Geneva weekend: Two losses and lot to reflect upon

The first cricket test match I watched was the India tour of West Indies in 1989. Those were still the hay days of West Indies cricket. It was that time I dreamed of being a fast bowler when I saw how the West Indies fast bowlers tormented the Indian batsmen. I wanted to do the same. But one thing that bothered me was why Indian were not able to play those bouncing deliveries. The commentators and newspapers told that because in India there were no bouncy tracks, Indians just did not know how to play. I was surprised and something did not make sense... But still it was clear that I wanted to bowl fast bouncing deliveries.

In Geneva on the weekend of 8-9th sept. we found ourselves in similar situation as teams often found themselves in West Indies and Australia in 80s, 90s. 

On the 8th, we started off at 0700hrs from Freiburg. We made it to the ground in time and match started off already 1230hrs. The ground was looking small and the pitch was laid at an odd angle. But the the pitcth looked good. It was an artificial turf laid on a rock solid concerete, so a lot of bounce was expected. They told us that 250+ will be a fighting score on that wicket, given the pitch and ground. 

We were put into bowling. I started off with two loose and very short balls, both were sent to boundary. But that was it for me. I found my line and length and no one can score when the ball is coming to your throat. Once I found my rhythm and I was living my dream. We dearly missed Saghir's bowling. The injury he incurred in the previous match was still hurting. Other bowlers were trying to find their feet on the wicket. They bowled good but only in patches and this was visible in the fact that every wicket ended in more than 10 runs in that same over. Nila was particularly good but he lacked experience. 

Of course the bowling quality was overshadowed to a great extent because of we were only 9 fielders. Moreover, on such wickets it is important to control the length, if you dont have enough pace. Thats where we conceded a lot of runs. But in the end it was not too bad as we restricted the opposition to 170 and bowled them out within 35 overs. I ended up with five wickets, four of them caught by Pandiyan behind the wickets. He in total claim five catches and this is enough to show how good we bowled but again in patches. 

Batting was not that good. On a day when we could bowl to our our average potential, we can restrict that team to a rather modest total. Except for Aamir none from there stayed long enough on the wicket and he too had his share of luck. 

For those who know how to play on such wickets 170 was an easy target. But we found out that our batsmen just do not know how to play the fast bouncing tracks. The opposition fast bowlers created havoc and they were unlucky that they got only one wicket. Still runs were not coming. The second spell brought some ease. Saghir looked in control as was expected. At one point we were 92 for four wickets and need 80 runs in in about 18 overs. Everything looked all set. But then the famous FNCC collapse happened. And we folded a the score of 121. Vijay perhaps delayed going to bat because he was looking the most comfortable. But besides him and Saghir none of us knew how to play good fast bowling in a good wicket. Most of us edged rising deliveries. 

Still we were happy to score whatever we did and all admitted to their flaws. We did put a serious effort. Scared the opposition albeit for a too short duration. We were upset but we accepted the loss in good spirit and promised to return stronger next day. Evening was spent wondering about how to play the bouncing ball. But, thinking alone does not help when you have never practiced...

Next day the Sri-Lankan teams put us in bat. They hoped to bowl us out cheaply. We were more than prepared to face the bouncing ball. But Sri Lankan players perhaps had seen that quality good bowling with bounce is a waste on us. They taught us even more harsh lesson. On that bouncing wicket, the bowled full and hit the wickets. Most of us were bowled out this time. The cause -- good controlled swing bowling. The ball that took Vijay out was just a pure beauty. The bowler had set him up so nice and he was by far our best batsmen against that bowling. We scored runs but lost wickets quite regularly including to run outs. The came the surprise of the trip.

Angelo was frustrated by the bounce so he decided that he would step out and will not let the ball bounce and he did that with great control and together with Nila they took the score to 140 with the last wicket adding nearly 40 runs. It was just too bad that he did not get a well deserved 50.

In the process of getting myself run out I had exposed some injury in my legs and for nearly an hour I was unable to stand on my feet. But when we started our defense I thought I was feeling good. When I started my first over I in full control and confidence. Already the third ball fetched an edge to Adnan. But this was the end for me. My injury became worse and I could not run or even stand up. So I left the field. 

Others bowlers again were coming in terms with the pitch. This time though Rehan provided a great option. Unlucky that he did not get his five wicket haul. He bowled beautifully, though a bit expensive, he was clear pick of our bowling. Saghir managed to bowl that day but it was too late and too little. Perhaps the wicket of the left-hander could have opened the game but .... such things only make sense in the retrospect. We lost by five wickets. Looks pretty onesided loss but there was tension at one point... we did create a scare and who know what it might have been if Saghir and I had bowled in tendem...

While outside the field agonized by the pain I was wondering what was worse, the pain or the fact that I was seeing my team from the sidelines... the later is worse... believe me. If I had a slight bit of strength I would have bowled.

Lot to learn from the losses. Cricket is about mastering the conditions and we lost because we failed to do so and we failed to do because we had never been exposed to such pitch and bowling attack. Our lack of skills was exposed. Still it was a great experience... 

After a long time I had conditions that suit me and I thoroughly enjoyed that. With Saghir on the other end we could have had a different story, with a full fielding side we could have restricted the Pak team to some 140... there were may what ifs... but the truth always catches up. 

When the team loses individual efforts start to come up to give solace to the tormented souls. Rehans four wickets, Pandiyan's wicket keeping effort (more that 6 victims), Angelo's 40+ score, Nila's batting while supporting Angelo and so on....at least there was something to remember and something to return to and accomplish....

The trip explained to me why Indians struggled so badly in West Indies when that land was still blessed with good fast bowlers. It also explained what it needs to created a competition between the bat and the ball and personally it explained to me the importance of fitness...

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I would like to thank our hosts. Both the teams were great hosts. There was amazing food on both days. The Sri-Lankan teams was particularly generous. I had never had such amazing and multi-course lunch at a cricket ground. Both teams provided us with players to make up for the missing players in our side. Only that the Pak. Cricket club kind of created a situation where the borrowed player was of no practical use. On the other hand, the Aamir who played for us against the Sri-Lankan teams was pretty handy. 

These two teams have raised the bar in hospitality. I hope we get to return the favor when they visit us in Freiburg. Maybe they will get to see the other extreme of cricket pitch.

The season ended this with the Geneva trip. This season was not as spectacular as the last one. Strangely we played so few games this year. If we exclude Basel and Pak Freiburg, we played three Swiss teams and lost to all of them. There were more sad memories than happy ones. But that was expected. Perhaps more regular cricket could have helped... There is lot to reflect upon the season gone by, but maybe some other time. Right now, it is time to be thankful that we got to play cricket, in whatever amount, and feel proud that we played it clean despite victories or losses.

Nomads go down fighting in a thriller

On the surface cricket is a contest between bat and the ball. Every now and then there are matches that go beyond this simple version. In my opinion the match last Sunday was about tactics, field settings, deep nuances of the game -- what do you do when you need 30 runs at an asking rate of about 4.5, three lower order wickets in hand - do you go for big shots, do play for the singles. Same conundrum is for the fielding captain -- should he set a field to cut the singles, or cut boundaries. What should a bowler do -- go for wickets, go for dot balls... Choice seems easier that go for wickets but some lower order batsmen at times are very stubborn and wickets may not come easy...

The real pleasure is to watch the fielding captain marshaling his fielders, consulting with the bowlers... and then things do not work out as expected and one more round of consultation starts... a wickets fall and suddenly everything seems to be in place but then few deliveries later you find out that it was a false dawn and the new batsman is more than handy. Suddenly the physical act of playing become more of a mental exercise. its like playing chess when your body is drained out of power and your brain is gasping for more blood to think. The players who win the contest are rewarded by endorphins and their strength returns but the poor souls who end on the losing side, are drained further...only a victory in another contest can return them their strength...

On Sunday last we hosted Winterthur CC and what a game it turned out to be. It was more of a endgame in chess. We lost it in the 40th over but it was a perfect example of how exciting cricket can be when the two teams are nicely balanced.

FNCC won the toss and elected to bat in overcast conditions. The recent batting collapses were in the memories when Vijay decided to bat first and we agreed that bowling is our main strength in home conditions. Since we were playing a 40 over match, caution was in the thoughts when Raghav and Rehan started. Runs were not coming easy, fielding was tight, bowling was disciplined. Rehan was first to perish. Pandiyan was looking good and he was all too determined to play a long inning. But is over-cautious approach converted a nice shot into a easy catch at mid-off. Raghav and Saghir tried to stabilize the inning. But once again the patience was the missing ingredient. Raghav tossed an easy catch over extra cover region. Saghir could not control his aggression. As long as the two batted we were looking good despite the slow run rate. At drinks break were 78/4. A modest score. But we were confident that it was a decent score. But the real horror started when Vijay was out on the very first ball. Suddenly there was panic. Adnan and mainly Angelo did the repair work. Angelo played a very good and useful innings but problem with him is that he never gives confidence to those who are watching him. I got to bat just second time this season, I survived a close LBW shout but then together with Prateek who was playing his first game for us, we added 35 runs and we were happy to set a target of 159. It was not a great total but we were very confident to defend it.

We started positively. Nila opened the bowling with me. I took a wicket in my second over. The first spell was good and we looked on track. But there were signs that we failed to pick. The second spell was sub-optimal. Saghir was not in good rhythm. Raghav, Adnan tried too hard and conceded lots of extras. We expected a lot from Rehan after his success against the Basal CC. It was ok that he was not taking wickets but the big problem was that he failed to cut the extras. The problem was exacerbated by the slow fielding in the point regions. They scored so many cut shot and we just failed to realize that runs were being scored in that area only. At the drinks break the scores were same but Winterthur CC has lost only two wickets.

The team talk at the drinks was very important to inspire the team. Vijay did that in an excellent manner. We claimed 7 wickets in the next 20 over and conceded the same amount of runs. The match see-sawed with the fall of every wicket. When the 11th batsman came in they needed 16 runs of about 4 overs. With pressure building we made some fielding lapses and in the last over they just needed 3 runs. The highlight of the Winterthur batting was John, we really 'milked' our bowling. He played a highly controlled innings and held his team together. Others provided good support. The team showed a great discipline in the chase, since the asking rate was not high, they stuck to the basics and took runs in the form of singles/doubles.

If only we had taken one more wicket. Everybody held their act together, we fielded better but we just failed to cut on the wides. Towards the end of the match unfortunately, Saghir got himself injured while fielding and that had a big effect as he is a true champion player and result could have been different with him being fit to bowl in the end. 

But while defending 159 we gave away 48 extras. Honestly we did not deserve to win with such a bowling act. Later we thought if we had few more runs on the board. I think nothing would have happened unless we had scored enough to bring the asking run rate above 5 right from the beginning, i.e. if only we had scored in excess of 200 runs...

I think the big problem in the match was that we failed to get the big picture. While batting our batsmen did not know what was required of them, what would be a good total, are they scoring according to the quality of bowling. Batsmen were happy to save their wickets, they showed no urgency to convert singles into doubles and so on... Similarly, while bowling although it was easy but with every wicket there was a sense of calmness in the team instead of really seizing the opportunity. We took really a long to time to realize that runs were coming from the point regions. Since the ball does not bounce much, with a fast outfield it would have been better to keep the fielder deep. Again it was an issue of saving boundaries versus saving singles. Bowling fast bowlers versus slow ones and so on...

Losing teaches you how to win and victories make you stronger. Now we have had a lesson from the last game and I hope we now know how to win, so hopefully we will regain the strengths and win the two weekend games in Geneva.

It was also a nice gesture from Andy Holton a former nomad and John to stand in as umpires. The match was a perfect example of how friendly matches should be played and how cricket can be exciting without being a unnecessary run feast as some of the international cricket is becoming.