Aestivus horribilis infit, but definitely not for the OUCC

Over the last few days, I have been mulling over what threatens to be a "aestivus horribilis". For all of you who think less of ancient tongues, aestivus horribilis means "horrible summer". The absence of a paying job for summer seems to be a big pain on my err... neck. The only (just for thoughts, can there ever be more than one?) silver lining seems to be cricket.

Cricket is going to be such a calming influence this summer. The OUCC, of which I am a loud part, has finally gotten a home of its own, on West State Street, adjacent to the Biochemistry building. This ground is part of the campus Driving Range (see directions to the ground here) and comprises of an area that is between the 250 yard mark in the driving range and the bike path to Hocking Hills. It is easily reachable by walking/biking along the bike path or by road.

We won our first-ever home game in the Midwest Cricket Tournament - 2003, quite easily against Cincinnati, powered by exceptionally strong performances from our bowlers Chaminda, Tariq, Rajesh, Ganesh and the pride of Bank One a.k.a Sitaram Jakka. We bowled out Cincinnati for 59 (in 27.5 overs). We were replying sedately and had lost three wickets before our own Bhuvan, Siddesh decided that it was time to go home and hit 31, studded with three towering sixers (each of which landed closer to Shashi’s car than the previous) and a boundary (that would have hit Shashi’s car, had not Raman decided to show off his fielding skills), all on the straight V. Siddesh’s brilliance resulted in us knocking off the target in just 17 overs, after we had scored just around 25 runs in the first 12 overs. But then our victory (see scoreboard here) was a forgone conclusion once our bowlers (for the first time ever and definitely not for the last time) applied a classic end game strategy that had been strangely missing in the matches last year and in our first match in this tournament and polished up the tail in an innings where the score had been 46 for the loss of 6 wickets at the drinks break.

The man of the match was Chaminda, though he was not separated from the other bowlers by much. Tariq, Ganesh, Rajesh and Jakka demonstrated the virtues of good line and length bowling and this obviously reflected on the number of extras, which even though was just over 30 percent of Cincinnati's score, was pretty low compared to last year's standards when it usually hovered around the 40s. Ganesh had just two runs scored off the bat in his four overs and that is exemplary. I don't have similar statistics for the other bowlers, but they were right there alongside Ganesh and Chaminda.

And though Siddesh's blitzkreig had awesome entertainment value and had the opposition shaking their heads in disbelief, he would be the first to admit that with Anbu and the rest (right upto Rajesh and Chaminda, who had played a gem of an innings,the day before, in the practice match) still to come, the question was obviously going to be answered positively. Good job Bhuvan.

Hats off guys. Lets hope that the Voice of the OUCC (as yours truly has anointed himself) doesn’t need to dust his well-worn shoes this summer. I pretty much want to play, but the presence of a strong batting lineup (however, on paper, just like India) threatens to spoil any chances. Last year’s inexplicable defeats still rankle and this year shall be different hopefully.

QOTD: "I don't know what these fellows are doing, but whatever they are doing, they sure are doing it well." - Pete Sampras on watching Brian Charles Lara and Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose at Lord's.