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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment