Finally the sun comes out and so did the DCU openers all guns blazing. Surprisingly it was not Sri but Venkat who was the aggressor this time. Venkat is an aggressive bat himself but when Sri gets going, everyone looks like they are playing in slow motion. Venkat played a brutal innings. Sri found it hard to time the ball initially but soon got going and made a quick 36 (not as quick as we are used to :)). 

 

Ritesh pulled his first ball to the square leg boundary. Just as he was looking good, he played inside to a slower ball and was out LBW. Rajesh went in and played a controlled innings, he rotated the strike well and knocked the odd boundary. With 10 required to make his century, Venkat swung and was cleaned up for 90 well made runs. Venkat loves playing at Oxon Hill and always does well and today was no different. Rajesh's calmness complemented Venkat's brutality. DCU made 183 for 3 in 20 overs.

Vikings came out swinging to keep up with the high run rate. Couple of swings here and there and DCU looked like they were in for a fight but Rajesh trapped the opener in front of the stumps with a beautiful slower ball. Jazzy D tightened the screws and ensured the runs didnt flow too easily. As the pressure mounted, each Viking batsman swung at every ball. Introduction of Raj made the going tougher. Raj's pace was ideal for the slow pitch and the batsman found it difficult to get going. Ritesh took over the keeping gloves from Sri to give him a breather and effected a couple of good run outs. 

 

Sethudharan was in his elements. He toyed with the batsman as they struggled to pick him and he accounted for 3 wickets. Raj picked up 2 and the Vikings were dismissed for 82 runs in 14 overs. 

 

The bowling needs to get a little more tighter and the fielding a little more sharper for the tougher matches ahead. There is too much reliance on the openers to get a good score. This needs to change if we need to win this tournament.

 

Puneeth Shivaraya (10/17/2011)

 

Views expressed in the report are of the abovementioned member and may not represent the views of the club as a whole