This time no written blog only VDO blog. Check it out and decide for yourself.
Ahmed's Baazee
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4072162205419525918
For people who cannot access internally
http://agilitypanthers.blogspot.com/2007/12/ahmeds-baazee.html
Whole Batting
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2986433662495360587
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Failed Attempt of inswing yorker
:(
In the match between Acasia in the Lawson Trophy I tried to ball an inswinging yorker. A powerful delivery to have in your weaponary. Since it starts from outside off, which is always a good line. As if the ball doesn't swing in, it will be difficult to dispatch for a boundary.
Here are some words about my failed attempt.
After a dropped catch, I attempted to bowl a yorker, the batsman tried to heave it on the leg side but missed and was bowled. During the time when the next man was coming in and the umpires attempted to erect the wickets once again, I kept on shining one side of the ball. I threw the ball with seam up, but on confirmation with the keeper it didn't swing in :( I tried it again but no luck. The third ball I tried once again with the seam pointing towards the leg slip, but still no success. Anyways I would go back to learning mode to learn about inswinging yorkers. I guess I would have to increase the speed, the rip and also try to pass my bowling hand by my right thigh after the release of the ball.
Lets see how it goes.
In the match between Acasia in the Lawson Trophy I tried to ball an inswinging yorker. A powerful delivery to have in your weaponary. Since it starts from outside off, which is always a good line. As if the ball doesn't swing in, it will be difficult to dispatch for a boundary.
Here are some words about my failed attempt.
After a dropped catch, I attempted to bowl a yorker, the batsman tried to heave it on the leg side but missed and was bowled. During the time when the next man was coming in and the umpires attempted to erect the wickets once again, I kept on shining one side of the ball. I threw the ball with seam up, but on confirmation with the keeper it didn't swing in :( I tried it again but no luck. The third ball I tried once again with the seam pointing towards the leg slip, but still no success. Anyways I would go back to learning mode to learn about inswinging yorkers. I guess I would have to increase the speed, the rip and also try to pass my bowling hand by my right thigh after the release of the ball.
Lets see how it goes.
Bowling Anamoly
A very strange thing happened to me while bowling against Acasia in the Lawson Trophy match of 7th December 2007. The first ball that I was about to bowl, I went in with the intention of bowling my regular legcutter delivery in which I pitch the ball on the middle and leg and let the ball rip from my fingers with seam upright. But I had bowled against the batsman who was facing me and knew that he was good at hitting on the leg side, so I thought that I should use the crease and bowl a little wider so that the ball pitches a little outside off and moves away from the batsman.
I came to the crease, bowled from a little wide of the crease, the ball pitched as per plan but instead of moving away it came in !
The North Nazimabad ball always is fun to ball with since it will move and bounce if you want it to. I was happy to repeat the action and delivery style and kept on getting incutters to some good affect. Although I didn't get any wickets but it was a pleasure to watch. I did feel a little guilty about it since except for the line and length I was not controlling much.
But I guess this is a normal thing in cricket, since I just read about Muralitharan telling about his record breaking wicket, in which he expected the ball to go to the opposite direction. Also Wasim Akram often told about his bowling in the initial overs when he ensured that the ball falls on the seam, because if it does then it would move as per its own will. So he used to say, when even I didn't know which way the ball will go how can the batsman know.
So in the next matches I will try to keep the seam up, rip it from my fingers, control my line and length and let the ball do the talking. At least initially I will do that especially with the North Nazimabad ball.
I came to the crease, bowled from a little wide of the crease, the ball pitched as per plan but instead of moving away it came in !
The North Nazimabad ball always is fun to ball with since it will move and bounce if you want it to. I was happy to repeat the action and delivery style and kept on getting incutters to some good affect. Although I didn't get any wickets but it was a pleasure to watch. I did feel a little guilty about it since except for the line and length I was not controlling much.
But I guess this is a normal thing in cricket, since I just read about Muralitharan telling about his record breaking wicket, in which he expected the ball to go to the opposite direction. Also Wasim Akram often told about his bowling in the initial overs when he ensured that the ball falls on the seam, because if it does then it would move as per its own will. So he used to say, when even I didn't know which way the ball will go how can the batsman know.
So in the next matches I will try to keep the seam up, rip it from my fingers, control my line and length and let the ball do the talking. At least initially I will do that especially with the North Nazimabad ball.
Agility VS Acasia - Lawson Trophy
7th December 2007
The importance of first 10 overs, whether you are bowling or batting, was quite evident in today's match. Also I am sure that the satisfaction levels would be quite high since it was one of those rare occassions when we won by ourselves and not because of our guest players.
Nisar, captaining the side in Wicky's absence, won the toss and decided to bat first. Nisar and Rizwan opened the innings and with a mixture of good batting, 9 fielders and some very helpful extras, they managed to keep the run rate at above 10 runs an over. The highlight of their opening stand was that they showed responsibility realizing not only the thinness of our batting order today but also the fact that they have to score at 9 runs per over. In the first 10 overs we were 92/2, with an opening partnership of 73 runs.
Rizwan was the first to go as he tried to flick a ball on the middle stump, missed it and was adjudged LBW. Samir Bhai went in next but couldn't last long as his flick to a ball down the leg side, produced a splendid diving effort from the wicket keeper. At that time we were facing an early exposition of our tail and required someone to block an end for a few overs. Adnan was ideal in this situation. Nisar batted brilliantly as he kept up the momentum and didn't allow the run rate to fall below 9 even when two successive wickets fell and Adnan took some time settling in and trying desperately to connect his flicks.
Nisar was stumped at a vital phase and cost us to forget about a 200+ score. In the end he batted responsibly scoring 55 runs off 32 balls with 7 boundaries.
Ahmed went in next with the mission to prove his critics (including me) wrong that he can bat for more than 3 overs without a runner :) He started off confidently, hitting boundaries at will. His towering six was a splendid sight. In the end he scored 34 runs with 4 boundaries and a six. Incidently from 20 balls which is roughly 3.2 overs ;) Anyways, if it wasn't for the confusion that resulted in his run out, I am sure he would have batted till the end.
Amir Bhai joined Ahmed as Adnan got out after scoring 23 runs off 27 balls having completed the crucial job of preserving an end to prevent wickets tumbling like a pack of cards.
Soon after Adnan departed Amir Bhai got involved in a mix up with Ahmed and came back in order to give Ahmed a chance to stay longer. The fielding team protested that Ahmed was run out instead of Amir Bhai and the umpires agreed and Amir Bhai was called back. Anyways Amir Bhai didn't hang about as well and much to the dismay of the fielding team scored 21 runs off 11 balls with 2 boundaries. Anees Bhai joined Amir Bhai after Ahmed departed and didn't manage to reach the high standards which he has set for the all the batsmen on the planet. He got out bowled after scoring 1 run from 2 balls.
I joined Amir Bhai and realized the importance of having not only a flick in one's batting armory but also loads of stamina. Running 2 runs creeps the energy out of you and when having to run 3 of those in a row you would wish to be in pavilion rather than being in the middle. But stamina it seems is not the absence of weakness but rather the realization of the fact that there is something more important than weakness. Ha ha ha don't raise your eye brows, I read it somewhere about courage and fear and made some minor changes.
In the end delaying tactics by the fielding team helped them as the match was reduced to 22 overs.
The score was 195 in 22 overs, which showed responsibility on the part of our batsmen and to some extent benefit derived from extras.
Anees Bhai and I started off the bowling. The attack burst was quite good as we didn't allow them to go above 5 runs per over. Bowling with the Pakistani ball is always great as the seams stays up and you are able to apply greater number of revolutions on the ball which are necessary for seam movement and bounce. Anees Bhai was unlucky as a straight forward caught behind was not given by the umpire. But he did manage to perform his role of an attacking fast bowler by not giving any boundaries. With some good keeping from Rizwan we ensured that no freebies were given to the batsmen. We did manage a run out in my over though. All in all the attack of the first 6 overs was quite important in keeping the opposition in check and not letting their batting get away with a flying start.
Nisar and Ahmed were the next change and they kept up the pressure on the batting team by taking wickets and not giving any free hits, though Ahmed's 3rd over was a bit expensive. Nisar took a wicket in his first over as Rizwan took a very good catch. In the first 10 overs we restricted them to 50/4
An interesting thing to share with you guys. Last time we faced this team, one of their batsmen got run out which he claimed was not out and another claim of his (it seemed that he had a claim bazaar) that if he was still in the crease he would have finished the match by now. I was amazed and asked him that would he have ran out his whole team to finish the match so quickly? He said that he would have chased 260 runs in 23 overs! Well today when he came to the crease and hit a long boundary off Nisar's bowling, he did look a bit dangerous since we didn't have the comfort of 260 runs. A boundary off Ahmed's bowling (after a dropped catch though) was alarming as well, but the way he was playing I knew he couldn't last long. Ahmed ensured that and in the very next ball he clean bowled him. A whole essay full of sledging material came to my mind but I saved it up from some other day.
Some very good bowling changes from Nisar ensured that the pressure remained on their batting and their bid for launching an onslaught, which might have been successful given that their opening batsman was still on the crease, was made more difficult.
In the end Samir Bhai, Shiva, Khurram and Imran bowled a few overs. Samir Bhai was his usual threatening self, while Shiva was a bit way ward in his line and gave away some extras by throwing wides down the leg side. Khurram was very unlucky as 2 chances were dropped off his bowling. Him and Junaid have yet to open their account of wickets mainly because of dropped catches.
Which brings me to the subject of dropped catches. In all there were around 9-11 dropped catches. The dropped catches were a mixture of various errors which we committed, which included most prominently,
1. Not looking at the ball till the last moment.
2. Not closing our hands when the ball hits the palm. (I did this and that too off my own bowling).
3. Being scared of the ball and moving back.
The ground fielding was good and we managed about 2 run outs and stopped some boundaries. But over throws were inexcuseable. Over throws usually result when there is no proper backing up. The fielder responsible for backing up should immediately align himself with the throw as if there is no keeper or bowler standing.
In the end it was a well deserved win as we played intelligently and most importantly things went as per plan. A round of applause for Nisar for a win in his first match as captain. Hopefully we would keep the intensity and the attendance :) to win this cup.
Batting ScoreCard
Nisar: 55(32) 7x4 0x6
Rizwan 15(11) 1x4 0x6
Samir: 1(2) 0x4 0x6
Adnan 23(27) 0x4 0x6
Ahmed: 34(2) 4x4 1x6
Amir: 21(11) 2x4 0x6
Anees: 1(2) 0x4 0x6
Amad: 4(?) 0x4 0x6
Bowling ScoreCard (unofficial)
Anees 0 Wickets
Amad 1 Wicket
Nisar 2 Wicket
Ahmed 1 Wicket
Samir 1 Wicket
Shiva 0 Wicket
Khurram 0 Wickets
Imran 0 Wickets
Kindly correct the bowling since I am sure I might have missed out a few here and there.
Nisar, captaining the side in Wicky's absence, won the toss and decided to bat first. Nisar and Rizwan opened the innings and with a mixture of good batting, 9 fielders and some very helpful extras, they managed to keep the run rate at above 10 runs an over. The highlight of their opening stand was that they showed responsibility realizing not only the thinness of our batting order today but also the fact that they have to score at 9 runs per over. In the first 10 overs we were 92/2, with an opening partnership of 73 runs.
Rizwan was the first to go as he tried to flick a ball on the middle stump, missed it and was adjudged LBW. Samir Bhai went in next but couldn't last long as his flick to a ball down the leg side, produced a splendid diving effort from the wicket keeper. At that time we were facing an early exposition of our tail and required someone to block an end for a few overs. Adnan was ideal in this situation. Nisar batted brilliantly as he kept up the momentum and didn't allow the run rate to fall below 9 even when two successive wickets fell and Adnan took some time settling in and trying desperately to connect his flicks.
Nisar was stumped at a vital phase and cost us to forget about a 200+ score. In the end he batted responsibly scoring 55 runs off 32 balls with 7 boundaries.
Ahmed went in next with the mission to prove his critics (including me) wrong that he can bat for more than 3 overs without a runner :) He started off confidently, hitting boundaries at will. His towering six was a splendid sight. In the end he scored 34 runs with 4 boundaries and a six. Incidently from 20 balls which is roughly 3.2 overs ;) Anyways, if it wasn't for the confusion that resulted in his run out, I am sure he would have batted till the end.
Amir Bhai joined Ahmed as Adnan got out after scoring 23 runs off 27 balls having completed the crucial job of preserving an end to prevent wickets tumbling like a pack of cards.
Soon after Adnan departed Amir Bhai got involved in a mix up with Ahmed and came back in order to give Ahmed a chance to stay longer. The fielding team protested that Ahmed was run out instead of Amir Bhai and the umpires agreed and Amir Bhai was called back. Anyways Amir Bhai didn't hang about as well and much to the dismay of the fielding team scored 21 runs off 11 balls with 2 boundaries. Anees Bhai joined Amir Bhai after Ahmed departed and didn't manage to reach the high standards which he has set for the all the batsmen on the planet. He got out bowled after scoring 1 run from 2 balls.
I joined Amir Bhai and realized the importance of having not only a flick in one's batting armory but also loads of stamina. Running 2 runs creeps the energy out of you and when having to run 3 of those in a row you would wish to be in pavilion rather than being in the middle. But stamina it seems is not the absence of weakness but rather the realization of the fact that there is something more important than weakness. Ha ha ha don't raise your eye brows, I read it somewhere about courage and fear and made some minor changes.
In the end delaying tactics by the fielding team helped them as the match was reduced to 22 overs.
The score was 195 in 22 overs, which showed responsibility on the part of our batsmen and to some extent benefit derived from extras.
Anees Bhai and I started off the bowling. The attack burst was quite good as we didn't allow them to go above 5 runs per over. Bowling with the Pakistani ball is always great as the seams stays up and you are able to apply greater number of revolutions on the ball which are necessary for seam movement and bounce. Anees Bhai was unlucky as a straight forward caught behind was not given by the umpire. But he did manage to perform his role of an attacking fast bowler by not giving any boundaries. With some good keeping from Rizwan we ensured that no freebies were given to the batsmen. We did manage a run out in my over though. All in all the attack of the first 6 overs was quite important in keeping the opposition in check and not letting their batting get away with a flying start.
Nisar and Ahmed were the next change and they kept up the pressure on the batting team by taking wickets and not giving any free hits, though Ahmed's 3rd over was a bit expensive. Nisar took a wicket in his first over as Rizwan took a very good catch. In the first 10 overs we restricted them to 50/4
An interesting thing to share with you guys. Last time we faced this team, one of their batsmen got run out which he claimed was not out and another claim of his (it seemed that he had a claim bazaar) that if he was still in the crease he would have finished the match by now. I was amazed and asked him that would he have ran out his whole team to finish the match so quickly? He said that he would have chased 260 runs in 23 overs! Well today when he came to the crease and hit a long boundary off Nisar's bowling, he did look a bit dangerous since we didn't have the comfort of 260 runs. A boundary off Ahmed's bowling (after a dropped catch though) was alarming as well, but the way he was playing I knew he couldn't last long. Ahmed ensured that and in the very next ball he clean bowled him. A whole essay full of sledging material came to my mind but I saved it up from some other day.
Some very good bowling changes from Nisar ensured that the pressure remained on their batting and their bid for launching an onslaught, which might have been successful given that their opening batsman was still on the crease, was made more difficult.
In the end Samir Bhai, Shiva, Khurram and Imran bowled a few overs. Samir Bhai was his usual threatening self, while Shiva was a bit way ward in his line and gave away some extras by throwing wides down the leg side. Khurram was very unlucky as 2 chances were dropped off his bowling. Him and Junaid have yet to open their account of wickets mainly because of dropped catches.
Which brings me to the subject of dropped catches. In all there were around 9-11 dropped catches. The dropped catches were a mixture of various errors which we committed, which included most prominently,
1. Not looking at the ball till the last moment.
2. Not closing our hands when the ball hits the palm. (I did this and that too off my own bowling).
3. Being scared of the ball and moving back.
The ground fielding was good and we managed about 2 run outs and stopped some boundaries. But over throws were inexcuseable. Over throws usually result when there is no proper backing up. The fielder responsible for backing up should immediately align himself with the throw as if there is no keeper or bowler standing.
In the end it was a well deserved win as we played intelligently and most importantly things went as per plan. A round of applause for Nisar for a win in his first match as captain. Hopefully we would keep the intensity and the attendance :) to win this cup.
Batting ScoreCard
Nisar: 55(32) 7x4 0x6
Rizwan 15(11) 1x4 0x6
Samir: 1(2) 0x4 0x6
Adnan 23(27) 0x4 0x6
Ahmed: 34(2) 4x4 1x6
Amir: 21(11) 2x4 0x6
Anees: 1(2) 0x4 0x6
Amad: 4(?) 0x4 0x6
Bowling ScoreCard (unofficial)
Anees 0 Wickets
Amad 1 Wicket
Nisar 2 Wicket
Ahmed 1 Wicket
Samir 1 Wicket
Shiva 0 Wicket
Khurram 0 Wickets
Imran 0 Wickets
Kindly correct the bowling since I am sure I might have missed out a few here and there.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Almost Lost It!!!
Serious thinking would be required to find out why we came so close to lose a match in which the required run rate for our opponents was more than 10 runs per over.
The tournament was out of our hands so the Captain Wicky made a strategy on popular demand, to give proper chances to everyone. Rizwan, Adnan and Bilal are to be tried up the order. And Ahmed, Amir Bhai and Junaid Bhai will be tried out in bowling more regularly. More over Bilal would be tried in Wicket Keeping, which was not to be in the current match.
Since the tournament committee didn't arrive therefore, we started a friendly match of 16 overs with our opponents. We were to bat first, therefore Rizwan and Nisar opened the batting. Rizwan got out early while trying to drag a ball from outside his off stump towards leg side, only to put the ball up in the air for an easy catch on the on side. Adnan failed to impress while trying to clear the inner field. Bilal went in next and place a few balls for singles but missed a straight yorker and was out bowled. Sameer Bhai went in next and alongwith Nisar built a match saving partnership. Both batsmen scored their 50s in good time. Aided by sometimes lose deliveries, they maintained a healthy scoring rate of 8-9 runs per over.
The bowling team also lacked penetration as they kept on experimenting with slow spinners, which was ideal for Sameer Bhai especially, as he cut and pulled for boundaries and also a huge six between long on and square leg. A little late but a welcome change for the bowling team was when they brought in a fast medium bowler who saw 2 wickets in his first 2 deliveries and he got the wickets of both Sameer Bhai and Nisar.
This was the ideal platform for Wicky and Ahmed to go in and start hitting boundaries from the word go. Ahmed couldn't last long, but Wicky kept up the good work, with not only strong shots but also hard running between the wickets.
We set a target of 171 runs in 16 overs for our opponents, which was a very good target. The highlights of our batting were responsible innings from three of our main batsmen Nisar, Sameer Bhai and Waqar.
Our bowling started with Anees Bhai and Waqar, who bowled well but only too rarely. Some shabby keeping from Rizwan didn't help either. The batting team kept on scoring at a comfortable rate of 10 or more runs per over, without giving any chances. Amir Bhai was the first change and he bowled a good first over. Sameer Bhai came in from the other end and tried to control the scoring rate, but both were not able to find wickets.
By the 8th over the opening batsmen were so set that they were pulling almost every ball quite effectively. Almost all the bowlers tried after that, were hit for a considerable amount of runs. Till Bilal was brought in, in the 13th over. He bowled his slow loopy deliveries not giving any speed to utilize. The batsmen had to find the power within to hit boundaries and by the 13th over, they were so tired that they didn't have any power whatsoever. Hence they gave the first chance on Bilal's bowling as a catch went straight to Anees Bhai, but was dropped.
The things proceeded with some hard shots from the batsmen and good fielding from us on the boundaries under trying conditions. Then came the last over with 9 runs required from it. A gettable score seeing that the openers were still playing. After a little discussion, the ball was tossed to Nisar to keep it as slow as possible. Well due to five slow loopy deliveries and some excellent and presence of mind kind of work from both Nisar and Rizwan, they lost 4 wickets and required 5 runs from the last ball.
The match was definitely not over.
The Last Ball
Nisar comes in, bowls a slow loopy delivery outside the off stump, the batsman smashes it over the covers, the ball is going straight to Amir Bhai, every one has their hearts in their mouths, ooo he drops the catch, the batsmen are running, they need 4 runs to tie the match, the ball is going towards the boundary, Amir Bhai fields the ball and throws it straight to the bowler, the batsmen are completing the 3rd run, there is a fumble, the batsmen are running for the 4th now. Rizwan gathers the ball and crashes it into the wickets. And there is huge cry of achievement from Rizwan, announcing that we have won the match.
We win, we win by 1 run.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The good was keeping our nerves under control and fighting till the end. Sameer Bhai who scored a 50 and bowled 4 cheap overs. Nisar who scored a 50 and bowled a good last over.
The bad was a mini top order collapse and Rizwan's keeping from which he recovered quite well and just in time.
The ugly, this was not a tournament match and hence would have been ideal to improve our tournament record.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Resilience Gives Us a Memorable Win
The tournament becomes open for us as we get our first win in the tournament.
Under the absence of our 3 main players Nisar, Amir Bhai and most importantly our captain Waqar, we knew we had to produce something out of our skins (both on and off the field) to keep ourselves in the tournament. Still trying to find our winning 11 after the going away of Sajid and Qadeer, we were hit by the vacation plans of Nisar and Waqar and injury of Amir bhai. Moreover towards the end of the weekend we found out that Abdullah was also not available because of his professional committments. Therefore we were short of 4 of our main players.
The first game of the tournament was not good for us as we lost with 7-8 overs remaining in the presence of our full 11. Therefore we knew that we had to find suitable replacements and the last 2 weeks saw frantic efforts from Bilal and me to create a solid line up. All efforts seemed to be failiing when finally Bilal with his brilliant PR skills (batting main bad patch hua to kya hua), managed to find 2 replacements. All thanks to Bilal and Abdullah for arranging for us two of his team mates in the senior league. Adnan, Khurram and Manoj came in to complete the 11.
The absence of Wicky meant that I was going to captain and hence felt the best way to go about in the current scenario is to attack with both bat and ball. We won the toss and decided to bat first.
Bilal was sent in because of experience as an opener alongwith Ahmed to utilize the 6 overs fielding restrictions. Bilal started confidently with a solid back foot defensive shot a little wide of point, but didn't follow up his solid shot with solid running. The fielder realizing his slackness threw to his 'non danger' end and got a direct hit to get him run out on the first ball. This put pressure on us from the word go since we anticipated Bilal to give a solid foundation while Ahmed took some chances. Anyways doing nothing for 19.5 overs is enough punishment, and hopefully he would make up for his missed chance, in the coming games.
Second in was our first guest player Mithun, who delighted all of us with his brilliant strokes taking maximum advantage of the fielding restrictions. Meanwhile Ahmed gave him a good hand and never wasted an opportunity to score. They both maintained a run rate of 9-10 runs per over, which was exactly what was required in the scenario.
Seeing Ahmed and Mithun's expertise in handling the quicker bowlers, the captain decided to bring in spinners. This was a good change for them since Mithun fell. Sameer bhai went in next and couldn't utilize his potential with the bat to the fullest. The idea was right to play over the fielders, and to some extent it succeeded as well but for the brilliant running back catch. Next in was Rizwan who showed his good placement skills for a boundary to the third man. But he couldn't last long as well, since on the next ball he tried to place the ball on the leg but couldn't put bat to ball and was found LBW. We were really reeling with these sudden fall of wickets. Adnan was next in to try and halt our descent into the dark abyss, and give Ahmed the much needed space to free up his arms. But Adnan couldn't manage it, as he played on.
This completed our middle order collapse and we had lost half of our team for something around 80. Ahmed was playing brilliantly at the other end and digging deep into his stamina reserves, but wasn't able to find a reliable partner. Defeat was staring us in our faces and I was already seeing the helpless side of captaincy. The plan from there onwards was to get maximum runs. Raju our second guest player was sent in, whom I thought was a lower order batsman. But his batting suggested otherwise.
A good partnership till the 15th over, resulted between him and Ahmed and both started scoring freely. Moreso Raju started hitting sixes at his leisure. He was confident enough to state that we will get 50 runs from the last 4 overs. He utilized his height to the fullest and stood tall to hit large elegant sixes to achieve his target.
This continued till around the 15th over. Ahmed, realizing the safety zone that the team was in at the moment, started taking a few risks for the team and played his first rash stroke by jumping out of the crease. He missed the line of the ball and was out stumped.
This brought us to the lower order. Amongst the lower order Anees Bhai played brilliantly and gave able support to Raju.
We did get 50 from the last 4 overs, infact more than 50 as the score was pushed near the comforts of 200. 200 would have been impossible had it not been for the 9th wicket partnership of Anees Bhai and Khurram. Anees Bhai tried to spank the bowlers and whenever he did get contact, it landed out of or close to the boundary line. Khurram also got around 11-12 runs for the team. First, by 'deliberately' missing the ball, which the keeper missed as well and it hit the keeper's helmet, getting us 5 runs. And second, by placing (err edging) the ball to the third man boundary. As they say, at this point time, you take runs as they come.
In the end we set a stiff but chaseable target of 211 runs to Star 11.
The horrors of the first tournament match was still in my mind when our opponents got 180 in around 12 overs. And hence our top priority was to attack and try and get wickets.
Anees Bhai and Mithun bowled the first overs. Few chances went down in the attack burst and the most to suffer was Mithun. Bilal dropped a sky high catch off Anees Bhai's bowling. These catches are never easy since the higher they go, the more succumb they become to winds. Raju dropped a sitter as well, probably not realizing the speed of the ball. Finally we got our first wicket with a catch in covers off the bowling of Mithun. Anees Bhai proved expensive in his second over with around 18 runs coming off it. Their batting was looking confident enough to get to the target.
We decided to change bowlers and I set the criteria to rest a bowler whenever he went for a few runs. A partnership developed between their opener and 1 down, and they started getting runs almost at leisure. The fielding restrictions were over but they still were managing to find a boundary or two. As per Bilal's timely suggestion, we introduced spin of Sameer Bhai, to try and unsettle them. Unsettled they did become, as Sameer Bhai bowled a tight line and didn't give any freebies. Raju got the important wicket for us in the very next over, with a great catch from Khurram in the slips. The ball was not travelling fast, but one has to control his fits when an important catch is coming towards him. Khurram controlled that magnificiently and took the catch tumbling down.
The next batsman didn't look convincing enough to me, so we decided to bring back Mithun in place of Sameer Bhai to try and unsettle him and get his wicket. Mithun responded magnificiently by getting us more than we expected i.e. the wicket of the set batsman.
Star 11, was down but not out, and hence we didn't want to give them any breathing space. In the next overs few bowlers were rotated, so that they are not given any chance to get a revival. Sameer Bhai responded magnificiently and took 3 wickets for us. In his last overs the bastmen did find runs from him behind the wicket and I am sure he would include that in his data bank, next time he comes in to bowl. Anees Bhai took a wicket as well in his second spell, shunning down the chances of any resistance.
Some lessons that we learned are
1. We have to improve our running between the wickets and must practice the standards of calling, relying on our partner if its his call and relaxing only after we complete our run.
2. Not to underestimate the benefits of nets and if possible arrange one every week. This would give us the chance of developing new deliveries and practice shots on which we got out. Also this keeps our lower batting order especially of Anees Bhai and me, to get a chance of middling the ball and hence contribute with the bat whenever the situation demands it.
3. Our keeper should close hands after the ball is in his gloves :)
4. We must control our emotions on the field. Offering a suggestion while pointing the mistake or just a suggestion without pointing the mistake can result in a much more improved performance.
5. Every bowler should know the areas where he can get scored off and where catches can land. He should place fielders accordingly as per their skill levels.
6. Plan and Utilize the first 6 overs.
7. Everyone should concentrate on their individual games and how to improve their skills with each match.
8. One must respect the senior players and learn from their experience, even if they are scolding or critical of you.
In the end I would like to thank Manoj for coming and would like to tell him that whenever I thought about giving him the next over, we went for plenty of runs in the current over. So I had to bring someone who can reverse the tide for us.
Finally I would like thank everyone for putting up with me for this match and responding positively and giving me their 100%. The tournament is open for us. We have to learn from our mistakes, respond to our captain Wicky's game plan and take our games to the next level. We have to win this tournament.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Winning is sweet but Revenge is Sweeter!
Our day started, this time, on the field trying to open our arms, practicing catch, warming up and middling. On seeing the team whom we were pitted against, our motivation to win increased further. It was the same team who had hit us a score of 300+ runs when the odds were heavily in their favor. This time the battle was even steven and we wanted to show them who they playing against.
We batted first and Nisar alongwith our guest player Amir, gave us a good start, with both batsmen taking chances and hitting boundaries in each over. Nisar was given a life and this time decided to make most out of it by scoring his and the team's highest score. Too bad he missed the century by 12 runs. At the other end Amir made the most of his height and pulled fericiously for boundaries and sixes. His boundaries at long on were a treat as well. Nisar was the first to cross 50 and Amir followed soon. Amir was the first to go, with a catch on the boundary, which was rather a lesson on how to catch a fly.
Wicky joined Nisar and didn't want to spoil the good work started by the openers and tried to force the pace.He couldn't last long and was out caught on the boundary. Nisar at that time would have been finding batting real hard and standing in the crease real difficult, but the good thing was that he didn't throw his wicket away and managed to find boundaries almost at will. Qadeer Bhai came in and initially didn't manage to find the middle of his bat a lesson for all the batsmen to practice on middling before every match. But a good bat that he is, he did manage to find it eventually and hit some good boundaries as well. Nisar while trying to keep the score flowing, was caught on the boundary and Ahmed went in next. He did hit a boundary but then was run out in the most strangest of circumstances. He was either trying to save himself from the throw (his version) or wasn't able to balance himself and was out of the crease (other's version). Bilal went in next and hit a boundary on the first ball, he looks good batting lower down the order, with the ball not swinging that much. Eventually we reached a formidable score of around 240 runs.
Anees Bhai and Sajjad Bhai started the bowling, with Anees Bhai keeping it tight. Sajjad Bhai was good as well but the batsmen did manage to find boundaries here and there. Anees Bhai took the first wicket with a good high catch from Nisar fielding at Mid Off. The 7 over attack by both of them, kept the run rate at around 6-7 which was just what was required. Amir bowled the first change and due to his height found bounce from the word go, which was a bit scary for both the keeper and the batsman. He kept the batsmen in check and took 2 wickets in his last over.
Amir Bhai came in the end as well and took a wicket off a good catch from Qadeer Bhai.
In the end the score was too high and with the good attack burst, the match was out of their hand. In the end it was just about keeping the pressure on the batsmen and raising their margin of defeat.
One last note, the captain did the wicket keeping for the first 10 or so overs. And did a good job at it. Since particularly Amir's rising deliveries were quite difficult to keep on. But he didn't keep on spinners so can't rate his keeping too high at this point in time. Since that would be the ultimate test.
We batted first and Nisar alongwith our guest player Amir, gave us a good start, with both batsmen taking chances and hitting boundaries in each over. Nisar was given a life and this time decided to make most out of it by scoring his and the team's highest score. Too bad he missed the century by 12 runs. At the other end Amir made the most of his height and pulled fericiously for boundaries and sixes. His boundaries at long on were a treat as well. Nisar was the first to cross 50 and Amir followed soon. Amir was the first to go, with a catch on the boundary, which was rather a lesson on how to catch a fly.
Wicky joined Nisar and didn't want to spoil the good work started by the openers and tried to force the pace.He couldn't last long and was out caught on the boundary. Nisar at that time would have been finding batting real hard and standing in the crease real difficult, but the good thing was that he didn't throw his wicket away and managed to find boundaries almost at will. Qadeer Bhai came in and initially didn't manage to find the middle of his bat a lesson for all the batsmen to practice on middling before every match. But a good bat that he is, he did manage to find it eventually and hit some good boundaries as well. Nisar while trying to keep the score flowing, was caught on the boundary and Ahmed went in next. He did hit a boundary but then was run out in the most strangest of circumstances. He was either trying to save himself from the throw (his version) or wasn't able to balance himself and was out of the crease (other's version). Bilal went in next and hit a boundary on the first ball, he looks good batting lower down the order, with the ball not swinging that much. Eventually we reached a formidable score of around 240 runs.
Anees Bhai and Sajjad Bhai started the bowling, with Anees Bhai keeping it tight. Sajjad Bhai was good as well but the batsmen did manage to find boundaries here and there. Anees Bhai took the first wicket with a good high catch from Nisar fielding at Mid Off. The 7 over attack by both of them, kept the run rate at around 6-7 which was just what was required. Amir bowled the first change and due to his height found bounce from the word go, which was a bit scary for both the keeper and the batsman. He kept the batsmen in check and took 2 wickets in his last over.
Amir Bhai came in the end as well and took a wicket off a good catch from Qadeer Bhai.
In the end the score was too high and with the good attack burst, the match was out of their hand. In the end it was just about keeping the pressure on the batsmen and raising their margin of defeat.
One last note, the captain did the wicket keeping for the first 10 or so overs. And did a good job at it. Since particularly Amir's rising deliveries were quite difficult to keep on. But he didn't keep on spinners so can't rate his keeping too high at this point in time. Since that would be the ultimate test.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Disgraceful Beginning and a Disgraceful End
I was thinking that instead of writing a match report, I should be writing a get together party report, since that would be most appropriate. ;)
Our typical day starts with half of our team in Jaguar Beauty parlour applying creams on their faces, rather than warming up and practicing. If things keep on going like this, I believe that very soon some padicure, manicure and facial services will be launched as well. Its quite ironic that instead of batting and bowling averages we worry more about maintaining the color of our face and instead of trying concentrating on the ball during fielding we concentrate on how to save our nails!
The match was played with Casuals whom we defeated by 70 runs last time. I think over confidence might have been our undoing this time as Casuals, taking the benefit of our 'casual' approach to the match, defeated us by 9 wickets with 8 overs to spare!
Nisar and Wicky opened the innings for us and Wicky started off confidently with a powerful pull to get him his first boundary. He seems to have all the shots in the book and one waits for a big innings. He couldn't last long as an opener since he edged a delivery and it went straight to his face probably scratching his nose. The impact would have been much worse then it looked since he wasn't able to continue and decided to send in Bilal. Nisar was not his usual self as well. He was not able to time his favourite cut shot and was dropped in the covers. He was not able to cash on the life given to him, and was bowled in the same over.
Our typical day starts with half of our team in Jaguar Beauty parlour applying creams on their faces, rather than warming up and practicing. If things keep on going like this, I believe that very soon some padicure, manicure and facial services will be launched as well. Its quite ironic that instead of batting and bowling averages we worry more about maintaining the color of our face and instead of trying concentrating on the ball during fielding we concentrate on how to save our nails!
The match was played with Casuals whom we defeated by 70 runs last time. I think over confidence might have been our undoing this time as Casuals, taking the benefit of our 'casual' approach to the match, defeated us by 9 wickets with 8 overs to spare!
Nisar and Wicky opened the innings for us and Wicky started off confidently with a powerful pull to get him his first boundary. He seems to have all the shots in the book and one waits for a big innings. He couldn't last long as an opener since he edged a delivery and it went straight to his face probably scratching his nose. The impact would have been much worse then it looked since he wasn't able to continue and decided to send in Bilal. Nisar was not his usual self as well. He was not able to time his favourite cut shot and was dropped in the covers. He was not able to cash on the life given to him, and was bowled in the same over.
Sameer Bhai came in next and together with Bilal tried to build a innings. Bilal looked scratchy to say the least and fidgeted around in the crease with minimum impact. Sameer Bhai was slower than usual as well and their partnership was sucidal for us. In the first 8 overs we only had around 40 runs on the board. Bilal tried to up the run rate but of the first aggressive shot he played he was out caught 15 meters inside the boundary. Qadeer Bhai went in next and initited his classy shots from the word go. He hit 4 boundaries in the first over he faced. Sameer Bhai took a leaf from his book and hit splendid boundaries as well. In those 3 overs we had 43 runs.
Incidently due to the slow start it was now clear that we needed a run rate of 15 runs per over to reach the fighting total of 200 runs.
As usually is the case in such a scenario wickets started to tumble. Qadeer Bhai went after a splendid catch on the boundary. Sameer Bhai, Wicky, Amir Bhai, Ahmed and Rizwan all went quickly with few boundaries here and there. In the end Sajjad Bhai provided a bit of resistance and we dragged our way to 160.
If we had a chance of defending this score we needed top class bowling and fielding right from the first ball. Anees Bhai bowled the first over and kept the runs under 8. Wicky took the new ball to utilize his experience of playing with Casuals. But the benefit was mutual and their batsmen hit him freely. Anees Bhai's next over saw 3 boundaries and a very easy chance was dropped on the boundary by Ahmed. He either misjudged, was quite lethargic to come forward and take the catch or wasn't expecting the catch at all.
I guess the only solution to this is that we all must keep on watching the batsman right from the time the bowler starts his runup. This I believe could resolve almost all of our judgement problems.
Almost all bowlers were tried, Nisar was brought in early as well, but none seemed to make any difference. The shabby fielding display didn't help either and as many as 4 chances went down including a stumping. In the end they raced to the target of 160 in 12 overs.
Its one all with Casuals now. And we need our best performance next time we face them. We also need a bit of practice before we go in so that some of our out of form batsmen regain their form.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Came close and ...
... went through.
Man I waited so long to write the second line :)
Losing without a fight is like a punch on your face, losing by coming close creates a bit more discontent by the multitude of 'if-onlys' travelling in your nerves and making your 'Bhaija Fry'. While Winning because of an individual is good for the individual himself its winning as a team which has the greatest feeling of all. Everyone showing committment no matter what his skill level might be, backing each other up, sharing what to dos and how to dos, enjoying each other's success, giving a lending hand when someone is down and in the end enjoying the win together and relishing the moments and possibilities to come. Its probably today that we have realized to the fullest that a good team is the one, which is a team. Because we won as a team.
This time we batted first.
Batting
Although we lost a wicket a early and Bilal, our next man in, took some time to find his groove, but because of Nisar's splendid batting, the rot started (for the other team, which is a welcome new development) right from the start. In this match Nisar and Sameer Bhai opened the innings. Sameer Bhai went early as he played the ball a little early only to find a edge to the keeper. He faced 2 balls and scored 1 run. Bilal went in at number 3, his highest position after such a long time. While walking in he must have known that in a team with such a long batting line up nobody likes a show stopper. Thus he not only had to get in quickly but also had to fight the worst demon of all which goes by the name 'What if I fail'. Although he was not able to fire all cylinders from the word go but he did manage to keep giving the strike back to Nisar, who went about his business as usual. Nisar started from where he left off in the last match and scored another fifty for us, more importantly giving us a very solid start. His powerful cut shots three of which went for sixes, looked like he is slashing a sword rather than a bat. I am sure the bowlers who suffered at his hands, would have thought the same. He made 53 off 29 deliveries with three sixes and 4 boundaries.
At the other end Bilal took a few pages off Nisar's book and seemed to be finding his rhythm. But as is usually the case with him, he got too confident and tried to mimic Inzamam, when he came down the pitch on the first ball he faced from the spinner. Inzamam usually hits it for a six while Bilal got out stumped. He made 13 off 11 balls with 2 boundaries. Qadeer Bhai our guest player for today, went in next and made batting look so easy that even I thought that I can score a 25 ball 50! He made 68 off 31 deliveries with 3 towering sixes and five boundaries. He got a few chances but in the end he made the most of them.
Rizwan came in after Nisar got out and his weakness of spin deliveries was exposed. But with Qadeer Bhai playing so well at the other end, he had time to settle in. I think Rizwan can do well to realize that on cement pitches he won't be finding big spinners. This allows the batsmen to safely hit through the line or even across the line, as if the ball is just a slow straight delivery.
Knowing well that there was still plenty of batting to come and playing for the team, he decided that he can take a few risks and took a back lift to hit a lovely boundary off his legs. He didn't last long after that as he got run out while trying to steal a single right under the bowler's nose. He made 15 runs off 16 deliveries with 1 boundary. Wicky came in next after Qadeer Bhai and Ahmed came in after Rizwan. Both came almost together to the crease. Ahmed and Wicky's partnership is something which we all enjoy not only in anticipation of the free hitting which both are capable of, but also of the gimmicks going on in the centre. Ahmed trying his best to convince his Captain with his shots, while Captain trying his best to make Ahmed run as fast as he can and as often as he can.
Our last three batsmen, Wicky, Ahmed and Sajjad Bhai gave a splendid batting display by taking the match well into the comfort zone for us. They scored 55 runs off 27 balls with 1 six and 6 boundaries, and a whole lot of fast running ;)
Bowling
The score was a huge one for any team and we had comfort in the knowledge that just a few good overs can secure the match for us. Once we came in the field we did realize that due to the size of the ground there were a lot of huge gaps for the batsmen and we just had an advantage of maximum 20 runs.
Man I waited so long to write the second line :)
Losing without a fight is like a punch on your face, losing by coming close creates a bit more discontent by the multitude of 'if-onlys' travelling in your nerves and making your 'Bhaija Fry'. While Winning because of an individual is good for the individual himself its winning as a team which has the greatest feeling of all. Everyone showing committment no matter what his skill level might be, backing each other up, sharing what to dos and how to dos, enjoying each other's success, giving a lending hand when someone is down and in the end enjoying the win together and relishing the moments and possibilities to come. Its probably today that we have realized to the fullest that a good team is the one, which is a team. Because we won as a team.
This time we batted first.
Batting
Although we lost a wicket a early and Bilal, our next man in, took some time to find his groove, but because of Nisar's splendid batting, the rot started (for the other team, which is a welcome new development) right from the start. In this match Nisar and Sameer Bhai opened the innings. Sameer Bhai went early as he played the ball a little early only to find a edge to the keeper. He faced 2 balls and scored 1 run. Bilal went in at number 3, his highest position after such a long time. While walking in he must have known that in a team with such a long batting line up nobody likes a show stopper. Thus he not only had to get in quickly but also had to fight the worst demon of all which goes by the name 'What if I fail'. Although he was not able to fire all cylinders from the word go but he did manage to keep giving the strike back to Nisar, who went about his business as usual. Nisar started from where he left off in the last match and scored another fifty for us, more importantly giving us a very solid start. His powerful cut shots three of which went for sixes, looked like he is slashing a sword rather than a bat. I am sure the bowlers who suffered at his hands, would have thought the same. He made 53 off 29 deliveries with three sixes and 4 boundaries.
At the other end Bilal took a few pages off Nisar's book and seemed to be finding his rhythm. But as is usually the case with him, he got too confident and tried to mimic Inzamam, when he came down the pitch on the first ball he faced from the spinner. Inzamam usually hits it for a six while Bilal got out stumped. He made 13 off 11 balls with 2 boundaries. Qadeer Bhai our guest player for today, went in next and made batting look so easy that even I thought that I can score a 25 ball 50! He made 68 off 31 deliveries with 3 towering sixes and five boundaries. He got a few chances but in the end he made the most of them.
Rizwan came in after Nisar got out and his weakness of spin deliveries was exposed. But with Qadeer Bhai playing so well at the other end, he had time to settle in. I think Rizwan can do well to realize that on cement pitches he won't be finding big spinners. This allows the batsmen to safely hit through the line or even across the line, as if the ball is just a slow straight delivery.
Knowing well that there was still plenty of batting to come and playing for the team, he decided that he can take a few risks and took a back lift to hit a lovely boundary off his legs. He didn't last long after that as he got run out while trying to steal a single right under the bowler's nose. He made 15 runs off 16 deliveries with 1 boundary. Wicky came in next after Qadeer Bhai and Ahmed came in after Rizwan. Both came almost together to the crease. Ahmed and Wicky's partnership is something which we all enjoy not only in anticipation of the free hitting which both are capable of, but also of the gimmicks going on in the centre. Ahmed trying his best to convince his Captain with his shots, while Captain trying his best to make Ahmed run as fast as he can and as often as he can.
Our last three batsmen, Wicky, Ahmed and Sajjad Bhai gave a splendid batting display by taking the match well into the comfort zone for us. They scored 55 runs off 27 balls with 1 six and 6 boundaries, and a whole lot of fast running ;)
Bowling
The score was a huge one for any team and we had comfort in the knowledge that just a few good overs can secure the match for us. Once we came in the field we did realize that due to the size of the ground there were a lot of huge gaps for the batsmen and we just had an advantage of maximum 20 runs.
A good start was provided by both Anees Bhai and Sajjad Bhai. Sajjad Bhai was a little expensive early on, but soon was able to find the weak spots of the batsmen and exploited it to the fullest. In his 4th over he just gave a single run off the bat. In the end both Anees Bhai and Sajjad Bhai bowled 4 overs each on the trot and gave away only 64 runs. Amad and Wicky took over the affairs of bowling and soon found out that with the ball getting old and the batsmen pretty well set it was not very easy. In the next 2 overs 27 runs were given, with the batting almost near to their required rate of 11.5 runs per over. Wicky, probably seeing the batsmen well set, wisely started switching the bowlers quickly.
In his next over he took 2 wickets on consecutive deliveries with one of the openers and the other, whom he said was pretty dangerous and was capable of taking the match away from us. That nailed the match for us and the remaining overs were just normal proceedings. Amad took 1 wicket as well off a good well judged catch by Nisar.
Of the batting team, one of their openers showed tremendous fittness and little technique to bat out all 20 overs. We tried our level best to unsettle him in whatever means possible, but were not able to get him out till the last ball. It was good that we pinpointed and exploited his weakness and neutralized his threat completely.
Junaid Bhai bowled the last over and impressed everyone with his speed. He is developing into a good bowler and hopefully very soon can be a reliable asset for us in the bowling department.
Fielding
The ground was huge and required awareness and hardwork from everyone in the field, which was duly provided by our team today. Although a few catches were dropped initially but we didn't give away any free runs today. Also we realized, first hand, why everyone says that 'catches win matches'. At a time when the match might have gone out of our hands we took two important catches in one over and almost nailed the other team to the ground. Rest was pretty easy.
Our normally safe keeper also dropped two half chances. I am sure he would work out his mistakes and realize that in a close encounter these catches might have been the only thing between winning and losing. But sometimes good deeds of some can wash the sins of few.
Although there is nothing bad about winning but there is a danger of over confidence and cockiness and also inability to work on our weaknesses. But let us all give the philosophical thoughts a rest and enjoy the 60 runs win as I am sure that over confidence won't be the case for us. It was a good day for us and was a day when we not only came close but went through ;) Enjoy Team Agility.
Of the batting team, one of their openers showed tremendous fittness and little technique to bat out all 20 overs. We tried our level best to unsettle him in whatever means possible, but were not able to get him out till the last ball. It was good that we pinpointed and exploited his weakness and neutralized his threat completely.
Junaid Bhai bowled the last over and impressed everyone with his speed. He is developing into a good bowler and hopefully very soon can be a reliable asset for us in the bowling department.
Fielding
The ground was huge and required awareness and hardwork from everyone in the field, which was duly provided by our team today. Although a few catches were dropped initially but we didn't give away any free runs today. Also we realized, first hand, why everyone says that 'catches win matches'. At a time when the match might have gone out of our hands we took two important catches in one over and almost nailed the other team to the ground. Rest was pretty easy.
Our normally safe keeper also dropped two half chances. I am sure he would work out his mistakes and realize that in a close encounter these catches might have been the only thing between winning and losing. But sometimes good deeds of some can wash the sins of few.
Although there is nothing bad about winning but there is a danger of over confidence and cockiness and also inability to work on our weaknesses. But let us all give the philosophical thoughts a rest and enjoy the 60 runs win as I am sure that over confidence won't be the case for us. It was a good day for us and was a day when we not only came close but went through ;) Enjoy Team Agility.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Smelled Victory but could not taste it...
The title does say it all except for the marvellous chasing done by our batting. They should guts, determination and a little bit of maverickness. The bowling side was not weak and was continuously trying to exploit our weaker areas and most of the time, till the last 2 overs actually, we had answers to all their questions.
The match this time was played in Salmiya ground opposite City Centre. The only thing good about this ground was the view though. We decided to field first and this time Wicky showed a bit of innovation by asking Nisar to bowl the first over. Nisar took the challenge well and went for only 3 runs in the first over. Amad started bowling with Nisar. Nisar's second over was a bit expensive with him getting hit for a six twice. Amad bowled a total of 4 overs with the ball crossing the boundary 4 times and him taking a wicket.
Wicky came in the middle and bowled his heart out and with some good pace. I think he looks more threatening bowling fast and for variation he can work on movement and length. His clean bowled with the middle stump uprooted out of the ground was just simply classic. About 2-3 chances were created in his over, each with a degree of complexity though, and discussed in detail in the fielding section. In the end he took 2 wickets.
Abdullah bowled 4 overs in the middle and was hit at least for 2 boundaries /sixes in each over. He didn't manage to find line, length and/or rhythym.
Sajjad, our guest player for the match, bowled 3 overs and bowled well but again was not able to control the boundaries. Ahmed came to bowl in the end and took 2 wickets with the help of good catches from Nisar and Abdullah and long off and long on boundaries, respectively.
Finally Sameer Bhai bowled the last over rather safely. In the end we went for 203 runs. In the hind sight rotation of bowlers in the middle might have prevented the score from crossing the 200 mark as Abdullah's 4 overs proved the most costly of all the bowlers.
The match this time was played in Salmiya ground opposite City Centre. The only thing good about this ground was the view though. We decided to field first and this time Wicky showed a bit of innovation by asking Nisar to bowl the first over. Nisar took the challenge well and went for only 3 runs in the first over. Amad started bowling with Nisar. Nisar's second over was a bit expensive with him getting hit for a six twice. Amad bowled a total of 4 overs with the ball crossing the boundary 4 times and him taking a wicket.
Wicky came in the middle and bowled his heart out and with some good pace. I think he looks more threatening bowling fast and for variation he can work on movement and length. His clean bowled with the middle stump uprooted out of the ground was just simply classic. About 2-3 chances were created in his over, each with a degree of complexity though, and discussed in detail in the fielding section. In the end he took 2 wickets.
Abdullah bowled 4 overs in the middle and was hit at least for 2 boundaries /sixes in each over. He didn't manage to find line, length and/or rhythym.
Sajjad, our guest player for the match, bowled 3 overs and bowled well but again was not able to control the boundaries. Ahmed came to bowl in the end and took 2 wickets with the help of good catches from Nisar and Abdullah and long off and long on boundaries, respectively.
Finally Sameer Bhai bowled the last over rather safely. In the end we went for 203 runs. In the hind sight rotation of bowlers in the middle might have prevented the score from crossing the 200 mark as Abdullah's 4 overs proved the most costly of all the bowlers.
Fielding
Ground fielding was much better this time with no free runs being given to the batsmen. Catching was a bit of both the worlds since there were 4 taken and 5 dropped. The dropped, though, all had a degree of complexity in them and with analysis and a solution for each I am sure we can prevent from this happening in the future.
The first catch went towards Bilal at point and was a bit high. Catches at point are never easy mainly because of their speed and angle. Its very difficult to decide from the word go where your hands should be to pocket the catch. It requires reflexes and agility. I think we should identify a permanent member of our team for this position and let him develop expertise required to field in this position. I think Bilal can be the ideal person for this position. Other options can be Abu Bakar, Wicky and Ahmed.
Second catch which went down went so high in the air that it was almost scary. Rizwan came a bit late to take it, since he was in 2 minds whether he or the bowler should go for it. I think the keeper should always go for such catches, since he has the safest and biggest pouch in the whole field. Obviously this requires a bit of practice for the keeper and Rizwan should keep this in mind next time we go for fielding practice and ask someone to help him with it.
Third catch fell between the bowler and long boundary. I was there at the boundary and at first was in doubt whether to go for the catch or stay back to stop the boundary. Finally my natural instinct took me to the ball and in the end it fell short. So it turned out to be the usual result of such confusion, I wasn't able to either catch the ball or stop the boundary. This is one of the usual cases that our fielders on the boundary are faced with. My solution would be to train 3-4 fielders on the boundary line and they should pratice accordingly. The ground rule during matches and pratice should be that one who is nearest to the ball must go for the catch and the one who is near to him should back him up in order to stop the boundary. The philosophy being, attack is the best defence. I think that me, Abdullah, Nisar, Ahmed and Sameer Bhai can all be tried and reserved for boundary fielding. The thing to remember for boundary fielders is backing up. Since anything can happen in an uneven ground with lot of stones.
The last catch which I wanted to discuss was a flat and powerful shot which went directly to Sameer Bhai's chest. And the faster it went in the faster it came out. Since these catches are at eye level, therefore it is very difficult to judge their speed, and second issue in these catches is whether to take the catch fingers up or fingers down? We need practice for these type of catches as well.
There was a missed stumping as well off Abdullah's bowling and I think Rizwan would know better the mistake he made there, and we all are confident that he would learn from his mistake and not repeat such a mistake.
Incidently the batsman who was their highest scorer, got the most breaks. In the end he got 4 chances and if just one would have been taken, then outcome of the match would definitely have been different.
I think if we can arrange a one hour fielding session once every 15-20 days then it would do us a world of good. Groups of 2 can be made for the first half and they can practice as per their particular role in the field during matches and work on their weaknesses. Roles of each can be identified by the Captain. In the second half everyone can practice together as in a match situation.
Batting
Highlight of the match was our batting though, which went against all odds and almost chased down the score. Nisar batted wonderfully once again showing his mettle and why we rely him to score big and give us a solid start everytime.
The batting was opened by Abdullah and Nisar and they got us off to a flier, which was required if we had to come close to the target. We were scoring at almost 12 runs per over, till their bowling decided to test us with some spin and short pitch stuff. Abdullah was the first to go while trying to run the ball to the third man. Sameer Bhai went in and started a good partnership with Nisar. He hit one six off a spinner which was wonderful to watch, it seemed so effort less that it almost looked like he was blocking the ball. Too bad he couldn't continue since he too fell to a short delivery.
Nisar, who was joined in with Wicky, then showed brilliant skill of adaptation to the new line and specially the length which the bowlers were bowling. Wicky was at the other end and both had decided how to go about maintaining the required rate. While not trying to hit the ball hard they caressed and showed the bat to the ball to hit it for boundaries and sixes. At that time after finding and executing the solution to their strategy we were confident of winning the match since the required run rate was in check and plenty of batting was to follow.
But we suffered from the twin disaster of almost back to back dismissals of Wicky and Nisar. Which put us on the back foot. Still the target was achievable. Ahmed and Sajjad came in and did well initially to make the required 10 or more runs per over. But towards the last overs Ahmed couldn't find an answer to the short pitched ball above his stomach height and thus was unable to find either boundaries or doubles which were required at that point in time. In the end both he and Sajjad got out and there was too much to finish for Bilal and Abu Bakar.
Anyways the team played really well and apart from a few dropped half chances, we were always fighting hard and giving the oponents a tough time. Hopefully with the development of safe catching we would be able to win matches more consistently.
Batting
Highlight of the match was our batting though, which went against all odds and almost chased down the score. Nisar batted wonderfully once again showing his mettle and why we rely him to score big and give us a solid start everytime.
The batting was opened by Abdullah and Nisar and they got us off to a flier, which was required if we had to come close to the target. We were scoring at almost 12 runs per over, till their bowling decided to test us with some spin and short pitch stuff. Abdullah was the first to go while trying to run the ball to the third man. Sameer Bhai went in and started a good partnership with Nisar. He hit one six off a spinner which was wonderful to watch, it seemed so effort less that it almost looked like he was blocking the ball. Too bad he couldn't continue since he too fell to a short delivery.
Nisar, who was joined in with Wicky, then showed brilliant skill of adaptation to the new line and specially the length which the bowlers were bowling. Wicky was at the other end and both had decided how to go about maintaining the required rate. While not trying to hit the ball hard they caressed and showed the bat to the ball to hit it for boundaries and sixes. At that time after finding and executing the solution to their strategy we were confident of winning the match since the required run rate was in check and plenty of batting was to follow.
But we suffered from the twin disaster of almost back to back dismissals of Wicky and Nisar. Which put us on the back foot. Still the target was achievable. Ahmed and Sajjad came in and did well initially to make the required 10 or more runs per over. But towards the last overs Ahmed couldn't find an answer to the short pitched ball above his stomach height and thus was unable to find either boundaries or doubles which were required at that point in time. In the end both he and Sajjad got out and there was too much to finish for Bilal and Abu Bakar.
Anyways the team played really well and apart from a few dropped half chances, we were always fighting hard and giving the oponents a tough time. Hopefully with the development of safe catching we would be able to win matches more consistently.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Me and the June 15th Match.
Awwwww. I had a wonderful time bowling. My run up, action and grip all went well. I had earlier researched (and posted on this blog as well), that while bowling my head should be on the left of my left arm, my wrist should remain cocked up (and no jerking) and after the jump my left hand should come down as fast as possible. The run up if its fast will result in a faster delivery.
This time I also didn't try to complicate things by trying varieties and only bowled out swingers at good speed. The wind was to my aid as well and I think I found movement both in the air and off the wicket as well. In the 24 balls I bowled I brought only 2 inside the batsman. Bowling with a new ball is always fun since it gets me movement both in the air and off the wicket. I think I would continue to bowl in the same manner next week as well and only after that I will try to work on bringing the ball inside the batsmen. But would want to work on that during practice.
There were two dropped chances off my bowling and the one which wicky dropped I was really pissed off seeing that since I expected that simple catch to be taken, especially from the captain.
The batsmen were very good as well. And it was hard not to be impressed by them. As per Amir Bhai's indication and my own analysis I was bowling full to one and good length to the other. The one that I was bowling full to, I bowled just one on the good length and on the leg and he hit me for a huge six. I never knew that this ball can be hit for a six. But then I learned my lesson and kept on bowling full to him.
Didn't get a chance to bat so nothing to write home about.
This time I also didn't try to complicate things by trying varieties and only bowled out swingers at good speed. The wind was to my aid as well and I think I found movement both in the air and off the wicket as well. In the 24 balls I bowled I brought only 2 inside the batsman. Bowling with a new ball is always fun since it gets me movement both in the air and off the wicket. I think I would continue to bowl in the same manner next week as well and only after that I will try to work on bringing the ball inside the batsmen. But would want to work on that during practice.
There were two dropped chances off my bowling and the one which wicky dropped I was really pissed off seeing that since I expected that simple catch to be taken, especially from the captain.
The batsmen were very good as well. And it was hard not to be impressed by them. As per Amir Bhai's indication and my own analysis I was bowling full to one and good length to the other. The one that I was bowling full to, I bowled just one on the good length and on the leg and he hit me for a huge six. I never knew that this ball can be hit for a six. But then I learned my lesson and kept on bowling full to him.
Didn't get a chance to bat so nothing to write home about.
Captain's Match Report
Agility Panthers managed to be on the field on Friday for an early start, however the umpires were not :) . The match however started at 6:15 am with a nice breeze and all the team members in good happy mood.
We who won the toss, decided to bowl first considering the fact that the team we were playing were known for good batting. The innings started in the most amazing way with their opener going after the very first ball bowled by Anees, however considering we have been playing cricket for a long time a relatively simple catch dropped on the first ball gave the indication to the other team how high our fielding standards were.
First over cost us around 14 runs or so and Amad was given the second over and bowled with a lot of determination to have the opener out who he had dropped on the first ball, bowled an excellent first over, however the openers intentions were very clear from the word go and our catching kept getting worse and worse. We managed to drop 5 catches which was not acceptable and at the end made the difference.
Overall, we managed to keep the scoring under control considering the start they were off to, they managed to score 198 runs in 20 overs, which I feel was 30 runs over what they should have. As the saying goes “Catches win matches”….
We came into bat with different opening pair, Nisar and Adnan started cautiously and never really got us off to a start we wanted. Nisar got out playing the usual aerial shot and unfortunately added to the rest. Ahmed was sent 1 down to go after the bowling and my word he did really made us proud with some excellent hitting. Due to a poor batting start that we got, I had decided to come in myself when the second wicket fell but didn’t bother the scorers much and got out cheap. However, I felt that I was still batting since I had to run for Ahmed till pretty much the end of the innings. Sameer Bhai played very well and ran extremely well with me, we managed to convert singles to doubles and tried our best but unfortunately nothing seemed enough. At the end we lost by 18 runs and we faced a very disappointing result.
As a captain I feel it is important to highlight a few things that our team has to improve on, no one like loosing but we need to give it our best shot.
Fielding - Continuously lets us down ground fielding seems like we are jogging after the ball, we keep pointing to each other and the ball wins. Fielding is simple but needs an active mind and concentration that’s it. All we have to do make sure the ball lands in our hands and our body is behind it so in case we have holes our body blocks it.
Catching – All of us need a catching session before the match, we don’t need to do any batting or bowling sessions but just fielding/catching sessions. We practice and we get better that’s the key.
Running – That’s the most simplest thing ever to do, come on guys we have been doing this ever since we were 2 or something. I hate to take names but there is one player I want to take this seriously – Ahmed I don’t know mate if you still m$%#$%@# or what but unless you are seriously injured don’t expect anyone to run for you. And if you are batting don’t ask the other batsman not to make you run cause a cricket game cannot only be won off boundaries but running makes a lot of difference so you need to work on it while batting and fielding.
Batting – A good start matters the most and whoever plays at the top needs to play with responsibility. Its much easier scoring runs off a new ball and we need to start doing that but that doesn’t mean we don’t play sensibly. Yes, we do need to take calculated risks, but if one has worked in the over use your batting skills to score singles, doubles or hit a boundary. Batting at the top needs improvement
Bowling – I feel we can bowl well if supported with good fielding however, I feel we do experiment a lot in what sort of deliveries we should bowl. One important thing to remember when playing on cement pitches is that we don’t aim to bowl a batsman out but we should aim to bowl within line and make the batsman take risks. We cannot simply just sit back giving away almost 200 runs and leave it to the batsmen we need to work on our bowling to stop teams from scoring at this rate.
I must share this with you, GCC’s captain came up to me this Friday and he said this to me.
“Waqar you have an excellent batting and bowling side, and you guys can beat any team that play in Kuwait. With that you are one of the worst fielding side and that is the only factor that stops you guys. I want to take your team for regular fielding practice.”
Can you imagine such words from another team? So guys, we know we can play cricket come on its in our blood lets just back each other up and improve on things highlighted and I am sure we will do well. I hope we give it our best shot this Friday where the venue changes and there are going to be new things tried in the match so be ready :)
We who won the toss, decided to bowl first considering the fact that the team we were playing were known for good batting. The innings started in the most amazing way with their opener going after the very first ball bowled by Anees, however considering we have been playing cricket for a long time a relatively simple catch dropped on the first ball gave the indication to the other team how high our fielding standards were.
First over cost us around 14 runs or so and Amad was given the second over and bowled with a lot of determination to have the opener out who he had dropped on the first ball, bowled an excellent first over, however the openers intentions were very clear from the word go and our catching kept getting worse and worse. We managed to drop 5 catches which was not acceptable and at the end made the difference.
Overall, we managed to keep the scoring under control considering the start they were off to, they managed to score 198 runs in 20 overs, which I feel was 30 runs over what they should have. As the saying goes “Catches win matches”….
We came into bat with different opening pair, Nisar and Adnan started cautiously and never really got us off to a start we wanted. Nisar got out playing the usual aerial shot and unfortunately added to the rest. Ahmed was sent 1 down to go after the bowling and my word he did really made us proud with some excellent hitting. Due to a poor batting start that we got, I had decided to come in myself when the second wicket fell but didn’t bother the scorers much and got out cheap. However, I felt that I was still batting since I had to run for Ahmed till pretty much the end of the innings. Sameer Bhai played very well and ran extremely well with me, we managed to convert singles to doubles and tried our best but unfortunately nothing seemed enough. At the end we lost by 18 runs and we faced a very disappointing result.
As a captain I feel it is important to highlight a few things that our team has to improve on, no one like loosing but we need to give it our best shot.
Fielding - Continuously lets us down ground fielding seems like we are jogging after the ball, we keep pointing to each other and the ball wins. Fielding is simple but needs an active mind and concentration that’s it. All we have to do make sure the ball lands in our hands and our body is behind it so in case we have holes our body blocks it.
Catching – All of us need a catching session before the match, we don’t need to do any batting or bowling sessions but just fielding/catching sessions. We practice and we get better that’s the key.
Running – That’s the most simplest thing ever to do, come on guys we have been doing this ever since we were 2 or something. I hate to take names but there is one player I want to take this seriously – Ahmed I don’t know mate if you still m$%#$%@# or what but unless you are seriously injured don’t expect anyone to run for you. And if you are batting don’t ask the other batsman not to make you run cause a cricket game cannot only be won off boundaries but running makes a lot of difference so you need to work on it while batting and fielding.
Batting – A good start matters the most and whoever plays at the top needs to play with responsibility. Its much easier scoring runs off a new ball and we need to start doing that but that doesn’t mean we don’t play sensibly. Yes, we do need to take calculated risks, but if one has worked in the over use your batting skills to score singles, doubles or hit a boundary. Batting at the top needs improvement
Bowling – I feel we can bowl well if supported with good fielding however, I feel we do experiment a lot in what sort of deliveries we should bowl. One important thing to remember when playing on cement pitches is that we don’t aim to bowl a batsman out but we should aim to bowl within line and make the batsman take risks. We cannot simply just sit back giving away almost 200 runs and leave it to the batsmen we need to work on our bowling to stop teams from scoring at this rate.
I must share this with you, GCC’s captain came up to me this Friday and he said this to me.
“Waqar you have an excellent batting and bowling side, and you guys can beat any team that play in Kuwait. With that you are one of the worst fielding side and that is the only factor that stops you guys. I want to take your team for regular fielding practice.”
Can you imagine such words from another team? So guys, we know we can play cricket come on its in our blood lets just back each other up and improve on things highlighted and I am sure we will do well. I hope we give it our best shot this Friday where the venue changes and there are going to be new things tried in the match so be ready :)
Came close but not close enough
As this tournament progresses our losing streak continues. This time we came close but not close enough.
The match was with a team which was a mixture of players from here and there both young and old especially their batting which can be labelled as the 'Daddy Army' i.e. old but fit.
It was good that Sameer Bhai and Amir Bhai had played with them and knew their capabilities and had advised our bowlers much earlier on where to keep the ball.
Our Bowling
This time Anees Bhai and Amad started the bowling but couldn't find a wicket mainly because of dropped catches some of which were simple enough for my grand mother. During the attack burst we saw 4 dropped chances, which could have turned the match in our favor. Good work from the bowlers though for creating those chances. Anees Bhai bowled 3 overs on the trot and gave away 35 runs at more than 11 runs per over. Amad bowled 4 overs on the trot and gave away 30 runs at more than 7 runs per over.
Wicky took over from Anees Bhai and bowled one over but couldn't find a wicket early on and therefore brought in the spinners Nisar and Abdullah. The openers seemed to play the spinners well and Nisar got hit off a HUGE six over long on as well. But he came back and got us the first wicket through a spectacular catch from Rizwan.
Abdullah got the second wicket from a good high catch off his own bowling. Bowling in the middle by Nisar and Abdullah was quite good but our opponents knew how to keep the scoreboard ticking. They took their chances knowing well that they would be succeeded by batsmen who were capable enough of maintaining the scoring rate. Overall they maintainaed a run rate of 10 runs in each over without botheration. This happened sometimes through their experience and sometimes due to misfieldings from Rizwan, Ahmed and Amir Bhai. Abdullah bowled 4 overs on the trot and gave away 36 runs at 9 runs per over with 2 wickets. whereas Nisar bowled 4 overs on the trot and gave away 37 runs at about 9 runs per over with 1 wicket.
For the last 4 overs Wicky brought himself back into the attack alongwith Bilal. He found a wicket on a bad ball but a wonderful catch from Abdullah. Overall he bowled 3 overs for 36 runs at 12 runs per over and took 1 wicket. The batsmen played Bilal's loopy spin quite well and got 22 runs from his 2 overs at 11 runs per over. A batsman got out in Bilal's over as well when Bilal foxed the batsman to charge out from his crease and missed it completely. Rizwan was quick enough to collect and throw the ball in the wicket. Although it looked like a run out to me, but I am sure that both the bowler and the keeper would disagree.
In the end we were given a target of 200 runs.
Fielding
Overall the ground fielding was good with very few lapses. Rizwan's wicket keeping was like Pakistan's international cricket team i.e. sometimes ordinary and sometimes exceptional. His catch off Nisar's bowling and a few takes down the leg side were quite good. Standing up on spinners and taking catches is never simple and requires technique and mental presence. But he wasn't able to continue the good work and missed a few straight forward takes and also some close stumping chances.
Rather than the ground fielding our catching was found wanting this time. During our first 6 overs there were a total of 4 dropped chances out of which two were the most simple. One was dropped by the usually reliable Abdullah at Long On and the other one from Wicky. Wicky, if my memory serves me right, has yet to open his catching account with this team. Anyways both the catches were so simple that one can wonder that how on earth can these be dropped.
But overall the ground fielding effort by all the 11 players was quite good and I didn't see the other team breaking free because of our misfielding. The dropped chances were disheartening though.
Batting
We were set a target of 200 runs in 20 overs and going by expert opinion we did well to restrict their batting to 200. But still for our batting the target was way beyond the comfort zone. And what was required was a good start and exceptional innings from at least 3 of our 8 main batsmen which was not to be today.
In order to get off to a good start and get maximum runs from both ends, Wicky sent in Adnan with Nisar. A target of 100 runs was given to them in the first 10 overs.
Although Nisar showed urgency in his batting and didn't waste time or balls, Adnan didn't manage to find his groove and his usual blocking the ball only resulted in increasing our blood pressures. Nisar was the first one to go when he, while trying to meet the 10 runs per over target, took a risk too many and got out. He made 9 runs from 10 balls.
Ahmed went in next and started doing what he does best and that is to hit the ball hard. But this time there was a welcome change in his style. He did the hit the ball hard but kept it on the ground early on, which minimized the risk of him getting out. Another pleasant change was his shot selection and we got the pleasure of seeing some deft touches from him as well. Finally he has realized that long off and long on are not the only places in a cricket field. In the end he made 80 runs from 47 balls and was the only batsman who made more than 10 runs per over, which was our required run rate.
After Nisar Adnan was the next wicket to fall. He tried to hit and force his way and eventually got out bold. He made 22 runs from 26 balls.
Wicky came in next and tried to do what was required, but failed once again in his quest. He made 3 runs from 4 balls. His batting has yet to win a match for us. At that point in time around 12-13 runs per over were required and with tight line and length bowling from our opponents our batting was found wanting. Sameer Bhai, who went in after Wicky, made 29 off 19 and Abdullah 11 from 6. Both had too few balls to face and too many runs to make. Bilal came in the end but at that time around 40 runs were required from 2 overs. He made 7 off 5 balls.
At the end if we are to pinpoint the main reasons for our failure then it would be our poor start in the batting and our dropped catches. I think in the next match, Abdullah can be tried in the opening slot with Nisar. Sameer Bhai and Wicky can follow with Ahmed going in whenever some quick runs are required. My choice is based on the fact that these are the players who don't block un-necessarily, run fast between the wickets, hit boundaries if there is a bad ball and take calculated risks.
Non Cricketing Stuff
I had the pleasure of fielding near Sameer Bhai and had the chance of hearing his 'F*#$ Louise' statement whenever something didn't go to our benefit. My full sympathies to Louise while I wonder what she did to deserve such rememberance ;)
Also Bilal's bat was stolen today, but he seemed to bat well without it though. But this is a lesson for all of us to take care of our stuff ourselves.
Anees Bhai's tang, although a bit strong, is very refreshing and keeps all of us on our feet throughout the match. One day when we field second I am sure then we are going to realize its immense benefit.
But every rose has its thorn and Bilal can blame the tang for his bat being stolen, since the suspects came to drink Tang and went away with his bat.
The match was with a team which was a mixture of players from here and there both young and old especially their batting which can be labelled as the 'Daddy Army' i.e. old but fit.
It was good that Sameer Bhai and Amir Bhai had played with them and knew their capabilities and had advised our bowlers much earlier on where to keep the ball.
Our Bowling
This time Anees Bhai and Amad started the bowling but couldn't find a wicket mainly because of dropped catches some of which were simple enough for my grand mother. During the attack burst we saw 4 dropped chances, which could have turned the match in our favor. Good work from the bowlers though for creating those chances. Anees Bhai bowled 3 overs on the trot and gave away 35 runs at more than 11 runs per over. Amad bowled 4 overs on the trot and gave away 30 runs at more than 7 runs per over.
Wicky took over from Anees Bhai and bowled one over but couldn't find a wicket early on and therefore brought in the spinners Nisar and Abdullah. The openers seemed to play the spinners well and Nisar got hit off a HUGE six over long on as well. But he came back and got us the first wicket through a spectacular catch from Rizwan.
Abdullah got the second wicket from a good high catch off his own bowling. Bowling in the middle by Nisar and Abdullah was quite good but our opponents knew how to keep the scoreboard ticking. They took their chances knowing well that they would be succeeded by batsmen who were capable enough of maintaining the scoring rate. Overall they maintainaed a run rate of 10 runs in each over without botheration. This happened sometimes through their experience and sometimes due to misfieldings from Rizwan, Ahmed and Amir Bhai. Abdullah bowled 4 overs on the trot and gave away 36 runs at 9 runs per over with 2 wickets. whereas Nisar bowled 4 overs on the trot and gave away 37 runs at about 9 runs per over with 1 wicket.
For the last 4 overs Wicky brought himself back into the attack alongwith Bilal. He found a wicket on a bad ball but a wonderful catch from Abdullah. Overall he bowled 3 overs for 36 runs at 12 runs per over and took 1 wicket. The batsmen played Bilal's loopy spin quite well and got 22 runs from his 2 overs at 11 runs per over. A batsman got out in Bilal's over as well when Bilal foxed the batsman to charge out from his crease and missed it completely. Rizwan was quick enough to collect and throw the ball in the wicket. Although it looked like a run out to me, but I am sure that both the bowler and the keeper would disagree.
In the end we were given a target of 200 runs.
Fielding
Overall the ground fielding was good with very few lapses. Rizwan's wicket keeping was like Pakistan's international cricket team i.e. sometimes ordinary and sometimes exceptional. His catch off Nisar's bowling and a few takes down the leg side were quite good. Standing up on spinners and taking catches is never simple and requires technique and mental presence. But he wasn't able to continue the good work and missed a few straight forward takes and also some close stumping chances.
Rather than the ground fielding our catching was found wanting this time. During our first 6 overs there were a total of 4 dropped chances out of which two were the most simple. One was dropped by the usually reliable Abdullah at Long On and the other one from Wicky. Wicky, if my memory serves me right, has yet to open his catching account with this team. Anyways both the catches were so simple that one can wonder that how on earth can these be dropped.
But overall the ground fielding effort by all the 11 players was quite good and I didn't see the other team breaking free because of our misfielding. The dropped chances were disheartening though.
Batting
We were set a target of 200 runs in 20 overs and going by expert opinion we did well to restrict their batting to 200. But still for our batting the target was way beyond the comfort zone. And what was required was a good start and exceptional innings from at least 3 of our 8 main batsmen which was not to be today.
In order to get off to a good start and get maximum runs from both ends, Wicky sent in Adnan with Nisar. A target of 100 runs was given to them in the first 10 overs.
Although Nisar showed urgency in his batting and didn't waste time or balls, Adnan didn't manage to find his groove and his usual blocking the ball only resulted in increasing our blood pressures. Nisar was the first one to go when he, while trying to meet the 10 runs per over target, took a risk too many and got out. He made 9 runs from 10 balls.
Ahmed went in next and started doing what he does best and that is to hit the ball hard. But this time there was a welcome change in his style. He did the hit the ball hard but kept it on the ground early on, which minimized the risk of him getting out. Another pleasant change was his shot selection and we got the pleasure of seeing some deft touches from him as well. Finally he has realized that long off and long on are not the only places in a cricket field. In the end he made 80 runs from 47 balls and was the only batsman who made more than 10 runs per over, which was our required run rate.
After Nisar Adnan was the next wicket to fall. He tried to hit and force his way and eventually got out bold. He made 22 runs from 26 balls.
Wicky came in next and tried to do what was required, but failed once again in his quest. He made 3 runs from 4 balls. His batting has yet to win a match for us. At that point in time around 12-13 runs per over were required and with tight line and length bowling from our opponents our batting was found wanting. Sameer Bhai, who went in after Wicky, made 29 off 19 and Abdullah 11 from 6. Both had too few balls to face and too many runs to make. Bilal came in the end but at that time around 40 runs were required from 2 overs. He made 7 off 5 balls.
At the end if we are to pinpoint the main reasons for our failure then it would be our poor start in the batting and our dropped catches. I think in the next match, Abdullah can be tried in the opening slot with Nisar. Sameer Bhai and Wicky can follow with Ahmed going in whenever some quick runs are required. My choice is based on the fact that these are the players who don't block un-necessarily, run fast between the wickets, hit boundaries if there is a bad ball and take calculated risks.
Non Cricketing Stuff
I had the pleasure of fielding near Sameer Bhai and had the chance of hearing his 'F*#$ Louise' statement whenever something didn't go to our benefit. My full sympathies to Louise while I wonder what she did to deserve such rememberance ;)
Also Bilal's bat was stolen today, but he seemed to bat well without it though. But this is a lesson for all of us to take care of our stuff ourselves.
Anees Bhai's tang, although a bit strong, is very refreshing and keeps all of us on our feet throughout the match. One day when we field second I am sure then we are going to realize its immense benefit.
But every rose has its thorn and Bilal can blame the tang for his bat being stolen, since the suspects came to drink Tang and went away with his bat.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
How To Increase Bowling Speed
- Ensuring That Hips and Shoulders Are In Line: In order to get the highest speed possible, we need to make sure that all parts of our body are working in the same direction. if you imagine two lines running through your body, one through the hips and one through the shoulders, when these are parallel with one another, then everything's pointing in just about the same direction. In order to make sure that everything is in line, work on where you look with respect to your front arm (your left arm if you're a right-handed bowler, and vice versa). A side-on bowler ought to look, as is traditionally emphasised, behind it (to the left of it for the right hander)
- Non Bowling Arm and Back Leg: Two of the simpler ways that can often increase force where it's lacking are to increase the effort placed into both driving the front arm down as you bring the bowling arm up, and doing the same to the back leg (the same side as your bowling arm) as you follow through.
- Run Up: The run-up needs to be long enough to allow a bowler to reach the fastest speed where he's comfortable delivering the ball - if it's too short, then the bowler won't bowl as quickly as he potentially could, while an overly-long run-up is just a waste of energy.
- Seam Position: The basic grip used by a quick bowler - or 'seamer' - is to hold the seam of the ball between his index and middle fingers at the top of the ball, with the thumb resting upon the seam at the bottom. All the different types of bowling at speed use this as their base, with slight variations depending on the intended outcome. For an out-swinger the seam would point towards the slip cordon, with the side of the thumb on the seam at the bottom of the ball. The seam on an in-swinger would aim towards fine leg - this time, the bottom of the thumb would lie along the seam at the bottom of the ball.
- Wrist Position: To keep the seam straight, the wrist needs to be kept straight as the ball is delivered. It can also help if the wrist is 'cocked' - or bent backwards - slightly before release; this helps to attain rotations on the ball which in turn, as they cause the ball to rotate forwards over itself, reduce any sideways spin that disrupts the seam position.
- Slower Delivery: This slower ball, also known as the back-of-the-hand ball, involves twisting the wrist at the point of release so that the back of the hand faces the batsman, slowing down the release and hence the speed of the delivery to great effect
Measuring Bowling Speed
Source: http://www.cricketweb.net/coaching/bowlingaction.php
So how fast do you actually bowl? Naturally, the best thing possible to use would be a radar gun - however they're not generally widely available to clubs and schools - but there is a simple way that needs just a stopwatch and a calculator (or maths geek) to provide approximate results. Start the stopwatch when the ball is released, and then stop it again when either the batsman hits (or misses) it, then divide 45 (or 72) by your answer to get your answer in miles per hour (or kilometres). For example, a delivery timed at 1 second has travelled at about 45mph (72kph). To break the magical 100mph (160kph) barrier, the clock must register at 0.45 seconds. Once you get used to working the timer, you will get surprisingly consistent results. I've found that standing at the back of the net, either directly behind or just to the side, gets the best results.
So how fast do you actually bowl? Naturally, the best thing possible to use would be a radar gun - however they're not generally widely available to clubs and schools - but there is a simple way that needs just a stopwatch and a calculator (or maths geek) to provide approximate results. Start the stopwatch when the ball is released, and then stop it again when either the batsman hits (or misses) it, then divide 45 (or 72) by your answer to get your answer in miles per hour (or kilometres). For example, a delivery timed at 1 second has travelled at about 45mph (72kph). To break the magical 100mph (160kph) barrier, the clock must register at 0.45 seconds. Once you get used to working the timer, you will get surprisingly consistent results. I've found that standing at the back of the net, either directly behind or just to the side, gets the best results.
Fielding
Taking A High Catch
Source: http://www.cricketweb.net/coaching/catching.php
For a high catch, use the "reverse cup" method. Attempt to catch at eye-level and keep your hand high. Watch the ball the whole time until it hits your hands. The correct technique is shown below.
Ground Fielding
The key point I will stress with out-fielding is to attack the ball. By "attacking" the ball I mean you come towards the ball if it is hit to you, rather than standing still and waiting for it.
The main technique used to stop balls along the ground is called the "long barrier". This occurs when your body forms a "barrier" behind the ball, giving the fieldsman the best chance of stopping the ball. Make sure you keep your eye on the ball right up until the point it reaches you, as it could be costly. It is demonstrated below.
Source: http://www.cricketweb.net/coaching/catching.php
For a high catch, use the "reverse cup" method. Attempt to catch at eye-level and keep your hand high. Watch the ball the whole time until it hits your hands. The correct technique is shown below.
Ground Fielding
The key point I will stress with out-fielding is to attack the ball. By "attacking" the ball I mean you come towards the ball if it is hit to you, rather than standing still and waiting for it.
The main technique used to stop balls along the ground is called the "long barrier". This occurs when your body forms a "barrier" behind the ball, giving the fieldsman the best chance of stopping the ball. Make sure you keep your eye on the ball right up until the point it reaches you, as it could be costly. It is demonstrated below.
When throwing, it is important to transfer your weight from the back to the front foot, much like a javelin thrower. Use your non-throwing arm for aiming (and to steady yourself) and your front foot in the direction of the target. Swivel from your back to your front foot.
Fielding Drills
Source: http://www.cricketweb.net/coaching/drills.php
Split your team into two groups, even numbers on each side. Have your wicketkeeper, a single wicket and someone who can hit well with a bat about 40+ metres from the fielders.
The aim of this drill is to work in pairs, practice loud calling and backing up each other. The batsman hits a ball either along the ground, softly or powerful (mixing it up is a good idea). One of the fieldsmen calls for it if it's a catch, the other stays close in case he misjudges it. Whoever catches it passes it to the other fielder, who throws it in the wicketkeeper. Aim to return it over the bails.
With ground fielding, this is where backing up becomes important. One attacks the ball and aims to gather and return it to the wicketkeeper. The other backs up behind him, in case the first fieldsman makes a mistake. Misfields can happen often, so be alert!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
No Answer to GCC's Juggernaut
Match Report: 8th June 2007
A new tournament begins with the result which we could have done without. The team was GCC and we already knew them, last time we weren't able to get their openers but were able to restrict them for around 180 but this time we got their openers out cheaply but still they managed to score around 200 runs.
Anees Bhai got us off to a flying start with zabardust fast line and length bowling. Watching a clean bold off his bowling is always spectacular and one envies Rizwan who has the greatest view. And we had two from him this week. Both the openers were sent back by him. One of them i.e. Nasir on the first ball he faced bolay to Golden Duck.
The fielding was below par but still wickets were falling at regular intervals till the onslaught in the last overs came when one of their batsmen hit 35 runs off 13 balls. That pushed the score into 190s. Abdullah, Nisar, Wicky, Sameer Bhai and Amir Bhai bowled well but were unabled to contain the power hitting in the end. Sameer Bhai bowled a good last over otherwise the score would have easily gone into the 200s.
190s was a little out of the comfort zone but still something which we expected our batting to make if they applied themselves, run well between the wicket and are able to beat the heat.
We had a disaster start when Rizwan came back early and Nisar was out (once again) on the long on/off boundary, trying to hit a big six. Sameer Bhai and Abdullah stabilized the innings and had a wonderful but a bit slow partnership going. After receiving the signal Abdullah tried to hit but was out bold. Ahmed went in next but Sameer Bhai fell soon. With Sameer Bhai gone we didn't have the stabilizing yet scoring act from anyone else.
Ahmed huffed and puffed (much like his fielding) and tried to score big but in the end, heat was something to which he had no answer of and was finally relieved of his duties by a clean bold. He was happy to arrive back to the pavailion (if we can call it that).
Wicky played confidently at first and then started hitting. But had no one at the other end who can bat like him and do some power hitting. Wicky played a good hand but was not able to win the match for us. Bilal the finisher batted with Wicky for sometime, but fell to his own trick and was run out. Though he wasn't able to finish the match, but was able to finish his walk back pretty quickly.
GCC is a good team and we have come pretty close twice to beat them, but haven't been able to. They seem to have answers and ability to bounce back when they are on the back foot. Whereas last time they did so by good bowling after being hit initially, this time they batted well after seeing some quick wickets fall.
Although its still early but if we have to do well in this tournament then we have to devise a plan for our fielding otherwise we can say bye bye to this tournament as well.
A new tournament begins with the result which we could have done without. The team was GCC and we already knew them, last time we weren't able to get their openers but were able to restrict them for around 180 but this time we got their openers out cheaply but still they managed to score around 200 runs.
Anees Bhai got us off to a flying start with zabardust fast line and length bowling. Watching a clean bold off his bowling is always spectacular and one envies Rizwan who has the greatest view. And we had two from him this week. Both the openers were sent back by him. One of them i.e. Nasir on the first ball he faced bolay to Golden Duck.
The fielding was below par but still wickets were falling at regular intervals till the onslaught in the last overs came when one of their batsmen hit 35 runs off 13 balls. That pushed the score into 190s. Abdullah, Nisar, Wicky, Sameer Bhai and Amir Bhai bowled well but were unabled to contain the power hitting in the end. Sameer Bhai bowled a good last over otherwise the score would have easily gone into the 200s.
190s was a little out of the comfort zone but still something which we expected our batting to make if they applied themselves, run well between the wicket and are able to beat the heat.
We had a disaster start when Rizwan came back early and Nisar was out (once again) on the long on/off boundary, trying to hit a big six. Sameer Bhai and Abdullah stabilized the innings and had a wonderful but a bit slow partnership going. After receiving the signal Abdullah tried to hit but was out bold. Ahmed went in next but Sameer Bhai fell soon. With Sameer Bhai gone we didn't have the stabilizing yet scoring act from anyone else.
Ahmed huffed and puffed (much like his fielding) and tried to score big but in the end, heat was something to which he had no answer of and was finally relieved of his duties by a clean bold. He was happy to arrive back to the pavailion (if we can call it that).
Wicky played confidently at first and then started hitting. But had no one at the other end who can bat like him and do some power hitting. Wicky played a good hand but was not able to win the match for us. Bilal the finisher batted with Wicky for sometime, but fell to his own trick and was run out. Though he wasn't able to finish the match, but was able to finish his walk back pretty quickly.
GCC is a good team and we have come pretty close twice to beat them, but haven't been able to. They seem to have answers and ability to bounce back when they are on the back foot. Whereas last time they did so by good bowling after being hit initially, this time they batted well after seeing some quick wickets fall.
Although its still early but if we have to do well in this tournament then we have to devise a plan for our fielding otherwise we can say bye bye to this tournament as well.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Knocking in Your New Cricket Bat
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Cricket-Bat-Care-and-Maintenance--Knocking-in-Your-New-Cricket-Bat&id=34461
Ideally you should knock in any new cricket bat for at least six hours, yes it's a lot but it will help condition your bat for heavy usage without damaging it.
You should also knock-in your new cricket bat even if it comes advertised as 'ready to play', as it still won't be ready for the full force of a hard new cricket ball, especially if you catch an edge or the ball hits the toe.
I've seen players go out on to the square with a brand new cricket bat, which hadn't been knocked in. In the first over he dug out a Yorker, which resulted in a 'fatal' crack in the toe of the bat. If it had been knocked in properly it's unlikely this would have ever happened. If you don't knock in your bat you could literally be 'throwing £200 down the pan'.
To knock in your bat I highly recommend you use an old high quality cricket ball.
Begin gently by tapping the bat, particularly focusing in on the edges, as these are a very vulnerable part of the bat and by the end you want the edges to be almost slightly rounded.
Spend 2-3 hours doing this stage of knocking in the bat, making sure you cover all of the face of the bat, excluding the splice area. Don't knock-in the back of the cricket bat.
After you have done this gradually increase the force with which you hit the bat, making sure you systematically cover all of the face of the bat. By the end you should be hitting the bat with full force to simulate the impact of a real cricket ball.
When you have finished knocking in the bat, you should first progress to using the bat for out field practice and then in the nets against an old used high quality cricket ball, especially avoid 'bat breaker' cricket balls, you know the ones, cheap, hard and usually shiny. If your bat is going to break or split it's these balls that'll do the damage.
Once you've played the bat in for a few hours in the nets it'll be ready to take out on to the square.
It's a tedious process but well worth the time and effort for the results you'll get for your hard work. Its worth mentioning that some sports shops may offer a knocking in service for a small fee. Personally I like to do it myself to see how the bat progresses as it becomes more knocked in.
Ideally you should knock in any new cricket bat for at least six hours, yes it's a lot but it will help condition your bat for heavy usage without damaging it.
You should also knock-in your new cricket bat even if it comes advertised as 'ready to play', as it still won't be ready for the full force of a hard new cricket ball, especially if you catch an edge or the ball hits the toe.
I've seen players go out on to the square with a brand new cricket bat, which hadn't been knocked in. In the first over he dug out a Yorker, which resulted in a 'fatal' crack in the toe of the bat. If it had been knocked in properly it's unlikely this would have ever happened. If you don't knock in your bat you could literally be 'throwing £200 down the pan'.
To knock in your bat I highly recommend you use an old high quality cricket ball.
Begin gently by tapping the bat, particularly focusing in on the edges, as these are a very vulnerable part of the bat and by the end you want the edges to be almost slightly rounded.
Spend 2-3 hours doing this stage of knocking in the bat, making sure you cover all of the face of the bat, excluding the splice area. Don't knock-in the back of the cricket bat.
After you have done this gradually increase the force with which you hit the bat, making sure you systematically cover all of the face of the bat. By the end you should be hitting the bat with full force to simulate the impact of a real cricket ball.
When you have finished knocking in the bat, you should first progress to using the bat for out field practice and then in the nets against an old used high quality cricket ball, especially avoid 'bat breaker' cricket balls, you know the ones, cheap, hard and usually shiny. If your bat is going to break or split it's these balls that'll do the damage.
Once you've played the bat in for a few hours in the nets it'll be ready to take out on to the square.
It's a tedious process but well worth the time and effort for the results you'll get for your hard work. Its worth mentioning that some sports shops may offer a knocking in service for a small fee. Personally I like to do it myself to see how the bat progresses as it becomes more knocked in.
Bat Care and Maintenance
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Cricket-Bat-Care-and-Maintenance-Tips&id=35169
You should oil your new cricket bat using linseed oil before you begin to it knock-in.
Firstly lightly sand the surfaces of the cricket bat with a fine grade of sand paper. Then apply 2-3 light coats of oil to all exposed surfaces of the bat, allowing sufficient time for the bat to dry between coats, usually overnight.
It’s best to avoid oiling your cricket bat if it already has an artificial coating. Also don’t stand the bat in oil as this can cause the bat to soften and be more prone to damage.
Once you have oiled your bat and it has dried out, you can then begin to knock-in your new cricket bat.
After a match always check over your bat for signs of damage, such as cracking or splitting of the wood. You can repair damage by sanding and cleaning the damaged area, then using super glue or cricket bat tape to repair any small surface cracks.
During the off season, avoid storing your new cricket bat in a dry/warm location. Particularly avoid storing your bat in direct sunlight or rooms in your house where there are artificially high temperatures, as this will cause the bat to dry out.
At the end of the season if is often worth applying another light coat of linseed oil and again at the start of the next season. But don’t over oil as you may end up weakening the willow.
If you take good care of your cricket bat it should easily last at least 3-4 seasons. However if you mistreat it and don’t care for it, it will be much more prone to damage. It is normal however to get surface cracks on any cricket bat, even new bats, these are easily repaired with tape or glue and shouldn’t affect the quality of the bat.
But if a major split does occur it’s worth contacting your supplier, as they may send it back to the manufacturer, who will often repair it or send you a new one. However if it is clear the bat has been mistreated, it’s unlikely they will repair or replace it.
You should oil your new cricket bat using linseed oil before you begin to it knock-in.
Firstly lightly sand the surfaces of the cricket bat with a fine grade of sand paper. Then apply 2-3 light coats of oil to all exposed surfaces of the bat, allowing sufficient time for the bat to dry between coats, usually overnight.
It’s best to avoid oiling your cricket bat if it already has an artificial coating. Also don’t stand the bat in oil as this can cause the bat to soften and be more prone to damage.
Once you have oiled your bat and it has dried out, you can then begin to knock-in your new cricket bat.
After a match always check over your bat for signs of damage, such as cracking or splitting of the wood. You can repair damage by sanding and cleaning the damaged area, then using super glue or cricket bat tape to repair any small surface cracks.
During the off season, avoid storing your new cricket bat in a dry/warm location. Particularly avoid storing your bat in direct sunlight or rooms in your house where there are artificially high temperatures, as this will cause the bat to dry out.
At the end of the season if is often worth applying another light coat of linseed oil and again at the start of the next season. But don’t over oil as you may end up weakening the willow.
If you take good care of your cricket bat it should easily last at least 3-4 seasons. However if you mistreat it and don’t care for it, it will be much more prone to damage. It is normal however to get surface cracks on any cricket bat, even new bats, these are easily repaired with tape or glue and shouldn’t affect the quality of the bat.
But if a major split does occur it’s worth contacting your supplier, as they may send it back to the manufacturer, who will often repair it or send you a new one. However if it is clear the bat has been mistreated, it’s unlikely they will repair or replace it.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Me & 1st June 2007 Match
I realized that if I want wickets then I have to bowl varieties. I have more control now in bringing the ball in the batsman and keeping the ball straight. I am also comfortable with my line as well. But I feel that I must start working on having control on the ball which goes above the waist of the batsman and also work on my yorkers. Secondly I must stop what I have been thinking about doing for the past 2 weeks and that is attacking the wicket. If I can bowl a few balls outside the off stump and bring one in, then there is a higher chance of taking a wicket.
I also got a chance to field at 3rd man for the first time, and realized that its not very easy to field there, since the ball comes very fast and initially it is very hard to spot that its coming to your way. I feel that the keeper should signal to the fielder that the ball is coming his way, and secondly the fielder should immediately start running towards even if the ball is going towards long on !
I also got a chance to field at 3rd man for the first time, and realized that its not very easy to field there, since the ball comes very fast and initially it is very hard to spot that its coming to your way. I feel that the keeper should signal to the fielder that the ball is coming his way, and secondly the fielder should immediately start running towards even if the ball is going towards long on !
ummm - What Happened???
Match Report: Friday - 1st June 2007
Well I don't know whether to record the last match as a win or lose so I am going to write just what happened and then you decide and give my blog your comments. Remember comments are on ;)
The match started a bit late and we won the toss and put them in. Wicky and Anees Bhai started off well. The ground was bigger because of which boundaries weren't that easy to hit. Wicky started confidently and got us a wicket in his first over with Rizwan taking a good reflex catch.
Anees Bhai didn't look in much of a form today but still bowled with his heart, but the runs kept leaking with the batsmen finding boundaries here and there. Earlier Bilal got a taste of fielding at Long Off in the initial overs when he had to run both on his right and left, but it seemed that today was not to be his day on the field.
Amad came in first change and bowled the over without a boundary. Boundaries were not that easy to find anyways since the ground was quite big.
Junaid Bhai came in second change and bowled very well initially but was not able to control wides and thus gave away free runs. Because the batsman was not allowed to score freely off him, he was frustrated in giving an easy catch to Abu Bakar in covers. But he dropped a sitter which he should have taken with his eyes closed, denying Junaid Bhai his very first wicket. But hopefully Junaid Bhai would take that in his stride and keep up the good work. His last ball went for a boundary indicating the importance of not giving any free balls to the batsman.
Sameer Bhai came in next with a six off his first ball and didn't look like that it was going to be his day. Although he didn't let the batsmen cut lose but still they managed to keep on scoring at 10+ in the middle overs.
Nisar came in and bowled a wonderful first over with 2 wickets. One of them came through a very difficult and high catch and he had to move backwards to take the catch. And the second with a wonderful stumping from Rizwan.
Nisar's second over also went well but he gave a way 2-3 boundaries courtesy mis-fielding and dropped chances from his best man on the field Bilal! Bilal was removed from the position and came into the covers, where he took a catch off the bowling of Wicky taking Wicky's tally to 2 wickets in the match. Although the wickets kept on falling but the other team kept on scoring 10+ runs per over. Might be some friendly scoring was involved, since we didn't seem to give away so many runs.
In the end they ended up scoring 201 runs in 20 overs.
Fielding in general is improving but dropped catches are still there and with our experience developing the expectations are rising as well. Dropped catches and some occasional (Thank God they are occasional now) boundaries through the legs are demoralizing for the bowler. Sometimes the fielders are in doubt that whether to go for the catch or stop the boundary. I think if our fielders back each other up, then one man can go for the catch while the other can back him up and try to stop the boundary. The logic being 'catches win matches'. If we don't go for the catch we are only strenghtening the batsman and his timing and in the end, we might not be able to either get him out or stop his boundaries.
Our batting didn't start well and Rizwan went early. And he saw the fruits of that when the next 3 wickets fell in almost succession. Each batsman namely Ahmed, Nisar and Sameer Bhai tried to hit huge sixes and were caught trying to do just that. I think our batsmen should try and play according to the ground, since in this ground the boundaries were quite huge and a more feasible and no-risk plan would have been to hit the ball in the gaps and look for singles and doubles and occasional boundaries. Also if they require hitting the ball in the air, then they should try to do that in gaps, rather than straight at the fielders. Well its easier said than done, but I am sure they are better judges of their mistakes and would only improve and come fighting in the next match.
Wicky and Bilal came together and started to play easy shots. Wicky looked confident and played in all parts of the field, something which all our batsmen must learn to do. Especially Nisar and Ahmed should now start working on playing the ball in other parts of the field as well. Something which would increase their reliability levels.
Well we were not winning the match at that point in time but with Bilal and wicky on the crease and Abu Bakar and Amir Bhai to follow we were surely hopeful of giving a tough fight, but that was not to be.
The fielding team had taken enough of the heat and blamed our batsman of taking too long, and came out. Although it could have been a reason of complaining but coming out of the field was rather too emotional. Anyways the match was abandoned and we do feel that since we were willing to continue therefore we won the match.
Bilal while coming out was quite happy and said that I had finished another game. But nobody knew whether this finish was good or bad ;) But if you agree with our self-titled 'Finisher' then we have one more week to enjoy. And hopefully style bhai turned finisher bhai would live up to the expectations in the matches to come. As they say raising expectations is a dangerous thing, but then what is there to worry for the 'finisher' ;)
Well I don't know whether to record the last match as a win or lose so I am going to write just what happened and then you decide and give my blog your comments. Remember comments are on ;)
The match started a bit late and we won the toss and put them in. Wicky and Anees Bhai started off well. The ground was bigger because of which boundaries weren't that easy to hit. Wicky started confidently and got us a wicket in his first over with Rizwan taking a good reflex catch.
Anees Bhai didn't look in much of a form today but still bowled with his heart, but the runs kept leaking with the batsmen finding boundaries here and there. Earlier Bilal got a taste of fielding at Long Off in the initial overs when he had to run both on his right and left, but it seemed that today was not to be his day on the field.
Amad came in first change and bowled the over without a boundary. Boundaries were not that easy to find anyways since the ground was quite big.
Junaid Bhai came in second change and bowled very well initially but was not able to control wides and thus gave away free runs. Because the batsman was not allowed to score freely off him, he was frustrated in giving an easy catch to Abu Bakar in covers. But he dropped a sitter which he should have taken with his eyes closed, denying Junaid Bhai his very first wicket. But hopefully Junaid Bhai would take that in his stride and keep up the good work. His last ball went for a boundary indicating the importance of not giving any free balls to the batsman.
Sameer Bhai came in next with a six off his first ball and didn't look like that it was going to be his day. Although he didn't let the batsmen cut lose but still they managed to keep on scoring at 10+ in the middle overs.
Nisar came in and bowled a wonderful first over with 2 wickets. One of them came through a very difficult and high catch and he had to move backwards to take the catch. And the second with a wonderful stumping from Rizwan.
Nisar's second over also went well but he gave a way 2-3 boundaries courtesy mis-fielding and dropped chances from his best man on the field Bilal! Bilal was removed from the position and came into the covers, where he took a catch off the bowling of Wicky taking Wicky's tally to 2 wickets in the match. Although the wickets kept on falling but the other team kept on scoring 10+ runs per over. Might be some friendly scoring was involved, since we didn't seem to give away so many runs.
In the end they ended up scoring 201 runs in 20 overs.
Fielding in general is improving but dropped catches are still there and with our experience developing the expectations are rising as well. Dropped catches and some occasional (Thank God they are occasional now) boundaries through the legs are demoralizing for the bowler. Sometimes the fielders are in doubt that whether to go for the catch or stop the boundary. I think if our fielders back each other up, then one man can go for the catch while the other can back him up and try to stop the boundary. The logic being 'catches win matches'. If we don't go for the catch we are only strenghtening the batsman and his timing and in the end, we might not be able to either get him out or stop his boundaries.
Our batting didn't start well and Rizwan went early. And he saw the fruits of that when the next 3 wickets fell in almost succession. Each batsman namely Ahmed, Nisar and Sameer Bhai tried to hit huge sixes and were caught trying to do just that. I think our batsmen should try and play according to the ground, since in this ground the boundaries were quite huge and a more feasible and no-risk plan would have been to hit the ball in the gaps and look for singles and doubles and occasional boundaries. Also if they require hitting the ball in the air, then they should try to do that in gaps, rather than straight at the fielders. Well its easier said than done, but I am sure they are better judges of their mistakes and would only improve and come fighting in the next match.
Wicky and Bilal came together and started to play easy shots. Wicky looked confident and played in all parts of the field, something which all our batsmen must learn to do. Especially Nisar and Ahmed should now start working on playing the ball in other parts of the field as well. Something which would increase their reliability levels.
Well we were not winning the match at that point in time but with Bilal and wicky on the crease and Abu Bakar and Amir Bhai to follow we were surely hopeful of giving a tough fight, but that was not to be.
The fielding team had taken enough of the heat and blamed our batsman of taking too long, and came out. Although it could have been a reason of complaining but coming out of the field was rather too emotional. Anyways the match was abandoned and we do feel that since we were willing to continue therefore we won the match.
Bilal while coming out was quite happy and said that I had finished another game. But nobody knew whether this finish was good or bad ;) But if you agree with our self-titled 'Finisher' then we have one more week to enjoy. And hopefully style bhai turned finisher bhai would live up to the expectations in the matches to come. As they say raising expectations is a dangerous thing, but then what is there to worry for the 'finisher' ;)
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Nisar's Hurriance Pushes Us Through
Match Report: Friday 25th May 2007
Took some time coming but Nisar and Ahmed's hurricane innings were too much for our opponents to take and got us our 3rd win. A good solid batting display by Sameer Bhai and Rizwan handled the foundation of the innings well and finally Bilal took us to the finish line.
Earlier we started our bowling with Anees Bhai and Waqar and both maintained pressure with occasional boundaries being hit on them. Rizwan let go off a few difficult chances otherwise the pressure would have been on them from start. We were playing with 10 fielders on the small ground and wanted wickets from start, to prevent the batsmen from settling in.
Although there were some close calls but we didn't find wickets till the 10th over, when Sameer Bhai came and got our first wicket. The opener mis hit the ball and it went up in the air and Rizwan took a nice high catch. He took a wicket in the same over when he bold the batsmen. First time in the match our bowling took the initiative.
Wicky make good and quick bowling changes never allowing the batsmen to settle in. He brought himself and Anees Bhai back and took a wicket as well with a clean bold.
Nisar couldn't find his magic touch with his tight spin bowling today and was hit out of the ground on more than one occassions. Guess he was saving his magic for later.
Our last 5 overs saw 77 runs as the batsmen especially their opener who batted till the end made the most of the small ground and took his chances.
We required 221 runs in 20 overs. And with the small ground we always backed ourselves to get them. The captain's strategy worked when he sent in Nisar and Rizwan as opener. And as they say the best strategy is the one that works out. And work it did since Nisar cut lose and Rizwan played his usual anchor sheet role. The opener partnership got us 74 runs in 6.3 overs.
Rizwan got out caught behind while trying to run the ball to fine leg, didn't look comfortable against spin but still managed to score 15 off 17 balls with 1 boundary. Just what was required from him. In came Sameer Bhai next and anchored the innings from the 6th over till the 17th over. It was an exceptional innings from him since he played exactly as the situation required. Initially he worked with Nisar, then Ahmed and then took charge when Bilal arrived at the crease. At all times he played as the situation required and when he left, he left the scoring rate from 11 runs per over to 7 runs per over. Making it very easy for the remaining batsmen to take us to the finish line. For me his innings was the best.
Nisar's magic clearly put us on the front foot and because of his innings the match never looked out of reach for us. He scored 62 off 29 balls with 4 sixes and 5 boundaries. A good thing about his innings was that he didn't play foolish or false shots and when he did hit he hit it with full heart and timing. He battled not the bowling but also heat and never looked like tiring. This kind of energy was required from both the openers and has brought fresh air in the camp.
Ahmed came in when Nisar went and played a beautiful innings which was a mix of restraint, energy, stamina and powerful hitting. It was a lethal combination and it kept the required run rate fixed at 11 runs per over.
In first 10 overs we finally broke the 100 runs in mark and did that in style. We made 110 runs in the first 10 overs and therefore required 11 runs per over in the remaining 10. Ahmed finally hit out and was caught on the boundary with the score on 140 runs.
Wicky came in next hit a boundary on the leg side, but was out trying to hit the ball out of the planet. At that time due to falling of almost back to back wickets of Ahmed and Wicky, pressure was tilted on us. Bilal came in next. And reversed the role with Sameer Bhai. Bilal tried to operate in singles and didn't try to hit the ball in the air. Sameer Bhai then took the attack to the other team. They got a good partnership of 50 runs and Sameer Bhai also hit 20 runs in a single over. Finally with 25 runs required of around 3 overs he hit out and was out caught on the boundary. At that time sensible batting was required which was provided by Bilal who didn't take any risk and dealt in chiefly singles and doubles. Finally in the last over 4 runs were required. With the field in and hitting out a sensible shot, Bilal hit a six when 2 runs were required from 4 balls. We won the match in style with 3 balls and 5 wickets to spare.
Great work guys especially our batting which came good and held their nerves together and played according to the situation.
My Performance
This week I tried to bowl with a new action for more speed. The first over went good and the batsmen didn't look in a mood to punish. Bowled a few balls on the leg as well and they were not able to connect. At that time both the openers were playing and seemed to set. I got the speed, but wasn't able to jerk my wrist that much so the bounce was not there.
The second over was a little way ward since my first ball was hit for a boundary and I bowled a full toss as well, which got the inside edge and Rizwan missed to stop it as well and it went straight to the boundary. I changed my action back to the old and immediately got some bounce. I feel that I am able to use my wrist with the old action and get more speed with the new action. So in a dilemma now on what to do.
My last over was unlucky so I am not worrying about it that much. The opener was well set and was trying to hit out on every delivery. I didn't try to bowl any full delivery since it would have been easily dispatched by him without any risk. I decided to mix it up and bowl a little shot. An easy catch was dropped by Nisar and went for boundary as well. After that I was hit for a six and a boundary. I gave 15 runs in that over, and that too after bowling 3 good deliveries in the start.
I think I should work out how and where to bowl when the batsman is in the violent mode. In the last match in this ground I bowled full but was easily dispatched. I think I should work out on fast yorkers. Its a very difficult thing to do especially when you are bowling at the death and shouldn't rely at all on the fielders. Anyways, dear blog, lets see what happens, will try to keep you updated.
Took some time coming but Nisar and Ahmed's hurricane innings were too much for our opponents to take and got us our 3rd win. A good solid batting display by Sameer Bhai and Rizwan handled the foundation of the innings well and finally Bilal took us to the finish line.
Earlier we started our bowling with Anees Bhai and Waqar and both maintained pressure with occasional boundaries being hit on them. Rizwan let go off a few difficult chances otherwise the pressure would have been on them from start. We were playing with 10 fielders on the small ground and wanted wickets from start, to prevent the batsmen from settling in.
Although there were some close calls but we didn't find wickets till the 10th over, when Sameer Bhai came and got our first wicket. The opener mis hit the ball and it went up in the air and Rizwan took a nice high catch. He took a wicket in the same over when he bold the batsmen. First time in the match our bowling took the initiative.
Wicky make good and quick bowling changes never allowing the batsmen to settle in. He brought himself and Anees Bhai back and took a wicket as well with a clean bold.
Nisar couldn't find his magic touch with his tight spin bowling today and was hit out of the ground on more than one occassions. Guess he was saving his magic for later.
Our last 5 overs saw 77 runs as the batsmen especially their opener who batted till the end made the most of the small ground and took his chances.
We required 221 runs in 20 overs. And with the small ground we always backed ourselves to get them. The captain's strategy worked when he sent in Nisar and Rizwan as opener. And as they say the best strategy is the one that works out. And work it did since Nisar cut lose and Rizwan played his usual anchor sheet role. The opener partnership got us 74 runs in 6.3 overs.
Rizwan got out caught behind while trying to run the ball to fine leg, didn't look comfortable against spin but still managed to score 15 off 17 balls with 1 boundary. Just what was required from him. In came Sameer Bhai next and anchored the innings from the 6th over till the 17th over. It was an exceptional innings from him since he played exactly as the situation required. Initially he worked with Nisar, then Ahmed and then took charge when Bilal arrived at the crease. At all times he played as the situation required and when he left, he left the scoring rate from 11 runs per over to 7 runs per over. Making it very easy for the remaining batsmen to take us to the finish line. For me his innings was the best.
Nisar's magic clearly put us on the front foot and because of his innings the match never looked out of reach for us. He scored 62 off 29 balls with 4 sixes and 5 boundaries. A good thing about his innings was that he didn't play foolish or false shots and when he did hit he hit it with full heart and timing. He battled not the bowling but also heat and never looked like tiring. This kind of energy was required from both the openers and has brought fresh air in the camp.
Ahmed came in when Nisar went and played a beautiful innings which was a mix of restraint, energy, stamina and powerful hitting. It was a lethal combination and it kept the required run rate fixed at 11 runs per over.
In first 10 overs we finally broke the 100 runs in mark and did that in style. We made 110 runs in the first 10 overs and therefore required 11 runs per over in the remaining 10. Ahmed finally hit out and was caught on the boundary with the score on 140 runs.
Wicky came in next hit a boundary on the leg side, but was out trying to hit the ball out of the planet. At that time due to falling of almost back to back wickets of Ahmed and Wicky, pressure was tilted on us. Bilal came in next. And reversed the role with Sameer Bhai. Bilal tried to operate in singles and didn't try to hit the ball in the air. Sameer Bhai then took the attack to the other team. They got a good partnership of 50 runs and Sameer Bhai also hit 20 runs in a single over. Finally with 25 runs required of around 3 overs he hit out and was out caught on the boundary. At that time sensible batting was required which was provided by Bilal who didn't take any risk and dealt in chiefly singles and doubles. Finally in the last over 4 runs were required. With the field in and hitting out a sensible shot, Bilal hit a six when 2 runs were required from 4 balls. We won the match in style with 3 balls and 5 wickets to spare.
Great work guys especially our batting which came good and held their nerves together and played according to the situation.
My Performance
This week I tried to bowl with a new action for more speed. The first over went good and the batsmen didn't look in a mood to punish. Bowled a few balls on the leg as well and they were not able to connect. At that time both the openers were playing and seemed to set. I got the speed, but wasn't able to jerk my wrist that much so the bounce was not there.
The second over was a little way ward since my first ball was hit for a boundary and I bowled a full toss as well, which got the inside edge and Rizwan missed to stop it as well and it went straight to the boundary. I changed my action back to the old and immediately got some bounce. I feel that I am able to use my wrist with the old action and get more speed with the new action. So in a dilemma now on what to do.
My last over was unlucky so I am not worrying about it that much. The opener was well set and was trying to hit out on every delivery. I didn't try to bowl any full delivery since it would have been easily dispatched by him without any risk. I decided to mix it up and bowl a little shot. An easy catch was dropped by Nisar and went for boundary as well. After that I was hit for a six and a boundary. I gave 15 runs in that over, and that too after bowling 3 good deliveries in the start.
I think I should work out how and where to bowl when the batsman is in the violent mode. In the last match in this ground I bowled full but was easily dispatched. I think I should work out on fast yorkers. Its a very difficult thing to do especially when you are bowling at the death and shouldn't rely at all on the fielders. Anyways, dear blog, lets see what happens, will try to keep you updated.
The Fightback
Match Report: 18th May 2007
If defeat has some sweetness I am sure that it would be the same that we feel in us at the moment. After the last two disasters it was very important for us to make a strong fightback and surely we did just that. Last time our bowling and fielding was nothing to write home about and this time it was very important for us to give a very good performance. And we did just that.
The day started in confusion about whether the match will take place or not, since in Kuwait nowadays the weather is very dusty and sometimes its so thick that the visibility is almost zero. The match did start though, although a couple hours of late.
Our bowling and fielding took 10 wickets today and packed the team for 159 runs. The special thing about it was that the other team was not a push over and it really felt good that for once we had an upper hand on the field and that too against a good all round team. As Anees Bhai says we kept our tail up ;) and restricted them to 159.
Junaid Bhai started with the first over and gave away 19 runs in it. The line was a bit incorrect and sometimes down the leg, I am sure he would improve on it. Anees Bhai bowled 4 on the trot and took 2 wickets for us. The captain decided to pursue with him since he was bowling a lethal line and length. As always I am a fan of watching a bold off his bowling. His second wicket came with a good and well judged catch on the boundary by Abdullah.
Wicky also bowled well and tried to stop the run flow and managed to do it to some extent.
I came in with the same idea of bowling wicket to wicket but this time was looking for a little more speed and bounce, which I finally manage to find it, thanks to a timely advice from my friend Mohsin for jerking my wrist with as much power as I can. I took 2 wickets one of them was a bold and one a caught behind. A bold is always special even if the batsman had decided to stay jammed in his crease and pull the ball. And oh yes bowled by first bouncer as well.
Anyways the pick of all bowlers was Nisar who took 4 wickets. His first over saw his first wicket when the batsman tried to hit him out of the ground only to whole it up in the air and Ahmed took a well judged and comfortable catch. It seemed to break the shackels for him and in his remaining overs he kept on looking for more wickets. He went on to take 3 more wickets which included a good catch from Rizwan. It is always difficult to take a catch on spin bowling. So well done Rizwan.
Abdullah bowled good off spin as well and took 2 wickets, with one wicket coming off a stumping from Rizwan. Hopefully this good performance by Rizwan will spark a new self belief in him and he would continue with the good work behind the wicket on spin bowlers as well.
A few words about our fielding. We took all the chances that we got and didn't give up any relief to the batsman. This just goes to show that if we take the chances that we get we can easily restrict the score to below average. A few fielders did horrible ground fielding, and they know who they are, so not necessary to mention the name. We are waiting for you to stop the ball. Khurram did well in the field and gave his 100%.
Our batting started miserably once again, with the Captain showing confidence in Ahmed to open with Nisar in the absence of Bilal. The idea possibly was to get some quick runs so as to put the fielding team on the back foot immediately. But that didn't work out and Ahmed was caught behind on the second ball he faced. Nisar also went early and he was clean bowled after hitting a strong boundary over the head of the point fielder.
In the absence of Bilal and Sameer Bhai we played two new players Abdullah and Masood. Both came on pitch and gave some sort of stability. Abdullah played well and confidently, Masood also was playing well but didn't look very comfortable and finally was out stumped. Abdullah continued in the same fashion and was joined in by Waqar. As the score was not that much therefore a good partnership was needed at that time. But as the law of averages goes, Waqar was out caught behind while trying to sweep. Rizwan came in next and played well along with Abdullah in an extreme pressure situation. That was a very critical partnership for us and both of them played exceptionally well, while keeping the required rate in check. The good thing about their batting was that they took minimum risk and kept the required scoring rate (which was fluctuating between 7-9) in check. Finally Rizwan got too tired and tried to go for a suicidal run and was run out. At that time the required runs were in 20s and as hind sight, it would have better if both Abdullah and Rizwan would have gone and finished the match for us. Abu Bakar came in next and after scoring a few runs was out caught. I came in and that time 10 runs were required off 7 balls.
Abdullah faced the first ball of the last over and was out caught on the boundary. I faced the next ball and was out caught on the boundary as well. I got a half volley but probably didn't how and where to hit that powerfully, so I chose a location which was the easiest but it went straight to the fielder. Anees Bhai faced the next ball and was out bowled on the first ball. Junaid Bhai came in next and we got a boundary off a fine edge and hence brought the runs required to 5 runs from 2 balls. In the next 2 balls we got 2 more runs and hence lost the match by just 2 runs. We were not all out so that was something which was good for us.
It was a good show from all of us and we did give a fighting performance. The score was not that much and it was expected from our batting to deliver today, but that was not to be. Hopefully we all can sit and do self analysis, since self analysis is the only way we can improve ourselves. And once we start doing that then sky is the limit.
If defeat has some sweetness I am sure that it would be the same that we feel in us at the moment. After the last two disasters it was very important for us to make a strong fightback and surely we did just that. Last time our bowling and fielding was nothing to write home about and this time it was very important for us to give a very good performance. And we did just that.
The day started in confusion about whether the match will take place or not, since in Kuwait nowadays the weather is very dusty and sometimes its so thick that the visibility is almost zero. The match did start though, although a couple hours of late.
Our bowling and fielding took 10 wickets today and packed the team for 159 runs. The special thing about it was that the other team was not a push over and it really felt good that for once we had an upper hand on the field and that too against a good all round team. As Anees Bhai says we kept our tail up ;) and restricted them to 159.
Junaid Bhai started with the first over and gave away 19 runs in it. The line was a bit incorrect and sometimes down the leg, I am sure he would improve on it. Anees Bhai bowled 4 on the trot and took 2 wickets for us. The captain decided to pursue with him since he was bowling a lethal line and length. As always I am a fan of watching a bold off his bowling. His second wicket came with a good and well judged catch on the boundary by Abdullah.
Wicky also bowled well and tried to stop the run flow and managed to do it to some extent.
I came in with the same idea of bowling wicket to wicket but this time was looking for a little more speed and bounce, which I finally manage to find it, thanks to a timely advice from my friend Mohsin for jerking my wrist with as much power as I can. I took 2 wickets one of them was a bold and one a caught behind. A bold is always special even if the batsman had decided to stay jammed in his crease and pull the ball. And oh yes bowled by first bouncer as well.
Anyways the pick of all bowlers was Nisar who took 4 wickets. His first over saw his first wicket when the batsman tried to hit him out of the ground only to whole it up in the air and Ahmed took a well judged and comfortable catch. It seemed to break the shackels for him and in his remaining overs he kept on looking for more wickets. He went on to take 3 more wickets which included a good catch from Rizwan. It is always difficult to take a catch on spin bowling. So well done Rizwan.
Abdullah bowled good off spin as well and took 2 wickets, with one wicket coming off a stumping from Rizwan. Hopefully this good performance by Rizwan will spark a new self belief in him and he would continue with the good work behind the wicket on spin bowlers as well.
A few words about our fielding. We took all the chances that we got and didn't give up any relief to the batsman. This just goes to show that if we take the chances that we get we can easily restrict the score to below average. A few fielders did horrible ground fielding, and they know who they are, so not necessary to mention the name. We are waiting for you to stop the ball. Khurram did well in the field and gave his 100%.
Our batting started miserably once again, with the Captain showing confidence in Ahmed to open with Nisar in the absence of Bilal. The idea possibly was to get some quick runs so as to put the fielding team on the back foot immediately. But that didn't work out and Ahmed was caught behind on the second ball he faced. Nisar also went early and he was clean bowled after hitting a strong boundary over the head of the point fielder.
In the absence of Bilal and Sameer Bhai we played two new players Abdullah and Masood. Both came on pitch and gave some sort of stability. Abdullah played well and confidently, Masood also was playing well but didn't look very comfortable and finally was out stumped. Abdullah continued in the same fashion and was joined in by Waqar. As the score was not that much therefore a good partnership was needed at that time. But as the law of averages goes, Waqar was out caught behind while trying to sweep. Rizwan came in next and played well along with Abdullah in an extreme pressure situation. That was a very critical partnership for us and both of them played exceptionally well, while keeping the required rate in check. The good thing about their batting was that they took minimum risk and kept the required scoring rate (which was fluctuating between 7-9) in check. Finally Rizwan got too tired and tried to go for a suicidal run and was run out. At that time the required runs were in 20s and as hind sight, it would have better if both Abdullah and Rizwan would have gone and finished the match for us. Abu Bakar came in next and after scoring a few runs was out caught. I came in and that time 10 runs were required off 7 balls.
Abdullah faced the first ball of the last over and was out caught on the boundary. I faced the next ball and was out caught on the boundary as well. I got a half volley but probably didn't how and where to hit that powerfully, so I chose a location which was the easiest but it went straight to the fielder. Anees Bhai faced the next ball and was out bowled on the first ball. Junaid Bhai came in next and we got a boundary off a fine edge and hence brought the runs required to 5 runs from 2 balls. In the next 2 balls we got 2 more runs and hence lost the match by just 2 runs. We were not all out so that was something which was good for us.
It was a good show from all of us and we did give a fighting performance. The score was not that much and it was expected from our batting to deliver today, but that was not to be. Hopefully we all can sit and do self analysis, since self analysis is the only way we can improve ourselves. And once we start doing that then sky is the limit.
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