The Game against Suburban Cricket Club

Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin....

The match started with captain Muzzie, winning the toss, and electing to field.

Kush and Hasan, as usual, bowled fine opening spells, with Hasan taking Ravi Suvarnakati's wicket. Ravi incidentally had scored 95 runs in a previous match, against Purdue. Azeem Haq was joined at the crease by leftie Naser Yamani.

Naser, played some amazing shots, and looked in dangerous form. But that was before, Kush induced him to play a cover drive in the air, and Vinay took a great catch at Short Cover, as the ball came off bat like a rocket.

Azeem bhai was playing a rock solid innings, and gave only two chances at all. The first one, came my way, at Point, and I dropped a sitter of a catch. The other chance, or rather half chance, was behind the wicket, later on in the innings.

Muzzie, then brought, Adnan on, as first change, and he promptly bowled the next batsman who came in, Asif Ali, with a great yorker.

And on second change, came Shakir mian. Was it his game or what? He had the Suburban middle order flummoxed completely, ending up with 5 wickets. And Adnan helped finish of the tail ending up with a total tally of 3 wickets.

The Suburban total was 88, and Sonics had finished them off in 26.4 overs !

Sonics' innings, started off with the same opening pair as the previous match - Kush and Muni. A much harangued Muni, (since his first ball dismissal in the previous match) was out to prove a point today. And to quote him verbatim, "silenced his critics" with a great knock, murderously pulling anything that was pitched short and on the leg stump.
Kush and Muni provided our team's first 50 run opening partnership. And then, 5 of our batsmen including yours truly, succumbed to temptation, committed sin, and were back in the pavilion. The Suburban team, devoid of a good pace attack, resorted to some wily bowling, where they tempted every batsman with either full length deliveries, or as in Naseer's case, where they set him up for a pull shot, and one of the kids at Suburban - Moiz, at Sweeper Cover, took a fine catch. I, being 'promoted' from 11 to 2 down, perished to a silly shot, playing at an even sillier ball.

A special mention should be made of Rehan, the Team Jester. He had bought, the best bat possible, an MRF Genius. And how much did he score with the new bat? 0 . Rehan, made an outrageous offer, offering to sell this piece of wood to me, for $10, on his way back. My counter offer at a reasonable $5 for this worthless piece of wood, was denied by him. Rehan, you should stop being so greedy !

Among other things, the match provided its great moments. When Suburban's wicket keeper came in, a fit old man, aged around 55 or 60, Arun and I, almost wrote him off. But some of his shots, surprised us, and we realized that we underestimated this guy. He was darn good. When he was playing, i was able to see a characteristic of old age - experience and a short temper. His shots were amazing for a 55+ year old man, and the way he was yelling at Kaleem bhai, while running between the wickets, who couldnt run half as fast as him, was very funny. I even laughed aloud in the field, much to Kaleem's annoyance.

All, in all, a very good match, and a good victory. But there are definitely areas for improvement. In the bowling area, lesser extras, and in the batting department, the conviction to stay put at the wicket, including yours truly.

Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin.....

Man of the match - without a doubt, Shakir.

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Little Johnny jokes are my favorites, and here's one for you guys.....

Johnny's thinking

One day in class the teacher brought a bag full of fruit.
"Now class, I'm going to reach into the bag and describe a piece of
fruit, and you tell what fruit I'm talking about."
"Okay, first: it's round, plump and red."

Of course, Little Johnny raised his hand high, but the teacher, wisely ignored
him and picked Deborah, who promptly answered, "An apple."

The teacher replied, "No, Deborah, it's a beet, but I like your
thinking."

"Now for the second. It's soft, fuzzy,and colored red and brownish."
Little Johnny is hopping up and down in his seat trying to get the teacher to
call on him. But she skips him again and calls on Billy.

"Is it a peach?" Billy asks. "No, Billy, I'm afraid it's a potato. But
I like your thinking," the teacher replies.

"Here's another: it's long, yellow, and fairly hard."
By now Little Johnny is about to explode as he waves his hand frantically. The
teacher skips him again and calls on Sally.

"A banana," she says.

"No," the teacher replies, "it's a squash, but I like your thinking."

Little Johnny is kind of irritated now, so he speaks up loudly. "Hey, I've got
one for you teacher; let me put my hand in my pocket. Okay, I've got
it: it's round, hard, and it has a head on it."

"Johnny!" she cries. "That's disgusting!"

"Nope," answers Johnny, "it's a quarter, but I like your thinking!"