FCC U13A Away to North Middlesex U13A

FCC U13A Away to North Middlesex U13A
Monday 9th May 2022

Match Report from the Scorer’s Table

As the boys started to arrive at the ground news began to filter through that our Captain Jeevan was on his way to A&E with Mrs Luther, having picked up a suspected serious finger injury at school. There were whispers between the boys as their nerves began to kick in….no Jeevan? What does that mean? Who will Captain the Team….up step Max…..who will replace him in the team…..up step Kevin.

With the game reduced to 18 overs a side (due to the light) Max won the toss and opted to field.

Eashan and Max opened the bowling restricting their openers to 21 of the first 4 overs. The next 5 over spell was bowled by “Yuvraj Squared” Yuvraj Tulsiani (3 overs) and Yuvraj Ryatt (2 overs)….giving away only 24 runs and collecting 2 wickets (1 apiece) helped by some great fielding and a brilliant catch by Kevin on the boundary to remove NMCC Captain for 11.

At the halfway point NMCC were 45 for 2. The next 3 overs returned 38 for 0 with 2 tough catches going down in the field. Their number 4 opening his shoulders and threatening to take the game away from us as he raced to 22 of 17. He went for one more big shot getting a big top edge…the ball flying straight up in the air. Well done to Krish for putting his name on it and waiting what seemed like an age for the ball to come down and nestle in his gloves.

We entered the 14th Over with their opener settled on 37 from 42 and intent on pushing on to a big score. Only for Zayd to bowl a beautiful in swinging ball and remove his middle stump. Followed 2 balls later with a caught and bowled…which led to massive celebrations in the field.

The last 3 overs were economical going for 20 in total including a run out on the last ball of the innings. North Middlesex had got themselves a fighting total of 127/6.

After a quick turnaround. Out strode Azaan and Krish to get the FCC reply under way. The first over went for 10 including 2 glorious cover drives by Krish that found the boundary and we were on our way. As we entered the 3rd over of the game Azaan dispatched the first ball for 4 the 3rd ball for 6 and the 4th ball for 4…..it was fair to say the opposition scorer thought he maybe home in time to watch Eastenders. Unfortunately, Azaan fell LBW to the next delivery, which looked harsh from where I was sitting..but I am marginally (very) biased. None the less he had got us off to a quick start. With 28 runs coming of the first 3 overs.

The next 5 overs saw a partnership of 39 between Krish and Jaik before Jaik was bowled the score at 66/2 of 8. AV was the next man in, the feeling was between AV and Krish they would be able to keep up with the run rate and get us over the line. However, the North Middx captain didn’t agree and promptly ran AV out for 2 with a great bit of fielding..as our boys tried to grab a quick single.

The next 3 overs showed the benefit of bowling up the hill as Max and Krish were only able to add 10 runs before Max was caught for 4 leaving the score at 89/4. With 4.4 overs remaining Yuvraj T came to the crease intent on running Krish hard as we needed 39 of 28 balls. The next 7 balls went for a run a ball as the boys ran hard…and then Krish decided there may be an easier way to do this..as he smashed a 4 and 6 in consecutive ball.

Up step Madhu (Vedant dad) and Anubhav(AV Dad)…as they screamed “19 needed of 18 boys”… which continued for each of the last 18 balls of the game…with them only getting their maths wrong once (maybe twice).

The 16th over started with Yuvraj T playing a beautiful flick of his leg for 4 runs as he decided it was time to get this done as the light was starting to fade. He followed this up with a glorious straight drive of the middle which arrived at the bowler at just below knee height…who took evasive action and fell backwards hands in front of his face…as I looked to the boundary to see where the ball was..up stood the bowler, the ball had stuck. Queue standing ovation for the bowler from all the parents and mass celebration on the field by his team mates…What a Catch…with 9 coming of the over. As one Yuvraj went off shaking his head in disbelief…the other was walking out full of confidence to join Krish in the middle.

“10 of 12 boys….10 of 12” were the calls from the boundary. Well done to the NMCC bowler who bowled the 17th over. He held his nerve and bowled amazingly…maintaining a Back of Length 4th stump line.. for the entire over…only giving away 3 runs. Resulting in the run out of Krish on the final ball of the over….and queue another standing ovation…this time for Krish as he left the field with 62 from 54. A match winning knock surely..out came Vedant to join Yuvraj R in the middle.

Madhu and Anubhav were now struggling to keep up…how many did we get in that over..how many do we need of the last over???? They settled on 6 to draw…7 to win….luckily the scorers agreed with them.

17.1 – 1 run
17.2 – 1 run
17.3 – 1 run
17.4 – 1 bye
17.5 – dot ball

A slight pause as their captain set the field…a tight ring…stop the two..we win the game…Yuvraj R took a breath and picked his spot…Straight over Cover…and as the bowler released the ball Yuvraj R dispatched the ball over the fielder and into the outfield…I would like to see Vedant in a 50meter dash …as he was at the keepers end and turning before Yuvraj had got halfway down….they ran 2…they ran 3…the game was won…hold on they ran 4 as it seemed Yuvraj was keen to get his strike rate over 100….spark pandemonium among the FCC players and the parents…

Thank God I remembered to take my Blood Pressure pills this morning…What a great end to a great game!!

P.S Thankfully Jeevan is fine with some heavy bruising on his finger.

Players Man Of the Match: Krish for another match winning knock.

Special Mention to Zayd for returning figures: of 3 overs. 3 for 19. Including their Opener and their number 4. Both of whom had threatened to take the game away from us.

Also, big thank you to Tony for making it to the game to guide the boys given the circumstances.