When: 18 June

Where: Stubberudmyra

Aliens Cricket Club 200/8 (29.5 ov)

Sandefjord Cricket Club 196/5 (30.0 ov)

Aliens Cricket Club - Won by 2 wickets

See the scorecard at CricHQ

1st Innings:

This was a must win game for the Aliens having lost their previous games. The morale of the team was not upbeat to say the least due to the bad start to the season. The match was taking place in a high scoring ground (Stubberudmyra) and Sandefjord won the toss and elected to bat which was exactly what Aliens would have asked them to do, had Aliens had won the toss.

Powerplay: Damon and Steve were opening the bowling for Aliens this time around. At the end of the first 8 overs of the innings the game was on an even keel as Aliens contained the opposition under 40 and taking an opener out of the equation with a run rate less than 4; barring the first over which went for 7 runs with the opener hitting a big 6 on the leg side. The same opener hit Damon out for another 6 during the power play, again on the leg side before he was dismissed for edging one to keeper Simon in the very same over.

Middle Overs: Over # 9 was an eventful over as pacer Tariq took 15mins to complete his first over as he was peppering himself all over the pitch, thanks to his fasting! At the end of the over Tariq bowled 14 balls and conceding 15runs (Inner circle fielders breathed a sigh of relief.) Skipper replaces him with his brother Toufiq, to get a slow bowler in the mix. The opposition was consolidating in the middle overs with the opener Awais scoring a 50 and the opposition team was consistently scoring 7+ runs per over between overs 11 to 15. Marcus was brought in to the attack to plug the flow of the runs and he did a fine job with his stump to stump darts and picked up opener Awais, with a good catch in the deep by Toufiq.

Death: By the time the spearheads were brought back in to the attack for the death, one-down batsman Pawan was all set and was rotating the strike and scoring freely. In the last 8 overs, the opposition was easily scoring 7+ runs per over with Pawan scoring 74 before he was taken out by Damon. It has to be said that the running of Sandefjord in the death was exceptional, they scored 12 twos in the last 6 overs. The fielding was good and bad as there were a few drops by Arif, Simon Hunt and Toufiq. Sandefjord finished at 196/5 at the end of 30 overs, atleast 16 runs above par considering their rate at the end of 20 overs.

It was an uphill task for Aliens, as it is the batting which has been letting them down in the previous games. Even when bowling and fielding were tight, in some of their previous games, it was their batting which was a big let-down. This time at least one in their top order had to click!

2nd Innings:

Powerlessplay: Simon and Mitchell opened the Aliens’ innings requiring 7/over. The Aliens’ power play was a cautious start with a rate less than 4. By the end of the 10th over both the openers were back in the hut, picked up by Sandefjord’s star performer Pawan in the same over. Skipper Dennis who was in good touch walked in at #3 and rotated the strike freely and boosted the rate with a much needed sixer when he clubbed one just outside the boundary ropes.

The chase: Damon and Toufiq who batted around the skipper consolidated the chase. But it was when Toufiq and Dennis were batting that Aliens’ run rate rose above the required rate. Between overs 16 and 25, the duo batted with cool heads and with the rate always in mind and almost took Aliens to victory before Sandefjord triggered the collapse. In over 24, bowler Faizan bowled a wide which went to the boundary; 5 free runs, this helped the Aliens’ cause immensely (which the reader will come to know at the end of the last para!).

The tale of the broken bat: In the build-up of his innings, Toufiq top edged and ballooned one and in the process mysteriously breaking Kishore’s bat. He changed his bat 3 times in the innings. Ironically he got out with the same top edge with Simon G’s bat later on! Even though Dennis got out at the wrong time without seeing the game through, he departed with his team needing less than run a ball. This was a great feat when compared to the state Aliens was in after 7 overs, reeling at 29/2. The tailenders required just 10 runs off 14balls at this stage. Cake walk one would think!

The Collapse: Steve and Tariq got out in the very next over, Tariq, disappointed with the way he got out threw the bat all the way to the circle in disgust; frustration and hunger due to fasting again did not help the situation. This was going to a maiden double wicket for bowler Faizan but Kishore walked in and guided one to third man. At the end of the 29th over 7 was required off 6.

The edgy last over: Ball by ball:

Ball 1: Marcus and Kishore were at the crease, Kishore edges one to the keeper, trying to guide another one, keeper drops the catch, Kishore runs himself out trying to run the 2nd.

Ball 2: Simon Hunt walks in edges one to the boundary, the dressing room goes bezerk to the opposition’s agony.

Ball 3: Simon edges another one for a single. Now it is 2 off 2.

Ball 4: Marcus plays a dot ball. Dressing room sighs.

Ball 5: Another edge goes all the way to the boundary. Aliens wins!

To be fair to the opposition, all 10 runs scored in the last 5 balls were from edges and Sandefjord took 5 wickets in the last 6 overs. In any case much needed victory for the Aliens to upset the table toppers. Dennis is the man of the match for his 77. Marcus is the pick of the bowlers for his economical 4 overs. The team heads to Steve’s home for a small party to celebrate their first win.