The Sunday afternoon was as bright as it has ever been in the Netherlands. There were only two things brighter than the afternoon sun – the Concordia team’s smiles, coming into this game from the thumping victory over PSV Eindhoven and Tiggy’s white polar bear sweat-shirt. It seems that the captain’s Tide white sweat-shirt is his lucky charm, as he won the toss and decided to bat. The strip looked like a batting paradise. The openers Agam and Akshay started in the most extravagant fashion, with Agam hitting back to back 4’s. Agam looked set to play a McCullum and Akshay was looking steady. Agam made some good connection and had the bowlers running for their money, while Concordia raised to the high 40’s in the first 5 overs. Agam fell shortly after, bowled around the stumps, a rare error in judgment by Agam who is normally good off his pads. Agam’s scorecard looked like he was there only to hit 4’s. The Concordia cricketing term, ‘4,4,4,4…no more’ was born.

Akshay was joined by Manu, and it looked like we were going to have a good partnership by the veterans. Akshay scored a steady 20 runs and played some good looking shots, before he was caught behind the wicket by Qui Vive’s surprisingly brave wicket keeper. The captain walked onto to the field, determined to build a partnership with Manu. Manu however couldn’t stay longer as he was out bowled by a full toss delivery from the bowler for 2 – a rare miss by Manu. It is believed that Manu’s eyes went so wide with happiness seeing a juicy full toss that he actually forgot to hit it! Vikram joined Tiggy in the middle, and the dressing room got ready to see some fireworks on the ground. Vikram didn’t disappoint as he hit the bowlers for boundaries from the start of his innings. However Vikram also decided to take the ‘4,4,4,4…no more’ option, which is very famous among Concordians, as he got one high on the bat while trying to pull. He lobbed up a simple catch to the midwicket fielder.

Sid came out to bat, and looked confident. His big innings against PSV had increased his confidence, as he also started with a six early in his inning. The batsmen were looking comfortable in the middle, until when Tiggy hit an edge straight to the fielder and succumbed for 15. Sid was however sure that it was his day, as lady luck supported him with a few dropped catches from the fielding side. Sajjad joined Sid after the captain went, and started building a fortress on the crease, not letting any ball go through his defense. It looked like we were building another partnership, until Sajjad was run out for 8. Sajjad however continued to stay on the pitch, expecting to win the award for ‘best performance after being dismissed’. Hari walked in and walked out, without troubling the scorers. He picked out the only fielder on the square leg boundary to give a catch off a poor delivery. Shukla joined Sid in the middle and played an incredible flick shot off his legs. Everyone applauded, until they saw his next shot which made suicides look like Sunny Leone. Sid carried on in spite of all this and was joined by Srijith. Srijith blasted some wonderful shots towards the end of the innings. Sid was bowled by a fuller off spin delivery for 60. Antony gave Srijith company towards the end of the innings as Concordia ended their innings with 211 all out.

After lunch, the air was chilly, and some fielders who are not to be named here were wearing their office going coats on the field. However, soon the coats came off as Srijith and Sid started firing up the pitch with some competitive fast bowling. The heat of the Concordian pace attack was unbearable for the Qui Vive batsmen as they started going back one after the other. Everything happened so quickly that the author is unable to recollect the order in which wickets fell. It looked like the batsmen were praying for their spell to end, but by the time their 14 over long spell ended, Qui Vive were already 4 wickets down, 2 each by Sid and Srijith. Shukla and Antony were introduced into the attack. The batsman thought they could play more freely now, only to be strangled by Shukla’s consistent wicket taking form and Antony’s unplayable swing bowling. Manu impressed with a left handed catch behind the wickets off Antony’s bowling to dismiss the left handed batsman who was troubling Shukla with some good shots. A new term was coined in the Concordia dictionary, as Manu ‘pulled a Tiggy’. Shukla grabbed 2 and Antony grabbed 3 wickets respectively. Antony ended up with an amazing bowling figure of 6O-14R-3W. The final wicket was taken by Akshay with his left arm orthodox, as Qui Vive was bundled out for 91. A comfortable victory in the end for the home team.

-Hari Pushpakumar

Notes:
‘4,4,4,4…no more’ – An explosive batsman who hates all other forms of scoring except boundaries.

‘Pulled a Tiggy’ – A one handed catch that gets stuck to the fielder’s hand.