Elites played Knights Blues on Saturday, Aug 12, 2006 in Des Moines. Elites were virtually through to the semi finals and the chances of them not making it was next to impossible. So, Elites went into the match in a positive frame of mind to get a big win as a pre-cursor for the semi finals. 

Prakash has a special coin, it seems, otherwise how can you explain his success with tosses this season. It is very close to 100% and with this luck, Prakash should be spending more time in Vegas than in Des Moines. As it has always been, Elites decided to bat first.  

Hari and Krishna opened the innings. Both of them started well to a mix of accurate and wayward bowling by Blues. Hari began the onslaught with a boundary in the 5th over. Mayuresh was brought on in the 6th over to bowl his slow spinners. What else can a bowler ask for than a wicket off his first ball. It was a slow full toss drifting towards the leg stump, Hari reached but could not time and hit straight to the fielder at square leg. It was 31 for 1 after six. Suren did not last long; gone stumped backing up too much. Ganesh joined Krishna and some accurate slow bowling restricted the scoring to just singles. Krishna broke the shackles and hit a lovely straight six. Elites were 68 for 2 at the half way stage. Krishna was gone immediately after the break trying to force the pace, to an excellent at long on by John. Hifzur was in the attack as Gau realized slow bowling was the best way to stop the boundaries. Prakash joined Ganesh and the pair accelerated at the right time. Prakash was amazing with the bat with his exquisite timing sending the Blues’ bowlers on a leather hunt. Hifzur would want to forget this Saturday in a hurry. 4 towering sixes, all sweetly timed and clearing the boundary by yards, and Elite was on the way to a big total. Hifzur had his revenge, albeit not with Prakash, when he came to bowl a beauty (he claims it was a “doosra”), which foxed Ganesh and took his middle stump. Ganesh had got into the bandwagon with a six over midwicket just before. Sudhir walked in and Elite wanted this pair to bat to the end. Sudhir started with a magnificent six of a good length from John over midwicket leaving the bowler bewildered. But right when Elites were looking at their second 200+ score of the season, both Prakash and Sudhir feel, trying to force the pace, Prakash “walked” after nicking on the leg side. There was a mini collapse and Elites would have been in a worse position but for some lusty hitting by Saravie (six and a four) and Saravanan (a four). Mayuresh finished with five wickets in his comeback game as Elites set a target of 180 for Blues. The irony was Elites lost their last 5 wickets for less than 30 runs and was bowled out in 28 overs. 

Blues started on a disastrous note losing 2 wickets in the first 3 overs, Saravanan getting a beauty to fox Gau and rattle the sticks and Krishna getting late movement to get the edge of the other opener. This was when the drama started with Satish and John at the crease. Elite bowlers were bowling an excellent line and frustrating the Blues batsmen, who starting getting desperate. But Elites catching was absolutely shoddy giving 5 chances to Satish, who also watched a ball from his pads roll past the stumps missing it by one hundredth of an inch. It was his day! Blues were never in the chase, always scoring at about 3 an over, which was never adequate. At the midway break, Blues were 40 for 2. Things changed after the break with Prakash switching to his slow bowlers Sudhir, Jawahar and Ramesh. Wickets started to tumble with the slower bowlers jamming the batsmen and more importantly, the fielders started taking their catches. Sudhir took 2 well judged catches, Hari had a stumping and Ramesh had 2 going straight through beating the batsmen. Jawahar and Ramesh ended with well deserved 3 wickets each. Blues folded up for 93 and Elites romped home to a convincing 86 run victory. 

The men who made the difference in the game:

Elites:

Prakash (38) – Awesome hitting with 4 sixes

Krishna (28 and 1 wicket) – Good all round performance

Jawahar and Ramesh (3 wickets each) – Excellent spells of slow bowling 

Blues:

Mayuresh (5 wickets) – Excellent spell of slow bowling

Satish – 29 which helped Blues get 93.