The incompetence of Swiss Cricket Association and how it is damaging cricket

Cricket is a game that exceeds just mere skilful use of certain playing equipments (bat and ball) to overcome an opponent using the same (similar) set of equipments. Cricket is one of the longest field and team game. The thing that keep 22 players toiling over five days, or one day (or four hours in T20) is something more abstract -- some people call it spirit of cricket. It has a lot to do with the respect for the opponent, respect for the laws of the game, the respect of umpire. Tradition plays a bigger role than in any other sport. It is not just like that it is called a game of Gentlemen.

Now if on instances when players fail to follow the discipline of Cricket, refuse to respect the game, the authority of the umpire, neither they remain 'gentlemen' nor the game they play remains cricket. It might resemble cricket because these not-gentlemen still use bat and ball to do something.

Something very ugly happened in the semi-final match between Freiburg Nomads Cricket Club (FNCC) and Zurich Sri Lankan Cricket Club (ZSLCC) on Sept. 01, 2013 -- umpire was abused and threatened and asked to leave the field. This match not only showed the ugly face of ZSLCC players but it also exposed the incompetence of the Swiss Cricket Association (SCA) to hold the respect of Cricket and enforce discipline on the field. SCA's inability to deal with this issue in a neutral and fair manner only shows that such incidents will continue to happen because SCA implicitly endorses such incidents. Therefore, SCA is completely incompetent and is and will only damage the game of Cricket. 

Here is my account of the event before and after the Sept. 1 match. It is very frustrating and depressing to recall the events but it should be done for in future hopefully someone might not repeat.

At the toss
At the toss the neutral umpire Derren Kirby talked to the two captains and explained them his interpretation of the wide rule and LBW decision. For whatever reason he told the two captains that in case of the indiscipline he would award the match against the offending team. That time neither Vijay nor I could understand the significance of the last point.

The first innings
FNCC bowled first. The ball bounced and we took full advantage of that. Until drinks break we dominated as the ZSLCC was struggling with something like 60 on board with four or five wickets down. After drinks we became callous or the batsmen played with more commitment, either ways three partnerships happened and ZSLCC took the score to around 150. It was an imposing total. A couple of dropped catches costed us dearly but also our bowlers got a bit carried away with bowling too full or too short. 

Also the leg umpire who was a ZSLCC player refused to give any run outs. We could have complained but this is not FNCC's style of cricket.  Overall the innings was uneventful in the view of what happened later.

The second innings
We started our chase cautiously. Both Vijay and Rehan were looking in good touch but Rehan had to return retired hurt in 8th over because of cramps and injury he sustained when a ball hit him on the toe. Raghav and Vijay were looking good and we were near 40 without loss in 10th over. Everything was looking good at this point from the FNCC's viewpoint.

The ugly face of ZSLCC
In 10th over, a ball was judged wide by the neutral umpire, the bowler refused to accept the decision. Very quickly the situation escalated to a level when the umpire was threatened of physical assault, abused, questions were raised over his understanding of cricket. Imagine an English guy was abused for his race. And finally when the umpire asked the main offending player to leave the field, the ZSLCC players asked the umpire to leave the field instead. 

All this happened over a wide... imagine what might have happened over an LBW decision.

With such humiliation I completely understand when he refused to continue the match and awarded the match to FNCC. He was right within the set of playing conditions he defined and to which the two captains had agreed. 

I do not know the history, but at that time the meaning of the pre-toss agreement between the umpire and the captains had become more apparent. 

The immediate aftermath
With this the acting chairman of the SCA, a guy called Jai Singh who was there as a mere spectator emerged as the saviour of Cricket. According to him, we should forget the incident and continue to play and he would umpire. 

Why FNCC refused to continue [following is taken from my report to the games committee of the SCA]

- Darren was the only match official (appointed by the SCA) at the semi-final. When Darren, in his capacity of the only match official, declares us winners and leaves the field we have no other option than to accept his decision. 

- We could not accept Jay Singh's offer to resume the match with him being umpire, for the following reason:

1. How can you replace an umpire, the only neutral and non-striker's end umpire? Here is what cricket laws say about umpire change [http://www.lords.org/mcc/laws-of-cricket/laws/law-3-the-umpires/]

2. Jay Singh was not the match official and was present more as a spectator. He did not even stay for the full match. Moreover, if we had listened to him we would have disregarded the official umpire -- set for the match was SCA. 

3. One full innings was umpired by Darren and from our previous experience we know that Jay and Darren have different style of umpiring. So there was a little chance that umpiring would have been done with same standards as previously set by Darren.

- At any point in the match FNCC showed no disrespect to anyone, even when there were good reasons. An SCA official declared us winner and we have to take that. Not that we would not have liked to have a clear win but when our opponents are not patient enough, it cant be our fault. It was too early to predict the result but we were in a strong position when the game was terminated. We consider it to be equally important to see that cricket is played with its full dignity and spirit. 

- So very importantly by resuming the game from that point onwards we were ignoring the shameful and directly endorsing ZSLCC behavior. That would have been perhaps even more shameful. FNCC does not endorse what ZSLCC players did on the field on Sunday Sept. 1, 2013. 

The aftermath: An illustration of the incompetence of SCA
Somehow our approach based on principals could not be understood by the SCA and ZSLCC took the issue to the games committee of the SCA.

FNCC sent their report. The umpire sent his report. Both these reports were sent to all relevant people. But ZSLCC apparently sent their report to the SCA committee only and nobody else got to see that. When asked Jai Singh refused to show it to FNCC saying that this was confidential. I wonder what they (sca and zslcc) had to hide.

Apparently three (not so) wise men of SCA had met and decided that the semifinal should be replayed. And that Jai Singh will let us know of the date and venue of the match as soon as possible. Here is the message from Jai Singh dated 10 Sept. 2013]
---

following the incident during the Semi finals played between Freiburg Nomads CC and ZSLCC the complaint by the umpire Mr. Darren Kirby was forwarded to the League committee. As you have been already informed the League committee was restructured , Bobby being removed( being a member of the involved club) and Rikin, a recognized umpire, from Eagle CC incorporated.

The league committee was given copies of the Complaint from the umpire, report of ZSLCC and mail from Freiburg CC chairman explaining their view.

The committee has finalized its decision which is as under:

1.       The umpire had no authority under the Law to award a game to any side. The so called agreement by Captains with the umpire was illegal.

2.       As the match was abandoned it has to be replayed.

3.        Bobby of ZSLCC has violated the code of conduct of players by arguing with the umpire. He is Banned from representing his club ZSLCC for 1 Match. This ban applies to all SCA official matches and comes into effect immediately.

I would like to remind all concerned that the decision of the League committee is final and will not be changed.

The match has to be replayed at the earliest possible date. SCA president is making arrangements to find neutral grounds and will inform both clubs of the date and venue.

Kind regards

J.Singh

For League Chairman SCA

--

So the SCA games committee thought that nothing extraordinary happened on Sept. 1, 2013. Only that the umpire they appointed for the game was wrong. They only remembered that the match was abandoned and conveniently forgot why the match was abandoned. 

I asked the SCA if they would be willing to pay the travel costs to FNCC because according to our logic it was no fault of ours that the match was abandoned. In fact, from our perspective we should have been the winner. Today (Sept. 20th, 2013) I got a mail from Devesh Mathur (another member of the SCA executive committee). 

Firstly SCA does not pay for  any costs of the participants. You were asked to finish the match by Jai as the Acting Chairman of the League, it would have saved a lot of problems if you had continued even under protest. You did not agree.

Now according to this message, it was the fault of the FNCC that umpire declared FNCC the winner and the SCA acting chairman disagreed with the umpire and wanted us to resume the match. In fact, Devesh's message further means that SCA is doing a favor to us for letting us play again. What a bunch of morons these sca people!!

On top of this FNCC does not even have the right to protest when someone is blatantly robbing Cricket of its essences.  I really wonder what kind of precedence these SCA officials want to set or have set. In my opinion not playing was the only option left for FNCC because by doing anything else we were simply supporting whatever ZSLCC people did to the umpire. 

I am not sure if Derren Kirby (the umpire in question) is in the good books of the SCA's so called three wise men otherwise they would have bent any rule to uphold his decision.

Implications:
I am not sure they do or can understand the implications of their decision. They have done practically nothing to stop such ugly incidents from happening. Now imagine a hypothetical scenario in which one of our player refuses to accept Jai Singh's decision in the replay of the semifinal and instead ask him to leave the field and let someone else umpire. Same happens again. What will SCA do? Again abandon the game? Ban the payer? But same can happen second and third and so on... there are enough players. I am not sure the SCA people have the sense and ability to predict how their decision has completely damaged the game the way it is played.

I worried if a Cricket association cannot enforce discipline, ensure that its officials are listened to and respected during the match, how can they preserve and maintain the true nature of cricket and spirit of the game. These lame associations have no moral right to run and control cricket in any form. More than the offending ZSLCC players I will blame SCA for what happened.

I tired hard but no matter what and how you argue these SCA officials have a closed brain and anything logical cannot enter through their ears. 


Before the semifinal
Making decisions that serve some non-cricketing interests is not new to the SCA. In the course of the league we saw many rules being bent or interpreted for connivence of some. Here are some examples.

There was a long discussion on the final ranking of teams after the league phase. Rules said that net run-rate will be used to break the tie in case two teams have same points. 
'Net run rate is defined as: The run rate shall be decided by the total number of runs scored in all completed League matches, divided by the number of wickets lost. [colors are as in the original document]

I fail to understand how someone could came up with such definition of 'net run rate'. This is a definition of batting average. Who uses batting average of two teams to break the tie in a league? Even if we accept that there is a inherent disparity in this measure because when a team get walk over they do not get any 'batting average'. 

But there was no way to make the SCA people think of this unfairness -- afterall it was not our fault that other teams gave us walkover. In any case, we accepted to be at the second spot. 

Then came up the issue of location of the semi-final. First set of rules said that semifinals and final will be held in Basel. But during the league phase we were told that the first and second team will get to play their semifinal at their home ground. However, when it came up to play in Freiburg, ZSLCC asked to go back to the older rules. Otherwise they were even willing to offer their ground to the other two teams for the semifinal.

Nobody objected when almost every rule was being bent, be it the start of the match, or number of overs per match, bonus points, neutral umpires or match report or anything else. But when it came of the league rankings or location of the match suddenly everyone had a great desire to go back to the original set of rules just because they were in their favor.

In my understanding the rules were changed and re-changed and interpreted only to the convenience of certain people who are considered more than equal, a set that does not include FNCC. I get the impression that factor unrelated to cricket govern the decision making process.

In summary, my experience with SCA is that the bunch of people who are running the show have no desire to think through the problems and learning from the experiences made over the long history of Cricket. 

With such incompetent and spineless administration, the Swiss Cricket Association is like swiss cheese -- full of holes.

We made several very good friends in this season, played against some very good players and witnessed some amazing cricket. Hopefully, this behavior of the few incompetent SCA officials which has made the SCA league a very sour experience will not effect our friendship with various teams and players.

right arm over
Arvind

Rain ruined an exciting match: FNCC vs Basel CC

FNCC remains undefeated by Basel CC, but this match promised surprises the way Basel started the chase but alas... rain stole an exciting finish. While we wanted to ensure our place in semi-finals, Basel wanted to break the jinx and get their first points but when you play against rain, only cricket looses.

FNCC innings:
Vijay opened with Rehan, who returned after a gap of few weeks. Both looked solid. They gave us a very solid and attacking start. They dominated the new ball attack and that gave them some breathing space when spinners came on. Just as we failed to get a wicket for 26 overs againsta GenevaSLCC, our openners remained unseparated until 20th over. Vijay made 40+ and Rehan showd his class in making 80+. Saghir did not have much time but he is in a great touch these days. These three stand performances covered the failure of the rest of the batting. Feyas and Arpit did show some courage to score runs. But our inexperience against good slow bowling of Adeel and Toufeem was clearly exposed.

210 runs was an imposing total for 30 overs. This score however does not reflect the lopsided performances by the FNCC batsmen. Twice Basel bowlers were looking for hattricks. At one point perhaps they did but the umpire (i.e. me) declined a very enthusiastic appeal against Balaji. So if at all we only learned partly.


Basel Inning:
Basel started in an attacking mode. I was struck for two fours in my first over. Saghir was in better form and he contained runs. But Zaheer and Umer gave Basel CC a started that they needed to chase a score of 210 in 30 overs. My shin splints started to bother me already in the second over and I was sitting outside already in the eigth over. Score was cruising along at a healthy rate of 6 runs and importantly Zaheer was in full flow. An exciting match was underway.

But by this time the clouds were already coming to watch (ruin) the match. Umer lost his patience to Rehan's bowling (yes he can bowl -- at times very effectively). On one end Zaheer was driving the score and other end was kept in solid defence. It was a strategy that was working well. But then came a turning point. Zaheer was adjudged out hitting the ball twice [see below for more on this]. This was over number 13th and we needed to bowl at least 15 overs to call it a legal match.

With the rain rule, Basel CC needed to have scored 105 runs at the end of 15th over. They were 82 ot 85 in 14.4. Rain was getting stronger and we wanted to get over with the remaining two balls. It should have happened. But then had a great idea. In a giant stroke of genius he got himself run-out -- meaning the match had to interrupted for the change in batsman and with rain getting string by the drop, it was just not possible to continue.

While, Rehan, Vijay, Saghir set the match up and Zaheer made it exciting, it was the conspiracy of rain and Shubhu that saved Basel from facing another defeat ;) 

Rain rule:
I wonder why Swiss league decided for a simple rule. They should know that simple does not mean correct. I had argues for Duckworth-Lewis method. Now mobile phone apps are there two calculate D-L par scores but the applicable rain rule only care for scoring rate without considering the wickets. After 15 overs at any point if the match is interrupted then only net-average run rate is used to calculate the score. At one point Basel CC needed about 130 runs on 17 overs with 7 or 8 wickets in hand. With about eight overs lost, they needed 81 runs in 11 overs with same number of wickets in hand -- clearly an easier thing to do. DL would have given a different par-score. Something to change in the next round as we do expect the clouds to watch some of our cricket... I mean, its not really 'cricket' if some time is not lost because of rain.


Out hitting the ball twice:
I was hurt, less because of my injury, more because I had to sit out. But I was acutely aware of the importance of the wicket of Zaheer. So when I saw him touching the ball again after he had played a defensive shot, I suggested for an appeal for 'hitting the ball twice'. Our team duly complied and umpire  (from Basel CC) after some discussion adjudged the batsman out. It was disappointing end of a beautiful innings.

Then comes rain (for the first time) and in the break we had a chance to see the rules again? It turned out that the rule of very ambiguous, that is there is no clear way to say whether the batsman is saving the wickets or not. In Zaheer's case we immediately realised that he was dealt with unfairly. So FNCC decided to invite him to bat again. But Zaheer is a very proud man and a great sportsman and understand cricket. He, in the true spirit of the game accepted the decision (albeit wrong). Thats how cricket should be played. Thus, he may not add runs to his name but certainly increased his respect among his peers.

The league semifinal will be on 25th Aug. Few teams are already out i.e. Basel CC, Eagel CC. But other six are still in the fray. FNCC needs to win at least two of the three remaining match but we want to push to top the league phase to get the semi-final in Freiburg. But lot was exposed in the rain ruined match. Batting lapses are easily visible but more worrisome were the cracks in the bowling. I need to to work on my fitness, this is not fair to anyone if I play with injuries and we need a second spinner. At the same time out batting needs more practice against slow/spin bowling.

right arm over
Arvind

FNCC held their nerves to defeat Geneva Srilankans in the Swiss cricket league

It is remarkable that we have managed to win four games in a row despite continued failure of the middle order in last three matches. We lost five middle order wickets in space of 30 runs and about five overs. But it was an important game and we are very very happy to have defeated one of the strongest teams in the league. There were talks of revenge victory after the game but come on, there is no such thing in cricket. Every match is a new one played in different conditions and mostly with different teams. 

SLCC innings
On a relatively unknown wicket GSLCC decided to bat first. It made sense because they are a better bowling side. Their openers played to their strength, while the scoring rate was slow (around 4) they remained on the wicket until the 26th overs. FNCC has never toiled that long for a wicket. We expected that they will accelerate after the drinks break but for some reason they were happy with the scoring rate. We knowing our pitch, outfield and batting, knew that it was not going to enough. So in the expectation of some attacking batting we kept going with the defensive approach. 

In the 26th over first wicket fell to Saghir and then for some reason we thought that we could even bowl them out. I was not that optimistic because we had only 9 overs remaining. But Saghir is always very confident. So we again turned to Arpit who continued to take 3 wickets per match. After a long time I took a caught and bowled wicket. And GSLCC lost 8 wickets in the space of 20 runs and nine overs. 

Our bowling as really great. Everybody bowled superbly. It was just a coincidence that Arpit, Saghir and I got the chance to bowl in the death overs and claimed wickets. Any other bowler from our side could have gotten wickets in that stage. I guess that GSLCC were waiting for some second string bowling but in this current FNCC side there is no such thing, each bowler is highly skilled and capable. 

We struggled a bit in the field. I was especially guilty -- mis-judged a catch that became a six (sorry Arpit) and mis-fielded twice to give away boundaries. It was one of those rare days when even Saghir mis-fielded. 

FNCC innings
Chasing 147 in 35 overs was doable but a certain degree of commitment was needed. With Arpit's batting form, it was decided to open with Raghav and Vijay. Raghav returned to cricket after a long break and was playing his first match of the season. And he grabbed the opportunity by both hands and with a solid batting. Together with Vijay he gave us a cracking start. At one point score was 32 in five overs. At that score Vijay was brilliantly caught at square-leg. He was looking in ominous touch. Perhaps Basel will have to pay the price that catch in the next match. 

But Raghav kept the score ticking and at a healthy rate such that other batsmen had no pressure of scoring. It was specially good for Feyas who was also playing his first match of the league. Feyas struggled a bit and clearly he needs to be quick on getting to the ball. It was remarkable how easy it was for Raghav to bat that Saghir took the back seat for a while. 

When Raghav got out after a brilliant fifty we needed 30 something runs and we made a mess of the situation. Angelo, Balaji and Bala failed to make any serious contribution. In second consecutive match I got to bat. When I went in we needed nine runs and Saghir was on the other end, so that was enough to give me confidence. But while going in I was again remembering the my mis0fielding that gave the GSLCC as many as 10 extra runs and I did not want to lose. So we did not. 

It was just a great feeling to defeat a good team. But the whole atmosphere was a bit sore as our guests did not agree with the umpiring decisions. It was indeed a shame that they felt compelled to question the umpires -- this is not our style and neither could appreciate GSLCC's behavior. 

Irrespective of this, in my opinion it was a very good match. While on our side Raghav and Saghir took the anchoring of batting, supported by a great bowling performance, on the GSLCC side their openers Sachin and Hasan showed great determination to give their team a solid base. Hasan later bowled superbly. Only during his bowling I learned he was observing a fast as it is the holy month of Ramadan. By his performance it was clear that his gods were on his side.

FNCC still needs to improve
I often think that the best way to judge the strength of a team is to see it in terms of how often lower order batsmen get to bat. I recall in their pomp, Glenn McGrath rarely batted for Australia. In fact, he batted only once/twice in world cup matches despite playing in four of them and winning three. 

The fact that Nila and me are getting a chance to bat clearly shows that we are not a strong team. Our middle order is failing us again and again. There is no amount of urging from Vijay seems sufficient. In name of their natural game, we are bringing the team to the brink of loosing. This is something where we need to work and it is the players who bat between 5-8 places have to rethink their job for the team and accordingly shape their innings. They can do it and we have to make sure that they get a chance to do it in the practice. Another area we have reinforce ourselves is fielding.  In any case overall the team is looking good. 

On the umpiring, cricket and its spirit
We expected a very pleasant match -- an opinion we formed after our visit to GSLCC last season. Alas it was not to be...

Sports do not make characters they reveal it by providing certain very specific situations of your character. How do you behave when you are dominating, when you are down and struggling to keep your head up, when you win or when you loose, when conditions are favorable or the tide is against you and so. I do not know if there is any other human activity that can test you in so many different situations. 

GSLCC appeared a different team when we saw them last year and earlier in the T20 tournament. On those occasions they were the winning side in conditions that suited them. Sunday last they were in somewhat unfamiliar situation and dominated by the FNCC. Their behavior was hardly respectable and justified and certainly unacceptable from a team of their calibre. 

Why is that when FNCC defeats GSLCC (who in their opinion could be a weaker team) that pitch and poor umpiring become the cause and when they defeated in their home territory that was just that they were a better team. 

It just cannot be that our umpires made a wrong decision every time and their umpire was fair just because we do not like to question umpires' decisions to the extent that we do not even discuss that. Human error is always their -- professional and highly rated umpires make error. But one thing is very clear that umpire is always in the in best position to judge the validity of a ball and LBWs and we have accept this fact. This is in my opinion umpires are held at such level and their decisions are respected because despite their falliability they remain in the best position to make a decision.

The pitch
Since the pitch was heavily criticised by GSLCC I am forced to add this. 
I admit we play on a strange wicket. It is difficult (but no impossible) to get a good bounce in the flicx wicket. In any case the bounce remains consistent (on the lower side). A large part of the cricket is about mastering different wickets. Just because one is unfamiliar with a certain wicket does not outrightly renders that wicket unacceptable. We could as complain that the wickets in Geneva was too bouncy!! But we do not, we accept it as a part of Cricket. 

We have one of the best outfields and if only you can control your game, there are enough runs in the wicket. We have been using the flicx wicket for over 10 years and we have hosted many teams. 

So if GSLCC is still blaming the pitch and umpiring for their loss they need to rethink their cricket.


right arm over
Arvind

Saghir made sure that Rhine cup will stay in Freiburg for yet another year

Cricket is played in bursts. There are pauses of 10-30sec. between deliveries and slightly longer between overs. These pauses are interrupted by very sharp and calculated actions at last for about a second. While this pauses and fast activity characterised the state of affair for the batsman and bowler int he middle, there are even longer pauses for the batsmen who have yet to come in and bowlers who are waiting to bowl and fielders who are waiting for the ball to come to them. 

It is these pauses that separate Cricket from other sports and make one of the most cerebral games after Chess. Thinking can lead to proper planning, calculated risks and eventually a victory despite odds. But thinking can also set in the panic and it is very easy to loose even from a winning situation. This is something that happened in Basel last Sunday.


FNCC innings
We posed a modest target. 145 runs in 35 overs on a wicket with true bounce. Our batting struggled to come in terms with the bounce in early overs and spin in the later overs. Except for Vijay and Saghir none of us looked in any shape to score freely. Vijay was very watchful and selective, while Saghir was in a mood to destroy the spinners' confidence to make it easier for the following batsmen. Both had their moment of success. But except for helping each other in the most important partnership of our innings, there was nobody help them. Bala did show some resistance and will to make runs but once again there was not much support for him. 

We expected Adnan, Vibhore and Angelo to fire up the batting. Unfortunately Adnan was hit by a rising delivery on his right thumb. Adnan perhaps learned that hard lesson that defending a PhD thesis (which he did last week) is easier than defending a rising delivery. Now he is out of action for at least three weeks as they had to remove the nail. Vibhore underestimated the abilities of the spinners, particularly Jit Singh, the senior bowler had lot of fun with him. Angelo did not show patience to get the eye in. 

In any case we did well to play the 35 overs. Since the rules were a bit different in this match, we did not get so many wides. A big credit to the Basel bowlers who kept our batsmen guessing, especially the three spinners. Danny on the other hand exploited the new ball. He should have got more wickets for the quality of his bowling. A lot of credit to Zaheer for orchestrating the bowling and fielding. Not at all easy when some senior players are in the team.

Basel Innings
The ball was bouncing and I was enjoying it. But Zaheer was in very defensive mood. Not that he was not going to whack the loose balls but there was no interest in taking risks. Why should he? He knew that if he stayed on 145 runs in 35 overs required no heroics. The score was around 20 runs in 8 overs but the openers were still batting. 

Then came Arpit, and struck on the second ball. That brought in Jit Singh. We expected a quick wickets but then there is something to experience. While Zaheer time and again went for boundaries, Jit was happy to be in the middle without any panic. Vijay tried and so did our bowlers. But except for a couple of half chances Basel were on their way. Slowly the heads of the FNCC were going down.

Bala was given the ball and Zaheer had a lapse of attention and tossed the ball to Shiva. The hope came back. But Danny and Jit were not easy. And took the score to 120s. The run rate remained more or less in the range of four an over. This shows our determination but also the cautious attitude that Basel took. 

The thrilling finish
At some point when the score was hovering around 100 for 2 in 25 overs, I was thinking about the inevitable. But cricket is never over until the last wicket has fallen, last run has been scored or last ball has been bowled. But the realisation of the inevitable pumped new energy. Saghir who was forcing himself to bowl despite a pulled muscle in his back, got Jit out caught by Angelo. This was the key point in the match. 

While panic set in Basel camp, FNCC were pumped with success. But Basel needed 19 runs off four overs and they had six wickets in hand. Nila translated that energy into a wicket. Score was still in 120s and Basel had lost five wickets. Arpit bowled a genius of an over. He claimed two wickets in that over and another one was run out. Sagheer took another wicket and we were really sniffing victory. When I started off the 34 over Basel needed 14 runs off two overs and one wicket in hand. 

At this point two young brothers were at the crease (sons of Jit Singh). I wanted to win but suddenly I lost the drive to bowl. Somehow I did not consider them worthy opponent. But I was so wrong and Anil took just two deleiveries to tell me how wrong I was. First bowl was a loosner on the legs and defended nicely. The second a half-volley out side the off stump, not very fast and was smacked in the covers. Perhaps the best show of the match. This was however, enough to wake me up and the match was over on the next ball...

Arpit finished with 3 wickets, Saghir and Nila got two, Bala and myself took 1 each. And there was one run out. Since we took the match to the 34 over all the bowlers were very economical. I was particularly pleased with my bowling, while I was not effective in taking wickets, I kept Zaheer and Danny (the two who faced most of my bowling) tied up and finished with 6.3-2-12-1. in retrospect it was not a bad strategy on my part to keep the scoring rate low for other bowlers to feel a bit safe in terms of runs.

Once again Cricket was played in the brain and the display on the match only reflected the state of the two teams. While one panicked other took the advantage. We were of course well trained in the last match when we lost a close finish. 

We won
Indeed it was good to win, especially in such a close match. We have to give credit to Basel for putting up a great show and fight. We have to remember that they had fielded a rather inexperienced and perhaps under-trained side. 

So despite the win there is a lot to learn for us. We cannot face the Geneva Srilankan team with such performance. Our bowling was decent. Saghir and I were only economical but not effective in taking wickets. The second line of attack also did not come very effective. And we certainly need someone to back up Arpit in the spin department. However, it is our batting which is more of a concern. 

Saghir is back in batting form which is a great news. With Vijay already in runs, there is some stability in the top order. But the middle order needs to improve their act, desperately. We need runs from Vibhore and Angelo and support for Bala.


Umpiring
It was really nice of Darren Kirby to officiate the match as an umpire. He did a good job. 

There are no rules in cricket. We only have laws and they have to interpreted by the umpires. He came up with a very interesting interpretation of the wide rule. According to his interpretation, if a batsman flashes his bat to reach the ball, the ball couldnt be called wide. He was consistent with both the teams, that part is fine. But I cannot agree with his interpretation and many share my opinion [see also]. I thought that only on LBWs people can have their own opinion and wide was a relatively easy thing. Evidently, Darren needs to rethink his interpretation.

Rhine cup 
This year we decided to play only one match. This victory not only kept our record clean against Basel but also ensured that the Rhine cup will stay in Freiburg for the third year in running. Great work FNCC. The match ball was given to Adnan and Saghir very fittingly was the man of the match.

A special thanks to Jason Ransome to help out with Adnan's injury. It was just when he left the field with Adnan that Basel started to dominate the match. They took some time to return but when they did, FNCC resumed being the dominating team. Well I am not superstitious but I do study, define and detect patterns in my day-job...

right arm over
Arvind

So near yet so far: Zurich Nomads prevail in the tight finish

How close a cricket match can go? Of course a tie is very thrilling and entertaining. Besides that single run can decide the winner. Likewise single wicket -- but with that it is a bit difficult to judge the closeness of the match. Today is a story of a match which was won and lost by one wicket.

We batted first. Arpit and Vijay gave us a quite but solid start. Arpit was strangely sedated today. Vijay in the other hand was in a good nick and scored 34 runs. They very well braced the challenge of neutralizing some very good and controlled swing bowling first from  Faheem and later from Vickey. Balaji came in to replace Arpit in 10th over. He looked good enough to take on the bowling. After Vijay got out we had a little middle order collaps. Saghir was again unlucky. 

I did not see the best part of Vibhore and Adnan's batting but they kept the score going at a healthy rate of 4-4.5 runs oer over. Adnan score 14 runs with only one boundary -- meaning he is getting his confidence. He I am told was adjudged LBW on an inside edge -- very unfortunate but such decisions happen and we cant do much.

But the row Zurich Nomads created on that decision does not suit their team and certainly does not reflect the quality of cricket that was played today.

Vibhore (who celebrated his birthday yesterday) looked to mix attack and defence. While they did score runs, they missed out on some single -- which could have made a difference.

Then came a cameo from Bala who hit some powerful blows and tried to accelerate the innings. Against a very good frontline bowling attack and average follow up 161 runs was a decent score. We would have wanted to few more. In fact the result left us asking of just a few more but thats always the case in tight matches. 

Saghir and Rahul started our defence. The Zurich nomads batsmen looked quite but comfortable. I quickly replaced Rahul but leaked out too many runs in my first over. Actually me and Nila were not supposed bowl and I was really struggling to find my rhythm. In my third over two wickets fell to raise the confidence of our side. 

Arpit topped it up with his peculiar start -- by claiming a wicket on his first ball. This was followed by a run out. But from here on we lost the grip over the match. Vickey steadily raised the score. Fifth wicket partnership was in range of 60+runs. He miscued a full-toss from Arpit to Shiva. Once again few wickets fell in that bursts. But again the eight wicket partnership was extended for too long. This was partly because of the some elegant batting from Faheem. He was also tossed one of Arpit's fulltoss to Nila. Thats the first time we smelled a victory.

Faheem was the difference today between the two sides, duely supported by Vickey. These two guys bowled well and them batted even better -- unfortunately (and fortunately for us) both fell to full-toss deliveries of Arpit. While fall of Vickey was a respite for the FNCC, it was Faheem's departure that gave use real hope. We needed to take 2 wicket and they needed 18 runs to win. Alas some  poor fielding, indiscipline in the bowling and stubbornness of Sangam's batting the ninth wicket fell (a run out) when they needed three runs. Saghir tried his best to stretch the game but on the fourth bowl of the last over it was all over. 

I talked about how every match is revealing new aspects of the FNCC character. It takes a great deal to accept the defeat gracefully. When the finish is so close as today's it is difficult judge who actually is the winner -- indeed the victory in such matches is largely a statistical fluctuation. We for instance won such a thriller against Strasbourgh in 2010. Nevertheless the margin of victory aptly describes the difference in the two teams in such matches.

This was not the first time that one/two batsmen took the game away from us. Almost a similar match was played against Winterthur last year. We lost that time in an attempt to defend 159 just because one batsman stayed for a bit too long and took the game away from us. We certainly needed to spot this trend and work to correct this. First we let Faheem settle and then gave him a field that he could score runs freely. I do not want to take anything away from him, he played a superb innings. But this is an area we need to work hard.

There were several positives of the match. This being a non-league game we experimented with out batting. We for the first time got to see Vibhore (who debuted) and Rahul's batting potential. Likewise Bala repeated his succeses of Uster game here as well with some towering sixes. Balaji showed some potential to bat at the top of the order. And very importantly Adnan reached to double figures after a long time. This positives when added can only signal the strength of our batting. Yes, Arpit and Saghir needs to lift their game. Saghir's bad luck continued and I hope that the law of averages will come in play for him. He cant stay away from real action for too long.

Bowling was ok today -- we almost defended 161 runs. But we are not effective against left-hand batsmen. Extras are still leaking -- today we gave away 24 runs as extras.

Fielding was excellent in patches. When runs started to flow we somehow became excessively defensive and accordingly the bowling. Guru needs to get his basics right for wicket-keeping. He does not talk and very importantly rarely appeals. With his appeal we can only dream of getting LBWs. But he has reflexes to develop in to a good wicket-keeper.

In any case, with this match we have known  our limits. And now the challenge is to further extend them. Despite defeat I could the feeling of self-discovery on many faces and thats what we gained from this defeat (a defeat never leave uneducated).

right arm over
Arvind

PS: It was FNCC debute of Vibhore (who scored 33), Shiva (a first ball duck -- actually first ball ever he faced on the flix wicket), Eldho (How much did he score?). and Guru. Welcome to the club guys.

FNCC won in style: Cricket returned to Freiburg

Cricket returned to Freiburg after a gap of 10 months when we went down fighting against Winterthur Cricket Club. Our last victory in a home game came against Basel in Aug, 2012. 

Consistency is important. As I always say winning one odd match can happen even by chance. Before the start of the game, including the last season's matches our record read as WLLLW. Three losses in a row. So we were very eager to keep the momentum going and win at home turf. 

The day was just beautiful. It was a bright sunny day and the forecast was for a very hot afternoon. As the wicket stayed in the sun for some time, it had flattened under its own weight and solar energy. So we knew that there will be bounce. 

Eagle CC decided to bat first on an unknown pitch. Right from the first delivery I knew that there was pace and bounce. Real surprise was the swing that we started to get right away. The first wicket came on the first delivery (third of the match) aimed at stumps. By the time the first spell of me and Saghir ended the score card read 14 for 4 in six overs. 

Vijay bring in Arpit and Pranjal. The wickets kept tumbling and in next eight overs both of them had three wickets each. Eagle CC has folded for 25 runs. Saghir and I thought we were very economical (6 overs for 14 runs) but Arpit and Pranjal bowled 8 or 9 overs for 9 runs. It was just a brilliant combination of medium pace of Pranjal and slow left arm spin of Arpit that our guests had not clue what was going on. 

Also I must say that Eagle CC did not show any commitment. There was one run out but the remaining nine wickets fell as clean bowled. Yes, a couple of catches could have been held in the slips but that would not any qualitative difference. 

Under normal circumstances we would have eased out after seeing the scores at the end of four overs. But that being a league game we remained ruthless. Partly it was because it was a league game and every point mattered, partly because we were not informed about the quality of Eagle CC batting/bowling. This is what league bring to you...

Our chase was expected to be quick but we were surprised by a sharp catch which costed us Rehan's wicket. But Vijay and Arpit made sure that we chased the target in little less than five overs without any further surprises. Since their batting imploded there was not much left for the Eagle CC bowlers, which was a pity because thought their bowling could have created a contest if only there was some score on the borad to defend.

As such I think that no serious team is worth getting out for 25 runs, that is any team should be capable of making more runs and in fact, we have seen Eagle CC score more. I study stochastic processes so I know one can show that perhaps the massive success of our bowling was just a chance. But one ought to have seen the quality of our bowling that day before reaching any conclusions. We were just superb and if not for 25 we could have reduced them to something more reasonable (60+) score. In fact, on such a beautiful sunny day when all our bowlers were in rhythm we could have decimated any opposition. I am sure that Eagle Cricket Club can put this behind... but only if they show some commitment and value their wicket.

It was a home fixture so FNCC players had a lot to organize. The field organisation and other logistics went well but can be improved and will be improved. Real surprise in the  lunch was 'helva' that Arpit brought. 

From now on there are only tough fixtures for us. These previous two games have revealed some important aspects of the FNCC character. But I am sure there is more to FNCC and we can do better. Our fragile middle order remains a worry and the last match did not give us any chance... there are always avenues for improvement and thats what FNCC is all about....

right arm over
Arvind

FNCC makes an emphatic debut in the Swiss league

Nomads could not have asked for a better start---99 run victory after scoring 255 runs in little less than 35 overs. More important was the general feeling that we could have scored more run and could have bowled out the opposition for lesser runs....every thing seemed possible on that day.

There were three players who showed what they are capable of. Nila among the bowlers, and Vijay and Rehan among the batsmen. Other still have to make their mark.

Arpit and Rehan gave us a confident start. The real magic started when Vijay joined Rehan. Runs started to come easy on a rather dodgy wicket. It was difficult to play (see below) but very quickly Rehan and Vijay found the range of their shots. Rehan more than often switched between dead bat and areal route. Vijay chose to play a second fiddle to Rehan but played some very beautiful shots. The second wicket partnership was worth 131 runs. At one point they scored 50 runs in five over. 

Once Vijay fell to a rather rash shot after scoring 55 runs, the famous FNCC collapse started. At one point we were looking to score 300 runs and soon we were hoping not to get out within 35 overs. Rehan scored 91 runs. He looked all set to score a 100 but ...

Saghir was unlucky again, Angelo was a undone by the strange bounce and Adnan fell victim to his over cautious play. Bala lifted the game with some tentative defence and soaring sixes. In the end we were bowled out for 255 runs.

Zug CC had some good bowler and some under par ones. Suggi and Nesson were pretty handy and troubled the batsmen more than often. But once a batsmen is set, bowlers have to wait for the mistake and Rehan and Vijay took a lot of time to commit there mistakes. We were not sure it 255 runs were going to be enough given the outfield and unfamiliarity with the opposition.

We started in our regular economical way. I was struggling with my rhythm. Saghir was however, channeling is batting failure in to an aggressive opening spell. Nila however was the pick of this spell. From mid-on when nobody expect he gave us the first breakthrough in the form of a runout. In my third over I went for 14 runs. Even though the required run rate was more than 7 an over in that ground it was doable and we were wary that few such loose overs to could undo the hard work of Rehan and Vijay. So Saghir correct my mistake as one of his yorker hit the stumps. 

Arpit and Nila then tied up the batsmen. One of Arpit's over also costed him 13 runs but overall the second spell pretty much closed the doors for the Zug CC as the required runs rate increases slowly to nine an over. Such run rate can be maintain for few over but only rarely for 20 overs.

Nila bowled beautiful. He had the perfect length for that wicket and he was duely rewarded with maiden overs and wickets. Arpit was unlucky that he didnt pick a wicket... Pranjal was spot on... when he came in there was a pressure to consolidate the advantage Nila and Arpit brought to us and he did that job excellently. 

Vijay changed his bowler regularly and gave Zug CC batsmen no chance to pick any bowler. With run rate climbing it was clear that batsmen will go for big shots but proper field placement and bowling length meant that we did not leak too many runs. 

After drinks break it was more a matter of victory margin. I returned after drinks, still struggling for rhythm but was lucky to pick up two wickets credit however should go to Saghir who took quickly amending his rare lapse  in fielding and Pranjal who judged the catch in cover very well. 

But again it was Nila who stole the show. At one point he took two wickets in two balls -- Saghir intercepted a very good shot and I took a skier. He ended up with four wickets as Vijay wanted to try out Adnan, Bala and Bala. The small Bala (a very colorful character) was successful in claiming a wicket and FNCC was celebrating a victory after 10 months... It was a great feeling....

From Zug CC, Roshan and one of the opener were very good. I thought that Rishan came a bit too late. But overall I think more than our bowling they crumbled under the weight of runs they were supposed to score.

But it was not all that great. We were good in the field but should have held few more catches. Vijay needs some more practice behind the wicket. Bowling was superb but I really need to work on my bowling rhythm. Batting showed our depth and shallowness at the same time. The collaps of middle order cannot be acceptable and we cannot hope to go further just based on one big partnership. This match clearly showed that if our middle order clicks what we are capable of ... what is important is that we convert this potential to reality. 

Man of the match: I am bowler and I biased when I think Nila should be the MoM. But truely it was Rehan's batting that helped us put up that huge score. It is only a shame that he missed out on his well deserved  century. But there are going to be many more opportunities.... Thank you Rehan. Of course Rehan's effort would not have been enough without Vijay and Nila. 

The wicket

In the main land Europe nothing surprises you more than the cricket wicket. For instance, we play on plastic wicket in football field where we cannot even nail the plastic thing. From a cement wicket with artifical turf to jute and plastic mats you will find every variety except for the real wicket. Talk about cultural schock...There are many more innovative and creative wickets that can test your abilities. In Zug we were told that the wicket was a surprise even to the home side. We of course played in football field with turf i.e. the outfield was lightening fast. There was a real chance at the boundary the ball may bounce over the fielders. 
The wicket in such field was a mere carpet which was tapped to the ground and the other end which just extended to the half of the pitch. Usually the carpet was stretched at the start of the over and for subsequent deleveries the accumulated wrinkles which invariable led to unpredictable bounce and speed.  This is real cultural shock....

The hosts
It was great to play at the ground of Zug Cricket club. Very good hosts... made it an every bit an enjoyable atmosphere. Thank you guys for beging so nice and kind off the field and competitive on the field.

It is of course only a start... It is easier to win one or two odd games and it is completely different to maintain a consistence particularly when wicket is part of the cultural shocks and most oppositions are unfamiliar  It is beginning of a long journey for the FNCC... the nice things that there are many young and enthusiastic players who are showing every promise to take us through.

right arm over

Arvind

The new Freiburg Nomads: rebuilding starts for the new season

In late 1990's some British and Australian expats started the Freiburg Nomads Cricket Club. Over the years FNCC has transformed from a largely social club to a highly competitive cricket team. This change has also come with a change in the demographics of FNCC (see a previous blog entry -- changing landscape of FNCC). I now tend to believe that this also reflects the expats demographics in Freiburg. 

Despite the changing style of cricket and demographics one thing that has remained constant is that every season there is a massive change in the players. Freiburg being a relatively small University town does not offer many job prospects so we usually get young students who leave after playing for a couple of seasons -- around the time they really learn their cricket. But we have to pay this price if want to keep a high IQ for the FNCC. 

I have been part of FNCC since 2003 when we moved to the current ground at the seapark. So this is my 8th full season but I did play some matches in 2006, and 2008 as well. With such long association with the club I tend to be philosophical and metaphorical about the change that I see every season.

The best metaphor that comes to my brain is that of a river. The water that constitutes the river is always changing but still it remains the same river. This is largely because the river banks change rather slowly over time. 

So is with the FNCC. The players change but the club fundamentals have been passed form one set of players to other. The key to be a FNCC player and FNCC spirit has been to play cricket hard but fair and respect the opponents -- the way cricket should be played. Freiburg Nomads have played cricket for the sake of cricket and winning etc. have just followed. 

FNCC 2013: I am behind the camera.

We have been fortunate that every season we find some new talented and motivated players to take up the FNCC mental and help maintain the FNCC its character. So far we have been very successful in instilling the FNCC spirit in the new members that why the club has retained it character that was essentially set at its start. 

Players like Saghir Butt (since 2004), Rehan Yousaf (since 2005) and Vijay (since 2007) have remained instrumental in every success of the FNCC. A number of players besides these three largely from the class of 2011 have gone out of their way to shape FNCC's evolution in to a very good cricketting side.


This year reminds me of the year 2011, when a number of players joined us and we ended up with an amazing season. I hope that the new one who are going to be called the Freiburg Nomads i.e.

• Bala (he comes from Offenburg to play)
• Balaji
• Ehsan Bhai (he comes from Basel to play)
• Eldho
• Farookh
• Guru
• Pranjal Srivastava
• Sreedhar



FNCC 2013 -- Our captain Vijay is behind the camera.

• Vibhore Rastagi

will follow the traditions while giving FNCC a new identity and new set of successes and memories. Welcome guys. 

Also Arpit and Rahul -- welcome back after a break of one season.

The loss against GSLCC has ignited a lot of interest and highlighted the importance of the practice. The new ones are taking it very seriously. I was so pleased to see that 18 guys showed up for practice in Friday last. If this passion continues I am sure we can better the success of 2011.

With this the FNCC Future may be tense, it might also be imperfect, but it certainly looks continuous and the river called FNCC will continue...

right arm over
Arvind

FNCC crashed out of the T20 tournament - An unforgettable defeat

Finally the season started. So what if it was with a T20 match. Global warming i.e. extended winter (trust me extended winter is a consequence of global warming) and precisely timed rains (i.e. on Sundays) meant that start of cricket was considerably delayed. 

Following the changing world view of cricket, the Swiss league also decided to have a T20 tournament. Basel hosted the teams. It was a kock-out tournament. Since there were eight teams, the first round was like a quarterfinal. 

We played the second game against the Geneva Srilankan team. We had clear memories of playing the GSLCC teams in Geneva last season. We didnt do too well that time. We wanted to change things this time around. Although we could not practice much a lot was discussed before the match. Sadly lot was discussed after the match without much change in the result. And our campaign ended just after one match in the T20 tournament of the Swiss league. 

Bowling:

We got too few wickets at too long intervals
(as measured by runs scored).
[Photo courtesy: GSLCC facebook page]

Rehan won the toss. Saghir our main batsman admitted that he likes to chase first and I also clarified my preference that I prefer to draw the first blood. So we bowled first.
As a change Saghir started the bowling. He was sopt on. There was only a little shadow of his back injury. I came in as the second bowler. I had a lucky start but a pretty flattering one as I got a wicket off the first ball I bowled this year. The first spell was pretty controlled. Rehan gave us three over each. In hindsight perhaps it was not necessary but I did get my second wicket third over. 

All was well up to that point. However, there were clear indications that the GSLCC batmen were well equipped to deal with slow short balls. Rahul Raaga (welcome back) and Pranjal (playing his first match for FNCC) followed me and Saghir. Runs started flow but not too many. After 10 overs they had 60+ runs. All was normal up this point. 

Nila who came in only after 10 over bowled beautifully. He has really matured in to a fine medium pacer now. It was very good to see that he remained nerveless when he was bowling the free-hit ball -- conceded no score on that. By this time runs were starting to flow at a decent rate of 6 or 6.5 an over. Then came an over from Pranjal in which three catches were dropped near the square leg boundary and each one conceded either a four or a six. He conceded 22 runs or so. In short matches such overs are detrimental. Field was scattered and runs came even more easily. The over Rehan bowled to accelerate the over rate only accelerated the run rate. Saghir and I had only one over each and we came a bit too late to control the runs. Saghir took two wickets in his last over. I ended up with three wickets. Nila was well rewarded with two wickets.

Sadly this kind of shot were played way
too often. FNCC bowlers sent in too many
short deliveries.
[Photo courtesy: GSLCC facebook page]

Although we had an eye on the scoreboard but it was quite shocking that we had conceded 172 runs. This despite the fact that both Nila and I gave away less than 20 each. There were few byes. But Eshan looked quite comfortable behind the wickets. We had certainly conceded 40 runs too many in that ground with such heavy outfield. 

Batting:
Fazed by the target score, we were uncertain of our openers. Angelo who was very successful again GSLCC last season was supposed to open but he injured himself while fielding and wanted to wait a little. So Rahul very bravely stepped up to open with Ehsan. But in the very first over he got himself runout. This was one many such dismissals. Adnan who has had some match practice as he had played for Pak Freiburg earlier this season was elevated to one down. He looked very confident but he was undone was a brilliant piece of fielding. No fault of Adnan but we were two down without any runs of the borad. 

Saghir enetred with lot of expectations. He got gem of a delivery--- something you get once in a season. He was unlucky to get that as the first delivery he faced this season. I was not sure what was happening. We had lost more wickets than runs on the board. Batsmen after that showed little more commitment.
Angelo was the pick of our batting. He started off where he had left in Geneva last season. His technique of stepping out to play the bouncing balls again worked. He was full of confidence and runs and started to tick the score. Things started to respectable but he got himself runout. This was not a brilliance of fielding. Ehsan had by now seen three runouts. He remain on the wickets until 11th or 12th over but our fight has already ended with Saghir's wicket. Rehan who in my opinion should have gone higher up played couple of good shots but I think was succumbed by the pressure.

According to me it was an achievement that we played out 20 overs without getting bowled out. But the score of 73 in 20 overs for 9 wickets was in no way anything respectable. We avoided a defeat by 100 runs run by a whisker. 

The humiliation:
A crushing defeat by 97 runs in a 20 overs match is not just a loss. To me it was just a pure humiliation. How could we underperformed by so much? How come we did not rise up to the challenge. We cannot hide behind the reasons and excuses but the question remains to what extent this defeat reflected the new order in the FNCC?
Cricket is a mind game and there is every danger that the dents of such massive defeat will affect us in our future games. Moreover our opponents will tend to have a psychological advantage.

The excuses:
There is only a subtle difference between excuses and reasons. We can fall for the easy bit and come up with perfectly logical but incorrect causes (i.e. excuses) for our underperformance e.g.:

• First and foremost we can argue that we did not have any practice before the match
• We had 4-5 players who were either playing first time for the FNCC or were returning after few seasons. This meant that we could not plan ahead according to the strengths of our team. Perhaps also the reason for five run puts.
• Few key players (Vijay, Raghav, Arpit) were missing from the line up. 
• We struggle to place fielding when batting is done at both the ends.

These are perfectly logical reasons. But we did not lose because of any of these.

The reasons:
This is now my opinion and other may differ from me. Following were the main causes: 

• We dropped too many catches. I myself was guilty thrice. Twice I could not even reach the ball even though I should have. Why so? Part of the reason was of course we were out of practice. But also we failed to place fielding properly. Under the pressure to finish overs quickly we compromised the fielding -- especially the placement.
• Our bowlers fell in the trap of bowling short deliveries. Such bowling is effective when you have pace. When Saghir was hit for that flat six bowlers should have learned their lesson. In that heavy outfield it was not easy to cross the boundary on ground shots.
• We essentially forgot the basics. Except for one run-out (that of Adnan) other four could have been avoided. But our batsmen just forgot when to go for a run. Clearly the chase of 173 runs  clouded their judgement.
• We experimented too much with batting line up. The fact that we were playing a 20 over match affected us too much. Rehan should have stepped up. It was clear that we could not chase 173 runs against the Geneva Srilankan team. So we should have been honest and planned differently e.g. we could have assigned ourselves a reachable sub-tagtet for first 10 overs and so on...

The acceptance: 
I think after all said and done we also have to admit that the Geneva Srilankan team is a very good and to defeat them we have to raise our game to the next level. Now we have seen it twice. Hopefully when they visit us in Freiburg, it will be a different story.

What is next:
We are not so bad as the result reflected. It was just one off the matches and there is no reason to draw line through a single observation. Our opponents in the league will be making a severe mistake if the will start to evaluate us on that single defeat, which we will prove in the subsequent match that was just a statistical aberration. 
The turn up at the trainings and they way new players are getting in the grove and the older ones finding their rhythm is very promising.
The first Swiss league match  for us is still two weeks away but ground availability and global warming is unlikely to provide us much of practice time. But I am sure we will be ready... ready to correct that one statistical aberration and more.

PS: I have been thinking of writing this entry since two weeks but to write it meant to go through the agony of remembering (to an extent reliving) the match. Finally I motivated myself to do it because cricket and all the memories that come with are worth cherishing whether it is a defeat or a victory. 
PPS: This was the debut of Pranjal, Balaji and Bala for the FNCC. Aldo (also new to FNCC) was 12th man. Rahul Raaga returned to FNCC after a gap of one season.