Combined Efforts lead to Sharks Win

Combined Efforts lead to Sharks Win

By Takady

Dr. Wheatgrass ‘Play of the Day’: Power Play pressure + Pave’s 50 with 10 boundaries!

We met at 9:30; The famous Tanuki statue standing tall in the 36 degree heat just outside Tatebayashi station. By the time we reached Sano1, we all wished we were made of the same stuff he was – with the temperature getting higher and higher, and uncomfortable humidity setting in, Sano was killing us.

BOWLING

Doogs won the toss and elected to field (to leave the ground earlier and grab winning beers – smart captaincy).

Our opening bowlers, Rui and Muneeb showed National-level bowling performance in the power-play session. Rui controlled matters with a masterclass in out-swing to the right-handed batsmen and took a quickfire 3 wickets in his first spell.

Muneeb also controlled proceedings, dangerously mixing in some Yorkers that got both Kamran and the well-known Prashant out early on in the innings. By the time the scoreboard read 27runs, Paddy’s had already lost half of their team.

The middle-order proved a little more stubborn however – Raman smashing the Sharks spinners to the boundary, although a good fielding performance limited what the damage could have been. Doogs helped accelerate the ‘pint-to-hand-as-soon-as-possible’ strategy with a low slip catch and Rui followed-suit with a running catch in the covers. Simply, the Sharks were circling and the prey were in deep waters.

By the close of first innings Rui claimed his 4th wicket, and Paddy’s were all out for 107.

BATTING

The first over didn’t start well, Davin claiming a boundary before falling to a catch. Pave came forward as the trusted number three and matters were settled by a quite superb partnership with Doogs. Pave hitting 8 fours and 2 sixes on the way to his 50, and Doogs supporting with a fine innings.

Dhugal was out for a rampant 31runs off only 16balls, with Pave kept smashing and reaching his half tonne off only 38. Perhaps the beer strategy is one to remember again for the future boys!

In the end,Takady hit the match finishing 4runs, with the Sharks able to reach the target in just 12.1overs, and within 1 hour of the start.

It’s time to take stock of where we are in the tables again, and things a looking good for the Sharks who are now 5 consecutive wins on the trot, and sitting pretty in 2nd place. Next match is on 4th August against Wombats (which we lost last time), so we’ll all be out sniffing blood and looking for some revenge.