Friday 13th April 2007.We finally won our first match. The other team was not that good, but initial bowling was good from Anees and Waqar, and the other team was on back foot from the start. Finally Anees got the first break through, by a clean bold. Their bowling was not very good but still our top order failed this time. And Bilal, Nisar and Waqar came back without impressing anyone! Ahmed played well and scored some quick runs. But star of the show was Rizwan and Sameer whose partnership won the match for us. Sameer after taking some time to get set in which Rizwan made him run hard to keep the require rate in check. But after he was set, he delighted all of us, with some wonderful stroke play. And took the match from a neck to neck situation to completely bringing it in our control. In the end Zeyad also managed to show some good shots and we won the match.
Man of the match in my books was of course Rizwan for yet another 50.
Some areas where we erred were
1. When we knew that their middle and lower order bastmen were not a threat we should have brought back our faster bowlers and attacked them with wicket to wicket fast bowling.
2. Our front line batsmen failed except for Ahmed therefore our current strategy was saved from complete failure by Ahmed. But the second part of the strategy that Rizwan, Sameer and Zeyad will steady the ship succeeded. Our front line batsmen must learn and work hard in the next match.
3. The fielding was good but 2 dropped chances from Amir, boundary let offs from Sameer and Zeyad were a 'kalank' on the whole fielding effort!
4. Although Rizwan's keeping is very good, in a short time he has learned a lot. He must work on his stumping and run outs. Against better teams we must cash on every opportunity that we get.
Encouraging Points
1. The field placing was good and the bowlers now seem to know where they have to bowl and what field they require.
2. Fielding is improving day by day and now we are giving lesser runs by mis fielding.
3. A good fielding effort by Waqar resulted in a run out.
4. We have realized that its a 20 over match and its not over till the last ball. Last week when our initial overs cost some runs, we still worked hard and managed to save crucial runs in the last 10 overs, and this week our batting showed that no matter even if the first few wickets fell cheaply we still can push the score and take us to the target.
5. Rizwan's wicket keeping on faster bowlers.
Incident
No cricket match is complete without an incident. Hence we have drama, debate, thrill, fight, comedy and exercise all in a 20 overs match. What happened was when Ahmed took his first and only wicket. Bilal took a very good catch and then as expected from the style bhai, he threw the ball outside the ground in jubilation. The fielding team calimed a boundary much to our astonishment. A small battle ensued, but not on the pitch but off it. Intense debating competition started and everyone was trying to explain his point of view in one go. Finally common sense prevailed and the batsman was given out. Who says that cricket is all about batting, bowling and fielding.
Me
The ball was a bit smaller and I enjoyed bowling with it. Although I am disappointed about the wides and nos. But I have worked on my run up and now I think with better practice I can bowl a little fast. My strategy today was to bowl fast wicket to wicket bowling. Line good length and on offstump, movement primarily inside the batsman with occasional out swingers/leg cutters and length on the wickets. But I have to develop a slower ball and also work on length of the bowl with occasional balls above the waist of the batsman. Fielding was good as I didn't leave off any boundary. A disappointment was to miss a very difficult catch of Bilal's bowling and had it been just a few inches closer to me, I would have managed to get a hand on it. Didn't get a chance to bat, but I had decided that if the ball is on the leg stump I will pull it and off stump I will try to drive it. Thank God I didn't get a chance to bat and we won the match before it. That was important.
No cricket match is complete without an incident. Hence we have drama, debate, thrill, fight, comedy and exercise all in a 20 overs match. What happened was when Ahmed took his first and only wicket. Bilal took a very good catch and then as expected from the style bhai, he threw the ball outside the ground in jubilation. The fielding team calimed a boundary much to our astonishment. A small battle ensued, but not on the pitch but off it. Intense debating competition started and everyone was trying to explain his point of view in one go. Finally common sense prevailed and the batsman was given out. Who says that cricket is all about batting, bowling and fielding.
Me
The ball was a bit smaller and I enjoyed bowling with it. Although I am disappointed about the wides and nos. But I have worked on my run up and now I think with better practice I can bowl a little fast. My strategy today was to bowl fast wicket to wicket bowling. Line good length and on offstump, movement primarily inside the batsman with occasional out swingers/leg cutters and length on the wickets. But I have to develop a slower ball and also work on length of the bowl with occasional balls above the waist of the batsman. Fielding was good as I didn't leave off any boundary. A disappointment was to miss a very difficult catch of Bilal's bowling and had it been just a few inches closer to me, I would have managed to get a hand on it. Didn't get a chance to bat, but I had decided that if the ball is on the leg stump I will pull it and off stump I will try to drive it. Thank God I didn't get a chance to bat and we won the match before it. That was important.
Team Spirit
Lastly a few words about Team Spirit. We have an exceptional team spirit going on, and it doesn't matter whether you are batting, bowling or just fielding. Everyone wants to pitch in and play for the team. Everybody wants the team to win. Prime examples are Junaid and Khurram, who have not been given enough opportunities but still they are completely involved with the team and whatever is required of them they do it to the fullest. As the team grows we will be giving more chances to all the players and won't be that rigid with our batting and bowling line ups.
I think with this Team Spirt and some more experience, Agility Panthers can be one of the best teams in Kuwait. Well done guys, winning is always sweet and losing always bitter. Now we have the whole week to feel sweet.
And come to think of it, we won on Friday the 13th ;) Who says its bad luck. Allah makes the good and bad luck and it can fall on any day.
Lastly a few words about Team Spirit. We have an exceptional team spirit going on, and it doesn't matter whether you are batting, bowling or just fielding. Everyone wants to pitch in and play for the team. Everybody wants the team to win. Prime examples are Junaid and Khurram, who have not been given enough opportunities but still they are completely involved with the team and whatever is required of them they do it to the fullest. As the team grows we will be giving more chances to all the players and won't be that rigid with our batting and bowling line ups.
I think with this Team Spirt and some more experience, Agility Panthers can be one of the best teams in Kuwait. Well done guys, winning is always sweet and losing always bitter. Now we have the whole week to feel sweet.
And come to think of it, we won on Friday the 13th ;) Who says its bad luck. Allah makes the good and bad luck and it can fall on any day.
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