FCC vs Hsinchu Titans 2 practice matches on 16th October, 2021

Morning game:

Titans won the toss and put FCC to bat first as the ground was had very thick grass, damp outfield from rain throughout the week and some cloudy conditions with a little bit of drizzle in the air. FCC opening batters Arun & Anthony started watchfully as the Titans bowlers were bowling great line and length with the conditions assisting seam bowling. They gave a good start considering the conditions and ended the powerplay with 31 for no loss and mainly aided by extras. FCC lost both openers in span of 4 balls and Omesh & Nitish started to consolidate the innings with some quick running between the wickets as nothing was going to boundary with very thick grass through infield and outfield. Nitish had to retire hurt due to dehydration after a partnership of 42 runs in 35 balls. Omesh fell next over trying a non existent single. Rahul played a quick cameo taking 17 runs off the 15th over but departed soon. Nitish joined back and was able to finish strongly to take the total to 129 at the end of 20 overs. Nitish stayed unbeaten and scored his second consecutive 50 not out in as many games. FCC felt they were 10-15 runs ahead of the par score considering the ground conditions.

Pintu & Vikram started well with the ball and bowled through the first five overs picking up one wicket each and only going for 15 runs combined. This was the best start FCC had gotten with the ball in a while. Arun & Rahul bowled through over number 9 and score was 45/3 with the wicket to Arun’s name. Joseph came on to bowl his off spinner next and was unplayable with the batsman having no clue how to play his variations on pace, length and extra bounce he generates with his height. He picked a wicket each in his first two overs and Stephen had a caught and bowled. Score was 53/6 in 12 overs.Titans batsman Biplap then hit a few out the part to make it interesting as he was able to adjust nicely to the slow bowlers. Captain Pintu brought back the pace bowlers to break the threatening looking partnership. Vikram got the dangerous looking Biplap caught at long on with an off pace delivery. Titans never really got close to the asking rate throughout the innings and FCC won by 29 runs.

Batting standouts: Nitish 51*(37), Omesh 19 (18), Rahul 17 (9), Arun 17 (23)

Bowling standouts: Vikram: 4-12-2, Joseph: 4-15-2, Pintu: 4-15-1

Afternoon game:

Titans captain requested to bat first and FCC captain accepted the request even though FCC would have to field 40 overs straight across both games to test his team’s fitness. Arun got the new ball and picked up wicket first ball thanks to an amazing one handed diving catch from wicket keeper Srini. Vikram shared the new ball but could only ball one over before leaving the field due to a minor niggle. Pintu replaced Vikram and continued from where he left off in first game. Arun bowled an amazing opening spell finishing his four overs picking up three wickets and was also on a hattrick. At the end of 7 overs Titans were 20/3 which was a great bowling performance by FCC. Pintu rotated his bowlers for next 6 overs in search of wickets but none came. At end of 13 overs Titans were 76/3. Then came a mini collapse where Titans lost 6 wickets in 17 balls for 24 runs which was possible due to some great bowling by Joseph & Pintu. Titans were all out for 114 in 19.1 overs. FCC thought Titans were about 10 runs short due to the field drying up a little. One person who deserves a special mention is the wicket keeper Srini who had 6 dismissals to his name (3 stumpings & 3 catches).

Arun & Omesh opened the batting for FCC but Arun departed in first over without troubling the scorers. Pintu came one down and had a good partnership with Omesh till Omesh fell in sixth over. Srini joined Pintu at crease but he couldn’t last long. FCC were 45/3 in eight overs. Rahul came to crease next and stayed till the end seeing his team through. He tried to hit every ball out the park and was able to connect a few but missed quiet a few. FCC achieved the target in 19.1 overs with 3 wickets in hand.

Batting standouts: Rahul 34*(35), Pintu 30(36), Nitish 9()

Bowling standouts: Arun: 4-11-3, Joseph: 4-17-3, Pintu: 3.1-12-2

Lunch was provided by Flavor of India. Thanks to all of our FCC sponsors for supporting us!