Jun, 2013 – Sharks Pipped By Paddys in Low-Scoring Nail-Biter

JCL1 – Sharks vs Paddy Foley’s, Sano 3, 02/06/13
By Kris Bayne

Round 2 for the rejuvenated Sharks 1st XI had us pitted against the very strong, combative, new-look Paddy Foley’s. Fortified by a pride of Sri Lankan Lions, PF looks like the team to beat in 2013. The match lived up to its billing as a clash of two strong teams, unfortunately with us coming off second-best by just two wickets.

An extended Chiba Sharks and a large, vocal PF contingent turned up for this game. Sharks chaperons Chris T and Kris B took up positions as scorers and the Sharks squad turned out as: Varun (c), Nick (welcomed back with the ‘keeper gloves), Chris M, Dave L, Prashant, Sumon, Takady, Scott, Aditya, Awal, Alwin and Anton (12th). Four ‘A’s and seven different passports! Nice effort.

We lost the toss and we were put into bat on a day that remained overcast and grew decidedly chilly and windy as the day and game progressed.

Batting

Chiba Sharks 9 for 169 in 40 overs

It was sort of an ‘odd and even’ innings. ‘Odd’ being that every batsman with an odd-number in the batting order (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) made a duck. ‘Even’ in that even an extreme optimist would have given us little chance after three of those ducks belonged to top end batsmen!! But, post a defendable total we did, thanks to Chris Molloy and Prashant who put on 74, and also Takady who shared a 53-run stand with Prashant.

The other seven bats combined for 12 runs, usually succumbing at the crease or nicking to the ‘keeper. The scorecard tells the tale better than a reporter could. As with some of the more junior efforts in the 2nd XI, we perhaps need to absorb more pressure and value our wickets more. Certainly PF, led by left-arm quick Amal, feature a skilled and experienced bowling line up (compare their 11 wides with our efforts – the usual). But point in example was Chris M, who soaked up 59 pressure balls in his second try at opening, or PF Rasika who was our thorn-in-the-side with 40 from 60. Neither looked totally comfortable but their efforts had a tremendous impact on their respective team totals.

Even Prashant batted within himself at first (at 2-4 that was wise) and he would have been disappointed at missing three figures (again!) in such a dire situation. But, he is in very good touch this year. And finally Tsuyoshi (Takady) of just 18 years whose late, measured innings and support of Prashant put us up to where we could at least make PF nervous. And we did. Three great batting efforts in what looks like a smoldering wreckage of an innings.

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Bowling

Paddy Foley’s 8 for 170 in 36.4 overs

With the field hard and quick and Paddy’s boasting some of the hardest hitters and loudest spectators in the land we had to really be on our game: (1) taking wickets (2) taking catches (3) being quick and supportive in the field (4) bowling consistent, tight lines. I’d say we got 3.75 out of 4.

This was a batting line-up used to treating KCL and JCL attacks with utter distain. For them 169 on a Sano ground was a 20/20 stroll. They got a surprise. Our bowlers and the field shut down scoring and the sideline support for long periods. We took 7 PF wickets for 53 runs. Not many teams will do that this year, I bet, and we had them in quite a panic. Awal started things off with a double-wicket maiden in Over 3 and five bowlers shared wickets and near misses. Six wickets fell to catches, five of them in the field and none particularly easy.

he field chased down balls and put the already ‘quick single challenged’ PF on their guard. The injection of youth into the Sharks was obvious, especially with Alwin and Takady; lightning quick with good arms. We were millimetres from a couple of run-outs. We backed up well, four deep at one stage. So far so good… Okay – let’s say it – we had a couple of bad overs that hurt, but we also had extended periods where PF could not buy a boundary. There were spells of tight bowling particularly by Chris M (who had a blinder) and Vicky which were backed up by good field support.

Check out this catchers table – a stunning piece of Baynovation;

We bowled deep. Nine bowlers were used and the only reason Prashant did not bowl was probably because he took the gloves off the injured Nick. Even Alwin, coming on late, grabbed a vital wicket then bowled a clutch maiden. But, once again, we shot ourselves in the foot with in excess of 30 wides – 30+ free runs and even if 1 in 3 extra balls was scored off that equals about 40-odd runs. It is easy to say but we have to limit our self-inflicted runs. We hear some ‘choice’ four-letter words on the field at times – we need to make “WIDE” one we hear less of.

It was a darn good game. Two sides of great contrast in approach, background and temperament going head-to-head. Despite our batting WE probably lost this one. Obviously individuals will rue some efforts but learn from them to fight another day. But as a team we did a bloody good job to make a game of it.

There were some very good individual performances. Chris M put in a huge performance, opening in a still unfamiliar and high-pressure situation he put his head down for 30 invaluable runs. He then sent down 7 overs for 1-18 (six of those off his last over) of good threatening bowling. Prashant’s second big half-century (among other large scores) of the year was a sign that he has his mojo back. And captain Vicky continued his reign in fine fashion (won’t discuss Dave’s fashion here) with 3-19 off 8 overs.

Many thanks to Umpire Kei from FFE, 12th man Anton, Scorers Chris T and KB and to Paddy’s of course.

Now… if we can just put the zeros in the wides column and the wides numbers in the batting column…

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