Saturday, August 12, 2006

Open Thread: August 12/13 Matches

Here is an open thread to discuss the August 12/13 Matches.

83 comments:

Raheel said...

"Pak gym defeated Rivercity. Rivercity got all out at 65 which Pak chased in 10 overs.
Farman got 4 wicks.
Pak Gym is on a roll here... and we are facing them in 2 weeks!"

Don't worry Nasir, we go easy on ex-Pak Gym players hehe. You have Challenegers next week, think about that first;)- good luck.

I'd like to add that the ball was swinging unbelieveably, ofcourse Farman can swing an orange, but when my deliveries on off-middle stump were being collected in front of 1st/2nd slips (to my own astonishment) you knew it was other than pure ability. I don't think I've beaten the outside edge so many times over the course of my entire (although brief) MCC career! There wasn't a cloud in sight nor too much wind, so must have been the ball - I have saved it and would request MCC management to find more like this one! ;)

Jaggi said...

Phoenix losing to Milwaukee is also creating a problem for us(Tigers). We are dead last at this point and now need to fight it out to stay in div-1.

Congratulations to all the winners. It looks like St Louis won a close game against United. Can anybody give us an update on that?

Raheel said...

Hmm... didn't he play in LA 20-20? I vaguely remember that name Asela Jayasinghe? Can anyone confirm this please?

Jaggi said...

yes he did... Krishna(our captain)'s friend is a friend of Asela. He was coming down to Detroit to play(on Sunday), but instead came on Saturday to play for us. We were seriously short on players. I didnt go, but from what I have heard and read on cricinfo, he is supposedly the next Jayasuriya.

Jaggi said...

A Jayasinghe c. R Akhtar b. B Sarna 8 13

http://www.laopen2020.com/scorecards.php?matchid1=32&action=search&season=2006&schedule=yes

Raheel.. thats why you remember him :-)

Raheel said...

Haha right on Jaggi! Yea I held his catch at the long on boundary off Bhavneet's bowling!

Raheel said...

"Flames Challengers - Challengers demolish Flames by atleast 150 runs or 9 wickets"

I think it might be closer than that! Flames has some good players.

Some interesting results this weekend with regards to playoffs: Rogers Park beat Muslim, Milwaukee CC beat Phoenix, MUCC won by 1 wicket vs Rogers Park, Flames beat Chargers, St Louis beat United, Wildcats beat Rivercity. Who do you think will be the top 8 teams in Div 1 (playoffs)?

Jaggi said...

I think, Pak Gymkhana, Challengers, Milwaukee United, St Louis, Flames and Purdue will go thru.
Bears, Wildcats/Muslim Gymkhana will fight for the remaining 2 spots.

Bears are to play Muslim, Challengers and St Louis.
Muslim play Bears, Milwaukee and United.
Wildcats play Phoenix, Milwaukee United(this will be interesting) and Flames.

Jaggi said...

On the other end of the spectrum, there are a bunch of teams fighting to stay alive in div-1. Milwaukee by winning against Phoenix, has almost secured itself of staying in div-1. Rogers Park won an imp game against Muslim.

I think its a three way fight between Tigers, Chargers and Rivercity. We(Tigers) are playing Chargers this weekend. Extremely important for us to win this.

Raheel said...

Challengers' batting is not clicking these days and I wouldn't call Nasir and Zeeshan 'slow and old', Flames also has Dr. Rafiq, Sufian and Mateen who can score, Challengers might be a better team but on the day anything can happen.

Raheel said...

What team do you play for s_p?

Raheel said...

I don't think I care too much, and yea I thought it might be someone from the Bears, as we don't have too many MUCC or St Louis people talking on here (other teams who have beaten Falmes).

Raheel said...

Welcome back Sadiq bhai .. you've been AWOL!

Raheel said...

Sadiq Bhai, good analysis - can we also do something like that for teams who have gotten the most wickets or have bowled out sides most often?

Raheel said...

Romeen, I think your questions might have been answered this season. Last season Div 1 finalists: Wildcats / Pak Gym vs Div 2 finalists: Purdue / Phoenix.

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

Sadiq - According to you, which two teams are well equipped to go to Div 2 this year?

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

oops typo above...must read Div 1

Raheel said...

Hey Vijay, you're in Div 1 now! Stop taking Div 2's side! ;)

Raheel said...

Another thought, instead of all star game, how about Div 1 and 2 champions game? Since it's gonna be played after the 2 finals anyways and a team is not made over-night (as proved by the ICC World XI vs Australia mismatch!) and Mr. Jack here is confident that ICC can beat any Div 1 team, let's see if ICC can win Div 2 title and then pit them against Div 1 winners. What do you guys think?

Raheel said...

I just noticed that post again ... ICC in World XI stands for Int'l Cricket Council and ICC after that is Illinois Cricket Club ;) !

Jaggi said...

Personally, I prefer All-stars of div-1 against All-stars of div-2.
It will get more teams involved and hence can expect a bigger audience. It can also be used as a reference to select players for future tournaments that we will participate in.

straight_drive said...

Good post suburbunite!

THUD!

That is the sound of Jack falling from the beanstalk and coming back to Earth!

cric_fan said...

Why is it that when an intersting discussion comes up some dweeb ends it by picking on some bowler or batsmen that either bowled him out or hit him around the ground....

We have a chance here to discuss the cricket we play and not pick on players that you have something against...

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

cric_fan,
its because some bowler or batsman lets his ego speak...that too in a consdescending manner!

Vipul Patel said...

Game to WATCH - ICC vs Suburban

cric_fan said...

Does any team record their games? If so any links to view them? Thanks in advance

Vipul Patel said...

suburbanite

What do you think will be the outcome of the Game ??

cheers!
Vipul

Vipul Patel said...

Jack,
I would let your BALL do the talking .. for others here is the current standing stats

Challenor Jack Illinois Cricket Club 11 71.6 7 248 23 10.78 3.46 5-18 (at #4 on Div II top Bowler list)

straight_drive said...

This is what Rup did in the night game against a mediocre Div 1 team:

Rupnarine Seenarain st Vipul Patel b Bharat Patel 31 19 1 2
after being dropped twice.

And...

Rupnarine Seenarain 1 0 13 1

that one wicket was a catch in the outfield not a bowled or lbw or ct behind or even ct in the circle. Nasir, Arshad Yousuf, Zeeshan, Asif, Siraj - all bowled better than him. His only contribution was 3 catches in the outfield.

Raheel said...

C'mon guys stop this mudslinging! I saw that night game and Rup did a good job, those 3 catches were very important to the outcome of the game (ask Royals who dropped so many!) and his boundaries at the end of the Inns pushed the score over 150.

Let's have that Div 1 v Div 2 match management!

cric_fan said...

So i guess this week is "ICC bashing Week" Guys you do know if we talked more about cricket it'd be fun.. and for the bashers this bashing shit could go on during the offseason...

Hey RUP i think the only time these guys talk is on the blog.. Usually they shut up and wish they were home when they face your bowling.... this is their weeping i mean dressing room......

straight_drive said...

Jack win the Div 2 title then we can have a match of Div 1 vs Div 2 champs, you might come up against a team like Pak Gymkhana, Challengers, Wildcats, Milw United etc. and you can test your skills against them.

Raheel said...

Nice idea, cricket in January! :) What kind of a place is this 'dome'? Any details available?

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

Jack,

There was no hatred for Purdue last year...bcuz there was no blog last year to write about match situations, second of all they don't seem to be the kind of guys who would boast about their lineup. I have not played against them. But then there this thing called reputation. Ashwin's email in an earlier thread conveyed a message that they are confident, but not arrogant.

Umpiring issues have come to the fore because of this medium. More people are talking about it. No one team can publicly accuse the other of a victory because of umpiring decisions, especially those teams whose reputation is not something to speak about. Its a well known fact that there are few biased umpires in our league. Its for the benefit of all of us that they are sent to lunatic assylum.

May be next year, all teams can review the umpires and inform the management about their opinions and preferences. While doing so, it would be great if all teams can volunteer umpires as well. This way, while sending out the third-rate types, we can get good umpires.

Slightly different topic:
We played Peoria CC over the weekend and we lost (nothing new here ...we are experiencing a losing streak!). They are a good team and above all good bunch of folks. Good luck to Peoria CC in the playoffs.

Jaggi said...

Romeen, when you say Gaurav, is it Gaurav Dhar? Would be interested to get more info about the indoor games in Detroit.

Honestly, I have no clue about the talent in div 30/30. It would be good to see some of it. I will fwd the message from 1down to the management as well.

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

Guys remember Shoaib Akhtar and Andy Caddick. These two had a tendency to boast off in the press about how they would be bowling to some superstars in their next match. Next thing you know, they are whacked all over the ground. Best example is the India/Pak encounter in 2003 world cup. Shoaib got a treatment that took him some time to recover.

On the other hand, Wasim Akram or a Waqar Younis have never boasted to the press about how they would rip the middle stumps. And we all know how well they did it in the 90's. They are real performers and champions.

I think some of our good players have to behave as one.

Removing the logo "ATTITUDE" from their sleeve will help them in the playoffs.

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

Pauly

I did not travel to Purdue to play that game last year. Wasn't it a very close game? close being an understatement...

Raheel said...

Everyone is playing pundit today - how fun! ;)

Raheel said...

it's I I T not I T T !

Raheel said...

Priyank is a good bowler. I think Phoenix's bowling is better than their batting - just my view. Plus usually good bowlers stand out when they don't have 'competition' within the team, e.g. Asif, he is the only wicket taker in his team. In Pak Gym, we have 3-4 bowlers in the most wickets column - Bakhshi has 20, Myself and Rashid bhai have 19 each and Shahid has 17, we have to "fight" eachother for wickets;).

Raheel said...

"Raheel,
If there is one good bowler in the team. Then any good opposition would just play him out without taking any risks. Just my personal opinion."

Thats what people try to do against Asif, last time I checked he had 29 wickets!

Raheel said...

"Very cool. For the first time on this blog, we are all actually praising a player rather than doing some BS talk about being lucky and all....!!!"

Too late alph! ..

"Of course Pak Gymkhana has the greatest, bowlers, batsmen and fielders...who fight among themselves for wickets and when they loose they fight with umpires and other teams...Tsk Tsk"

Pak Gym bashing is in vogue again lol.

Jaggi said...

Asela played one game for us and I am not sure if he will play more.
As Sadiq mentioned, the man is playing in two leagues regularly- LA and Michigan. Not sure if he will find the time to come back.

Jaggi said...

Dear bloggers.. I am attaching the email that was just sent out to all teams. We require your help in ensuring that the playoffs go on smoothly. Please participate and help spread the message !!



Dear MCC Members,

The playoffs are fast approaching. We would like to build a pool of volunteers to help us out with umpiring and scoring.

We request all the teams to sign up a minimum of two players for the same. Please send out volunteer's name, email id and phone no to umpiring@midwestcricket.org


Regards
Management

Raheel said...

I don't think I'm anywhere near the best, so direct that at Mehul. Jehangir is or shall i say was good as he doesn't play in MCC anymore. He hit somethin like 74 in 35 balls against us in 2003 when I played for IIT, but I also bowled him twice on no-balls (the scorecard doesn't record that). I get frustrated more by batsmen who have a solid defense more than the hitters, because against hitters you always have a chance somehow. I think Romeen from Wildcats is very good, he always stays at the crease and scores 40-odd without taking risks and other batsmen can bat around him.

Raheel said...

Do we have more test cricket fans here or ODIs? or even 20/20 ;)?

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

Guys - How about starting a bloggers club and meeting once in a while during the off-season.

any interest/takers?

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

Vijay - You are right. I was referring to the Eagles/Purdue game last year. I did not play that game.

Pradeep - Have you mistaken me for some body else? If not for this blog, none would even know who I am! BTW, so many people have referred IIT as ITT and it used to piss us off before. Some CTA bus drivers passing thru the campus used to refer to it in the same way. Not a pleasant thing to hear.

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

We missed a great opportunity against eventual Champions last year.

I am not sure if Purdue played a closer game than this one.

Speaking of rains:
This year, against Jaguars, we spent two hours doing yard work at Heritage Park after heavy rains overnight, played a 30 over game and the result was decided on the field. It was not a close game though. We were the host, but Jaguars gladly helped us in getting the ground ready. Both the teams wanted to play. We used buckets to drain the playing area, and filled soggy areas with mulch (~15 bags), decided to bowl from only one end and then played the game.

We took a 30 minute break just to start the match after getting the ground ready...Lot of us were very tired even before the first ball was bowled!

Raheel said...

I am watching the match live right now, he's cutting the ball in both directions off the same length and getting a bit of swing too, some deliveries have moved in both directions before reaching the keeper! I don't think anyone is missing Sami except the Eng batsmen may be ;).

who is god said...

***********************************

Player No. 1 said...

Div 1 Finals,

Pak V/s Challengers - Pak chokes again and Challegeners win a close game.

Div 2 Finals,

ICC V/S IIT - ICC wins:: Jack/Simon get Laxmi's wicket and IIT's batting collapses to 150 all out. ICC wins by 4 wickets

***********************************
Ur Prediction for the Div II final is far too away...Let the quaters n Semis get over first ....

N reg ur prediction...Jack/Simon

IIT's batting is not Laxmi alone...
We have a very experienced batting line up..

Vasu ( who has played more than 60 games in MCC ) , Ajay Gandhi , Arka Mukherjee ( our skipper ).

n getting Laxmi's wicket...its not a piece of cake ! :)...remember what happened even in the ICC V IIT match which we lost...Laxmi was unfortunately run out after he slipped when he was in his 30's..His Best is yet to be seen...n we too r not playing anywhere near our peak .

Raju
IIT-an

Jaggi said...

Chargers chased 220 against Muslim.. holy cow !! I saw the very first couple of overs of the game, saw Imran dropped by Irfan and then Kamran(muslim) launch one into the orbit... one of the biggest sixes I have seen.

Uh oh.. we play the chargers this weekend in a do-or-die match for both teams fighting to stay in div-1. Should be interesting !!

Congratulations to the Chargers !!

Mehul said "I really urge all GOOD players to come out and do some volunteer umpiring. It will help league and raise level of cricket immensely. "
Well said Mehul !!

Romeen, they have scheduled you for Monday night game.

Guys, we had Prakash(from Tigers), Mehul(United) and Romeen(Wildcats) come forward and umpire. Can we get more for the games next week?

who is god said...

@ Jack !!

Everyone knows u guys r the best..
I have nothing more to say..

All the Best for taking the Championship ! :)

Raju

Raheel said...

I've played with Lakshmi and bowled at him in the nets, he doesn't really have a weakness, I think he only gets out due to his impatience sometimes, trying to force shots that aren't on. When on song he is very aggressive and great to watch and one of the few batsmen in the league (both divisions) who can pull really well.

Raheel said...

I'm not givin away any secrets ;) you should adhere to the Glenn McGrath rule of every delivery in the corridor and try to hit the top of off stump :-p - good luck!

Raheel said...
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Raheel said...

Raheel,

are you scared of laxmi?

Not really, he's a little guy, quite adorable actyually ... nothing to be scared of !

Raheel said...

No one can predict any outcomes - I don't know what the outcome will be if we play tomorrow at Lords for instance! However, we did beat them at Washington Park too last season. Who moght you be Mr. cricketer ;) - Challengers fan?

Raheel said...

By SC do you mean Southern California, because is stands for South Carolina ;). Well Cali defenitely has better weather (hence more cricket) and better facilities, so I would believe the standard of cricket will be a little better too, but I don't think MCC is as bad as you're making it out to be!

Raheel said...

By the way, Tarun Reddy used to play in Div 2 here, last I checked he was in the allstar SCCA team ;).

cric_fan said...
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cric_fan said...
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Jaggi said...

The scorecard for the Chargers Vs Muslim game is up. Incredible stuff:
http://www.midwestcricket.org/asp/Score88.asp?id=2376

Can somebody give us more details please? It looks like the Chargers won of the last ball.

Raheel said...

What do you guys think would be the match ups in playoffs (i.e. quarter finals)?

Raheel said...

Wides seems to be the difference in that scorecard - Chargers bowled 10, Muslim 22.

Jaggi said...

sheks said "Mehul how did it change from 2 overs 20 to 2 overs 13..

Extras? Thats huge.. "


Mehul said "Imran bowled a high fulltoss to Rafi which ended up over midwicket boundary."

Am assuming this was a no ball and they scored maximum.

Raheel said...

I wonder what was said that's been deleted! Lol scrappy why do you hate Flames so much? What did they do to you (something serious by the looks of it).

Vipul Patel said...

now this is getting UGLY!!! what do you have against Flames! Scrappy

cheers!
Vipul

Vipul Patel said...

now this one "IMHO" was pattented by SADIQ... What you will do now Sadiqbhai??
Vipul

hari said...

Ehsan,

On behalf of the Blog/Newsletter Team, I want to thank you for all your help and support for this project. We will miss you - more than anything else, we will miss your friendship. I want to wish you the very best wherever life takes you. Thanks Again!

Hari

Raheel said...

I'll stick my neck out and name the playoff teams:

Pak Gym
Challengers
MUCC
St. Louis
Bears
Flames
Wildcats
Muslim (very close with Purdue/Phoenix)

Raheel said...

Scrappy who are the non-losers in your eyes? Since you keep labelling individuals and teams as 'losers' quite liberally!;)

Raheel said...

Does anyone on here know how the night playoffs work? Is it like Group A1 plays Group D2 and A2 vs D1 and the same with B and C ?

Raheel said...

"Raheel, Its 1-8 2-7 3-6 5-4.

The standing will be in 1-8 from 16 teams. not groupwise."

That system is flawed, so a team could end up playing a team from their group in the quarter finals whom they have already played in the group matches?!

Vipul Patel said...

Raheel,

So far that's how the Night Game playoffs have been done (last 2-3 yrs)

Jaggi said...

raheel... the top 2 from the 4 groups advance to the playoffs. The 8 teams are seeded 1-8 based on points and net run-rate. 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7 etc.

Raheel said...

Thanks Jaggi yes I got that.

Raheel said...

I'll let you know in a month and a half or so ;) sit tight.

Jaggi said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

So i guess, it doesnt matter if we have the anonymous option enabled or disabled...its still going to be a huge headache for the blog admin to monitor this blog.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jaggi said...

Things definitely got out of hand. A bunch of folks, tried to bring down the blog by using abusive language and talking about things that had nothing to do with cricket.

Hari and I have decided to monitor this blog. This means that every single comment will have to be approved by us. It definitely is a lot more work for us, but something we will do to ensure that we continue the good discussions.

I hope we all continue to have the discussions and get used to not seeing some of the comments immediately. We will try our best to ensure that the comments show up quickly.