Vijay CC left a firm imprint on the Palyampatti Shield for 2011-12, the coronation will happen on Saturday.

After Vijay carried on to post 430 in their first essay, A. Aswin Crist’s incisive opening burst (6-2-13-3) reduced Globe Totters to rubbles to make it a no contest.

The seamer picked three wickets in the space of 14 deliveries to leave the defending champions tottering at seven for three, a shock from which they never recovered.

Trotters finished the day at 112 for seven, requiring a further 329 runs in 90 overs on the final day on a track that slowed down considerably. Y. Venugopal Rao, who is batting on 70 (151m, 111b, 13x4), was the only consolation for Trotters who failed to back their committed effort on the field.

Earlier, Vijay added 111 runs in 42.4 overs before spinner Sunny Gupta ushered a swift end to the innings. K. Varun Kumar (70, 268m, 203b, 5x4) continued to play the anchor role to perfection even as the others tried to pep the scoring rate. Rahul Dravid was the first to go, castled by Sunil Sam. S. Badrinath lost his timber to Gupta after enjoying a reprieve of the previous delivery. R. Ashwin added a few quick runs but also fell while eyeing the big hit. The last four wickets went for the addition of only 24 runs.
Trotters required a solid opening stand but they failed to get anything close to it. Openers X. Thalaivan Sargunam and Sunny Gupta and S. Anand all fell prey to the fullish length. Crist was successful in drawing the batsmen forward and the cordon behind the stumps did the rest.

Skipper R. Ashwin proved why he is a class act as he generated steep bounce from short of a length on a track that appeared dead when other spinners were operating. Both Gnaneswara Rao and U. Sushil fell to sharp off-breaks, caught at forward short leg.

Ashwin should have added another wicket to his tally if not for Maaruthi Raghav spilling a regulation chance at covers when Venugopal Rao attempted a hard drive. The batsman rubbed salt by knocking the next four deliveries for boundaries.

Crist was rewarded immediately in his second spell when he had S. Sriram caught at gully. B. Aparajith took a smart return catch to send back PK Dharma but W. Anthony Dhas ensured no further damage.

SCORECARD

Vijay CC (1st innings): B. Aparajith ct (sub) b Dharma 115, K. Dinesh Karthik c Sushil b Sunil Sam 47, Vijay Shankar c Prashanth b Antony Dhas 6, V. Maaruthi Raghav lbw b Gupta 50, K. Varun Kumar c Antony Dhas b Sunil Sam 70, Rahul Dravid b Sunil Sam 56, S. Badrinath b Gupta 17, R. Ashwin c Dharma b Gupta 18, Rahil S Shah (run out) 22, K. Kiran Kashyap st Sushil b Gupta 7, Aswin Crist (not out) 0. Extras (lb8, nb14) 22. Total (in 132.4 overs) 430.

FoW: 1-76, 2-96, 3-198, 4-260, 5-342, 6-368, 7-396, 8-416, 9-427.
Bowling: Dharma 18-4-53-1, Sunil Sam 28-3-95-3, Antony Dhas 18-3-61-1, Gupta 40.4—31-116-4, Prashanth 25-2-89-0, Sriram 3-0-8-0.

Globe Trotters (1st innings): X. Thalaivan Sargunam c Varun b Crist 4, Sunny Gupta c Dravid b Crist 0, S. Anand c Vijay Shankar b Crist 0, Y. Gnaneswar Rao c Vijay Shankar b Ashwin 4, Y. Venugopal Rao (batting) 70, U. Sushil c Karthik b Ashwin 4, S. Sriram c Aparajith b Crist 15, PK Dharma c&b Aparajith 7, W. Antony Dhas (batting) 2. Extras (b4, lb1, w1) 6. Total (for seven wickets in 45 overs) 112.
FoW: 1-4, 2-4, 3-7, 4-27, 5-42, 6-69, 7-101.

Bowling: Aswin Crist 13-7-20-4, Kiran Kasshyap 9-4-20-0, Rahil Shah 9-2-11-0, Ashwin 13-2-47-2, Aparajith 1-0-9-1.

Sunil sam, aswin sizzle under blazing sun

Sunil Sam (Globe Trotters) and Aswin Crist (Vijay CC) must both emerge polished and tougher from the Palyampatti Shield final.

It was a lion hearted effort from the duo on a day where the weather was not exactly pleasant English. Sunil Sam is used to the big stage while it was the first big day for Crist but if they are to be put on a balance they would have come out equal.

The wicket offered little in terms of lateral movement and Crist showed the tact to keep the ball a full yard further.

Credit to skipper R. Ashwin as well to keep the covers vacant to invite the drive. The ploy worked to perfection to give Vijay the stranglehold.

Crist had only nine wickets to show in as many games this season but Ashwin continued with his faith in the 17-year-old and was aptly rewarded.

“Aswin has this natural out swinger and it is only well known that the away goer brings wickets. He showed good attitude and bowled with good discipline and the results are there to see,” said Ashwin.

Crist paid credit to his mentor Dennis Lillee who worked on his fitness and overall development at the MRF Pace Foundation. “There is a lot I have picked in the last year.

Having played with a few big players in the league, I understood the importance of not getting perturbed by pressure,” added Crist who finished the day with commendable figures of 13-7-20-4.

Sunil Sam, meanwhile, will be disappointed as his effort did not reflect truly on the bowling charts but the lanky seamer showed great character when he returned to the bowling crease after lunch in spite of spraining his ankle a while earlier. Both bowlers deserve equal credit and it’s a pity that only one will be on the winning side.