If ever there was doubt in our minds about the words demolition and complete destruction, I think they were removed today. Since we were outclassed in every department and fairly and squarely beaten.
We won the toss and were happy to bat first, but that was the furthest that our happiness went today. We got 11 runs from the first over but mainly due to extras. In the second over Bilal was clean bowled attempting what seemed to be a golf like swing of his bat.
Sameer Bhai was promoted up the order so that he has less pressure and more balls, but luck didn't favour him and he was caught behind on the very first ball, as he tried to cut the ball violently. Waqar came in next and steadied the ship along with Nisar. Nisar hit 2 sixes in 2 balls, but a lethal line and length by all the bowlers didn't allow them to cut lose and from 6th to 9th overs the scoring rate was below par. Waqar in trying to rotate the strike was clean bowled. After Waqar, the flood gates opened and I don't know why we even bothered going in the middle. Probably just for a good walk.
Ahmed came in next but apart from his trade mark big six didn't manage to cut lose as well. In the end Rizwan was left all alone and we only managed to score 103 runs and only faced around 15 overs.
We took the field with a glimmer of hope that if we can be out for 103 they can be as well. But that glimmer didn't last long as we saw the Big Daddies bashing the ball in all corners. A positive full faced pull for boundary off Wicky's fast bowling continued the rot. Rarely have we seen a new ball being treated this way. Anyways we went through the motions and tried to enjoy the already lost game and have fun watching the Big Daddies bat.
Rarely we saw a bad shot and there was so much power in their shots that it was fun watching them. Highlight obviously was the over of Junaid Bhai, when only 2 runs were required and the whole field was in. Anees Bhai's dropped catch prevented Junaid Bhai from getting his first ever wicket.
Bilal & Ahmed fielded well.
The tournament is more less over for us and we managed to win 2 out of 5 games. Actually the final outcome wasn't as bad as shown from the 2/5 tally. We did have 2 very close games, which we should have won.
Obviously it was the first tournament for us and there were lot of experimentations, trial and errors, and waiting for players to come in form. I remember the patheticness of our fielding and field placings initially which was all cured during the tournament. Some of the findings of this tournament, I have listed below. This is only my point of view, so if you disagree place a comment for all to read.
Batting
I think with this tournament we have identified our main men. Nisar, Rizwan, Waqar and Sameer Bhai are and can be four of our most reliable batsmen. I think this should be our batting order in the next tournament or friendly match as well. They seem to not only enjoy their batting but also know the value of scoring runs and staying in the wicket. Rarely I have seen them throw their wickets away.
Bilal is doing good for us as well, but needs to work on his shot selection, shot development, stamina and the ability to occupy the crease. I am sure if he does a little bit planning and practice he would come out good.
Ahmed is the Afridi of the team, if he goes on he can get us quick runs, if not then not. I think rather than having a fixed number, he should be utilized whenever some quick runs are required. And especially when the ball is old and fielders are tired.
Amir Bhai is still in the grey area and haven't come good for us as yet.
Remaining team i.e. me, Junaid Bhai, Khurram and Anees Bhai need to work on not losing their wicket and scoring runs in singles and doubles.
Bowling
Anees and Wicky are doing good as our first 2 bowlers, since they are the fastest, but they are not finding wickets. I think with some intelligent and attacking field placing and bowling we might be able to get wickets at the start. They need to work out on their bowling as well, so that they get us at least 1-2 wickets in the first 2-3 overs.
Sameer Bhai is bowling good and getting us wickets, so he just needs to work on more variety and form.
I and Ahmed are the other 2 options. I started off with attack bowling but one bad match and my role is changed now. I look to stop runs and wait for batsmen to make the mistake. Ahmed needs to be tried in the first 2 overs, since this is the only option that is available to us but we haven't tried uptil now. He might get us wickets at the start, but he just needs to work on his run up and action, I am sure he would develop in a reliable attack bowler.
Remaining options in bowling are Junaid Bhai, Bilal and Nisar. They need to develop more control in their bowling and stop boundaries. Their target should be not to give even a single boundary in their over.
Fielding
aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh. The less said the better. But lets identify our better fielders and what more can we do to stop this rot.
Bilal is a good and reliable fielder at the moment and rarely I have seen him mis fielding. Junaid Bhai is the worst, rarely I have seen him stopping one. I think Bilal is one of the best if not the best in our team.
Remaining, including me, needs to work on their fielding. I think it would be a good idea, if on Thursdays or anyother weekday, we can have just simple fielding practice, for about an hour. This would develop our fitness levels as well.
In the end it feels good playing for the team, but losing sucks. Hopefully the harder we work, better we would get.
We won the toss and were happy to bat first, but that was the furthest that our happiness went today. We got 11 runs from the first over but mainly due to extras. In the second over Bilal was clean bowled attempting what seemed to be a golf like swing of his bat.
Sameer Bhai was promoted up the order so that he has less pressure and more balls, but luck didn't favour him and he was caught behind on the very first ball, as he tried to cut the ball violently. Waqar came in next and steadied the ship along with Nisar. Nisar hit 2 sixes in 2 balls, but a lethal line and length by all the bowlers didn't allow them to cut lose and from 6th to 9th overs the scoring rate was below par. Waqar in trying to rotate the strike was clean bowled. After Waqar, the flood gates opened and I don't know why we even bothered going in the middle. Probably just for a good walk.
Ahmed came in next but apart from his trade mark big six didn't manage to cut lose as well. In the end Rizwan was left all alone and we only managed to score 103 runs and only faced around 15 overs.
We took the field with a glimmer of hope that if we can be out for 103 they can be as well. But that glimmer didn't last long as we saw the Big Daddies bashing the ball in all corners. A positive full faced pull for boundary off Wicky's fast bowling continued the rot. Rarely have we seen a new ball being treated this way. Anyways we went through the motions and tried to enjoy the already lost game and have fun watching the Big Daddies bat.
Rarely we saw a bad shot and there was so much power in their shots that it was fun watching them. Highlight obviously was the over of Junaid Bhai, when only 2 runs were required and the whole field was in. Anees Bhai's dropped catch prevented Junaid Bhai from getting his first ever wicket.
Bilal & Ahmed fielded well.
The tournament is more less over for us and we managed to win 2 out of 5 games. Actually the final outcome wasn't as bad as shown from the 2/5 tally. We did have 2 very close games, which we should have won.
Obviously it was the first tournament for us and there were lot of experimentations, trial and errors, and waiting for players to come in form. I remember the patheticness of our fielding and field placings initially which was all cured during the tournament. Some of the findings of this tournament, I have listed below. This is only my point of view, so if you disagree place a comment for all to read.
Batting
I think with this tournament we have identified our main men. Nisar, Rizwan, Waqar and Sameer Bhai are and can be four of our most reliable batsmen. I think this should be our batting order in the next tournament or friendly match as well. They seem to not only enjoy their batting but also know the value of scoring runs and staying in the wicket. Rarely I have seen them throw their wickets away.
Bilal is doing good for us as well, but needs to work on his shot selection, shot development, stamina and the ability to occupy the crease. I am sure if he does a little bit planning and practice he would come out good.
Ahmed is the Afridi of the team, if he goes on he can get us quick runs, if not then not. I think rather than having a fixed number, he should be utilized whenever some quick runs are required. And especially when the ball is old and fielders are tired.
Amir Bhai is still in the grey area and haven't come good for us as yet.
Remaining team i.e. me, Junaid Bhai, Khurram and Anees Bhai need to work on not losing their wicket and scoring runs in singles and doubles.
Bowling
Anees and Wicky are doing good as our first 2 bowlers, since they are the fastest, but they are not finding wickets. I think with some intelligent and attacking field placing and bowling we might be able to get wickets at the start. They need to work out on their bowling as well, so that they get us at least 1-2 wickets in the first 2-3 overs.
Sameer Bhai is bowling good and getting us wickets, so he just needs to work on more variety and form.
I and Ahmed are the other 2 options. I started off with attack bowling but one bad match and my role is changed now. I look to stop runs and wait for batsmen to make the mistake. Ahmed needs to be tried in the first 2 overs, since this is the only option that is available to us but we haven't tried uptil now. He might get us wickets at the start, but he just needs to work on his run up and action, I am sure he would develop in a reliable attack bowler.
Remaining options in bowling are Junaid Bhai, Bilal and Nisar. They need to develop more control in their bowling and stop boundaries. Their target should be not to give even a single boundary in their over.
Fielding
aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh. The less said the better. But lets identify our better fielders and what more can we do to stop this rot.
Bilal is a good and reliable fielder at the moment and rarely I have seen him mis fielding. Junaid Bhai is the worst, rarely I have seen him stopping one. I think Bilal is one of the best if not the best in our team.
Remaining, including me, needs to work on their fielding. I think it would be a good idea, if on Thursdays or anyother weekday, we can have just simple fielding practice, for about an hour. This would develop our fitness levels as well.
In the end it feels good playing for the team, but losing sucks. Hopefully the harder we work, better we would get.
4 comments:
I think, the criteria of defining better bowling, batting and fielding should be defined before putting these kind of comments. As currently this is being based on a single match basis.
We need to have consistency and proper roles are to be defined for individual players. As we should always take lessons from constructive criticsm but negative criticsm shoudnt be posted specially by team members, this will instead of giving motivation will create a rift between ourselves. I would post following comments on individual players based on line-up which is categorized in term of BATTING, BOWLING & FIELDING:
1- Bilal
BT: Need more consistency and play as a moderator in the team. As performance is not poor but need more time to understand his role.
BW: Need to work on line to control extras. Can be useful at times.
FD: Should be placed in important areas to control runs.
2- Nisar
BT: Gaining form and should play as he is free flowing. SHould keep his confidence up and make others play with him as well.
BW: At times become to loose to be hit for boundaries. Should oversome that.
FD: Need to improve as per his own standards.
3- Sameer
BT: Great player, should remain in the middle order to make middle order strong.
BW: Good - Should encourage others to bowl and give confidence.
FD: Should push himself for catching.
4- Waqar
BT: Good player, looks short of confidence due to responsilities on and team not performing. Need others support.
BW: Bring some more control and work as container.
FD: Needs to be cool while attacking.
5- Ahmed
BT: Improve shot selection, specially improve playing spinners-rest he is a good player to watch.
BW: Needs to improve extras
FD: Showed an improvement in this match
6- Abu Baker
BT: Needs time
FD: Looks fine so far
7- Rizwan
BT: Good batsmen and can take along other players well. Makes middle order strong.
WK: Improving, just gives few extras which will be controlled as we play
8- Amer
BT: Need to shwo what kind of player he can be and how he canbe useful for the team
FD: Good fielder on the offside. Just improvemen tis required in some areas
9- Amad
BT: Needs to learn how to stay at the wicket and then play his shots. As he is a good player but not trying to get in. This was a perfect match for players coming lower order to gain form but didnt make any use of it.
BW: Not consistent with ball, being one of the main bowler should be more reliable.
FD: Well at times he shows his class but in few attempts looks there is no class.
10- Anees:
BT: Need improvement, 6 overs were remaining and had nothign to loosebut he lost his wicket. dumm he baith gayee thee in kee.
BW: needs practice as isnt as reliable as we need him to be-captain shoudl have confidence in him atleast to give him his 4 overs-but he needs to prove himself
FD: Terribe fielder, needs to improve
11- Junaid
BT: He is a number 11 so cant say much but he can improve and try giving strike to the other batsmen.
BW: Good to see him going with his off stump line and bowled a god line. Should keep his same line for other chances.
FD: Needs to improve running and ball handling, Shoudl accept not a fine fielder but have room for improvement
12- Khurram
Even if he is sitting outside should provide moral support to other players - on a friendly note Making jokes and passing sarcastics remarks to be differentiated. As he is also a part of this team. As team is formed by individual players.
We should give others confidence before match and after match so each others can work as motivators and bring out best from others. As we are getting an impression now that if one doesnt perform they will be taunted by other. But everyone knows where they lack and need thinking and improvements. We are a good team and we dont need to point out fingers. As our team strategy will work just need time, effort and confidence. Let the other things be handled by Captain and Team Moderator.
I think no one is a born player but have to improve if give ample chances and priority over others. In cricket no one can go and hit sixes and take wickets without practice (unless he is afridi) but have to improve over times. once cannot judge or compare one player to other if both haven't enjoyed the same liberity of chances.
i think bilal has done a surface analysis needs to dig deep and tell the technical mistakes of others so that one can benefit of his comments.
By the way bilal if you dont have anything to say about me regarding cricket dont pass non-cricketing or one sided comments to fill your comments space and getting a biased edge. dont think which you are feeling is right and everyone should or are feeling like that. if you can explain your saying you are welcome.
I can say more about others and even on every individual but i think cricket field should be the right venue for it.
Nice work, Bilal, but pointless. Its useless to close your eyes and clap. During the match everyone is giving 'confidence' to everyone else, but did that have any positive results?
Anyways as mentioned earlier it was just my point of view i.e. the way I see things. And everyone is allowed to post comments about me or others. But during my bowling kindly consider dropped catches (3-4 at least till now) and featherhands fielding as well.
Anyways this is a great team, everyone in the team is good, but we just need to figure out and resolve our weaknesses. And the first to resolution is identification.
Ok.. guys I have read the blogs and comments so thought being the captain and a friend of you all, I will post my comments as well..
First of all, its a good idea to review our performance by sharing how you all felt about it match per match basis. There are a few things that I wanted to share with you all on our cricket so far:
The last match oh well.... we are a much better team than this we all know this much. A batting collapse where we stood good at 77/2 then I got out and within 26 runs the whole team was out.
I was very unhappy with the batsmen after who didnt play at all with any reponsibility... Ahmed is a good batsman who has the capability of hitting but needs to be more responsible considering the situation and having the patience as you always get bad bowls to hit. Ahmed got out playing a silly irresponsible shot. Rizwan came in next and ofcourse as reliable as he is started his natural game. Abu Bakkar showed promising skills however, it being his first match after a long time I wasnt expecting alot. Then came in Amad, who got out pretty much on a walking shot which again was irresponsible. Anees was told specifically to stay at the crease and play out the overs but I guess couldnt resist the temptation and got us in more trouble. not much was expected at the end from Junaid apart from rotating strikes with Rizwan however, not taking the run called by Riz was pretty much the end of the innings...
I have been hearing that the lower order has not had much batting practice etc.. I completely disagree as all of us have had same practice time when we did the nets and on the grounds before the matches... Yes, batting practice is required when you have to time the ball to the boundaries etc but not when you have 7 overs to go and all you are expected to do is get singles or doubles..
Alot of us talk alot when our team members are batting so I thought this week was a brilliant opportunity for them to do something (not hitting the ball out of the ground) but atleast 20/30 odd runs would have been enough.. but none of them played responsibly..
We all know each other very well now and all of us just try to take the micky out of each other on failures. I as a captain get angry on performances but not make it a joke or taunts as such. This has to stop.
When we play matches we have to ensure we play as a team and we support each other whether we are in the playing 11 or not. I have to pick the best team for matches and there will be times when someone is rested as a 12th player which is nothing to be ashamed or have a grudge about at all. I have heard so much of people not getting ample chances, how on earth do they get ample chances unless the whole upper order fails, and when they do get the chance they need to prove themselves by being responsible.
I hope we play as friends and make this a good team to play cricket as thats we are supposed to best at... I am hoping that all my comments are taken positively and people start taking responsibility by talking less and doing more..
Post a Comment