Oops! I (we) did it again……
Britney Spears did not sing that for BayCC Reds but who cares….
Britney Spears did not sing that for BayCC Reds but who cares….
BayCC Reds beat one of the top teams in SRCA, Piccadily Pacers today. Piccadily had won 4 out of the 5 games they had played so far in the tournament. They came in looking high and mighty, filled with confidence and we came in knowing that losing was not an option. A lost game would have thrown us out of the tournament….and then we would have to listen to our Captains lecture about how and where we messed up:)
On a windy day, the BayCC Reds captain, Imran Rizvi lost a toss that he badly wanted to win. We knew that the team batting first would have an advantage since the strong wind would help in carrying their shots.
Overall, BayCC Reds bowling was decent. We did not let the Piccadily batsmen dominate our bowling and kept chipping into their wickets consistently. At the end of 10 overs, Piccadily were 44 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. They seemed to be set for a big score. During the last 10 overs, BayCC Reds restricted the flow of runs and bowled the opposition out for 85 runs. From the bowling side, Ali Hussaini was the pick of the bowlers with great support from Saami, Adnan, Zarak and Aizaz. BayCC Reds fielding looked better than the last few games. Some great catches were taken by Zeeshan (one handed catch behind the stumps and 2 catches on the boundary), Imran Rizvi, one handed catch in the covers and Zarak, a great diving catch on the boundary. Aizaz, as usual was very effective behind the wickets, again stading up to the stumps, even on Saami’s bowling.
Facing a target of 86, against a good bowling attack, BayCC Red openers, Fayyaz and Adnan were sent in to bat by the captain with the instructions to ‘go on sensible offensive’. Our openers started slow and struggled to score runs off of some good pace bowling from the Piccadily bowlers. At the end of 4 overs, BayCC Reds had scored 6 runs at the loss of 1 wicket. Things did not look good. You could feel the desperation in this ‘do or die game’ from the fact that Showkat and Kareem were smoking like ‘chimney’s 
Then, ZARAK CAME….ZARAK SAW…..ZARAK CONQUERED!
Today, Zarak Afridi played like Shahid Afridi (for the record, our Afridi is more consistent than Shahid Afridi)
When Zarak started hitting sixes, Adnan joined the party. He started playing some great shots on the offside besides the big shots on the leg. Sandwiched between Zarak’s and Adnan’s onslaught, the ‘top ranked team’ looked pretty helpless. Their shoulders were down and they had defeat written all over their faces. Zarak’s 47 runs and Adnan’s 24 runs took the game away from Piccadily pacers. After Zarak and Adnan got out, Saami and Ali Hussaini were sent in to ‘clean up” the opposition. Ali, being Ali (his itch does not go away until he hits a six) hit a six when we needed only 2 or 3 runs to win. BayCC Reds wrapped up the game in 16 overs with the loss of only 3 wickets.
After this win, the captain was carried by the BayCC Reds players. The goal was to throw him up in the air, but after realizing that he is no “Katrina Kaif” and weighs quite a bit, the players put him down
Great captaincy by Imran today. He used his resources well and kept the opposition in check.
We had gone into this game as under dogs but came out as winners. The teams that were playing next were shocked to hear that BayCC Reds had beaten Piccadily Pacers. One of the players termed our win as “interesting”.
On to the next one now……here is wishing good luck to BayCC ……Blues and Reds…….
Latief