Titan

Words & Actions

Walt H. Rambaransingh

The highly anticipated 5th game of the Titans CC 2012 40 over campaign brought Port St. Lucie to John Prince Park for a statement game.  St. Lucie won the toss and chose to bat.

Paul & Krishna opened the bowling and restricted St. Lucie to 22 runs for 2 wickets after 8 overs.  Those 2 wickets came in Krishna’s first over.  The first wicket was an edge caught behind by a diving Tiki on the first ball of Krishna’s first over.  The second wicket occurred on the last ball of Krishna’s first over when DK took a blazing fireball of a catch just wide of silly mid-wicket off Ifill that left the batsman in absolute misbelief.  However, the next wicket did not fall until the 22nd over.  St. Lucie kept their run rate at just over 5 runs an over constantly for the last 20 overs of the game.  At the end of 40 overs, St. Lucie amassed 212 runs for the loss of 6 wickets.  At the end of a brutally hot fielding spell, Krishna, Tanmay, Cyril, Santosh & Paul all earned wickets but some lackluster fielding efforts and extras conceded via wide balls bowled allowed the opponent’s total to be more that it should have been.  Fielding highlights included DK’s “silly” catch of Ifill, Tiki’s diving catch behind for the first wicket and Dalip’s sky-ed catch at deep cover.  Bowling details are below:

Paul- 8 overs, 1 maiden, 30 runs, 1 wicket, 1 wide.
Krishna- 8 overs, 0 maidens, 33 runs, 2 wickets, 1 wide.
Tanmay- 7 overs, 1 maiden, 43 runs, 1 wicket, 2 wides.
DK- 4 overs, 0 maidens, 19 runs, 0 wickets, 4 wides.
Walt- 4 overs, 0 maidens, 28 runs, 0 wickets, 2 wides.
Santosh- 6 overs, 0 maidens, 30 runs, 1 wicket, 11 wides.
Cyril- 3 overs, 0 maidens, 22 runs, 1 wicket, 3 wides.

The Titans began their chase of 213 runs with the opening batting pair of Chucky & Skipper Tiki.  Both batsmen were in-form and produced a stellar opening partnership of 155 runs that frustrated the opposition and lasted past the 2nd break of the afternoon.  Chucky continued his form by hitting some spectacular 4’s(eight) & 6’s(three).  Both batsmen ran well together and ran doubles or more 20 times in their partnership.  Skipper Tiki lost his wicket in the 29th over, 1 run shy of 50.  Tanmay then came in to bat to close out the game.  An exhausted Chucky lost his wicket in the 34th over, 2 runs shy of 100.  Dalip then joined Tanmay at the crease & ended the game in the next 2 overs by hitting a couple of sensational boundaries.  Chucky scored 98 runs, Tiki 49 runs, Tanmay 22 runs not out & Dalip 11 runs not out.  Titans successfully chase 213 runs by scoring 214 runs in 35.3 overs.  Titans CC won by 8 wickets with 27 balls remaining.

There was much discussion about the importance of this game throughout the preceding week.  Although the Titans came through with a solid win, fielding improvements & bowling improvements (especially wide balls bowled) need to be made.  The Titans batting performance was the superlative of the day with the 155 run opening partnership of Chucky & Skipper Tiki. DK’s stellar catch will definitely be a nominee for “Catch of the Year”.  Of the 5 total games played this season, Titans have won 3, lost 1 while one was abandoned due to Tropical Storm Isaac.  Titans CC are on a 3 match win streak but know that many bowling & fielding improvements need to be made to continue that streak. Practice makes perfect.