There was every ingredient on display for a 20-20 fanatic in Saturday's game between USC and Prelude. The game had everything that makes T-20 cricket an absolute cracker to watch; fiery pace bowling, electric fielding, power batting and resiliency in the face of adversity. In the end USC came up on top via a last minute scamper by Harshad and Ashish, helped by a fumble at mid-off by Rashmi. The contest was even on paper for these were two very evenly matched teams. While Harshad kept his nerves in the final minutes, Prelude lost its way on the last ball yet again to succumb to another defeat.

The USC batting unit made heavy weather of a paltry total of 112 set by Prelude earlier in the day. Prelude decided to come out guns blazing against the two USC openers. Hardeep Singh, a young fast paceman set ablaze Marine Vista Park with a fiery bouncer 1st up to Rishabh Nanda, who top edged it straight in the hands of the fielder at square leg. In his next over Hardeep got another one to rise sharply to hit Tarun Tyagi on the helmet, dismantling Tyagi's grill. He was rewarded in the same over as Tyagi perished tried to pull in vain and was caught by 1st slip. However, it didn't take long for the momentum to swing back USC's way as Sandhu picked up where he left off in the CSULB game and got stuck into Inderbir with a flick off his pads for 6 and straight drove for 4 to counterattack the Prelude bowlers. Sandhu along with Jeet knocked the ball around for quick runs and put the loose balls away to kick start the Trojan innings. Prelude tried desperately for a breakthrough; spread the field hoping for a miscue or a false shot. Finally it was Ashish Lone who got the all important breakthrough by having Jeet caught at gully by a full length dive by Inderbir to break the partnership. Vignesh was out 1st ball playing over a ball that jabbed back in and hit him plumb. Ashish's over somewhat revived the spirits of the Prelude players. Harshad and Sandhu seemed well on the way to take the game home with 35 needed of 45 balls; Sandhu played down the wrong line trying to work a single to be given out leg before to Faizal. Sandhu's 43 off 34 balls included 3 sixes and 2 boundaries as he carried on his good run in the tournament. Prelude sniffed a chance after Sandhu's wicket and the pressure was right back on USC. Dushyant played a false shot to be caught in gully by Inderbir who for the 2nd time took another diving catch. With USC running out of steam and batsman, the 2 debutants Ankush and Abhimanyu were called upon prove their worth. Harshad took over the mantle and kept the scoreboard ticking making sure he took the game right down the wire. A brilliant 19th over by Hardeep saw the Trojans in jeopardy needing 9 runs off the last over from Inderbir. Inderbir was the highest wicket taker in last year's tournament and is a tough nut to crack for any batsman. After scampering for a single of the 1st ball, Abhimanyu got run out off the 2nd ball to leave the Trojans at 8 needed of 4 balls. Harshad on strike played Mr. Cool as he picked up doubles of the 3rd, 4th and 5th ball to bring the equation down to 2 runs off the last ball. Ashish Relan ran hard with him and made sure that Harshad stayed on strike for the last ball. The 2 set off after Harshad played the ball to mid off. Rashmi got an odd bounce and fumbled, this gave the batsman ample time to sprint for the 2nd and to bring USC home. Joyous celebrations were in order as USC had dominated much of Saturday morning and were the true deserving heroes on a tricky wicket.

Earlier in the day, Prelude won the toss and decided to bat 1st. Under 19 star Ali Mukkadam and Fazal opened the innings. Jeet and Sandhu opened the proceedings for the Trojans. Sandhu sized up the pitch immediately as a few length balls rose sharply to torment the two openers. Sandhu after upsetting Fazal's confidence got the 1st breakthrough as he went through his defense to uproot the offstump. New batsman Aseem Gupta didn't last long as he was caught by Tyagi off Sandhu to leave Prelude at 30/2 in 6 overs. Nanda and Ashish replaced Jeet and Sandhu and the duo applied the brakes on the scoring as Prelude was struggling at the 12th over mark for 58 runs. Ashish finally put an end to the Manjeet's miserable innings when he cleaned him up. Manjeet scored just 8 of 16 balls. Next over he had a frustrated Ali Mukkadam swing and miss to clean up the stumps yet again. Tyagi in his short spell, removed another SCCA U-19 star Yuvraj for a duck. Prelude were 75/5 at that stage, but a courageous partnership between seasoned campaigner Inderbir and youngster Eddie gave them some hope. Lustly blows by either batsman took the mediocre looking score to some respectability against some very disciplined bowling by the Trojans.

Deepak Yadav was very sharp in the bowling and bowled an excellent last over which yielded only 3 runs. Ashish and Sandhu were the most successful bowlers picking up 2 scalps each.

With this win, the Trojans now top the table with 2 wins from 2 games. However, they most certainly have to play out of their skins to beat their nemisis "the lankan Lions" who defeated the Trojans twice last year, once in the league phase and then in the semi-finals, that too very comprehensively. However, fortune certainly favors the brave and the Trojans will not be gearing up for revenge against the Lions, who are the preseason favorites to win the Winter League trophy again this year. Good luck to the Trojans..!

For the complete scorecard please visit - http://scwlcricket.org/cricket/Scorecard.aspx?Match=16