Season: 2021
RCC 1 v Horspath 3
By Martin Kalyan
With last two games not fetching a result that the team was hoping for, captain Martin Kalyan had no doubt that Risinghurst will bounce back and perform to their potential in the semi-finals of the Steve Dixon Cup. On a fairly good day (as per UK weather station 😊), green pitch and short boundaries, the cap decided to bat first hoping to put up a total in excess of 220. The start was not up to Risi standards and things really slowed down when Martin (11) mis-timed an on-drive and handed a simple catch to mid-on. Sandeep and Saurabh tried to steady the ship but were unable to keep up the run rate. Some great fielding from Horspath young side dried up the runs and had Risi under pressure. Soon after drinks Saurabh (18) perished trying to up the run rate. Lucky (12) and Mansoor (19) played some good shots but failed to make a big score and Risi were looking at a score of less than 150 when Romi got out cheap. But Martin and Mansoor quickly huddled up to play a master stroke and decided to promote Govind up the order… who martin believes can change the game any time with his batting & bowling skills…Govind continued his form with the bat and made a quick fire 20 which turned out to be the difference to get to the par score…A couple of boundaries in the end by Sam and Sourav ensured that Risi reached a respectable total of 180.
The bowling opening duo Rakesh and Govind gave another thunderous start by troubling Horspath opening bats with great pace and swing. Rakesh particularly outplayed the top bats with couple of deliveries starting on leg stump and missing the off stump by a whisker. They cleaned up the opening bats soon with 1 wicket a piece. The first change bowlers Lucky and Sourav took the baton and kept the pressure on with some disciplined bowling. Lucky ( the brainy bowler ) took 2 in an over and Sourav (2 wickets) on the other end dismissed Horspath captain(with special delivery) and it looked like was going to be an easy win for Risi. But there was a twist in the tail and Horspath youngsters showed tremendous potential and courage, playing some good drives and lofted shots. Martin then decided to bring on JT who proved deadly with his slow left arm spin and it was too much to ask from the youngsters to hit him. The bowling change did the trick with JT (3 wickets) finishing off the tail to give a comfortable win in the end. Risi defeated Horspath 3 by 49 runs and will face Witney Swifts in the finals.
Well deserved man of the match Sandeep for another 50…. keep up the good form for the rest of the season…. And finally it was a pleasure to watch our fielders who gave their 💯% in the field and kept the pressure on opposition throughout the whole game…. so well done everyone for the effort 👍
A special thanks to Satish and Praneel for their availability, and kudos to our supporters who came to watch the match.
RCC 1 v Garsington and Cowley 2
By Govind Gour
A day when no human being wanted to have outdoor activity, Risinghurst endeavoured to have a full game of cricket. With a 90 percent rain forecast and cloudy conditions, RCC was asked to bat at their home ground. Captain Kalyan decided to shuffle the opening pair and put Rakesh N with Saurabh M. However, this move did not yield any success and both the openers were back in the hut before the middle order could get ready for throw downs. Middle order young sensation Romio F and Lokeshwar B (Lucky) tried to stabilise the ship with a few beautiful drives. But they could not make it substantial as Romio was undone by a beautiful inswing ball and the latter one just handed a regular catch to the mid-off fielder. That brought the mister reliable Mansoor A and Sandeep G and former started to take attack back to bowlers. Eventually, the opposition captain was forced to bring new bowlers from both ends who were also ineffective against Mansoor. In between, Sandeep G became victim of poor umpiring and was given out LBW. That brings our team leader into middle Martin K who batted sensibly and kept on ticking the score with singles and twos. However, soon after he shared the same fate as Sandeep and was given LBW for the ball hitting his upper part of the thigh guard. On the other hand, these all things didn’t stop Mansoor A who kept on launching other bowlers for 6s and 4s from the other end. Before he could reach his three digit mark (70), he mistimed one shot and handed a well-judged boundary catch. In the recent times, RCC’s tails (Samuel, Govind, Saurav and JT) have been quite effective, which added valuable 40 runs (final team score 159) worth mentioning a beautiful six over the bowers’ head by our new team member Saurav M.
Garsington and Cowley started carefully and picked up their shots nicely. On the other hand, RCC’s bowler started well but soon Rakesh N was taken off as he sustained side strain. That brought a boy with golden arm Lucky into attack who without wasting any time, started hitting the right channel. Opposition openers found it very difficult to negotiate with him. One of the openers tried to launch him but was deceived by his length and beautifully taken at mid-on by Rakesh N. Other opener fell for the cut shot and ended up chopping his own stumps. This was just the start, he trapped one more batsman for the same shot and got another batsman run out with his electric and accurate throw. On the other hand, he was well supported by Govind who also managed to sneak through into their batting line up. Govind was also hard done by harsh LBW calls like his team mates (Sandeep and Martin) and was denied one LBW (5-er/hat trick ball) which was plumb for naked eyes. Bowler’s efforts soon were undone by the rain and the game was stopped.
After 40 mins of rain, with great team effort in removing covers and clearing the ground, RCC managed to resume play for the last 15 mins of the match. The reduced overs meant that Govind and Lucky had already finished their quota of overs, RCC relied on the trio of Martin, JT, and Sourav to finish the task. Garsington and Cowley (G&C) resumed reluctantly knowing their chances for a draw or win were already slim. The tantrums thrown by batsmen to waste time was eventually stopped by stern warning from the umpires. However, all RCC efforts to win the game were in vain as G&C managed to cling on to a draw by negotiating the last 5 overs.