Murali Sharath!

My web space hasn’t had an update for about 6 weeks now. A couple of friends who haven’t had anything to do other than twiddle thumbs at work (S & S – I am looking at the both of you) have been pushing me to write about something. I have had a terrible 2 months (I just realized that the last major excitement I had in my rather inconsequential life was Berba signing for United- Yeah Yeah my life is sad.) A combination of working with a lot of idiots, complete mayhem in the market and a lack of general excitement in life have had me in bad spirits and painfully rather low self esteem so much so that I haven’t been speaking to my dearest/nearest that frequently and am sure at least a couple are raging mad (Sorry T- I am sure things will be fine). Anyway it’s nice to be back and I hope to be more regular.

I have been playing cricket all through summer. A friend of mine called me as a last minute replacement for one of the games. Mediocrity amongst the rest of the gang and an Asian connection earned me the nickname “Murali Sharath”. I have quietly been enjoying the nickname whilst modestly trying to brush aside any comparisons to the champion spinnerJ-. Our team is called Renegades Cricket club and comprises of a bunch of South African/English men and couple of Indians. We are a decent hard working side but the real motivation for most of the team members is the beer. We have been playing in this league for 6 years now and we are the South Africa of evening League- 5 semifinals appearances in 6 years after topping the table in the group stages and yet not a single win.

We did reasonably well in the group stages finishing 3rd and therefore had to face Health Department who finished 2nd after walloping us in a group game when they reached our target of 73 in less than 6 overs. The semi finals was reduced to 10 overs a side (from the customary 20-20) as it was quite late in summer and it was getting rather dark by half seven. We won the toss and decided chose the willow over the cork and we recorded a reasonable 72 of 10 overs despite losing 3 early wickets with hardly any runs on the board. Their openers got stuck into our seamers and piled up 40 runs of our first 3 overs. Shoulders dropped and Nasser Hussien’s famous lines about the English team after they lost the first ashes test in 2005 came to mind- “Same Old Renegades- Same old bloody Renegades”. As a last throw of the dice the skip threw the ball to me and asked me to tie down an end which I have been doing through out the tournament. I bowled spectacularly- (One of my best spell in long long time) - picked up 2/15 in 3 overs. Below mentioned was the actual write up about me in the team magazine-


"By the fifth over the run rate was under six, and the doctors looked ready to sew up an easy victory. Stand-in-skipper Goodyer realised it wasn’t going to be his day with the ball and wisely stepped aside to make way for some sub-continental guile from Sharath. A change in pace and some delightful flight proved difficult to diagnose and the portly Murali took the breakthrough wicket, trapping the batsmen LBW with a quicker ball Yorker. The Sharath and Shillingford partnership started to stem the hemorrhaging slightly and the run rate started to climb again as the wickets fell."

They needed eight runs of the last over and after some tight bowling from my spin twin-R we won the game. I would have picked up the MoM if there was one- Anyways was really glad about our performance and we were in the finals. We will be facing Belmont in the finals that have clearly been the best side in the tournament winning all their league matches and comfortably topping the table. Quick sides note about our opponents in the finals- They took competitiveness to levels unseen in the evening league during our league game by using choicest words to imply I was the half brother of one of their batsman before we exchanged blows on the fields and it was all very ugly.

I was very happy to be facing them in the finals and was praying I will have the last laugh. People who know my ultra competitiveness wouldn’t be too surprised but I was ready for another round of fist fight if it meant I have to win. Unfortunately, that guy missed the finals and I was a tad disappointed.

We won the toss yet again and decided to bat first- It was a rather flat wicket with no moisture as it quite a hot day. I was sure the wicket was going to afford sufficient assistance to the spinners and was looking forward to having a real go at them. We got 139 from 20 over which was a reasonable total but I thought we were about 20 runs short as it was a small ground. As has been the pattern through out the tournament our opening bowlers were murdered and we conceded 33 of the first 3 overs. I was introduced into the attack after my heroics in the semis.

Big Shill and I kept things tight and I was rather unfortunate to not pick up more than the one wicket I got. We dragged us back into the game and gave ourselves a wonderful chance to win the game. Gooders and Ryan continued our good work and we won by about 16 runs. Special mention is due to our skip gooders who stroked a masterful 78 in the blistering heat and this was after the marathon he ran that morning! The magazine had this to say about me:

"Raj was sent to cow corner to think about what he’d done, and Narayan was brought into the attack to provide some vital dots. As in the semi, the Sharath-Shillingford combination seemed to work, slowing the run rate and Narayan thought he had the breakthough when a catch was popped up to Targett and silly-mid on, but somehow Conk contrived to spill it. Sharath’s contribution came to a close with a fantastic caught & bowled in his final over and was replaced by Goodyer, now recovered."


Renegades Cricket Club are the champions of evening league! I don’t know if I am looking fwd to next year as I really hope I won’t be here for the summer!

God luck and Godspeed!!!!

Cheers
S