Toka CC Clean Bowled H - 56 - Report By Kunal Vasa

The slower ball, the bouncer, the slower bouncer, the high full toss and the cutter, all new variations used by bowlers around the world in one day cricket. Whatever happened to the simplicity of the Yorker? A ball which can knock the batsmen’s stumps over or claim you an LBW, at worst a dot ball as the batsmen struggle to do anything with it. A ball that has seemingly gone out of fashion recently was deployed lethally by Priory’s big All Rounder H as he dazzled with the ball and Priory notched up another routine win over a makeshift Toka side

This is my last report of the season and I bow out with a record of 10 reports, 8 wins and 2 draws. The two draws should have been wins but some strange umpiring (Whittington) and the British weather (White Star) stopped Priory in their tracks. I hope they have been something of a lucky charm or the players put in inspired performances to get a mention in the publications!

My observations have been primarily of cricketing matters on the field however with this game I must mention some stellar efforts off the field. Ruislip Victoria dropped out of the original fixture on Thursday night and Priory’s fixture secretary produced some magic to find us a fixture and a home game at the same time. Kuni was asked to provide some last minute tea and the captain had to quickly organise duties to ensure the home ground was ready for the opposition. These last minute efforts reflect just how organised and committed the men of Priory are especially those on the committee for whom the rest of the club should be very thankful for

Back to on field matters and the toss which went to form, Sandeep calling correctly and in almost autopilot mode shouted ‘we will have a bat’. He may as well record these words on his phone and just play it at the toss to save his breath. This season Priory winning the toss and batting first is as frequent a combination as Caught Marsh Bowled Lillee or Caught Tejas Bowled H. Sandeep sent out Tejas and Hambo with positive intent and they responded with a run a ball partnership of 72

Tejas was unrelenting in his dismissiveness of short or full bowling. The Pakistani attack of Toka were true to form, quick and unpredictable, their talent not always matching their application as every over produced at least two boundary balls. Each bowler brought on had their own mercurial brilliance within them however strategy, field placings and catching let Toka down as Priory raced along. Tejas had laced 52 out of 72 runs on the board when he perished, going for one attacking shot too many. An astonishing strike rate of 144.4, 42 out of his 52 runs were scored in boundaries, 81% to be exact as Tejas decided that running between the wickets was not going to be a factor

At the other end Priory’s other form man and reliable top order batsmen calmly accumulated his way to 39. Just three boundaries for the Hit Man Hambo as he read the situation early, cleverly giving the strike to Tejas on a regular basis. Hambo took advantage of the vast open gaps presented in the field to take comfortable singles. After Tejas had perished Priory’s skipper arrived at the crease, not wanting to lose momentum he continued the onslaught with 17 runs in 19 balls. He was looking in complete control with strokes that included a wonderfully smashed six over the deep cover boundary when controversy struck. Toka’s skipper was bowling some decent leg breaks from the top end, a ball that turned slightly away from Sandeep flicked his pad and made its way into the keepers gloves. A loud appeal from behind but a relatively restrained one from the bowler, umpire Vasa heard a noise and with a deviation was convinced enough to pull the trigger. Priory’s skipper was livid and Vasa sensed it could be an early bath for him today as looked away from the skippers glare

Punit and Sid were dismissed soon after and a potential Priory collapse was on the cards. However as has been the case so often this season one of the top six always steps up and today’s hero to steer Priory’s innings to a competitive total was Ganesh. The languid left hander plays with a David Gower esque technique, his flicks and drives are wonderful on the eye as he relies more on timing than belligerence. He used his feet well to the spinners and used the pace of the ball against the quicks to take advantage of the short leg side boundary.

Amongst Toka’s bowlers was Priory’s very own Dave. Dave likes to conserve his energy so a two step run up is probably a step too many. However with his strong West Indian roots he can generate enough pace from his upper body to trouble many a batsmen. Dave kept tight control of the middle overs as Priory looked to consolidate before a final push to a competitive score. The arrival of Ritesh to the crease added some momentum to the innings as the in form now lower middle order batsmen smashed a quick fire 17 runs before being dismissed by Toka’s returning opening bowler. At the other end Ganesh had now slowed down, his early endeavours clearly taking a toll on his run scoring, Priory’s non strikers tried desperately to get him to a well-deserved 50 but he fell one short, agonisingly 49 not out as Priory closed their 35 overs on 201

Post 200 scores have been the norm for Priory and the second part of the season has seen the home ground of Cavendish become increasingly friendly for the batsmen, 170 is now only seen as par, 200 is competitive and Priory knew they had a strong chance of victory. What they did not know is that they would taste this victory in just 14 chaotic overs.

Toka had just one game plan, attack every ball as if it is your last. They had no sense of building an innings or choosing the right ball to attack and defend, the very basics of batsmanship. They also made the somewhat ridiculous mistake of trying to attack Priory’s bowler of the season, H. The beers must have flowed the night before as H bowled frighteningly quickly and accurately as he made a mockery of the batting line up. The brains once again ruled his brawn as he realised that bowling full and into the stumps was the best method on a fairly placid pitch. 90% of his deliveries were full on the stumps or just outside, all of these were unplayable as Toka played and missed as their departing batsmen watched their stumps cartwheel away.
H looked perplexed as Toka charged down the pitch and he simply unleashed Yorker after Yorker. The big allrounder had the ball on a string as he took 4 wickets in one of the most hostile spells of the season

At the other end Kuni was struggling to find his rhythm and the only batsmen to play a defensive shot for Toka took a liking to some of the short pitched deliveries as Kuni’s 4 overs proved expensive. He was replaced by another of Priory’s army of left arm pacers, Junior. Junior was into his stride almost immediately as he found his usual impeccable line and length from ball one, taking a deserved wicket in his tight 3 overs.
Knowing the game was going to be over soon Sandeep took H off to ensure some of the other bowlers could turn their arm over. It was to no avail as H was replaced by another of Priory’s left armers, Vasa. Vasa blew away the lower middle order and tail with 3 wickets in just 2 overs, including a fantastic reflex catch at slip by Tejas. This was Tejas 12th catch of the season, a tremendous achievement for an outfielder.

An Extraordinary bowling from Priory’s left arm battery, an extract of some of the figures below

O M R W
Hitesh: 5- 1-8-4
Junior: 3- 1-3-1
Vasa: 2 - 0-2 -3

It was left to Dave to show the Toka lineup exactly how to defend as he played some sumptuous forward defensive shots at the end of the innings in almost ironic fashion, a coaching role with Toka surely awaits this talented and vocal cricketer

Man of the match: Five brutal unplayable overs four wickets for just 8 miserly runs, Priory’s big allrounder notched up another MOM performance and several more bonus points for anyone who has this top performer in their fantasy cricket team. There are several certainties about Priory’s cricket and the ultimate certainty after this game was that venue 5 would have some sterling business from Priory’s man of the match

That’s all folks from me for the 2015 season. It has been a pleasure to commentate on some outstanding individual performances and wonderful team achievements. My memories take me along the London corridor where Ritesh demolished Pacific on a pacy artificial pitch to south of the river to remember Hambo’s 91 in the searing heat, Tejas numerous run fests to the amazing team turnaround against the Lankians at West Harrow park where Priory snatched victory from the jaws a defeat. See you all in 2016!