Canberra Ceylonese won the toss again and elected to bat first to take the advantage of good batting conditions. In keeping with our rotation policy, Anura and SK battered in the top-middle order for this match (with captain batting at 10).Our openers Rohan and Anura batted sensibly against some hostile bowling from two ACT rep bowlers. We used the right/left hand combination in the early overs to quash the challenge presented by Tuggers. Rohan played well for his 30 and then Haresh (46no), AJ (44no with 40 runs coming from boundaries), Prashant (41 off 26 balls) maintained a very healthy run rate throughout the innings. Steve (22) playing his full match in his comeback and our no 11 for this match Bhaskar (18) batting well played some beautiful cricket shots to contribute to our highest total (258) for this season so far bettering 237 runs scored last week.
This is a massive improvement from last year where the par score was 140, when Neil and I were building the team for this year. Knowing the conditions well, Tuggers were scoring at a rapid rate with 85 runs scored by the 10th over. Prashant took the priced wicket of their Captain – R Austin, and from that point onwards, with some good bowling combinations led by Les Jordan (6 overs conceding only 20 runs in a small/fast field), we managed to pull the match back in our favour. At the 20 over break, Tuggers were 2 for 123 and were on track with their run chase but introduction of Haresh (4 for 36) presented them with some excellent left arm bowling after the break. With Bhaskar not available for bowling, Rohan put his hand up while nursing a shoulder injury with 7 valuable overs. AJ as usual bowled well keeping tight from one end with Steve chipping in with 3 overs.
The scorecard may not tell the full story, but it was anyone’s game till the 35th over. SK had tough luck by bowling to Tuggers best batters but knowing him, SK will bounce back in the next match. We are currently sitting on the 3rd place of the ladder, with two matches to be played before the GF.
Our next match will be against Ginners NSL with some friendly fire expecting from our much-loved and respected ex player Lalantha.