MCC at the 2015 BCV indoor tournament
Traditionally MCC has not been overenthusiastic about indoor cricket and this year was no exception. With a maximum of eight allowed in the squad we managed to get only seven, three of whom were club newcomers. We would have been eight but Nirval had to bail having been in hospital. Good bloke though, he turned up to support us on the day.
The squad was thus:
Manav Alagh Captain for the day
Naveen Arunachalam Vice captain for the day
Saurabh Gandham
Veith Gattinger
Michael Raubenheimer
Ruchir Sharma
Yousef Zazai
True to form, the captain lost the toss against Lufthansa and MCC were asked to bat having been allowed no practise whatsoever. In the five overs of the innings MCC scored 38 for 4 wickets. Arunachalam was looking good but was run out rather unfortunately by the Jaraysariya method or we would probably have had another ten runs on the board. In reply Lufthansa were 39 for 3 off the very last possible ball of their innings so it was a very close match and we had a good run rate which can be important in deciding who goes through to the semis.
The second game was against a new club, Neu-Ulm, who looked young, fit and capable. Captain Alagh once again lost the toss and we were asked to bat first once again. This time having learned a thing or two from the first match we scored 65 for five, a much better score to defend. It was very well defended and Neu Ulm were four wickets down in the third over and a win seemed very much on the cards. However we suddenly found how to bowl wides and no balls, both of which were weighted with three runs minimum. On the penultimate ball Neu Ulm needed two runs to win and received a three so once again a very narrow defeat and a good overall run rate.
All would depend on how others performed to decide if we could still win through to the semis. Unfortunately this was not so and the last match was a dead rubber against the Pak Orient seconds. Captain Alagh passed the leadership on to Arunachalam for this match and joined our other vocal supporters from England, Germany and the USA to watch. The new captain duly lost the toss and MCC were asked to bat first yet again. This time we only managed 35 all out and POCC 2 beat this fairly easily in the fourth over.
The squad had a most enjoyable day and the newcomers fitted in well. Yousef so impressed the Jugendwart that he approached me for details as he wants him as part of the initial BCV U-19 squad.
The tournament was won by Erlangen who beat POCC 1 in a thrilling final. We didn`t stay for the presentations but had there been one for the most entertaining bowling run-up it would surely have been awarded to Rochir – Harit Khanna has nothing on him