This was the 5th match for GC in the Saturday league against Holton Le Clay CC. We started off with just 10 players on our side with young Shalin! It was a bit chilly and breezy morning with clouds looming around. All got there just in time for the toss, which we won and elected to bat first. As there were some new players that Skipper Sakthi had never met, we had a quick intro knowing their strengths of play and which order they would like to bat. The opposition also had only 10 players with just 1 scorer. It was down to basic technology of manual (handwritten) scoring (IPad and Frogbox were clearly missed).

Anoop and Sumit opened the innings with a just one plan ‘Stay as long as you can!’. Both played slow and steadily with some decent shots. The bowling was a decent line and scoring runs was not so easy. However, when they just started to score a bit, Sumit got out for a LBW which we all felt was a bit harsh decision. Pravin went as 1 down and soon was joined by Sakthi when Anoop got out. The score by then was just around 16 runs for 10/12 overs. Pravin with his ‘Bhayankar’ skills flexed his muscles and played some excellent shots (fours and six) along with a great partnership from Sakthi, rotating the strike regularly with some singles and twos whenever possible. Soon after we celebrated Pravin’s 50, he was out for a good ball which bowled him out for 56 ! Enter Dan the Man, with a quick fire innings that did not last long as he tried to pull a big shot just after the score reached 100 (half-hearted as he was mentioning all along after he got out!) but was caught at 3rd man by an excellent young fielder in an IPL style catch which we all thought he almost dropped, but managed to pull it off finally juggling between his hands. Karthik joined the skipper at the crease, and played a decent innings with some good shots as the score kept creeping up. Soon Sakthi went for a big hit to be caught by a spectacular left-handed diving catch at long off. Skip was clearly disappointed as none of us expected the fielder would pull it off and another good, long innings came to an end. Rest of us (myself, Saranraj and Suresh) supported Karthik as much as we could to keep the score ticking and giving him the strike as he was playing well. Finally, the young Tiger / Lion (not sure what he wants to be called) entered the field – Shalin. It was a delight to watch his courage, passion, and determination to play. He defended well for an over or so and unfortunately got stumped which upset him a bit. He recovered quickly and we were ready for the 2nd innings as we were all out for 130 in 43 overs.

The message was clear from the skip - It was doable, bowling is our strength, let's give it a go! Pravin and Saranraj opened the bowling for GC. It was a good spell which kept the run rate just around 2 for 8 overs. Skip quickly made an intelligent move to bring in Dan and Karthik which was a game changer at that time. Dan got the 1st wicket which bowled the opener who was just settling. At the other end, Karthik bowled his magic spell of spin (Muthiah Murali style) which was awesome to watch from the slips. The opponents struggled to understand his spin and were asking - have you got any more players like this?! Karthik ended up with ripped skin off his fingers to be taped due to the spin. He also managed to get a C&B only to be told by Dan that in GC you must do it yourself! Soon after, Dan bowled an excellent ball which took the stumps of 3rd player who was dumbstruck with turn in the ball. After Kartik completed his 10 overs, Anoop and Suresh were introduced into the attack. The ball was turning so much that we had 3 slips at one stage expecting a catch. However, there were a few chances which did not materialise as the ball went over the keeper too high taking him by surprise. There were a couple of run out chances which failed and again the keeper took it gracefully on his chin!

Pravin was brought back and he took the next wicket, kudos to Sumit for an excellent catch at extra cover. Anoop and Suresh also took a wicket each and the score was 88/8 at 41 overs. Almost all bowlers kept the run rate at around 2 with a good length and made it difficult for them to score. However, just when we we were close to a comfortable win, the final duo went on a rampage with some big hits starting with a six which got them to a comfortable score of 123 in 44 overs ! Suddenly the game was on their side. A bit of panic on our end with the feeling of losing the game. Brief discussion by the skip regarding who bowls the final over and he took a punt in Dhoni style and gave it to Saranraj who bowled a nice over with some dot balls, but they managed to score 7 runs in 5 balls, levelling the score. This was quite a tense moment for us, the batsmen, umpire and the player, friends and family off the field who were watching just standing near the boundary line as they just needed 1 more run to win.

All the fielders were brought into the circle to prevent the single. The batsman went for a big hit off the final ball, it spun and went high up in the air with every fielder watching it and screaming at Suresh who took a comfortable catch at short fine leg. That’s it, we were all celebrating as the batsmen were quite disappointed. The umpire shook hand with us and said- ‘Do you actually know, you didn’t win and it’s a Tie !', We said 'yes we know but we thought we almost lost it!’

It was a roller coaster game, which went right down to the wire with equal scores and all out on both sides giving us equal points. The opponents were a nice team to play with good game spirit. Finally had some beers, realised it was 1st ever Tie for GC and well worth a game for putting up with just 10 players and not losing. Skip told us that he missed Naren and Chirag as they would support him in the strategies. He felt it was a bit too much for him as he had to manage a new team (4/5 players he had never met), wicket keeping and missing few run outs as well. Trust me, his Dhoni style skills of managing all did pay off for a Tie!

There were not many extras (just a few wides and no balls, and no run out for GC batsmen). Pravin and Karthik’s batting and bowling was exceptional along with excellent commitment by all on the field with good bowling and nice fielding, especially by young Shalin who was amazing in his fielding and saved a lot of runs (Chirag, something to learn from him for all of us!).

I personally enjoyed it a lot along with others, a well spent Saturday on the field. Driving back, Sakthi asked me to write the report for one person who can visualise it. I hope he can see through this!

Editor's note: Technically, this was the second match that GC has tied, the first one happened to be in the midweek league against Sturton by Stow on 13th July 2023