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.