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.

Geneva weekend: Two losses and lot to reflect upon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--------

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

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

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

Nomads go down fighting in a thriller

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rhine Cup To Stay in Freiburg for One More Season

At the very core of it, Cricket is a game played in the brain, the show on the ground is a mere manifestation of the tussles going on in the brains of the players. The FNCC and Basel CC encounters have become a perfect illustration of this fact.

Otherwise, how could a team which is currently at the top of the swiss league, has players who boast of amazing individual feats in the ground, continue to lose to FNCC, in most cases, without really putting up a fight.

FNCC has entered in that phase of season when the team is always short of players. But then there are those bravehearts like Feyas who come in to just to field despite his serious leg injury, or the passionate ones like Rajesh, who came to Freiburg to see his 'non-cricketing' friends (I wonder why do people have such friends!!) and ended up bowling his quota of six excellent overs. 

Vijay lost is customary toss to Basel and we bowled first. This is what we had planned anyways. Both Rajesh and Shubhu started cautiously  but firmly. We waited for the first change for the first wicket. Raghav was bowling really good. I started off well but then I pulled-off after two overs. Rajesh was sopt-on. We curtailed runs and wickets fell regularly. At the drinks break agter 15 overs the score was 68 for four wickets. Not too bad. But then after drinks Vijay brought in Rehan who took the Basel CC by surprise and claimed four wickets with his precise and cunning slow bowling. His bowling effort meant that Basel folded for 107 runs with about four overs remaining. Adnan and Nila provided good support to Rehan but were unlucky not to have have picked wickets. Adnan was particularly unluck as he took two wickets of no balls. But I think it must have given him a nice lesson. 

We started positively with Rehan and Raghav. Basel opening bowling was good. Inspired by Rehan's success Sunny started with a slow bowler. And he started the damage right away and Rehan mis-read his slower and straighter delivery. Pandiyan started as if nothing has happened and threw his bat to everything that came on the way and hit some very powerful blow. But his inning was rather erratic and he could have been out multiple times. Finally he was caught at the long on -- but the fielded (the slow bowler who opened the bowling) almost made a mess of it before making it a stunning catch. Raghav continued to grow in confidence (after my error -- read on), very well supported by Vijay and Angelo. Angelo was erratic like Pandiyan but he was a touch more careful. His inning was not pretty but very productive and that is what we needed. Sunny relied too much on his slow bowlers who were very effective but the target was too small to defend and FNCC players are very good on their front foot. We romped home with four wickets in hand. 

Yes, we could have done better, but the victory was very sweet as this meant we will retain the Rhine cup until the next season. Congratulations Nomads. 

I guess now Basel CC will have some time to reflect on the games and break the shackles that lie only in their brain. Good luck Basel CC for your remaining season. We are very lucky to have to you as our friends and we hope to continue our good relationship.

This victory should not go into our heads. The challenges ahead are tough. We have a strong opposition (the Winterthur team) visiting on 2nd Sept. After that we go to Geneva for a weekend trip to play two unknown teams in unknown grounds. We understand the game of Basel CC so we sometime get away with our mistakes. Clearly, FNCC is capable but they will have to work hard to maintain a clean record for the remaining season. 

----
I made an umpiring error early on when I failed to judge whether Raghav's bat touched the ball or not, at least I did not hear anything, neither the leg-umpire objected. Our visitors behaved as perfect gentlemen and the match went on. Since Raghav was our makeshift opener in that I do not think that the end result was influenced by him but I know that wickets in quick succession can change the tempo of the game. Moreover, Raghav carried his bat, so maybe my reprieve to him did play a role... my sincere apologies to the Basel team.

No revenge victory, just addition of good memories against Pak Freiburg CC

FNCC has played few matches against Basel CC, including an away fixture for the Rhine cup and have thus far remained undefeated by the Basel CC since the loss to Pak CC. The only blip since last season has been a serious loss against the Pak CC. So when an opportunity came to play a match against the Pak. CC most of the FNCC players were interested in playing. However, it happened at such short notice that not everyone could become available.


The first surprise was that Purav, Rehan and Beau were not available, meaning that we were short of our regular openers and another player who could open. Some people were away like Sathish. Somehow we managed to bring together a good eleven. The morning started with taking our flix pitch to the new ground. Rain had left the ground very wet and there were even puddles at some places. With overcast skies at 1100hrs the match seemed impossible. But a big part of Cricket involves overcoming the weather conditions and in fact mastering them. 


So we started out with a wet field and slippery flix. Fawad won the toss and invited us to bat in some very testing conditions. He thought that uneven bounce on an unsettled flix wicket would be an advantage. They did not have to wait too long. Raghav clipped the first ball of the match to a fielder and started off for a single which was not there. So we were zero for one. That eventful over ended with the fall of Lucky who handed an easy catch at extra-cover on the very first ball he faced. Pak CC was elated as they had claimed two wickets in the first over and I was kind of wondering how fast we will collapse. But Pandiyan was in different zone altogether. He welcomed the second over of the inning with a six, announcing that he was unfazed with the stupid losses. As he dominated the batting Saghir was very circumspect in the beginning but players like him do not take much time reading and adjusting their game. Both Pandiyan and Saghir prepared a very solid and intelligent partnership.  There were aggressive blows from Pandiyan and careful precision drives from Saghir. Later when Vijay came in at the fall of Pandiyan, we were looking solid and this was the time Saghir swapped the roles. He went in attack mode and Vijay in the precision mode. Two huge sixes that came of Saghir's bat were a sight to watch -- first was a case of sweet timing and second was a pure power blow. Vijay, went after batting as a surgeon goes after a damaged tissue -- precise, calculated strokes that killed the bowlers' motivation. The pitch was slowly easing out but there was quality spin bowling from the Pak CC. It was the brilliance of Vijay and Saghir and later Waleed, that runs kept coming at ease. Waleed went after the fall of Saghir who got out attempting to smash a ball out of the ground. He accelerated the inning like there was no tomorrow. At one time Waleed had hit one of the bowlers for four consecutive sixes. Adnan who did not get many overs, also added a six to his score. Our middle order showed its depth (pandiyan ~29, Saghir ~36, Vijay ~46, Waleed ~48). There were not too many extras. We put together 174 in 25 overs. This was remarkable because when we took the break after 14 overs were cruising along at 76 i.e. last 11 overs brought nearly 100 runs. 


The job was half done although done in style but still needed to be finished. I started off with Saghir. Having spent nearly a month off the field I was completely out of touch. Somehow I sent in three overs and was happy not to concede too many runs. Saghir was spot on and was ready exploit the wicket which by then was starting to respond to fast bowlers. But once again Arpit continued his love affair with Pakistanis' as he bowled 4 superb overs conceding only 6 runs and he should have got at least one wicket (I dropped an easy catch). As Arpit applied breaks on the scoring rate the batting became desperate. Both Fawad and Mansoor (who for the first time was looking dangerous against us) skied catchs to Arpit and me, respectively. After the departure of Mansoor things were looking easy for us. But still we had to finish it high. Raghav took the charge and almost erased the memory of his horrendous runout early on. In fact, every bowler responded and took at least one wicket (except for me but I was still happy to return to winning ways). Some smart bowling chages from Vijay were at the play and Pak CC knew that they were not going to get to the target. One key move was to bring Arpit to bowl very early one but even after that they way Vijay handled Nila, Waleed was a great sight.


I do not know how much Pak CC scored in the end but we romped home in style and victory margin was at least 60 runs. In a way it was a sweet revenge of the loss in the previous match. But there are no revenges in cricket, there are only new memories, sometimes the new memories are good sometime bad. But in this match, they way it was played I hope everyone returned with good memories. The changing order of players in the Pak CC is a very important factor in it. The younger players just want to play cricket and not create hurdles in the way of cricket. 


It is a pity that I do not recall the names of many Pak CC players but some are very good players and deserve a mention in this blog. With such a young and motivated team I think despite the loss Pak CC had lot to take home and this would only improve the team.


Later Pandiyan wanted my opinion on who should be the man of the match. In my opinion this particular match was an illustration that Cricket can be a team game. From our side essentially everyone contributed either in batting or bowling (except for me). Vijay perhaps will be my pick but more for his dual role as a batsman and as a captain. This match was won by captaincy as much it was won by serious batting efforts of Saghir, Pandiyan, Waleed and Vijay himself, and bowling efforts of everyone. In the end 10 of our players were involved in the dismissal of the Pak CC.


This match was special for a reason -- Pak CC managed to access another soccer field in the city for one Sunday. Hopefully, for them this is a beginning of a more serious relationship with that sports club and they maybe able to have ground for the full season next year. So it was really important that we all showed up and played good clean cricket to set the tone for the possible new home for Pak CC. I have to congratulate Zeb Bhai and Rizwan for organizing it.


The ease with which this match was organized is a clear sign of improved relationship between the two teams. However, the echos of that dispute which led to the abandoning of a match are still audible, maybe feeble. The fabric of the FNCC has changed quite a bit and only few have that match in their memory. In the Pak CC club there are changes but not sufficient to burry the ghosts of that match. But more such more amicable encounters between two teams can indeed burry the past. I look forward to more matches with the Pak CC team. However, we must take caution and should not rush things and take every match at a time. 

Nomads' winning streak comes to an end

The seven match winning streak of the FNCC which was continuing since their loss to Winterthur in an away fixture last season, came to an end at the home fixture against the Pak Freiburg Cricket Club. 


PFCC this time around fielded a much changed team. It was great to see the older players making way for the younger lot. And that where perhaps we ended up doing a miscalculation. Perhaps we underrate the new players and PFCC reaped all the benefit. 


Saghir led the FNCC team in the absence of Vijay. We won the toss and decided to bowl because we considered our batting stronger than the bowling on the day owing to the injuries of Adnan and myself. Still not give an psychological advantage early on I started the bowling. I was felling ok but not at my best. Still we had a decent start. The first signs of things going wrong appeared when Fawad smashed Nila for 19 runs in the 15th over just before the drinks. Still the score of 91/3 in 15 over was not so alarming. After drinks we took wickets regularly but somehow we took our eyes off the scoring rate. At one point in 24 overs the score was 130+ and 6 wickets down. That time I left the field and some PFCC ended up with 198 in 30 overs. Last six overs or so we gave away nearly 60 runs. This was very unfortunate bowling. Everyone was trying but perhaps a bit too hard. 


Fawad along with two new players enjoyed our bowling a lot. Fawad made a well deserving half century and although he was dropped twice, once early on by Raghav. Later Zeb and Tanvir took our bowling apart in the lat few overs.


When we started our chase we knew that we had conceded 20 runs too many. This was expected to some extent given the injury list. So we shuffled our batting line up. Purav opened with Beau. They both stayed on the wicket until after the drinks, thus giving us a solid platform. But, they could not accelerate as was expecting from them. Beau continuously hit to the fielders. Purav because a touch too desperate. Loss of Pandiyan was a very big blow as we know how fast he can score and demoralize the attack. Raghav took a few too many bowls to set his eyes. When Saghir went in we were short of about 100 runs and had only 10 overs. This was a big ask. Our batting simply crumbled under this huge pressure. We were looking for few big overs but that happened only when Adnan went in and scored 17 runs in the 26th over at a stage when we needed 16 an over. His cameo gave us a respectable total but it was too little too late. 


The end of match left us pondering where things went wrong. Clearly it was a case of miscalculation not of abilities. We underestimated at what rate PFCC score was moving. We failed to appreciate that lower order can also score. We underestimate how slow our openers were scoring after they looked set on the wicket. We could not bowl to the field or could not set the field to bowl. 


Our lead up to the match was struck a big blow when Adnan pulled a muscle in his right hand and was reduced to a spectator for most of the match. I had earlier injured my calf muscle, Vijay was away... So we were really not our best team but this is not an excuse. We have players of great ability and they should have turned the match but sometimes it just does not happen and last Sunday was such a day. 


But as I always say, loss in a match brings that rare opportunity to review the strengths and particularly the weaknesses which invariably enter in a team winning continuously. 
This loss has now reveal clear cracks in our fold. 


The biggest problem I see is our second line of bowling and batting. Our bowling started well but the follow up from the second and third bowling changes was not strong enough to convert the start. Instead we gave way too many extras. When the PFCC batsmen were going after our bowling there was no plan in the bowling to stop that. Thats an important area to work on.


Likewise, our batsmen failed to convert the start. It was a good solid start that required attacking batting but we succumbed to the run-rate pressure. Adnan showed a glimpse of what might have been but only a bit too late. Ability to change gears without any hiccups is an important aspect of a good batting line up and we need to work on it. 


Fielding was a bit of disappointment but I would blame the bowlers for either not bowling to the field or not setting up the right field. Yes, we need to work on our throws. Beau showed how i should be done and we all can learn a lot from him.


But the most important aspect of the match was that it ended without any incident. This is really important that the two teams in Freiburg maintain a friendly relationship. Last few encounters were marred with several unfortunate incidents. The apparent change of guard in the PFCC is a very important development. I am very much looking forward to play more matches with PFCC but we should remember that too much familiarity brings contempt and this never more true when dealing with the 'desis'. But this match could mark a new start in our relationship with PFCC.


In this match Beau, Ehsan and Md. Ashraff (Angelo) made their debut for the FNCC. I would also like  to welcome Walid Butt who decided to become part of the FNCC. With such new players coming into the team and the club we are growing stronger and there is not reason that we can repair the crack in our team and put the loss behind us.