Division 2 - First Game (vs Surrey Warriors)

Synopsis
Much awaited season 2023 was kicked off in great spirit. The team bonding and onfield energy was superlative. Though the result was not favourable for the team, the discipline and never-say-never attitude shown onfield was exemplary. A few decisions went the wrong way, if corrected, the results could have been different. But such is the nature of the game that keeps us loving it so much. SCCC lost the toss and batted first scoring 140 in 38.2 overs. Surrey Warriors managed it in 33.3 overs with a loss of 6 wickets. It was a bad toss to lose as the pitch was wet initially and dried out in the second innings. Prashant made 44 and Anand scored 38, while in bowling Vixit took 3 wickets.

Travel
It was a bright, sunny and beautiful day to play the game of cricket. Travel to Chertsey was a bit of a pain with traffic congestions at various points not helping to the cause. Targeting to reach the ground by 12:15, the full team eventually made it only by 12:45, just in time to prevent a toss forfeit.

Pitch Report
The pitch was presumably left uncovered, while it rain overnight as such the pitch was wet and terrible to bat on, as the ball kept extremely low and slow. With the sun out, batting second would become easy as the pitch dries up

Toss
Surrey Warriors won the toss and chose to field.

Batting
Inder and Abhi went to open the innings. With an average bowling attack, the pair were quite meticulous in the craft and watched the ball keenly but found it difficult to score. Abhi was first to go scoring 4 runs.

In walked Prashant. He seemed to be batting on a different pitch and scored freely. On the other side, Inder was out in the 10th over scoring 7 runs in 28 balls. (A low and slow ball hitting the toe end of the bat yielding a loopy catch to square leg). Skipper Vixit walked in next, but he didn't last long, scoring 7 off 17 (out stump to a loopy delivery).

Next in was debutant Anand Vemuri, what a player he is!

A neat partnership dwelled between Anand and Prashant, while Prashant doing the bulk scoring, Anand was proficient in rotating the strike.

When at 44 (of 58) Prashant was caught out to square leg. The culprit - a loopy slow, low ball taking the edge.

Another notable partnership was that of, Anand and Sudhir, the duo stitched together a 30-run partnership in quick time. Sudhir scored 15 of 20, and bowled out to a fast medium.

Anand was in his element, body in perfect harmony with head. He played some gorgeous shots while looking at ease while taking singles. It took special efforts to dismiss Anand. A sharp caught and bowled saw Anand dismissed after scoring 38 of 57 balls.

With that SCCC pretty much ended its innings, scoring a total of 140 in 38.2 overs

Bowling
SCCC started off bowling with debutant Varun at one end and veteran offspinner Vaibhav at the other.

Varun bowled an extremely tight line with leather just missing the wood on quite a few occasions on the other hand Vaibhav with all his experience bowled an impeccable line. Opposition openers start cautiously. The first breakthrough came when Vaibhav managed to get the ball around the left-handed opener's leg.

Beautiful footage of this wicket is available on a short section of our youtube channel.

The number 3 batsman came in and looked quite uncomfortable in the middle. He struggled and struggled and struggled but he survived the onslaught from Vaibhav and Varun.

The first change came in as Chetan and Inder. Change didn't work very well for SCCC and the number 3 suddenly looked well set. A six and a 4 of the same over gave the much-needed confidence to the batter.

While it seemed like the pair would win it for them, Skipper decided to bring himself on.

What a spell it turned out to be.

Skipper Vixit bowled slow and kept his line wicket to wicket. His consistency rewarded him with 3 quick wickets and all three clean bowled.

SCCC was back in the game.

Sudhir came in and was quick to join the skipper in picking up the piece.

But then came in number 6 Gokul, who smacked an 18 ball 26, which eventually turned out to be the winning factor. Gokul was run out when on 3, however bad umpiring gave him a life and he made the best out of it.

SCCC fielding was pretty good, though a few catches were dropped. Vixit took two catches including a stunner in short cover.

Overall
A great game played in the right spirit. New team, new captain but good to see the same old SCCC spirit in everyone.

Shout out to the debutants: Abhijeet, Rajat, Anand, Varun.

Special mention to Samit who did the best keeping SCCC has seen in the most challenging conditions.

Well played boys!