Skipper Vijay lost the toss (no evidence of having practiced his coin tossing skills over winter and spring), and OEs were asked to bat first.

Vijay and Karthik opened the batting and put on a healthy partnership of 39 at a decent clip. Vijay fell as the partnership was looking good. Milind came in at three and threatened to cut loose before playing across the line to a good length ball and losing his middle stump.

That brought Antony to the crease. 40 runs were added between Antony and Karthik, courtesy some sensible batting and running-in-between the wickets. At the half-way mark of the innings the scoreboard read 86/2.

With the foundation laid for a good push in the last 20, Karthik fell to an inside edge. What followed was an exhibition of classic OEs batting as 86/3 soon became 106/7 - with Praveen, debutant Rahul (who was *ahem* 'poached' from Simba CC), Antony, and Sameer keeping the OEs heart rates up.

JK combined with the lower order in the form of Bhupi, Owen, Chris, and Mr. Extras to ensure OEs (nearly) played out the full quota of 40 overs (one key objective for 2023 ✔️).

Defending a target of 143 Bhupi and Vijay opened the bowling. Superstar Bhupi stuck to what he does best and had returns of 4-2-3-1 in his first spell! At the other end Vijay generally kept a tight lid on things, with the odd loose delivery.

Rahul and Antony came in as the first change pair and hit their strides rightaway, in what are positive signs for the season.

With the run rate hovering around 2.5 RPO and three wickets down, OEs were looking good at the drinks break. The spin trio of JK, Chris, and Karthik brought their bag of tricks for a few miserly overs in the middle stint - an easy victory was in the offing!

But trust the OEs to find a way to make straightforward scenarios a rollercoaster ride - 9 catches were shelled over the course of the innings. Excuses ranged from 'it's the first match of the season' to 'my calf cramped' to 'I didn't see the ball' - a veritable log book of excuses building up!

Eventually the bowling had just about enough juice to bundle out the opposition for 121. Bhupi was the pick of the bowlers with 4 wickets with Vijay, JK, and Rahul evenly sharing the rest.

Bhupi’s 9-2-14-4 won him the MoM, instrumental in defending a very gettable target of 3.5/over in CM ??, beating Karthik’s excellent and occasionally classy opening knock of 34, which accounted for 1/3rd of the team’s runs excluding extras!

2s unofficial DoD award probably goes to Antony for shouting to fielders to throw to the bowling AND/or keeping end ?? ?. Champage ? Moment for Karthik’s extra cover drive for four.

Special shout-out to Owen for some high quality keeping, without much protection in the deep!

Onwards and upwards for the rest of the season.