Getting mauled

Before the start of the match we were joking around as to how this game can be compared with an Australia vs Bangladesh encounter. Somewhere in our minds we also liked that comparison since the Bongs had managed to stage an upset once and I'd be lying if I said we didn't nurture that ambition of hoping to emulate their feat. What happened on the ground in our match against the Rodeos - the defending champions - though was a complete whitewash which certainly has brought this feeling of utter hopelessness. We were outplayed in every department of the game. We had a few losses in the earlier games also but we always had some positives out of every match. Especially our bowlers, who bowled well whatever the quality of opposition. But today our two top bowlers who had bowled consistently throughout the tournament and were in the top rankings amongst bowlers in the league were thrashed for 42 and 43 runs in their quota of 5 overs and went wicketless. Watching their balls sail above our heads and land well past the boundary was a terribly discouraging sight for the outfielders. One of the opposition batsman sprinkled salt on our wounds by hitting a half century - only the second of the league. To hit a 50 with the limited amount of strike available in a 20-20 is certainly commendable.

Our batting brought back old memories of batsmen parading to the pitch and returning to the pavilion as if in a hurry. While our fielding cant go any lower with as mush as 6 easy catches dropped. After giving us a few lessons in cricket in the match it was good to also get a few words of symapthy from the opposition team. Their captain, after the game told us that it was their fourth year in the league and they were the champions last season but they were no different than us in their first year.

So with our hopes of doing a David to the Rodeos Goliath finally dashed we look forward to our upcoming games. The teams we are going to play henceforth aren't that stronger and so the future isn't that bleak. We also have no match for a long time now - our next game is almost a month and half away in Jan. But with the budget allocation season for next year coming up for our projects, we also are not sure how many of us will be there till then ;-). We plan to regroup as a team and replan our strategies. Try to get rid of our technical deficiencies and upgrade our game to a level where we could compete with the best teams. And I hope I don't have to write posts about hopelessness again.