Some images from our post-playoffs on 9/27/2009

Some post game venting and hydration at Britannia..

Championship game report for 10/4/2009

Gentlemen,
First and foremost.. Nandu and myself would like to thank everyone to make this one of the most memorable seasons for Spartan CC and we definitely could not do this without the help of each and everyone of you. So thank you!
It is official after 14 years if I am not mistaken, Spartan has official become the C-Division champions and have been promoted to the B-Division for the upcoming season. Yesterday was a game for the masses. It was a game where

everyone was tested and had to put in mere individual effort to be the best they could be.

Game Report:
C Division: Indus II @ Spartan CCDate: 10/04/2009Played at: Spartan / Caroline DavisUmpires: Naveen and Rajesh (No Idea Umpiring team)Toss: Indus by away team and elected to bat
Indus II: 257/6 in 45 overs
Praveen 58 (5 x 4)Vinay 59 (6 x 4)Preetam 39 (3x4) (1x6)
Rupal 4-0-22-1Ankit P 8-0-45-1Abhishek 8-1-53-4
lost to
Spartan: 258/7 in 45.5
Ankit P 30 (4x4)Shailesh 30 (2x4)Krishna 71* (6x4) (2x6)Jessie 57* (2x4) (4x6)
Vijay 9-1-52-3Ramesh 5-0-20-0Pranay 9-0-43-0
Match Report:
This game was definitely a nice way to end the season and will not be forgotten. After seeing Indus stack their team with roughly only 2-3 regular C-Division players, Spartan was STILL able to prevail. NCCA may want to look into this "loophole" But nonetheless, Spartan is crowned as C-Division Champs!!

Regards,

Anish Mehta

..And C Division champs, did I say!

If one were to read the mundane match summary, Spartans beat Indus-II to win NCCA C Division championships. But trust me, it was anything but ordinary today.

Venue: Spartan Grounds on 10/04/2009

Teams: Spartans vs Indus-II

Umpires: Naveen and Rajesh

Indus innings

Anish lost the toss again and I think even he'll be glad that he did so.

Indus had stacked all it's A division team into this 'C' division game. They started off well, making some bold strokes for that early in the game. Jessie and Rupal got a good line and length early on. Rupal created some early chances, one of them missed by yours truly, again.

But pretty soon he struck, and foxed the aggressive one with a tricky length ball, and it lobbed up in the air for Anish to take a lollypop catch.

In comes Vinay Suri, and he started off shakily, fishing at out going deliveries and did create a few chances. Again, I missed almost a sitter in the slips. Now whoever lets me loose in the slips must have his head examined. This cost us pretty dearly in fact, Vinay used the opportunity and made it into a fine innings. The second wicket pair put on almost a 130 runs (sorry, no score sheet here!), while Spartan fielding was atrocious at moments, and let go quite a few wicket opportunities.

At first break Indus were 91 in 15 overs and they looked set to make some big scores.

Ankit S kept bowling some amazing overs, while Ankit P did bowl well but couldn't make any inroads. First change bowlers came in. While the first few overs of mine were very restrictive, Abhishek got our first breakthrough. Atul bhai took an amazing juggling catch and sent home the nagging opener Praveen. That didn't deter Vinay on the other end, from continuing to punish bad balls while being respectful of good deliveries.

Some more Indus batsmen came in, slogged or perished, while Spartans continued to miss chances. T20 seems to have rubbed off on to some Indus batsmen, who tried to reverse sweep

every single ball. In the end, Indus made 257 for the loss of 5 wickets. A good 40-50 runs more than necessary.

Spartan Innings

Ankit P and Atul Bhai started off without much pressure, but Atul bhai fell soon when Vijay had him snapped behind the wickets. Ankit continued his batting form from previous game and did a fantastic job, until he ran himself out. Abhishek went in and had another marvellous innings, though he fell cheaper than he deserved, making some 30 odd runs, with some fine strokes including an audacious sixer (or was it two?)

Pressure began to build up, and soon Shailesh,Vaibhav, Anish and Rupal got out, some fishing outside the off stump, one unnecessary rush of blood shot and one genuine good catch in the covers. In the meantime, run rate which wasn't an issue until then started creeping up to almost 10 runs an over. After the second break, Spartans kept saying "We should make it, we will make it" but I didn't see much hope and conviction in there.

Spartans were 160ish for 7 down, and 96 required off 11 overs or so. At the crease are veterans Krishna, who is already struggling with his hamstring injury and has a runner, and our temperamental Jashandeep Deol "Jessie", who can on a given day show his grit and give it back to the opposition.

Krishna kept making some outrageous shots, while the runner did a good job of not getting him run out!

In one over from this guy they kept calling "Cheetah", Jessie opened up, and boy, how did he.

Three consecutive sixes, the last of which was finally decided to be a boundary, opened up the flood gates and there was no stopping. Some 24 runs came off that over and all of a sudden Spartan camp gets a jolt and see some hope! It was still a very tight situation, with 56 runs required in the last 7 overs or so. I have never seen Jessie show this kind of temperament and grit in his batting, he kept flicking and cutting for singles, giving strike to Krishna, and Krishna kept continuing his massacre at the other end. It was amusing to see Jessie walk over and talk to Krishna when he found himself struggling for a couple of balls.

The sudden infusion of energy and smiles in Spartan camp is something I am going to carry for a while with me. In no time the target is a piddly widdly 9 runs off last two overs. There was a bit of excitement when the penultimate over resulted in three dot balls and no big shots. "Cheetah", who must have gone for more than sixty-seventy runs in his short spell, comes in to bowl the last over, and there still aren't any big shots. Situation almost reminds me of the recent BOI T-20 game and how we couldn't make 5 runs with three wickets in hand.

Ankit falls down while trying to run, gives most Spartans a heart in the mouth situation, but with a couple of clever singles and one pull to the boundary off the penultimate ball, Spartans are home!

I have seen quite a few games go the other way all the time, and have watched some determined and aggressive cricket pull off miracles, but this was the first live in blood that I witnessed, and isn't something I can forget for some time. No doubt Krishna was a hero for the day, and I am glad his 20 Ibuprofens did not go waste! But the day belonged to Jashandeep Deol, the dude just made it count when it absolutely mattered and that too how. I don't see how if he didn't click, Ankit and I would have gone in there under such a pressure cooker situation.

Way to go, Spartans, C division champs and let's repeat this performance in B division next year!

Again, plenty of good support from the boundaries, with Hasu bhai, Uday, Chad and his lovely kids around.