The Cricket Match

On 4^th of April 2011 I moved to the school hostel. Reason everyone knows. Transfer of my father to Kolkata. Since I was in class 10^th, it was better for me to go to hostel than to change school for my own career benefits, since I studied in the very same school for last 4 years. It was not difficult for me to adjust in the hostel surrounding. Apart from that I joined the hostel in class 10 which was recognized as the senior most class of the dormitory, despite our school being a senior secondary school. The reason is simple. The strength of senior secondary was half of class 10. As a result we were superior of them and had no fear of them. Hence, I had no reason to worry about.

In the 4^th week of April the school and former students committee decided to organize a cricket tournament. This decision was very well received by both students and teachers. This was necessary because a tournament cannot be successful without proper co-operation of participants. Hence it was decided that a cricket tournament will be held in the first week of May. The format of the tournament was not yet decided, but the number of teams was announced. There were a total of four teams consisting of squad of 12 players. The four teams were The Staff, The Day Scholars, The Boarders and The Former Students, although the teams of Day Scholars and Boarders represented the whole of day scholars and boarders of the school respectively. However, in reality the teams consisted mostly of class 10 students and some class 9 and class 12 students. The reason is known to all.

Since there was only a week left for the tournament. The warm up preparation started in a full throttle. The Boarder team was obviously practicing more than any other teams of the tournament. The reason they had the access of grounds for most of the part of the day. Day Scholars had access of grounds only for a limited period of time. As a result by the time tournament came closer the Boarder team was fully prepared. They had their batting and bowling line-up ready. Due, to a proper practice players were in full form. Hence, the team became one of the favorites of winning the tournament. However, there was one more reason of such preparation other than winning the tournament. The reason was the encounter against the staff team. Most of the members of the Boarder team, at some point of time faced hammer of their teachers at class. So, it was a perfect time for them to pay back their teachers with interest and that too without any problem. So the bowlers prepared their bouncers and the batsmen prepared their shots. Apart from the batsmen and bowlers I too got a duty without being in squad. My duty was to do commentary in the tournament. Although not perfect, but I was good in English commentary, at least better than my class mates. Hence, now everyone was eagerly waiting for the tournament to begin.

            On the eve of the tournament we came to know about the format of the tournament. The format of the tournament was quite simple. A total of three games of 12 overs were to be played. On Saturday evening first match was to be played between staff and the former students. The winner goes into the final whereas the loser is knocked out of the tournament. Second match was to be played between the boarders and the day scholars in early Sunday morning, whereas the final was scheduled to take place in the second half of the very same day. Hence, the tournament was a small one finishing in a couple of days’ time. The student teams were quite disappointed when they heard that they won’t be playing against the teachers. However, the good thing was that the student teams now had only one target in their mind which was winning the tournament.

The first two games of the tournament were quite one sided and the teams of former students and boarders very easily made into the finals. The game between the staff and the former students was quite a smooth affair as it was played in gentleman’s spirit. However the game between the boarders and day scholars had enough of sledging and heated arguments. This made me feel that I have reached Australia, as Australia is famous for sledging in the cricket field.

Now we came to the final of the tournament. We didn’t witness enough crowds in the first two games. One of the reason was that we had weekly test on the coming Monday. So the students were preparing for it. However, since the boarders made into the final whole lot of boarders came in to support their team in the final. This was the first time when I felt nervous while doing commentary. Earlier there was no such crowd before me. Hence, it was quite easy, but now it was big final with a good amount of crowd. Hence, along with the players I too felt the nerve.

In the finals we lost the toss and we were called to field first. In the beginning of the match we were pretty confident of our strong bowling attack and we had a belief that we can restrict our opponent to a modest total. However that belief very soon eroded when our star bowler got smashed for 16 runs in the very first over. Runs came easily from both the sides and by the time 12 overs were bowled the team total was 144 for 2. Our star bowler Sharik Ahmad despite getting 16 runs in the first over was able to chip a couple of wickets in the death overs of the innings.

Now the Boarders have to chase down 145 runs in 12 overs with a run rate of nearly 12 runs per over to win the tournament. The openers gave a good start and they added 80 runs in the first 7 overs of the match. However in the next couple of overs we lost 3 wickets for just 18 runs with both the openers back into the pavilion. As a result the cheerful crowd became silent. Forget about crowd even I became silent while doing commentary, but realizing that I had a job to do. I started my commentary.   However the game again turned when 30 runs came in the next 2 overs. The crowd again started cheering for their side. The game reached to the final over with boarders needing 17 runs of the last over to win the trophy, although the task was difficult, but not impossible. Everyone knows that anything is possible in the game of cricket. The game is not finished until the last ball is bowled. Both the batsmen batted very well and scored 16 runs of the next 5 balls. As a result the score was tied and the boarders needed just one run to win of the last ball. With joy I announced on the mike that scores are level and the boarders need just one run to win the match. However, immediately news came from the staff side that there is a mistake in the scoreboard. According to the scorecard boarders needed 2 runs of the last ball to win the match. However in the final ball of the match the batsman got caught in the boundary and the team of former students was declared winners. The whole of ground went into pin drop silence, but the real drama began just after the game was finished. The team of boarders was satisfied that the scores were level and there is a fault on the part of staff in calculating runs. As a result the staffs were instructed by the principal to recalculate score. On recalculation it was found that the boarders were right and the match was tied. I was called to announce the fresh result. I felt an immense joy while announcing that the match was tied. On hearing this crowd got delighted and we heard clapping from all part of the ground. The teams of both boarders and the former students deserved applause for their performance.

However, the question which arose now was that how to decide the winner of the contest. A proposal of super over came from the side of the former students and staff, but the students turned it down and agreed for being declared joint winners with the former students. The reason was that it was getting dark and it would have become difficult for them to play. Apart from that the boarder team was tired as they played both their games on the very same day. 

At the end I announced on mike that both boarders and former students are declared joint winners. This was also appreciated by the crowd and we again had a good round of applause. My announcement was followed by prize distribution which was next followed by principal’s speech in which he praised everyone for successful tournament. After that we had national anthem.

After national anthem was sung, students left for their evening preps, whereas the players, umpires, scorekeepers, staff and principal left for a special tea being organized in the dining hall. I also headed for the evening prep, before I was called by my class mate that I also have to go to attend the special tea. On hearing this I changed my direction and headed towards the dining hall. While having tea principal appreciated me for my good commentary. I felt highly obliged and promised to deliver better next time. Scope of improvement is always there in whatever you do.

After the tea was over I left along with my class mates for the dormitory. While we were heading upstairs everyone were still discussing the game. However, I changed their topic by raising the issue of Hindi weekly test which was scheduled the very next day. Due, to cricket match everyone forgot about the weekly test. On realizing that they have a test tomorrow everyone ran to dormitory. On seeing this I laughed a bit and then walked back slowly to my dormitory. The cricket match was over and we had a new test waiting for us.

                                                                                THE END