. What also materialized was some poor Washington fielding. Easy singles and twos were given away to two not very quick runners. Credit also to the two batsmen Ikwak and Vishal for playing gritty and percentage cricket. Balls were let through fingers and the catching deteriorated. Washington paid heavily for those mishaps as the batsmen put on 50 plus and took Damascus close to the target. Fawad induced a false shot from Vishal as Ankit caught it at mid off. The bowlers tried gamely but the batsmen were not put under consistent enough pressure to create chances. Without losing a further wicket. Damascus, inside 35 overs, cantered to a first win over WCC in over 3 years.
It could be said that we are still rusty and it is still early in the season. That, however, does not mean we cannot identify problem areas before they become a habit. None of the three departments really clicked. The batting innings was not paced well, the bowling can be a lot more disciplined and toothy and the fielding is probably the area with most concerns. Not enough pressure was put on the batsmen or on the bowlers after the opening wicket partnership. We will no doubt bounce back and normal service will resume but the above is just a listing/noticing of problems with this particular game.
On to Pimlico again on May 5 where we play Punjab Lions. Let us collectively put our hand up!