Thunders v/s Patriots

Down but not out yet !!

Yes, this was the end of the road for this Spring League for Thunders with a loss in the hands of Patriots, who beat us for the second time in as many meetings in this tournament. Clearly it was not the ending any of us were hoping for, but that's how it is for now, and Patriots showed us why keeping a head on shoulders is important along with the skills of the game.
No doubt ours was a better team on cards, but like they say -- "You are as good as your Success"; we certainly fell short of expectations on the day.


We are a good team, who according to me need more direction than talent on how to bounce back from this exit and become an excellant team. Clearly the team has some exceptionally talented players in all departments of the game, but we all will also agree that we need a better plan of action for the excecution on the D-day.


It is amazing how a great fielding effort makes any bowling look great, and that is one thing this form of cricket needs more resources in. "We were very good on the field", that was my initial thought. But now if I think of it, we were good and not excellent like we should have been !! I am saying this because it certainly played a role in the final outcome of the match. Ground fielding was good but there were dropped catches also which stopped us from being excellent overall and could have eventually reduce their score by 15-20 runs and could have turned the tide.
In all it was a good effort by bowlers this season and they were mostly tidy, but surely every bowler needs to be more aware of his strengths rather than have conditions playing on thier minds.
Lot is desired from Batting since this department is for sure our strongest forte, but has failed us more often than it should. We have amazing talent in this department, but somehow it has not been exploited to its potential. The scores of 150+ are something what our batsmen are capable of but 80-90 on an average is where we are ending on. Brilliant innings by one makes a team decent but does not take you over the rope. More thought needs to be put in on who should be used and when and I am sure all of us must be thinking hard on what needs to be done.

Overall it was a good day of cricket on a very hot day. Our bowling kept them in ropes but could have done better if the catches were held onto, like the Patriot fielders. Batting started to fall apart with the top order batsmen failing and at one point we were 37/7 odd. Thanks to the wonderful innings by Farrokh that the final card showed us to be much respectful at 104 all out.

Though there is lot one can criticize but from where I see, this team had a good run and great fun through the tournament. Special thanks to Anand for making it all possible and make us all come together as a team. It is for him that we were able to get it all together, though he certainly needs to have better plans for finding winning combinations.

For sure we all need to sit together once before the new season and get more clarity on individual roles that are expected out of each.

The idea of playing was to have fun....and I am sure everybody including me had lot of it !!!

Cheers....till next win !!!!

Result: Patriots won by 12 runs.
Venue: Centreville
Date: Aug 1st, SaturdayTime: 11:30 AM
Toss: Patriots won the toss and elected to bat.
Patriots: 116/9 in 20 overs.
Thunders: 104/10 in 19.3 overs.