One streak ends at 7 - Another moves on to 4

It had to happen sometime. I had been preparing for the last couple of weeks for the one match where my winning streak would come to a screeching halt - And it did. And Mr. Y should thank me for releasing his curse by blogging :)

We played cricket today in probably the best weather in recent history. It was cloudy for most of the time we played. The playing surface on the pitch was in good condition and we were able to play 2 full matches without getting too tired. I realized after the teams were made that I was in the same team as Y - I insisted that this could not happen because of the streaks we were carrying. It would be an insult to all that hard work (or the lack of it, depending on whose streak you are looking at) if it were to come to an end by just playing a match and regardless of the result, which would have been the case if we were part of the same team. A minor reshuffle of the squads resulted. A brief summary of what followed.

Match #1: Almost the same situation as the last week. Y's team, batting first, ended up with a total of 38. With the team score at 31, I dropped an easy catch of Y. At the end of the innings, he commented - "You have dropped the cup". Big words, considering that the target was a small one. Target achieved with considerable ease (read - a few deliveries to spare and a couple of wickets in hand).

Match #2: We batted first and scored 60 runs in 10 overs.
- Turning point #1 - Only a couple of runs in the last over.
- Turning point #2 - Our captain took it upon himself to break the opening partnership with the score at 21 for no loss in 3 overs. He told me "Dont worry - I will get a wicket or 2 and will not concede a wide or a no-ball". Those words will haunt me for some time. He did break the opening partnership, but we paid a considerably heavy price for it - 11 runs were scored off that over. But it should be noted that about 6 of those runs were not earned by the batting side but resulted from unnecessary wide deliveries. When i say wide, i dont mean marginally wide deliveries - They were so far away from the wickets that most of the players in our teams who act as umpires would call them as wides. It is not the runs scored off that over that hurt us but the fact that the batsmen were able to get so many free runs. The pressure was off

Despite this, we managed to take the game to the last over with one wicket remaining and credit must go to the opposition for hanging on and getting hard-earned victory.

Thus the streak of unbeaten matches involving teams in which i played ended at 7 and Y got a victory after a month. Maybe he needs to thank me for releasing the curse :)
I realized just now that while one streak ended, another moved on.

- 4 is the number of matches were teams involving me have not lost while chasing a target. (1 match was a tie - or should i say - "The Tie" :) and the other 3 were comfortable victories). While we have so far avoided being tested with huge targets, it should be viewed as accomplishments by the bowlers in limiting the opposition to low scores than a case of missed opportunities. This streak, like other streaks, is also bound come to an end. When? - Well, time will tell.