So I hear that the Flames defeated the Challengers on Saturday. Wonder what everyone has to say now? Oh yeah, people will say that Flames cheated, or others might even say that the umpire supported the Flames etc etc...anything that will take credit away from the Flames .... any comments people?
big win for the Royals...if they beat St.Louis today, they have a really good shot at making the playoffs. Phoenix is also in a do-or-die situation today, lets see how they do.
Respect to United CC. Even though they lost, they were the first one's to post their scorecard. That is what I called a 'dignified' team. Wish everyone were as sporting and professional as them.
Tigers Vs Chargers: We won a real close and important game against Chargers. We scored 165, Athreya top scoring with a brilliant 62 supported by Abdul(30+ runs) and Shailesh. We had a collapse(I got run out) and ended up playing only 40 overs. In their reply, the Chargers lost a couple of early wickets. We were able to get out Kamran pretty cheaply, but his brother Irfan(dropped when he was in the single digits) hit some glorious shots. He was out to an amazing reflex-juggling catch(caught at the third attempt) by Sriram. Sameer(who had scored 99* against us last year) played on and left early. In my opinion, the guys coming down the order(8th and 9th down) could have been sent up. They played straight and packed a punch, not afraid to waltz down the pitch. It came down to 18 runs of 18 balls. There was only one run scored in the 43rd and that made in 17 of 2 overs. They scored 10 runs of the penultimate over... now needed 7 runs of 6 balls. The first ball was a single and the second ball, the batsman gave the charge and found the furniture disturbed. It seemed like we had won the world cup. Its been such a long time, that we had almost forgotten how sweet a victory is.
Earlier we had a discussion about the best wicket keepers in the league. Anand will definitely be in the top 5. He can stand up to any fast bowlers, collect beautifully down the leg side and stump brilliantly.
Muslim Gymkhana Vs Bears(Muslim Won): Irfan scored a brilliant century(101). Was able to watch quite a bit of his innings from the sidelines. It was a very similar century that he scored against us. He blasted the ball when the bowlers erred in length and when the field spread out, he took his singles. In my books, he definitely is one of the most dangerous batsmen that we have.
Flames Vs Challengers(Flames won): Another low scoring beauty that also went down to the wire. The challengers kept losing wickets in regular intervals.
Can we get someupdates from these and other games please.
I guess you can add Sodhi to the centurians club as he scores 111. He most certainly is one of the best all-rounders in the league, and he just keeps getting better and better with each game. In our last five games he's scored 31, 31, 42, 64 and 111, in that order.
He's also been our most consistant bowler. As far as I can remember, he's only had one bad game with the ball, that too was just one bad over in which Tushar went Mike Tyson on him.
The youngest member of the squad is now our highest run-getter and most economical bowler. I hope he keeps up the good work and carries us deep into the playoffs.
Eagles beat Lucky XI by 110 odd runs. Eagles batted first were allout for 206 in the 35th over. Chasing 207, Lucky XI collapsed for 80 odd runs, giving Eagles a big victory.
Eagles were aided by a half-century by Subbu Kuppusami and some brilliant catching, most notably by Ganesan Giridharan with 4 catches. One of which was an absolute blinder in the second slip.
This makes the play off race very interesting for the last few spots in Div 2.
guys, two interesing facts about muslim gym: muslim gym has a total of 89 sixes altogether in the 12 games they have played this season so far. just one guy imran syed has 36 sixes in the season already.
i wonder if those two stats are an all-time MCC record.
ICC - 244 - Rup scores another century.Great Help to Simon Xavier 35 Madison CC - 51 all out - Jack 7 wkts. Well Done Guys. ggod luck in the Playoff. They have proved it.
jaggi...you should probably let all the registered bloggers post their comments without moderation. Establish some kind of proof of identity. Maybe you could go through the captains of certain teams to confirm which players want to register. For example, say a certain player X who plays for team Y wants to post comments. Then the Captain of team Y will send you an e-mail with the name of player X, and you can register that player to post comments on the blog. This will solve most of your problems. What do you thik? thanks
ps. you don't have to post this message on the blog
Anon at 7:44am, at this point of time we dont have that kind of control using the current third party blog service. We are exploring other services that give us better control to be able to do something similar to what you said. Thanks for the suggestion !!
"Atleast now people will stop talking about why Nasir was picked to play la open."
Just because he performed against you guys? Come on wake up. You were in the same position in lot of games this year. Against United I heard you were 50/6. Everybody knows Nasir is a good bowler, but it is not secret that the reason he was picked for LA open is because he plays for the right team. He has only got 12 wickets in 10 games, there are dime a dozen bowlers with that stats. Sometimes there is nothing wrong in accepting facts.
So what happened with the Bears and Muslim game...everybody was thinking that Bears will win easily. Do we have any bloggers from Bears who can share their thoughts?
That Flames match (vs Pak Gym) will be fun as I have played with half their team and we're good friends (Nasir, Ankur, Moyeed, Mihir, Zeeshan .. ) and occasionally practice together too. Lookin forward to it.
What do the umpires on this blog think about the 'Oval situation' .. Sadiq bhai etc?
Also the bowlers, have any of you experimented and achieved reverse swing? It's not really possible in league matches as the grounds have thick grass and the pitches are either astroturf or matting where the ball doesn't get scruffed. We practice in tennis courts sometimes and the ball becomes really scruffed after say 5-6 overs or so and if you load one side with sweat/saliva and keep the other completely dry, it definitely reverses - in fact the faster you bowl, the more and later it swings. I copped one on the back heel from Shahid who was playing Waqar Younis with that ball.
If my facts are correct, AAA won all their tosses last year. So, I was not surprised to see that they won the toss (again). It may make better sense to call Adam on Friday and ask him if AAA is batting or fielding first. Everyone can save some time spinning the coin.
Raheel said "What do the umpires on this blog think about the 'Oval situation' .. Sadiq bhai etc? "
I've umpired a lot of games in MCC and other leagues, so this is my take:
Regardless of whether the allegation is true or false, Hair needs to: 1. Warn the captain about the Tampering. 2. Consult the Third Umpire. 3. Consult the Match Referee 4. And then if repeated again, penalize the team.
But, Mr. Hair seemed pre-determined in penalizing the Pakistani team. Like Dickie Bird, commented, the ball could have been roughed up by the boards around the ground, or any other factor. But, by just looking at the ball and deciding that it was tampered with is ludicrous.
So, considering the situation, and considering the fact the Inzi and his team came back into the ground, it was really a bad HAIR day. You know, people come to see the game and the players, not the umpires, which I don’t think Mr. Hair has any clue about.
Albeit, Pakistan refused to play initially, they tried to come back and play the game. With regards to that, I think Inzi and the Pakistani team should be pardoned and an action should be taken against Darell Hair, by suspending him on the first place.
Well Jagga you need to define tampering here - at international level even removing the dirt / mud / grass etc from the seam of a ball without showing it to the umpire is tampering - I've done that, but I haven't lifted the seam or anything for the record :).
But how would the umpire (in our case Darrel Hair/ Doctrove) know that the ball was tampered? I mean this goes back to the example you said about "Bears Vs. Muslim" game.
Can you really tell if the ball was tampered or its just worn out.
My reason for giving Pak a chance is that Darrell Hair just out of the blue called tampering and penalized the team.
I agree that any team should be penalized for walking off, definitely not a good example for other teams.
Sadiq bhai, it was not an MCC Div 2 match (Evanston v Chicago Giants), but a test match being played by #2 and #3 teams in the world and watched by 23000 people in the stadium and millions on TV. If both the teams were ready to resume, D. Hair should have gotten over his "pig-headedness" (as the English media has called it) and let the game continue (there are examples of this in cricket most notably Sydney test of 1970-71 when Ray Illingworth took his team off the ground in protest). Pakistan and Inzamam were definitely at fault for not coming out twice to the center, but the game should have gone on and this was not the place to make history (first forfeiture in 129 year history and also when teams were ready to play!). All the disciplinary action could have taken place *after* the match.
Regarding the ball tampering issue, if 26 high speed cameras around the ground failed to pick up anything unusual (they found a variety of replays which only showed M. Asif shining the ball vigorously and applying spit on it) being done to the ball, how can Mr. Hair see it so clearly? He did not find one individual guilty, he found the whole team guilty. Again he did not accuse a team of ball tampering, but simply accused, tried and convicted them of it at once by awarding England 5 runs and changing the ball.
Hair has a history with Pakistan too (amongst other teams!). South Africa and Sri Lanka have already refused to participate in matches that are officiated by him, IMO he should be kicked off the so-called elite panel and be allowed to umpire only in State / Club matches in Australia.
lol - I don't know about Royals, but in one of my math classes 2-3 years back, there were a lot of Patels. In the first class the professor was reading everyone's name (sorted alphabetically by last name) and there was this long list of Patels - half way through he looked up and said 'I don't believe you are all realted?' ;).
Good Article ! I agree and here's where I disagree with Sadiq and Rup, when they say the team should not walk off.
The only way Pakistan could have made an impact of Hair's decision was by not taking the field, which may or will cause issues for them, but exposed a decades long controversy in a bigger manner.
First of all, Hair would not even have called "Tampering" if it was a non asian country. Secondly, if the team came out a bit later than the allotted 45 minutes, had it been England or Australia, would Hair and Doctrove have the balls to call the game off?
Hmm, thats a million dollar question right there.
I absolultely agree (being a desi of course) that we desis should unite against this discrimination.
Well, I shouldn't say this being an Indian, but to make matters worse for us Desis, the Indian Board decided to support ICC. Thats Blasphemy ! I mean, just to kiss ICC ass, they betrayed the Desi community in this unfair Cricket world.
I think this is where they should show their solidarity. This could be India tomorrow.
If Pakistan is going to be penalized and no other COuntry steps up, its clearly going to be easy for the people who are trying to divide and rule here.
And next time, if India is in a similar mess, do you think Pakistani Cricket board is going to support them?
I wonder what would've happened if Aleem Dar or Asad Rauf (Elite panel umpires from Pakistan) would've done something like this to either Australian or English cricket team.
Lance that's the thing, what do you think ICC's stance would've been if either Aus or Eng were accused of tampering by an Asian umpire with no visual (TV) evidence - would they still have backed up the officials all the way like they're doing with Hair? I'm not so sure!
There's another point here - it's not right vs wrong, in this case the question is which is the *bigger* wrong. Hair convicted an entire team of tampering without so much as a warning and no apparent evidence - that was wrong! Inzamam initially agreed to play on with the changed ball and only refused to come out after tea - that was wrong too as the match should've been completed if he had agreed to play with the changed ball earlier! Then Hair awarded the match to England in a haste and did not agree to play when both teams were ready - again wrong.
Nice little article on Darrell Hair's 14 year career full of controversy: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/england/5271108.stm
And here is a discussion on the tampering law itself. Is it right? Should it be changed as Bob Woolmer and Ian Chappell think to even out the contest sliding in favor of the batsmen at the moment. Woolmer has said every bowler he has played with or against has tampered or tried atleast, Derek Pringle once wrote that the England bowlers tampered when he was playing - his words were "Tampering does not guarantee instant swing or success, a fair bit of skill is involved. In the Oval test of 1992, we worked on the ball but could not get it off the straight, while Wasim Akram made it go around corners".
Bingo !! Because they wanted to crucify the Pakistanis for revolutionizing bowling..
But, did you ever check the stats or news if they even have any camera prints or shots or even videos to prove that Jones didnt tamper with the ball, I mean..how do you think he swung it the other way?
Imagine a Pakistani or Indian or Srilankan Umpire calling Jones just because the ball looked like it was tampered with and awarding the 5 runs...Imagine..
Oh my gawd, that would be like the end of the world in Cricket... Experts will be ruing all over that because there is no evidence...and I'm sure they would have asked the umpire to play the game and finish it, had the team come back into the field.
Lance, all I'm saying is dont turn a blind eye to things you dont like.. Look around you man, just dont see the things you want to see..
I'm not judging why they would cheat or not, I'm just stating a fact - all the 5 gentlemen were found guilty of ball tampering by the ICC - so if Waqar and Shoaib are cheats, going by the same yardstick, so are Atherton, Tendulkar and Dravid.
I thought we were done about talking international cricket. Anyways, I don't wanna judge any international team on ethics etc. I think that this tampering law should be abandoned, like Woolmer, Chappell (I), Pringle and Imran Khan (to an extent) think - if you say that cricket should stay the same as it's been in the past then I suggest you take away the light helmets, light bats (with better and wider sweet spots) and let the batsmen play in pads made of bamboo sticks.
Raheel... at this point, we are working to make sure that everything is in place for the playoffs. Will have something regarding Div-1 Vs Div-2 pretty soon.
I am glad that we are able to ignore some of the bloggers who are trying to incite. Please continue to ignore such comments !!
I don't think the scratching would give too much advantage in new ball conventional swing - Rup you pointed out correctly the body position and release point (wrist position), for outswing it is recommended to be as side on as naturally possible and pivot after delivering the ball. New ball swing happens mostly due to seam position IMO (the seam acts as a rudder, the ball travels in the direction that seam is slightly tilted towards i.e. the slips or fine leg).
Reverse swing requires one side of the ball to become heavier (with the loading of saliva and sweat) and wetter while the other should remain dry and scruffed (abrassive pitch / ground, fingernails, sandpaper, yada yada ..). Generally newer ball swings more for medium pacers, whereas for reverse swing the faster you bowl, the more and later it swings.
Rup, sometimes the ball only swings in one direction for me irrespective of the wind, e.g. if the wind is blowing from left to right across the pitch the ball should naturally swing in with the seam upright or tilted a little towards fine leg, but at times the ball just goes away *against* the wind. I also find it harder to control the inswinger, it mostly drifts down the legside and if I compensate by bowling it a little wide of off stump, it doesn't swing at all :( - any help with that? How do you (being a leftie) bowl an inswinger (wide on the crease? a little open chested?) to left handers?
Umboza said... Royals have a much better chance than Phoenix...
Thanks for the support but there are so many if and than for us.. Looks like even if we win both games still we will be little short of playoff!! Vipul
I like Washington Park better too. Well I talked to Mr. Tariq about it one time and he said that Hanover park has better facilities (read toilets) to stage such an event since there are supporters and families etc who come to watch. Plus sometimes Washington Park matches tend to be low scoring and in todays world of 4s and 6s (it's a batsman's game) that really not considered 'sexy', so we have to play on the Hanover astro!
sure, we did play at SL game with 3 short players (would NOT use STAR player here) but major BLOW for the TEAM.. Myself, Narpreet and Manish. Would have been diff. game!! Cheers Vipul
Thats a very good post. In LA vs Punjab Blues we played against vice captain of the US team J Desai and Nasir Mahmood who gets tired in MCC after bowling 4 balls;) made him look like a novice, beat him a few times and had him caught in the gully.
Sohail Alvi and Tehseen Ahmed have also played for US from MCC.
Doosra said... If you arrange 16 real good cricketer's from MCC with their Airfare 2 months in advance I can arrange better tour, ----- I know couple of my friends playing for Baroda and Mumbai Ranji Team.. Can surely play against our team if you let me know little in advance.. Cheers! Vipul
Ok folks.. back to moderation. To all the folks posting for ACC, this is not the forum to do so. There were some other ridiculous comments posted here that forced us to go back to moderation. I hope you all(ok, most of you) understand.
I've heard Shahid, Satish and may be a couple of guys from Challengers are playing in that Glendale Heights match on sunday along with Wasim Khan and Ashar Mehdi.
Let me make it clear that this is not an Official Midwest Cricket Conference site. The only official site as far as I know is the midwestcricket.org web site. This blog is a volunteer effort by a few of us - Jaggi, Sadiq and myself for the most part. Fortunately or Unfortunately, Jaggi became the Secretary this year and so he is in a position to clarify things from a management perspective. That was not at all intentional. We wanted a place where we can all gather and discuss our matches, players, issues etc while also being able to highlight some of the top performers by way of profiles, interviews etc. This is a place for and by the players of MCC - not by any sponsor or management or anyone else. The only comments that were deleted were ones with vulgarities and raciallly insensitive remarks. Some of them are so crude that you have to take a bath after reading it - moderating this type of nonsense is not a pleasent task. I wish we had the ability to remove the folks who are making these type of comments. It seems that the new version of blogger has stronger membership controls. Probably that is what we have to do. If anyone has suggestions please keep them coming.--Hari
The original intention was for this to be a site for MCC players - I had no idea why anyone else will be interested in what we do here! But, its a free country and a free blog--anyone is welcome. As long as its all in good fun what's the problem. --Hari
Moderation is the best way to keep some of those nasty comments. I understand the work involved. Is there any way others can help (apart from not posting nasty comments)?
The original intention was for this to be a site for MCC players - I had no idea why anyone else will be interested in what we do here! But, its a free country and a free blog--anyone is welcome. As long as its all in good fun what's the problem. --Hari ============================== Dude! wanna run for presidency:)
Madhu, that is a good suggestion however I'm pretty certain we will see a rapid decline in the number of bloggers, I don't think a majority of people who blog here would wanna disclose their identities.
Most of you know that I was involved with the newsletter last year. I volunteered to become secretary only this year and help the league out. All my posts on the blog are as a fellow player and if there is anything official, I send out an email from the management email. However, I am able to clarify a few doubts that we have and that way help each other out. Also, I am pretty new to the league(have been playing here since 2001) and hence do not understand the relationship between our league and some of the other leagues. All I know is there is a lot more than most of us here know and it definitely is not as simple as some on the blog have pointed out. The primary reason for getting into a blog format this season was to try and have some meaningful conversations about cricket and not speculate about things. I have ignored some of the comments that do not make sense and will continue to do so. Our highest priority is to ensure that we have a smooth and exciting season. There have been some exciting games and a lot more coming up. I say that we concentrate on enjoying what we have. As always, members can contact the management directly via email or phone.
As Hari has pointed out, we are looking into the newer version that will give us better control over the users and the comments.
Abt the comments you made regarding the bears....for shooting of fireworks after the loss. Just wanted to clear something out we weren’t over confident abt winning the game to begin with, we knew what Imran can do and the muslims with there new acquisitions this year... its just that we have lots of fun win or lose... all the teams playing with us will tell you we have the most fun while playing a game. and the story abt the fireworks, when we went to play MilwaukeeCC, on the way back we saw this store for Firecrackers and all of us bought lots of them, for July 4... we had so many left overs that we take some to every game and let them off WIN OR LOSE BearsCC Good Luck to Muslim, Purdue and Wildcats
For the division finals i think it would be an awesome crowd puller if we had a mini MELA (funfair) at the ground. We could have like small vendor stalls with indian/paki/westindian/srilankan food as well as music..... Imagine the tempo and setting this would create for the games.....
Bears CC, thats cool, I just saw them go off (while watching Flames v Challengers) and was wondering what was going on - thats why we play the game, to have fun, we're not pros here who get paid or anythin (on the contrary we pay with time and money to play cricket so yes its all in good fun :) ).
Pakistan Gymkhana also has Bakshi, who is the 2nd best spinner in the league after Asif.
They already have Shahid, who is the 2nd best fast bowler after Mehul. They have Raheel who is probably the fastest bowler in the league. So I say Pak has the best bowling attack
how would you guys like it if every year begining from now, there are 4 team added to DIVI from DIVII and only 3 teams are sent to DIVII from I. This way we will start having an equal balance between the number of team in both DIV's, also the games in DIVII will get more competitive.
Another thing that can be doen is thaty instead of having a playoffs of 8 in DIVI, increase it to 12 and so more good teams get a chance to atleast enter into the playoffs and have a chance of creating a potential upset for the higher ranked teams. Becuase IMHO i beleive it is harsh for teams like us the DA BEARS to be left out at 9 or phoneix at 10 or 11... dont know just a desperate thought becase this might be the 2nd year in a row we miss the playoffs by one spot... BEARScc
I think 8 is just right, as far as playoff teams are concerned. If you increase the number of playoff teams to 12 then it reduces the significance of the regular season.
Its hard to win at Washington Park with a spin heavy attack, might work on astroturf or matting-over-turf, but I doubt it would be successful at Washington Park, where you need some pacers to do the job.
Our runs conceded should really be in 11 matches since we gave one walkover, so it should be 1508 in 11. We also had some 'freak' performances - 24 a.o. and 65 a.o. which aided in this statistic.
I am pretty new to the league(have been playing here since 2001) and hence do not understand the relationship between our league and some of the other leagues. All I know is there is a lot more than most of us here know and it definitely is not as simple as some on the blog have pointed out. ================================== Jaggi can you elabirate on why do you think it is not as simple as some say it is? I would love to hear the reasons.
Having both Div I and DIV II finals the same day is a good idea @ Wash park. With the fun fair and partying around, it will be a good end to the season.
Milwaukee United has one of the best batting line-ups as well. They have scored 2342 runs in 11 games (one rained out) which is 2nd only to Purdue (2412 in 11). So you add Milwaukee United great batting to their great bowling, I think they are the team to beat. Pak Gymkhana has an explosive batting line-up. But I feel they aren't as deep as Milwaukee United.
are the fields at Purdue, Milwaukee United and St.Louis easier to bat than Washington park? Raheel, you've played in all the fields...what are your thoughts?
I think you need a fine balance between bowling and batting to win. thats why instead of looking at Runs Scored and Runs Conceded column, the NRR column is the most appropriate, it shows a team's balance the rate at which they have scored - rate of conceding runs.
To those of you interested in our site traffic: Today we had almost 6100 Page Views and 3100 visits! That is not unique visits ( I think they use a 90 minute window to calculate unique visits) ...so I guess we should have at least 300 odd people in here ( probably more)! In this past week we had people visiting us from US, UK, Pakistan, India and one from Australia! As you guessed, the majority of traffic is between 8 AM and 6 PM Central ( I think we are now officially a major productivity killer in the midwest!) - This pretty much confirms that almost 80% of those who come to the blog just read - only a small fraction is actually posting comments. So, those making comments - your stuff is being read by a lot of people!!!
PAK will definately loose if they face Wildcats or MUCC. regaqrdless of whether the game is at hannover or washington park... PAK are easy to get if you know where to bowl to them - seemer just bowl outswings and the top 5 will fold, spinners just bowl and the whole team will fold.
You should probably ask a batsman where it is easiest to bat, but as far as I'm concerned I think WP matting is the toughest esp. if you're not used to it, ball does a little extra for faster bowlers, it comes off the wicket quicker, moves off the wicket more than astroturf. The only place that is harder to bat on than WP is probably matting over turf (the ball comes on slower and grips /turns more for spinners).
"They already have Shahid, who is the 2nd best fast bowler after Mehul. "
Dude Mehul has 14 wickets in 9 games, give me a break. I think he is pretty overrated. His speed is not more than Rups and Rup has 32 wickets and better left arm bowler. What do you guys think about this?
Hari, how about getting some sponsors now? Surely, you'd get a lot of folk around the Chicago area who would want to advertise their products on our website.
I think they're pretty neck to neck. Shahid has 3 more wickets in 2 more games, but Mehul has bowled more overs. Also Mehul doesn't have the luxury of bowlers like Farman, Raheel or Rashid at the other end!
how about getting some sponsors now? Surely, you'd get a lot of folk around the Chicago area who would want to advertise their products on our website. ------------------- Anon: Thank You. I personally prefer a clean, non-commercial look and feel to the site. I'm not against sponsorship and all, but i prefer our site to be ad free. Its nice not to have to see an ad for a change. Just my thought.
Division 1 is a different ball game, Mehul and Rup can only be compared if they play in same Division. Being a UCC member i had to give my 2 cents on this. UCC is about to loss few guys.. UCC will not see the same team next year. Poor performance has exchanged fire talks and many of us didn't like. New teams that they might look for are Challenger, Wildcat, Pheonix or Charges
if you have played any top level cricket you would know that Mehul Shani is the best seamer in all of MCC. He is the complete package, can swing both ways and has the best slow ball. the other bowler that comes close is Farman and not raheel, shahid and that gang....
Capitol is one worst team I ever played.I know Satha is good player but even umpires are scared him give even he is out.This season Riaz is doing umpiring but instead of he coming for match Riaz is sending his brother.Fiaz this poor chap is so scared of giving Satha out.
guys which teams do you think have the best batting line up in Div 1.
If you were to think about containing such a batting line up, would you concentrate on the select group of people who have stood out yet or would it be a more wholesome planning and if so how.
I have feeling the comment that you had replied was actually referring to PCC as in Purdue Cricket Club and not Peoria Cricket Club even though your reply can really apply to most non-chicago teams. It is obviously hard for you guys or for that matter the non-Chicago teams to travel for games every week, but IMO they should make it mandatory for all away teams to also travel 4 games in the season and ideally to play more than 2 games at Washington Park and at least one at Hanover Park.
Please note that UCC is alive and well. there were no "fire talk" and no breakup. someone has the wrong impression of UCC. And "United All The Way" is the way we at UCC are...Come out and watch us play Muslim on Sept 9th. You will know how true that is
Are you saying that if somebody is donating $20000 for putting his name on our website, we should reject it? Hmmm...not too sure about that. ---------------- I never said that. I just said that i prefer an ad free environment. Obviously, if there is a bonafide offer on the table, we will have to consider it. Until then, lets all enjoy the clean look here!
Well, as a UCC member, I agree with Imtiaz. Although there were some heated arguments, but who does not have them.
Next year, UCC is gonna be there. I do understand that Mehul might not play and samarth as well. we had talk about that and we all know that. Wildcats have alredy talked to Mehul I guess. But united is getting some challenger players!
Its back to the old format. No more moderation for now. If you see any nasty postings please email it with time stamp to blog(at)midwestcricket.org. Lets police this together and try to make it work. Thank You --Hari
Not takin anything away from Raheel but he is not the fastest bowler in our leauge!! Fastest is Satish, Shahid, Imran, those who have faced raheel can vouch for this, his run up is more faster then his arm, but no doubt he is a good bowler just an average pacer there are many players in this leauge with his pace
So I hear that the Flames defeated the Challengers on Saturday. Wonder what everyone has to say now?
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, people will say that Flames cheated, or others might even say that the umpire supported the Flames etc etc...anything that will take credit away from the Flames .... any comments people?
What happened to the games that were held today ?
ReplyDeleteShiva
News from Washington Park:
ReplyDeleteMuslim defeated Bears (imran scored a century again)
Flames defeated challengers
Tigers defeated chargers.
Can somebody give the details?
And any news with other matches?
Today's results from Washington Park:
ReplyDeleteMuslim Gym beat Bears 271 - 163
Tigers beat Chargers 165 - 160
Flames beat Challengers 167 - 154 (after the odds of 95-5 ;) )
looks as though the Challengers had another let down. Can someone give us the details on the Flames-Challengers game please
ReplyDeletebig win for the Royals...if they beat St.Louis today, they have a really good shot at making the playoffs.
ReplyDeletePhoenix is also in a do-or-die situation today, lets see how they do.
Respect to United CC. Even though they lost, they were the first one's to post their scorecard. That is what I called a 'dignified' team. Wish everyone were as sporting and professional as them.
ReplyDeleteTigers Vs Chargers: We won a real close and important game against Chargers. We scored 165, Athreya top scoring with a brilliant 62 supported by Abdul(30+ runs) and Shailesh. We had a collapse(I got run out) and ended up playing only 40 overs.
ReplyDeleteIn their reply, the Chargers lost a couple of early wickets. We were able to get out Kamran pretty cheaply, but his brother Irfan(dropped when he was in the single digits) hit some glorious shots. He was out to an amazing reflex-juggling catch(caught at the third attempt) by Sriram. Sameer(who had scored 99* against us last year) played on and left early.
In my opinion, the guys coming down the order(8th and 9th down) could have been sent up. They played straight and packed a punch, not afraid to waltz down the pitch.
It came down to 18 runs of 18 balls. There was only one run scored in the 43rd and that made in 17 of 2 overs. They scored 10 runs of the penultimate over... now needed 7 runs of 6 balls. The first ball was a single and the second ball, the batsman gave the charge and found the furniture disturbed. It seemed like we had won the world cup. Its been such a long time, that we had almost forgotten how sweet a victory is.
Earlier we had a discussion about the best wicket keepers in the league. Anand will definitely be in the top 5. He can stand up to any fast bowlers, collect beautifully down the leg side and stump brilliantly.
Muslim Gymkhana Vs Bears(Muslim Won): Irfan scored a brilliant century(101). Was able to watch quite a bit of his innings from the sidelines. It was a very similar century that he scored against us. He blasted the ball when the bowlers erred in length and when the field spread out, he took his singles. In my books, he definitely is one of the most dangerous batsmen that we have.
Flames Vs Challengers(Flames won): Another low scoring beauty that also went down to the wire. The challengers kept losing wickets in regular intervals.
Can we get someupdates from these and other games please.
I just heard that ICC scored 244 in 40 overs in the first innings against Madison CC.
ReplyDeleteany news about the Phoenix-Wildcats game?
ReplyDeletewht hpnd to challengers ? they were saying that that r going to win by 150 runs now they lost by 13 runs.........hahahahha
ReplyDeletekeep dreaming guys
ICC - 244 - Rup scores another century.
ReplyDeleteMadison CC - 51 all out - Jack 7 wkts
This just in from West Lafayette,
ReplyDeletePurdue: 303 in 45 overs
Rogers Park: 97 all out
I guess you can add Sodhi to the centurians club as he scores 111. He most certainly is one of the best all-rounders in the league, and he just keeps getting better and better with each game. In our last five games he's scored 31, 31, 42, 64 and 111, in that order.
He's also been our most consistant bowler. As far as I can remember, he's only had one bad game with the ball, that too was just one bad over in which Tushar went Mike Tyson on him.
The youngest member of the squad is now our highest run-getter and most economical bowler. I hope he keeps up the good work and carries us deep into the playoffs.
Vijay
Phoneix was chasing 200+ there whre 6 down for 60+.
ReplyDeleteEagles vs Lucky XI (35 over game)
ReplyDeleteEagles beat Lucky XI by 110 odd runs. Eagles batted first were allout for 206 in the 35th over. Chasing 207, Lucky XI collapsed for 80 odd runs, giving Eagles a big victory.
Eagles were aided by a half-century by Subbu Kuppusami and some brilliant catching, most notably by Ganesan Giridharan with 4 catches. One of which was an absolute blinder in the second slip.
This makes the play off race very interesting for the last few spots in Div 2.
Phoenix has lost to Wildcats
ReplyDeleteRough scorecard
Wildcats 205/44.4 allout
Phoenix 150/all out
Phoenix vs Wildcats
ReplyDeleteRough scorecard
Wildcats batted first, score 205+/44.4/allout
Phoenix scored 140+ all out
what happened in the royals St.Louis game?
ReplyDeleteTushar,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comments.
Beware of some kids on the blog, Challenger never claimed that they are going to beat Flames by 9 wickets or 150 runs.
Clubboys? concentrate on your own team, stop bother about Flames. Insist of promoting hate and misunderstanding among each other, play cricket.
Mateen
guys, two interesing facts about muslim gym:
ReplyDeletemuslim gym has a total of 89 sixes altogether in the 12 games they have played this season so far.
just one guy imran syed has 36 sixes in the season already.
i wonder if those two stats are an all-time MCC record.
respect to ICC.typical west indies spirit
ReplyDeleteICC - 244 - Rup scores another century.Great Help to Simon Xavier 35 Madison CC - 51 all out - Jack 7 wkts. Well Done Guys. ggod luck in the Playoff. They have proved it.
ReplyDeletejaggi...you should probably let all the registered bloggers post their comments without moderation.
ReplyDeleteEstablish some kind of proof of identity. Maybe you could go through the captains of certain teams to confirm which players want to register.
For example, say a certain player X who plays for team Y wants to post comments. Then the Captain of team Y will send you an e-mail with the name of player X, and you can register that player to post comments on the blog. This will solve most of your problems. What do you thik?
thanks
ps. you don't have to post this message on the blog
Anon at 7:44am, at this point of time we dont have that kind of control using the current third party blog service.
ReplyDeleteWe are exploring other services that give us better control to be able to do something similar to what you said.
Thanks for the suggestion !!
Jaggi,
ReplyDeleteI agree with the registration of users via their captains and you can moderate the anon comments for any abuse.
What do you say?
IIT beat Rockers pretty easily.
ReplyDeleteRam
IIT didn't even play the Rockers. Did you mean the Raiders?
ReplyDeleteguys....which teams have the best bowling and batting attacks in the league.
ReplyDeleteI say
Bowling
1. Pak Gymkhana
2. Challengers
3. Milwaukee United
4. United (at full srength)
5. Muslim Gymkhana
Batting
1. Milwaukee United
2. Pak Gymkhana
3. Wildcats
4. Muslim Gymkhana
5. St.Louis
Tushar said about Nasir:
ReplyDelete"Atleast now people will stop talking about why Nasir was picked to play la open."
Just because he performed against you guys? Come on wake up. You were in the same position in lot of games this year. Against United I heard you were 50/6. Everybody knows Nasir is a good bowler, but it is not secret that the reason he was picked for LA open is because he plays for the right team. He has only got 12 wickets in 10 games, there are dime a dozen bowlers with that stats. Sometimes there is nothing wrong in accepting facts.
Congratulations to all the teams on victorires this weekend..
ReplyDeleteThe playoff situation in Div 1 is really tricky. I guess the top 4 teams are pretty much confirmed i.e. Pak, Challengers, MUCC, SLCC.
The last 4 four spots are going to be contested betweeen,
Bears (12-7-5) -- Games reamining Challenger & SLCC,
Flames (10-7-3) -- Pak, PUCC, Wildcats, MCC,
Muslim Gym (12-7-5) -- MCC, UCC,
Purdue (12-8-4) -- Flames, MUCC,
Wildcats (12-6-5-1) -- MUCC, Flames
Of all the teams one of them will have to be eliminated and pick will be FLAMES to be pushed off the list.
The playoffs should look like this,
Pak
Challengers
MUCC
SLCC
Purdue
Bears
Muslim gym
Wildcats
With the finals between Pak V/s Challengers and Pak wins it all...
:)
1down,
ReplyDeleteYu must be a Flames player that you gave flames a 25% chance to win.
Till now flames has face just one decent bowling attack and that was challengers, and they could only do 167 against that attack.
They couldn't perform against poor bowling attacks like Royals, charger, rogers park and SLCC.
Predictions for pak-flames game,
Pak wins by 9 wickets or 150 runs.
It may be second week of Sept before play off spots in Div 2 are finalized.
ReplyDeleteSo what happened with the Bears and Muslim game...everybody was thinking that Bears will win easily.
ReplyDeleteDo we have any bloggers from Bears who can share their thoughts?
1st Round? Didn't know we were talking boxing here ;).
ReplyDeleteThat Flames match (vs Pak Gym) will be fun as I have played with half their team and we're good friends (Nasir, Ankur, Moyeed, Mihir, Zeeshan .. ) and occasionally practice together too. Lookin forward to it.
ReplyDeletecongratulations to the Royals on winning against Anjuman in the ALNT. Can Romeen(umpire) or one of the players please give some details?
ReplyDeleteWhat do the umpires on this blog think about the 'Oval situation' .. Sadiq bhai etc?
ReplyDeleteAlso the bowlers, have any of you experimented and achieved reverse swing? It's not really possible in league matches as the grounds have thick grass and the pitches are either astroturf or matting where the ball doesn't get scruffed. We practice in tennis courts sometimes and the ball becomes really scruffed after say 5-6 overs or so and if you load one side with sweat/saliva and keep the other completely dry, it definitely reverses - in fact the faster you bowl, the more and later it swings. I copped one on the back heel from Shahid who was playing Waqar Younis with that ball.
Thanks for the update Madhu.
ReplyDeleteWe are playing AAA(Abid Laheri Tournament) on Wednesday. Any strengths/weaknesses (of AAA)?
If my facts are correct, AAA won all their tosses last year. So, I was not surprised to see that they won the toss (again). It may make better sense to call Adam on Friday and ask him if AAA is batting or fielding first. Everyone can save some time spinning the coin.
ReplyDeleteAre Badmaash..
ReplyDeleteTempering nahin kehte usko..."Tampering" kehte hein..
Kya tempering tempering laga rakha hein..
Lagta hein tumhari tempering karni padegi...
lol @ d_b.
ReplyDeleteJagga, well its always a good idea to carry a piece of sandpaper in your pocket just in case :-p.
Raheel said
ReplyDelete"What do the umpires on this blog think about the 'Oval situation' .. Sadiq bhai etc?
"
I've umpired a lot of games in MCC and other leagues, so this is my take:
Regardless of whether the allegation is true or false, Hair needs to:
1. Warn the captain about the Tampering.
2. Consult the Third Umpire.
3. Consult the Match Referee
4. And then if repeated again, penalize the team.
But, Mr. Hair seemed pre-determined in penalizing the Pakistani team. Like Dickie Bird, commented, the ball could have been roughed up by the boards around the ground, or any other factor. But, by just looking at the ball and deciding that it was tampered with is ludicrous.
So, considering the situation, and considering the fact the Inzi and his team came back into the ground, it was really a bad HAIR day.
You know, people come to see the game and the players, not the umpires, which I don’t think Mr. Hair has any clue about.
Albeit, Pakistan refused to play initially, they tried to come back and play the game. With regards to that, I think Inzi and the Pakistani team should be pardoned and an action should be taken against Darell Hair, by suspending him on the first place.
That’s what the Desi Babu thinks....
Rup,
ReplyDeleteYou still blogging???
Looks like you had a good weekend ! Nice ton!
Would you mind throwing some light on your game?
Jack, you really got fired up by all the negative blogging, huh.
Well Jagga you need to define tampering here - at international level even removing the dirt / mud / grass etc from the seam of a ball without showing it to the umpire is tampering - I've done that, but I haven't lifted the seam or anything for the record :).
ReplyDeleteYeah, boy can they field..
ReplyDeleteI think one of the reasons they win games is primarily due to their fielding.
'Royals are an amazing fielding side too. Some of their guys can fly!'
ReplyDeleteI saw some sitters 'flying' out of their hands in the night game vs. Flames.
c'mon raheel...you have had off days...
ReplyDeleteI've seen numerous games and also umpired a few for them...they are a class apart in the fielding department..
Thats true, but I've only seen them play that one time so I wasn't sure if that was an off-day or the norm.
ReplyDeleteAnother good fielding side is IIT. I've seen some splendid catches while watching their games.
ReplyDeleteThey sure are - thats my ex team ;).
ReplyDeleteSadiq Bhai,
ReplyDeleteNice comments !
But how would the umpire (in our case Darrel Hair/ Doctrove) know that the ball was tampered? I mean this goes back to the example you said about "Bears Vs. Muslim" game.
Can you really tell if the ball was tampered or its just worn out.
My reason for giving Pak a chance is that Darrell Hair just out of the blue called tampering and penalized the team.
I agree that any team should be penalized for walking off, definitely not a good example for other teams.
Sadiq bhai, it was not an MCC Div 2 match (Evanston v Chicago Giants), but a test match being played by #2 and #3 teams in the world and watched by 23000 people in the stadium and millions on TV. If both the teams were ready to resume, D. Hair should have gotten over his "pig-headedness" (as the English media has called it) and let the game continue (there are examples of this in cricket most notably Sydney test of 1970-71 when Ray Illingworth took his team off the ground in protest). Pakistan and Inzamam were definitely at fault for not coming out twice to the center, but the game should have gone on and this was not the place to make history (first forfeiture in 129 year history and also when teams were ready to play!). All the disciplinary action could have taken place *after* the match.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the ball tampering issue, if 26 high speed cameras around the ground failed to pick up anything unusual (they found a variety of replays which only showed M. Asif shining the ball vigorously and applying spit on it) being done to the ball, how can Mr. Hair see it so clearly? He did not find one individual guilty, he found the whole team guilty. Again he did not accuse a team of ball tampering, but simply accused, tried and convicted them of it at once by awarding England 5 runs and changing the ball.
Hair has a history with Pakistan too (amongst other teams!). South Africa and Sri Lanka have already refused to participate in matches that are officiated by him, IMO he should be kicked off the so-called elite panel and be allowed to umpire only in State / Club matches in Australia.
yeah Vijay, Charlie is Chirag.
ReplyDeleteBut then there are about a million Chirags in the Royals team. :-)
lol Jagga...thanks for the laugh..
ReplyDeleteHere is a trivia question for all..
ReplyDeleteWithout checking the DB, guess how many Patels are in Royals ?
Alpesh,
ReplyDeleteSo, whats up with No Stars?
Maybe you need to recruit a couple of stars.
Food for thought..
lol - I don't know about Royals, but in one of my math classes 2-3 years back, there were a lot of Patels. In the first class the professor was reading everyone's name (sorted alphabetically by last name) and there was this long list of Patels - half way through he looked up and said 'I don't believe you are all realted?' ;).
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you man...
ReplyDeleteBetween the 2 teams (Challengers and Royals) there are 30 Patels.
And Royals alone has about 17 on their roaster.
Amazing huh
Vipul, any thoughts/ comments ?
and that would be roster...my bad..
ReplyDeleteIf we have our STD 11 playing in the game it should be 9.
ReplyDeletethx
Vipul
I'm glad we desis go by our first names...if you know what I'm saying..
ReplyDeleteAnybody else have any interesting stories like Raheel?
Check out this scorecard..
ReplyDeletehttp://midwestcricket.org/asp/Score88.asp?id=1753
out of the 22 in the game, there were 16 Patels.
Patel Ct. Patel Bwld Patel.
Aiite guys..I'm out.
ReplyDeleteHave fun blogging.
A Professor in a Chicago univ said just before the exam : "No two Patels should sit next to each other".
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to share this anecdote...
Please don't crucify me.
e. Wildcats struggling to make it to playoffs.
ReplyDeleteThats the one for me ... usually wildcats are in top 4 all the time.
Adnan,
ReplyDeleteHajme ki goli khalo....Hajmola...
Sab teek ho jaye ga...
Good Article !
ReplyDeleteI agree and here's where I disagree with Sadiq and Rup, when they say the team should not walk off.
The only way Pakistan could have made an impact of Hair's decision was by not taking the field, which may or will cause issues for them, but exposed a decades long controversy in a bigger manner.
First of all, Hair would not even have called "Tampering" if it was a non asian country. Secondly, if the team came out a bit later than the allotted 45 minutes, had it been England or Australia, would Hair and Doctrove have the balls to call the game off?
Hmm, thats a million dollar question right there.
I absolultely agree (being a desi of course) that we desis should unite against this discrimination.
Well, I shouldn't say this being an Indian, but to make matters worse for us Desis, the Indian Board decided to support ICC.
Thats Blasphemy ! I mean, just to kiss ICC ass, they betrayed the Desi community in this unfair Cricket world.
My 2 cents..
Adnan Bhai,
ReplyDeleteHajme ki goli khaye nahi aap abhi tak?
Chalo, kam se kam 2 glass pani peelo.
Live and Let Live Adnan !!
Take it easy a bit in your life !!
You'll see the better side of life.
I think this is where they should show their solidarity. This could be India tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteIf Pakistan is going to be penalized and no other COuntry steps up, its clearly going to be easy for the people who are trying to divide and rule here.
And next time, if India is in a similar mess, do you think Pakistani Cricket board is going to support them?
Oh well..
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, Lance what do you think of all the doping controversies going on in CYCLING?
I wonder what would've happened if Aleem Dar or Asad Rauf (Elite panel umpires from Pakistan) would've done something like this to either Australian or English cricket team.
ReplyDeleteA billion dollar Question Raheel - thats what it is..
ReplyDeleteI'm glad somebody asked that..
Lance,
ReplyDeleteSo if Akram or Waqar Reverse swings its tampering, but if Harmison or Jones does the same, its called the art of "Reverse Swing"..
I wonder why nobody ever called tampering with the ball against the Aussies or English..
Lance that's the thing, what do you think ICC's stance would've been if either Aus or Eng were accused of tampering by an Asian umpire with no visual (TV) evidence - would they still have backed up the officials all the way like they're doing with Hair? I'm not so sure!
ReplyDeleteThere's another point here - it's not right vs wrong, in this case the question is which is the *bigger* wrong. Hair convicted an entire team of tampering without so much as a warning and no apparent evidence - that was wrong! Inzamam initially agreed to play on with the changed ball and only refused to come out after tea - that was wrong too as the match should've been completed if he had agreed to play with the changed ball earlier! Then Hair awarded the match to England in a haste and did not agree to play when both teams were ready - again wrong.
Nice little article on Darrell Hair's 14 year career full of controversy: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/england/5271108.stm
And here is a discussion on the tampering law itself. Is it right? Should it be changed as Bob Woolmer and Ian Chappell think to even out the contest sliding in favor of the batsmen at the moment. Woolmer has said every bowler he has played with or against has tampered or tried atleast, Derek Pringle once wrote that the England bowlers tampered when he was playing - his words were "Tampering does not guarantee instant swing or success, a fair bit of skill is involved. In the Oval test of 1992, we worked on the ball but could not get it off the straight, while Wasim Akram made it go around corners".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/rules_and_equipment/5278784.stm
Bingo !! Because they wanted to crucify the Pakistanis for revolutionizing bowling..
ReplyDeleteBut, did you ever check the stats or news if they even have any camera prints or shots or even videos to prove that Jones didnt tamper with the ball, I mean..how do you think he swung it the other way?
Imagine a Pakistani or Indian or Srilankan Umpire calling Jones just because the ball looked like it was tampered with and awarding the 5 runs...Imagine..
Oh my gawd, that would be like the end of the world in Cricket...
Experts will be ruing all over that because there is no evidence...and I'm sure they would have asked the umpire to play the game and finish it, had the team come back into the field.
Lance, all I'm saying is dont turn a blind eye to things you dont like..
Look around you man, just dont see the things you want to see..
Well, so far the following have been officially convicted by the ICC of ball tampering (the list is a who's who of world cricket!):
ReplyDeleteMichael Atherton
Waqar Younis
Shoaib Akhtar
Sachin Tendulkar
Rahul Dravid
Aiite Rup Man. No more from me.
ReplyDeleteThere is no point of us ranting about it anyways..
How about the game last nite...anything interesting..details?
Lance and Pud Thai..
ReplyDeleteCan we please stop the international cricket talk?
Please?
It could get very emotional and ugly in here.
How about we talk about our own cricket..?
Lance what team do you play for? :-)
I'm not judging why they would cheat or not, I'm just stating a fact - all the 5 gentlemen were found guilty of ball tampering by the ICC - so if Waqar and Shoaib are cheats, going by the same yardstick, so are Atherton, Tendulkar and Dravid.
ReplyDeletePlease was not supposed to be a question..sorry...
ReplyDeleteWorking and Blogging at the same time...you know ....lost my focus there..
Anyone from the management, what is the update on Div 1 vs 2 match? Is it gonna happen this season?
ReplyDeleteI think they are just laying low.......after they already dropped the bait by losing 2...if you know what I'm saying..
ReplyDeleteThey like to be the under dogs, rather than being one of the favorites..
So, they are now "The Raiders of the Turned Ark" ?
ReplyDeleteI thought we were done about talking international cricket. Anyways, I don't wanna judge any international team on ethics etc. I think that this tampering law should be abandoned, like Woolmer, Chappell (I), Pringle and Imran Khan (to an extent) think - if you say that cricket should stay the same as it's been in the past then I suggest you take away the light helmets, light bats (with better and wider sweet spots) and let the batsmen play in pads made of bamboo sticks.
ReplyDeleteLets ignore this man.
ReplyDeletePlease do not reply, unless he says something constructive.
So, are the Wildcats in the playoffs for the AL tourney?
ReplyDeleteI mean Ignore Adnan, Raheel.
ReplyDeleteRup what do you think? Do you think that if bowlers are allowed to scratch one side of the ball with fingernails, would it give them a huge advantage?
ReplyDeleteIgnore him too folks...
ReplyDeleteRaheel... at this point, we are working to make sure that everything is in place for the playoffs. Will have something regarding Div-1 Vs Div-2 pretty soon.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that we are able to ignore some of the bloggers who are trying to incite. Please continue to ignore such comments !!
I don't think the scratching would give too much advantage in new ball conventional swing - Rup you pointed out correctly the body position and release point (wrist position), for outswing it is recommended to be as side on as naturally possible and pivot after delivering the ball. New ball swing happens mostly due to seam position IMO (the seam acts as a rudder, the ball travels in the direction that seam is slightly tilted towards i.e. the slips or fine leg).
ReplyDeleteReverse swing requires one side of the ball to become heavier (with the loading of saliva and sweat) and wetter while the other should remain dry and scruffed (abrassive pitch / ground, fingernails, sandpaper, yada yada ..). Generally newer ball swings more for medium pacers, whereas for reverse swing the faster you bowl, the more and later it swings.
Rup, sometimes the ball only swings in one direction for me irrespective of the wind, e.g. if the wind is blowing from left to right across the pitch the ball should naturally swing in with the seam upright or tilted a little towards fine leg, but at times the ball just goes away *against* the wind. I also find it harder to control the inswinger, it mostly drifts down the legside and if I compensate by bowling it a little wide of off stump, it doesn't swing at all :( - any help with that? How do you (being a leftie) bowl an inswinger (wide on the crease? a little open chested?) to left handers?
ReplyDeleteHow about having an ACC v MCC allstar match? ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't think there's anything wrong with either approach: having teams that represent a particular culture / country or mixed - it's all fun.
ReplyDeleteYou want to try out for next season goodone?
ReplyDeletewhich 3 teams from the bottom will scrape themselves in the playoffs?
ReplyDeleteflames
muslim
bears
wildcats
any team mehul or samarth go to will be a big gain for ! wildcats or flames?
ReplyDeleteRup,
ReplyDeleteNot much info on their web site also!
http://www.americancricketconference.org/
It will be interesting to see what is going on!
Vipul
2nd down!!
ReplyDeleteSo far it is BAD NEWS.. I can't even walk, will have some update in the evening today as I have 4th appt. with Dr.
Great game.. SL and Night, way to go
Cheers!
Vipul
LOL
ReplyDeleteI say lets put them (Mehul and Samarth) on eBAY!
Atleast, we can get a good deal.
I'm sure Mehul and Samarth are cracking up right now, have a laugh guys.
Or maybe the Trailer park/ white trash sport like "Mud Diving".
ReplyDeleteBlondie, why dont you try that - Mud diving. You can take your toothless girlfriend with you too.
Dont ever bring in the foreigner term in here, you dumbass..your dad or grandpa was one too..so you're yelling at yourself..
Adnan,
ReplyDeleteyou forgot your Hajmola again?
Take it easy pal, we know you've issues.
Hang in there...
Rup,
ReplyDeleteI am looking fwd to see you guys in DIV 1..
Vipul
This is getting hilarious.
ReplyDeleteTrader,
Are you their agent?
I put 5 cents on Samarth and 10 on Mehul, just for the heck of it.
Trader,
ReplyDeleteChill Dawg !
I was only kidding. Can't take a joke?
Why dont you stop pimping for Samarth and Mehul and start doing something worthwhile..huh?
Trader,
ReplyDeleteDo you play for UCC?
Can we do a trade?
Flames can give Tariq and Kiran to UCC and Mehul and Samarth will go to Flames.
This will also put Tariq and Adnan on the same team. Matter solved. Everything under control.
No more issues.
I think the Bears will upset Challengers and sneak in.
ReplyDeleteMuslim will beat Milwaukee and make it, but our champs will most likely be fishing this post season.
I dont think they are gonna beat both of them, as they have to win both the games.
'Raheel,
ReplyDeleteThere is a rumor that you might be leaving pak gymkhana and playing for Muslim next year.'
Thats news to me - where did you hear that rumor?
Tabloids Raheel. Watch out for the paparazzi!
ReplyDeleteBTW Raheel, are you going for the Emmy's this weekend?
Rup,
ReplyDeleteThats exactly why I give the Bears an edge over Wildcats.
"LAW OF AVERAGES"
They have not being playing well, and kinda at rock bottom. The only way to go is "UP".
If the Wildcats win both, then it depends on Bears run rate, as they are in the negative zone.
you are right Umbroza..I should stop day dreaming.
ReplyDeleteSo if Wildcats lose both the games and Bears lose 2, then Phoenix is in, that will be something.
ReplyDeleteprovided they (Phoenix) win against Chargers.
ReplyDeleteWho are Bears playing besides Challengers? Yea that would be something if they both lose and Phoenix get in.
ReplyDeleteToo many permutations! I'm glad we're in the clear lol.
ReplyDeleteUmboza said...
ReplyDeleteRoyals have a much better chance than Phoenix...
Thanks for the support but there are so many if and than for us.. Looks like even if we win both games still we will be little short of playoff!!
Vipul
I like Washington Park better too. Well I talked to Mr. Tariq about it one time and he said that Hanover park has better facilities (read toilets) to stage such an event since there are supporters and families etc who come to watch. Plus sometimes Washington Park matches tend to be low scoring and in todays world of 4s and 6s (it's a batsman's game) that really not considered 'sexy', so we have to play on the Hanover astro!
ReplyDeletesure, we did play at SL game with 3 short players (would NOT use STAR player here) but major BLOW for the TEAM.. Myself, Narpreet and Manish. Would have been diff. game!!
ReplyDeleteCheers
Vipul
Very well said Mateen or should I call you Doosra!!!
ReplyDeleteVipul
Thats a very good post. In LA vs Punjab Blues we played against vice captain of the US team J Desai and Nasir Mahmood who gets tired in MCC after bowling 4 balls;) made him look like a novice, beat him a few times and had him caught in the gully.
ReplyDeleteSohail Alvi and Tehseen Ahmed have also played for US from MCC.
Mateen Bhai, you bowled us with your Doosra.
ReplyDeleteSenti math karo yaar..
Ghosh khayenge? Bahut majedar banaya meine aaj..
Mateen bhai, baree form mein hain aj kal (both with the pen - or shall i say keyboard;) and with the bat) - take it easy on sat :-p.
ReplyDeleteKnowing Raheel, I would have asked this question like " BTW Raheel, are you going for the AMY's this weekend?
ReplyDeleteLol, bhai yehan too chor de!! The only date I have this wkend is with you guys on sat ;).
681ou1,
ReplyDeleteThis is the link you need - "http://www.blogger.com/start"
Start your own blog, and then maybe you'll leave us alone.
Can someone ban this dude's IP ?
ReplyDeleteIgnore shades on people...
ReplyDelete'Lets forget about ACC and MCC and focus on the playoffs
ReplyDeletethats what the turkey has to say
gobble gobble...'
Lol, what are the Turkey's picks for the playoffs?
gobble ...
only thing I can say is STOP POSTING REPLY ON their BLOGs..
ReplyDeleteLet's talk @ playoff..
Doosra said...
ReplyDeleteIf you arrange 16 real good cricketer's from MCC with their Airfare 2 months in advance I can arrange better tour,
-----
I know couple of my friends playing for Baroda and Mumbai Ranji Team.. Can surely play against our team if you let me know little in advance..
Cheers!
Vipul
jaggi,
ReplyDeletecan't you track peoples IP's?
Lol, Blondeslayer....
ReplyDeleteMy boss just walked up to me, because I laughed so loud...
thanks
Ok folks.. back to moderation. To all the folks posting for ACC, this is not the forum to do so.
ReplyDeleteThere were some other ridiculous comments posted here that forced us to go back to moderation.
I hope you all(ok, most of you) understand.
Happy blogging !!
Oh great! So all the comments have to be 'approved' now before they appear on here?
ReplyDeleteNo more AMy's Raheel..
ReplyDeleteI've heard Shahid, Satish and may be a couple of guys from Challengers are playing in that Glendale Heights match on sunday along with Wasim Khan and Ashar Mehdi.
ReplyDeleteBy the way,,,,, The Promoter for the India XI vs Pak XI game is a MCC player from division II.. Why are our MCC players supporting ACC?
ReplyDeleteLet me make it clear that this is not an Official Midwest Cricket Conference site. The only official site as far as I know is the midwestcricket.org web site. This blog is a volunteer effort by a few of us - Jaggi, Sadiq and myself for the most part. Fortunately or Unfortunately, Jaggi became the Secretary this year and so he is in a position to clarify things from a management perspective. That was not at all intentional. We wanted a place where we can all gather and discuss our matches, players, issues etc while also being able to highlight some of the top performers by way of profiles, interviews etc. This is a place for and by the players of MCC - not by any sponsor or management or anyone else. The only comments that were deleted were ones with vulgarities and raciallly insensitive remarks. Some of them are so crude that you have to take a bath after reading it - moderating this type of nonsense is not a pleasent task. I wish we had the ability to remove the folks who are making these type of comments. It seems that the new version of blogger has stronger membership controls. Probably that is what we have to do. If anyone has suggestions please keep them coming.--Hari
ReplyDeleteHari, Jaggi
ReplyDeletehow about identifing the users (who post's from ACC) and not displaying their comments at all..
As you have mentioned many times this is only for MCC team players..
Just my input
Cheers!
Vipul
681ou1,
ReplyDeleteSorry if we deleted anything from you...I cannot see anything from you in the deleted items. Please post again..thx..hari
Vipul,
ReplyDeleteThe original intention was for this to be a site for MCC players - I had no idea why anyone else will be interested in what we do here! But, its a free country and a free blog--anyone is welcome. As long as its all in good fun what's the problem. --Hari
I bet we probably have one of the busiest blogs.....May blogspot can give us the award for blog of the year?
ReplyDeletehey, Hot off the press. UCC is breaking up
ReplyDeleteJaggi/Hari,
ReplyDeleteModeration is the best way to keep some of those nasty comments. I understand the work involved. Is there any way others can help (apart from not posting nasty comments)?
Totally agree with you Hari, as long as they keep posting positively and constructively. -- Vipul
ReplyDeleteThe original intention was for this to be a site for MCC players - I had no idea why anyone else will be interested in what we do here! But, its a free country and a free blog--anyone is welcome. As long as its all in good fun what's the problem. --Hari
ReplyDelete==============================
Dude! wanna run for presidency:)
Madhu, that is a good suggestion however I'm pretty certain we will see a rapid decline in the number of bloggers, I don't think a majority of people who blog here would wanna disclose their identities.
ReplyDeleteMost of you know that I was involved with the newsletter last year. I volunteered to become secretary only this year and help the league out. All my posts on the blog are as a fellow player and if there is anything official, I send out an email from the management email. However, I am able to clarify a few doubts that we have and that way help each other out.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am pretty new to the league(have been playing here since 2001) and hence do not understand the relationship between our league and some of the other leagues. All I know is there is a lot more than most of us here know and it definitely is not as simple as some on the blog have pointed out.
The primary reason for getting into a blog format this season was to try and have some meaningful conversations about cricket and not speculate about things. I have ignored some of the comments that do not make sense and will continue to do so.
Our highest priority is to ensure that we have a smooth and exciting season. There have been some exciting games and a lot more coming up. I say that we concentrate on enjoying what we have.
As always, members can contact the management directly via email or phone.
As Hari has pointed out, we are looking into the newer version that will give us better control over the users and the comments.
Damn !
ReplyDeleteI missed out on a lot of stuff.
Madew, that will take the fun out of the blog, if you know everybody.
As long as people know their boundaries, things should be smooth.
I'd say Pak and Challengers.
ReplyDeleteCan't make up my mind between them.
Fawad & Raheel..
ReplyDeleteAbt the comments you made regarding the bears....for shooting of fireworks after the loss.
Just wanted to clear something out we weren’t over confident abt winning the game to begin with, we knew what Imran can do and the muslims with there new acquisitions this year... its just that we have lots of fun win or lose... all the teams playing with us will tell you we have the most fun while playing a game.
and the story abt the fireworks, when we went to play MilwaukeeCC, on the way back we saw this store for Firecrackers and all of us bought lots of them, for July 4... we had so many left overs that we take some to every game and let them off WIN OR LOSE
BearsCC
Good Luck to Muslim, Purdue and Wildcats
For the division finals i think it would be an awesome crowd puller if we had a mini MELA (funfair) at the ground. We could have like small vendor stalls with indian/paki/westindian/srilankan food as well as music..... Imagine the tempo and setting this would create for the games.....
ReplyDeleteBears CC, thats cool, I just saw them go off (while watching Flames v Challengers) and was wondering what was going on - thats why we play the game, to have fun, we're not pros here who get paid or anythin (on the contrary we pay with time and money to play cricket so yes its all in good fun :) ).
ReplyDeletePakistan Gymkhana also has Bakshi, who is the 2nd best spinner in the league after Asif.
ReplyDeleteThey already have Shahid, who is the 2nd best fast bowler after Mehul. They have Raheel who is probably the fastest bowler in the league. So I say Pak has the best bowling attack
i have question for all u creative bloggers.....
ReplyDeletehow would you guys like it if every year begining from now, there are 4 team added to DIVI from DIVII and only 3 teams are sent to DIVII from I. This way we will start having an equal balance between the number of team in both DIV's, also the games in DIVII will get more competitive.
Another thing that can be doen is thaty instead of having a playoffs of 8 in DIVI, increase it to 12 and so more good teams get a chance to atleast enter into the playoffs and have a chance of creating a potential upset for the higher ranked teams.
Becuase IMHO i beleive it is harsh for teams like us the DA BEARS to be left out at 9 or phoneix at 10 or 11...
dont know just a desperate thought becase this might be the 2nd year in a row we miss the playoffs by one spot...
BEARScc
I predict a Pak/MUCC final. with MUCC winning it all, thanx to spinners.
ReplyDeleteI think 8 is just right, as far as playoff teams are concerned. If you increase the number of playoff teams to 12 then it reduces the significance of the regular season.
ReplyDeleteIts hard to win at Washington Park with a spin heavy attack, might work on astroturf or matting-over-turf, but I doubt it would be successful at Washington Park, where you need some pacers to do the job.
ReplyDeleteOur runs conceded should really be in 11 matches since we gave one walkover, so it should be 1508 in 11. We also had some 'freak' performances - 24 a.o. and 65 a.o. which aided in this statistic.
I am pretty new to the league(have been playing here since 2001) and hence do not understand the relationship between our league and some of the other leagues. All I know is there is a lot more than most of us here know and it definitely is not as simple as some on the blog have pointed out.
ReplyDelete==================================
Jaggi can you elabirate on why do you think it is not as simple as some say it is? I would love to hear the reasons.
""PAK/MUCC final, with MUCC definately winning with their awesome spinners""
ReplyDeleteLooks like somebody is living in another world.
MUCC will loose to Wildcats,challengers Pak, or STLCC. Any of these teams are capable of beating MUCC.
Having both Div I and DIV II finals the same day is a good idea @ Wash park.
ReplyDeleteWith the fun fair and partying around, it will be a good end to the season.
UCC is breaking up ...
ReplyDeleteteams in need of players ... this is the time to act !!
james bond
Milwaukee United has one of the best batting line-ups as well. They have scored 2342 runs in 11 games (one rained out) which is 2nd only to Purdue (2412 in 11).
ReplyDeleteSo you add Milwaukee United great batting to their great bowling, I think they are the team to beat.
Pak Gymkhana has an explosive batting line-up. But I feel they aren't as deep as Milwaukee United.
I would hate to see Purdue qualify for the playoffs as they are no where even close to be as good as Bears, wildcats or Muslim
ReplyDeleteAlso,
ReplyDeleteThere are so many people saying that they win due to biased umpiring....hmmm
Sadiq Bhai,
What do you think?
Would be nice if PCC can win some games in Chicago and prove if they are really a good team or are they only good in their own lil hood?
ReplyDeleteare the fields at Purdue, Milwaukee United and St.Louis easier to bat than Washington park?
ReplyDeleteRaheel, you've played in all the fields...what are your thoughts?
BY the way...same applies to MUCC.
ReplyDeleteWould be nice to see MUCC win some games in Chicago...
I think you need a fine balance between bowling and batting to win. thats why instead of looking at Runs Scored and Runs Conceded column, the NRR column is the most appropriate, it shows a team's balance the rate at which they have scored - rate of conceding runs.
ReplyDeleteUCC is breaking up?????????????? James, your Bonding is loose..Use Gorilla Glue
ReplyDeleteTo those of you interested in our site traffic:
ReplyDeleteToday we had almost 6100 Page Views and 3100 visits! That is not unique visits ( I think they use a 90 minute window to calculate unique visits) ...so I guess we should have at least 300 odd people in here ( probably more)! In this past week we had people visiting us from US, UK, Pakistan, India and one from Australia! As you guessed, the majority of traffic is between 8 AM and 6 PM Central ( I think we are now officially a major productivity killer in the midwest!) - This pretty much confirms that almost 80% of those who come to the blog just read - only a small fraction is actually posting comments. So, those making comments - your stuff is being read by a lot of people!!!
PAK will definately loose if they face Wildcats or MUCC. regaqrdless of whether the game is at hannover or washington park... PAK are easy to get if you know where to bowl to them - seemer just bowl outswings and the top 5 will fold, spinners just bowl and the whole team will fold.
ReplyDeleteUCC is definately breaking up....
ReplyDeleteYou should probably ask a batsman where it is easiest to bat, but as far as I'm concerned I think WP matting is the toughest esp. if you're not used to it, ball does a little extra for faster bowlers, it comes off the wicket quicker, moves off the wicket more than astroturf. The only place that is harder to bat on than WP is probably matting over turf (the ball comes on slower and grips /turns more for spinners).
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 3:56pm
ReplyDelete"They already have Shahid, who is the 2nd best fast bowler after Mehul. "
Dude Mehul has 14 wickets in 9 games, give me a break. I think he is pretty overrated. His speed is not more than Rups and Rup has 32 wickets and better left arm bowler. What do you guys think about this?
Pak gym is gonna kick Flame ass.
ReplyDeleteFlames all out 23 runs and pak wins in 1 over.
It is going to be the fastest match this season. will be over in 1 hour. If triq ia playing then 45 mins.....
Hari,
ReplyDeletehow about getting some sponsors now? Surely, you'd get a lot of folk around the Chicago area who would want to advertise their products on our website.
Good work with everything
Mehul Shani 9 65.5 *14* 201 *3.05* 14.36
ReplyDeleteShahid Munir 11 61 *17* 217 *3.56* 12.76
I think they're pretty neck to neck. Shahid has 3 more wickets in 2 more games, but Mehul has bowled more overs. Also Mehul doesn't have the luxury of bowlers like Farman, Raheel or Rashid at the other end!
how about getting some sponsors now? Surely, you'd get a lot of folk around the Chicago area who would want to advertise their products on our website.
ReplyDelete-------------------
Anon: Thank You. I personally prefer a clean, non-commercial look and feel to the site. I'm not against sponsorship and all, but i prefer our site to be ad free. Its nice not to have to see an ad for a change. Just my thought.
Division 1 is a different ball game, Mehul and Rup can only be compared if they play in same Division. Being a UCC member i had to give my 2 cents on this. UCC is about to loss few guys.. UCC will not see the same team next year. Poor performance has exchanged fire talks and many of us didn't like. New teams that they might look for are Challenger, Wildcat, Pheonix or Charges
ReplyDeleteHow about overall...
ReplyDeleteShahid
87 460.9 23 2302 122 18.87 83.24% 4.99 5-36
Mehul
100 682.7 44 2462 198 12.43 60.1% 3.61 6-21
jaggi & hari,
ReplyDelete"Poor performance has exchanged fire talks and many of us didn't like"
You guys shouldn't allow such comments to be posted on the blog. Let the UCC team deal with their personal affairs.
Hari,
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that if somebody is donating $20000 for putting his name on our website, we should reject it? Hmmm...not too sure about that.
Isn't it sort of ironic that UNITED is breaking up? What happened to United all the way?
ReplyDeleteif you have played any top level cricket you would know that Mehul Shani is the best seamer in all of MCC. He is the complete package, can swing both ways and has the best slow ball. the other bowler that comes close is Farman and not raheel, shahid and that gang....
ReplyDeleteImtiaz
Capitol is one worst team I ever played.I know Satha is good player but even umpires are scared him give even he is out.This season Riaz is doing umpiring but instead of he coming for match Riaz is sending his brother.Fiaz this poor chap is so scared of giving Satha out.
ReplyDeleteguys which teams do you think have the best batting line up in Div 1.
ReplyDeleteIf you were to think about containing such a batting line up, would you concentrate on the select group of people who have stood out yet or would it be a more wholesome planning and if so how.
Just looked at the stats...How about this...IIT has not a lost a single AWAY game since last year??
ReplyDeleteMadew,
ReplyDeleteI have feeling the comment that you had replied was actually referring to PCC as in Purdue Cricket Club and not Peoria Cricket Club even though your reply can really apply to most non-chicago teams. It is obviously hard for you guys or for that matter the non-Chicago teams to travel for games every week, but IMO they should make it mandatory for all away teams to also travel 4 games in the season and ideally to play more than 2 games at Washington Park and at least one at Hanover Park.
Please note that UCC is alive and well. there were no "fire talk" and no breakup. someone has the wrong impression of UCC.
ReplyDeleteAnd "United All The Way" is the way we at UCC are...Come out and watch us play Muslim on Sept 9th. You will know how true that is
Imtiaz
UCC
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteHari,
Are you saying that if somebody is donating $20000 for putting his name on our website, we should reject it? Hmmm...not too sure about that.
----------------
I never said that. I just said that i prefer an ad free environment. Obviously, if there is a bonafide offer on the table, we will have to consider it. Until then, lets all enjoy the clean look here!
Well, as a UCC member, I agree with Imtiaz. Although there were some heated arguments, but who does not have them.
ReplyDeleteNext year, UCC is gonna be there. I do understand that Mehul might not play and samarth as well. we had talk about that and we all know that. Wildcats have alredy talked to Mehul I guess. But united is getting some challenger players!
I am still waiting on Jaggi Dada to tell me the reasons.
ReplyDeleteFriends,
ReplyDeleteIts back to the old format. No more moderation for now. If you see any nasty postings please email it with time stamp to blog(at)midwestcricket.org. Lets police this together and try to make it work. Thank You --Hari
Not takin anything away from Raheel but he is not the fastest bowler in our leauge!! Fastest is Satish, Shahid, Imran, those who have faced raheel can vouch for this, his run up is more faster then his arm, but no doubt he is a good bowler just an average pacer there are many players in this leauge with his pace
ReplyDeleteBuenos diás Amigos !!!
ReplyDeleteTGIF !!
Anybody else excited?
Know what we need? - a desi dhaba and get all the bloggers over there.
ReplyDeleteTalk it out over whatever you want to drink and some good food.
Anybody know a place like that?
Aaaoooooooo...nice
ReplyDeleteWhos up for Baba's tonite?
Murga shurga and maybe hang out later...Sound Bar (I personally like that place)
Hey PUD_THAI, did you mean PAD_THAI or its a different name?
ReplyDeleteIs that another dish?
Just curious..
lol 1down..
ReplyDeleteI think clubboys will be clubbed no matter where he goes, he just has it in him.
aiite, since everybody wants to talk cricket and nothing but cricket lets do that.
ReplyDeleteI thought we could loosen up a little bit in the morning.
OK, what do you guys think about travelling 5 hours to play cricket?
I think thats too much to go to St. Louis or anywhere for that matter.
Say, we have a game against St. Luois CC, maybe we could travel half way, like to Springfield or Peoria, and STL CC can travel half way to.
Its just a nightmare going all the way to STL.
Hats off to the Royals team for playing 3 in a row, and one in STL.
I would be in a massage parlor for 7 days if I did something like that.
Jaggi, or scheduling or whoever,
Can we schedule something favorable to both teams, so that, one team doesn't have to travel 4-5 hours?