WL – Sharks vs Freedom, Kashiwa, 19.01.13
By Charles Steinhardt
Another trip to Kashiwa and another day with more Sharks ( old, new and future) in attendance than the rest of the other teams combined. So, a day for debuts then, and maybe just the off chance of sneaking a win along the way. Thus, we set out with one Chris, two Daves, three Sharks on debut, several My-Ys, and about nine other Sharks hoping to see Sharks climb to the top of the table with a win and a bonus point against WL newcomers Freedom, who turned out to be Paddy Foley’s in disguise.
First up was the now-traditional match between Sharks A (with Chris M debuting as captain) and Sharks B (with Charles doing the same). A fiercely fought battle showcased the depth of the Sharks bowling attack, with several newcomers featuring in the highlights. Chandan and Aditya’s pace was unplayable at times, Mairaj picked up a pair of wickets, Charles clean bowled Dave L with a vicious inswinger first ball (and probably had him trapped in front on a slower delivery), but Captain Chris (24) steered Sharks A to a competitive 71, with the strong running and calling of Chris and Dave L probably tacking on an extra 5 or 10 by the end.
Then it was the other new Sharks turn to shine, with Adnan and Awal combining for what must be a Sharks record four stumpings. Charles and Mairaj got it down to just 23 needed off 19, but brilliant bowling from Habib, Awal, Chris M and finally Dave L left Sharks B 16 runs short.
With all of those experienced quicks, the pick of the bowlers and this commentator’s man of the match was Moto (2/0), as none of the batsmen who faced him could quite get it right against his teasing line and length.
Next, it was a Sharks VI taking on a pesky Okawara team. Sharks bowled first, and continued to bowl and field well, with everybody in the action. Imran took a sharp runout off his own bowling, Captain Chris bowled several excellent yorkers, and Eiro sent down 12 balls on a consistent line and length, yielding no wides and creating a couple good chances that weren’t quite held.
Dave R and Moto both hit the stumps direct from distance, and just when it looked like 120 might be on the cards, Dave R. (2/5) became the second Shark on the day (with Aditya) to bowl a befuddled batsman with his last two balls of the match. He’ll be on a hat-trick next time out! So, Okawara ended with just 93, leaving the match finely balanced for the chase.
First up were Imran and Adnan, who put on 25 in a solid display of sensible batting. The watching Sharks particularly enjoyed Adnan’s 22, highlighted by his digging out an inswinging yorker that Chris would have been proud of and driving it for 2. Next up, the less experienced pair of Eiro and Moto needed to bat through a solid four overs, and calmly tacked on 23 with both players finding the middle and avoiding any real drama. So, it was up to Chris M. to play a captain’s innings as he and Dave R sought to chase a whopping 46 to win. When a bit of a mix up left them needing 45 off 19, all looked lost, but Chris hit a pair of massive six sevens, and suddenly it was 23 off 12. Another boundary and solidly rotating the strike took 11 off the next over, so 12 needed off 6 against the dangerous Kurihara. Could this be one of those legendary Sharks chases (which have become legendary mainly in the literal sense, because we haven’t seen one in a while)? Dave R on strike, the right two men at the crease, all to play for…
Not quite. The asking rate was just a bit too high, and the pressure forced a runout as Sharks came up 6 runs short. Still, a massive 36 from Captain Chris, and a great effort from the final pair chasing an enormous total.
Which brings us to the main event. Paddy Foley’s turned up with half a team, so we graciously supplied them with Chris, Habib, and Moto to round out their squad. Paddy’s inability to turn up with at least four players meant that they had to forfeit. However there was still a bonus point up for grabs that could see us top the table.
Dave captained and Paddy’s sent out Chris and Moto to confidently face the opening pair of Tun and Mairaj. Excellent fielding backed up Tun with two runouts in the first four balls, and Mairaj was nearly unplayable. Chris and Moto showed solid judgment and great patience in the face of their onslaught, letting some generous indoor wides carry them to a solid opening partnership of 24.
Next up, Charles shed his gloves and bowled a solid, if nonthreatening line and length, with great fielding from Aditya keeping the ball off the nets. Then, after a couple of patented Lollback looseners, it was Dave’s turn to keep Habib and one of the Foleys restricted. After Charles bowled out, Awal sent down six untouchable balls that sent everybody ducking for cover (including the keeper, who shall remain nameless!), with no runs coming off the bat. Still a solid 18 from Habib put Foleys on 55, with every chance of a good score as their two batsmen, Chaminda and Rasika came to the crease for their first experience in indoor cricket…
…and ran straight into a vintage Lollback bullet that set them back 5 immediately, and set the tone for the rest of the innings. Dave bowled two more dots, one of which was surely lbw in the outdoor game. Then it was finally Aditya’s turn to join the attack, and he too was unplayable, taking one wicket with pace that beat everything; bat, off stump and keeper, but led to a stumping (comically, on the third attempt, but you’re going to edit that out of the report, right? – Wrong).
So after two overs, Foleys had progressed from 55 to…55. And it didn’t get any easier for them. Next, Awal came into the attack, first bowling Chaminda with raw pace, then rattling Rasika’s stumps with nasty late swing. Overall, Sharks bowling was just too quick for indoor cricket in that sort of lighting. In 12 overs, we yielded just one boundary and if we carry this bowling and fielding form over to the outdoor game, we’re not going to be fun to bat against this year.
You can take your pick from the bowling figures: Foleys 53/8, with Tun 3/0, Mairaj a chance-filled 0/24, Charles 0/15, Dave L. 1/9, Awal 2/3, and Adita 2/2, with Chris M.’s 9, Moto’s 13, and Habib’s 18 accounting for much of the total. With a little bit of practice bowling accurately from that short runup, it might get even better, as 40 of those runs were extras.. Finally, Aditya came back to pick up one last wicket (8 in total, against a strong batting side!), restricting Foleys to a total of 53.
Thus, 54 to win, but 78 to win by 25 and take a bonus point to put us top of the table. Surely the Sharks could chase such a small total easily, right? Well…it’s the Sharks. We can make any total look interesting.
Aditya and Mairaj came out to open against Rasika, with clear intent to bat sensibly, rotate the strike and build a solid platform. Mairaj, in particular, played a couple of cheeky scoops on balls straying down the leg side and Aditya’s quick running often stole a second run to get to 22 off the first 3 overs. However, they still had to reckon with two overs from Chris M and in his second he picked up a pair of wickets, one off his usual nasty inswinger when he got the length just right, and an unfortunate deflection and sharp fielding leading to a runout. So, 15 for the first pair then, with Chris M taking a brilliant 2/-1 to cap off his day.
Dave L and Tun strode out next and put on an absolute clinic between the wickets. Chaminda’s bowling was quick and he managed to sneak one through to the stumps, but quick running and a couple of nice leaves brought 5 from his over anyway. A sweetly struck Lollback drive helped bring 11 off the next over, as again Dave L and Tun made running 2 look almost effortless. Then, alertly taking advantage of a little bit of hesitation on the part of the inexperienced Foleys, Habib’s over brought not just another 2, but the first and last all-run 3 you’re likely to see in the Kashiwa nets. At that point, 50 looked like it was on the cards, but Moto came to the rescue, bowling good line with variable pace. Neither batsman looked comfortable, and he bowled Tun with a slower ball to hold Sharks to 42, 27 for the pair.
So, once again, the stage was set for a good chase: a relatively tame 12 to win, but a challenging 36 needed off 24 for Charles and Awal to secure the bonus point. Habib’s pace first up, and Charles played himself in slowly as usual sending the first ball to the back wall for 5. Then it was Awal’s turn, smashing a sixer (+1 for running), before Charles added another boundary to total 23 off the over. Just 13 off 18, but the dangerous Chaminda bowl
ing next. Charles let the first one slip through the narrow chasm between his pads and leg stump for a dot ball, but Awal’s strong defensive technique was up to the challenge, and in maybe the biggest shock of the day, Charles absolutely middled…a straight-batted block.
From there, an over of sensibly steering everything into the side netting and conservative calling calmly brought the total to 79 with one over to go, just enough if no wickets fell. Foleys turned to their bowler with the best figures, Moto, to bowl the last. With the new rule, three dot balls in a row would be out, so Awal had to try and score. And score he did – two launched into the back wall, as Sharks put on an unbeaten 60 for the last pair and 102 total, with Awal top scorer on 33.
Throughout the day, the Sharks batted sensibly, and while there were several silly runouts in the practice matches, we learned from them and avoided it when we had to. Just one runout, on a fluke deflection, against Foleys, and bowled 3 times by a high-quality attack. And, throughout the match (and in the other two, especially the chase in against Okawara), we batted with a real sense of purpose and awareness of the situation, attacking when it was required but also taking risk-free singles and rotating the strike when nothing more was needed.
Sharks 102 (won by 49 runs): Aditya 2 (2 out), Mairaj 13 (not out), Dave L 22 (1 out), Tun 5 (1 out), Charles 27 (not out), and man of the match Awal 33 (not out). Also Chris a stellar 2/-1, Habib 0/31, and Moto 1/26.
Next up is YFK before the Grand Finals in which, with our evident firepower, we are quietly confident of giving a good account of ourselves.
