Himalayan vs Srilanka Match Report

The Benlomond ground which hosted this game was new to most of the guys in the team. The last game we played here was the final game of the previous season and the memories of looking for cricket balls in thick shrubs and fishing it out of a creek were still fresh on the minds of some of us, myself included. We were away for this game and unfortunately lost the toss. This would have been a great toss to win as their was rain in the forecast with some extremely hot and humid conditions in store. The Sri Lankan team started swiftly and maintained a good partnership before being broken by some smart bowling. They were pegged back with the loss of quick wickets. Their skipper played a good innings by making a century. He was let go a couple of times by some sloppy catching on our part. There were a couple of rain delays around the midway mark of the first inning. Credit to our bowlers for performing well despite the aggressive batting and damp conditions. After a couple of lost balls and endless instances of searching for hidden cricket balls, the innings ended with SL ammassing a total of 291.

Our opening pair of Srini and Suresh got us off to a flyer by smacking sixes all over the ground. It was exactly the start we hoped for. They took on the bowlers from the start. Suresh helped himself to 3 sixes to made a quick 26. Preetham played a great innings making 35 and so did Syed making 30. The heat took its toll eventually on Srini and he had to retire hurt having made 80, just shy of his maiden ton. The rest of the team chipped in here and there but nothing significant. Despite being in pain, Srini returned for the final wicket. We fell short by 50 runs. Inspite of the challenging circumstances, we fought hard and did not lay down and give-up on chasing a total that seemed impossible to tackle. As long as we bat 40 overs and have each batsmen contributing at least 30 runs, we are bound to pass the 200 run mark in every match. Many positives to take from this match despite the loss, on to the next one. Hopefully we would be able to win a toss every now and then.

Written by: Lali