Zurich Nomads crushed Freiburg Nomads

Cricket return to the seapark Freiburg ground after long slumber of nine months. FNCC hosted Zurich nomads.  We had started of our season with a massive win and things were looking good with the team except that in this match we were a seriously depleted side. Our heroes of last match Vijay, Raghu were away. Angelo was not available due to a family tragedy, Saghir was half-fit and so on... With that we took on the strong ZN team. Despite a good start and we let the opportunities slip away and slumped to a massive loss by 90+ runs. Congratulations to Zurich Nomads. It 2-0 to ZN in last two seasons. 

Zurich Nomads Innings
With Saghir not fully fit, Rehan opened the bowling with me and Sharath. ZNs started very positively. The very second ball was pasted to the boundary. But still it was an economical first spell. Sharath started with an LBW. Balaji took a stunning catch in point region to break the second wicket partnership. Soon after Adnan topped it up with an even better catch at the covers to send back Fahim, one of the top batsmen of ZN. In between one more wicket fell and suddenly ZN were 29 runs for three wickets in 8 overs. Saghir, Nila and Sharat had claimed one wicket each.

This was the time when Vicky and Shafqat came together. They started very cautiously but were very stead and saw their team to reach 52 runs in 14 overs with any further damage. And from that point wit their eyes set they took the game far away from us. With every over they accelerated the run rate. In between Shafqat was dropped by Adnan -- it was a sitter. Except for that one flaw it was a chance less innings and completely rattled our planning. Rehan, quickly shuffled bowlers in a vain hope to find the right one who could either break the partnership or at least stop the runs. We did perhaps a touch delay in setting up a more defensive field but we have to admit that against that batting our bowling was inadequate on that day.

Shafqat took advantage of the dropped catch and scored a 100 and retired gracefully. It was a fantastic innings. Vicky who is a more accomplished batsman was playing the second fiddle to Shafqat but score a well deserved and dominating 50. He was dropped on the ropes by Srinath, except that it was also a flawless innings.

The batting that followed was pretty ordinary but the damage had already been done. They lost few more wickets but put up a score of 235 runs in 35 overs. This, if we consider the fact that they were at one point 52 in 14 overs, shows how Vicky and Shafqat built their innings and pretty much demoralised the fielding side.

FNCC Innings
It was a very big target but FNCC have shown that they have the ability to chase such total or at least put up a fight. But this time around it was a bit of a different story. Our star batsmen from the previous game, Vijay, Raghu and Angelo were not available for the game. Rehan was out of practice and Saghir unfit. Remaining batting line was a bit inexperienced.

Still we started off very well. Rahul hit a six already in the first over. But such blitz do not last long especially when they start in the very first over. Rehan was joined by Fayas. Rehan was looking good. Fayas for the first time showed his potential as a sheet anchor. But wickets fell around in rather regularly and in most cases due to the mistakes of the batsmen. Nischal looked goo in short stay but he needs some more experience at the top. Saghir was great but he was under tremendous pressure to raise the asking rate which was up to 8+ an over by time he arrived at the crease. Exactly at the point he was looking to bring us back in the game, he was out and with FNCCs hopes. 

Fayas hung around until quite late but it was mere a formality. FNCC batsmen struggle to play the slow deceiving spin of Shafqat and Dinesh. Strangely enough they were better against the pacers. However, I would say that we did rather well by scoring 149 runs in about 30 overs, given our current state.

The causes
Our bowling failed. Except for Sharath no one responded well to the situation. Once I realised the correlation between my bowling quality and our overall bowling performance. To some extent we can blame the balls which deteriorated rather fast and we got basically no skidding from the pitch. But more importantly we did not respond to the pressure that a good partnership brings. ZN gave a us a good lesson. Our pace bowlers were a touch too slow for the batsmen to time and drive. On the other hand we dont have good reliable slow bowlers. Rehan's part time bowling cannot be effective if its called in action once in a season. Adnan on the other hand should have been better...

Second reason for conceding so many runs is that we took a bit long to realise the scoring areas. Shafqat scored a century but most of his runs came off due to cross bat shots -- which was possible because there was no movement, pace and bounce in the pitch.

While we took took two stunning catches we dropped two sitters and both batsmen duely punished us for those mistakes. The fact that at one time ZN were 29/3 was not because of the quality of our bowling but it was a testament of our fielding. Still after that we got carried away and lost it.

Out batting was a bit too one dimensional. Except for Saghir not one showed the ability to step out and whack a couple to the spinner to break their rhythm and confidence. Fayas, although played the role of a sheet anchor, he can be blamed for keeping the batting slow. After his eyes set, he was expected to accelerate -- I think this where we lacked a crucial step in match planning. Same for other batsmen -- I think we have the ability to put up a good fight even while chasing such huger target but it was not our day -- perhaps demoralised bowling also demoralise the batting...

The aftermath
The defeat was a shock, especially after our performance against PFCC. As is the FNCC  tradition, this called for a serious brainstorming right after the match. Rehan was especially heartbroken. Indeed he should -- he usually get to stand in for Vijay and often times he ends up as the losing captain -- not because of his fault but because of weaker teams he get to lead. But I the correlation was bothering him a bit too much. Its not a good sign to see your leader getting desperate. 

The positives
There were several positives from the game, Fayas showed that he can hang around fro long, Vishv emerged as a wicket-keeper, our fielding except for two lapses was top class, NIschal showed his potential and in Sharath we have a very effective medium pacer. 

Fail better
Somebody recently told me that victory is a moment and the loss stays with you forever -- how correct and how essential that memory of a loss remains so as to remind us of avoiding the mistakes that brought the emotional trauma of losing. I think we hate to lose because we do not want to witness or even admit our weaknesses. But we should embrace it and use the opportunity to improve. As Samuel Beckett once wrote

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better

I think FNCC has now 'failed better' and its time to show what Samuel Beckett meant through these words. Indeed a number of good things came after discussion and hope that FNCC will be on the right path and gift Rehan a much deserved victory in the next game which again a home affair.


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.