An Owl's 2 hoots

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Right-arm over

After around a million F5's (page refreshes) in cricinfo, I finally got to play the game. I have joined the county cricket club which was started recently. In India, I have played extensive "under-arm" cricket (with tennis ball) and not much of "ground" cricket. But this one, is the real deal.

Our team is a bunch of desis, some of whom have been playing for quite a while. I daresay that I bowl a decent leg spin, so there you go!. Batting - I am not quite used to these kinds of conditions - namely, pad, abdominal guard, helmet (all very uncomfortable, but very essential), so it is a bit hard running with the gear. But I hope I would get used to it.

Sarasota la marundhukku kooda cricket equipment illa. The salesperson at Sports Authority brought me a croquet set when I asked for cricket items. And then, adding insult to injury, she said, "Oh, I thought it was so-o cute that a guy plays croquet!".

So after settling for a guard worn for cycle-racing (err, it is similar) and a white tee-shirt from Walmart and an almost white pants, I was ready!. The first match of this season(!) was against a team from Ocala, FL. I was expecting another bunch of desis, but my jaw dropped when I saw that they were all Carribeans.

The match was 30-overs a side. We won the toss and decided to bat (3 more players on our side were still on their way, you see!). It was a mat pitch and we scored 131/8 in 30 overs. Since I am a specialist(!) spinner, I came low down the order - almost when the match was over - and scored 2 runs N/O.

After a short break, it was their turn to bat. Pacers started the proceedings and the first ball was smashed with such force I have never seen in real life to 4. Now I know how bowlers feel when Sachin smashes them around. But somehow we came back and plucked 4 wickets out of nowhere. Their chase was a mixed-bag. We bowled well in patches, and got wickets regularly. There were 4 pacers in the team, so I got to bowl later, and that too only 2 overs. I did not pick any wickets, but they did not score more than 8 runs in my "spell". But I did run-out 2 of their batsmen though. Very agile cover and square leg fielder, you see!. End result - we won by 5 runs. I think we had a bit of luck, as they were all set to win.

They were very nice and a sportive bunch. There was a lot of bantering on the field, and their accent was interesting, least to say!. Since we hosted them here, we had ordered lunch. The match had everything - a bit of rain, some blows taken by the batsmen, catches taken, catches dropped, etc. In short, a very enjoyable game. My respect to test cricketers and test matches has greatly increased after playing this one game. Next week, we would be having an informal match for our club sponsors and a pre-christmas party.

So, after watching cricinfo go back in time and reduce the scores magically, its time for some real fun!

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13 Comments:

  • Lucky you - at least you have a "weather" there at this time of the year to play cricket. Wanna trade places?

    :-)

    By Blogger Krish, at December 13, 2005 7:10 PM  

  • well, tat was cool..... its been eras since i played cricket....

    By Blogger kuttichuvaru, at December 14, 2005 10:01 AM  

  • Thennavan: Yea, that is one major attraction living here. But to be fair, we did get pounded in the hurricane season.. so, he he!!

    --..--..--

    Kaushik: I was thinking if you made a typo in your comment - eras (for years). Now i realize that its been "years" since I used the word "Era"!!..

    By Blogger tt_giant, at December 14, 2005 11:49 AM  

  • Wow.. great to hear of club-level serious cricket here. Congratulations on ur win!! Your write-up was pretty good. I didnt understand that bit about Cricinfo. (The first and the last lines).

    By Blogger Raju, at December 14, 2005 12:43 PM  

  • Raju: streaming video la cricket paakaravangalukku yennoda nelamai yenga puriya pogudhu!. jus kidding..

    what i meant was - in very crucial periods of the game, i used to keep pressing F5 key on the keyboard for the scores to update.. hence - millions F5s..

    sometimes, when i do that, the browser would get wacky and starts to display the previous overs' scores/details.. thats the last line..

    By Blogger tt_giant, at December 14, 2005 12:59 PM  

  • way to go da...
    guess we can x-pect you representing the US sometime soon???
    actually the way things look, it would'nt be all that hard for anyone to get into the indian team as long as your last name doesnt end with 'ganguly'..
    yours doesnt,rite????

    By Blogger ///slash\\\, at December 14, 2005 8:49 PM  

  • got u.. Cricinfo's time-travel can be really frustrating at times.. Once after an innings was complete, it was still showing the score after 35 overs.. :-(

    Ready to pay 6.5$ per month? Go visit here and become a member here to watch most cricket games (not all.. e.g., the Ind vs SA series was not shown). You can watch cricket at work, in bed, while taking bath, whatever.. ;-)

    By Blogger Raju, at December 15, 2005 2:00 PM  

  • Good job! After Hiking, trekking season, now it is batting, bowling season-a? LOL at your experience at Sports Authority!!

    By Blogger Me too, at December 15, 2005 6:10 PM  

  • Slash: US la cricket is truly multi-cultural.. but i still find it difficult to explain the game to my american colleagues. Ganguly.. bad time vandhaa orey adiyaa varudhu..

    --..--..--

    Raju: 6.5 per month.. hmm..just 2 weeks back, I discontinued netflix account (burns after india trip, you see!). so this would definitely be a luxury now.. maybe after sometime....

    --..--..--

    Aparna: veembukku vithyaasama panrentu, veenaapogaama irundhaa seri!!.

    By Blogger tt_giant, at December 15, 2005 7:16 PM  

  • me jealous ttg..

    ball bat ellam thotte pala varushangal aaradhu..

    played "mottai maadi" cricket with my brother and cousins in 1998. then played road criket in melbourne with my wifes cousins two years ago.. that is all the cricket action i got to see since 1993 !!

    By Blogger Unknown, at December 17, 2005 9:53 PM  

  • Nice! Never knew you played cricket and bowled leg spin. Could have invited you to join the australian cricket and team, we used to have in aashiana during our engineering days :)

    By Blogger Maverick, at December 18, 2005 7:18 AM  

  • Sundar: Bay area la definite a team irukkum.. in fact, with the number of bloggers in that area, you should be able to start a team of your own!.

    --..--..--

    Maverick: After the Aashianaa marathon, you have the Oz team too?. ;-)

    By Blogger tt_giant, at December 19, 2005 8:30 AM  

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