Chapter 34 Not A Great Start to Australian County!
August 17, 2009
Time - 06: 00 PM
With me being the only player from India representing SA Redbacks, felt pumped up and excited to prove myself in this competition. Our Coach was extremely kind enough in encouraging us to go beyond the extremes every time we get an opportunity in nets session. I didn't have courage to ask my new team for opening up the batting, but I made my mind to stick to the position 4 and give everything out of me to prove my skills.
My First Match Vs Tasmanian Tigers
**Full of Butterflies in my tummy, when I walked to the crease**
Tasmanian Tigers won the toss & chose to bat first on such a great looking wicket and I was made to stand near the boundary ropes. Really, it was a boring thing for me to stand near boundary with none to talk! I felt alienated but I made my mind very clear to do the job with perfection as much as possible. Tigers dominated in their batting session and my legs started getting rusty as I hardly ran here & there chasing the ball. They managed to put up a huge score of 479 runs and we got opportunity to bat on Day 2.
It was our last session(session 3) on Day 2 where I got the opportunity to go to the batting crease. As much as I wanted to go fresh on Day 3, I did not have much choice/option to demand a night watchman ahead of me. A lot of butterflies in my tummy when I walked out to batting crease, felt a kind of nervousness in me to face a new atmosphere altogether.
" I need to do it, NEED to do it, NEED to do it " - These were my only words that I was uttering from dressing room to the batting crease. My partner, T Head was so cool when I joined him but it took lot of guts in me to face that first ball from Hilfy.
Very first ball... I almost edged it to the keeper and my face turned totally pale when the bowler and slip fielders started being noisy in my first delivery. It took a while for me to come down to real world and to realize that no appeal was done for caught behind. "Uffffffff! I escaped! ", the exact feeling in me kept pushing me down in confidence where I really wanted to play my natural game.
My first boundary came in my 10th delivery where I nicely managed to put away one of the over-pitched delivery straight above bowler head & it gave me some confidence to continue my batting. T Head was going extremely good in other end and his fluency in batting motivated me further.
Match 1 Dreams Ended before It got Started!
With T Head and myself putting a nice little partnership without any hurry, I was slowly building my determination to stay long and keep calm in my innings. Day 2 ended and I even received a strong fist from my coach for staying without being dismissed at a pressure debut situation. These kind of small encouragements felt so good for me that I started my Day 3 with better confidence and determination level.
However, not really sure whether I got carried away too much but I became an unexpected victim of edge & bowled dismissal. I was on 21 runs from 20 balls where I tried to put another straight delivery defensively but I did not get my timing right and hence edged straight to my stumps. Tigers team started celebrating and I left the crease with utmost disappointments. My team mates still gave a small applause for my 21 runs on my very first innings but I was not satisfied with my mistake of timing the shot correct. Hilfy got me to it!
It was very unfortunate that we added only 255 runs in our innings with follow-on enforced. Third innings was even more worse as I went to batting crease in no-man's time. Yes, we lost quick first 2 wickets and I got my second chance to prove myself again. For some reason, Tigers brought back Hilfy in my end to bowl at me with sheer pace and bounce. I was struggling in my first 6 deliveries that I faced and ended up edging the ball to keeper in my 7th delivery. Yes, I was dismissed for 3 odd runs by edging behind to the keeper! I wished that keeper should drop that catch but it was too late for me to make those wishes. Well, IT WAS HILFY AGAIN!!
Extremely frustrated with my way of batting, in particular, both my dismissals were those edges that costed me my wickets!!
Tasmanian Tigers WON BY 10 Wickets
We were not happy in the dressing room, but guys were ready to move forward
We kept loosing wickets in quick intervals and we managed only to put around 248 runs on the scorecard. We managed to go past the trailing score by a negligible margin of 24 runs, there was nothing left for us to work out our strategy in our fourth innings. Tigers made it in the end by 10 wickets without any difficulties and we came with heads down to our dressing room.
"Cheer UP Guys! Long way to go & you guys need not get depressed for this loss. We should fight better next time! " - Those were the words from my coach and it was really sweet to hear those.
Match Summary - T Tigers Vs SA Redbacks
Despite my little contribution of 24 runs only in my first match, I did not go dejected this time. Yes, words and trust from my coach looked really soothing for every one of us and we exchanged a consoling handshake with each other to do better next time. I decided to move forward like every individual in that dressing room, but I know that I need to grab that trump card very SOON.
TWO poor dismissals back to back, ONE positive of not being dismissed for DUCK in first match, Very determined coach to trust his boys - Where does Suren Ram stand in next match? Stay Tuned to find out all the actions!
With the first match not going in the way that I wanted, my mind still prevailed in the disturbed state though my coach and team took it an easy manner. On the day after match, there was a team invitation for a birthday party with dance & drinks! Everyone in my team were so excited & looking forward to celebrate this and chill out after the match loss.
However I declined it! YES, i DECLINED the invite with the reason of feeling sick.
Decided to Practice over Party!
Nothing can give me that feel of being contented other than playing cricket, this is just ME!
Though I declined with the reason of feeling sick, I wanted to spend that time in a productive way. I wanted to go & practice for sometime in nets and hence I packed all my gears for some match practice. Then I realized, " DAMN, I DON'T EVEN HAVE A PRACTICE KIT INCLUDING MY DRESS!" I didn't bother, just took my team kit that I was wearing for the match, YES WITHOUT A WASH FROM LAST NIGHT and headed straight to the stadium.
This is one of the worst practice in terms of personal hygiene which I don't like it either but I don't have an option and I wanted to prove my skills and talent in a better way. I reached my indoor nets and luckily I was given guest access at the reception door to the nets due to my team kit! I went ahead and practiced for more than an hour and was smashing those machine deliveries with calm and peaceful mind! Yes it was more peaceful because there is no rules here in nets for getting you OUT!
Extended Hours @ NETS!
Going by those old sayings, 'Practice makes you PERFECT', I kept practicing than normal practice sessions and started to feel very tiring in me. I did not mind at all, continued my nets session to push my body to extreme to cope with those additional hours. It was so tiring that, I just slept after going back to my room without eating my dinner. Not just the dinner, but I did not realize my next day alarm as well. Lucky that it was not a match day!
Suren Ram, without doubts has all those determinations. What else is needed for him to come out of his shell to battle his destiny? Stay Tuned to find out all the actions!
So my next awaited moment came, i.e. the next match in our FC against New South Wales team. To be honest, I have never followed any other nation's county circuit and hence I really don't know any strength/weakness of my opponents. It is always just to watch the ball & go for it, that I have been following ever since Austraila U19 tour. I know, it doesn't help to formulate a strategy but this is something that I need to improve on before the end of this season which I am sure that I will!
Number 4 position - Is it really FOR ME?
**For some strange reasons, I am not finding myself fluent with the bat**
In this match, we were asked to bat first and we had a good second wicket partnership after which I was sent to bat as expected. It was some time before the lunch session( during 15th over ) that I went to the batting crease with some sort of nervousness in me. Once again, my partner was T Head in non strikers end and it wasn't Hilfy but it was Bollinger this time.
First Ball : Bollinger delivered a nice short pitched delivery on offside which I just closed my eyes and went after it with pure aggression. It was my first boundary that made me feel so good with great confidence.
Second Ball : He attempted another bouncer but it wasn't on leg side that I couldn't really connect. T Head approached me and asked me to be bit careful while facing such deliveries.
Third Ball : Yet ANOTHER short pitched delivery, SMASHED IT! Yes, another boundary to end that over.
It was just when I felt so good, Bollinger got his revenge back! YES, it was a nice over pitched delivery that I went after it blindly in offside. I thought that it went like a rocket but unfortunately it found the fielder! DAMN! It looked so irresponsible of me to get out in such a manner. When I went inside the dressing room, none really spoke to me about the horrible way of getting out but it was haunting my mind as I started feeling guilty of loosing my opportunities.
When Am I going to Learn MY LESSONS?
**Nothing would beat the feeling of being embarrassed when you get dismissed in front of your skipper**
After my dismissal, Head and Ludeman really rescued our team to get to a dominant total of 359 runs which was well complimented by our bowlers to restrict NSW to 224 runs only. So there was a huge lead for us when we went to bat in our second innings. Our top order enhanced this lead even more stronger with solid partnership for second wicket.
Really, there was no pressure at all when I went into bat for the second innings. It was so fortunate that I joined my skipper, Klinger who looked so solid when I went to the batting crease. I made my mind to keep rotating strikes and to reduce my aggression with my primary focus clearly being to spend more time at the batting crease.
I started feeling comfortable with Klinger as he seemed to be a nice bloke encouraging me to play in the natural way that I wanted to. It was just when I was building my basic blocks to a better shape( 16 runs from 15 balls ), Copeland bowled a beautiful delivery that was angled marginally towards me but I made the mistake of trying to hit that in offside. This completely got me to it & I was dismissed for 16 runs.
Once again, I got dismissed in a silly way which I could have very well avoided if my 100% concentration was ON. There is nothing that I can do, just walked back to pavilion and sat in dressing room with dull mindset. I was angry with myself but I really don't know how to get my things in a better shape despite doing all the hard works for it. Good that, my team management did no dig too much into it as we won by a comfortable margin against NSW team. Klinger was awarded MOTM for his 180+ knock and they were busy celebrating the victory. I just maintained my artificial smile for my team though I was frustrated and dejected inside.
Match Summary - NSW Vs SA Redbacks
Despite my hard practice sessions, nothing clicked for me. I know that I need to grab that hidden trump card somehow to shine for reflecting my potential, but I am really struggling at this point to put the things together to make it work for my career. Hopefully, I break my shell SOON!
Highlights Reel : First Innings of Suren Ram Vs Bollinger
Highlights Reel : Dismissal of Suren Ram, First Innings
Highlights Reel : Dismissal of Suren Ram, Second Innings
Two consecutive poor performances in FC matches back to back - Can Suren Ram bounce back? Where does he stand in next match? Stay Tuned to find out all the actions!
Never easy to cope up with alien conditions, Austalian county is no easy but if we know Suren Ram - he'd be very much keen to bounce back, a BIG performance is around the corner.
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I felt alienated but I made my mind very clear to do the job with perfection as much as possible. Tigers dominated in their batting session and my legs started getting rusty as I hardly ran here & there chasing the ball. They managed to put up a huge score of 479 runs and we got opportunity to bat on Day 2. 
I was on 21 runs from 20 balls where I tried to put another straight delivery defensively but I did not get my timing right and hence edged straight to my stumps. Tigers team started celebrating and I left the crease with utmost disappointments. My team mates still gave a small applause for my 21 runs on my very first innings but I was not satisfied with my mistake of timing the shot correct. Hilfy got me to it!
I didn't bother, just took my team kit that I was wearing for the match, YES WITHOUT A WASH FROM LAST NIGHT and headed straight to the stadium. 
