Columbus, OH - 84 deg. Hot and very humid. The ground looked like a scene from the Sound of Music with hills and valleys all over the place - in fact if you stood at deep cover it is impossible to see the person standing at square or mid wicket - trechorous conditions indeed.

Right from the get go, we knew it was gonna be a good day: we were all there ON TIME (not the Indian standard version either!). Under the new leadership of "Angry Young Man" Dr. Lokesh, the well rested and newly revived Cleveland 2 was hungry for a win. After missing last season's playoffs by a mere 0.05 in net run rate, we had a lot of ground to make up.

Lokesh won the toss (another good omen) and elected to bat. After a solid warm up drill and a few gallons of sweat and oral liquids the game finally started. Rajan and Azhar opened on the bouncy, zippy track at Nationwide. After a few watchful deliveries, Rajan just could not resist being Rajan and went after a few of the pacers early, connecting on a massive one-way flight over midwicket. Azhar on the other end was technically sound as ever, nudging and placing the ball in the gaps for runs. Rajan (10) was the first to go after a mis-timed shot looped for an easy catch at square. Azhar (6) followed soon falling victim to a leg before dismissal. 20 odd runs for 2 wickets and early in the season - pressure was on Cleveland 2. Nikunj and Shiva were at the crease. From the start of his innings, Nikunj batted with extreme confidence. He was middling the ball on every shot, leaving the tougher deliveries, placing the ball in the gaps and continued to frustrate the bowlers. Shiva on the other end was quiet initially - but we all know that "shanti" wont last too long. The medium pacers and spinners were in the game and it was inevitable - few grand hits over square / deep mid and the scoreboard was really moving. Nikunj showed his classy off side technique with a couple of glorious boundries over point and though covers. After an inning stabilizing 60+ run partnership - Nikunj (36) mistimed a loopy full toss to deep mid where the fielder took a well judged catch. Sai was in next and picked up exactly where nikunj left off - steering the ball in all the gaps to keep the board ticking away. Shiva (41) was next to go after playing his first solid shot on the off - a slash over cover caught extremely well on the ropes. Sai on the other hand was playing a marvelous innings - very balanced mix of nudges, drives intermixed with massive hits over deep square and long on. The angry young man and hiren departed soon after with very similar ends - mistimed straight drives caught at mid off/on. Sai (42) was out to a well taken catch. Sameer (9) and Romy (11) contributed some valuable runs - both showing off power with boundries down the field and to square. Sameer (unluckY!) was run out after a direct hit by the bowler when his solidly struck straight drive jus STOPPED in the thick grass 8-10 ft from the stumps. Naveed (6) and Sundeep (7) also added to the scorecard and showed some excellent running between the wickets. CCC2 was finally all out on the last delivery for 207 - a solid total but certainly attainable on the short ground for the home team.

After a prolonged lunch break and a few subs later - the rehydrated CCC2 took the field. Sundeep and Sameer opened the attack and bowled a terrific opening spell. The batsmen were unable to catch up to the deliveries - frozen by pace and swing. The deliveries zipped past the bat and the stumps but unluckily could not find the edge or the stumps!! Unbelievable - it couldn't have been any closer!! Regardless the pressure was on NCC as runs were near impossible. Suresh (11) was first to fall after a superb throw form Sameer in mid wicket and a lighting quick collect and rip by nikunj found the runner short by a few feet. Finally, A WICKET! next in Srikanth - we all have seen the famous Krishnamachari Srikkanth and his "unique" batting stance - well there must be something with that name because NCC's Srikanth had one of the most unique batting styles - he would set up as a regular stance then as the bowler would approach he wuld get almost into a crouch and get his backlift way up as if ready to pull at every delievery. True to form, he did! Lokesh, Hiren, Azhar all fell victim to the "crouching tiger, hidden slugger" as he lofted huge hits right over mid wicket and deep square. A few were just out of the fieldman's reach. He quickly racked up 35 runs and the match seemed to be turning in NCC's favor. With no answer to the attack, the captain came through - with a change of pace and length he got the batsman to sky one to deep mid which was safely caught by Shiva - a huge breakthrough for CCC2. After his wicket, the next few batsmen fell fairly quickly. Naveed ripped throught the stumps and froze one on the crease with his slinging pace. Hiren bowled very well in his second spell and took two wickets including a superb rocket c&b. Meanwhile, NCC's Irfan was slowly nudging along and started to really pick up his run scoring pace - amassing 40 runs without even a glich - cleveland needed another breakthrough and once again the "angry young man" came through- irfan sliced an off drive to deep point where Sai judged an excellent catch. NCC innings soon came to an end as they finished off for 166/7 in 35 overs. Lokesh was the top wicket taker at 3/38. Sameer and Sundeep (despite lack of wickets) were extremely economical and really applied the breaks on NCC when needed.

Sai was adjudged the Man of the Match for his all around performace. Overall, a convincing win and a solid start to the midwest tournament for Cleveland 2.