THCC Academicals start the season in fine form.
A disciplined team effort with the bat and ball brings the Academicals the rewards in a 123 run victory away at Findorff. (Match Details on CricHQ)
The Academicals arrived at a Findorff ground sporting a very wet surface and a glacially slow field. Findorff won the toss and sent the THCC Academicals in to bat. Despite the sun appearing shortly after the start of play, the field remained lethargic for the duration of the match.
On a pitch that provided enough variety to keep the batsmen on their toes, the Academicals’ opening partnership between Chris and Ashish saw off the new ball and the opening bowlers with a stand of 31 runs. Ashish needed a bit of the magic spray after a ball squeezed behind one of his pads, but managed to see out his innings standing up in a gutsy opening display. A few unlucky, cheap dismissals in the middle order were quickly overlooked as Silva and Steve (Capt.) put on an innings defining partnership of almost 100 runs. Silva was in particularly fine form as he raced to a quick-fire half century in the blink of an eye, crashing one of his four sixes over the train lines adjacent to the ground.
It was indicative of the team discipline that every Academicals player performed their team role. There were a plethora of extras to be had, and the batsmen diligently left balls that would score without laying a bat on them. This was so much so that one of the lower order batsmen diligently “left” a ball going down legside to crash into his leading butt cheek–a comical but telling note about how well the team played to plan right down the order.
After making 236 all out after 48.5 overs, the THCC Academicals took to the field with Satya and Aswin opening the bowling with very tidy spells. Again, the bowlers stuck to the plan, pitching the ball up and making the batsmen play their shots. The first wicket to go was courtesy of a blinding catch at point taken an inch from the turf by Silva off the bowling of Aswin. This was the beginning of the end for Findorff with wickets falling regularly throughout their chase.
There were some tough chances in the field with Jürgen missing a swirling high catch running backwards, Kev missing out on a tricky caught & bowled belted back at him, and Taufiq (substitute) putting down a very challenging, low, one-handed chance in the infield, but the day was already THCC’s. Very tight spin bowling in the final overs from Nabeel and Jyothy marked the epitomy of playing for the team and to the plan–and sealed the result with the Findorff innings over inside an hour and fifteen minutes.
Jyothy finished up with the best bowling figures for the day with three wickets collected for just 14 runs. Silva and Aswin also picked up two wickets a piece, with Satya and Nabeel (vice capt.) taking one each to dismiss nine of Findorff’s batsmen before they declared to end their innings with the THCC Academicals the winners by 123 runs in this first game of the season.
Adrian Mancuso
First Gamer, THCC Academicals