as follows (taken from the LA Open link on the main
page):
Player Name Team Name
Sohail Alvi - Captain St. Louis RH Batsman
Shahid Munir - VC Pak Gym RH Bat/Bowl
Satha Sivapragasam Capitol RH Batsman
Maninder Bola Peoria RH Bat/LA Bowl
Afroze Siddiqui Bears RH Spin/Bat
Amit Kumar St. Louis RH Spin/Bat
Asif Mahmood Milwaukee LA Spin/RH Bat
Raheel Akhter Pak Gym RH Fast Bowler
Imran Taylor Lucky XI Wkt Keeper
Nilesh Patel Challengers RH Bat/Bowl
Nasir Mehmood Flames RH Fast Bowler
Madhu Reddy Peoria RH Bat/Bowl
Dakshesh Patel Challengers RH Bat/Bowl
Following players were contacted but are not avaibale due to their personal engagements.
Player Name Team Name
Satish Reddy Wildcats
Bhavneet Sarna Milwaukee United
Kiran Kambhampati Flames
Ajay Ghandi IIT
Wade Allen Milwaukee
Ajit Ramaswami Wildcats
Tehsin Ahmed St. Louis
------------
A quite similar team to last year, and one (similarly)
that could have been even better if some of the players
contacted had been available to actually go.
Views and Comments? Brickbats and bouquets? Feel free to
write in, to our new LA Open thread (as if our blog ever
needed that invitation :-) And meanwhile, Good Luck to
Our Boys in their adventure out West - may you do us
proud!
by Sadiq Yusuf
sadiq@midwestcricket.org
222 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 222 of 222No one predicting for the weekend games ...
Cricketwallah said...
BTW, scores in St Louis this season are as follows:
AAA 53 allout
Rogers Park 135 allout
Challengers 164 allout
Pak Gym 96 allout
United 223 allout (chasing 236)
c8w
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cro_magna_crawling said...
once again esoteric information c8w.
you are not keeping into account all of these teams had to drive 5+ hrs.
st. louis 137 allout
st. louis 167
both losses and on the road. point is you have no point
--------------------------
c8w,
i think you have been irrational here. wicket like STL, white water and even hanover park offer very little for bolwers. for me playing on those wickets are not much different than playing tennis ball cricket. what you are forgeting is people who used to play on bouncy and quick wickets like WP going to have problem with slow spongy wickets at STL.
STL players and MCC players know where to bowl and how to bat under those conditions from word go. they are programmed to do that. why would STL never win on the road? are they formidable at WP? i dont think so. look at the numbers CMC put forward.
Nothing personal shekhs, I just wanted to break peace barrier, just kidding.
Warriors Raiders -- Raiders
Madison Cricket Club Arsenal --MADISON
SIUE Cricket Club Advancers --- SIUE
Tigers Lucky XI --TIGERS
Q.C. Kings Jolly Rovers --JOLLY ROVERS
Springfield Collinsville Club --COLLINSVILLE
Jaguars Chicago Giants --GIANTS
NoStars Cricket Club CCI --CCI
Evanston IIT --IIT
Illinois Cricket Club Eagles --ICC
Chicago Cricket Club Chicago Acers --CCC
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neanderthal_walking said...
c8w,
i think you have been irrational here. wicket like STL, white water and even hanover park offer very little for bolwers. for me playing on those wickets are not much different than playing tennis ball cricket. what you are forgeting is people who used to play on bouncy and quick wickets like WP going to have problem with slow spongy wickets at STL.
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Look, I dont disagree that astro is not good for bowlers - Ive been saying that for years, and thats why I always prefer WP, I think its the best cricketing ground we have (regardless of lack of facilities etc). But the point is, Chicago teams too get to play at Hanover and Heritage - many teams play about as many games there as they do at WP. Yet everyone only ever talks of "outside players stats are inflated" etc, no? Thats all I was trying to point out. (In some cases those players stats are deflated... Romesh from MCC playing on a low-scoring pitch, as an example).
Secondly, no matter how much of an adjustment it is from WP to St Louis pitch... 53 allout, 96 allout, 135 allout, 164 allout... if a pitch has *nothing* for bowlers, no matter how much of an adjustment, youd make more than that, no? Iam just saying, its better for batting, yes, no doubt.. but not *so* useless for bowlers that you should just ignore all scores made there saying "oh, its astro and at home, none of it counts". People play at WP one week, and then at Hanover next week (which is much worse for bowling than any other pitch anywhere, much worse than Whitewater etc IMHO)... and yet at Hanover they score just fine. In fact they score more, despite the adjustment factor, because batting is so easy there!
Lets be fair about it when judging, is all Iam saying. Travelling is difficult for a lot of reasons - at our level waking up early, driving so far, playing on a different surface... all have an impact. But that doesnt mean all away teams or players arent good despite it all, that they just got lucky. Milwaukee CC had all the travelling and pitch advantages last year, and they did horribly... this year theyre doing very well. Thats because they are playing better, not because the travelling and pitch suddenly got worse for Chicago teams. Satha plays on a pitch that is frankly very similar to WP - he plays all games on it, doesnt get to play on "easy pitches at Hanover"... overall the pitches he plays on are probably *harder* than here, because Hanover is so easy to bat on in comparison. Yet he too had the "easy conditions" allegation made before. I just dont agree with it, is all.
c8w
c8w,
i think most of these are judgements rather comparisons. no doubt players like amit got the ability but there are better players to pick and i dont understand any reasonable for explnation to pick up afroze, nasir and raheel
my bad * not judgement*
shekh i was under impresion that u r time-pass last yr....... or u are both time-pass and desi-ababu??????
Tushar said:
Shwetal,
Stop making excuses, you F***.
--------
Shekhs: Is koh samjha na rey....gaalee nai bolneyka...galee bolneysay liver kharabh hota hai ! Mareykoh pooch.
Can you see Tushar/Bhavesh going to bars and going: "oy Ganpath! Chal daroo laa...ice zaaada, sodaa kum, thoda panee meela. Thoda table wable saaf kur dena yaar"
In case some you missed that context....this b da ganpath rap from da movie "Shoot out at Lokhandwala"...boley toh ekdum jhakaas rap hai baap !
Uska liver hi nahin hein to gharab kya hoga bhai...
Bhavesh - Bhuchia bhai chawiwala !!!
Time,
hmm looks like we know each other...
wazzup man..whuts up for the weekend..
Bond,
No worries dude...was just giving you a hard time..
Ah, Tango, Tango.. its a pleasure to debate with you :-) I havent had this much fun since the good old days on rsc :-)
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Tango said...
Just so I make myself clear once again: I don’t think Afroze should have been in the team. Selecting him as an All-Rounder is a far bigger travesty than Amit being selected as a specialist batsman. But, he is the only other half-decent spinner in the side (assuming Bola doesn’t bowl spin; and no, I don’t consider Satha and Sohail to be spinners). Therefore, replacing him with Imran makes little sense. I would have taken Pradeep in his place; he’s a much better fit, since he’s a lot harder to hit than Afroze, and he’s a pretty handy batsman too, although his batting style is best suited for the longer version of the game.
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OK, I dont disagree with you much... I think there is a crying need for spinners on the side, I think there is a shortage of them actually, I wish they had taken at least one more (if they could find a decent one), leaving out a paceman or allrounder or whoever! I understand Afroze being a batting-spinner in the side in that sense too... (BTW, if I may offer... Amit has actually taken more wickets with spin this season than Afroze has? :-) I know, I know, he's played more, his econ-rate is high etc...but in a pinch he can bowl you an over or two of spin as well. Maybe? :-)
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Tango said:
Now, I wouldn’t mind Imran being selected ahead of Madhu. But Madhu, unlike Pradeep, is an excellent 20-20 batsman. So I’d probably take him ahead of Amit. If it were a 50 over game, then I’d pick Amit over Madhu in a heartbeat. Madhu is also a handy bowler, and considering the past achievements of our opening bowlers, or lack there off, I’d be a lot happier having Madhu on my side.
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See, I agree with you on a lot of the above too... Madhu is a heck of a hitter (he hit 6 sixes in the last match I umpired him!), very very useful in 20/20 too. But I disagree with you when you pick Madhu as allrounder and yet have Bola *not* as allrounder... note, this year Bola has 16 wickets in 6 games at 8, Madhu in the same team has 10 wickets in 8 games at 20. Surely Bola is an allrounder just as much as Madhu, performance-wise? And Bola is bowling mediumpace with the new ball, Madhu is coming first change for Peoria. Theyre both allrounders IMHO>
In this team, Id say you have Shahid, Daxx, Nilesh as pace-bowling allrounders, Nasir and Raheel as pacemen, Asif as spinner. Id say Bola as batting-allrounder/pace. Id say Madhu is also batting-allrounder/pace in this side. Then Afroze is batting-allrounder/spin, and I honestly think theyve picked Amit as probably second batting-allrounder/spin. If you are chopping and choosing between the last 3 or 4 named players, Tango... you could make several arguments, no? Do you want the best batting numbers guy who bowls a little spin? Or the slightly lower batting numbers guy who bowls slightly better spin? Or the hitter allrounder who bowls pace (but there are 3-4 other pacemen/allrounders already in the side) etc etc. All tough judgements IMHO... which is why I object to calling Amit's picking a travesty etc. Imran should definitely be there - but IMHO you can make a pretty good argument about which of the 3-4 players listed above he could replace, if need be, to me its not very clear cut. (And also, BTW, is there a limit on 13 player? Arent 14 allowed anyway?)
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Tango said..
Just by glancing over the names in the squad, it looks as though our batting is extremely strong, while our bowling is extremely weak!
We only have two reliable bowlers in the side, Nilesh and Asif. Shahid and Daxx are far too inconsistent, and the rest of the bowlers…..well, I don’t want to beat up on them even more, so lets just leave it at ‘not good enough’. Having a lot of backups is a necessity.
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I agree with having lots of backups.. I heard a suggestion once that at least 7 guys who could bowl would be needed, and I sort of agree with that. Id put Shahid in your "reliable" category too, BTW, along with Asif and Nilesh. What I would have really done with this team... left out one paceman or pace/allrounder and gone with at least 1 extra spinner. But I think the selectors probably just couldnt find a spinner they wanted (both Bhavneet and Tehsin said no after all, and Samarth is already with the other team).
I agree with you, in general the bowling is weak. But thats kind of circumstance-driven here, sadly. My first-choice team personally... off the top of my head Id probably have Nilesh, Shahid, Wade, Mehul, Satish, Asif...of those half are unavailable for various reasons.
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Tango said:
Our batting on the other is loaded. Just look at the names - Bola, Sohail, Satha, Shahid, Amit, Asif, Afroze, Nilesh, Daxx, Whew!
Hence, if we are to include another specialist batsman like Imran, Amit’s the guy who will have to make way, since he’s the weakest of the all the specialist batsman in the team. (And ‘weak’ is a relative term. So don’t get on my ass again.)
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I wont :-) You make a reasonable case... but again, Id say of the batting you listed above, Shahid, Nilesh, Daxx and Asif are *bowling* allrounders, surely (bar Shahid, none of them have ever made Top Fifteen in batting for example, I dont think. Good batsmen all, but not consistent batting numbers over a long time!)
Id be willing to tack on one more pure batsman like Imran up there for sure (and Imran, BTW, bowls a bit too - he had a 4.18 economy-rate last year, not particularly bad). And how about Imran's brother Kamran, BTW? Consistently near the top in both bowling and batting.. and he hasnt even drawn a mention! In the current squad of 13, there are at least 9 or 10 who could be considered allrounders, in the sense that they may get a bowl in LA... there is room for someone like Imran even as a pure batsman IMHO (even though I think even he would get an over or two if he was in LA, maybe).
c8w
---------------------------------
Div II picks
---------------------------------
QC Kings-Jolly Rovers >> QC Kings
Warriors-Raiders >> Raiders
Madison CC-Arsenal >> Madison
SIUE-Advancers >> Advancers
Tigers-Lucky XI >> Lucky XI
Illinois CC-Eagles >> Eagles
Chicago CC-Acers >> Chicago CC
Springfield-Collinsville >> Collinsville
Jaguars-Chicago Giants >> Jaguars
NoStars CC CCI >> CCI
Evanston IIT >> IIT
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cover-drive said...
-------------------
Div II picks
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A new thread is now open for blogging on league games this weekend. Please take all predictions/chat about this weekends games there, if you dont mind :-)
Sorry for the delay in opening that thread, guys (this LA Open argument is too much fun, and taking up too much time :-)
c8w
c8w,
why dont you look at the stats of afroze, nasir, raheel, taylor with some other contenders for those spots. you would see the bottomlessness of your arguments
Bond said...
Hey Romeen,
I've never seen you taking shot at Officials? Is it some knda a deal or something? Just want to raise eye browse!!!!!
Bond,
I dont have to, cuz you guys do such a good job of it :)
Man, this blog rocks! Love it!
Sadiq,
First, let’s cut the crap.
Amit Kumar is not good enough to bowl in LA. His economy rate was 6.67 last year.
Imran Syed is not good enough to bowl in LA. His economy rate is 5.47 so far this year.
Bola can be considered an All Rounder.
Now that we’ve got these silly things out of the way, let’s get back to the debate.
We both agree that Madhu should be on the team. I think he should be there ahead of Amit, you won’t clearly state your position, and so I’m going to assume that you agree with me ;-)
Id put Shahid in your "reliable" category too, BTW, along with Asif and Nilesh.
Shahid’s been in bad form as of late. Talent wise, he’s right up there with Asif and Nilesh.
What I would have really done with this team... left out one paceman or pace/allrounder and gone with at least 1 extra spinner
I would have left out both of our paceman, but that was never really an option now was it? Raheel and Nasir have no business being in the team. My boy Sanjay Patel is much better than either of those two. Talking about spinners, how about Muhammad Saud from Muslim Gymkhana? I thought he was pretty good. Even Narpreet from Royals is quiet good.
but again, Id say of the batting you listed above, Shahid, Nilesh, Daxx and Asif are *bowling* allrounders, surely (bar Shahid, none of them have ever made Top Fifteen in batting for example, I dont think. Good batsmen all, but not consistent batting numbers over a long time!)
Yes, but just look at our batting lineup. Sohail, Bola, Satha, Shahid, Amit, Afroze, Madhu, Asif, Nilesh, Raheel, Taylor. That’s a pretty impressive batting up. Out of the batsman, Sohail, Bola, Satha, Shahid, and Afroze (since he’s the only other spinner) are untouchable. So if we were to take Imran, then we’d have to take out Madhu or Amit. And given the 20-20 format, I’d take out Amit.
And how about Imran's brother Kamran, BTW? Consistently near the top in both bowling and batting..
Hell Yeah, I’m a big Kammy fan. I think he’s a better all rounder than Madhu, although he’s struggled with the bat this year, and he’s a much better bowler than Nasir and Raheel. The man has bowled almost 140 overs, with an economy rate of 3.3, over the last two seasons. How could I forget about him. Good thing you pointed that out Sadiq.
Now Finally!
After ample debating, this is what my team would look like (by batting order)
Sohail
Bola
Satha
Shahid
Imran
Kamran
Mahesh Parikh
Pradeep
Nilesh
Asif
Sanjay Patel
My bowling lineup:
Shahid
Kamran
Nilesh
Sanjay
Asif
Pradeep
Bola
My backups:
Daxx
Madhu
Your thoughts Sadiq….
BTW: Please feel free to mention some Division II players. I haven't had a chance to see a lot of them play, and hence a majority of the players in my team are from Division I.
shekh u ans my q then i ans u'r....... :)))))) r u the both tiem-pass & desi-babu???????
I don't think Raheel deserves a spot for LA Open. He may well be replaced by Jack from ICC. Jack's a terrific allrounder.
Dr B seems to have brought the racist angle, apparently for no reason.
Shekhs, no matter how the committee is structured, folks like Dr B and Rup will always have something bad to say about umpires. Rup wants Joe Greene to umpire all of his playoff games. Rup is pissed off bcuz he is not going to LA Open.
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