Good but not Good Enough

VS Abbasiya Royals

Such is the speed of Twenty20 games, that you lose concentration for a little bit and the match is out of your hand, you make one wrong decision and it becomes next to impossible for you to recover. We played well guys, but gave a lot of freebies to their batsmen. Its good that we fought till the end and it would be even better if we can judge where and what we lacked and not repeat the same mistakes. Its all about getting one good win under our belts. 

In this match there was a lot of pressure. The other team played well and each and every over, or more appropriately, each and every ball became critical. 

True that we ended up as losers but I enjoyed a lot. The initial sub dued approach of our batsmen and then tearing their bowling apart. The sixes from Asif and Akmal, their well time boundaries. The initial on slaught of their batsmen, scoring 37 off first 3 overs. Then our fight back, with field on one side and bowling accordingly. The sledging, the buck ups. I found out that in a cricket match there is a lot that can be enjoyed besides enjoying the win. 

Asif and Akmal opened the innings for us and did a good job of seeing off the new ball and then punishing the bad balls. Running between the wickets was a bit sluggish but when you can hit the ball like Asif and Akmal, then probably it doesn't get noticed that much. But running the first run and putting the pressure on the fielder is always the best thing to do. 

Asif played magnificiently for his 102. He creamed the ball on the off side for boundaries almost at will, but most magnificient were his sixes at long on. He made the most out of the chances he got and literally tore their bowling apart. His sixes looked effortless, highlighting, how well he times his shots. 

Akmal played well at the other end too. He batted sensibily and kept on rotating the strike. He put a high price on his wicket and chose carefully the balls he wanted to hit and when he did hit them, it stayed hit and were usually found beyond the boundary. 

When our openers eventually got out, they didn't leave much deliveries for the remaining batsmen to settle down. The remaining batsmen tried to make the maximum from whatever was left. In the end we gave them a target of 181 runs. 

We started the bowling miserably. The first 3 overs cost us 37 runs! Anees Bhai, Basharat and Akmal, all three of them bowled poorly and gave some easy hits to the batsmen. All of them tried to bowl at the batsmen strength rather than his weakness. A fast bowler is more like a hunter. He sets the trap and waits, patiently, for the batsmen, to fall into it. We initially made the mistake of trying to smash the wickets or the batsmen's rib cage, with our pace and forgot that the batsmen too has a bat in his hand and if your ball comes within his swing range, he will smash you out of the park. 

The next 3 overs, showed us the benefits of setting up the trap, bowling at the batsman's weakness, having patience and avoiding the batsman's swing radius as a result of which there remained no power in their shots. 

Anees Bhai after a bad first over, bowled with good pace, bounce and angle. The batsmen had no answer to his bowling. The pressure created by him in his over, bore fruit in the next over bowled by Basharat. Basharat looked well as he tried to pitch the ball and keep it outisde the off stump. By that time the batsman was under too much pressure, provoking him to play a false shot, and gave an easy catch was taken by Asif. 

The remaining overs saw an immense tussle. For the batsmen the game plan was fairly easy which was to try to hit whatever came their way. They used their feet and swung powerfully whenver they got a chance. Unfortunately we gave them a lot of that and bowled either short, full toss or half volleys. Towards the end we had some fairly expensive overs of above 15 runs, which basically cost us the match. 

The season has started poorly for us, but the good thing is that the only way to go is up. Let us learn from our mistakes, move forward and enjoy the game. 

Cement Pitch Bullies Flop on Turf again

It seems that the only thing that we learn from history is that we don't learn anything. After the 36 all out, our entire top order blew up once again and we would be having a similar score sheet if it weren't for Bilal and some resistance from the lower order. 

Our batting line up seems to be stuck in the glory days of cement pitches where they just had to hit through the line as the ball never did much off the seam and came at a comfortable height. Batting on turf is a bit different. Good batsmen (especially the top order) take into account pace, swing, seam and bounce of the pitch, before going for their shots. This is a lesson which we should learn immediately. 

The bowling was exceptional as the pitch offered variable bounce and swing. Each bowler contributed with wickets and/or maidens. Akmal bowled with lethal accuracy and often extracted venomous bounce from the pitch. He finished with 4 wickets from 5.2 overs giving 15 runs. Basharat playing his first game after a long break, took sometime settling in, but found his rhythym and bowled well towards the end. He took 3 wickets from 8 overs giving 15 runs. Zeeshan bowled well initially, but had no answer when the batsmen started attacking him. His last 2 overs went for around 26 runs, spoiling his over all figures. He ended up with 36 runs in 8 overs. Anees (3 overs 11 runs), Waqar (3 overs 4 runs), Faraz (1 over 4 runs) and Amad (4 overs 3 wickets and 15 runs), maintained the pressure and bowled Al Bahar out for 119 runs. 

Fielding was very good as we held on to our catches. Both Faraz and Bilal took some good catches. Rizwan was alert as ever behind the wickets with some good saves and a stumping off Basharat's bowling. Except for the sitter dropped by Asif the fielding was good overall, more so, because the bastmen rarely got a chance to go for their shots.

Chasing a very easy target of 120 runs in 40 overs, all that was required was to apply some common sense. But as they say, common sense is not very common. Rizwan and Asif opened the innings. Disaster stuck on the very first ball, as there was no calling and hence resulted in confusion and a run out. Akmal went in next and failed to read the pitch correctly as he played a cut shot way too early in his innings. He ended up giving a easy catch to the fielder he was trying to clear. 

Samir Bhai was in next and played his famous flick shot, which has given him many tonnes of runs before, but this time, he failed to spot the fielder, who took a good catch. 

Waqar was in next, and he too perished quickly as he snicked one to the keeper. 

Rizwan's was the unlucky next wicket, as a bat/pad was given as LBW. Bilal went in next and together with Zeeshan formed the first resistance of our innings. But Zeeshan lost the plot in the middle and gifted his wicket by playing a half hearted cut shot straight into the hands of the fielder. 

Basharat and Faraz were in next and resisted for 12 and 16 deliveries respectively, but eventually couldn't last long and came out empty handed. 

In the end Bilal was stuck with the tail and managed to take the score to 93. The more famous top order, can take an example from his innings as he put a high price on his wicket, read the pitch correctly, batted with patience and as the situation demanded. He faced 70 deliveries for 26 runs. He swung his bat on full tosses and solidly defended his wicket whenever the ball pitched. 

Conclusion: Come on Guys! Everyone knows that we are way better than this. Turf or Cement, we are capable of beating any side. We just have to concentrate and adjust according to the pitch and situation. We are a team and we can only win as a team. Scoring a 100 or taking 10 wickets looks good in the scorebook, but sucks if the team has lost the match. Remember this hurt and do everything and anything to avoid this in the future. Keep on learning and improving, no matter how good you already are. I feel that we need just one win and then sky is the limit for us. 

Match Pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/amad.uddin/KCA40OverVSAlBahar#

Score Sheet

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Asif --> 0(0)

Rizwan --> 3(20)

Akmal --> 2(7)

Samir --> 2(4)

Waqar --> 4(4)

Zeeshan --> 3(20)

Bilal --> 26(70)

Faraz --> 3(12)

Basharat --> 6(16)

Amad --> 2(17)

Anees --> 1(4)

Bower - O-R-W

Anees - 3-11-0

Amad - 4-15-3

Akmal - 5.2-10-4

Basharat - 8-15-3

Faraz - 1-4-0

Waqar - 3-4-0

Zeeshan - 8-36-0

Please note that wides are not included in the bowling figures.