North Stun South in massive upset !

Saturday July 25th saw the second game in the annual N v S series and it was clear from the outset that the North camp were in determined mood to avenge last years defeat by the South.

On arrival at the Thames Valley University ground, both teams were relieved that the bad weather of recent days had abated and a lovely summer's day was developing. However, after an early morning pitch inspection, Umpire Vish Patel in conjunction with Captains Jignesh Patel , Herbie Jassi and Kal Singh decided that the match should be delayed by approx 15 minutes.

The delay allowed the teams to take in some extra net practice, although certain members of the south opted out and decided the only shots they wanted to make were of the Bacardi or whisky variety......

At just after 11.45 am in now glorious sunshine, the skippers strode on to the pitch with Umpire Patel and the North were delighted to hear that Kal had won the toss and understandably, given the dampness in the wicket, asked the opposition to bat first.

South Team

A huddle from each team followed and shortly afterwards, the North were led out by joint skippers Herbie and Kal and looked very much up for the task. Deepak Kashyap took the new ball as openers Bill Sidhu and Avtar Banse, who had both done a fine job last year, walked out to the applause of their team mates on the boundary edge.

The innings started in extraordinary fashion, with Bill Sidhu, almost Virender Sehwag like, smashing three superb boundaries in only the first 4 balls..the North captains quickly decided that Deepak needed some reassurance and the pep talk did the trick immediately, with the bowler gaining sweet revenge by clean bowling the South's wicketkeeper. Deepak and the North team were ecstatic and the South were 12-1 after the first over.

In a surprise move, Kushal Babla walked in at No 3 instead of the expected Min Duhra to join Taari. After the conclusion of Deepak's over, Amar Marwa opened up at the Perrivale Road end and whilst the " Edgbaston express " may have lost a yard or two over the past year , he settled into a nice rhythm bowling a nagging line and length which left both batsman with little opportunity to break free.

The shackles were well and truly on, and despite Kushal hitting a lovely, but isolated boundary, it was clear that the pressure that the North were building was taking effect. The build up of pressure made off when Taari and Kushal attempted a suicidal run and the North gleefully had the bails off in a flash leaving Kush out for 9.

Having dropped down to 4, Min strode to the crease with a confidence of someone who had retired not out last year, and together with Taari, they set about building a firm foundation to the South's innings. Where Taari was solid but circumspect, Min was attacking and aggression personified, hitting several early boundaries. There was one major scare though when Min attempted to smack a wide delivery by Gurj Johal and even though the shot was hit with venom, it wasn't timed perfectly thus presenting Amar with a difficult opportunity. Amar made a great effort to grasp the ball but the power of the shot was too much and it popped out. Worse was to follow for the fielder as blood poured out from a wound that had opened up as a result of the ball hitting the webbing of his right hand.....the damage was so severe that Amar was quickly taken to the local hospital for treatment. The injury was to rule him out for any further action in the game.

Despite the scare for Min, the South' s innings was now in full flow and The North realised they had to break this partnership and soon and they got just what they wanted when following another mix up between the batsman, Taari was run out for 11.

Min, now joined by Arsh , continued to keep the scoreboard ticking but wickets were now falling in regular intervals, with Arsh being well caught by Herbie off young Josh Nunwa, who was in the middle of a terrific spell of pace bowling .

South skipper J came out in determined mood, and looked very solid early on with some Dravid-esque forward defensives and together with Min, they attempted to put on a much needed partnership , however the now super confident Josh broke through for the North again bowling the East Londonder with a marvellous delivery.

Despite the high level of extra's being bowled, the North were on a crest of a wave , smelling wickets in the air, and sure enough they continued to tumble, with Vikram Gulati, also cleaned up superbly by the boy who now resides in Barbados. The wickets were helping the North as their over rate was appalling at this stage !

While all this was going on, Min at the other end had reached the 30 mark with relative ease and got a deserved ovation by his team mates when walking off.

This however only inspired the North to greater things, with Raj Popat caught easily by Surjiv Singh in the covers and Haps Nirwal, clearly hampered by a foot injury, superbly run out by a combination of Harminder Sagoo and Serg again, who aligned with some hostile left arm bowling was on fire for the North .

The underdogs were now going for the kill.sensing that they could finish off the South's innings well before the maximum allocation of 35 overs, with the score now 145-8 in the 25th..only Sunny Singh was looking in some degree of comfort at the crease as the wickets tumbling all around him but even he succumbed, again to Josh, with Davinder Singh making the catch look easy at Gully !

The end was nigh..Sandeep Bajaria was quickly bowled by joint Skipper Herbie and when Min returned to join Rikz, it wasn't a case of how many the South would get but whether they could bat out their full 35 over quota.

Min had clearly decided that attack was the only way and came down the wicket to Herbie only to spoon the ball into the air and the Yorkshireman took the catch nonchantlly.

The South had been bowled out for 159 in just the 28th over - it was a wonderful team effort by the North with almost every member chipping in one way or another. They walked off the field knowing that that had given themselves a great opportunity to win the match. Josh had taken the honours as leading wicket taker and Min had top scored with 33 for a South team who had committed the cardinal sin of limited over cricket ; not batting the full overs.

Lunch followed to the relief of most of the players who had been out there for a full 3 hours or so. Good old "Rita " had done a great job again, judging by the silence as the players munched through their food.

North Team

Just prior to the North innings, both teams reassembled their respective huddles, looking for one last effort in order to achieve that much wanted victory.

Captain Kal and Wicket Keeper Mick Nunwa, who had quietly done a good job behind the stumps, were the openers for the North and it was clear the game plan was to see off the new ball and not to lose early wickets. Runs didn't flow but the two wily old campaigners knew that if the North batted out their 35 overs, victory would surely be theirs what with the target only being a modest 4.57 runs per over. There was also drama early on as Kal survived a run out appeal which looked very close indeed...umpires Bob Singh and Vish Patel deciding to give the benefit of the doubt to the North Skipper.

The luck seemed to even out soon after however when Mick was adjudged caught behind off the bowling of Jignesh Patel for 11 but by all accounts, it was harsh as the bat appeared to hit the ground rather than the ball, nonetheless the South were delighted at the much needed breakthrough.

Surjiv Singh came in at No 3 after impressing in the nets but had little chance to show his class when, J had him lbw for a duck. Once again there was an element of controversy as the batsman seemed to indicate that the ball had hit bat first but the score was now 35-2 and the North were in a spot of bother as the south sensed they were in with a chance of ripping through the top order of their rivals.

Davinder joined Kal as the North attempted to get themselves out of trouble. Whilst Kal had decided to play the anchor role, the youngster began to settle in after a shaky start and got his score to double figures before attempting to hit a short one off Rikz out the ground only to be caught.

Father replaced son as big hitting Harminder Sagoo walked in but he was quickly on his way back as Sunny Singh got him with a brute of a delivery that lifted from just short of a length presenting Kushal with a comfortable catch at Gully. The South were in the middle of a purple spell and with the North now 52-4 sensed that this game was now in the balance .

The two North skippers were now together at the wicket and they knew they had a lot of work ahead of them with the target still over 100 runs away. Kal continued to play thoughtfully taking singles when they were available, while Herbie decided to take the aggressors role, hitting a lovely 6 followed by a couple of sumptuous boundaries.

Just as the South needed to keep the pressure on, they were beginning to haemorrhage extra's with wides and no balls being bowled on a regular basis in virtually every over. Herbie was now opening up and the runs were flowing far too quickly for the South's liking.

Skipper J sensed he had to bring his big guns back and so Min, Sunny and himself all returned for second spells as the South desperately searched for the vital breakthrough...they were however let down as a series of catches were dropped, none of which could be classed as easy but with such a low score in the bank, the South knew these opportunities had to be taken if they were going to win.

As the chances came and went, the South's body language visibly changed and they realised that the game was slipping away. Although Kal was now aided by a runner ( Serg ) due to a hamstring strain, he still continued his marathon stint innings realising he could take the team home. At the other end, Herbie reached the magic 30 and between them, the pair knew when the Yorkshireman walked off that they had virtually guaranteed the win for the North as Deepak took Herbie's place.

The happy hammer began somewhat recklessly, playing and missing on several occasions but after words from Kal, he settled in hitting some lovely shots to the fence. The North players were now sure victory was about to be theirs and the inevitable happened when after a succession of wides and no balls from the South part time bowlers, the winning runs were scored with over 7 overs to spare and 7 wickets to hand.

The entire North team, including the heavily bandaged Amar, stormed onto the field hugging Deepak and Kal as the revenge win they so badly wanted had been achieved in remarkably easy fashion at 160-4 . The South warmly congratulated their opponents realising that they had been outplayed in all facets of the game.

The celebrations of the North team would continue long through the night, no one was going to take this famous win away from them..it was now 1 v 1 and 2010 was now superbly set up as the ultimate decider.

Gurj Johal