Arrival
The team arrived in waves throughout Friday - and enjoyed a beachside Pina Colada with a "floater" (apparently an extra shot of rum - and not what you think) in relaxation prior to the match on Saturday. We were up early and drove to the ground on a beautiful gulf coast day. 80F, a few clouds and a cooling breeze - this is why you go on tour in January!
Sarasota International CC Vs Mad Dogs CC 1/13/07
John Moore contributes this match report...
We had a suspicion that, after beating Sarasota twice last year, our hosts would
strengthen their side a tad. In fact, the tad involved the selection of West
Indies test batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul who was, it appeared, in need of some
match practice before leaving for a tour of India with the test squad on
Tuesday. Oh well.
The Dogs' first ball of the season was a wide delivered
by Simon, as indeed were the next two. But the youngster soon settled down and
bowled a nice, quick opening spell, but without any luck. Santosh opened at the
other end, and had trouble with his line, delivering too many wides and having
to be replaced by Wilson. Prasad and the burly McGregor assembled a useful stand
of 62 at 5 an over before Wilson caused Prasad to play on for 29 as the ball
span back onto the stumps off the bottom of the bat.
This brought Chanderpaul to
the wicket, initially to face Wilson and Harrison. Both steadily and carefully
at him, but found that while he would treat 4 or 5 decent balls an over on their
merits, the other one or two were similarly treated and went for 4 or 6.
Ironically, in some respects, Chanderpaul was easier to bowl at than McGregor,
who played much less conventionally, which made it harder to set a field for
some, to be frank, heaved slogs. Wilson completed a very useful, typically tidy
spell, so Moore was brought on to bowl at Chanderpaul. Several of the Dogs
thought this was an unfair contest with only one possible outcome. But somehow
Chanderpaul survived. And he carried on picking off bad balls for 6, as did
McGregor in his own, very different way. Harrison bowled very well at
Chanderpaul, setting a field and bowling to it, but was, strangely, less
successful against McGregor (Big Tonka territoryŠŠ.).
Kojima and Thaker fared no
better than Moore had, being brutalized for 4s and 6s whenever the ball was less
than perfect (which inevitably it was). Kojima exerted some revenge, however,
when Chanderpaul slapped a short ball to Wilson at cover, who clung onto a
fast-moving ball at knee-height to remove him for 73 (8 x 6, 3 x 4).
This
perhaps the first time a test match batsman has been dismissed by a Japanese
national (the Dogs' records are thin on this point, and neither Wisden nor
Cricinfo has anything to say eitherŠ..). McGregor fell to Thaker, caught at
long-on by Santosh for 57 (3 x 6, 4 x 4), but Persaud was also hitting about
himself strongly by this stage of the innings, on his way to a rapid, unbeaten
52 (2 x 6, 5 x 4) as the Tonkathon continued.
The returning Simon had John
caught by Thaker for 3, off a top-edged hook to what was probably a no-ball, and
Kojima ran out Saeed for 1 with a nice throw at the bowlers stumps from short
cover. The final total of 247 for 5 off 35 overs looked pretty daunting, but
arguably less than one might have expected when a collection of aging amateurs
take on a current test star in mid-January. The Dogs' fielding was ordinary,
with a couple of players seemingly having forgotten how to bend or catch during
the winter months.
Farricker captained well, Wilson handled his resources
wisely.
Simon 7-1-28-1
Santosh 3-0-20-0
Wilson 7-0-29-1
Harrison 7-0-43-0
Moore 3-0-33-0
Kojima 4-0-45-1
Thakar 4-0-44-1
Kimberley rode his luck early on, showing better
fielder selection than shot selection when showing that the lofted lob-wedge and
the flicked 9-iron were still in his repertoire of shots. But survive he did,
and as he settled, his timing returned. In consequence, he and debutant Knight
assembled an important stand of 135 in 18 overs.
The contrasting styles of the
two partners were highly apparent, Knight unleashing some powerful drives, all
along the ground for 4's, together with some deft late-cuts and some well-timed
flicks off his legs. Conversely, Kimberley used all parts of the bat to cut,
slash, snick, carve and now and then middle balls to where the fielders
sometimes weren't, and when they were, they dropped it. Chanderpaul was in the
attack throughout this stand, bowling mostly medium-pace of no particular merit,
together with a few overs of the leggies he bowls now and then for the West
Indies (and looking a far better bowler when he did). Neither Knight nor
Kimberley were phased by what he sent down, dealing it with in their different
ways (see aboveŠ), although Kimberley did play one flick for 4 off his legs that
was reminiscent of a left-handed Ponting.
Both players reached 50, Kimberley off
61 balls, Knight off 60 (which just goes to show that style and technique are
surely over-rated). Knight eventually fell for an outstanding 56 (65 balls, 7
x 4), caught by Kadiyala on the deep long-off boundary as he failed to apply
Kimberley's patented fielder-selection technique for the lofted drive.
At 149
for 2 in the 26th over, the asking rate was over 10 an over, not easy.. Wilson
joined Kimberley, and scampered some singles, but the latter called for a runner
(on somewhat dubious grounds, as he could hardly claim to have developed an
unatheletic physique DURING the innings).
The appearance of the runner created
the usual debacles over short singles, Kimberley/Thaker somehow surviving two
separate shies at all three stumps from less than 5 yards range with the batsman
nowhere. Kimberley's marathon knock finally ended with the score on 174, as he
slogged and missed to be bowled by Persaud for 72 (75 balls, 7 x 4).
Wilson hit a high catch to the inner ring 2 runs
later (10, ~12 balls), a consequence of trying to score at 10 an over right from
the gitgo. Banerjee slogged and was bowled for 2 (~5 balls), Moore drove a
return catch (5, 5 balls), Harrison lofted a catch (9, ~12 balls), and Farricker
did much the same (2, ~6 balls), as the lower order basically self-sacrificed,
as one does, when chasing improbable victories in the closing overs when the
asking rate is ridiculous. Kojima ended with 9 not out (~10 balls), Simon with 8
not out (4 balls) as the innings closed on 219 for 8 on 35 overs, leaving
Sarasota winners by 28 runs. Chanderpaul's figures were 6-0-43-0.
