Clinical Nomads retain the Rhine cup

FNCC will retain the Rhine cup until next year.
Vijay receives the Rhine cup from Jason, secretary
and a deadly spinner from the Basal CC.

Success tastes sweetest to those who never succeed wrote Wordsworth in his famous poem. But a victory tastes sweetest and counts most when it comes against worthy opponents. It was not a surprise when Nomads shouted three cheers after completing a clinical victory over Basel Cricket Club at their home ground.

In the beautiful settings of the Basel CC ground the match started when the hosts invited us to bat first. Given the unknown nature of the wicket we had decided to bowl first. But Purab and Rehan stood to the challenge of an unknown wicket.  They played out first couple of overs and then started to play their shots. When after 7 overs the score board read 45 without loss another big score was in the sight. But then Purab was hit in his groin as he tried to play across the line. After that Purab seemed out place and was soon LBW.

The winners...

At one point after Purab was gone, FNCC played out 18 deliveries without a run and losing the wickets of Rehan and Pandiyan, both caught in the slips. Then Raghav who had joined Saghir played a lofted shot, the ball rocketed in the sky and FNCC was about to lose one more wicket.  But the catch was dropped and we scored a run after 18 deliveries. Raghav took advantage of his luck and hit two superb sixes over perhaps the longest long-on boundary. But then too got carried away and was out caught in the cover region. Before his wicket Amit Purohit had surprised Saghir who was caught in the slips. With this the responsibility to keep the scoreboard ticking was on Vijay who looked in great touch right from the first delivery he faced. He used this opportunity to show his class as a batsman. He missed a well deserved half century as he got run-out for 46. But he had done his job. He took the score from mid 60s to  140s. In the process, Arpit, Pathubhan and Adnan supported him. Later Nila and I also added some 15 runs for the last wicket. We failed to play our 35 overs but in the 33 overs we scored 165 runs, which was well below our expectations given over start, but it was a very competitive score given the outfield and our bowling.

Among Basel bowlers, Amit Purohit was the clear pick. He used his height and bounce in the wicket and troubled every batsman in his first five overs and took the prized scalps of Pandiyan, Purab, and Saghir. At the other end Neal was teasing the batsmen. Although he took only two wickets but he bowled than his bowling figures show. In general none of the bowler was easy to play on that wicket and 165 was a great effort from FNCC.

That smile... he took four key wickets to win the match for the FNCC.

The Basel CC chase started with a maiden over. After first four over did not yield a wicket, Vijay brought in Arpit, the new found left-arm spinner and who struck right away. In the next over Saghir cleaned up another opener. After that Neal and Zaheer held the Basel CC batting together. Once again Arpit with his left arm spin claimed Neal LBW. After that wickets fell regularly. Arpit added two more to his name. Nila took the prized wicket of Zaheer. Interestingly, couple of over earlier he had dropped Zaheer of the bowling of Saghir. After Zaheer was gone we knew how the match would end. Other batsmen did not stay long enough to cause any serious damage, except perhaps for Rudy who showed very strong resistance. Raghav who came in to the attack rather late showed his class as a bowler and claim two wickets in the two overs. Sunny and Rudy tried to do some rebuilding and took the score to 121.  By that time run rate had climbed to more than 7 an over and there was clear pressure to score runs quickly. At that time Saghir produce an unplayable deliveries and Vijay took a very good catch of Sunny in the gully area, third time he was not lucky. Next over Rudy was caught by Nila off my bowling and Rhine cup was retained for a year.

It was a true wicket, the ball was doing what it was asked to do. It was a treat to bowl on such a wicket. I struggled to get a proper line. Nila and Adnan struggled a bit with their wides. But we have such strong bowling attack that such problems do not become big issues for the team. This time Saghir and Arpit kept things in control. In between Rahul who finally played a game for the FNCC bowled some beautiful deliveries. Nila as always improved with every ball he bowled and his last two overs were class act. This guys seriously needs to work on his stamina.

Overall we were too good for the BCC. But this match once again revealed some cracks in our sides.  We struggled on the bouncing track. Most of our batsmen have developed their game around front foot batting as the ball does not bounce much on our wicket. This was accordingly reflected in the way Pandiyan, Saghir and Rehan were out. Purab was also doing the same mistake. Among us, Rehan and Vijay are the two natural back-foot players and they were very successful.

In bowling we gave too many extras. In fielding we were sloppy on many occasions and brilliant on others. We need to bring consistency in our fielding and bowling.

Nevertheless, this win showed something else of this new fabric of FNCC cricket. Thus far every victory was anchored around one stellar batting performance like one of many half centuries of Saghir, Purab and Parthibhan, or Centuries of Rehan and Pandiyan. Today, there were no such performances except for Vijay's. All the batsmen contributed 10-30 runs. The score of 165 was a team effort. Similarly, certainly Arpit's performance was the corner stone of our victory. But all other bowlers and fielders supported him well.

Good bye Rajesh. Do well as you did when you were part of the FNCC

We finished the game before rain could play a role, this meant we were also able to return to Freiburg and see off Rajesh on the station. He will be dearly missed by the FNCC.

As it stands now, FNCC has won eight of the nine games played this season. Things could have been better and thats what we are aiming for now. It is clear from the attitude that FNCC is not just satisfied with winning, they are now setting up their own standards independent of what opposition they are facing and thats how teams develop.

Basel CC were a great host. The food was delicious as all FNCC player were ready to return to Basel only for food.