Thursday, September 17, 2009
Summary for match against Incrediblz on 09/13 (Sunday) at 1.30pm @ Ron Regis
The outfield at Ron Regis was slightly slower than earlier matches we played, but still quite fast.
BellevueBoyz Innings.
Hitesh and Saurin opened the innings.. Hitesh scored a boundary of the first ball, but got out in the first over trying to hit another one.
SB walked in next. He and Saurin played pushed the score to about 15, when Saurin was run out off a direct throw in the 3rd over.
Samir went in next, he along with SB played some nice shots all across the park, scoring at 6 an over for next 4-5 overs..
SB was next to get out as he was bowled for about 15. Rajiv was next in with score around 50 in 8th over.
Rajiv and Samir started accelerating the score hitting boundaries, running nicely between the wickets for next 3-4 overs.
Samir was out next before playing a good hand of 34 runs. Chintu walked in next.
Chintu played a quick hand of 10 runs with couple of innovative boundaries. Amit came in after Chintu’s wicket, but he was out soon.
Mahesh walked in next with about 2 overs to spare and the score around 100. Mahesh played quite patiently and gave strike to Rajiv as much as he could.
Rajiv on the other hand really pushed the scoring in his score of 43*. The partnership really proved valuable as they accumulated 24 runs in last 2 overs.
We finished out innings at 124/6, overall another good batting effort lead by Rajiv.
Incrediblz innings.
Hitesh and SB opened the bowling. They started nicely although there were a few runs being scored as well at around 5-6 runs an over.
Rajiv and Mahesh replaced the bowling attack, however Incrediblz started hitting some runs. The first wicket went to Rajiv in 7th over with score around 50.
Vaman came in next. The opponents were sitting pretty comfortable in the chase around that time needing just 6-7 runs an over.
The running between wickets was good and they took advantage of that converting single into doubles.
However, as they tried to do that one more time, a Great throw by Chintu from the deep cover helped us grabbed Vaman’s wicket as he felt short of his crease.
Incredibelz chase was helped by some sloppy catching ( we dropped 3 catches in the game) and couple of missed run-out chances.
There were some runs scored during the chase. Towards the later part of the innings, Incrediblz lost wickets as tried to push the score..
Rajiv chipped in with 3 wickets, Mahesh and Sb took 1 each. There were 2 run outs – 1 by Chintu and 1 by Mahesh. They were all out for 107 of the last ball of the match.
At the end the score was good enough to earn BB a 5th consecutive win, we got 22 points
However, our fielding effort was quite sloppy and unacceptable at times. We need to work it out and show a better performance next time.
We have a good chance of making to the semis, but have some tough games ahead. We really need to pull up our socks for the games ahead.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Summary: BellevueBoyz against Pi [2009-II game 4]
Its getting rosier.. isnt it :) 4-0. We have been following the script perfectly like any other season... winning the first few games handsomely :)
Another nice day for the game of Cricket. Anurag went in for the toss and he lost it J. We were asked to bat on a high scoring ground.
BellevueBoyz Innings – 124/4 in 16 overs. Madhav – 40+, Amit – 20~, Anurag – 20~, Rajiv 15~, Hitesh – 15~
Hitesh and Madhav opened the innings.. They again had a solid opening partnership scoring 6 an over, hitting the ball all across the ground.
Pi bowlers had their moments with some deceptive bowling, but were not able to make any breakthroughs till the 7 over.
Hitesh was the first one to get out after scoring around 15~, trying to up the run rate.. Amit came in next..
What followed was a spectacular show of batting from Madhav and Amit.
Madhav played almost every shot he could today ( cover drives, pulls, square cut, glance to third man, straight down for 6)..
Amit also joined the party , played some nice boundaries. Together they both accumulated around 40 runs in next 5 over.
Amit got out next caught behind the stumps.. Rajiv walked in with the score around 75..
Madhav was finally out stumped, trying to up the run-rate. Rajiv continued the good batting display and scored few boundaries including a 6.
Anurag and Rajiv took the score to over 100 playing shots all around. Anurag was out in the last over not before playing a good hand.
Overall, an excellent batting display led by Madhav and for the record, the highest score by BB (Correct me if I am wrong)..
However, we always knew this would be high scoring game and we will have to put up a good show in bowling as well.
Pi Innings – 91 all out in 15.5 overs
Hitesh opened the bowling with a tight first over. However, the PI batsman then started scoring freely.
Being a flat pitch and a fast ground, it was always easy to get 5-6 runs an over. They lost the first wicket at around 36 in 6th over…
One of the PI batsman – Ram played some good shots all across the ground.. and PI accumulated some runs in the mid overs.
However, the equation soon started to change. They started losing wickets at regular intervals.
Rajiv collected 4 wickets, Mahesh grabbed 2 and Dinesh grabbed 1 , helped by some tight bowling by Hitesh ( 4-0-15-0).
Nice fielding effort by the complete BB team. And as usual, good keeping by Saurin, grabbed a sharp catch…
At the end, the total scored proved too high and PI was bowled out for 91.
Not sure on the bowling figures of the remaining bowlers, so wait for the scorecard to be updated on the ARCL site.
We got 25 points. Good team show.. keep it going guys…
Excellent performance by Rajiv with Bat and ball and ably supported by Madhav and the other crew :)
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Heart 2 Heart - Tamil Times correspondent gets candid while speaking with Binwade
Correspondent Bala from Tamil Times speaking with Rajiv Binwade.. representing BellevueBoyz
Bellevue: The one-man domination in BellevueBoyz cricket has ended with Mahesh’s decline, feels veteran batsman Rajiv Binwade, who foresees the No. 1 spot changing hands every few week amongst Hitesh, Saurin and Pravin.
“I don’t think you’ll see one man dominating like Mahesh did, at least not in the immediate future,” Binwade said.
“There are three or four people that are evenly matched and you could see the No. 1 spot change hands a few times in the next couple of weeks,” the 34-year-old added.
Onus on BellevueBoyz pacers
Asked whether BB would also face the transitional crisis that other teams are battling once the likes of Bala Annamalai retire, Binwade said it would boil down to how well the BB pace bowling attack shapes up.
“We’ve got a great blend of experienced cricketers, and promising talent coming through. We’ve done really well over the past couple of years and if we can keep a core group of fast bowlers fit enough to support the slow bowlers then we have as good a chance as anyone,” he told Tamil Times. “When BB dominated, it was the bowling of Bala and Dinesh that was the key and I believe that BB won (the) Championship because they had a more balanced bowling attack. We certainly have that balance, and so do Slammers, Turbo and some of the other teams in A division. I think the bowling strength will determine which team gets to top,” he added.
Binwade said the championship never looked one-sided and could have gone any way.
“I always expected it to be close, and it was. But BB won the moments that mattered, and over the course of 11 games, I’d say that they just about edged it.”
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Summary: BellevueBoyz against MSCC-Stealth [2009-II game 3]
It was a beautiful day for cricket… Praveen went in for the toss, which we won and decided to bat first.
BellevueBoyz Innings – 113/6 off 16 overs. Hitesh- 42, Madhav – 22~, Sameer – 22~, Pravin – 9.
Hitesh and Madhav opened the innings. They started pretty nicely, hitting the opponent bowlers all across the ground.
Many boundaries were hit and strike was being rotated as well. They kept on scoring for about 6-7 runs an over for about 8 overs.
The first wicket went down at around 52, as Madhav was run-out. It was particularly good to see Madhav hitting some good shots.
Sameer joined in and kept moving the scoreboard along with Hitesh. Hitesh was bowled by another mystery ball, which kept low, the score was around 80 runs in 11 overs.
We lost few quick wickets after that – SB, Saurin, but the scorecard kept ticking, thanks to some good batting by Sameer and Pravin. They helped push the score over 100.
We lost a few wickets at the end, not before pushing the score to 113. Overall , an excellent batting effort.
Highlight -
Batsman latched on to any loose balls that came their way.
It was good to see Madhav right into thick of things. He was batting as good as ever.
Stealth Innings – 63~ all out off 11.4 overs.. Pravin 2-12-1, Hitesh – 2.4 – 19 – 2, SB – 3 wickets, Mahesh – 1 wicket.
Pravin and Hitesh opened the bowling attack. Opponents started scoring freely from the very beginning.
They were about 30 runs in 4 odd overs, when Pravin took a sharp catch off his own bowling.
SB and Mahesh took over after that and they bowled a tight line and length, which pushed the opponents to play some rash shots.
Stealth started losing wickets. SB took 3 wickets and kept opponents in check. Mahesh took a key wicket , the only batsman that was scoring well for Stealth.
Would like to specially praise Sameer’s and Amit’s fielding effort on the boundary. Pravin took another good running catch at long-on.
The score kept moving at around 4-5 runs an over. Hitesh took 2 wickets in the 12th over to wrap up the match.
Highlight ('Aneri' Moment)– A blinder of a catch by Saurin to finish the match. He dived towards his right and grabbed the ball mid-way in the air. Great effort.
Special Thanks to Chintu for showing up at the match, doing the leg umpiring, but more importantly keeping himself injured since we have a problem of too many :)
It was a very nice team effort to counter the challenge posed by Stealth MSCC. We got 23 or 24 points.
BTW: This was the first game for Saurin after birth of his Daughter - Aneri.. hence his classical catch is termed as 'Aneri' Moment :)
Author - Hitesh Puri :)
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Summary: BellevueBoyz against Cheetah's [2009 Summer league game 2]
Another nail biter... another thoroughly deserved win...
Great thing about this win.. we had new faces which contributed handsomely to get us across the line.
Game against Cheetah's.. well we all know how they go. They won the toss and elected to bat.
Pravin got Chris in the first over itself bowling him through the gate with lovely yorker.. however, after that, we didnt see a wicket for quite sometime but at no point in time they were scoring at a great pace. I think all the bowlers: Pravin, Hitesh, Dinesh, Rajiv and Mahesh did an excellent job and we got them out for 79 in 15th over.
Some excellent fielding by Sameer (superb direct hit) and Mahesh (excellent ground fielding and run out).. and excellent keeping by Rajiv (took a very very good reflex catch) and Hitesh. Our fielding was a much improved effort from the past game.. we still need to improve it a notch though.
The pitch was a howler... some of the balls were going almost at knee length and some were going above shoulder (almost same length).. so it wasnt an easy chase since their bowlers were hitting the "mystery spot" regularly.
Praveen opened with Hitesh.. and the first ball was a mystery ball special which took Hitesh off.. Sameer joined Praveen and Sameer got the innings going however, sameer too got out through a mystery spot special.
All this while.. I must say Praveen batted BRILLIANTLY... controlling his natural aggression, guiding the ball to the gaps and taking singles and doubles (even after getting hit on his face by that mystery spot ball).. Rajeev started off well but got out and then Chintu got out without troubling the scorers, after this Amit joined Praveen and they batted really nicely.. it was unlucky for Praveen that he got run-out while backing too far..
We needed 33 of 7 overs and then Mahesh joined Amit... what an amazing partnership. Mahesh I thought played the best I have seen him play kept giving strike to Amit :) and Amit kept hitting the balls to all part of the grounds.. we were home without loosing any wicket... we won by 2 wickets. Amit batted superbly.
I believe we got 22 points however the most important thing is.. we won the game :)
There is no game this weekend.. so may be we can meet @ MS ground for light fielding drill... (depends how many are available).
Next game is a big one against MSCC Stealth.