Grit and Paitence Sees RnW Bangalore Through - Wins Challenger Trophy (Chennai edition) 2015

It has been an intense match from start to finish. I was lucky enough to witness some of the best cricket encounters in my life. This year is going to be exciting and intense if I'm go to by this game. 

The Titan's Clash, the nickname I have given for RnW Bangalore versus RnW Chennai clash, has always been explosive. Last time, I saw the match go down to the wire, end with a tie, then proceeded to go Super over, twice!... I am 100% sure no one in their lifespan would have seen or played through in such a situation. 

The most coveted cup - RnW Challenger Trophy

Over the last two years, RnW Bangalore has been dominating in their domestic games. We knew that they are a strong team. They have won this cup a couple of times, but so have we have. However, every encounter has been intense. Every run, every wicket, every shout for a wicket, its been bloody tense. We have always respected the team and always felt pride, whenever we beat them.  

Explosive Beginning

This year Challenger Trophy even more explosive than last year. This match was also JP's 100th match for RnW, and it goes to show what JP meant to the team and to this series. 

RnW Chennai went to bat first and right from the word 'go', the match was tense. JP and Arvind opened the innings. RnW Bangalore team was also charged up. They bowled very well and employed their spinners early on. 

This resulted in two early wickets of JP and Bupi. JP got dismissed with 1 run to score, got top edged while trying to play the ball towards Fine Leg. Bupi also got dismissed while trying to sweep the ball. RnW Bangalore spinners were dominating the match. 

Then there was Arvind who seemed to get going, but then he got out. RnW Chennai never felt steady/safe to bat. They were edgy, nervous to play the spin. Surprisingly, Marina wicket where the ball usually tends to keep low, provided a lot of bounce. 

It is also a very good wicket to bat on. However, the bounce certainly troubled the batsman. By the time RnW Chennai came in terms with the bounce and spin of the wicket, they were too deep in trouble. 

Murali, Raki, and Siva played some good shots. Especially Siva and Raki gave the much needed momentum for the team. Their efforts saw some good hitting with ball crossing the boundary with ease. Siva especially was good. But he got holed out in deep square leg while trying to clear the boundary. 

Raki and Sankar saw the team pass 100 in 26th over. There was a sense that with 3-4 overs remaining, RnW Chennai will reach around 120-130+. But the pace bowlers of RnW Bangalore came good and wrapped up RnW Chennai innings with Sankar's wicket. 

When the innings got over, there was still 2.5 overs left and RnW Chennai ended with 110.

The Nail-bitting Chase

RnW Chennai also decided to go for the same kind of ploy or it was pre-determined I didn't know. But I saw RnW Chennai open with pacers and spinners coming in early. The effort from RnW Bangalore while fielding was exceptional. They took all the catches, fielded well, and put intense pressure on RnW Chennai batting. 

That is exactly what was needed from RnW Chennai if they had any hope of defending 110 runs on a good batting track. 

That is what they did, to some extent. They took regular wickets and kept the pressure on the batsman. However, RnW Bangalore persevered through with some sensible batting. They kept the singles up, and put the odd ball to the boundary. 

One thing that haunted RnW Chennai (and still does) came into forefront - catches. We dropped quite a few catches including a sitter. These catches have to be taken - especially when you are defending a very low total. 

Defending 110 was not easy, and RnW Chennai did put a very good fight. The fielders really put in their effort to stop all singles and fours. Siva made a spectacular save to stop a boundary and Vimal's close fielding was really good. When there batsman tried to steal a single, Murali who was fielding at long on, read the situation well and threw it keeper resulting in a run out in a time, when a wicket was much needed. 

Wickets kept tumbling at right intervals but then came a moment when it was do or die for Bangalore team. 13 needed of 24 with 2 wickets in hand. While the equation looks easy off-field, it was really tense on-field. The last two batsman from Bangalore team played really well and effected a boundary which put more pressure on the fielding which resulted in a miss-field at a crucial time. 

With fielders closing in, RnW Bangalore were patient and saw through at the 1st ball of 28th over - a very interesting fact being RnW Chennai got all out at 28.1 over. 

All in all, it was a very eventful and a bit sad ending for me, but the best ending in terms of cricket. 

Live Blogging/WhatsApping

This time I wanted to contribute to the team somehow. I was not part of playing 11 but still wanted to do something for the team. I saw many of non-playing members were out of station or not available to see the match. 

So I decided to do live blogging and WhatsApping (a term/method I am claiming. Anyone mimics or copies this has to pay royalty to me ;-)). This would allow my fellow team members to keep in touch of what's happening. I had no idea how to do it. 

So after reaching the ground, I decided to update the scores every 5 overs in our blog, and keep my team members WhatsApp group, with over-by-over update. 

It was an exciting experience for me. It has also given me some ideas of how to do it better next time. The guys in our group thoroughly enjoyed my updates (although I could have added some commentary - but couldn't because updates were happening very fast and my typing skill is just just not that great. If had a help, things would been different.) 

You can have a look at the scores in my previous post of what I did. 

Overall, it was a good victory to RnW in general, because we have been doing this for over four years now. Next time, we will be travelling to Bangalore to play for the Challenger Trophy (Bangalore edition) in the near future. We (RnW Chennai) hope to bring the Cup back. 

I hope to get more fit and be part of playing 11 next time. If not, then I am sure I can find better ways to improve on what I have started ;-)

Check out the photos of the award ceremony:

RnW Bangalore Captain accepting the Cup

RnW Bangalore Winning Team

RnW Bangalore and RnW Chennai

RnW Chennai Team

Live Score Update - RnW Bangalore Wins!

I'll be posting scores every five overs. So keep tracking.

RnW Bangalore wins! After an intense battle of grit and patience RnW Bangalore pulls through with two wickets to spare.

RnW Bangalore Innings: Target 111 Wins!

Bangalore team has bowled really tight with excellent catches taken in the field. Chennai has put together a moderate score. However, thus is a turf wicket which means this total can defended with some extraordinary catching and bowling.

Let's hope the second innings us going to be more interesting session.

• 5 overs - 22/1
• 10 overs - 38/3
• 15 overs - 55/3
• 20 overs - 74/5
• 25 overs - 96/6
• 28.1 overs - 114/8

RnW Chennai Innings:

• 5 overs - 17/1
• Arvind* - 13
• Bupi* - 1
• JP - caught - 1(6)
• Bupi - caught - 8(17)
• 10 overs - 32/2
• Arvind* - 18
• Rajaguru* - 1
• 23 overs - 60/8
• Raki* - 7(18)
• Siva* - 23(19)
• 25 overs - 97/9
• Raki* - 10
• Sankar*  - 1
• 28.1 overs - 110/10
• Raki* - 14
• Sankar - 7

The Preamble: Game Begins ...

Welcome to Challenger Trophy 2015, an exciting match between RnW Chennai vs. RnW Bangalore, scheduled to take place at Marina beach ground at 12.30 pm (noon).

Before we begin, let me give you the team lineup for Chennai.

RnW Chennai:

JP (Batting Super Sub), Arvind, Bupi, Rajaguru, Murali, Srishankar (WK), Srihari, Vimal, Sankar, Siva, Raki, Umapathy (Bowling Super Sub).

RnW Bangalore:

Prabhu, Vijay, Mirgank, Raghu, Susant, Arvind, Ashwin, Naga, NidheeshMuthu, Sudhir, and Kiran.

We still haven't received RnW Bangalore lineup. As soon as I do, I'll update.

Current form of RnW in the last four matches is as follows: WWLL

The bowling of Chennai team has constantly improved. Vimal has been the pick of bowlers bowling a recent excellent spell of 5/1/8/0 (overs/maiden/runs/wickets). If he can do another such spell, RnW will put Bangalore team under pressure.

The batting has also clicked with JP, despite his back injury, has bounced back nicely. His recent 50+ just goes to show that he is constantly looking to score, no matter who the opponent is. Aided by Arvind and Bupi, Chennai is likely to put a strong batting lineup.

The venue is going to be Marina beach ground. This is a turf wicket with good amount of breeze following through. This should aid the bowlers like Vimal and Murali.

The match is scheduled to start by 12.30 noon. I'll be on the ground at 11.30 am. Will post some photos in the later post.

So keep watching this blog and get the latest update.

Challenger Trophy 2015

In another 10 hours, the Challenger Trophy begins. I'm very excited to see RnW Chennai take on RnW Bangalore. The match is going to be held at Marina beach ground. I'll try to post some live coverage of the match.

There is also two crucial ICC world cup matches happening. West Indies take on UAE and Pakistan will gave Ireland to see who can qualify for the quarter finals.

So it's definitely going to be exciting. Stay tuned for more.

Guna and Pon create new RnW record

Best RnW bowling performances 

Top 5

1. Guna - 6/19

2. Ponmudi - 6/24

3. Sharath - 5/14

4. Sankar - 5/17

5. Rakesh - 5/31

JP storms into list of centurions

Top 5 Highest Individual Scores by Runwee

1. JP - 147* (61)
2. Ram - 124
3. KK - 123
4. JP -89
5.Anba - 87

Posted at www.runsnwickets.com

RnW Challenger Trophy: RnW Chennai Retains the Challenger Cup

As narrated by Adi...

First Innings

Ponmudi and KK opened the bowling for us. Guru and BK opened the batting for them. It was one of fiercest bowling spells I have ever seen being bowled by any RnW team. Superb combination of pace and line and length. Was bad luck that either of them did not get a wicket in that spell. Special mention must be made of this: during Ponmudi's first over, a ball came back in sharply from around off-stump and Guru got his bat down just in time. Else it would have easily taken his leg stump. The ball after hitting the bat actually rolled over behind the stumps escaping Guru's attempts at kicking it away! :-)  

 First 6 overs, they were only able to make 20 runs despite the powerplay being in place (2 fielders outside the circle). We fielded very well and cut off the lifeline of their innings - singles.  

Then came on DD and JP to bowl. DD got BK in the second over of his bowling, 8th over of the innings. BK hit a drive straight down the throat of short mid-off (Me). BK was struggling to make any runs. He made 5 of 21 deliveries. At the end of the 10th over, they had got only 39 runs. Their strategy was very clear. Guru was going to stay and the rest of them would go for their shots. 

That's when Murali had just started his spell - 10th over was his first one. And along with him we had got Praveen in. And Murali bowled so well, it would have been a crime to replace him with another bowler. Neither did he bowl any lose balls nor did he allow the opposition have any free runs (wides, noballs, etc). It was a brilliant piece of line and length bowling. The problem was with the other end where we were leaking a minimum of one boundary per over or giving away too many extras. 

Murali got the #3 batsman clean bowled in the 18th over. They had made 51 runs in 8 overs off which Murali had given only 13 runs in 4 overs. The other end seemed to the gap to be plugged. Sankar was the guy in such situations. And he bowled his first over, 19th one of the innings, for only 3 runs. There, we had the answer for the other end. But the problem was that Murali was finishing his continuous spell in the next over. He did so with aplomb. Murali's figures were 6-0-25-1. 

But the Bangalore team, kind of, answered my questions on whom to bowl next by taking the Batting PP of 4 overs. The automatic choice was KK and Ponmudi back into the attack. Who else but our best opening bowlers. Their strategy was to have Jacob, a big-hitter, go for his shots with the field in and Guru continues to stay on. But KK got Jacob with a superfast delivery which blew the middle stump out and the bat was somewhere above the shoulders. Don't know what he was trying, in the bargain we had got our man. Then came in Gaurav. An unconventional technique with a very effective result. He hit Ponmudi for three boundaries in the final PP over, the 24th of the innings. 

Soon after that we got out man, Sankar, into the attack. And what does he do? He gets Guru with a brilliant inswinger which Guru mistimes (or was that an inside edge?) straight down the throat of short midwicket (JP). Neatly taken by JP. Along with Sankar, I brought myself into the attack. And in the very first over I bowled, we had a team hat-trick which included two runouts and 1 bowled. Quickly, Bangalore was staring down the barrel at 136-7 off 27 overs. In the last 3 overs, Sankar and I conceded, 30 runs. It was some clean straight hitting by their batsmen - Mahesh and Pradeep. The six of the last ball was as straight as an arrow. Though off a full toss, it took a lot of power and timing to clear the ground which was of International standards. They ended with 166-8 off 30 overs.
 
Our fielding deserves special mention. We did not concede any extra run and stopped many potential singles. An please note this: We did not drop a single catch. No sloppiness anywhere. Brilliant work by everyone. Full 100% commitment. Bupesh came on for Murali and was brilliant in the cover to point region. He in fact created a runout. Which was very good to watch. And Pradyot's wicket-keeping was simply stunning. The byes that you see there were rank bad balls thrown down the legside at KK's pace! :-) 

Second Innings 

167, given the size of the ground, was a very competitive target to chase down. JP and KK went in to open the innings. And they went after the bowling like wild dogs after a pack of deer. Bangalore team was clueless. In fact, their body language indicated as if they didn't know what had hit them. The opening pair had made 50 runs in 4.4 overs. Their strategy changed in the very third over. Their opening bowler, Sam, was replaced because of the three boundaries that JP hit him for. And the replacement, Guru, was treated no differently. He went for three boundaries as well! 

Just when everything was going well. JP had this connection in his brain snap. It's that part which snaps so very frequently that we are all sick and tired of it. He wants to hit a boundary off every ball. After having hit Guru for three boundaries in the 5th over, he went for a fourth one. And hit one straight down the throat of a fielder at covers. Very disappointing end to a cracker of an innings. Shanmugavel (Velu) walked in with the entire scales tilted in our favour. But he couldn't get away easily for runs as he is accustomed to. He took some 24 deliveries to make 10 runs. Clearly, he was struggling out there. In that desperation, he hit one in the air in the backward point region and was caught brilliantly by flying Guru.The time he got out we had slowed down a bit on the run rate from where we were before. We were at 69/2 in the 13th over. 

Anba walked in at the fall of Velu's wicket. And along with KK, they got the scoring rate back up. They added 27 runs together in less than 4 overs. Anba hit two boundaries off Vijay, an off-spinner, a treat to watch. But then Anba was given out LBW by the umpire. Looked doubtful from where we were because it was an offspinner bowling around the stumps. Anba tried his usual legside nudge and missed it. The umpire thought it was out. So, I replaced Anba out there. And as soon as I went in, Vijay bowled me a meaty full toss on the thighs and I promptly helped it to deep square leg boundary. We were at 100/3 off 16 overs. Comfortably coasting along.

We announced our batting powerplay in the 17th over. The thinking was that, this was anyway going to go into a stage where a run-a-ball would be required. And automatically the field would be in. Apart from that, they would automatically retain their best bowlers towards the end off whom scoring might have been tougher. So the thinking was that we will call for the batting PP now, rather than later, and finish atleast majority of the quota of their best bowlers. There was no plan to attack anyway! As expected, Pradeep was brought into the attack in the second over of the powerplay. And I took him away for two boundaries in the mid-wicket region. And that was the last we saw of him. Objective achieved! He never came back to bowl in the rest of the innings! We were sitting pretty by the end of the PP, 125/3 off 21 overs. Going at almost 6 RPO. 

The next over, Guru came into attack. And I got out bowled to one of his faster deliveries and was late in getting my bat down to keep it out. That seemed to buoy the Bangalore team up. They made a lot of noises and shouting to charge themselves up. But we always were in sight of victory with Ram, DD, Sankar and Pradyot still to come. At 126/4, 21.4 overs, we were the ones still in control. But the Bangalore team had their tails up. We needed 41 runs off 50 balls. Easy task given the kind of wickets in hand. 

Ram and KK seemed to be going well, with Ram running briskly between the wickets, when another LBW decision came our way. Doubtful again. But atleast this time the bowler was bowling over the stumps. DD replaced Ram. Played a good cameo of 12 off 15 with one lusty boundary and some excellent running between the wickets. We came very close now. We had to make 17 runs off 16 deliveries. With DD and KK at the crease, we never had a doubt. But then, the same cable that snapped in JP's brain snapped in DD's brain also. And he went for a sixer off BK's third delivery of the 28th over. Clean bowled. Now, we needed 17 off 15 with 4 wickets in hand. Game still in our hand. KK still at the crease. Body not supporting him. He just never allowed himself to lose. Hung in there. I wish all of us could atleast have 50% of that resolve.   Sankar went in and got a single of the next two balls. And KK played out the last delivery. We had to make 16 runs off the last 12 deliveries. That's when Sankar came up with a brilliant boundary. He just picked, the 3rd delivery of the next over, a good length ball and deposited it at the mid-wicket boundary. It was a shot played on-the-rise and was a superb execution of one his favourite shots. It was a boundary under pressure. A Straight-batted shot it was. But the next delivery he played a cross-batted shot and ended up skying the ball. Was safely caught by BK who came in from covers to take this. Was a tough one, but he held on to it. Now, we needed 10 off 8. Pradyot to go in.

KK and Pradyot ran a couple of twos like rabbits of the next two balls. I honestly do not know where KK found that resource from. My hats off to his perseverance and stamina. Please teach us how to do it, KK. We might be bad students, but we still want to learn. 

Last over. 6 deliveries. 6 runs. For some strange reason, the Bangalore team had the field spread out the entire length of the innings. Inexplicable it was. But was quite useful to us. We were milking the field well.   

So, with the field spread out - first two deliveries, two singles. Third ball, we had Pradyot on strike. It was a good length delivery, probably a bit on the shorter side. So Pradyot tried to pull it. But it went straight to the man at short mid-wicket. And KK wanted to take strike. So he left his crease and started. Pradyot had not much option but to sacrifice his wicket. Afterall, KK was the guy you would bet on at such a time. And Pradyot played very sensibly. But now, we were at a situation where we needed 4 off the last 3 balls. Murali walked in. KK took strike. He hit the next ball towards long-on. And by the time Viswa, their long-on fielder, could get to the ball, Murali and KK ran briskly and completed two runs. Now we had two balls remaining and 2 runs to be made for victory. 2 wickets in hand. Ponmudi was padded up. 

This delivery was on offstump. KK drove it slightly wide off long-off. The fielder there had to run a bit to collect it. By the time the fielder collected it, our men had completed the first run. And Murali was back halfway to the danger end. KK just had to make his way back safely. But the throw was straight on top of the stumps. Murali was still outside the crease when the bowler, BK, failed to collect it cleanly. Murali got back in and KK reached the other end. RnW Chennai had completed another victory over RnW Bangalore. 

Overall

Brilliant persevering innings by Man of the Match: KK. He was the only one who never gave up. He just stayed there come what may! Some brilliant cameos by DD and Sankar. Murali would have been the second Man of the Match if there was any such award, for his bowling as well as selfless running between the wickets to take the team home. We just need to ensure that as batsmen we value our wicket. And make the bowlers work hard to get our wicket. It is not necessary to go for a boundary every ball nor is it necessary to defend every ball to value our wicket. We need to play the ball on its merits giving due respect to the bowler at the same time having trust and belief in our abilities.  

  This victory was closer than what our team is capable of doing. It was a privilege to captain this side. And I am now looking forward to the Bangalore leg of this trophy. Where I expect RnW Chennai to convincingly defeat the Bangalore team and convert our on-paper superiority to convincing on-ground victories. Not that this was a bad game or something: In fact we outplayed them in every department of the game. All I am trying to say is we need to outplay them even better the next time! :-) Let's work towards it systematically. 

It was a pleasure to see families of JP, Anba and Ponmudi there. A big thanks to them for coming all the way. I suspect Ponmudi tried bowling a few bouncers in his 5th over to impress his wife! ;-) And Anba threw in a few dives too while fielding! Any guesses why?! ;-) An equally big thanks to all the other Runwees who turned up there! The presence of each of you matters a lot! Thanks, thanks, and many more thanks for coming!

   I had a great time. I hope everyone had the same experience. 

Love,
Adi. 

RNW Annual Awards Nite 2011

We held our very first RNW Annual Awards Nite 2011 yesterday at TNCA Club. As with the tradition of RNW, it was a total success. Most of them turned up and we all had an excellent night to remember by. During this function, a lot of awards were given and they are as follows:

Best Captains by Year

• 2007 - V Sriram
• 2008 - 2009 - Anba
• 2010 - Guna
• 2011 - Bala

Man Of the Match (MOM) for the Wildcat Series

• First Match - Adi for his captaincy knock of 58 (59) and Ram for his excellent 4-27 haul
• Second Match  - Bala for his unbeaten, match-winning performance of 55* (34) not out innings
• Third Match  - Bala once again for his superb knock of 67 (59)
• Fourth Match  - Viru for his maiden and match winning knock of 62 (46)
• Fifth Match  - Sankar for his best spell and first 5 wicket haul in the series - 5-17

Man Of the Series (MOS) for the Wildcat Series

• Sankar for his excellent overall performance which included 13 wickets, @ avg. 7.53, Econ: 3.69 and strike rate of 12.29 balls

Best Batsman of the Year

• KK for excellent performance which demoralized every other bowler

Best Bowler of the Year

• Praveen for his terrific spin bowling which left batsman defenseless

Best Fielder of the Year

• Bala for his usual excellent performance on the field taking the best catches in the field

Best New Comer of the Year

• Ram - Proving everyone why he belonged in the field

Most Valuable Player of the Year went to 

• KK for his all round performance with both bat and ball.

Prabhu, the young and budding film director among RNW, complied an excellent video to summarize the rise of RNW as a club which was shown during the event.

I have to say as an short film enthusiast myself, I was both in awe and a bit jealous at the level of creativity this guy has. Kudos Prabhu!

I congratulate all the participants who won these awards during this function and I am going to ensure that my name is also there in that list, next year. Can't wait enough for 2012 to begin!

The Wid Hunt Ends: RnW Jags Knocks RnW Pumas with a 4-1 Victory!

The RnW cricketing year is generally very packed. We are either playing tournaments or some practice matches with equal intensity. So most of the time we are seriously focussed on notching those victories up in the Chennai cricketing circle. Couple of times a year, we also focus our guns on our counterparts in Bangalore! :) That's also the only time when we have an united RnW Chennai team facing Bangalore. More often than not, we are seriously trying to win having fun. The bottomline though being that we enjoy our cricket! 

And that's exactly what happened during this Wildcats Series. We enjoyed the game we love the most for nearly two months (16th Oct to 4th Dec), 5 Sundays, close to 300 overs of pure and pristine cricket. This series was meant to be a space where we see people do what they love doing rather than focus on what is best for the team. And true to that, this series was awesome!

Let us see a few statistics concerning this series. (You know you have Sankar to thank for this!) 

Top 5 Batsmen across both the teams (Most runs scored): 

1. Bala - 168
2. Viru - 128
3. Anba - 88
4. Adi - 82
5. Sriram - 76 

Top 5 Batsmen in Jaguars (Most runs scored): 

1. Bala - 168
2. Viru - 128
3. Anba - 88
4. KK - 72
5. Karthi - 47

Top 5 Batsmen in Pumas (Most runs scored): 

1. Adi - 82
2. Sriram - 76
3. Murali - 66
4. Jayanth - 49
5. Rakesh - 47

This series saw only four fifties of which two came from Bala's bat. There was only one from Pumas and that was by me. But, there were eight scores in the range of 30 to 50 which is a significant contribution in a 30-over game. Of these, five came from the Jags. Overall, the Jags showed greater responsibility at the crease and it shows in the statistics. Top 5 of Pumas scored 305 among them and the top 2 of Jaguars alone scored 296!       

Special mention must be made of Viru. The way he bludgeoned the Pumas' bowlers was absolutely demoralizing. I ran out of options to confront him with. But looking at it as talent in RnW, it was very encouraging.

Top 5 Bowlers across the teams (Most wickets taken): 

1. Sankar - 13
2. Ram - 8
3. Pradeep - 7
4. Praveen - 6
5. Murali - 5

Top 5 Bowlers in Jaguars (Most wickets taken):  

1. Sankar - 13
2. Pradeep - 7
3. Praveen - 6
4. KK - 4
5. Shrinivas Iyer - 4

Top 5 Bowlers in Pumas (Most wickets taken):

1. Ram - 8
2. Murali - 5
3. Subbu - 4
4. Umapathy - 4
5. JP - 3
6. Mani - 3

Sankar was the pick of the bowlers in this series. He bowled with great intelligence. Maintained the irritating pace that got on the nerves of Pumas' batsmen. Was tough to get away for runs. And in my opinion, he has been the single biggest revelation of this series. Turning into an all rounder! :) Invaluable asset to any team. And just to connect this to the purpose of this series, I think this defines "grabbing your opportunity". Very well done, Sankar! 

Overall

 

The series went off well. It went well above my expectations. If you went back a bit in time and saw this as a 5-match series during the months of October and November, you might have laughed it off. We had around 10 people turning up for nets and rains were lashing the city so hard that it was tough to even walk down any decent road. But now, two months down the line, we have come to a point from where we know clearly that there are two extremely talented and distinct teams. Some grabbed their opportunities, some are waiting for more. Nevertheless, the series has been a success. Wildcats Series is where Opportunity knocks again! And again!  

The success of this series will be measured by the progress shown by these teams in the months to come. And I am sure RnW will script a fantastic and successful 2012.

 

This post is written by Adi (with few modifications). 

Wild Cats Trophy - The Hunt Begins...

Before I begin with the news of Wild Cat Trophy, I feel that I should give a re-cap of this year season:


It has been an exciting year for Runs N Wickets. We started of this series with a positive note. RnW Jaguars reached semi finals in CSCA tournament whereas RnW Pumas won 5 consecutive matches in their tournament. This year was also witness to Anba, KK, Sankar, Pradyot and others flourishing nicely and getting better with their batting. Bowlers such as Bala, DD, Viji and Moraji also tuned their bowling skills picking up wickets in regular intervals. The most important feat was beating RnW Bangalore in home ground (Marina turf wicket). It was an awesome display of excellent bowling. Bala, Captain of RnW Jags, led from the front and ensured the rolling cup stayed with Chennai team. 

Wild Cats Trophy:

With the recap over, I am happy to announce that we are going to have the first set of matches for the 'Wild Cat Trophy'. There are a lot of new talent joined our team and this is an excellent opportunity to lead and show what they are made of. 


On personal front, I hope that I am able to make good score and finally get hold of my elusive '50' in this tournament and also keep better behind the wickets and add at least 5 wickets to my name. Runwees, go and ensure your availability for this Wild Cat Trophy because I feel this is going to be crazier than the last time :)


To register for the RnW Wild Cat Trophy, click here. 


Are you a cricket enthusiast who thinks that playing cricket is better than just watching? If so, sign up with us.

Runwees Calendar of Events

Tentative Guideline:

Winter (Sep through Jan): Wild cats trophy and nets sessions

Feb/Mar: Runwees Trophy ( Runwees Chennai Vs Bangalore series)

Feb/Mar: DWT ( Double Wicket tournament 1)

Summer (April through Aug) through: 30 over League Tournament

Jul/Aug: Runwees Trophy ( Runwees Chennai Vs Bangalore series) - Return match

Sep: DWT ( Double Wicket tournament 2)

Sunday is Funday at RnW

This is a fun place. This is a serious fun place!! This is a serious fun place for cricket enthusiasts!!!

It has been a place where we all have come-in as players and we started playing together more as friends. Each of us actually started celebrating others success and a strong desire to see others to score well and perform. We had our best days, worst days on field but we kept playing or practicing YoY without break on all Sundays for the last 3+ years. That was our interest levels.

We have a very open stance in all matters and strive to keep it nice and clean all times. Just three principles or point of consideration, if you want to call it, we have manitained so far:

1. Nets availability. Players who have maintained consistency for sessions.
2. Exclusivity to RnW. Players who play only with RnW.
3. Performance. We have a e-scorecard and a MVP (Most valuable player point system).

This will remain till it is proven ineffective ;)

Wish to have this fun continue....

Anba.

Latest Update from CSCA Tournament

Well, finally I got time to post this. Below is the scorecard from the latest CSCA tournament match. RNW Jags played against ICICI and won convincingly with a bonus point to boot! It was just a splendid performance all-round. Sankar played a brilliant knock of 54*(55) with a S/R of 98.18.

But the star of the match and MOM (Man Of the Match) was undoubtedly Praveen with 4/17 with one maiden over. Right now RNW Jags has 10 points from 3 games with 2 wins and 1 loss. Awesome performance!

With the recent win over RNW Bangalore, RNW Jags are hitting the strides nicely and hopefully I will be able to blog that RNW Jags won its first tournament cup in the coming weeks.

Below are the scorecards for your enjoyment!

ICIC Innings scorecard

RNW Jags Bowling scorecard

RNW Jags Innings scorecard

ICICI Bowling scorecard

Get Ready for a Wild Adventure - Wild Cats Trophy

After a good DW Tournament, I am happy to say we are starting off with an one-off match christened as 'WildCats Trophy'. This would be a series of intra-RnW matches which be held during the course of couple of months. Two teams has been formed - RnW Jaguar and RnW Puma. The first match is being held in Military Grounds, Pallavaram, Chennai, India (same as DW Tournament).

I shall update as soon as I know the match timings and playing 11.

If you are interested in playing cricket, interested to spend one day in a week to sweat in the hot sun to play in a good game of cricket with friends, join us. 

Double Wicket Tournament 2011

Yes, you heard it right! Double Wicket Tournament 2011 is here. This year its going to be more exciting as well. After much debate and discussions, the Double Wicket Tournament or DWT as we call it is finally here. The venue is Military Grounds, Chennai (near Airport).

Date: 3rd April 2011 | Venue: Military Grounds, Chennai

The tournament organizers are Pradeep and Sankar.

The tournament starts at 9 a.m. Earlier, the organizers had planned it at 6 a.m. but due to the fact that tomorrow is an all important game - India vs Sri Lanka in World Cup 2011 Finals, we all felt it might be difficult to come early after all-night partying (touchwood) :)

The current set of teams are as below:

Group A	Group B
Subbu / Rajesh	Sriram / Aditya
Bala / Karthi	Suraj / Moraji
Bhargav / Vikram	Anba / Praveen (last year Runner's up)
Sankar / Pradeep	Giri / Sujith
Sharath / Prabhu	Velu / Giddy

The team fixtures is as follows:

Match	Batting	Bowling	Wicket keeper
1	Subbu/Rajesh	Bala/Karthi	Prabhu
2	Sriram/Aditya	Suraj/Moraji	Prabhu
3	Bala/Karthi	Bhargav/Vikram	Prabhu
4	Suraj/Moraji	Anba/Praveen	Prabhu
5	Bhargav/Vikram	Sankar/Pradeep	Prabhu
6	Anba/Praveen	Giri/Sujith	Suraj
7	Sankar/Pradeep	Sharath/Prabhu	Suraj
8	Giri/Sujith	Velu/Giddy	Suraj
9	Sharath/Prabhu	Subbu/Rajesh	Suraj
10	Velu/Giddy	Sriram/Aditya	Suraj

The match rules are as same as last year with few minor modifications. I have a strong feeling that its going to be explosive! I just can't wait for Sunday to come.

Who do you think will be this year Champion of DWT? Drop in your comments.

Related articles

• Ashwin patiently waits in the wings (espncricinfo.com)
• Muralitharan's fairy tale ending (hindu.com)

RunsnWickets in Deccan Chronicle

Our interview with Vipasha Sinha, from Deccan Chronicle is out and here is the proof below :

This has come out in Coimbatore print edition, so its not available in online yet.

So happy :) .... All Thanks to her and KK for making this happen.

DWT - Double Wicket tournament - Oct2010

Theses are our T20-like tournament where a team consists of 2 players and they get to bat for 3 overs.

League Matches:

Group A:

BK/Sujith – 42

Anba/Praveen – 21

Prabhu/Praneeth – 15

Guna/Sankar - 10

Group B:

Moraji/Sri harsha – 35

Bala/Karthi – 30

Sankar/Pradeep – 29

Viji/Adi – 4

Semifinals
Praveen/Anba - 11 beat Morarji/ -6

BK/Sujith - 2 beat Bala/Karthi - 1

Finals
BK/Sujith - 42 beat Praveen/Anba - 33

CSCA League | 1st Match | Padi XI

Date: 17th October 2010

Venue: DB Jain College "A" Ground

Opposition: Padi XI

RnW Playing XI: KK, BK, Karthi, Adi, Anba, Guna (Wk and Captain), DD, Pradyot, Pradeep, Sankar and Praveen.

12th Man: Bala

13th Man: Prabu

Summary of the match:

Overheard a conversation between two batsmen of Padi XI in a mid-pitch conference between overs.

Batsman1: "Arre dekh ke khel re. Woh bahut spin kar raha hai. Bada bowler lagta hai. Dekh ke khel". Watch out for this bowler and bat carefully. He is spinning it a lot. Looks like a stud bowler. Be careful.

Batsman2: "Theek hai re". Ok.

The person who overheard this and the bowler they are talking about are one and the same. But its okay, let us give it to the man for performing like a professional leg-spinner. Pradeep was adjudged Man of the Match too. He took 4 for 22 from his 4 overs and mopped up the tail while his left-arm counterpart, Praveen, contributed with 2 wickets too. Before them, was an inspired spell by DD and KK who took 4 wickets between them to leave the batting order open for the clean up procedure. It was a clinical performance by RnW. No scares, no goof-ups, no pressure, no tension - Just a simple application of the basics of cricket.

What did you miss? The ones who weren't at the ground.

1. Karthi's ability to focus. He even threw his cap off while chasing a ball because he was concentrating on stopping the ball from going to the boundary.
2. DD's uninterrupted 6-over spell. (I forget the figures. Request Pradyot/ Sankar to update the group)
3. KK's ability to spot hidden talent in the adjoining ground! :) There were some 4 or 5 players who were hardly taller than the bat or the stumps they were playing with in the adjoining ground. It was a great sight to see those kids play with so much enthusiasm and desire.
4. Anba's catch in the slips. The ball was dying on him. He put his finger below the ball just in time to take the catch. Professional looking slip catch it was.
5. Karthi's football-inspired act. Karthi (long-off) and Bala (long-on, substituting for DD) went for a skier and I don't think they called for it. In the end Karthi got a hand to the ball but then what followed was a deadly collision and both of them went down. In the process, the ball almost went to the boundary. Bala recovered and picked up the ball to throw it back into play. Karthi was still lying down rolling over, apparently, in pain. On subsequent interrogation it was found that Bala's ribs were hurting while Karthi appeared fine. So the rolling over and all that was probably in the hope of getting Bala a red card we all guessed.
6. Sankar got a wicket - clean bowled. Okay okay now, let's not conclude on our opponent's batting ability by just this one wicket. Even Pradeep got 4. All numbers 6,7,8 and 10.
7. Karthi's flick to short square leg for a quick single. He was promoted to #3. He was focusing so much that he just stared into the nothingness beyond when the umpire said, "Batsman, three balls to go. Right arm over the wicket". Karthi was in that zone.
8. The MoM treat at Ascendas Food court. Karthi ordered 14-idly-sambhar. When it was ready I carried it to the table we were all sitting on and announced, "14-idly-sambhar" around 5 times. Asked around as to who had ordered for this. Nobody owned up. After a while, Karthi reacted, "Oh yeah I ordered". He was still in that zone.

If anybody thinks I have missed something, please feel free to add on! :) Overall, so much fun and clinical precision is rarely found together. I enjoyed this Sunday morning again! Thanks RnW!

Love,

Adi.

Goodwill series 2010, Match 2

Goodwill series 2010		Venue:	Seva Sadan A ground
Match 2		Date:	5th Sep 2010
		Result:	RnW won by 8 wickets
FCC
Batsman		Runs	Balls	4's	6's	S/R
Guna	b KK	33	34	2	1	97.06
BK	c DD b Balaji	6	16	0	0	37.50
Hari	Retired	31	34	2	0	91.18
Koushik	st Prabhu b Praveen	40	29	4	1	137.93
Ashwin	Not Out	2	6	0	0	33.33
Virein	Run Out	1	1	0	0	100.00
Raghu	Run Out	1	1	0	0	100.00
Extras		23
Total	( in 20 ovs)	137
RnW Bowling
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts
Bala	4	0	11	1
Pradeep	3	0	19	0
Moraji	2	0	22	0
DD	2	0	10	0
Praveen	3	0	22	1
KK	4	0	28	1
RV	2	0	23	0
RnW Innings
Batsman		Runs	Balls	4's	6's	S/R
KK	Not Out	60	46	7	2	130.43
Adi	c WK b Rajesh	13	32	1	0	40.63
Pradeep	lbw Rajesh	0	1	0	0	0.00
DD	Not Out	33	26	2	2	126.92
Extras		32
Total	(in 20 ovs)	138
FCC Bowling
Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wkts
Tarang	3	0	22	0
Virein	4	0	25	0
AB	4	0	27	0
Raghu	1	0	13	0
Rajesh	3	0	23	2
Ashwin	2	0	27	0