THE CURTAINS FALL!!!

The cricket season continued... I could not play last couple of games due to "family reasons" and our team won 1 game and lost another and made it to the playoffs comfortably... now it was time to show consistency, coz 1 loss and we were out for the season...

We stood 13th amongst 30 teams in the region... Last year we were 5th amongst 30 teams and hence, this year's performance was really not up to the mark set in the last year... and due to the low rank, we had to play a team in Columbia, SC... this place was abt 250 miles away from our place and we started at 5.30 am on Sunday morning...

We were totally exhausted by the time we reached the ground... We atleast hoped that we win the toss and bat first so that we cud recover from the stress... looks like their captain found it out and immediately decided to bat first after winning the toss...

to make matters worse, the ground where we set up our camp was abound with red ants... none of us could sit even for a moment... no shade and no seat... our team was dead tired even before we took the field...

Their openers gave a good enough start and they were 72/0 after 10 overs... we pulled it back in the next 10 and they were 124/4 after 20... but then their captain and 2 others pulled (read "violently snatched") the initiative back and they were 240/6 after 33... we quickly grabbed the remaining 4 wickets, but it was too late to gain the upper hand...

so faced with our biggest target of the season, we got off to a decent start -- 52/0 of 10 overs... but then they brought out a new bowler who used to bowl 2 wides + 1 no ball after every legitimate delivery... this loooong over got them 2 wickets... then 2 of our most reliable batsmen got out to unfortunate shots and its was all looking down the barrell...

everyone got frustrated with the imminent defeat and threw their bats at everything... at the end, we got all out for 174 with 8 overs remaining... thats when we realized that if we had stayed on the wicket, runs would have come and we would have survived to fight yet another day...

one good aspect of the whole game was that we never lost our temper at the umpire or the other team or at each other... the team really showed gentlemanly conduct, something which we are proud of in retrospect...

but alas!!! too late for that... the winning team said that they were just plain lucky to go through... the umpire summed it up nicely -- they won the game but u guys won the respect...

we stopped on our way for a tradition "pizza"... everyone was feeling bad abt the way the season ended and it was very evident when the seniormost guy said "Today, no one will talk abt cricket..." as soon as we entered the Pizza place...

after the pizza, we started for the long journey home with a heavy heart and a heavier tummy... we spoke abt anything and everything (other than cricket ofcourse) on the way back...

until the next season kicks off, we will try to keep ourselves fit with some petty cricket every weekend... but the curtains on the main event are down (atleast for us)...

Well played team!!! Always proud to be a part of the club!!!