TCC @ CLCC
TCC Season 2002, Game #9
Gastonia Grounds, Gastonia, NC
(Originally scheduled for Macklenburg Grounds)

14 July 2002 (30-over match)

Result: CLCC won by 3 wickets

Toss: TCC (Elected to Bat)
Umpires: Bhavin (GCC)
Man of the Match: Ashish (CLCC)

Gastonia, NC - There is a saying which goes like this, "Where there is a will, there is a way." This was the case on Sunday in Charlotte when two Cricket Hungry teams scheduled to play their regular league MACC league match.

TCC (Triangle Cricket Club) was visiting CLCC (Charlotte Lions Cricket Club) and the venue was Reedy Creek Park in North Charlotte. It had rained heavily on Saturday which continued on Sunday morning. Lions captain Shashi, who lives an hour away in Morganton, North Carolina, phoned two of his players to check the ground at 7.30 am on Sunday morning.

The two players met at Reedy Creek Park and concluded that the ground was ready to play barring no rainfall afterwards. But, by 9 o’clock it was pouring cats and dogs and there was a Flash Flood warning for the entire Mecklenburg County, where Reedy Creek Park is situated. The weather report called for up to 3 inches of rain in the next hour or so.

On the other hand, TCC players already started their long three hours drive from Raleigh with an uncertainty of any Cricket possible. Shashi asked all of his players to meet at Reedy Creek Park anyway but every player had doubts in their mind.

The rain finally abated around 11 o’clock and by that time the ground was unplayable.

But, both TCC and CLCC were keen to play this game they love so much. They get to play this beautiful game once every week and they were not about to give up the fight with Mother Nature. Shashi phoned Gastonia Cricket Club’s Ramesh (bhai). The Doppler radar showed that the rain has already stopped in Gastonia and it was sunshine there. Ramesh bhai was instrumental in granting the teams Gastonia field to play this match. He even managed a GCC player to umpire this match. Both teams owe a lot to this person.

After arriving in Gastonia Cricket Ground, everyone was quite astonished to find the ground in perfectly good condition. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration if someone rates the Gastonia ground the best Cricket Ground in this region. The water draining system was superb. There was a new matt installed on the pitch and it looked really beautiful.

TCC captain Aravind won the toss and inexplicably elected to bat first in the soggy condition. It was a good toss to loose for the Lions because that’s exactly what they wanted had they won the toss.

It didn’t take too long to begin the drama as Abhi’s first ball was a wide and the next ball produced a clean bowled, the victim was Vijay, one of TCC’s prolific run scorers. On his way towards the pavilion he cautioned the next batsman that the ball was swinging a lot. Suddenly, the TCC batsmen found it hard to score runs. Moreover, the ground was wet which prevented the ball to travel fast.

Lion’s bowlers kept the pressure on the batsmen as no one could get into their rhythm. Dipak and Gopal bowled really well even though Gopal’s landing shoe sole would’ve been more appropriate for sliding or 2002 Winter Olympic’s hottest sport Curling!

When TCC’s most successful batsman, their captain Aravind came to crease, Lions knew that this would be the prized wicket of the day. Ashish was the bowler and he certainly did his homework. He produced a gem of a delivery and Aravind nicked it, only to see Shashi drop it. Aravind couldn’t believe it what had happened and he was clearly shaken up. Lions kept the pressure up as Ashish produced a maiden over off of Aravind. Lions Vice-Captain was simply in his top form today. It’s hardly believable that Shashi had to call him to show up at Reedy Creek Park when it was down pouring. Even Ashish didn’t dream such a day!

Finally, Ashish got his prized wicket of Aravind when he nicked him again and this time Parimal didn’t make any mistake on first slip taking a simple catch. Ashish and the lions were ecstatic.  Syed and Samir provided some resistance but the run rate was below four runs per over. When it all ended the score was 123.

After a quick fifteen minutes break Lions started their chase and again there was drama in the very first ball. Abhi attempted a daring pool shot and skied the ball and Sanjay took a good catch to dismiss him. This was a huge blow to Lions since Abhi was one of the main batsmen of their Bharat G-less batting line-up.

Shashi was given caught behind. Ani and Parimal perished to the same bowler who maintained a really tight line and length.

But, this was an Ashish day! He was simply menacing from the get go. He pulled, cut, and smashed the ball with sheer power. The ball was traveling in all direction of the park. It was a beauty to see his magnificent innings. Lions only needed to bat around Ashish and that’s exactly what Dipak did when he came to bat.

Dipak simply kept the scoreboard ticking and giving much of the strike to in-form Ashish. Dipak must be commended for using his cricketing brain.

It was only few runs left when Dipak perished and it was only 2 runs left when Gary was run out, much to Gopal’s dismay since he had to pad up in a hurry. No further damage was done as the Lions got the necessary runs loosing seven wickets in 23 overs. Both team conceded plenty of wide deliveries as the pitch was playing a role in swinging the ball.

In the end, it was a day that belonged to Cricket. TCC team must be commendable for their approach and flexibility to play this game. Both of the teams owe much to Ramesh (bhai) of GCC to be able to play in Gastonia.