A hastily arranged game at the end of Spring Break brought Brown University
to Andrus Field. Beaten by 95 runs in their last encounter in Boston, Wesleyan
certainly had a score to settle. Brown arrived on time on this occasion but
were reluctant to play 35 overs a side. They also had concerns with the length
of the pitch (it was too short, in their opinion) and in the end, Wesleyan
compromised on both accounts and a 30 overs a side game was scheduled. But a
sudden cloud cover forced yet another reduction, to 25 overs a side (what
Brown wanted in the first place). Skipper Ram won the toss and elected to bat
first.
Playing on a new surface on Andrus Field (the original track was still damp)
provided the Wesleyan bowlers with some assistance. This being the first game
of the 2000 season, there was bound to be some nerves. Swarna's first over was
wayward with 8 runs coming off it. Sanjai had a more accurate start at the other
end. But Swarna drew first blood in the 3rd over and Sanjai followed up with a
wicket in the next over, reducing Brown to 18/2 after 4 overs.
After that, the Brown batsmen comfortably took their team past 100, inside 15
overs, for the loss of 3 wickets. Frequent bowling changes were being made
and Jugjeev made a double strike, catching Ram (38 off 41) off Michael's
bowling and then dismissing Prabath (25 off 29) in the next over. Before that
Arnab had picked up the wicket of Amit (19 off 26).
With 5 wickets down, Swarna returned and initiated a collapse. While Jugjeev
kept one end tight, Swarna took 3 quick wickets to finish with 4/22 and also
effected a run out off a brilliant pick up by Vikram. Sanjai ended the Brown
innings at 147, inside 22 overs to finish with 2/22.
Playing his first game for the Wesleyan Cricket Club, Ashwin opened the
innings with Dominik but fell in the 4th over. Dominik and Michael safe-
guarded the innings from an early collapse until Dominik fell in the 10th
over for a cautious 6 off 26 balls. Michael was playing the Brown medium-
pacers with confidence and when Zaki joined him, the asking rate was around
7.5. The two put together a run-a-ball 43 run partnership before Zaki fell
for a well-made 19 off 20. This resulted in a mini-collapse as Jugjeev was
bowled and both Swarna and Sanjai ran themselves out, reducing Wesleyan to
92/6 off 20 overs, needing 56 off the last 5 overs.
Never giving up, Michael ran for everything and the pressure soon got to
the Brown fielders. In spite of some tight bowling by Prabath (3/20), Hari
and Vuyani chipped in with quick innings, each hitting much-needed
boundaries but in the end, the gallant effort led by Michael wasn't enough.
10 runs separated the two teams and Michael remained not out on 40 off 66 balls.