2018 Regal league - First Round Game - Super Kings vs.Spartans on 28th April (Saturday) at Lincoln 9am - Spartans win by 13 runs
Spartans 145 for 8 in 30 overs (Adriel 36 Amit 26, Prasannah 4/20, Karthik3/21)
Super Kings 132/8 in 20 overs (Aditya 41, Jeffrey 25, Madhav 16 n.o, Amit 3/12)
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For the third year running, Super Kings had the honor to start the season. What a chilly start indeed. Temperature was hovering around early 40s and with the wind, must have been close to freezing indeed. But who cares. We are here to start yet another glorious regal season.
Spartans Batting
Put into bat, Spartans were cruising along at 83/1 loss in 8 overs and were well on their way to a 160+ score. Adriel played quiet admirably to score 36 runs with three sixers and a boundary. All these boundaries came of short of length balls on the leg side over the deep square leg. Medium pacers, watch out. Amit who came in at one down also played well to score 26 runs with a sixer and two boundaries. Those runs of the newer ball and those boundaries made a telling difference in the outcome of the game as what Super Kings needed was two more boundaries at the crunch time.
Thanks to one of the brilliant spell by spinners in both ends (Prasannah and Madhav), in the next 12 overs, Spartans could score only 62/7.
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| Brilliant spell by Prasannah |
Prasannah, who is sadly playing his last match for Super Kings, bowled brilliantly to take 4/21 in his four overs. It was really a canny spell as he time and again dipped the balls and had batsmen clean bowled. A super spell by an ever smiling guy who has given us many happy memories for us.
Prasannah was ably supported by Madhav who took 1/21 in his four overs. If we had taken a few more catches, we could have even had them bundled our for 130 or less. One of them was a sitter duly dropped by yours truly off Madhav. But for a first game with hardly any fielding practice, it was ok in the field although this needs to be worked upon.
Of the medium pacers, Karthik was the best of the lot taking 3/21 in his four overs. He bowled his heart out and has really improved so much through the years. Come to think of it, he had his first wicket for Super Kings in his second year. Superb player and is out there amongst the best in terms of commitment and never-say-die spirit.
Shiv keeping was brilliant as he moved around swiftly and really pepped up the bowlers. Good work Shiv.
Of the remaining 8 overs (other than the 12 by Pras, Karthik and Madhav), we gave away 83 runs and all these bowlers have their work cut out to perform better. With Ravi and Anurga back in the mix, it will get better but losing Pras will be a big blow not only because he is such a good spinner but also in our league, impact of slow bowlers are far better than medium pacers particularly in belter like Lioncoln.
Super Kings Batting
Chasing 146, Shiv and Jeffrey gave us a great start and we were nicely placed at 40/0 in 6 overs when we lost both openers in the next over. Jeffrey made his top score of 24 in 25 balls with two good boundaries. Shiv also holed out for 12 off 17. Venkat was haplessly run out. Aditya was batting well as always hitting boundaries and running between the wickets deftly. Kiran also got run out and ultimately we had three run outs which is not acceptable if we have to milk the middle.
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| Debutant Prem with his dad |
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| Always great to play in Lincoln |
I walked in at #6 at 84/4 in 13 overs as the asking rate has climbed to close to 9 runs. Although I had suggested to Aditya to rotate the strike and take occasional boundaries, I also thought about extremely capable Madhav and Anand to follow up. With the spinner flighting so high, I decided to hit it long if the chance is presented since a couple of sixers and a few boundaries would have settled the game and will also take the pressure off Aditya. But I holed out to mid wicket boundary with my third ball. Little bit more power would have cleared and such moments are what makes this game so wonderful. As I was waking back, for a moment felt stupid but then again, these are the moments to be taken since it will be too much to expect Aditya to belt boundaries and relieve the pressure. On a better day, it might have worked but again as captain, I had to take the initiative which failed today.
Their slow bowlers were bowling well and it was getting harder to even score at run a ball. Madhav batted well to remain unbeaten 16 runs. Aditya played quiet brilliantly and flawlessly to score 41 of 36 balls and nearly got us through (2 sixers and a boundary). We came tantalizingly close to end at 132/8 and two more hits would have got us through. We certainly missed Neeraj indeed.
Amit from Spartans with 25+ runs and 3 wickets was the man of the match for a wonderful performance.
Take away
Overall lots of positives. We restricted a team that had a rampaging start by bowling well when it matters. Who knows if we had held onto a few catches that were presented. With more practice, we will get better indeed.
- We are certainly missing a pinch hitter in the slog overs and let’s see who can role into it since with good capable batsman at the top order who can give us 7 to 8 RPO up-to 12th over or so, we need such a batsman to ramp it up at the end.
- Prasannah is a big loss and we are looking up to Prem to practice hard and step into this. It won’t be easy but is doable. Having watched the slow bowlers today, hopefully he got some idea.
- From the medium pacers, there a lot to learn from Karthik who bowled really tight and for the most part, kept to back of the length. Too many short balls especially in the first overs of most of our bowlers. Fuller length is always better than such short balls in the leg side,
- For a team that has almost nil practice and missing a great batsman and too good bowlers, it is a great start
Let’s practice with focus and also dedicate more time for fielding.
- Good bye Prasannah. We will not only miss your mesmerizing bowling but also your beaming smile. We all wish you the very best.
- Hope Prem has a good taste of Wisconsin weather, having moved from Texas. He has his work cut out to perform well as a slow bowlers.
Great show folks. We nearly made it. It will only get better with more practice. Let’s keep our heads high after a great game of cricket.
Go Super Kings
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