Scorecard

Crowhurst v Phoenix Cricket Club Phoenix on Sat 20 Jun 2009 at 11am
Phoenix Cricket Club Won 10 wickets

Match report So the Battle of the Birds has finally come but would the Phoenix outshine the Crow? With a two innings and a whole day to play in the troops got up early so to set out on time. 8am was the call and unsurprisingly no one turned up on time but that did not difuse the enthusiasm of all the players. Nad skippering his first game for Phoenix this season was in a bouyant mood and with a chirp & a cry, the Phoenix flew on to their destination of Crowhurst (a few miles away from Hastings).

A lovely and warm day welcomed both teams and the ground looked picteresque perfect. The format of the game was two innings with the first being thirty overs and the second twenty for each team. The game start was at 11am for the first innings and then lunch at 1pm. The first innings of the second team to start after lunch at 1.40pm until drinks at 3.40pm. The second innings would start soon after and on completeion it would be tea. The final second innings would start after tea.

Now that I have got that out of the way onto the game itself. Crowhurst won the toss and had no hesitation in asking the Phoenix to bat first. The two inning affair was great fun with Phoenix scoring two hundred and five runs in their first innings with Noman notching to forty-three (which included eight fours and a six), Bob battling to twenty-one (which included four fours), Abhishek attacking to thirty-nine (which included four fours and three six's), Anup astonished to twenty-eight (which included five fours and a six) and Ali authoring to thirty-four (which included five fours and a six).

Lunch was served at the local pub and everyone stuffed themselves so much it was an effort to come out to field. The menu was diverse and the food tasty, could Phoenix replicate such on the field of play or were the jacket potatoes a bit too filling.

Crowhurst came out to bat knowing that the first target was one hundred and forty to avoid the follow-on. Phoenix made the breakthrough early as both Ali & Kashif took wickets early and when Sanj & Nad came on they to made an immediate impact. The loss of these quick wickets hurt Crowhurst and from then on they were behind the run-rate as well as struggling to avoid the follow-on. Mention to Kashif who bowled exceptionally well as only ten runs came off his six over spell. With Crowhurst struggling, Nad brought on young Vishal for a bowl and Vishal made the breakthrough ending the Crowhurst innings as they fell two runs short of the follow-on target.

With Phoenix having a sixty-seven run lead, Nad had no hesitation in asking Crowhurst to bat again. Vishal and Gindi opened the bowling and once again they were on the money as their combined spell of eight overs conceded only forty-three runs with Vishal taking three wickets and Gindi two. Crowhurst battled away but all was over when off Rahul's bowling Bob with some quick thinking executed an excellant run out as they were all out for eighty-two. A special mention to Nad for taking six wickets and six catches in the match.

With only fifteen runs needed to win, Nad opened for the first time in the Phoenix history with a father and son combination with Sanj and his son Vishal. A few overs later, Vishal outscoring his father six to one, hit the winning runs and Phoenix won the inaugural Battle of the Birds cup.

In years gone by Martial Arts have been depicted on screen many times and many fabulous films have been made by leaders of the art at that time. There has been in the past Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon, Jackie Chan in Drunken Master, Jet Li in Fists Of Fury and in recent times there have been magnus opus films like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, House of Hidden Daggers, Hero and currently released Red Cliff. The Phoenix too in this tradition also has a Master and is equally compared to the said mentioned greats. Who is he in the ranks of Phoenix and who is he compared to.

Its non other than Nad and with his wisdom, slim build and reknown silence he is compared to one of the greatest Masters of all time. You wouldnt have guessed but it is Splinter. Splinter who taught Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo & Donatello a trick or two and helped set them up as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Nad captained the game exceptionally well using all his skill & wisdom and for this reason he is named Man of the Match. Also a special mention to Nad for passing ten wickets for the season thus far.

Well done to Crowhurst for providing the perfect setting for the perfect match as shown by their perfect attitude. As for Phoenix, a great day for all invloved as everyone played a part in the victory and above all making it a great & fun day out.

Life, like all other games, becomes fun when one realizes that it's just a game. To quote Dale Carnegie (American lecturer, author, 1888-1955) “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”

Phoenix Cricket Club Phoenix Batting - 1st innings
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
205		        
Noman Sohail ct Mid-wicket 43
Wahab 'Bob' Mohammed ct Behind 21
Rahul Ghai ct Cover 0
Abhishek Mukerjee ct Mid-wicket 39
Nadeem 'Nad' Rashid ct First Slip 0 3
Anup Momi (Guest) Bowled  28
Kashif Ihsan ct Mid-wicket 0
Shazad 'Ali' Iqbal Not Out  34
Vishal-Karna Kumar Bowled  0
Sanjeev Kumar Bowled  10
Gurvirinder 'Gindi' Dyal Not Out  1

Crowhurst Bowling - 1st innings

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Crowhurst Batting - 1st innings
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
136 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Phoenix Cricket Club Phoenix Bowling - 1st innings

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Shazad 'Ali' Iqbal5.0118118.003.60
Kashif Ihsan6.0310110.001.67
Sanjeev Kumar6.0142221.007.00
Nadeem 'Nad' Rashid6.022036.673.33
Gurvirinder 'Gindi' Dyal4.001600.004.00
Wahab 'Bob' Mohammed2.00800.004.00
Vishal-Karna Kumar1.0010110.0010.00
Phoenix Cricket Club Phoenix Batting - 2nd innings
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 0 wickets
0
15		        
Vishal-Karna Kumar Not Out  12
Sanjeev Kumar Not Out  2
Abhishek Mukerjee  
Kashif Ihsan  
Gurvirinder 'Gindi' Dyal  
Nadeem 'Nad' Rashid   3
Wahab 'Bob' Mohammed   1
Rahul Ghai  
Shazad 'Ali' Iqbal  
Noman Sohail  
Anup Momi (Guest)  

Crowhurst Bowling - 2nd innings

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Crowhurst Batting - 2nd innings
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
82 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Phoenix Cricket Club Phoenix Bowling - 2nd innings

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Vishal-Karna Kumar4.0031310.337.75
Gurvirinder 'Gindi' Dyal4.011226.003.00
Sanjeev Kumar4.002200.005.50
Nadeem 'Nad' Rashid4.011133.672.75
Rahul Ghai0.40400.006.00