Titan

Titans Pull Off A Heist

Walt H. Rambaransingh

On a glorious day for cricket, the Titans looked to continue their 2013 40 over campaign with game 9 of the season against the Palm Beach 2 team at Miramar Regional Park South.  Titans CC won the toss and elected to bat.

Chuck & Tiki opened the batting but Tiki lost his wicket on a questionable call for a run by Chucky after he played a ball directly to one of the opposing team’s best fielders. Sunil then came to the crease and settled the batting by embarking on a 113 run 2nd wicket partnership with Chucky.  After scoring a solid 74 runs, Sunil lost his wicket edging one back to the wicket keeper.  Dalip strolled to the crease after Sunil with intent but lost his wicket charging down the crease & getting stumped.  Tanmay & Sahel followed but both lost their wickets quickly.  Krishna then quickly settled in to the crease but was run out on a questionable call by the umpire.  Paul followed with the intent of settling the middle/lower order batting as he did the week before but Chucky lost his wicket early into the partnership after scoring a steady 61 runs.  Phani & Deo followed but quickly lost their wickets after not scoring any runs.  Sammy was the last batsman in, joining Paul who was looking to bat out the remaining 8 overs.  Paul scored a steady 16 runs while Sammy scored a quick 12 runs before being run out.  Titans CC scored 199 runs all out in 34.3 overs.  The runs were expected to be tough to defend as 5+ overs were left and a normal par score on this pitch was believed to be 250 runs.

The Titans defense began with Krishna & Phani opening the bowling.  Krishna broke up the opening batting partnership with the last ball of his 4th over.  Palm Beach’s danger batsman Ravi came in 1-down and looked to be the anchor in Palm Beach’s batting lineup. Palm Beach steadily lost wickets throughout their run chase with catches by Tiki, Deo, Sahel & a sweet direct hit run out by Tiki but Ravi remained and kept his team alive & on pace to successfully chase down the Titans sub-par 199 runs.  After 38 overs, Palm Beach CC needed 10 runs in the remaining 12 balls with danger batsman Ravi on strike with 3 wickets remaining.  Krishna was sent in to bowl the penultimate over.  His first ball went for 2 runs.  With 8 runs needed in 11 balls for a Palm Beach win, Ravi skyed the 2nd ball of the over to long off where Tiki took an awesome, important catch.  The incoming lower order batsman scored 5 runs in the 3 remaining balls of the penultimate over.  With Palm Beach needing 3 runs in the last 6 balls with 2 wickets left, skipper Paul made a bold move by bringing in Sahel to bowl the last over.  Sahel had not bowled any overs on the day.  With the 1st ball, Chucky took a diving catch at short mid-on, bringing the last wicket to the crease.  The 2nd ball of the last over was a dot ball while the 3rd ball resulted in a single run.  Palm Beach needed 2 runs in the remaining 3 balls with 1 wicket remaining for victory.  Sahel’s 4th ball  of the last over resulted in the batsman hitting the ball in the air straight to Sammy at short cover who took the catch, ending the game with the Titans winning by 1 run in a tense finish. Titans CC Bowling details are below:

Krishna - 7 overs, 1 maidens, 25 runs, 3 wickets, 7 wides.
Phani- 6 overs, 0 maiden, 33 runs, 1 wicket, 5 wides.
Tanmay- 8 overs, 0 maidens, 38 runs, 1 wicket, 8 wides.
Deo- 8 overs, 0 maidens, 41 runs, 1 wicket, 2 wides.
Sammy- 8 overs, 0 maidens, 35 runs, 1 wicket, 5 wides. 
Paul- 2 overs, 0 maidens, 19 runs, 0 wicket, 2 wides. 
Sahel- 0.4 overs, 0 maidens, 1 runs, 2 wickets, 0 wides. 

The Titans were jubilant in their celebration on the field while the team manager roared with delight & vigor from the sidelines when the match ended as the game was one of the most memorable games in the Titans 6 year history against a familiar opponent.  It was clearly a spectacular game that many involved team members will remember as a club highlight.  The game’s highlights would include the removal of Palm Beach’s danger batsman with Tiki’s catch at long-off off Krishna’s bowling.  Sahel continued his MVP type season with a 2 wicket, 1 run last 4-ball over to end the game and seal the 1 run victory.  As one Titan remarked, it was one of the greatest victories pulled out of the jaws of defeat that team members have been involved in.  In reality, the Titans, once again, made the game more difficult than it had to be but may have been due to the skipper’s experimentation of different batting line-ups as the playoffs quickly approach.  With relief and jubilation due to the 1 run victory fresh in the team’s minds, the team looks to prepare for the last game of the regular season & a good seeding in the playoffs.