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

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

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

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