Saghir won it for the nomads

Question:In a limited over cricket match if the second highest score is 19, and the third highest score is 3, then what could be the final score in that inning.

Today,against the Strasbourg Strollers (SS), after being put into bat first, our second and third highest scores were 19 and 3, respectively. It was a miracle that we managed to score 122/10 in 31 overs. Saghir made that miracle happen with his inning of shear brilliance. While on the other end our batsmen were struggling and succumbing to the uneven bounce, Saghir stood tall and contributed 62 runs, more than double of what remaining team contributed with bat.

Other than Saghir, Pandiyan showed a lot of character to stay on the wicket and follow the ball until the last millisecond. After making a wonderful 19 runs he also fell LBW to a low delivery. Remaining batsmen only provided temporary support to Saghir. The mini-collapse of our batting in Ketsch, matured into a full blown collapse. The uneven bounce was the main reason for the struggle of our batting but at the same I should give credit to SS bowlers who varied the length very intelligently.

Previously, when we had such dominant solo performances (Once by Saghir and once by Raghav) we as a team failed to capitalize on those amazing performances. So, I took the gamble of reminding the team of this fact. 

When we started our defense, a target of 123 was looking very good. We were confident of a win given the ground and pitch conditions. SS made a smart move and sent their lower order batsmen to open the inning. The ploy was to waste our frontline bowlers. And this ploy worked to  a certain extent. I did not get any wicket in my first spell (1 runs off 3 overs), Arpit managed one wicket. Given the batsmen, we both should have cleaned up the first three wickets in three overs. There was no pressure of run rate, the SS team was happy with their strategy. When we went for drinks after 17 over, SS were around 68 runs for four wickets. 

We were confident because we assumed that two more wickets from that point on would be enough to wrap up the match. Rajesh got us the breakthrough, right after the drinks break, as Purav took an outstanding catch of Nomi, the SS captain. We were hoping for one more wicket to consolidate our advantage. But the new batsmen, Sultan took us for some good runs and at one point SS were moving towards a victory comfortably, as they needed 12 runs with four wickets in hand. At that crucial point Saghir produced a surprise slow delivery to clean up Kamran. From that point on it was a matter of nerves. 

In the next over Arpit took out a wicket at the expense of four runs. I bowled the next one, and I had Sultan, who was looking very dangerous, caught at deep mid-on by Rajesh. On the very next delivery Shakeel launched the bowl directly into Rajesh's hands. Rajesh could not hold the catch but he held his nerves and returned the ball to the non-striker's end and we had a run out.

Saghir was the bowler of the choice when we needed a wicket and SS needed two runs. Two balls later Saghir forced the batsman to cut a short delivery in the hands of Rakesh, who took a great catch. Nomads erupted in joy and celebrations as they had pulled off an amazing victory. In my memory this was the closest match and win for the Freiburg Nomads. And no one deserved it more than Saghir, who did every thing to win the match. 

After Saghir's monologue in batting, it was all team effort. Vijay once again placed fielders in the right areas, coordinated his bowlers pretty intelligently. He himself had an off day, first he got LBW to a ball kept way too low, in the field the ball seemed to be repelling him. We also had three dropped catches, none too expensive, fortunately. Our fielding was good in general, as reflected by the three run-outs. 

Today, on our way to Strasbourg, Purav indicated that we wanted to spend at least 20 overs in the middle. He was unlucky as the ball took a leading edge and he was caught and bowled.  But he still spent a lot of time in the middle as a runner for Saghir -- it was impressive to see his commitment, the way he ran and converted dot balls in single and so on...

There are many areas that we need to improve upon if we want to take on Karlsruhe team. First we still need to work on our wides, in both matches so far our bowlers (every one) have struggled with their line. In addition, it may be a good idea to bring Arpit as a change bowler. He is clearly struggling with the new ball. New bowlers, Nila and Rahul have shown lot of promise in the short spells they have been used. Perhaps its time to give then opportunity a bit early in the match. Today was not a good match as we were struggling to save a rather small total. But, when we are bowing first or defending a large total, we should bring in Nila and Rahul to give them more confidence. KCC has a good pitch and that could be an opportunity for them to step up.

Besides, Saghir, Pandiyan and Purav our batsmen havent done much of note in the last two matches this season. So we need to reinforce our middle order. Although Rehan did not have a good day today, as he fell to a very good catch, it is good to see him on the field. Once Rehan gets into his rhythm we will have another solid batsman in the middle order. Finally, extra work is also needed in taking high catches.

With all that the team is looking good. With so many young players, there is great atmosphere in the team and more than anything, today's match was won in a large extent by the self-belief that every player had. There was, at no point, any panic, everyone wanted to win and knew what exactly they needed to do. And this is a good sign. 

SS team also deserves an applause as they fought very hard and made this match worth a memory that will stay for a long time. Win or loss by one run is not a good measure of the relative strengths of two teams, so the two teams need to play more and I look forward to host the Strasbourg Strollers. In the meantime Nomdas enjoy one more away victory and set your sights on the upcoming challenge.