On the first day of the green winter* sport season CamKerala beat Burrows Green (from Newmarket) by 18 runs thanks to good performances by Austin, Vincent, Shinto, Jijo and a two wickets off two balls burst by Manuel. The game played at the Hills Road Sports Centre cricket pitch off Sedley Taylor Road, had a good pavilion but a slow pitch with small square boundaries and a heavy outfield.
Vincent won the toss and elected to bat. In the third over Vibin tried an uppish on drive which refused to spill out of short midwicket's hands. Girish and Austin played the next 7-8 overs carefully seeing off a good offspinner. At the first bowling change, Girish tried an expansive drive and was bowled by a slower ball. this led to a minor collapse with Austin and Manuel following Girish back to the pavilion. Vincent steadied the ship on one side, while Anil dispatched his first two balls for six over the midwicket area, one of the balls went on the railway tracks and a new ball had to be used. Anil perished in his cavalier way and then a good partnership between Vincent and Shinto rescued Camkerala. Govind in his debut match of proper cricket, as against the rubber ball cricket that he played before, managed 11 runs and the rest of the team folded quietly on 135 in 35 overs.
A good batting partnership by the opening pair of Burrows Green had CamKerala worried as they reached 55 runs without any loss. At this point Shinto held a well judged catch off Austin and the first breakthrough was achieved. Then Manuel in his first over bowled two batsmen off consecutive balls and was unlucky to miss a hat trick. Jijo then held an excellent catch on the square leg boundary and another at point which allowed Austin to get a 5 wicket haul. Vincent then bowled well to get the tail end wickets. There was some panic towards the end as the scores got close but when Vincent bowled the last man there was relief all around. Joshy laboured hard on the field and Matthews was unlucky not get any wickets in his six overs.
Overall, it was an auspicious start to the season. To look at the positives, Austin and Vincent bowled good lengths which resulted in wickets. Shinto and Jijo held good catches which turned the game. But the old frailty of not batting the entire 40 overs seems to persist and this is a cause for concern. Nonetheless a win is a win.
*Green Winter - An African writer explaining the weather in North Europe stated that there were two seasons here. White winter and green winter. He said he preferred the white winter because they'd put on the heaters. This writer turned up for this game wearing thermals.
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