2nd AGSFPs vs Dunecht; played at Rubislaw on 25th May 2013.
The weather was perfect for cricket at Rubislaw for the Reid cup clash between AGSFP 2nd XIs and the friendly Dunecht XI. The first person to greet the ever punctual skipper Magesh Devendran was not his team mate but a new fan/supporter. Word of mouth should have got out that the 2nd FPs had a convincing victory against 2nd Ellon two weeks back.
The 2nd FPs skipper successfully maintained his 100% record in losing tosses, only his 4th in a row and was put to bat by Dunecht skipper Burnett. Most of the regular 2nd team players decided to do other interesting things than playing cricket on a bank holiday weekend. This meant that there were seven 2nd team debutants for the season: Aninda Das, Guru Thangamani, Ian Good enough who sacrificed his usual Saturday golf for cricket, former Queens Cross veteran Roy Burnett, Satya Chowdary, Saravana Kumar Rathinam (aka Saro) and Arunkumar Chithambaram. Karthik was appointed as the stand-in Vice Captain.
Aninda and Guru went in to open the innings for FPs after listening to their captain’s lecture on team’s target score and their role for the first 15 overs. It was a quiet first over by the accurate Derret where surprisingly Guru got off the mark with a single and not a six. But he decided to hit Roberts out of the park in the 2nd over and was caught at mid off.
Whyte was promoted up the batting order and got off mark in no time with a boundary over covers. And he continued to bat in his usual aggressive mode and recorded the first six of FPs’ innings when he pulled Derret over the mid wicket for a huge six in the first ball of 7th over.
Aninda played sensibly along with his partner Whyte and the pair put together an excellent partnership of 48 runs which was broken by Burnett in the 13th over; Aninda scoring a gritty 12. This brought the in form Karthik to the crease who welcomed the new bowler Lumsden by hitting two boundaries of his first over.
Whyte then pulled Burnett for the biggest six ever hit in Rubislaw (so far this season), inbetween mid wicket and long on, which closely missed the far end pavilion roof tiles. But, Burnet got his revenge in the next over when he clean bowled Whyte for a brilliant 39; FPs 76 for 3 of 16 overs.
And then it happened. Karthik was out caught behind in Lumsden’s next over. Magesh was run out for 4. Roy Burnett, Rahul and Saro came in and went out without disturbing the scoreboard. Goodenough looked good enough but was caught at cover for 7.
Satya started attacking the Dunecht bowling and scored 2 quick boundaries. He and the fearless Arun Kumar put together an entertaining partnership of 15 runs, but the FPs innings was wrapped up for a meagre 105 when Arun Kumar was caught at mid off.
FPs top batsmen were Kieran Whyte – 39(2 x 6, 3 x 4), Karthik Mohanan – 13 (2 x 4) and especially Aninda Das – 12, who batted in a prudent manner. If he can play with similar temperament, then he will definitely go on to score a lot more runs for FPs in future. For Dunecht, Burnett bowled 10 – 1 – 31 – 3, Roberts 9 – 2 – 22 – 3, Lumsden 6 – 2 – 23 – 2 and Derret 5 – 0 – 23 – 0.
After tea, the in form Milne and Derrett opened the batting for Dunecht. Whyte and Karthik opened the bowling for FPs and found their usual good line and length straight away. Derrett who has been scoring consistently so far this season became a victim of Whyte’s deadly out-swinger which uprooted the off stump in the very first ball of his 2nd over. And Karthik in his 4th over bowled an in-swinging yorker to rattle Merryweather’s middle stump. Dunecht were 19/2 in 8 overs. A near perfect start for the FPs.
But Milne had other plans and saw off the dangerous Whyte who finished an excellent first spell (6-1-8-1). Rahul, who took 4 wickets in that week’s evening T20 league game, replaced Whyte but struggled to land the ball in the right areas. Immediately, Milne shifted his batting style to 5th gear and hit him for a boundary and a ferocious six in the same over. Dunecht 50/2 in 13 overs.
Magesh replaced Rahul and in his very first over got Asadullah wicket, plumb LBW for 4. Karthik who ran in hard and bowled fast was given a deserving break (7-1-29-1) was replaced by Guru, who started bowling an excellent line which irritated the Dunecht batsmen. And then the magic happened, Guru striking twice in consecutive overs (3rd and 4th), taking the wickets of Witz (6) and DeGabrielle (0). But he received the ultimate reward for bowling well in his 5th over when he took a sharp one-handed return catch to dismiss the dangerous Milne for a well played 37. Dunecht 75/ 6 in 24 overs.
Even though Guru was bowling really well, it was also evident that batsman Campbell was getting comfortable with his pace. Hence, the captain decided to take him off the attack and brought back opening fast bowler Whyte to stir things a bit. This move paid off when Whyte bowled Campbell in the 30th over, and with Magesh taking the wickets of Burns and Lumsden at the other end, Dunecht slumped to 98/9 in 33 overs.
Dunecht required 8 runs to win of 7 overs with only 1 wicket in hand. From here, any result was possible. Karthik and Guru came back to bowl with discipline and accuracy, giving away only 6 runs in 6 overs as tension mounted.
The last over: Dunecht required 2 runs in 6 balls to win the match and progress to the Reid Cup Quarter Final. FPs captain called upon the daring Guru to get the job done. Three nervous dot balls later, the batsmen met in the middle for a final chat and nodded their heads in tandem. The decision was made.
FPs looked at each other and nodded knowingly as well. They sensed that something was going to happen now. Guru ran in confidently and bowled the fourth ball. It pitched at good length and went past batsman Roberts who swung and missed, but started running fast towards the non-striker’s end. As his partner Burnett reached the batting crease, keeper Goodenough pounced to his right to collect the ball and threw it to the non-striker’s end. The ball went over the running Roberts head, missed him by an inch and was gathered by Guru, who gleefully took off the bails to give Grammar FPs one of the most exciting wins in recent times.
The final stats were K.Milne 37 (1x 6, 5x 4), I.Lumsden 8 (1×4) and L.Campbell 7 (1×4); for FP’s Guru 8.4-0-16-3, Magesh 10-2-21-3, K.Whyte 10-2-20-2, Karthik 10-3-32-1 and Rahul 1-0-12-0.
The combination of Goodenough, Rahul, Saro and Satya saved nearly 40 runs for FPs through their extraordinary fielding efforts. Overall, it was an excellent team effort which gave FPs a confidence boosting victory against a friendly and sporting Dunecht team. But, on that day, for providing us with so many thrills and so much excitement, the real winner was the game of cricket itself!
Champagne Moment – The fourth ball of Guru’s last over which won the match for FPs
Man of the Match – This would have been Guru for getting Milne’s wicket and bowling a tight last over to win the match. But, for scoring 39 runs which gave Grammar a decent score and for getting 2 wickets, Kieran Whyte has been chosen as the man of the match.
