April 9, 2005 - The match was played on the Ruskin Elementary School ground, San Jose. Gladiators won the toss and elected to field. Ashutosh A and Ravi opened the innnings for FCC. In the first over, Ashutosh A cut the ball square of the wicket into the gap to grab a single.
Ashutosh ran all the way to the bowlers end. But, due to the confusion in the calling and the noise, Ravi was stranded at the bowlers end. FCC were 0/1. Sanjay V joined Ashutosh. Sanjay and Ashutosh negotiated the bowling for the next three overs. FCC were 4/2 at the end of the 4th over. In the fifth over, Ashutosh drove the ball uppishly back to the bowler and was caught. FCC were 4/2. Tushar joined Sanjay. Tushar and Sanjay had a slow and solid partnership adding up 16 runs by the 10th over. FCC were 20/2 when Sanjay (9) fell in the tenth over. Naren joined Tushar. FCC were 22/3 at the end of the 10th over. Tushar and Naren resumed FCC's innings and added another 5 runs by the 12th over. Naren fell in the 12th over with the score at 27/4. Ashutosh L joined Tushar and both added 6 runs by the 15th over. Ashutosh tried to accelarate the score and had swing at the ball and was bowled. FCC were 33/5. JP joined Tushar. JP had a swing at the bowling. The ball kept low and JP was bowled. The score was 35/6. Sudhir went in to bat next. In the 16th over, Sudhir drove straight to the fielder at silly mid off and was caught. Score was 36/7. Kiran went in next to join Tushar. Their partnership added 10 runs with 1's and 2's. In 19th over, Kiran fell with the score at 46. Varun went in to bat. On the 6th ball of the 19th over, Tushar came down the pitch and went for a huge swing. Unfortunately he missed it and was stumped. The score was 48/9. Vikas went into bat and added a couple of runs with Varun. Vikas was the last one to fall with the score at 50 in 19.3 overs. Tushar carried the innings through for FCC with regular 1's and 2's on a pretty unpredictable pitch and amassed 20 runs.
Gladiators required 51 runs to win. Vikas opened the bowling for FCC. Gladiators were 3/0 at the end of the first over with all three runs coming from extras. Naren bowled the second over and finished it with Gladiators at 5/0. Vikas came back in the 3rd over with a maiden. The Gladiators' openers were playing very watchfully. Naren started the 4th over. The fielders were all closed in and the batsmen wanted to push a few away and spread the field. On the second ball, Suresh the Gladiators skipper heaved the ball to square leg and picked up 2 runs. On the 3rd ball, Suresh sent the ball out of the field for a 6. On the 4th ball, continuing with the big hitting Suresh hit the ball in the air towards long on. JP took a very well judged catch and sent Suresh back to the bench. Gladiators were 13/1. The fielders stayed closing in to the batsmen to stop the easy singles. Sudhir bowled the 5th over and ended it with the score at 17/1. JP bowled the 6th over and ended with the score at 19/1. On the second ball of the 7th over, Sudhir pitched the ball outside the off and brought it back in leaving the batsman clueless and hit the stumps. Sudhir finished the maiden wicket over at 19/2. JP came in and bowled a maiden. The fielders stuck to thier task and did not let a single ball go past them. Sudhir continued to bowl his 3rd over. On the second ball, the batsman pushed the ball towards mid-wicket and tried to get a cheeky single. Tushar threw the ball straight to the hands of Sudhir for a run out. Sudhir gave away 1 run and finished the over at 20/3. Ravi came in to bowl the 10th over and show a little bit of spin to the batsmen. The fielders took a break at the end of the 10th over with the score at 23/3. Play resumed with Sudhir bowling the 11th over and finished his quota with the score at 24/3. Tushar bowled the 12th over. On the second ball, the batsman pushed the ball toward square leg and tried for a cheeky single. Varun returned the ball straight to Ashutosh L for a run out. Tushar finished the over with the score at 27/4. Ravi came back in the 13th over and left the bastmen clueless in the end with the score at 28/4. Tushar returned to bowl the 14th over. On the 3rd ball, Tushar bowled through the batsman and brought the stumps down. Ravi bowled a tight 15th over. Unfortunately, the last ball went for a four and the score was 34/5. On the 2nd ball of the 16th over, Tushar tricked the batsman and bowled right through him for wicket number 6. He finished the over with the score at 35/6. Vikas started the 17th over with a wide. On the 4th ball, the batsman pushed the ball to mid-wicket for a single and was run out by Tushar. 17th over was completed at 36/7. JP came back to bowl the 18th over. The batsmen pushed for 3 hard earned singles. On the 4th ball, the batsman played the ball towards square leg where Varun was waiting to pounce on it. The batsman started for a single and was left stranded in the middle when Varun returned the ball to Ashutosh L in a flash for a run out. At the end of the 18th over, the score was 39/8 with 12 runs to win in 12 balls with 2 wickets left. Vikas came back to finish his quota. The batsman hit 2 doubles to deep mid wicket where Sudhir was fielding close to the batsman. The score was 43/8. JP started the 20th over with Gladiators requiring 8 runs to win. He started with a noball. On the first ball, the batsmen took a single. All the fielders on the leg side were pushed towards the fence except Vikas who was fielding at short mid on. 5 balls remaining, 6 runs to win. On the second ball, the batsman hit the ball straight to Vikas. The non striker was interested in a single and was run out by a cool minded play by Vikas and JP. Score was 45/9. 4 balls remaining, 6 runs to win. On the 3rd and the 4th ball, the batsmen took singles and pushed the score to 47. JP bowled the 5th ball down the leg for a wide. The equation changed to 2 balls, 3 runs to win. On the 5th ball, batsmen took another single. 1 ball, 2 runs to win. On the last ball, JP bowled the slowest ball in his life. The batsman came forward one step and took a huge heave only to miss it. Also, the ball kept a little low and ripped right through the stumps. FCC won the match by 1 run!
Tushar was the Man of the Match with 20 runs and a bowling figure of 3-0-4-2.