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