SDCC3 registers a big win against Regal CC

The day started with the usual rolling of the pitch, laying of the match and running around to get supplies, it was a typical home game morning, with nothing out of the ordinary but turned events that unraveled from then on made the day special for the team. Arshad won the toss and as discussed prior to the game...elected to bat. He said that he wanted to challenge the team with the task of defending a total after it has failed to do that inspite of scoring 230 plus runs not once but twice and both the times against Brit & Dom. Coming off from the last ball thriller and morale killing last ball loss to Brit & Dom the team seemed all pepped to take on the captains challenge.

Arshad and Raju opened the innings for SD3....with Arshad looking more and more confident with each innings and Raju trying to make amends for a rare failure in the last game it was a perfect setting for a big score....Regal bowlers started off well by yielding only 19 runs in the first 6 overs with only 7 coming off t he bat....it was a slow but a steady start and the growing confidence in the strokes of both the players was apparent and it looked like a perfect platform for the two of then to launch....with the first bowling change brought the welcome relief that the bastmen were looking for an they turned around the scoring rate in an astonishing manner. Arshad was the first to up his scoring tempo with a brace of boundaries and Raju soon followed suit. In not time the score coasted towards fifty and at the first break the score was aorund 65 in 13 overs for no loss. Refreshed from the break the Arshad started scoring at a fast pace and started increasing the scoring gap between him and Raju...he was racing towards a well deserved fifty when he fell against the run of play for a slow bowler for 48. By then Arshad and Raju put together a Century partnership....thats was the first time I had seen a century stand for SDCC 3. It provided a perfect platform for the rest of the batsmen. With Raju playing the sheet anchor role Aman was sent in to hit some quick runs and he started off in a stylish manner with a couple of well timed boundaries but he perished to a slower bowler too...Raju on the other hand completed a well crafted fifty....Satish...our star from the last game....walked in confidently....he started playing himself in and runs started flowing at a brisk and steady pace...Raju perished trying to increase the scoring rate and fell for 61. Hari walked in confidently and it looked like a good setting for him to get back to scoring ways....the guys were rooting for him to strike form as he has been really unfortunate so far this season....but his bad seemed to continue as his lofted drive off the first ball he faced was plucked out of the air by the fielder....he stood there in disbelief....Suneel was sent in to stem the sudden fall of wickets....with Satish going great from the other end all Suneel had to do was stay at the crease....Satish was scoring runs at a brisk pace though not all from the middle of the bat....Suneel decided to go at the slow bowlers when they picthed the ball up and connected the first time for a four but the very next ball he persihed for trying to be over aggressive...he got LBW for completing his pull shot before even the ball reached him...yeah it was that slow....suddenly the 260-270 score started looking like a distant possibility....Tejuswi walked in and started off confidently driving down the ground and flicking the ball with ease....Satish was playing a composed innings and was begining to open out....Tejuswi fell in quest of quick runs for 10....in walked the man of the day...little did we know that Shiva was going to take charge of the game and dominate Regal. He started smashing the ball all over the place and that kind of even encouraged Satish for taking on the bowlers....score crossed 250...and was on path for a good score....when Satish played one lofted shot too many to fall for 49 runs to the surprise of all the SDCC players....Shiva finished with 22 runs off 9 balls...SDCC3 finished with 257/8 in 40 vers....seemed like a good score...but so did 237 in the previous game.


After the break, Shiva opened the bowling with Fanil....Neville...the opener for Regal CC started off well by pulling and cutting the ball with unbelievable power....after Shiva got the first break through with a swinging ball, the usually reliable Fanil was dispatched for a few runs mercilessly by Neville...which prompted Arshad to bring on Raju P...he was greeted by Neville with a monstrous six.... but Shiva kept pegging away from the other end and got wickets at regular intervals,....then Raju and Shiva settled into a rhythm and were working in tandem...and that paid dividends and Shiva teased Neville and forced him to play one shot too many.....Neville perished playing across the line...and with him the hope for Regal CC as well...as he seemed to be the only batsman that showed some sense of responsibility to stay at the wicket....Raju P joined the act and got a couple of wickets of his own....Shiva with 4 wickets was easily the pick of the bowlers... he could have had his fifth too but a misunderstanding between Fanil and Tejuswi resulted in a dropped catch....Renga and Suneel continued the restrictive bowling that Raju and Shiva had started....and were rewarded with wickets as well. Shiva was brought back into the attack and he struck straight away to grab his 5th wicket....in the mean time he also dropped a dollly...that even Boycott's mum could have caught.....all in all Regal was bowled out for 88 . The man of the moment Shiva was given the game ball and SDCC3 players finished day with a 171 run victory....now they have a well earned 2 week break before they head to Woodley grounds to take on Anaheim.