No sympathy from Symbiosis
Gyan Bharati School, Delhi, India, 3/5/2013
Symbiosis Centre for Management won by 1 wicket
Strongroom: 215-4 [J.Gower 114]
SCFM: 216-9 [Beri 55, Gauram 54, R.Sharma 5-12]
View the Scorecard
As we gingerly disembarked the Katariya motorcade arriving at the Gyan Bharati school, it was not so much a cricket team as a makeshift triage ward that greeted Symbiosis Centre for Management, the opposition for our sixth and final fixture on tour. Still without a win on Indian soil, morale was high in spite of the farcical compilation of aching bones, lacerated flesh and ruined guts which had swung a wrecking ball through our wounded squad. Keeping us going was the tantalising prospect of a do-or-die shot at redemption in our ultimate game.
Hopes of an easy win quickly receded when the opposition presented themselves: a disturbingly hyperactive legion of lithe and spritely minors who, having just completed an immaculate set of practice drills with an intensity rarely seen at our own winter nets, prompted me to wonder when last the sub-continent had witnessed such a corporeal mismatch.
Whilst our numbers were bolstered with the succour of locals Karan, Sumer, Shivam, Rishabh and Vineet, Jimmy had fallen victim to a tummy bug and was consigned to his hotel sickbed. Unfortunate as this was, he showed that he is nothing if not consistent: he had been in the runs all tour.
A sympathetic opposition bought our argument that a reduced 30 over game was the best our shattered bodies could have hoped to complete. Dave P won the toss and elected to bat first on a wicket which had offered little for the bowlers in our encounter against South Delhi three days earlier. As it turned out, this was the paciest track of the tour and the ball was soon zipping past the bats of openers Rishabh and Jon. Arora and Sharma bowled with control, making up in skill and accuracy what they lacked in outright pace, and accounted for Rishabh, me and Olly to leave Strongroom wobbling on 46/3.
Clumsy only in their own nomenclature, Symbiosis Centre for Management treated us to yet another electric exhibition of Indian ground fielding and Jon, struggling for fluency, had laboured to a turgid but defiant 16 from 43 deliveries when a focused Dave P joined him at the crease. With the introduction of the change bowlers and a softening ball, Jon grew in confidence and moved through the gears to reach fifty before surging to a magnificent century, drawing gasps of admiration from the opposition as a battery of pinpoint drives, glances and cuts pierced the boundary ropes. Jon finished on 114 from 112 balls, an innings which he nonchalantly dismissed as ‘definitely not my best’, whilst Dave P used all of his nous to nurdle a vital 30*. We had laid down a competitive total of 214 from our 30 overs and were quietly confident that this might prove tricky to chase under lights.
Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky Gives us free scope, only doth backward pull Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull.
And so we creaked, limped and dry-heaved our way onto the outfield, vociferously rousing one another towards the final push. A scrappy start allowed SCM 43 runs from the first two overs before a hobbling Rahman was summoned into the attack to stem the flow. With Shivam finding some pace and aggression from the other end, Joe bowled through to return outstanding figures of 6-1-14-2. SCM were becalmed and Strongroom had seized control with the score still in double figures at the halfway mark.
Subdued they may have been but Karan Beri by now had his eye in and, with the luxury of wickets in hand, took the middle overs by the scruff of the neck, smashing 4 sixes during an initiative-grabbing stay of 55 from 30 balls. In putting on 75 in 7 overs, SCM had dragged themselves ahead of the rate so that with 23 overs bowled, the scales were firmly tipped in their favour. Now staring down the barrel of a sixth consecutive defeat, the wily Proctor rolled his last dice on the unlikely off-spin of Rishabh. Despite the fetid chorus of squeaky bums all around him, Rishabh remained characteristically unfazed, sending down a series of off-stump darts to see-saw the match back into Strongroom’s reach with an inspired, career-best spell of 5-0-12-5.
With nerves jangling and wickets tumbling, the penultimate analysis showed SCM were 206/9, requiring 9 to win from the remaining over of the dewy night. Rahman and Rishabh had both completed their allotted overs so Proctor turned to a man who, having just extricated himself from a prolonged verbal scuffle with an opponent half his size, would certainly relish the cauldron of a diarrhoea finish: Shivam Bhaskar. A mixed quiver of immaculate dot balls, scrambled singles and desperate byes followed to leave SCM needing three to win off the last ball of the match. Taking aim for the blockhole, Shivam’s radar came up agonisingly short and SCM’s no. 11, Ujjwal, unerringly crushed Stronghearts with an expansive smear to the cover boundary, from whence his SCM teammates stormed the field to claim a famous victory.
Moments later the floodlights were extinguished along with Strongroom hopes. We were desperately disappointed not to have won this game but, in truth, the memories of a fantastic tour will no doubt prevail.
Our profound thanks go to Sumer, Karan and Shivam for their commendable hospitality and generosity; we could not have wished for better hosts and it was a genuine privilege to spend a week playing cricket with them in this beguiling city. We keenly await the return fixture with Delhi 69ers later this year, no doubt encouraged by the reassuring familiarity of red balls, a Highgate pudding and a nice bit of drizzle.
Written By: W.Davies
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