Monday, July 19, 2010

The one man show was not enough

There has to be a noble reason to win. In my opinion the best reason to win is that "we are better than our opponents". Shorter term or lesser reasons such as -- because we want to defeat them or because we want to ensure a place in the next round, usually fails to motivate the team and perhaps does harm by creating a fear of loss.

I think that is what happened. Long before the match was due we were made slowly aware of the strength of the opposition, but not necessarily as to better prepare us for them.

There is a bit of background to this match. Incidentally, I  have not updated my blog since Kaiserslautern University Cricket Club (KCC) team visited and the StadtVerwaltung Freiburg double booked the ground to preclude any form of cricket. The league administration did very well to reschedule the game.

So we reached the ground with a bit of aura of the opponents and a lot of strong motivation to win.

And it was well reflected in the way we started bowling. We bowled, arguably the most successful batting team in the league, for a mere 135.

Among all of us Raghav was the clear pick of the bowlers. He very well exploited the conditions, i.e. the pitch and the heavy weather. After a long time we were playing on a good wicket where bowlers could see the ball bouncing up to chest height without much effort. While I ended up relishing the bounce, Raghav just stuck the basics, i.e. aim the top of the off stump and rest just followed for him -- I mean the seven wickets

Sagir, Arpit, Adnan and Rajesh contributed their share. In process of relishing the bounce I leaked out lot of runs in the my second spell (mostly in boundaries) but I was happy with my bowling, it was a bit selfish effort but when Raghav was bowling so well, our team could afford that. Except for some lapses in the wicket-keeping we were just superb on the field and it was great to see the strongest opposition of the league fold with 135 on board.

On that good wicket where both disciplined bowlers and batsmen could be successful, the target was not difficult but still we were chasing at the home ground of the bowling team. Besides, as I said earlier, perhaps we could not believe that we were just chasing 136.

Our chase started with rain interruption. From then on the rain played hide and seek but the ground was good and the field dried out faster than expected and we managed to finish the full game despite multiple breaks. 

We started well and managed to maintain a good run rate.  But our wickets kept falling, occasionally to the brilliance of the bowlers and mostly due to the lapse of concentration of the batsmen. Everyone of our batsmen started looking very confident but not converting the starts. All we needed one big partnership and that just did not come. At one stage we had lost 7 wickets for 60 runs. Then came a short partnership. However, when I entered, we needed 31 runs one wicket remaining and plenty of balls left. I started off well but then fell to the temptation of hitting a big shot. I know I cant cross boundary, only rarely I have, but still, I tried and failed.

We lost a game we should have won. We all were unhappy and the saddest among us was Raghav, who really deserved to win and did all that in control of a bowler.

Well, now Raghav can pride himself that for matching a feat achieved by the great Imran Khan. Imran holds the record of best bowling (6-14) in a 50 over game in a losing cause. Sunday, last Raghav took 7 wickets and very sadly, ended up on the losing side.

Raghav was perhaps at his best and he will have to work extra hard to emulate his own standards from now on. It just a pleasure to be on the field and watch him sort out the batsmen.

I often see cricket as a team game played by individuals and thus, single performance can change the course of the match. However, in this case rest of our team fell so far behind that we just could cash in the great opportunity Raghav created.

This failure initiated that we are a better bowling side. Few games earlier when we almost chased down 295 runs, we were cursing our bowlers and batting was our stronghold. It will change again if lose to bowling errors. Loses always teach something. With victories we tend to overlook our limitations.

I should also congratulate the Kaiserslautern team for the victory. They are really good unit and held their nerves and showed why they have remained undefeated so far. And they brought good food for lunch.


Arvind
PS: This blog is way too delayed and should have been written two weeks ago. The match was played July 4, 2010.
PS: This blog was written while listening to the great Imran Khan delivering the Cowdrey Lecture 2010 at the Lords.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

What rain could not do this time, Stadt Verwaltung Freiburg did: And did it even better

There is something fundamentally wrong this season. We are in the month of June and so far not a single match has been played without rain threats. And today when German Rain Gods were on our side (at least it appeared so), and we were hoping for a full match under the blue sky, it turned out that the German Rain Gods had outsourced their job of hating cricket to the soccer gods and those who are responsible for creating a chaos in German organization.

Otherwise, how likely it is that a German mixes up his/her calender, that too, a German bureaucrat? That is what happened on Sunday last. The officer responsible for assignment of the ground at the seepark double booked the ground and before we could start our proceedings there were more than 16 teams competing for a strange version of a soccer tournament.

We, the people of the sub-continent, are not known for our managerial abilities to handle organizational problems. We had a living proof of that on the field today.

As soon as we arrived at the ground we knew that cricket would be impossible. The soccer people had occupied the ground before us. There was no way we could take off nearly 100 people off the field. And it was not their fault as well that the ground was double booked. 

But we tried anyways. With same arguments again and again. It is obvious that if an argument does not work once, it wont work again, if the situation has not changed.

The visiting team was another bunch of people who just wanted to just take advantage of the situation and go home with the points, without playing the game. 

Common sense suggests that today it was due to some factors not in any way in our direct control, that the ground was not available for cricket. This to me is similar to a whole day of rain scenario. I understand that if it rains whole day without any ball bowled, the points would be split. It did not rain today but the ground was not available for uncontrollable factors, with no fault of ours. It would have been our fault if our teams was not prepared, in any form, to host the opposition.

So common sense says that the points should be split.

The opposition and some strange person acting as an umpire, just could not even follow a common sense argument. How can one argue with such bunch on logical grounds.

After much deliberation as was expected, both teams made written statements to be sent to league administration.

From our side, we offered a shorter match (25 overs) which the visitors declined. With that option out, we argued for declaring the match abandoned. The opposition, while refusing to play a shorter game, maintained that the match should be awarded to them.

The  league administration that will look into our statements, is a joke to begin with. Every new situation is reinforcing this impression.

There are no proper rules for adjusting scores for rain affected matches. There are no rules to account for situation like that of Sunday last, when a game is to be abandoned for factor not in direct control. The formula used to calculate the net run rate makes no sense. And so on... I wonder if there is a human who really knows the exact set of rules and regulations of the league. I am sure we will keep discovering new shortcomings of the league with every match.

It is time some really concerned people get involved in the organization of the league. When the chief coordinator refuses to take any calls on Sundays and still want every decision to be made via him, you can just imagine.

All and all not a good day of cricket.


Arvind
PS: Raghav suggested the title of the blog. Thanks Raghav.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

When cricket went onesided

The match (or the mis-match) lasted 12 overs. We took 8 overs to take 9 wickets of the opposition and conceded 31 runs, of those at least 9 were from wides. Then chased the score in 3.5 overs with the help of 9 extras.
The visitors from Leonberg were not at all ready to play a match. They were short of one player. Their team was under-prepared and understrength. It is very likely that they failed to raise a full strength team for an away fixture on a Thursday (although a holiday in south Germany).

We have, in past played against much more ill-prepared teams than the Leonberg team. In all those attempts, having accessed the strength of the opposition we invariably reduced the intensity and tried to create a match out of a mismatch. I recall reducing a team to 11-6 and then Matt and myself were taken off the attack and multiple similar instances.

Not in this case. The reason -- well, we wanted to get our points for the Twenty20 league and on top wanted to make sure that we improve our average. So in this process we just ignored cricket and focused on mere numbers. 

Did we do wrong? No, everybody in that situation would have done the same. 

But are numbers greater than Cricket. My answer is that no. The competition in the league forced us to take on such ruthless approach which was clearly not within the spirit of Cricket. In being ruthless and clinical in our victory we just respected the league system. 

At same time I would like to add that Leonberg did not act properly when they fielded such a team. It cannot be said that they had a bad day. They were just understrength. Except for a couple of player none of the opposition deserved their place. Teams that are part of the league should act in more responsibility and respect the fact that the league is in place to increase competition.

We did realize that our clinical attitude was perhaps not in the right spirit, so we did well to play a practice game with the guests.

It is difficult to find out what went good and not so good when we play such an opposition.

Tomorrow is a far more important game. We have only won one game out three for the 40 over matches league. The opposition is orders of magnitude better than the one we played on Thursday last, if rumors and score sheets have to be believed. So we really have to switch gears and secure a win tomorrow to remain in the hunt for the championship.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Sagir's heroics go in vain: But what an inning and what a match!


Winning may be rated as the highest pursuit, but generally in competitive sports and particularly in cricket, winning the respect of the opponents despite losing, is equally important. Cricket goes beyond winning and losing. The history is full of team striving to secure a draw or even after the series is settled, the losing team playing for honor.

It is difficult to chose between winning a contest and winning the respect of the opponents. The matter is simple when you can have both. Winning the contest without winning the respect of the opponents is not as satisfying. Similarly, if you gain the respect of the opposition despite losing, the loss becomes more bearable.

Two batsmen and a partnership took the game away from us, when we were sitting comfortable having taken 5 wickets for 90 runs in 20 overs. While Janarden rode clearly on his luck to reach a hundred, as reflected in at least three dropped catches, in Umair's case the luck factor was not that  explicit. I think every bowler from our side knew what to bowl to Umair but somehow it took a little too long to get that one delivery. These two batsmen irrespective of there luck or our lack of that, took the match very far from us. By the time Umair's stumps were undone the damage has been done, and we did well to restrict the opposition to 251 runs.

Rajesh was our standout bowler with very effective support from Raghav. Vijay and Sagir chipped in their share. I had yet another disappointing match. It is time that I have a serious look at my bowling, my team needs more from me than few tidy, wicket-less overs in the first spell. Vijay's gamble of starting our bowling with Adnan seem to work when in his second over he took a wicket. But from then on it was a sharp fall downhill and he finished that successful over with seven wides.

When Janarden and Umair were taking apart our bowling, the situation in the field was very calm. Vijay had a great effect. He kept trying to rotate the bowling, adjust fielding, without any signs of panic in his action and neither did he let the team panic. I think that is what good captains are supposed to bring to the field.

Chasing 252 runs in 40 overs is not easy and we did not start properly. We lost Ratish one of our strong batsman, due to a terrible misunderstanding between Craig and him. It was Craig's call and he was yelling 'no' from the middle of the pitch. Rehan was promoted to bat at number three. We were seeing the effect of a new captain. Rehan reinforced the trust Vijay had shown in him in the best possible manner by scoring quickfire yet sensible 38 runs with four sixes. With him attacking it was a strange sight to have a quite Sagir on the wicket. But Sagir was determined not to be deterred by anything around him. After Rehan wickets fell at regular interval and at one point we were scoring at more than the required run rate but were left with only two wickets and more than 100 runs to score. Some poor calls (Purab and Najib) from the umpire did the damage.

Then started the best part of the match. Rajesh is hardly a batsman to rely on. But what an inning he played. All those improvised shots kept bringing very useful runs and for the first time generated realistic hope to pull off a great victory. When he left we needed 28 runs. I went in, survived a couple of balls and scored four runs. Next over, Sagir who for the first time lost faith in his batting partners, hit a powerful boundary only to be out on the next ball.

The opposition celebrate a well deserved victory. We finally has something to cling on to, despite losing. Admittedly, we did not deserve to win after dropping six catches -- basically everyone who had an opportunity dropped one. In addition, four of our batsmen did not score (Ratish, Vijay, Purab and Adnan). There were three players who deserved a win Sagir, Rajesh and Rehan. Their frustration was obvious.

Those in our team with less experience in playing 40 over matches, must have realized that there is nothing permanent in cricket, one partnership can take the match away irreversibly. However, the match is not over until its actually over and as long as you are on the wicket runs will come and take to closer to the target. Cricket is a team game where individual performances can override the team performance and that is what Sagir, Rajesh from our side and Umair and Janarden from the opposition, demonstrated.

The most important part of the match for us was the character our team displayed. They again reinforced the belief that we do have the ability and we are not just push overs. We may lose a match but we will fight and the opposition has to work extra to take the victory from us.

Everyone who was part of the match will remember it for a long time. Well done Nomads.

right arm over
Arvind

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Then the Nomads Won: First victory of the season

Emily Dickinson wrote:

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed. 

An illustration of this beautiful poem could be seen at the seepark ground, Freiburg on the afternoon of Sunday, May 16,2010.

Nomads took a full season and four matches in this one, under Sikander's captaincy to secure a victory against a decent side. What a shame that the team captain who had led the team through one of the worst patch, was not there to savor the moment. The players who were part of the team in the last season finally got to taste victory and it was easy to see the significance of the win.

In a somewhat relevant dimension this victory also meant that now we have won a match in two we have played so far in the BWCV league. It was important to win the match to keep the hopes alive in the league and not to dive too deep in the league table.

Finally Nomads showed what they are actually capable of. We defeated a team that had won two of it previous league game and was leading the points table. The victory margin clearly reflects how one sided affair the match turned out to be.

Starting with a run-out in the very first over, Nomads kept getting breakthroughs at regular intervals. To chase 154 runs in 40 overs is not difficult in our field, but rain was an obvious fear. For some strange reason, the organizers have adopted a two decade old rain-rule which has been proved consistently retarded and useless. There was a reason why ICC adopted the Duckworth-Lewis rain rule. But not the BWCV, they still want to live in the dark ages of rain-rules.

With the overcast skies, Nomads batsmen had a single minded goal -- to stay up with the required run rate. That is what exactly happened. For one the German Rain Gods helped us by forcing the opposition to conceded a heap of extra runs and at one point we were cruising along at a run rate of 9 per over. Although we lost a couple of wickets in succession, Vijay who was playing his first match this season after a string of 'self-invited injuries' ensured that the lower order was not exposed and without any drama he took the Nomads home.

Besides, Vijay and Sagir's batting in my opinion one aspect that won us the game was our fielding. It was just a superlative effort. Field placement was perfect. In the point and gully region several 10s of runs were saved. I think Vijay was again the hero of field setting. Sikander more or less gave the control of field to Vijay and Sagir and that worked for us. If not for that field setting we would have been chasing a score in excess of 180 and that would have been a tough target in rain and heavy ball.

In the light of the win I do not want to ignore the fact that our fast bowling attack is not looking threatening enough. In the last match, Rajesh did well to control runs but he failed to take wickets. My terrible form continued and it is getting worrisome now. I had a good spell in the start but then on I was completely useless. With every over I conceded more runs. My bowling in the middle over is a reminder of Ajit Agarkar, who has a knack of bowling 4 amazing deliveries and still he finishes an over with 6-8 runs. I need to work on it really hard. I think it is psychological, I just hate the cricket ball we use in these matches. The cricket balls that we got from the Deutche-Cricket-Bundes (DCB) are complete disgrace. As soon as you hit the seam on the wicket the seam opens up and after few overs there is no chance for seam bowlers.

I have to say a word for the neutral umpire. It is indeed a very good idea. It is true that it costs Euros 25 per team to have a neutral umpire but it is worth it.

They say winning is a habit. Nomads now have secured a perfect victory to inspire them for the next games. But Nomads ought to remember that winning a match is just one thing and give the nature of the game and the world, it may even be a chance. To prove that it is not chance and they have it in them, they must get on to a winning track now...
right arm over
Arvind

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

So near yet so far: Nomads did not lose this time

What does it take to win in sports? In all but one, it is sufficient to defeat the self-doubt and the opponents. Not in cricket. Besides everything else, the Rains Gods have to be on your side. 

Because this season so far we have been carefully ignoring the German Rain Gods, they came hard on us and right when were almost there to win the first match of the season the heavens opened. Our rain ignoring tactic i.e. continuing to play in rain did not last long as the field and the pitch rapidly became impossible to play.

When the rain stopped the play, we were 122/3 in 17 overs chasing 164 runs in 30 overs. So technically if we had instituted the Duckworth-Lewis method, we would have won as I think roughly we were 20 runs ahead of the D/L revised target after 17 overs.

Well, win is not so important. More important is the fact to realize that we can win.

After a long time, we chose to bowl first. It almost worked. We started off like real winners. I was very happy after what I could do with the ball in my first overs. After that Raghav produced a very nice spell of medium pace delivery. Sagir was in usual form. Rajesh's seems to be losing form a bit but he also held himself well enough. It was also a good outing for the debutant Arpit. He has a very good bowling action. His short physical stature limits the speed but he is powerful and knows what he can do with the ball. If we leave out last five overs including my 15 runs over, we did extremely well. The opposition was not very strong but it was important that our bowling unit got a good feel of what they can do in terms of setting up a good total to chase for the batting unit.

My 15 runs over: It was very depressing but I have to give credit to Favad. The ball he sent for a straight six was just brilliant. It was not a bad ball by any means. I was of course not at my best while bowling that over, as my right elbow was hurting bad. I offered to bowl that over because we didnt have many options for the 29th over.  I still dont know when and how I injured it.

The target was just over 5 runs an over. It is not an easy target but certainly within reach. However, we were soon greeted by a very high quality swing and pace attack. It was commendable that Ratish and Sikander managed to keep they wickets. There were many LBW shouts. As I was umpire during that spell I know that except for one, none was really a good shout. The bowlers  were swinging the ball a lot (up to nearly 25 degrees). With such swing it is not easy to judge where the ball would have gone if it had not hit the pads. I was very fair and there was no shout declined because I was from the batting side. I am a bowler and I very much sympathize with them.

Rest of the attack was ordinary and we had no trouble in scoring a healthy rate until rain forced us to stop.


We bowled very well on average but inconsistencies still remain. I for instance bowled four over for 30 runs, 5 fours and 1 six, one wide. So remaining 18 deliveries went for a mere 3 runs. Besides this after the first spell our field opens up and that results in a leaking single. That is one area we need to work on. Next, it is high time that we settle for our batting line up. It was ok for a friendly game to have Najeeb and Arpit in higher middle order but not for serious game. Also Raghav's batting, though improving, is not good enough to score at a decent rate against an average bowling attack, so we should be careful in analyzing the performances for the upcoming league games. Similarly, in the next training session we need to give enough bowling to Rajesh to boost his confidence.

But we did not lose and given a good weather we would have won, gives a great feeling and I think we are now ready and peaking at the right moment. So go Nomads...


right arm over
Arvind

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Bowlers failed to rise to the occassion: One more loss for the Nomads

After the first loss in the league game, nothing much changed in our practice routine but players did not seem to be bothered with the loss and were very positive about the first friendly game against the Strasbourg Strollers.

The Freiburg Nomads have been playing the Strasbourg Strollers for many years. The two teams are pretty matched in terms of strengths. I dont know the stats but I am sure the balance between the two teams can be backed up by stats.

The day was not optimal for a cricket match but we decided to ignore the unhappiness of the German Rain Gods.

In rather testing conditions our batsmen did well and set up a formidable target of 179 in 30 overs. Ratish was pick of the batsmen. Sikander did much better than his previous outing. And the rest chipped in as the situation demanded. Given the weather and our wicket, it was a good target to defend. I was very positive that finally under Sikander' captaincy we will win against a decent team. We did start our defense in winning mode. In my second over I claimed my first wicket of the season. Rajesh was a bit flaky in the beginning but after first four overs we were looking safe.

The second bowling spell of Sagir (who actually bowled well) and Craig failed to capitalize on the start, and from the 5th over on we could never reduce the run-rate below six. It was a high quality undisciplined bowling. The fear of injury on a slippery mat, I think was the primary reason for the inconsistent bowling. The Captain also failed to read the condition and attacking bowlers were not brought in when we had a brief dry time on the pitch. In between the wides, there were really beautiful deliveries which did show that our bowlers have quality but they need to work on their strengths.

One of the main reason that bowling looked harmless, was the field placement. Most of our bowlers do not know what is a good field and how to bowl to the field. Such situation adds a heavy burden to the responsibility of the captain. We gave away so many runs in the point and square area and still we never had a proper field placement in that region.

To add to our woes, the umpire did not know that there is something called an LBW in cricket. 
One of the question raised to the umpire on the field was 'how low they could go to win the match'. The umpire refused to reply. I am sure he did not know his limits. 

Umpiring is a genuine problem at our level of cricket. Average human nature is to rate victory over honesty and impartiality. The reason is simple, a victory gets recorded, one way or other. Honesty on cricket field, most of the times brings animosity of the team-mates.

In the first match it was the batsmen who did not give enough to the bowlers and in this match bowlers failed to defend a formidable score. I hope that in the friendly match tomorrow, both the bowlers and batsmen will come together and win and make a good impression on the opponents who are due to play a league game in a couple of weeks.

The forecast says that the German Rain Gods are going to unhappy with us again but we will also continue to ignore them...very respectfully though...

Those who may be tempted to write us off after two consecutive loses ought to remember that, it is very dangerous to infer trends from two observations.

right arm over
Arvind

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Just not enough numbers for the Nomads: The first league match

Its now six days since we played our first league game. Despite our very good preparation, enthusiasm and confidence we started the season with a loss.

Numbers as objective as they are, out of their context, they may at times convey a wrong impression. Particularly, when we try to reduce a complex phenomenon to one dimensional quantification. For instance, in this case of our loss by three wickets, numbers may suggest that we played a very tight game which could have gone either way.

The match was pretty one-sided from the time of the drinks break of the Pak-Freiburg's inning. We gave them a modest target of 144 runs in 40 overs. At the end of 20 overs Pak-Freiburg were about 73 runs with a loss of 3 or 4 wickets. Even though we took a couple of quick wickets after the drinks break, it was not enough. 

Din and Rizwan for most of their time on the pitch just showed a dead-bat to the balls and essentially killed the game for us. Our bowlers, particularly myself, struggled to get past the bats of Din and Rizwan. They could enjoy that luxury of batting like they did because the required run rate was never a real concern. They need some 3-4 runs an over if they could bat through the 40 overs. If we add to this the fact that at our level, most of our bowlers, on average concede ~1.5 extra runs (wides, mainly) per over, the effective run rate for the opposition was around two an over. 

For us the only chance to save the game was to bowl our the opposition. None of our bowlers look like doing that, Sagir, and Rajesh showed some promise by taking a few wickets. But we lacked a penetrative power in our bowling. We all were bowling very monotonous. There was not much to test the batting. If we were defending a score of 180 runs or so perhaps our bowling would have been sufficient. But with no pressure to maintain the run rate the batsmen never need to take any risk.

After the match I thought hard to isolate reasons for loss. All I could come up is rather trivial -- we lacked a good score on the board. With some 30 more runs on the board, same bowlers would have appeared to be doing the job right.

I am not defending the bowlers, just because I am one. In fact, I am first to blame myself. The three wicket difference between the two teams is actually my share of wickets. If I had taken a couple, we would have put up a better show and the tone of this post would have been very different.

Finally, it maybe just me but I somehow got the impression that we were in some sort of panic all through the match. I cite two examples. First, in so many years of cricket, against easy and tough teams, in important and irrelevant matches, I have never been a part of a team meeting (team talk) in the drinks break of the first inning while we were batting first. Second, after the drinks break when we were bowling, none of the bowlers bowled in a proper spell. Bowlers, need time sometime, particularly when their bowling is not along the expectations. None of our bowlers, myself, Sagir or Rajesh bowled more than one over spell in post drinks session.

To what extent this panic contributed to our loss cannot be quantified, as a bowler I share the responsibility of the lack of penetrative power in the bowling. But the batsmen have a big task ahead of them in this league. We cannot imagine to win many matched with scores of ~150 in 40 overs.

The great thing about the game was that it ended in more or less harmony with the Pak-Freiburg team. I think it was an achievement of sorts.

PS: The match started with a perfect 'desi' style of management. The umpires (neutral ones, provided by the league and cost us Euros 25 per team) failed to show up. I am sure that German Railways or google-maps were not responsible for this. The icing on the cake was that the main coordinator of the league does not like to take phone calls on a Sunday. Imagine this and add to this the fact that the guy is from Pakistan.  After half an hour of aimless discussion it was agreed that both teams will nominate a couple of players from both the teams to do umpiring.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Freiburg Nomads: Raring to go


Freiburg is one of the small towns in Germany. So, unlike big cities, it is not a popular place for expats. There are very few people from the commonwealth living here. Of those, I think about a couple of hundred are 'desis'. With such a demography, it comes as a surprise that in this little beautiful town in the back forest, there are two cricket clubs.

In mid 1990s, the first cricket club was started by the British and Australian expats and very rightly they named it Freiburg-Nomads. Sometime in late 1990's the Pakistani expats started their own club.

The Pak-Freiburg has always been a less organized but very competitive side. By contrast, the Nomads, have been more of a social club. However, in recent years with more Indian/Pakistani students joining the club, the Nomads have become pretty competitive side.

With Nomads gaining strength, in last few years, a sort of rivalry has developed between the two teams. So matches between the two teams are very hard fought - on field and on some occasions even off the field. The last time the two teams met, the match was abandoned because of a rather unnecessary on field verbal explosion between the two captains. 

After that match the general feeling among the Nomads was never to play the Pak-Freiburg again. However, this was not to be. Both the teams joined the newly formed Baden-Wurtemberg cricket league and as the fate has it, these two local rivals will be face-to-face for their first league game on the coming Sunday (April 25,2010). 

The last season for the Nomads was one to forget, in which we barely one a game. This year, did not start any better, however, the early defeat in a practice game did a great deal of good to the team. Since that defeat, in four/five training sessions, players have been more systematic and have  been working  on their weak points. Three new players have joined in, including a pretty solid batsman, who will be a big bonus after we lost Vijay to an injury. Sagir's presence in the last two training sessions have been very motivating. I am particularly impressed with the improvement of Raghav as a bowler. Rajesh is looking good. In batting other than the incumbent Ritesh, Sagir, Sikander and Craig are looking solid. So is Adnan. Today I took a couple of overs to get in the rhythm but overall I am very satisfied with my form. So far in training I did not focus on taking wickets, so I will have to switch gears.

Very importantly, the team is in very good tempo, things are gelling very well.  Everyone is in high spirit and confident. I think self-confidence is the most important things to go with in a cricket game. After all, cricket is a team game played by individuals. All in all the Nomads are raring to go and take on their local rivals and everyone wants to start the season and the league with a WIN.

Cricket is a great unifier. Or at least cricket can bring opportunities to resolve conflicts. So I look forward to a great game and independent of the result, I hope the two teams will be able to resolve their conflicts and return to a healthy rivalry.

right arm over
Arvind

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Getting in the grove: Second practice session


After the start up bonus, the head count for the training was back to normal as some 10 players showed up. However, this was perhaps one of the most satisfying session. The stand-in captain Craig, took over the training in absence of our regular captain. Craig set some clear objectives for bowlers. The bowlers were strictly instructed to bowl on the off stump, similar the batsmen were asked to keep the ball on the ground and practice shot on the off. As a penalty, when a bowler drifted towards leg-side, he was to bring the ball. Similarly a wrong shot i.e. towards the on side required the batsman to run down and bring the ball. Finally, there was some discipline visible in the practice.  Every batsman got to play one pace and one slow bowler. These changes in the practice session clearly reflected out shortcomings that came to fore in the previous week's practice game. Also the little chat after the session was very useful, as all the players shared their experience. 

Personally I was very happy about how I was getting into rhythm. After some very inconsistent bowling in previous practice game I needed a good training and Craig gave me more than my share of time to work on my bowling and in the end I was able to get some visible bounce on our routinely dead pitch.

I think we should to stick to such more targeted training sessions where we don't focus on developing new skill rather spend more time on perfecting our already acquired skills. The issue of the wicket-keeper remain unresolved as yet. 
Hopefully the motivation of the players will continue and we will start the formal season on a good note.

right arm over
Arvind

Monday, April 5, 2010

Playing Cricket in Hailstones: First practice game


I have played cricket in some really testing conditions but this was first time that we I played cricket in hailstones. The rain was expected when we started so we decided to play a 25 over game and in the second inning, when were on the field, a slight drizzle very quickly transformed into hailstones. It did not last long though. I guess the heavens were not pleased with us playing on a Easter Sunday, but when we refused to leave the field during the hailstones, the rain god gave in. 

I wonder how many have played cricket in hailstones. I remember the Winterthur cricket club staging a match on snow in the Alps. I once played a game for the St. Columbas in Providence in near freezing temperature and wind speed about 20Km/h. But this short spell of hailstones during a match will remain special.

Barely after one practice session, our club administration decided to test the strength of the team and agreed to host the Karlshrue Lions Cricket Club for a practice game. 

From the surface, it sounds like a crazy decision given that 1. it was a Easter Sunday at least two key players Rehan and Craig were not available, 2. most of our players havent faced a fast moving ball on the flix pitch for at least six months 3. the decision to play was taken on Saturday evening and some (including myself) did not know of the game until Sunday morning.

So we were under-prepared and under-strength is an understatement. On top it was very chilly and windy.

However, this match gave us a chance to see one of the league teams. We have never played the Karlshrue team. Most other teams in the league are familiar to us. I think the Karlshruhe team was also thinking of testing waters in Freiburg.

We batted first and scored 108 in about 22 overs. Sikander, Fawad and to some extent Raghav did well but we heavily relied on the extras to reach three figure aggregate. The lack of practice in our batting was more than visible. We started off pretty bad while defending, I gave away 8 runs (two fours). Rajesh and I bowled two maidens after that but my third over was utter nonsense, as I gave away 13 runs. We took sometime to realize that slow bowlers could be more effective, as the opposition slower ones were. However, it was too late... Najeeb and Bilal did well, but again consistency was an issue and KLCC were able to maintain a scoring rate of near 7 an over.

Though we lost comprehensively, I think there were lot of positives from the game. I think loses are more important in that sense. When you lose, the head is down, it metaphorically speaking it gives you a chance to reflect on the proceedings of the match, to isolate the limitations of the team and perhaps also a chance to work out strategies to overcome the limitations.

The winning captain left with a thought that our wicket is more suited for slow blowing. So we would expecting more slow bowling from the KLCC. Perhaps other teams would be in the same impression. Also, our batsmen were pretty much incapable of taking advantage of the opposition slow bowlers, who in my opinion were not even average. So we need special drills during practice to let the batsmen train slogging the slow bowlers. 
Our slow bowlers were effective but KLCC batsmen still managed to slog them once or twice in an over, which is pretty good overall. So first, we should allow our slow bowlers to train against batsmen who can slog and hit hard and second, should not rely on them heavily during matches. If a slow bowler is smacked for hard a couple of time in one over, it is an indication of things to happen...

Main failure in the match was our fast bowling, particularly myself and Raghav. We both were very inconsistent. I for instance, conceded 21 runs of my my 3 overs. However, it took only 4 scoring shots to get those runs -- three fours and one six, one single and two wides. Similar was the case with Raghav. Rajesh was impressive but did not look like taking wickets but also he was not given much chance after his two overs.

I bowled fast but we were bowling into the wind (sometimes as strong as about 20Km/H). So air drag was high and effective ball speed was considerably reduced, and the ball was coming onto the bat really well. I have to work on how to bowl into the wind on a dead pitch. I think my bowling is becoming monotonous. I have to admit that I also bowled against one the better batsman (of course that is no excuse -- I have to raise my game).

I think we need to rethink how we use our two hours a week of training time. I think the current approach, that we have inherited from previous seasons, of letting one or two batsmen play two different bowlers for six overs, is not going to be effective.
I think we need to two separate nets, one for slow bowlers and one for pace bowlers. We should isolate those who can hit the ball hard and they should initially focus on practicing their shots. Similarly, more technically sound batsmen who are likely to bat higher up, should face pace bowlers. This will, first give more optimal training opportunities and also more players would be able to participate in the main action i.e. bowling and batting. 
Another important concern for us is to find a good wicket-keeper. Once again the separate fast and slow bowling nets would provide good conditions to train for the new keeper. I think in our situation we have force someone to take up the keeping gloves...

I hope that things will only get better as we become full-strength and more trained...


right arm over
Arvind

Saturday, April 3, 2010

2010 Season starts: The first practice session

Snow is still visible on the hills around Freiburg. It has been raining intermittently in last few days. So the wind is humid and chilly. Spring is slowly making its way.

Without waiting for the spring weather to set in the Freiburg nomads were today back on the cricket field to mark the beginning of new season. The fact that it's Easter Friday today did not stop them to start the season on schedule.

I have not been keeping good health this week but the motivation was just too strong to keep me at home. And it was absolute delight to return to the cricket field -- hold the read leather ball in hand, run few yards and hit the stumps few times. I was a bit surprised by the turnout for the first practice session. There were some 16 odd guys showed up. Several of them were new faces. So I entered the cricket field with great deal of curiosity about the new talent.

The practice session started as it used to in last season. The organization was very chaotic, perhaps a rather unexpectedly high number of players showed up. Initially we wanted to play a short game -- yes, on the first practice the season!! But that idea somehow got dissolved within first minuted of implementation and players ended up batting in pairs and pretended to score runs. Because there was no plan for the training today it was all very confusing. The IPL effect was visible straightaway. No one who batted today found it useful to set the eyes in and get used to the ball. It was all IPL style, see the ball or not but swing the bat, if you are out its fine there is always a next ball, if its in the air, dont worry, no one will catch it....

I think it was supposed to be that way today because of the new players and no one knew their strengths and weaknesses to begin with. Hopefully we will do better next time...

As of my curiosity -- it was just a hope without any logic and reason. There is one new player who looked good, who has the right attitude and a great bowling action. Other than that I did not see any new talent and I dont foresee any of the today's newcomers winning us matches in near/far future. It is needless to say that we need good players for the coming season which is going to be tougher than ever before.
The Freiburg nomads under a new management, have decided to participate in the Baden-Wurtemberg Cricket league.

On a personal level I was quite satisfied that the six month long off season time did not effect my line and length and I still have the control. I need to work a bit on my action though, I realized that I am not bending my back enough.

As such the season is not starting on a good note. We have lost our wicket-keeper and a key batsman. Vijay apparently bumped into a tree while attempting to take a catch in a tennis ball cricket match
and broke his nose and he will be out of action for at least a month. And the new challenge for the team is to find out a new wicket-keeper.

Irrespective of the near chaos and confusion at the practice, I was very excited that cricket season has finally started, and I could see the same enthusiasm in all who were on the field today (On a Easter Friday -- that is commitment).

right arm over
Arvind