Cricket beyond cricket: Freiburg Nomads to take on the Pak. Freiburg

Let me start with a question. What would you prefer, play the game and have fun or play the game and risk the sanctity of the concept of a cricket match. Which one you will chose will reflect on you and your character. Choosing not to play a match of cricket at the risk of demeaning cricket will suggest that you value things more than your own personal interests and abstract concepts make sense. But sometimes we have to play cricket even when the essence of the game might be at a risk, only for the larger interest of cricket.

Freiburg Nomads faced this conundrum when Pakistan Freiburg team approached us for a 'friendly' fixture.We have played Pak Freiburg team before, mostly even without asking the games were friendly i.e. they finished on very friendly note. So this comes as a surprise that we have to officially term the upcoming match as a 'friendly'.

Two seasons ago there was a massive incident on the field between our then captain Sikandar and the opposition captain Mansoor, which at first led to abandoning of the match midway and then a sequence of arguments which precipitated in the opposition captain making some very serious and offensive comments about a Country and a religion, in addition to the scene it created on the field. It was so embarrassing and humiliating to be a part of that group of players who created such a mess and presented cricket as a game which people from the Indian Subcontinent use to express their personal frustration. In my opinion cricket is not the medium for a display of frustrations, it is a medium to express yourself, your skills and your self-control.

From then on FNCC have played the Pak. Freiburg only once, just because both teams were playing in the BWCV league. In some sense it was good that the two teams did not play each other. Because this meant that many personal relationships between the players of the two teams remained largely unaffected.

When we play in a country where Cricket is not a well known sport, where it is seen as a modified form of baseball, where it is impossible to explain why we wear whites, why one cricket game must last for a day at least, it is our first and foremost responsibility to present the game in its most clean and pious form, not dented by personal problems. With Pak. Freiburg team there is always a small probability that at some point in the course of the game there will incidents that are not 'cricket'. In last seasons we have not allowed such deformed cricket by not playing it. But, not playing cricket is also not 'cricket'.

Cricket must be played and it must be played properly. Now that the two teams have once again agreed to play each other, it is a huge responsibility that we allow proper cricket to happen while playing cricket.

Perhaps FNCC needs to be more responsible because we are known for our clean cricket. Also because the reformed FNCC team looks beyond the transients of winning or losing. Also because half of the current FNCC team is not even aware of the history between the Pak. Freiburg and FNCC, and it can only be good for the game. As cricketers we have to be aware of the history and traditions of the game and not of personal problem which were presented on the cricket field.

This is my request, personally and also as the chairman of the FNCC, to all the players from both teams that lets not play for winning or losing or settling scores but to display what cricket is in its true sense. I think only that kind of cricket can be called 'cricket'.

Good luck to both the teams.

Clinical Freiburg Nomads trounce Strassburg Strollers

Last match between Freiburg Nomads and Strassburg Strollers was a nail-bitter and result hardly proved which was a better team. Of course that match proved that we had better nerves. Today Nomads showed that they are also a better team than the strollers.


The pitch was horribly slow and very difficult to bat on. After nine years of experience with the FLIX pitch we know that the pitch keeps rather low in the first inning and if there is enough sun, in the second inning when the pitch has settled we get a decent bounce. In the match on last Sunday the pitch kept surprisingly low even for a FLIX wicket. It was a good toss to win and we were lucky to be bowling first. 


But I do not want to give all the credit to the pitch, our bowlers did an amazing job to bowl out the Strollers for a mere 58 runs in 25 overs. No matter how bowling friendly a wicket is or whether it is keeping low, bowlers still have to keep their line and length to stay in hunt for the wickets. Raghav summarized the pressure the conditions put on the bowlers as he said even a single in an over was too much to give i.e. he considered giving away a single in an over as an expensive thing. Further, when the ball is not doing what you want to do as a bower it is very frustrating and it is important not to over do things in desperation. So, although we bowled a lot of extras, we did a great job in restricting the opposition for 58 runs. 


Nihar was clear pick of the Strollers' batting. He and Raghav had an interesting dual, which finally went to Raghav's way (of course partially assisted by the pitch). Raghav bowled most of his deliveries of his six over spell to Nihar and finally in his sixth over claimed the well deserved scalp. Besides, Nihar, Sultan showed some resistance but it was not enough. Towards the end, when the pitch had settled I had two very overs in which I took one wicket without giving away any run. After five matches, I started bowling with Rajesh and we finished the first spell with three wickets and after that wickets came regularly, including a stunning runout by Saghir and Adnan and a super catch by Purav. Rehan spent most of his day in depp covers without doing much work and for once when Raghav was brought in there, he took a nice catch... unlucky Rehan. I denied Pandiyan, who had a great day behind the stumps,  a beautiful catch as I did not appeal on my own bowling for a think edge. All bowlers Rajesh, Saghir, Adnan, Raghav, Rahul and myself did their job well and were duly rewarded by wickets. Rahul was special, he bowled four deliveries and took a wicket for a single run.


I would like to note that although the pitch was keeping very low, we claim only two of wickets on balls that kept low. Other wickets were catches or LBW off yorkers or clean bowled when the ball hit in the middle of the stumps.


Our chase did not start well. Sultan gave his team a sensational start as Purab was caught off the very first ball. Pandiyan was undeterred by that and pounded 23 runs in first two overs which included a six and a four plus some extras, courtesy of the left-right batting pair. From then on it was very clear who would win. But Sultan had another sensation up his sleeve. He claimed wickets of Raghav and Rehan on consecutive deliveries. But the target was too small and such blows were not enough, besides, Pandiyan and Feyas were very determined not to lose anymore wickets. Nomads reached home in less than 10 overs with the loss of four wickets.


Saghir led the team in absence of Vijay and he showed how innovative he can be. After loss against the Winterthur cricket club, we were keen on improving and had planned for a lot of changes were store. For a start we decided to save our top order batsmen to boost the lower order batting. As a part of this plan, Rahul was promoted to open and he did very well in his new slot. Later, Raghav came in after Rahul left to keep the bowlers busy in adjusting their line as they were bowling to a left-hand right-hand batsmen. When  we finally chased our target, Parthibhan was padded up to come should another wicket fell. Obviously small target of 59 runs set the perfect stage to do this experiments. Still, Saghir showed the desire to implement these experiments and check the strength of out batting and also to give confidence to players. What is amazing in our current bunch of players is that whoever is given an opportunity, they step up and make most of the chances they get.


Finally, we dedicated the victory to Rajesh who very likely played his last game for the Nomads as a regular player. He is leaving Freiburg to join his job. Its been fantastic to have him in the team. I think Rajesh is the best example of a perfect team player. As a frontline bowler, a lower order batsman and a close in fielder, he contributed tremendously to our success. His passionate appeals for LBWs and accurate stump cracking throws will always be missed. And I had a great time opening bowling with him for more than two seasons. Good luck Rajesh.


Victory should not put cover over our shortcomings. In this match bowler could still have done better had they controlled extras. I think we conceded something like 20 extra runs, and thats an ares for the bowlers to improve upon. Similarly, some indiscipline was visible in the batting presumably because of the small target but we need to improve in that area as well. I think a good team is one that sets it own standards beyond just winning the matches.




PS: Strassburg Strollers played a great host once again and match was played with great spirit. Also I would like to commend their umpiring.