Sree Cricket Academy Tournament - Match 2

Match - CSS v RTG
Venue - English Electricals Cricket Ground, Pallavaram Chennai
Date - 8th Nov 2009
Result - RTG Won

Sree Cricket Academy Tournament 2008 - Match 1

Match - CSS v CTS 

Venue - English Electricals Cricket Ground, Pallavaram Chennai

Date - 1st Nov 2009

After a gap of almost a month with no matches as the weather played spoil sport, we had a match.

It was CSS's first match in this ground,  first match of a new tournament 

(First time organisers) on a very wet Saturday morning on the first day of November 08, first time for Sameer (new entrant into this team) to watch local cricket in Chennai . Well, with all these firsts we also had 2 of our great contributors of CSS Cricket team, Vicky and Karthik, playing their last match for CSS as they had decided to move to greener pastures in their life.

CSS team was very eager to play a match after a month long break. Things started

 a little sluggishly in the morning as the ground was wet with overnight due.

The toss was a little crucial with the ground being big and wet. CSS lost the toss but CTS decided to field first. I guess the thought was to contain CSS and use the heavy wet outfield. 

The Final XI - Arvind, Kiran, Karthik, Prabhu, Satish G, Satish M, Veera, Vicky, Vishnu, Vishy & Yuvraj

Supported by - Dinesh, Naveen, Seshan, Sameer, Balaji.

Vicky playing his last match was very keen to open, I was too ;), but decided to let him play with Kiran. It was slow rate of scoring with the heavy wet outfield and the running between was limited a max of 1 run per hit. The ball was changed around the 6th over and it helped to improve the scoring rate. 

Vicky specifically started to play his game with regular hits to fence. He got out trying to hit one out of the park around the 12th over. This brought in the second playing who wa

s playing his last match. "Mr. Best-Batsman-Slash-has-ever-produced" joined Kiran. Kiran who was playing second fiddle until Vicky was at the center started to open up he completed a well made 58. Karthik on the other hand made some quick runs and made the ball change again with just 3 overs to go. This was again useful for him to complete his 50.  Arvind and I wa

ited with both padded up till the end, our wait is not extended by at least another week.

CSS scored 171/1 in 19 overs, yes CTS could only bowl 19 overs in their stipulated time. 

With a good score on board CSS had just one thing to do, do nothing silly on the field and thats all I said in the huddle. Use your head in the field as this is a big ground.

I started the bowling and it was one of the rustiest overs I had bowled with 2 wides. Yuvraj shared the new ball with me. I guess the new ball excited him and he was bowling real fast to the surprise of Kiran who was keeping wickets.

CTS kept loosing wickets at regular intervals and CSS was very relaxed on the field. Vishnu and Prabhu bowled brilliantly in the middle. Vicky bowled a couple of overs in his last match and managed to take the middle stump out once again. This is something he has done a few times in the slog overs for CSS in T20 matches. Satish M, playing his first game a fter a long time bowled well too.  The best thing that happened in his first over was vicky chasing the ball thrice from square-leg to deep midwicket

. I

t was a rare sight of panther doing the run :)

Few positives on the field - 

- Veera seem a lot swifter on the field guess the workouts are helping

- Run out by Vishy at covers

- Kiran is  back to scoring runs and keeping wickets

- Yuvraj was noticeably quick today

- Balaji seem to shedding some weight (off field)

Final Scores

CSS - 171/1 in 19 overs

Vikram - 30 Out bowled

Kiran - 58 not out

Karthik - 54 not out

CTS - 93 for 9 in 19 overs

Vishy - 12/1 in 4 overs (Again most economical........hehe....)

Yuvraj - 18/1 in 2 overs

Prabhu - 16/2 in 4 overs

Vishnu - 22/2 in 4 overs  

Vikram - 10/2 in 3 overs

Satish M - 9/1 in 2 overs

Kiran was declared the Man of the Match  !!

Congratulations Kiran !!! 

Congratulations CSS !!! 

Beyond Boundaries - Match 2

CSS Vs Verizon = CSS lost

Complete Scorecard

http://www.cricketmaidan.com/ScoreCard.aspx?InningsId=3164

Beyond Boundaries - Match 1

CSS Vs ABN AMRO - CSS Won


Complete Scorecard

http://www.cricketmaidan.com/ScoreCard.aspx?InningsId=3134

Rotary Tournament - Match 4 (Finals)

Cybernet SlashSupport Vs RSJ Consultants

It was a great saturday morning with bright sun light and strong breeze. The finals was a 9 o' clock start and helped the teams to be there earlier. CSS Team reached the ground almost together by around 8.15am which is really nice to see. With teams played already against each other in one of the round matches and familiar with the players, both looking forward for this match. With RSJ coming to the finals with all wins and CSS only loosing to RSJ in the round matches a great match was expected.

I had to wait till the last minute to confirm Shiva's availability. Very unfortunate that he had to miss the match.

The match was officiated by Ms. Sumathy the first woman international umpire.

The Final XI: Arvind, Gunjan, Karthik, Kiran, Prabhu, Ramesh (wk), Satish, Veera, Vishnu, Vicky, Vishy

Supported by: Seshan, Naveen, Hari, Dinesh, Satish, Balaji & Yuvraj.

CSS won the toss and put RSJ to bat. There were a few in the CSS camp who had a difference to this decision of mine, as RSJ had a couple of good bowlers in them. With 5 all-rounders and 3 specialist batsmen you would do this.

CSS were much better on the field with except for a few extra runs due to slow fielding and one drop catch by Karthik. But that did not stop vishnu from taking a hat-trick and vikram taking another 3 wicket haul. Overall the bowling was good. As a matter of fact post match CSS team was praised by Ms. Smathy and I quote "CSS captain's bowling was very well disciplined and the entire team rallied along with it". :)))

CSS restricted RSJ to 131 all out with more than an over to spare. I think this is the first time CSS has done this in 20-20 tournaments.

Bowling figures

Vishy - 4-0-18-0
Gunjan - 2-0-18-0
Vikram - 3-0-17-3
Prabhu - 4-0-27-1
Vishnu - 3.5-0-33-3
Satish - 2-0-13-1

With almost the same target that we had in the round matches to score I asked Kiran and Vikram to open the innings. Kiran just lasted for 3 balls, his poor run continues. Vikram did a sehwag this time with a couple of edges to the fence but got out for 10. Arvind also perished for just 5. I was there for a while but couldnt score much. Then came vishnu. It was his day, probably one of the best innings i have seen him play. He was at ease and hitting the ball over the fence pretty regularly. While this was happening he was loosing partners at the other end regularly.

With 10 runs to score of the last over and with the last batsman in with Vishnu, I seriously thought we had the match. But then satish did his usual flick of moving way outside the off stump to lodge the ball over fine leg. While this has helped satish in the past it didnt this time. He slipped and vishnu in all his hurry to take the strike did not see satish on the ground sitting flat.

CSS lost the match by 8 runs.

Batting Scores
Vikram - 10(8); Kiran - 0(3); Karthik 12(12); Arvind 5(13); Vishy - 8 (16); Prabhu - 12(13); Vishnu - 52(32); Ramesh - 3(6); Gunjan - 9(7); Veera - 0(2); Satish - 2(4)

In all it was a great final. CSS had the match throughout but didnt at the end.

Congratulations RSJ !!

Hardluck CSS you were good, but at the end of the day a few mistakes on the field with some extra runs and poor running between the wickets cost the match.

Vishnu with 3 wickets and 52 was unanimously declared the Man of the Match.

The prize distribution took place at Alumni Club and the following awards were given

Rotary Tournament 2008
Winners - RSJ Consultants
Runners - Cybernet SlashSupport

Man of the Series - Vikramkumar Palanisamy (CSS)
Man of the final - Vishnuvardhan (CSS)

Overall CSS had a good tournament. With 4 matches they had 3 Man of the matches and 1 Man of the series. Just that they didnt have lady luck along to include the winners trophy to this list!!

Paper cuttting for this match as it appeared on Deccan Chronicle dated 21st Sep 2008 Page 55.

Rotary Tournament - Match 3 (Semi Finals)

After a while we had a match on Sunday. I thought I had  over slept (couldnt sleep through the night managed to get a couple of hours from 4am) so rushed to the ground and found myself banging on the locked doors . Soon Naveen and Hari came to help and managed to wake up the watchman and the doors open. By the time I could park and walk  to the ground I was sweetly surprised to see most of CSS members reaching the ground. It was nice to see the team on the ground early, so early that we had to wait for the opponents for a few minutes. 

Mr. Captain playing his last match befor he takes off for a few months (travelling on business abroad) had a quick meeting and announced this and wanted to get this match finished quickly with  a win. He sent his lucky charm Mr. Yuvraj "Arvind" Singh for the toss. As usual he had the toss and decided to put Axis bank to bat first. 

The Final XI: Arvind, Gunjan, Karthik, Kiran, Natz, Prabhu, Ramesh (wk), Seshan, Veera, Vicky, Vishy 

Supported by: Satish, Naveen, Hari, Dinesh, Satish, Balaji

I was asked to chose the end from which I can start, I took the same I bowled from in the last match we played here. Mr. Captain while doing so said lets share the new ball, then I guess changed his mind and had Gunjan bowl from the other end. Good call, I would have done the same. 

For me, it was one of those days when you have the ball pretty much doing what you want it do. I enjoyed bowling and have started getting some numbers under the wickets column. Been fairly economical all through the year (2008) but not many wickets.  

Gunjan bowled a great first over and got a wicket. One of those dream starts you would want in a semi-finals of a tourney. My second over was interesting, a caught behind was turned down and fortunately I had the same batsman bowled a couple of balls later. 

First change was Vicky and he continued his good bowling form and very miser this time. Mr. Captain brought in Seshan and he bowled a brilliant 2 over spell. The best I have seen him bowl so far. 

It was nice to see CSS bowlers keeping the check and taking wickets at regular intervals. More importantly there was no mis fielding except for one which Kiran let the ball turn and run to the fence. I felt between 15th and 20th overs CSS was relaxed a bit which helped Axis to take the score beyond 100 and set a target of 109 for CSS.  

Ramesh (wk) has brought a long missing good keeping skills for the team. He was brilliant behind the wickets and more importantly was cheering all through the 20 overs which is new to CSS. Keep it up Ramesh, except for the one drop catch (for me ;)) you were spot on.

Bowling Figures:

Vishy - 1/12 in 4 overs (1 wide)

Gunjan - 2/29 in 4 overs (4 wides)

Vicky - 2/12 in 4 overs (2 wides)

Prabhu - 2/25 in 4 overs (2 wides)

Seshan - 0/7 in 2 overs (2 wides)

Natz - 1/19 in 2 overs (1 wide)

With the asking rate being low, Natz decided to have him and Kiran open with me at No. 3 and Arvind at 4 and Karthik at 5. 

Kiran lasted for a little over an over and was out caught behind with a faint nick while chasing a wide ball outside the off. This brought me in and joined Mr. Captain. The plan was simple, just stay there and see through the match. Natz and I  saw a couple of over go by with some singles. Then Natz started playing his trade mark shots, pulled a couple to the fence. He also got out for the same shot, mis-cued and got caught at mid-wicket. This brought in the in form Mr. Yuvray "Arvind" Singh. He didnt stay too long, was unlucky to get a leading edge and lobbing the ball back to the bowler. I felt very bad, as the previous ball I denied him of a very easy single. 

This brought Mr. Best-ever-batsman-slash-has-ever-produced on to the pitch. He was his usual self and started playing as if he is continuing from his innings a couple of months back at St. Bedes. It was great to watch him do the short-arm jab and hit for six at ease. 

I got out, playing across for no reason. This brought in Prabhu to join Karthik. Who both finished the match with about 2 and a half overs to spare. 

Batting Figures

Natz - 22(24) 

Kiran - 6(7)

Vishy - 18(27)

Arvind - 1 (5)

Karthik - 36(25) Not out

Prabhu - 15 (17) Not out

Karthik was declared "Man of the Match" for his brilliant 37 of just 25 balls. 

CSS with this victory are through the finals which will be played on 20th Sept. 

Natz we will certainly miss you for that match. 

Rotary Tournament - Match 2

With the first match going against us this match became crucial for CSS to stay in the tournament. Added to this with one of the team in our group opting out of the tournament all the teams were given a point each and the winners of this match goes to semi-finals directly. All of this was announced by the organizers before the toss which helped everyone to understand the criciticality and helped me not to talk much :)

CSS had to play CTS - Project A-Z in the second match. 

CSS Won the toss and decided to field first. This was a gamble I took especially after the batting failure in the first match this was a big decision. 

The Final XI: Arvind, Gunjan, JP, Paul, Prabhu,  Ramesh, Shyam, Vishnu, Veera, Vicky, Vishy.

Supported by: Kiran, Seshan, Dinesh, Hari, Naveen (the long haired guy) & Satish.

To cut the long story short, we didnt support the bowlers. There were 3 catches dropped, all of them almost identical for the same batsman at the same location by the same fielder. Not just that, with the ground being a little bigger than the one we played in the morning, and with a left and right hand batsman the team took a while to get to terms with. 

CTS scored 176 in their 20 overs. 

Ashwin  - 65(58), Murali 33(14), Arun 48(42)

Vishy - 0/23 in 4 with 1 wide

Vicky - 2/38 in 4 with 6 wides

Gunjan - 0/16 in 2 with 2 wides

Vishnu - 1/44 in 4 with 0 wides

Prabhu - 0/31 in 4 with 1 wide

Paul - 1/24 in 2 with 3 wides

The team was upbeat about chasing and everyone realised what had happened in the field was not the best effort and wanted to get the match in. 

With so much to chase I had just one option go for it from the first ball. Had asked Vicky to open the innings with Gunjan. Vicky couldnt have responded any better. He was hitting the ball with such ease fours and sixes were the only scores and so much was his confidence he denied singles to the other "opening batsman" for him to keep strike. 

It was brilliant to wach him play. He scored 66 of just 37 balls. With this I walked in hoping to stay there and keep the score ticking. But could only manage that for 12 balls. While I was there Gunjan carried along what he started with Vicky and retired at 25 (32). This brought in the inform "Yuvraj" Arvind "Singh". It was his day, he was at ease and the "Angry Beast" was on song. 

With the fall of my wicket I had asked Prabhu to join Mr. YA Singh. He and Arvind were running hard and hitting harder to get the scores. Mr. Singh was totally exhausted and wanted a runner (he didnt field the last 2 overs of our bowling as well). When JP was all set to do the running for Mr. Singh, Prabhu took a blow on his face and had to use JP's services for running and Arvind had to live with his own legs. 

The last 2 overs were the best of the match, with 29 runs to win. Murali the strike bowler bowled the 19th over and Arvind & JP ran and took 10 runs. The running was the best and thanks JP your stay there as the legs for Prabhu was a significant contribution. With 19 to score in the last over Arvind started off with a 6 off the first ball and a single. Prabhu smashed 3 fours it came down to 1 run off the last ball. The dugout was already excited as a tie would have taken us to the semis. 

With all the fielders in close to cut the single, prabhu smashed one through mid-off  for a four ensuring CSS's place in Semis straight in. 

It was a very close match and an exciting victory for CSS. The match was so good that the organisers and players from the adjeacent ground was watching this match. One of the organiser mentioned that this was the best match they had seen in the to

urney so far. It indeed was. 

Personally for me it was great to watch one of the best chases I have seen. 176 was a good score in 20-20 and Arvind and Prabhu made us look proud and saved one of the best innings of Vicky in the start. Vicky earned a very well deserved "Man of the Match". 

Congratulations CSS. 

The Semis will be on 14th Sept.

Scores : 

Vicky - 66(37), Gunjan 25 (32) retd., Arvind 35*(21), Prabhu 32*(17)

Extras - 11.

Here is the paper cutting of the 

scores published on Deccan Chronicle - Dated 9th Sept, Page 39.

Rotary Tournament - Match 1

With more than a month break the CSS team had a double-header (not the right usage) this weekend. CSS had to play back to back matches as it chose to do a selection for more youngsters to its team the week earlier. 

It was great to see a lot of new faces and the team at the ground on time, well just about ;) on a very cloudy morning. 

Mr. Captain was out on business travel so it was all to his best men to manage. For the records I was introduced to the organizers and the oponents as captain. 

The first match was against RSJ Consultants. The team selection was a bit of a problem with many folks coming for the first time and "what they could do" is known only to Veera and Arvind. We decided to give chance to 2 of them so Gunjan and Yuvraj did their debut for CSS both choses for their bowling. 

The final XI - Arvind, Gunjan, Kiran, Paul, Prabhu, Satish, Veera, Vicky, Vishnu, Vishy & Yuvraj.

Supported by - Seshan, JP, Ramesh, Shyam, Dinesh, Hari & "Long haired guy" sorry dont remember his name. If I have left anyone it is unintentional, never had so many names to this CSS cricket team :)

I lost the toss and RSJ chose to bat on a very wet situation. It was drizzling when we started to bowl. 

The team was very active on the field and restricted RSJ to 136 in 20 overs. Gunjan did a great debut with 3/19 and Arvind was great on the field saving a few boundaries and took 2 good catches. It was raining pretty much throughout he innings, and we had a 15 minute break in between when it was heavy.

When we started to bat it had stopped raining but the field and the mat was very very wet. My simple suggestion was to stay there and use the first 5-7 overs when the ball is hard and not soaked. Yes thats how it was when we bowled and that probably helped us in a way to keep the boundaries away from RSJ batters.

I had asked Kiran and Veera to open with me as 3 and Arvind at 4 and vishnu at 5. At this point I pretty much thought this would do. But what was instore was different. 

Veera came back in the first over. I stayed in for just a few balls, kiran followed soon. The bowling was decent and the field was packed with young guys which gave few options for us to score. We were just 40 after 10 overs and the first boundary came in the 10th over of an inner edge from Arvind. Who played a brilliant innings with absolutely no flaws. He was all alone and it was sad to see him fight alone with no partner staying with him. He made an excellent 60 with 2 amazing sixes. In all we had just 2 sixes and 2 fours till Prabhu walked in as number 9. 

CSS managed to get the score above 100 and lost the match. All we wanted was one batsman to stay with Arvind to make it but we lost the match in the first 10 overs. I should mention their bowling was spot on especially a small kid who bowled excellent legspin and controlled the innings in his 4 overs with 3 wickets. He was declared the man of the match.

Scores: 

RSJ - 137/9 in 20 Overs (Gunjan 3/19)

CSS - 105/9 in 20 Overs (Arvind 60, Prabhu 20)

It wasnt  great start after the break and for a day with 2 matches back to back. But helped to decide on the team for the second match as Prabhu and Gunjan were seen for the first time in action.

2008 BlueSky Tournament Match - 8

CSS Won a close match .. details later..

With this victory CSS has topped the table with 7 victories from 8 matches and lifted the trophy. The prize distribution will happen on the annual day of BlueSky. 

2008 BlueSky Tournament Match - 7

CSS Won against ABN Amro

2008 BlueSky Tournament Match - 6

With just 3 more matches in the tournament, including this one, CSS team either has given up or have their tail straight up. It shows in the behavior and body language. For the last couple of matches the team has not been turning up in time. This match was the worst, at 12.30pm for a 1pm match there was none except me and Dinesh on the ground. At the time of the toss we had just 5 folks on the ground, ready to play and the rest were literally crawling in one by one. Natz had to do his usual, which was missing for a couple of weeks, for the team to get ready. The best (worst) was reserved for the last, Mr. Best-batsman-slash-has-ever-produced, was on the ground with no whites and shoes.

Anyways, this week Mr. Captain had no choices but to go himself for the toss. CSS lost the toss and was put to set a target for AGM limited.

Surprisingly when the team was ready to get on the field there was more than needed folks in the team. Bunch of new faces came to the ground, whoever called them should have informed them about being there on time as well.

Vishy started the bowling and had the first break through in the last ball of the first over. In the meanwhile Mr. Captain spotted "Man of the final" on the ground and negotiated with the umpires and brought him on the playing eleven. This made one of the debutant to go back into the dug out.

"Saroja" Balaji was given the new ball, dont remember when I saw him bowl last. It took a few deliveries for him to get the ball bounce before the batsman. Managed to bowl 3 overs for 16 runs. Was replaced by "Panther", started his over giving away a boundary. Then was as-he-would-like-to-call his usual self. Picked up 4 wickets. Completed with a figures of 14/4 in 5 overs. Impressive.

In the meanwhile on the other end, the "Man of the Final" was his fiery best. Literally unplayable and pretty much ran through the AGM batting line. He finished with an amazing spell of 4 overs with 3/14.

Vishy completed his 5 overs with 16/1. Natz rolled his arm for one ball and took the last wicket.

The highlight on the innings was CSS fielding, there were about 6 direct hits and 1 by "Mr. Best-batsman-slash-has-ever-produced" getting a wicket.

AGM was bundled for 71 in 16 overs.

Vishy and Natz opened the batting for CSS. Vishy started the innings with a good square-cut for 4 on the first ball. Runs kept flowing pretty easily and the score was 40 in sixth over, Vishy did a mishit back to the bowler. Guess this disturbed Natz who followed suit immediately. Vicky went in and came back with a first ball bowled. Suddenly from 40 for no loss, the score was 40 for 3 in 7 overs. The team back in the dugout did not anticipate this as none was padded up, Kiran had to rush in with his pants just above his knees. Could have been 40/4 with Arvind scooping one with this "Angry Beast" and AGM folks couldnt hold on to it, at covers. This made Arvind realise and started playing with his head low. Anyways, with just 30 more runs to score for a victory Arvind and Kiran brought the score close to the target. Kiran was in some hurry and got stumped with 5 runs to score for a win. "Man of the final" got his chance to bat as well, which was not expected, completed the formalities with a hit to the fence.

Batting card - Vishy - 21, Natz - 17, Arvind - 11 (NO), Vicky - 0, Kiran - 10, Prachu - 4 (NO)

CSS just took 10.3 overs to complete the match in less than 2 hrs.

BlueSky Stats

Match 1 against Applied Materials
Result:Win by 48 runs
Venue:AM Jain

Match 2 against Sri Krishna Sweets
Result:Win by 102 runs
Venue:CLRI

Match 3 against Cambridge Solutions
Result:Win by 9 wickets
Venue:CLRI

Match 4 against Bailey Technologies
Result:Lost by 7 Runs
Venue:St. Bedes

Match 5 against Singam Puli 11
Result:Win by 160 Runs
Venue: Don Bosco, Perambur

Match 6 against AGM Limited
Result:Win by 6 Wickets
Venue: CLRI

2008 BlueSky Tournament Match - 5

CSS team is still on the high, the 6 run defeat the previous week did not bother them much. Guess it went a little overboard as there was very little co-ordination/communication with the team members on the plan to get to the ground. Incidentally there was a plan (apparently) to meet at Pink house and go together, eventually everyone drove pretty much in their own vehicle. Its not just this, some were woken up only past 7 for a 8 o clock match. Watch out folks !!! With the amount of hype on this team we need to be ........

Anyways, everyone reached a little past 8, at Don Bosco - Perambur. It was nice to be on the ground after a couple of weeks.

Mr. Captain decided to go himself for the toss and not send any of his lucky charms, guess the decision was impromptu post the telecon the luckies had with him during the journey to the ground. CSS lost the toss and "Singam Puli 11" (yes you read it correct) decided to bowl. There was a cheeky smile on Mr. Captain and came back only to get padded up along with Kiran. "Mr. Best-ever-Batsman-Slash-has-ever-produced" padded up for No. 3.

CSS being high, didnt have the usual meeting nor did everyone bother to sit together like usual. While there were lot of chatting and mocking going on at the dug out, Nats and Kiran started their task of making decent target. Nats did another Sehwag, quick 21 and scooped one got caught. That was probably the only ball the "Singams and Pulies" could hold on, till then. Bad luck Nats.

Kiran was joined by "Mr. Best-ever-Batsman-Slash-has-ever-produced". Kiran had made up his mind not to do anything flashy. He played one of the best knocks I have seen, extremely copy book style shots. "Mr. Best-ever-Batsman-Slash-has-ever-produced" couldn't do much in the middle, got out in very similar to Nats for 18. Vishy walked in and did not trouble the scorers. He was padded up longer than he was in the middle.

Vishnu, coming back to the team after a long time, joined kiran and played some good shots and made a decent 46.

"Singam Puli 11" were certainly not what they claim on the ground but was smart to make a proposal/decision with the umpires and Nats at the toss to have a 2 hr time instead of 30 overs.

They could bowl only 27 overs in 2hrs and CSS completed their innings with the scores at 231/7.

Now we got back to some stuff we usually do, team meeting. This time it was simple and "clean" .... "No complacency folks, lets get it done".

Vishy started the bowling attack. With a decent score, and a new ball with good seam decided to attack, 3 slips and a gully. This provoked the openers and they slogged a couple of hits to the fence.

Then came the "Panther". Same attacking field. This is the details of the first over from Panther.
". W W wd W . . " well.. none could believe their eyes. "Panther" was literally hunting the "Singam Puli 11" sounds weird right? but there were a few who were witnessing this. Anyways, between Vishy and Vicky "the Panther" they ran through and finished the match in 14 overs. Vishnu and Veera rolled their arms as well. Vicky finished with the figures of 6/29 in 5.3 overs. Vishy - 3/17 in 6 overs. Well it took a score of matches to get this dream match, it eventually did.

Look at the picture and you can see the relief/excitement/"Job done"/"I am a bowler too"/"Panther holding his dream ball" all these in one.

For the records, while the team members post the match were involved in a discussion on tournaments to enroll to play better cricket, Mr Panther succeeded an argument with the umpires and got the ball that he bowled with ... ... well ... as they say ... result is what it counts .. and especially in cricket the score books will read Vicky 6/29... his career best figures. Congratulations Vicky!!

Anyways .. it was a victory for CSS and thats what counts.... and the standings in the tournament.....

BlueSky Stats

Match 1 against Applied Materials
Result:Win by 48 runs
Venue:AM Jain

Match 2 against Sri Krishna Sweets
Result:Win by 102 runs
Venue:CLRI

Match 3 against Cambridge Solutions
Result:Win by 9 wickets
Venue:CLRI

Match 4 against Bailey Technologies
Result:Lost by 7 Runs
Venue:St. Bedes

Match 5 against Singam Puli 11
Result:Win by 160 Runs
Venue: Don Bosco, Perambur


Till we meet next time.

2008 BlueSky Tournament - Match 4

Well... catches win matches they say. What would happen for a team with a bunch of butter fingers? So the team which dropped a few (7/8 catches) obviously lost, though the batters seem to have managed to get the difference to the minimal. CSS lost the match by 7 runs.

The action this week shifted to St Bedes, CSS vs Bailey Technologies.

The day started with lucky charm being late to the ground Vicky (second in line as lucky charm usually when CSS bats) gets to go for the toss.

CSS won the toss and Nats decided to bowl first, no-brainer with pretty much everyone in the team who can hold bat being in form. The routine Team Huddle happened without two of the regulars Prasanna and Me (was traveling).

The new ball was shared by Nats and Satish. With two of its regular bowlers not available for the game, it was left to Arvind bowl more than 6 ball per match. Visibly it was not CSS's day on the field as there about 7/8 regulation catches dropped. CSS Managed to complete their quota of 30 overs and was set a target of 228 to chase.

Dug out was fairly relaxed having chased in excess of two hundred successfully a couple of times in the recent past.

It was Kicha and Nats opening the innings this time,Six...Six...Dot..Four ..Four ..Out was the sequence of scoring in the first over with Nats did the sehwag. Karthik continued his form, for a change in a different ground other than his home. It was a delight to the fifty odd spectators to watch him play shots all around the ground..Then was the collapse and CSS lost the match by 7 runs. Another last over thriller with this time CSS losing the match.

Lesson learnt :
1- Lucky charms need to be on time :)
2- VVNA strategy should extend .... ? :)

Breif scores

Bailey:227/8 in 30 overs (Nats 2/31)

CSS :221/10 in 29.4 overs (Nats-20, Kicha-37, Karthick-77,Veera-19,VIcky 19)

Supported by : Shiva, Sanjiva, Sridhar & Yuvaraj who witnessed the whole match.

I am positive Shiva Sanjiva & Sridhar would have been itching to pad up and score a few. Shiva for sure!! :)

Thanks Vicky for the write up. Obviously I did some editing :)


BlueSky Stats

Match 1 against Applied Materials
Result:Win by 48 runs
Venue:AM Jain

Match 2 against Sri Krishna Sweets
Result:Win by 102 runs
Venue:CLRI

Match 3 against Cambridge Solutions
Result:Win by 9 wickets
Venue:CLRI

Match 4 against Bailey Technologies
Result:Lost by 7 Runs
Venue:St. Bedes

2008 BlueSky Tournament - Match 3

Its been a week since the CSS cricket team won the Reddy's cup and the team was back in action at the CLRI, Adyar cricket ground for another match.

This time its for the Bluesky Tournament - Match 3 against Cambridge Solutions.

The "Think Tank" VVNA (read like DNA) of the team Veera, Vicky, Natty & Arvind had strategically given entry into this tournament in a specific group.

Anyways, this week the team arrived almost together, though not planned about 15 minutes before the toss. The body language undergoes such a change after winning :)

As usual, lucky charm walked in for the Toss and came back losing it. This was very fruitful for Cambridge as they did not have 11 at the time of the toss.

So with the new ball in hand Mr. Captain called for a meeting and had very few things to say this time, "No complacency folks. Lets finish the match and go home soon". Confidence huh? or "nakkals" to be vernacular :) ...Natty certainly had a few things planned in his mind.

Kiran, Arvind and Veera had to debate and decide on who was going to be the stumper for this match. Finally Mr. Captain stepped in and had Kiran on the job.

Vishy started the bowling and had a brilliant start to the match. Batsman played defensively and the ball rolled back to vishy, who casually threw the ball back to the stumps watching the batsman taking few steps after the stroke. Fortunately it hit the stumps and vicky from square-leg couldnt control his excitement and appealed and won it as well. Thanks Vicky .. not sure you knew it .. you were the only one appealing :)

After this it took a while for vishy to complete his long over with almost thrice having to stop his runup and have the umpire move back. It was a pain, trust me.

The other end the captain decided to bring himself on, guess he wanted to come back to what he was doing earlier.

Cambridge, not sure if they had their best team for the match as they couldnt score from the bat in the first few overs but there were runs coming from wides. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Vishy changed ends and took a wicket. Vicky had 3 in his 6 overs. Seshan came on and bowled a few leggies. Prassanna, again, was unplayable litterally ran through the tail and completed a hat-trick we well. Cambridge Solutions was all out for 131.

Mr. Captain again called for a on-field meeting, "well done guys. Lets get the match over soon and get home. Vishy & Arvind open and veera 1 down. I want to complete in 10 overs."

So Arvind and Vishy started the chase. The plan was very simple, stay there and complete the match. The first few overs were very interesting there were lot of runs on the board but few from the bat.


Post that when both had their eye in starting stroking the ball well. Vishy in particular was sending sending the leather to fence regularly.


Arvind did a fantastic job to rotate the strike. He kept saying "Vishy Kaal naguruthaannu kekaadheenga .....mudichuttu polam.." he had to say this a few times as Vishy was litterally looking to hit very ball... even the ones that didnt pitch on the mat to play.



Well.. with both Vishy and Arvind going well in the middle the team back in the dugout was relaxed. Well a little over I would say, with some all set to go home. Check out the picture you would know why I say this. One tournament victory + the strategy of the VVNA ??? Well anyways I was enjoying my batting and it was a long time since I spent some time in the middle. If I remember right my earlier decent knock was a couple of years back.


With about 5 runs to win the match, Arvind wanted to finish in his own style, which now has become a habit, missed out and got bowled. Vishy completed the formalities with a couple of consecutive hits to the fence.

Congratulations CSS!!!

CSS in this tournament has played 3 and won 3, 5 more matches to go.

Team: Natz, Vishy, Seshan, Veera, Vicky, Arvind, Kiran (wk), Prassana, Karthik, Balaji, Dinesh.
Satish & Satish rested for this match.
Supported by Ranjit Rao.

Cambridge solutions 131/10 in 21.4 overs

Prasana- 4/10 including hatrick(3.4 overs)
Vicky- 3/21(6 overs)
One runout--vishy
Vishy 1/x runs (six overs)

CSS 132/1 in x overs
Vishy 78*
Arvind 26

Reddy's Corporate Cricket Tournament - 2008

Cybernet SlashSupport defeated Sutherland Global Services by two wickets in the final of the Reddy’s Corporate cricket tournament.

Natz, captain of CSS had everything set in his mind before even the team started its trip to the ground. He pretty much wanted everything to happen the same as it happened a week back on the semi-final day and replicate the events.
So the first challenge was the toss and he had sent Arvind (his lucky charm) for the toss. Arvind came back winning the toss. There was no thinking on the plan, CSS put Sutherland into bat and set a target to chase.

The team composition, this was again a no-brainer, though Natz had a couple of options this time. Natz called for a quick team gathering and announced "The same eleven is playing today, no change".

The three seniors in the team working with the umpire to select the ball to bowl with.

Toss is won and the ball is selected and the team is ready to go. One last bit that needs to be done. The team briefing by the captain on what is his plans and expectations on the field. The instructions again was pretty much a repeat of the semi-finals. Natz says "Its clear and simple, there will be one voice heard on the field and that will be mine. You all know your roles and do it. No over throws, no catch drops and mis-fields. We have 110 minutes and lets do it. Put your *beep* hands and lets go for it".

That was it. The team took the field and started their work as planned, should I say "as they did a week back" :)

Vicky started the bowling from southern end. As it happened a week back went for a few in the first over with the batman pre-determined to go for the shots, walked down and hit a few to the fence. Other end, Vishy started and then the things started to change from the week back. It wasnt a maiden :)

Both the openers from Sutherland were very comfortable in making runs at decent rate. Natz tried Prassanna and changed ends for Vishy. But no signs of wicket. Brought on Satish who bowled brilliantly and put the breaks on the scoring rate. On the other end Natz brought his lucky charm and it works. Arvind managed to take the wicket of Venkatakrishnan with the help of a great catch at short extra-covers by Satish.

Shankar from sutherland continued sending a leather to the fence pretty frequently and scored a very well made hundred, while there were a couple of wickets falling on the other end. Sutherland finished with a total of 210/5 in 25 overs.

Then came again the plan, repeat of semi-finals. Natz sent Kiran and Vicky to open the batting. Kiran started off his usual style knocking the ball and walking for a run. Vicky pretty much started the same way as he did in the semis, and could do that for almost the same time as in semis. During his short stay did managed to send the ball to the fence a couple of times. This gave chance to the inform batsman, Prassanna and he started from where he left off in the semis. It was pleasure to watch him hit with ease. Kiran fell LBW for a good ball and this time there was no inner edge. Vishy joined prassanna, and started off with 2 hits to the fence. There was a drop catch for vishy at point and followed by a caught behind appeal. This made vishy to realise his role and decided to give strike to "Prachu" (Prassanna's nick from his friends at Sutherland). Things were going smooth with runs coming at about 8/9 an over from prassanna's bat. Vishy tried to ease the pressure on prassanna and hit one onto long-on but failed to clear.

In came the captain and started off with a six over mid-wicket. Natz hit a few and fell cheap for a good catch. Which gave a chance for Veera to work with prassanna. Veera hit a few great shots, the one I specifically enjoyed was the straight six. The CSS dug-out was tensed and Natz had everyone nailed to whereever they were. The equation was almost run a ball and prassana mis-hit one to be caught. He made 87. The CSS dug-out was very tensed at this point without realising the fact that the "lucky charm" is the next batsman to go in. CSS needed 8 runs in the last over and what else can you expect when you have the lucky charm playing for you. 2 runs from the first ball, and six to complete the match. Arvind completed the match and the "revenge" he was waiting for over 2 and half years.

Well with many things happening the same as it did in the semi's, the result also had to be the same :)

Prassana was declared the man of the final for his 87 from the bat and 2 wickets.

Well played CSS, you deserve this one.

Congratulations!!!!

Team: Natz, Vishy, Seshan, Karthik, Arvind, Veera, Prassanna, Kiran, Vicky, Satish, Balaji, Paul, Hari, Dinesh.

Supported by: Sooriya, Jai, Mitran, VKB, Satish.

For complete scorecard and stats for this match click here

Sify Match Updates

We played Sify last Saturday with all hopes of breaking the jinx.

Shiva opened with Kicha was soon out leg before. The bowler was so confident the moment the ball hit Shiva's pads. Look at the bowlers left hand, all set to appeal.

The captain then walked in and it soon rained some boundaries and a couple of huge sixes... so high that everyone was looking out for the ball and some flew to take cover in the clouds.

We were at 103 in the 12th over when Nutty was bowled.

Then began a collapse, people came and left in quick succession.

Arvind came, hit a couple but was bowled soon. Vishy and Veera stabilised the score in the end. We ended at 140 at the end of 20 overs.
When we stared bowling, they went firing right from the start. None of our bowlers were spared. Though it was a little close, it was all over soon.

Tomorrow is another day. Another match. Until then, caio

Feb 23 - CLRI Ground