Sunday, December 23, 2007

Festival Matches - 2007

The familiar scene of a cricket match at MCG, 'Jubilee Institute' in the background.

TMG organizes 'on-field get-togethers' occasionally. The latest was organized between 21-23 December, 2007. Youths and veterans from the five clubs belonging to TMG blended to play a few matches at the historic Maharaja's College Ground [our MCG] and it was a good opportunity for all, to play together, competetively[?], despite the 'festival' tag.
This was on the final day. The Umpires verify the scorebook [bottom left].
Batsmen in action. Harsha got caught from that stroke [bottom right, above collage].


Bowlers.
Rohith's 'too much' flighted ball [bottom right] was hammered for four.
Sharath Babu [top right] delivers the ball against the famous pavilion background.

Curious spectators and players watching the game.

The interesting, curious, formal and disinterested moments! Sorry for the repeat picture!

3 comments:

ER Ramachandran said...

Nice pictures and hope you had a nice game.

The umpires verifying scores reminds me of the time when we were playing tennis ball cricket in school.At the end of the match, there was this custom wherein the losing team captain had to sign saying they had lost the match. This was insulting and hurt the big egos kids carry in playground ! So, most of the time, when the writing was on the wall, all the senior players and the captain would sneak away leaving the team and the match at the mercy of their juniors. With the fall of final wicket, the winning team would rush back to the pavilion- usually the ground under a tree- for the all important confession and signature of the captain , only to find some juniors who couldn't sign even their names!

Unknown said...

A job well done.

Watching the pictures takes me back a decade & half when I was playing for TMG, as a teenager. I remember so many occasions playing on these very grounds. The professional rivalry among teams was best described in the way the games used to be played. I must mention the TMG's "pavilion" at the Maharaja grounds, which used to be the spot under the big tree (along with 2 stone benches). I spent 12 wonderful years in that "pavilion" for TMG (1989-2001), after which my academic obligations moved me out of Mysore. But playing at the same ground last month gave me the opportunity to get back so many wonderful memories.

Dinakar KR said...

Losing captain's signature.. yes, it is true. We had a couple of occasions when there were two pencils for a prize and on hint of losing - of course batting last [only two innings matches then], the ones concerned with handing over the prize used to become absconding all of a sudden. We had to return home satisfied with the victory. Those pencils would be used to play other matches like that and a collection of two or three paise per player was made to buy them! Now people talk about lakhs and crores!! Most of our memorable matches have been at the ground where now the Zilla Parishat office is on Krishnaraja Bouleward. It was a nightmare playing on barefoot - lots of thorns. I don't know how we ran chasing the ball despite that! A safety pin was a useful tool on the ground! That ground then belonged to the M.D.T.D.B. College. It is now a lovely garden.