Exton Park Diaries

An Event to remember

MILC presents a great opportunity for prodigious talent to showcase their skills and emerge into the limelight. It was only fitting that we decided to organise a massive event to exhibit the growing popularity of Minor League in general and The Philadelphians in particular on 30th July. And what better venue than the scenic Exton Park. Exton Park, as we have witnessed through the course of the tournament, has given us some outstanding games with a surface that brings out the best of both batsmen and bowlers. All credit to The Philadelphians management team for pulling this event off at such short notice. The event was a grand success with 1000s of fans attending the event to witness the spectacle. Families glorified the occasion with their presence making the atmosphere electric as we offered food and drinks to keep them energised through the course of the game.

Our boys were getting ready for the occasion to give our fans a match to remember. With our position this season in a precarious situation, The Philadelphians were enthused to come back from adversity and to prove to the fans the steel that they are made of. After many training sessions to cover up the chinks in the armor, the boys were ready to take on New Jersey Stallions and Manhattan Yorkers in back to back games. With fun and excitement in the air, we head to the battle ground looking to prove a point.

Philadelphians goes down fighting

Our first encounter was against the mighty New Jersey Stallions. NJS won the toss and elected to bowl. We were looking to post a huge total and choke them with scoreboard pressure. It was mightily clear when we had a look at the pitch that this was not going to be high scoring game. So we decided to be cautious in not going for the kill and adopt a more sombre approach. We went out to the field looking to post a decent total and the ball started dictating the game soon enough with us losing early wickets notwithstanding the cameo by Derrick Narine (24 runs off 10 balls). We lost Abdullah, Narine and Milind early as the pressure built on the middle order. We decided to bring Liam Plunkett early, a decision we did not regret. Liam’s experience came to the fore as he started rebuilding the innings. Liam and Chiranshu stitched a useful partnership taking us to 140 with something to defend with Liam scoring 48 off 42 balls. NJS 'response started off on a fiery note with Anthony Bramble scoring 41 off 21 balls. Anthony's innings meant that NJS were ahead of the required rate through the course of the game. But credit to our bowlers for pulling things back with a middle order squeeze bringing the required run rate within control. But the initial burst meant that we were always chasing the game. We managed to take the game to the last delivery as the NJS got over the line in the very last ball ending with a heartbreaking loss. The boys were devastated after the game given the grandiosity of the occasion. But the post match talk by the coaches meant that the boys were mentally up for it in the next game against Manhattan Yorkers.

Manhattan Yorkers won the toss and elected to bowl in the second encounter. But the pitch had much to offer for the batsmen. The pitch played to our strengths prompting us to believe that it may not have been a good toss to lose. We head to the field confident of our strengths. Derrick Narine fell early with last day's game crossing our minds once again.But that was not to be as Milind kumar played an outstanding knock with Liam providing support at the other end. A Captain's knock of epic proportions, Milind scored The Philadelphians first century of MILC. An innings to remember that was dotted with 12 fours and 3 sixes. Milind ended up scoring 104 runs off 62 balls. Jonathan Foo provided the final flourish scoring 38 off 18 balls taking us to 187/4 in 20 overs. We went into the field looking to take the monkey off our backs after what transpired last game. Manhattan Yorkers response was no less spectacular as their opening pair Danesh Patel and John Campbell went bonkers with their opening partnership getting to 100 runs in a matter of 6 overs. The opening burst ensured the match was forced out our hands pretty early on. Although we pulled things back slightly, it was never going to be enough. Manhattan Yorkers got over the line with 4 overs to spare.

Grit and resolve

Although the results did not end up in our favour, our boys showed tremendous resolve to come back from adversity and pull things back when things were not going according to plan. We witnessed many times the ability of our bowlers to put the middle order squeeze when the opposition batsmen were threatening to take the game away. While the crucial mistakes cost us the game, the commitment and integrity that the boys displayed on the field is something to be admired. The batsmen rarely failed to deliver and they complemented the bowlers ensuring that they had enough to defend in a tough pitch. We would like to thank the fans for showing up in such large numbers and making this event a grand success. The fans' support and enthusiasm for our boys always pushes us to work hard and come out better. It has been a rough season for us so far with results not going the way we wanted it to. The defeats are teaching us lessons which we are sure the coaches and the players will take up and improve upon in the games to come.