Finally, Cricket!

Friday, 26th Feb... everyone is trying to get their cricket teams to practice and trying to find out who is playing against whom…

PRELUDE: iCe, the event organizing team in the company (now under the capable organizing skills of B, our very own DJ) came up with a brilliant event. It was but obvious that the only event that could ever bring out a big group and make iCe events hip, hop and happeneing was the master of all games – Cricket… thus came the iCL (keeping in line with our naming convention of starting with an "i") 10 players per team out of which only 8 can play – 8 overs match.. 2 mandatory female players in that 8 playing members and only a lady can substitute another lady… registration closed on Thursday and there were 16 teams… I was obviously in P’s team… and then the inevitable happened… the quest to win took over and S and P talked and merged the team to get one super team with all good players (obviously not including me)…

By Friday, those who got left out of this super team and some others who missed out on the registration on the whole were independently feeling a bit... a bit left out… then came the idea of getting these ppl into a team… a last minute team… including me, the ultimate cricketer, someone who is not a cricket fan, not a cricket buff, someone who knew nothing but the spelling of “Crikett” and that someone who had played less than 10 cricket matches in his whole life… yes I am indian but I refuse to eat cricket, sleep cricket and drink only coco cola…. (Coz I prefer Slice or Aavin/ Nandhini flavoured milk :P)

Anyways, the league matches were commencing on Saturday, to be played in the adjoining college ground (how convenient.. I wonder y no one came up with that idea one sooner!!) P and S’s team came before us.. they plaeyed well and won (they should! After all that grouping and the sort!!!!) even R who was in their team bowled well… by the time it came for our team’s turn to play, I remembered a vital thing… owing to my having played very few matches, I didn’t know bowling at all.. coz I hadn't bowled at all in that very few matches… fortunately, for some unknown reason, whenever I did bat, I used to bat well enough… a bit above average, if I say so myself.. anyways, enough of blowing my own trumpet… oh, I didn’t mention my team members did i?

Tuff-E-Nuff – S (A & C’s project team mate and our team captain), Another S (A & C’s another team mate), C (A's team mate and originally P's very good friend, now my friend too), A, H, Myself, JK and N (from R's project team). A & C being the ladies in the team.

H gave me some last minute bowling tips (how a ball looks like, what we are supposed to do with it, how it is held and how it should be thrown etc.) Then P said just swing your hand and throw it – simple.. and I tried twice and it did seem simple! Hand didn’t swing enough but that was okay… lucky for the girls that they could just throw the ball without swinging. Anyways, to be on the safer side. I “suggested” to the captain that I be used in the last over (I forgot to mention the “nail-in-the-coffin” rule.. all playing members must bowl an over!) the captain thought my “suggestion” was some strategy of mine and agreed (he didn’t realise that when I said I cant bowl, I meant I CANT BOWL!!!)…

We won the toss and as planned we decided to chase… before I cut to the chase, let me mention that we bowled well and I caught out someone. In 5 overs, we had given about 52 runs.. next 3 overs were from C, A and the gr8 me… C gave about 20 runs, A gave around 25. In my turn, the first ball went okay.. then in the next swing I sprained my shoulder… now comes the best part… one- I cant bowl, two-its sprained now and three- the umpire insists that I cant just throw the ball or be substituted.. so I ended up with wides and no balls.. the batsman understood that he might never get to hit the ball and took the trouble to go out of his way and hit the balls to fours and sixes… I tired convincing the umpire to get myself substituted… he said no and the charade continued… I gave 29 runs and their total reached to 128!

To compensate, I entered as opening batsman along with N… he was a good batsman and made me run for 2s and 3s and he hit a four or two.. and he got out… next came the other S, we ran a bit, he hit a bit and I hit a bit… then I hit a four… the next could-have-been-four-if-that-guy-was-not-standing-there shot was got caught. And I started to gloomily walk out of the crease… the fielder threw the ball and the bowler immediately hit the stumps… I was wondering why someone would try to out me when I was laready out. Turns out that the leg umpire had given a no ball and that the catch was invalid and that I was run out!!! Imagine that.. with total disappointment and back to pavillion… soon one after the other, the others including our dear captain who did score a few runs got out with everything coming to H and A..

A almost hit a four (the fielder stood too close and didn’t realise she would actually make contact with the ball).. that fielder ran after the ball and stopped it at the nick of time… (A special thanks to A for forgiving the fielder's instinct to run after the ball to stop it and deciding not to kill him after all!)... everyone were so engrossed in watching this situation play out (including H and A) that no one took runs… soon H also got out and it all came down to A and C… then it was just a matter of time before they got out too… probably on the last ball… we scored some 80 runs and lost…

But our team had set some nice records:
1. Only team in which a guy gave more runs while bowling than the girls in his team (that's me!)
2. Only team to give so many runs in an over (till then)
3. Only team which let the other team reach 128 (till then)
4. Only team in which the girls actually got to bat (till then)
5. Only chasing team which played all 8 overs (till then)
6. Only losing team to do hip-hip-hooray after match

But the saving-grace part of things:
1. I actually batted okay and could have led to victory with my batting if not for that run out (this is how we all are convincing ourselves)
2. The team we lost to, actually ended up as the runners up in finals, so we lost to the second best team in the league
3. The girls too got to play and have fun
4. Everyone had fun and we did manage to score well considering our line up

After that wonderful performance, I am sure no one would take me into their team. But hey, I did get to play and have fun. And I am sure that someone else (who hasn't seen me play yet but thinks that all guys play at least okay cricket) would unwittingly hit his/ her leg on a chainsaw and take me into his/ her team.

And oh ya, the best comedy of all - P's team had cleared the quarter final but lost at the semi finals to the winners of the league match… so the whole point of merging and forming a strong team turned out to be almost futile (almost coz the team they lost to had 5 players who represent the organization at the corporate matches!)