Had to be some kind of record: I bowled two overs in the match, one was the first over and the other one the last over. Is it some kind of record?
Where we lost the grip: They were 163 at the end of 18 overs and at the end of the 24th over they had reached to 240 runs meaning almost 80 runs in 6 overs. During this period it was all spin from bowlers whose only qualification was that they can rotate their arm slowly. In the presence of regular but faster bowlers, we might have restricted them to below 210. But as they say, hindsight is the best place to be.
Another Reliable Spinner?: Bilal impressed yet again, although he was a bit expensive in one or probably two of his overs. He has developed variety in his bowling and was able to control his flight to near perfection. But towards the end of his spell got either tired or predictable and went for runs. Might be a good option to use him in bits and pieces of 2 over spells. And also it would be good for him to develop a delivery which goes away and controls his wides.
Are pacers history?: I might be old school but I believe in the option of starting and ending an innings with regular fast/medium bowling, with bowlers relying on swing and seam in the beginning and on yorkers and change of pace towards the end. Spinners brought in the middle to dry out the easy runs and to get the overs in quickly. Also spin (but regular spin) can be used sometimes to change the pace of bowling in the start or even at the end. But most people in our circuit/league don't believe in it, although I don't know why. Especially our faster bowling proved this theory right in the Lawson finals. Where 4 of the 5 bowlers were fast/medium and we restricted them to a paltry 216 runs.
Wicky's Demonish Fast Bowling: Wicky bowled with freaky pace and got rid of the opener and the one down, both were clearly late in their shots. Although he too went for a few runs, but against a good batting line up, you can't expect to keep on bowling at 4-6 runs an over. The best defence against a good batting line up is wickets, which Wicky started to take and by the time, Nisar and Bilal came into action, their one remaining opener was too tired and the other batsmen were new at the wicket, and hence for the first time in their innings their run rate dipped to 7-8 from 10 runs an over.
Wicketometer: Initially we were not able to take wickets, the wickets tally started with Wicky's bowling and Bilal and Nisar were among the wickets as well. Bringing their run rate down. Contrary to popular belief their run rate dipped with fall of wickets rather than introduction of spin. After that they kept on hitting and the only wicket that fell was in the last over which I bowled.
Batting Disappointment: Although batting could not be blamed as chasing almost 10 an over was difficult with a good bowling line up, but nevertheless it was a disappointment. The first 2 wickets (Nisar & Samir Bhai both had ducks) fell with zero runs from bat and 1 run from a wide. Wicky came back with the score in 20s. Adnan was disappointment was once again. Asif held fort for sometime, but after two magnificent sixes on two deliveries got caught on the boundary and came back.
Cool Flick/Sweeps: Bilal impressed with some cool flick/sweeps to the fine leg boundary. And he kept on hitting it to prove that it was no fluke. Finally they had to put a fielder there to stop him. He cut ferociously as well, and when it connected it did go to the boundary. He failed to capitalize on his good start as he chose a wrong delivery to come out of his crease and got stumped.
What Did I Do?: Bowled 2 overs, got hit for two boundaries total and took a wicket. Took 2 catches and missed a boundary :( Useless feeling.
Conclusion: Hope to have a better day soon.
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