Jon and Sohan start the day for OCCE

A hat-trick by Sohan Akolkar and a firm knock by Kamal Thangarasa embodied the domination of OCCE over MCC on a perfect day for cricket in a 35-a-side social game at the scenic John Deere Field, Gresham, Oregon. The margin of victory says it all: 90 runs, which is five more than the hosts’ total.

Winning the toss and electing to bat first, OCCE started steady, until Bert Swanepoel, bowling his full quota of seven overs in a single spell, ripped through the top order with deadly accuracy in line, length and angle, using the wind to swing the cherry at will. Of his three wickets, two were clean-bowled and one was trapped in front. He finished with figures of 7-0-3-23.

Bert’s mayhem ushered in the in-form captain of Oregon Cricket Club Eugene, Kamal Thangarasa, who began to anchor the innings at one end while losing partners at the other. The delectable drives, solid blocks and clean, powerful hits that usually make up his innings were all present today. Late cameos by Nirmal Raj, Matt Smith and Gentle Anderson kept OCCE afloat until the 34th over and helped their side put a defendable tally on the board. MCC’s wayward bowling (with the exception of Bert* and Vann Melick) rendered Extras the highest run-getter for their opponents, gifting them 93 bonus runs. The side, it may be remembered, lost by 90 runs.

In MCC’s reply, opener Ephrim Bruno provided the impetus in typical blazing fashion, but the rest of the line-up failed to catch on to it. Gentle and Madhu bowled an impeccable line to strip out the upper middle-order, before Kamal brought on himself and removed the dangerous Ephrim with an off-stump yorker off his first delivery. The decline was accelerated by Sohan’s neat medium pace, bagging him four scalps. A sharp return catch was followed later by a hat-trick: Sanjoy first lobbed a full-toss to Madhu at short cover, while the second to go was Cam Thomas who drove uppishly to point, where Gentle made no mistake. George Mukalel departed the next ball off a peach of a delivery. When the bails flew, OCCE celebrated as though they had won the match already. Harsha Gangadharbatla and Mohammad Abbasi then came on to pick up useful wickets to mop up the tail. Throughout the MCC’s innings, the visitors maintained tight fielding, and tighter bowling.

MCC captain Chris Jones provided good resistance with some fine batting, as did Vann in the closing stages. However, it was a case of too little, too late, as OCCE wrapped up the proceedings in the 18th over.

Pictures: open

- Nirmal Raj

Gentle,Kamal,Madhu,Harsha,Ali,Brandon enjoying the days cricket

Kamal Bowling

On March 13th, Oregon Cricket Club Eugene started the 2010 season hosting our friends Multnomah Cricket Club from Portland in a social match under lights. The NeXturf Field on the university’s campus provided an excellent venue for good cricket, great food and lots of fun. While the weather was brisk, the pitch was dry and played true. It turned out to be an excellent night for 20/20 cricket, despite the typical weather of the season.

OCCE won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Sohan Akolkar and Mike Partridge faced real movement from MCC’s opening attack. MCC spearhead Ephrim Bruno put Mike under particular pressure with impressive inswing bowling. After some early scratchiness, Mike was able to blast two boundaries before he scooped a lofted delivery from Daniel Mundra immediately after the sledging began. MCC’s Brett Windsor noted with alacrity that as soon as the sledging started, wickets fell. It was a hard lesson in the even harder school of being opening batsman.

As the innings wore on, OCCE found the groove and the boundaries began to flow more freely. Wicketkeeper batsman Jim Cleavenger and Captain Kamal Thangarasa came into the innings for OCCE with a big-hitting reputation and proceeded to build on it. Boundaries became routine for this partnership and the enthusiasm and class that these two brought to the match was tremendous. Nirmal Raj, John Bellona, Titu Datta, Gentle Anderson and Brandon Lee rounded-out the batting for OCCE to build an impressive 20-over total to 202.

The innings break provided a great opportunity to have a proper cricket tea which included scones and cucumber sandwiches, provided by OCCE’s own cricket mum, Andrea Voorhees. It was a delight to have such good food and company to start our 2010 cricket season. Please have a look at the slideshow posted on our Pictures tab here.

MCC began their run-chase facing the heat of OCCE’s own Skipper Kamal and new pace recruit, Gentle Anderson. This duo provided some of the most electrifying fast bowling seen in Oregon: it was an awesome sight. As Australian pace bowler Mitchell Johnson recently said “I wouldn’t want to face us” – we in Eugene know what he means! We are very proud of our bowling unit and they lived up to their billing in outstanding fashion. OCCE’s line and length master Nirmal Raj bagged four wickets and claimed it was the greatest day he has had since living in the United States. OCCE’s tight fielding, incredible catches and top-drawer teamwork put MCC under pressure from the very start. While Ephrim Bruno, Subappa Sharma, Nish Parikh and Brett Windsor did their buccaneering best to hammer-out the runs, in the end they managed a final total of 174. Oregon Cricket Club Eugene was supremely stoked to have won its first match of the season, but even more delighted to see our good friends and make some new cricket buddies in Multnomah Cricket Club. MCC’s emphasis on fun, inclusion and great cricket has been a stellar example to us here in Eugene. OCCE will travel to Gresham tomorrow, April 17th, to face MCC at John Deere Field in our first away game of the season. In a 35-over match Oregon Cricket Club Eugene is preparing to blood new players and extend our unbeaten 2010 record. We look forward to reporting yet another success on the pitch for cricket in Oregon.