Introduction

Sunday mornings had become the period of time in the week when the young-at-heart Indian husbands would strap on the pads, thunder down the red shiny, and swing around their meaty sub-continental bats to their heart’s content. Sanjiv Tolat, our captain, the wily off-spinner and the most important cog in the wheel kept that wheel turning for many years and is still the major match organiser and logistical genius behind MT. Some of the other original members of Melbourne Tigeroos still playing regularly today are PV, Jay, Navneet, Rajesh, Sparkal, Satish and Param. Impressed by the blend of professionalism and social nature of the club, a generation of the Gupta family – Nihit, Kevin, Pankaj and me (Ankit) gave a youthful injection to the team. The setting- our home ground just off Mahoneys Road - Bob Sakers Oval. The sight of long square boundaries, relatively shorter straight boundaries and fenced-in lush green outfield instilled in each player an unmatchable sense of anticipation. Soon a host of other curries - Amit, Ajit, Shobhit, Vicky, Himanshu, Dev, Ravin, Mukul and the Jonty-esque Bishty added to the age diversity while our token white guy - Tim and token Asian - Gary furthered this diversity. This acceptance of all players, regardless of age, skill and race encapsulates the spirit of Melbourne Tigeroos - a club which (in its internal games) aims to give everyone a chance in each respect of the game. The only pre-requisite is a love for the game.

Traditionally the 3-4 hour contests consisted of two internal matches - the first one which is 8-10 overs a side and the second which is 6-8 overs a side depending on the time available. The playing area was restricted accordingly to the number of players which have historically ranged from 6 to 22 people. At either end of the spectrum, with rubber, kookaburra's, indoor or bat breaking balls the management of MT have succeeded in facilitating, at the least enjoyable and more often- riveting contests between teams.

In early 2007 we entered our first tournament which paved the way for our transition from a rusty social team to a well oiled unit. We missed out on the semi finals after a controversial match against the eventual winners – a match which went down to the wire. We then played T20s regularly and forged major rivalries against 3 or 4 teams. The learning curve enabled players to understand the intricacies of the game - no longer was it possible to get away with dropped catches, wide balls and soft dismissals - such was the desire to win amongst the team. Unfortunately, this flow was halted by the inaugural IPL and more than half a year went by without consistent Sunday morning cricket being played.

However over the last few months, Melbourne Tigeroos have regained momentum and picked up more players than ever before. The latest "recruits" have been our first Sri Lankan team member - the lethal left handed batsman - Asith, the trio from Punjab who's life on the fast track translates to their bowling - Teji, Gurjit and Vicky, and the man with outstanding commitment - Amit's cousin, Savya. More recently, Jeet and Raj have impacted with bat, ball and most importantly their sharp cricketing brains. The first half of this playing season (when we only played internally) yielded an average of 15 players, allowing us to play with a full field - an otherwise rare occurrence. The second half has consisted of a string of matches against our rivals - "The Gujjus," Avi's team and Asith's Sri Lankan team. It has taken us 5 matches to get ourselves near potential in most aspects but things are looking up for the future.

This team remains a constant amongst the many personal changes in people's lives over the 5 years - for me - from school to uni, for Sanjiv- from a Mazda 323 to a Lexus RX 330 and for Amit - from a lonely hopelessly wishful state to the status of a married man and the exuberance that it brings. These bear just a few positive examples Sunday morning cricket has had on us. Okay, so cricket may not be directly responsible but deductive reasoning says that a whiff of a strong dose of cricket in the Sunday morning breeze, is a breath of fresh air into life itself.

note: I want to get the introduction right, so any comments and suggestions regarding missing players etc are welcome - and I will accordingly edit them in!