Toddling at cricket - I played man!

Hey there!

Note: This post is all about a cricket  tournament. [You have been warned]

I mentioned here about my initialization into this sport called Cricket! Today, guys from the office had organized an intra championship. A 4 team knock out tournament. It was apparent from time table of tournament that this thing was going to take us to task given that we had three matches scheduled for a single day and our tech-fi constitutions.

Praying for being knocked out early so that we may retire to our comfy beds and enjoy rest of the weekend in our cozy la-z-boys was one idea but not the best one. And when you are in the battle, the enemy IS the enemy and you got to take 'em down anyways. But got to shoot them by the rules of the game. :-)

After a couple of hours of spectating the first match which was to decide who will be our oncoming opponent in the final if we make it up there, came our turn to show the brass.

While the first match was in progress I had my hand on the official camera and ended up capturing some (nice and spectacular) action from the first innings. Unfortunately, at the same time exhausting the battery, so we were without a cam for rest of the day! No one was cursing me; at least in the face. :-)

We won our first one in KO and moved on to the finals.

Got to bat first and we had our star players all set to assure a death sentence for the opposing team who boasted about some of the best bowlers in the company. After the first wicket went down, our captain made a decision that might have well caused us to loose the series as well as some humiliation. He sent me to bat next! ;-)

I am glad that I got a really fair chance but the opposition used this opportunity to have me as a ball-sink. Not a single ball was bowled straight to the wickets lest I had to go home and they were not stupid enough to let such a resource go. I missed quite a lot of them owing to lack of practice and that worked to lower the RPO rate. Smart bowling eh!

So my team ended up scoring some 30 runs less than the average of that day's innings totals. Courtesy, my amateur batting. I did opened with a spectacular six that left me amazed as well but nothing of that sort happened again after that; apart from a humble four. I contributed a 27 not out. Assured by the fact that I am not going to get a first down in near future. I went back to what I do best. Fielding!

The chasing team got the fiercest blow to their arsenal when their star batsman, the trump card and the opener, was dismissed at duck. This event switched the chasers from attack to defend instantly and undoubtedly saved me from some "You-did-it" stuff as well. :-)

And the Jill Team came tumbling after.

Thanks to the tremendous effort by our team, we were able to wrap the chasers far below what everyone anticipated and far far below the day's average almost half a century short of our team's already humble score.
Really a burning match where every moment was tough on everyone's guts because of the lurking uncertainty  in the air.

Finally, we won the tournament that was concluded by a decent trophy distribution ceremony.

Now I am preparing to retire to bed after pampering two sprained ankles, an overclocked knee, a slightly blue thumb and aching toes. Waiting for more muscles to show up by morning. I played man!

So? A day well spent? A loud YES!

PS: There also exists a thing like office and life. I almost forgot. :-)