Winning is sweet but Revenge is Sweeter!

Our day started, this time, on the field trying to open our arms, practicing catch, warming up and middling. On seeing the team whom we were pitted against, our motivation to win increased further. It was the same team who had hit us a score of 300+ runs when the odds were heavily in their favor. This time the battle was even steven and we wanted to show them who they playing against.

We batted first and Nisar alongwith our guest player Amir, gave us a good start, with both batsmen taking chances and hitting boundaries in each over. Nisar was given a life and this time decided to make most out of it by scoring his and the team's highest score. Too bad he missed the century by 12 runs. At the other end Amir made the most of his height and pulled fericiously for boundaries and sixes. His boundaries at long on were a treat as well. Nisar was the first to cross 50 and Amir followed soon. Amir was the first to go, with a catch on the boundary, which was rather a lesson on how to catch a fly.

Wicky joined Nisar and didn't want to spoil the good work started by the openers and tried to force the pace.He couldn't last long and was out caught on the boundary. Nisar at that time would have been finding batting real hard and standing in the crease real difficult, but the good thing was that he didn't throw his wicket away and managed to find boundaries almost at will. Qadeer Bhai came in and initially didn't manage to find the middle of his bat a lesson for all the batsmen to practice on middling before every match. But a good bat that he is, he did manage to find it eventually and hit some good boundaries as well. Nisar while trying to keep the score flowing, was caught on the boundary and Ahmed went in next. He did hit a boundary but then was run out in the most strangest of circumstances. He was either trying to save himself from the throw (his version) or wasn't able to balance himself and was out of the crease (other's version). Bilal went in next and hit a boundary on the first ball, he looks good batting lower down the order, with the ball not swinging that much. Eventually we reached a formidable score of around 240 runs.

Anees Bhai and Sajjad Bhai started the bowling, with Anees Bhai keeping it tight. Sajjad Bhai was good as well but the batsmen did manage to find boundaries here and there. Anees Bhai took the first wicket with a good high catch from Nisar fielding at Mid Off. The 7 over attack by both of them, kept the run rate at around 6-7 which was just what was required. Amir bowled the first change and due to his height found bounce from the word go, which was a bit scary for both the keeper and the batsman. He kept the batsmen in check and took 2 wickets in his last over.

Amir Bhai came in the end as well and took a wicket off a good catch from Qadeer Bhai.

In the end the score was too high and with the good attack burst, the match was out of their hand. In the end it was just about keeping the pressure on the batsmen and raising their margin of defeat.

One last note, the captain did the wicket keeping for the first 10 or so overs. And did a good job at it. Since particularly Amir's rising deliveries were quite difficult to keep on. But he didn't keep on spinners so can't rate his keeping too high at this point in time. Since that would be the ultimate test.

Disgraceful Beginning and a Disgraceful End

I was thinking that instead of writing a match report, I should be writing a get together party report, since that would be most appropriate. ;)

Our typical day starts with half of our team in Jaguar Beauty parlour applying creams on their faces, rather than warming up and practicing. If things keep on going like this, I believe that very soon some padicure, manicure and facial services will be launched as well. Its quite ironic that instead of batting and bowling averages we worry more about maintaining the color of our face and instead of trying concentrating on the ball during fielding we concentrate on how to save our nails!

The match was played with Casuals whom we defeated by 70 runs last time. I think over confidence might have been our undoing this time as Casuals, taking the benefit of our 'casual' approach to the match, defeated us by 9 wickets with 8 overs to spare!

Nisar and Wicky opened the innings for us and Wicky started off confidently with a powerful pull to get him his first boundary. He seems to have all the shots in the book and one waits for a big innings. He couldn't last long as an opener since he edged a delivery and it went straight to his face probably scratching his nose. The impact would have been much worse then it looked since he wasn't able to continue and decided to send in Bilal. Nisar was not his usual self as well. He was not able to time his favourite cut shot and was dropped in the covers. He was not able to cash on the life given to him, and was bowled in the same over.

Sameer Bhai came in next and together with Bilal tried to build a innings. Bilal looked scratchy to say the least and fidgeted around in the crease with minimum impact. Sameer Bhai was slower than usual as well and their partnership was sucidal for us. In the first 8 overs we only had around 40 runs on the board. Bilal tried to up the run rate but of the first aggressive shot he played he was out caught 15 meters inside the boundary. Qadeer Bhai went in next and initited his classy shots from the word go. He hit 4 boundaries in the first over he faced. Sameer Bhai took a leaf from his book and hit splendid boundaries as well. In those 3 overs we had 43 runs.

Incidently due to the slow start it was now clear that we needed a run rate of 15 runs per over to reach the fighting total of 200 runs.

As usually is the case in such a scenario wickets started to tumble. Qadeer Bhai went after a splendid catch on the boundary. Sameer Bhai, Wicky, Amir Bhai, Ahmed and Rizwan all went quickly with few boundaries here and there. In the end Sajjad Bhai provided a bit of resistance and we dragged our way to 160.

If we had a chance of defending this score we needed top class bowling and fielding right from the first ball. Anees Bhai bowled the first over and kept the runs under 8. Wicky took the new ball to utilize his experience of playing with Casuals. But the benefit was mutual and their batsmen hit him freely. Anees Bhai's next over saw 3 boundaries and a very easy chance was dropped on the boundary by Ahmed. He either misjudged, was quite lethargic to come forward and take the catch or wasn't expecting the catch at all.

I guess the only solution to this is that we all must keep on watching the batsman right from the time the bowler starts his runup. This I believe could resolve almost all of our judgement problems.

Almost all bowlers were tried, Nisar was brought in early as well, but none seemed to make any difference. The shabby fielding display didn't help either and as many as 4 chances went down including a stumping. In the end they raced to the target of 160 in 12 overs.

Its one all with Casuals now. And we need our best performance next time we face them. We also need a bit of practice before we go in so that some of our out of form batsmen regain their form.

Came close and ...

... went through.

Man I waited so long to write the second line :)

Losing without a fight is like a punch on your face, losing by coming close creates a bit more discontent by the multitude of 'if-onlys' travelling in your nerves and making your 'Bhaija Fry'. While Winning because of an individual is good for the individual himself its winning as a team which has the greatest feeling of all. Everyone showing committment no matter what his skill level might be, backing each other up, sharing what to dos and how to dos, enjoying each other's success, giving a lending hand when someone is down and in the end enjoying the win together and relishing the moments and possibilities to come. Its probably today that we have realized to the fullest that a good team is the one, which is a team. Because we won as a team.

This time we batted first.

Batting
Although we lost a wicket a early and Bilal, our next man in, took some time to find his groove, but because of Nisar's splendid batting, the rot started (for the other team, which is a welcome new development) right from the start. In this match Nisar and Sameer Bhai opened the innings. Sameer Bhai went early as he played the ball a little early only to find a edge to the keeper. He faced 2 balls and scored 1 run. Bilal went in at number 3, his highest position after such a long time. While walking in he must have known that in a team with such a long batting line up nobody likes a show stopper. Thus he not only had to get in quickly but also had to fight the worst demon of all which goes by the name 'What if I fail'. Although he was not able to fire all cylinders from the word go but he did manage to keep giving the strike back to Nisar, who went about his business as usual. Nisar started from where he left off in the last match and scored another fifty for us, more importantly giving us a very solid start. His powerful cut shots three of which went for sixes, looked like he is slashing a sword rather than a bat. I am sure the bowlers who suffered at his hands, would have thought the same. He made 53 off 29 deliveries with three sixes and 4 boundaries.

At the other end Bilal took a few pages off Nisar's book and seemed to be finding his rhythm. But as is usually the case with him, he got too confident and tried to mimic Inzamam, when he came down the pitch on the first ball he faced from the spinner. Inzamam usually hits it for a six while Bilal got out stumped. He made 13 off 11 balls with 2 boundaries. Qadeer Bhai our guest player for today, went in next and made batting look so easy that even I thought that I can score a 25 ball 50! He made 68 off 31 deliveries with 3 towering sixes and five boundaries. He got a few chances but in the end he made the most of them.

Rizwan came in after Nisar got out and his weakness of spin deliveries was exposed. But with Qadeer Bhai playing so well at the other end, he had time to settle in. I think Rizwan can do well to realize that on cement pitches he won't be finding big spinners. This allows the batsmen to safely hit through the line or even across the line, as if the ball is just a slow straight delivery.

Knowing well that there was still plenty of batting to come and playing for the team, he decided that he can take a few risks and took a back lift to hit a lovely boundary off his legs. He didn't last long after that as he got run out while trying to steal a single right under the bowler's nose. He made 15 runs off 16 deliveries with 1 boundary. Wicky came in next after Qadeer Bhai and Ahmed came in after Rizwan. Both came almost together to the crease. Ahmed and Wicky's partnership is something which we all enjoy not only in anticipation of the free hitting which both are capable of, but also of the gimmicks going on in the centre. Ahmed trying his best to convince his Captain with his shots, while Captain trying his best to make Ahmed run as fast as he can and as often as he can.

Our last three batsmen, Wicky, Ahmed and Sajjad Bhai gave a splendid batting display by taking the match well into the comfort zone for us. They scored 55 runs off 27 balls with 1 six and 6 boundaries, and a whole lot of fast running ;)

Bowling
The score was a huge one for any team and we had comfort in the knowledge that just a few good overs can secure the match for us. Once we came in the field we did realize that due to the size of the ground there were a lot of huge gaps for the batsmen and we just had an advantage of maximum 20 runs.

A good start was provided by both Anees Bhai and Sajjad Bhai. Sajjad Bhai was a little expensive early on, but soon was able to find the weak spots of the batsmen and exploited it to the fullest. In his 4th over he just gave a single run off the bat. In the end both Anees Bhai and Sajjad Bhai bowled 4 overs each on the trot and gave away only 64 runs. Amad and Wicky took over the affairs of bowling and soon found out that with the ball getting old and the batsmen pretty well set it was not very easy. In the next 2 overs 27 runs were given, with the batting almost near to their required rate of 11.5 runs per over. Wicky, probably seeing the batsmen well set, wisely started switching the bowlers quickly.

In his next over he took 2 wickets on consecutive deliveries with one of the openers and the other, whom he said was pretty dangerous and was capable of taking the match away from us. That nailed the match for us and the remaining overs were just normal proceedings. Amad took 1 wicket as well off a good well judged catch by Nisar.

Of the batting team, one of their openers showed tremendous fittness and little technique to bat out all 20 overs. We tried our level best to unsettle him in whatever means possible, but were not able to get him out till the last ball. It was good that we pinpointed and exploited his weakness and neutralized his threat completely.

Junaid Bhai bowled the last over and impressed everyone with his speed. He is developing into a good bowler and hopefully very soon can be a reliable asset for us in the bowling department.

Fielding
The ground was huge and required awareness and hardwork from everyone in the field, which was duly provided by our team today. Although a few catches were dropped initially but we didn't give away any free runs today. Also we realized, first hand, why everyone says that 'catches win matches'. At a time when the match might have gone out of our hands we took two important catches in one over and almost nailed the other team to the ground. Rest was pretty easy.

Our normally safe keeper also dropped two half chances. I am sure he would work out his mistakes and realize that in a close encounter these catches might have been the only thing between winning and losing. But sometimes good deeds of some can wash the sins of few.

Although there is nothing bad about winning but there is a danger of over confidence and cockiness and also inability to work on our weaknesses. But let us all give the philosophical thoughts a rest and enjoy the 60 runs win as I am sure that over confidence won't be the case for us. It was a good day for us and was a day when we not only came close but went through ;) Enjoy Team Agility.

Smelled Victory but could not taste it...

The title does say it all except for the marvellous chasing done by our batting. They should guts, determination and a little bit of maverickness. The bowling side was not weak and was continuously trying to exploit our weaker areas and most of the time, till the last 2 overs actually, we had answers to all their questions.

The match this time was played in Salmiya ground opposite City Centre. The only thing good about this ground was the view though. We decided to field first and this time Wicky showed a bit of innovation by asking Nisar to bowl the first over. Nisar took the challenge well and went for only 3 runs in the first over. Amad started bowling with Nisar. Nisar's second over was a bit expensive with him getting hit for a six twice. Amad bowled a total of 4 overs with the ball crossing the boundary 4 times and him taking a wicket.

Wicky came in the middle and bowled his heart out and with some good pace. I think he looks more threatening bowling fast and for variation he can work on movement and length. His clean bowled with the middle stump uprooted out of the ground was just simply classic. About 2-3 chances were created in his over, each with a degree of complexity though, and discussed in detail in the fielding section. In the end he took 2 wickets.

Abdullah bowled 4 overs in the middle and was hit at least for 2 boundaries /sixes in each over. He didn't manage to find line, length and/or rhythym.

Sajjad, our guest player for the match, bowled 3 overs and bowled well but again was not able to control the boundaries. Ahmed came to bowl in the end and took 2 wickets with the help of good catches from Nisar and Abdullah and long off and long on boundaries, respectively.

Finally Sameer Bhai bowled the last over rather safely. In the end we went for 203 runs. In the hind sight rotation of bowlers in the middle might have prevented the score from crossing the 200 mark as Abdullah's 4 overs proved the most costly of all the bowlers.

Fielding
Ground fielding was much better this time with no free runs being given to the batsmen. Catching was a bit of both the worlds since there were 4 taken and 5 dropped. The dropped, though, all had a degree of complexity in them and with analysis and a solution for each I am sure we can prevent from this happening in the future.

The first catch went towards Bilal at point and was a bit high. Catches at point are never easy mainly because of their speed and angle. Its very difficult to decide from the word go where your hands should be to pocket the catch. It requires reflexes and agility. I think we should identify a permanent member of our team for this position and let him develop expertise required to field in this position. I think Bilal can be the ideal person for this position. Other options can be Abu Bakar, Wicky and Ahmed.

Second catch which went down went so high in the air that it was almost scary. Rizwan came a bit late to take it, since he was in 2 minds whether he or the bowler should go for it. I think the keeper should always go for such catches, since he has the safest and biggest pouch in the whole field. Obviously this requires a bit of practice for the keeper and Rizwan should keep this in mind next time we go for fielding practice and ask someone to help him with it.

Third catch fell between the bowler and long boundary. I was there at the boundary and at first was in doubt whether to go for the catch or stay back to stop the boundary. Finally my natural instinct took me to the ball and in the end it fell short. So it turned out to be the usual result of such confusion, I wasn't able to either catch the ball or stop the boundary. This is one of the usual cases that our fielders on the boundary are faced with. My solution would be to train 3-4 fielders on the boundary line and they should pratice accordingly. The ground rule during matches and pratice should be that one who is nearest to the ball must go for the catch and the one who is near to him should back him up in order to stop the boundary. The philosophy being, attack is the best defence. I think that me, Abdullah, Nisar, Ahmed and Sameer Bhai can all be tried and reserved for boundary fielding. The thing to remember for boundary fielders is backing up. Since anything can happen in an uneven ground with lot of stones.

The last catch which I wanted to discuss was a flat and powerful shot which went directly to Sameer Bhai's chest. And the faster it went in the faster it came out. Since these catches are at eye level, therefore it is very difficult to judge their speed, and second issue in these catches is whether to take the catch fingers up or fingers down? We need practice for these type of catches as well.

There was a missed stumping as well off Abdullah's bowling and I think Rizwan would know better the mistake he made there, and we all are confident that he would learn from his mistake and not repeat such a mistake.

Incidently the batsman who was their highest scorer, got the most breaks. In the end he got 4 chances and if just one would have been taken, then outcome of the match would definitely have been different.

I think if we can arrange a one hour fielding session once every 15-20 days then it would do us a world of good. Groups of 2 can be made for the first half and they can practice as per their particular role in the field during matches and work on their weaknesses. Roles of each can be identified by the Captain. In the second half everyone can practice together as in a match situation.

Batting
Highlight of the match was our batting though, which went against all odds and almost chased down the score. Nisar batted wonderfully once again showing his mettle and why we rely him to score big and give us a solid start everytime.

The batting was opened by Abdullah and Nisar and they got us off to a flier, which was required if we had to come close to the target. We were scoring at almost 12 runs per over, till their bowling decided to test us with some spin and short pitch stuff. Abdullah was the first to go while trying to run the ball to the third man. Sameer Bhai went in and started a good partnership with Nisar. He hit one six off a spinner which was wonderful to watch, it seemed so effort less that it almost looked like he was blocking the ball. Too bad he couldn't continue since he too fell to a short delivery.

Nisar, who was joined in with Wicky, then showed brilliant skill of adaptation to the new line and specially the length which the bowlers were bowling. Wicky was at the other end and both had decided how to go about maintaining the required rate. While not trying to hit the ball hard they caressed and showed the bat to the ball to hit it for boundaries and sixes. At that time after finding and executing the solution to their strategy we were confident of winning the match since the required run rate was in check and plenty of batting was to follow.

But we suffered from the twin disaster of almost back to back dismissals of Wicky and Nisar. Which put us on the back foot. Still the target was achievable. Ahmed and Sajjad came in and did well initially to make the required 10 or more runs per over. But towards the last overs Ahmed couldn't find an answer to the short pitched ball above his stomach height and thus was unable to find either boundaries or doubles which were required at that point in time. In the end both he and Sajjad got out and there was too much to finish for Bilal and Abu Bakar.

Anyways the team played really well and apart from a few dropped half chances, we were always fighting hard and giving the oponents a tough time. Hopefully with the development of safe catching we would be able to win matches more consistently.

Me and the June 15th Match.

Awwwww. I had a wonderful time bowling. My run up, action and grip all went well. I had earlier researched (and posted on this blog as well), that while bowling my head should be on the left of my left arm, my wrist should remain cocked up (and no jerking) and after the jump my left hand should come down as fast as possible. The run up if its fast will result in a faster delivery.

This time I also didn't try to complicate things by trying varieties and only bowled out swingers at good speed. The wind was to my aid as well and I think I found movement both in the air and off the wicket as well. In the 24 balls I bowled I brought only 2 inside the batsman. Bowling with a new ball is always fun since it gets me movement both in the air and off the wicket. I think I would continue to bowl in the same manner next week as well and only after that I will try to work on bringing the ball inside the batsmen. But would want to work on that during practice.

There were two dropped chances off my bowling and the one which wicky dropped I was really pissed off seeing that since I expected that simple catch to be taken, especially from the captain.

The batsmen were very good as well. And it was hard not to be impressed by them. As per Amir Bhai's indication and my own analysis I was bowling full to one and good length to the other. The one that I was bowling full to, I bowled just one on the good length and on the leg and he hit me for a huge six. I never knew that this ball can be hit for a six. But then I learned my lesson and kept on bowling full to him.

Didn't get a chance to bat so nothing to write home about.

Captain's Match Report

Agility Panthers managed to be on the field on Friday for an early start, however the umpires were not :) . The match however started at 6:15 am with a nice breeze and all the team members in good happy mood.

We who won the toss, decided to bowl first considering the fact that the team we were playing were known for good batting. The innings started in the most amazing way with their opener going after the very first ball bowled by Anees, however considering we have been playing cricket for a long time a relatively simple catch dropped on the first ball gave the indication to the other team how high our fielding standards were.

First over cost us around 14 runs or so and Amad was given the second over and bowled with a lot of determination to have the opener out who he had dropped on the first ball, bowled an excellent first over, however the openers intentions were very clear from the word go and our catching kept getting worse and worse. We managed to drop 5 catches which was not acceptable and at the end made the difference.

Overall, we managed to keep the scoring under control considering the start they were off to, they managed to score 198 runs in 20 overs, which I feel was 30 runs over what they should have. As the saying goes “Catches win matches”….

We came into bat with different opening pair, Nisar and Adnan started cautiously and never really got us off to a start we wanted. Nisar got out playing the usual aerial shot and unfortunately added to the rest. Ahmed was sent 1 down to go after the bowling and my word he did really made us proud with some excellent hitting. Due to a poor batting start that we got, I had decided to come in myself when the second wicket fell but didn’t bother the scorers much and got out cheap. However, I felt that I was still batting since I had to run for Ahmed till pretty much the end of the innings. Sameer Bhai played very well and ran extremely well with me, we managed to convert singles to doubles and tried our best but unfortunately nothing seemed enough. At the end we lost by 18 runs and we faced a very disappointing result.

As a captain I feel it is important to highlight a few things that our team has to improve on, no one like loosing but we need to give it our best shot.

Fielding - Continuously lets us down ground fielding seems like we are jogging after the ball, we keep pointing to each other and the ball wins. Fielding is simple but needs an active mind and concentration that’s it. All we have to do make sure the ball lands in our hands and our body is behind it so in case we have holes our body blocks it.

Catching – All of us need a catching session before the match, we don’t need to do any batting or bowling sessions but just fielding/catching sessions. We practice and we get better that’s the key.

Running – That’s the most simplest thing ever to do, come on guys we have been doing this ever since we were 2 or something. I hate to take names but there is one player I want to take this seriously – Ahmed I don’t know mate if you still m$%#$%@# or what but unless you are seriously injured don’t expect anyone to run for you. And if you are batting don’t ask the other batsman not to make you run cause a cricket game cannot only be won off boundaries but running makes a lot of difference so you need to work on it while batting and fielding.

Batting – A good start matters the most and whoever plays at the top needs to play with responsibility. Its much easier scoring runs off a new ball and we need to start doing that but that doesn’t mean we don’t play sensibly. Yes, we do need to take calculated risks, but if one has worked in the over use your batting skills to score singles, doubles or hit a boundary. Batting at the top needs improvement

Bowling – I feel we can bowl well if supported with good fielding however, I feel we do experiment a lot in what sort of deliveries we should bowl. One important thing to remember when playing on cement pitches is that we don’t aim to bowl a batsman out but we should aim to bowl within line and make the batsman take risks. We cannot simply just sit back giving away almost 200 runs and leave it to the batsmen we need to work on our bowling to stop teams from scoring at this rate.

I must share this with you, GCC’s captain came up to me this Friday and he said this to me.

“Waqar you have an excellent batting and bowling side, and you guys can beat any team that play in Kuwait. With that you are one of the worst fielding side and that is the only factor that stops you guys. I want to take your team for regular fielding practice.”

Can you imagine such words from another team? So guys, we know we can play cricket come on its in our blood lets just back each other up and improve on things highlighted and I am sure we will do well. I hope we give it our best shot this Friday where the venue changes and there are going to be new things tried in the match so be ready :)

Came close but not close enough

As this tournament progresses our losing streak continues. This time we came close but not close enough.

The match was with a team which was a mixture of players from here and there both young and old especially their batting which can be labelled as the 'Daddy Army' i.e. old but fit.

It was good that Sameer Bhai and Amir Bhai had played with them and knew their capabilities and had advised our bowlers much earlier on where to keep the ball.

Our Bowling
This time Anees Bhai and Amad started the bowling but couldn't find a wicket mainly because of dropped catches some of which were simple enough for my grand mother. During the attack burst we saw 4 dropped chances, which could have turned the match in our favor. Good work from the bowlers though for creating those chances. Anees Bhai bowled 3 overs on the trot and gave away 35 runs at more than 11 runs per over. Amad bowled 4 overs on the trot and gave away 30 runs at more than 7 runs per over.

Wicky took over from Anees Bhai and bowled one over but couldn't find a wicket early on and therefore brought in the spinners Nisar and Abdullah. The openers seemed to play the spinners well and Nisar got hit off a HUGE six over long on as well. But he came back and got us the first wicket through a spectacular catch from Rizwan.

Abdullah got the second wicket from a good high catch off his own bowling. Bowling in the middle by Nisar and Abdullah was quite good but our opponents knew how to keep the scoreboard ticking. They took their chances knowing well that they would be succeeded by batsmen who were capable enough of maintaining the scoring rate. Overall they maintainaed a run rate of 10 runs in each over without botheration. This happened sometimes through their experience and sometimes due to misfieldings from Rizwan, Ahmed and Amir Bhai. Abdullah bowled 4 overs on the trot and gave away 36 runs at 9 runs per over with 2 wickets. whereas Nisar bowled 4 overs on the trot and gave away 37 runs at about 9 runs per over with 1 wicket.

For the last 4 overs Wicky brought himself back into the attack alongwith Bilal. He found a wicket on a bad ball but a wonderful catch from Abdullah. Overall he bowled 3 overs for 36 runs at 12 runs per over and took 1 wicket. The batsmen played Bilal's loopy spin quite well and got 22 runs from his 2 overs at 11 runs per over. A batsman got out in Bilal's over as well when Bilal foxed the batsman to charge out from his crease and missed it completely. Rizwan was quick enough to collect and throw the ball in the wicket. Although it looked like a run out to me, but I am sure that both the bowler and the keeper would disagree.

In the end we were given a target of 200 runs.

Fielding
Overall the ground fielding was good with very few lapses. Rizwan's wicket keeping was like Pakistan's international cricket team i.e. sometimes ordinary and sometimes exceptional. His catch off Nisar's bowling and a few takes down the leg side were quite good. Standing up on spinners and taking catches is never simple and requires technique and mental presence. But he wasn't able to continue the good work and missed a few straight forward takes and also some close stumping chances.

Rather than the ground fielding our catching was found wanting this time. During our first 6 overs there were a total of 4 dropped chances out of which two were the most simple. One was dropped by the usually reliable Abdullah at Long On and the other one from Wicky. Wicky, if my memory serves me right, has yet to open his catching account with this team. Anyways both the catches were so simple that one can wonder that how on earth can these be dropped.

But overall the ground fielding effort by all the 11 players was quite good and I didn't see the other team breaking free because of our misfielding. The dropped chances were disheartening though.

Batting
We were set a target of 200 runs in 20 overs and going by expert opinion we did well to restrict their batting to 200. But still for our batting the target was way beyond the comfort zone. And what was required was a good start and exceptional innings from at least 3 of our 8 main batsmen which was not to be today.

In order to get off to a good start and get maximum runs from both ends, Wicky sent in Adnan with Nisar. A target of 100 runs was given to them in the first 10 overs.

Although Nisar showed urgency in his batting and didn't waste time or balls, Adnan didn't manage to find his groove and his usual blocking the ball only resulted in increasing our blood pressures. Nisar was the first one to go when he, while trying to meet the 10 runs per over target, took a risk too many and got out. He made 9 runs from 10 balls.

Ahmed went in next and started doing what he does best and that is to hit the ball hard. But this time there was a welcome change in his style. He did the hit the ball hard but kept it on the ground early on, which minimized the risk of him getting out. Another pleasant change was his shot selection and we got the pleasure of seeing some deft touches from him as well. Finally he has realized that long off and long on are not the only places in a cricket field. In the end he made 80 runs from 47 balls and was the only batsman who made more than 10 runs per over, which was our required run rate.

After Nisar Adnan was the next wicket to fall. He tried to hit and force his way and eventually got out bold. He made 22 runs from 26 balls.

Wicky came in next and tried to do what was required, but failed once again in his quest. He made 3 runs from 4 balls. His batting has yet to win a match for us. At that point in time around 12-13 runs per over were required and with tight line and length bowling from our opponents our batting was found wanting. Sameer Bhai, who went in after Wicky, made 29 off 19 and Abdullah 11 from 6. Both had too few balls to face and too many runs to make. Bilal came in the end but at that time around 40 runs were required from 2 overs. He made 7 off 5 balls.

At the end if we are to pinpoint the main reasons for our failure then it would be our poor start in the batting and our dropped catches. I think in the next match, Abdullah can be tried in the opening slot with Nisar. Sameer Bhai and Wicky can follow with Ahmed going in whenever some quick runs are required. My choice is based on the fact that these are the players who don't block un-necessarily, run fast between the wickets, hit boundaries if there is a bad ball and take calculated risks.

Non Cricketing Stuff
I had the pleasure of fielding near Sameer Bhai and had the chance of hearing his 'F*#$ Louise' statement whenever something didn't go to our benefit. My full sympathies to Louise while I wonder what she did to deserve such rememberance ;)

Also Bilal's bat was stolen today, but he seemed to bat well without it though. But this is a lesson for all of us to take care of our stuff ourselves.

Anees Bhai's tang, although a bit strong, is very refreshing and keeps all of us on our feet throughout the match. One day when we field second I am sure then we are going to realize its immense benefit.

But every rose has its thorn and Bilal can blame the tang for his bat being stolen, since the suspects came to drink Tang and went away with his bat.