A rear gaurd innings of 51 from 25 balls from Sameer, pushed the score in the comfort zone and enabled us to get one more win in our bag. The innings was started from our regular and charismatic opening pair of Nisar and Bilal. They were not able to score freely but still managed to score 7 an over. The opening partnership was of 29 runs. Although were not able to convince many but the opening pair managed to see off the new ball while maintaining a respectable scoring rate.
In a brotherhood mood both left the pitch in the same over, bringing the pressure on the next batsmen. But with a good run rate already there, Wicky and Ahmed had the required foundation to score freely rather than worry about wickets in hand and made some quick runs and in the next 6 overs 53 runs at just about 9 an over, were scored pushing the score to 82 in the first ten overs. Waqar scored 34 off 25 balls and Ahmed with one wonderful 6 over long off boundary beside a few boundaries scored 26 off 15 balls.
Rizwan came in but with the field brought in and a little injury in the ankles suffered before the match, was not able to reproduce his style of initially scoring runs though quick singles and doubles. He scored 6 runs off 7 balls and was run out because of a bad call from Waqar. Amir started off confidently but couldn't score and managed 9 off 7 balls. Waqar too left the crease after a good catch in the covers.
Lower down the order Sameer and Zeyad (15 off 9 balls) managed to push the score to 187, meaning we scored 105 in the last 10 overs. A complete reverse from what we had planned, which was above 100 in the first ten and at least 80 in the last ten.
Bowling started confidently but we suffered once again from very very poor fielding. We at least gave away 30 extra runs. The opening pair bowled well and the batting team was able to score 42 runs from 6 overs at 7 runs an over. Since we didn't manage to take early wickets therefore we were not able to bowl Junaid as first change. Ahmed bowled the first change but gave away 12 runs in his first over. Which immediately brought spin in action through Sameer.
Sameer started off well but was victim of some very poor fielding all around and gave away 21 runs in his first 2 overs. Bilal also came to bowl in tandem with Sameer but gave away 17 runs in his first over and hence was removed. The batsmen thanks to our poor fielding were scoring freely. I came to bowl in at that time with Sameer Bhai and managed to stop the run flow. We knew that one or two good economical overs would push the pressure back on the batting team. Sameer kept on his merry ways and managed to take wickets and that continued the pressure on the batting team. In the end Sameer stats were 4 overs 40 runs and 3 wickets.
Waqar and Anees came back to bowl and pushed the batting team further backwards. In the last 2 overs 36 runs were required. We brought in Ahmed since at that time, wicket to wicket fast bowling was required. We were hopeful that if Ahmed is able to bowl a good economical over we would be able to bowl in Junaid for the last over. But that was not to be. He gave away 16 runs and the batting team required 20 runs from the last over. At that time the ball was toosed to Bilal who was confident as well. He gave away only 6 runs and took a wicket on the last ball.
What Went Wrong
Winning usually hides the weaknesses in a performance. But a good team is the one which, win or lose, continues to learn from their mistakes.
1. Opening pair weakness of playing balls on middle and leg were exposed.
2. Pathetic fielding display. With 4-5 dropped chances and one missed stumping (run out) as well.
3. Bilal needs to work on his bowling a little bit more and bring in some variety such as faster ones alongwith his loopy stuff.
4. Nisar needs to work on his middle and leg. He is superb on off side but he must work hard to remove this gray area from his batting.
5. A good batting performance from Amir Bhai is due and expected now. We are sure that he would pull through, just need to get going.
The Positives
A good team not only takes its weaknesses but also its strengths in the next match. Here are some good things to take in the next match.
1. We have improved our running between the wickets and some urgency is there to run the first one hard and look for a possible second run.
2. The batting order is taking shape now and looks settled and after a team evaluation meeting, there might only be a few changes in it. I for one believe that Sameer can now open the innings with Bilal since he is middling the ball well and should get more balls to face, so that we have more runs in the kitty.
About Me
My fielding was okay today, but I was very very disappointed on the two boundaries (one hard and one very simple) that went through me. The simple one was on Sameer Bhai and the triple 'F***' words from him were little in comparison with the disappointment in myself.
Before coming into the match I was thinking about attacking wicket taking bowling today. But the situation in which I was brought demanded a defensive strategy. So keeping that in mind I started the bowling and managed to curb the run flow. Still disappointed that I didn't take any wickets. I also need to work on my length since usually my balls is on or below the knee level of the batsmen. Poor fielding and dropped chances on my bowling increased my runs per over :( and my stats in the end were 38 runs in 4 overs and no wickets.
And oh yes wonderful 'padding' as well from me. Which ensured that I didn't get a chance to go in the middle although I was padded up to do that. Which was good since at that time Sameer and Zeyad were playing wonderfully well.
Future Strategy
It depends upon the captain to decide what he wants from the openers. If he wants them to see off the new ball and score at around 7-8 an over, then Bilal and Nisar are doing a good job. And they can be continued as the opening pair and would just need to work on their middle and leg deficiencies. In the middle order Sameer can come at number 4 to ensure that he has more balls to face and hence more runs to score for the team. Number 3 can be a switch between Rizwan, Ahmed and Waqar, depending upon the situation and form of the three.
But if the captain wants more runs from the opening pair and doesn't consider the new ball a threat, then Sameer or Waqar can open the innings with Bilal, and Nisar can come in Sameer's current position i.e. 5 or 6.
One thing is for sure though and that is Sameer should be pushed up the order now since he is in good form and must be utilized properly so that he has more balls to face.
Incident
No such incidents as such except for a appeal from the bowling on a 'Bold'.
Tournament Status
The tournament is alive for us and we need to at least win 1 match from the next 2 matches. But one is never sure in tournaments until the results from all the matches are in. Therefore we have to give our all in the next match.
In the end guys, this is just my perspective of the match, so if you have any changes/comments, feel free to comment on the blog, so that they come on record as well. Also team evaluation is complete and would soon be appearing on the blog.
Below are some stats but guys don't go by the bowling stats, there are quite a lot of discrepancies in it since the total of bowling runs is coming to 185! And the batting team only scored 173. But the bottom line is that the bowling was good and fielding very poor.
29 runs from 4 overs opening partnership
First 10 overs 82
Last 10 overs 105
Total 187
Bowling
Waqar: 6,6,8,7 (1 wicket) (27)
Anees: 5,6,11,7 (0 wicket) (29)
Ahmed: 12, 16 (0 wickets) (28)
Sameer: 11,10,9,10 (3 wickets) (40)
Bilal: 17,6 1 wicket (23)
Amad 3,15,10,10 0 wickets (38)
Bilal 13(15)
Nisar 6(9)
Wicky 34(25)
Ahmed 26(15)
Rizwan 6(7)
Amir 9(7)
Sameer 51(25)
Zeyad 15(9)
In a brotherhood mood both left the pitch in the same over, bringing the pressure on the next batsmen. But with a good run rate already there, Wicky and Ahmed had the required foundation to score freely rather than worry about wickets in hand and made some quick runs and in the next 6 overs 53 runs at just about 9 an over, were scored pushing the score to 82 in the first ten overs. Waqar scored 34 off 25 balls and Ahmed with one wonderful 6 over long off boundary beside a few boundaries scored 26 off 15 balls.
Rizwan came in but with the field brought in and a little injury in the ankles suffered before the match, was not able to reproduce his style of initially scoring runs though quick singles and doubles. He scored 6 runs off 7 balls and was run out because of a bad call from Waqar. Amir started off confidently but couldn't score and managed 9 off 7 balls. Waqar too left the crease after a good catch in the covers.
Lower down the order Sameer and Zeyad (15 off 9 balls) managed to push the score to 187, meaning we scored 105 in the last 10 overs. A complete reverse from what we had planned, which was above 100 in the first ten and at least 80 in the last ten.
Bowling started confidently but we suffered once again from very very poor fielding. We at least gave away 30 extra runs. The opening pair bowled well and the batting team was able to score 42 runs from 6 overs at 7 runs an over. Since we didn't manage to take early wickets therefore we were not able to bowl Junaid as first change. Ahmed bowled the first change but gave away 12 runs in his first over. Which immediately brought spin in action through Sameer.
Sameer started off well but was victim of some very poor fielding all around and gave away 21 runs in his first 2 overs. Bilal also came to bowl in tandem with Sameer but gave away 17 runs in his first over and hence was removed. The batsmen thanks to our poor fielding were scoring freely. I came to bowl in at that time with Sameer Bhai and managed to stop the run flow. We knew that one or two good economical overs would push the pressure back on the batting team. Sameer kept on his merry ways and managed to take wickets and that continued the pressure on the batting team. In the end Sameer stats were 4 overs 40 runs and 3 wickets.
Waqar and Anees came back to bowl and pushed the batting team further backwards. In the last 2 overs 36 runs were required. We brought in Ahmed since at that time, wicket to wicket fast bowling was required. We were hopeful that if Ahmed is able to bowl a good economical over we would be able to bowl in Junaid for the last over. But that was not to be. He gave away 16 runs and the batting team required 20 runs from the last over. At that time the ball was toosed to Bilal who was confident as well. He gave away only 6 runs and took a wicket on the last ball.
What Went Wrong
Winning usually hides the weaknesses in a performance. But a good team is the one which, win or lose, continues to learn from their mistakes.
1. Opening pair weakness of playing balls on middle and leg were exposed.
2. Pathetic fielding display. With 4-5 dropped chances and one missed stumping (run out) as well.
3. Bilal needs to work on his bowling a little bit more and bring in some variety such as faster ones alongwith his loopy stuff.
4. Nisar needs to work on his middle and leg. He is superb on off side but he must work hard to remove this gray area from his batting.
5. A good batting performance from Amir Bhai is due and expected now. We are sure that he would pull through, just need to get going.
The Positives
A good team not only takes its weaknesses but also its strengths in the next match. Here are some good things to take in the next match.
1. We have improved our running between the wickets and some urgency is there to run the first one hard and look for a possible second run.
2. The batting order is taking shape now and looks settled and after a team evaluation meeting, there might only be a few changes in it. I for one believe that Sameer can now open the innings with Bilal since he is middling the ball well and should get more balls to face, so that we have more runs in the kitty.
About Me
My fielding was okay today, but I was very very disappointed on the two boundaries (one hard and one very simple) that went through me. The simple one was on Sameer Bhai and the triple 'F***' words from him were little in comparison with the disappointment in myself.
Before coming into the match I was thinking about attacking wicket taking bowling today. But the situation in which I was brought demanded a defensive strategy. So keeping that in mind I started the bowling and managed to curb the run flow. Still disappointed that I didn't take any wickets. I also need to work on my length since usually my balls is on or below the knee level of the batsmen. Poor fielding and dropped chances on my bowling increased my runs per over :( and my stats in the end were 38 runs in 4 overs and no wickets.
And oh yes wonderful 'padding' as well from me. Which ensured that I didn't get a chance to go in the middle although I was padded up to do that. Which was good since at that time Sameer and Zeyad were playing wonderfully well.
Future Strategy
It depends upon the captain to decide what he wants from the openers. If he wants them to see off the new ball and score at around 7-8 an over, then Bilal and Nisar are doing a good job. And they can be continued as the opening pair and would just need to work on their middle and leg deficiencies. In the middle order Sameer can come at number 4 to ensure that he has more balls to face and hence more runs to score for the team. Number 3 can be a switch between Rizwan, Ahmed and Waqar, depending upon the situation and form of the three.
But if the captain wants more runs from the opening pair and doesn't consider the new ball a threat, then Sameer or Waqar can open the innings with Bilal, and Nisar can come in Sameer's current position i.e. 5 or 6.
One thing is for sure though and that is Sameer should be pushed up the order now since he is in good form and must be utilized properly so that he has more balls to face.
Incident
No such incidents as such except for a appeal from the bowling on a 'Bold'.
Tournament Status
The tournament is alive for us and we need to at least win 1 match from the next 2 matches. But one is never sure in tournaments until the results from all the matches are in. Therefore we have to give our all in the next match.
In the end guys, this is just my perspective of the match, so if you have any changes/comments, feel free to comment on the blog, so that they come on record as well. Also team evaluation is complete and would soon be appearing on the blog.
Below are some stats but guys don't go by the bowling stats, there are quite a lot of discrepancies in it since the total of bowling runs is coming to 185! And the batting team only scored 173. But the bottom line is that the bowling was good and fielding very poor.
29 runs from 4 overs opening partnership
First 10 overs 82
Last 10 overs 105
Total 187
Bowling
Waqar: 6,6,8,7 (1 wicket) (27)
Anees: 5,6,11,7 (0 wicket) (29)
Ahmed: 12, 16 (0 wickets) (28)
Sameer: 11,10,9,10 (3 wickets) (40)
Bilal: 17,6 1 wicket (23)
Amad 3,15,10,10 0 wickets (38)
Bilal 13(15)
Nisar 6(9)
Wicky 34(25)
Ahmed 26(15)
Rizwan 6(7)
Amir 9(7)
Sameer 51(25)
Zeyad 15(9)
1 comment:
Well written.. all points covered :)
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