Elections: 2008

Fellow cricketers,

I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to stand for President of the MWCC in the upcoming elections in 2008. Tariq and his team have done a fantastic job in helping our league get to this level, but with some new leadership and ideas we will be able to elevate this talented league of ours to the next level. I believe that I can achieve this.

I have spoken to Tariq about my intentions to run for office. He appreciates that I let him know and has wished me the very best.

I plan to go through your suggestions in the ideas page and will be providing more information on my team and the agenda in the next couple of weeks. Please feel free to add more thoughts / suggestions to that list.

In the meanwhile if you would like to be a part of my team, please let me know via email at
jaggi@midwestcricket.org

Good luck to all the teams in the Semis and Finals.

Jaggi

Sunday Fun at the old Ballpark

It was a beautiful Sunday to be in Washington Park, and with
the league getting Ground #1 back for the playoffs, it was
fun to have 4 meaningful games in progress at the same time
once again.

I was at Ground #3, umpiring Advancers and Evanston. Evanston
began well, but always lost too many wickets - they were 59/3
in 10 overs to start, and 83/5 in 20. Perrin was their main
performer again, hitting 64 or so out of 139 allout (he had
just hit 2 sixes and 16 off one over, carrying Evanston to
132/6 off 33 overs, when he was runout - and Evanston folded
for 139 soon after). Advancers bowling looked very solid -
Ram and Subashish formed a very effective opening pair, and
the 3 spinners bowled beautifully.

At breaktime we got updates from the other games too -
Milwaukee had collapsed against a rampant United pace attack
of Mehul and Yusuf, and were down to 47/6. CCI were being
held in check by IIT, reduced to 40/5 in 20 overs. And the
Wildcats were 90 odd for 4 in 20 overs. Eventually at lunch
we found that CCI had folded for 75, and the Wildcats got up
to 229 in their 45 overs. Milwaukee had folded for 54 - but
they reduced United to 18/4 in reply (so that was the game
some of us watched at lunch :-) Kabir had claimed 3 wickets
and Wade 1 - Wade was getting monstrous bounce (particularly
remember Mehul fending one off his throat!) However he also
had one go over the keepers head for 5 noballs, and then
Faisal hit him gorgeously for a massively long pulled six
over squareleg that effectively settled the issue.

Returned to umpire the Evanston/Advancers game - Evanston's
bowling is usually quite good, and it started well. They
induced a sitter of a catch second over that was put down,
then got the first wicket soon after. Shakir was dropped
behind soon after coming in as well. But then Shakir and
Khadri (both fasting all day) took over - the Hyderabadi duo
batted gorgeously, dispatching the bowling to all parts of
the field. By the time Shakir was dismissed for 50+, the
game was effectively over as a contest. Paul put the finishing
touches, Khadri remained unbeaten with a brilliant 60+, and
Advancers had looked awesomely good in winning by 8 wickets
with 20 overs to spare!

At the end of our game, we found that IIT had also won easily
in a handful of overs, and United had won their game by 5
wickets in the end. So it was down to one last game - the
first genuinely *good match* of the playoffs, Wildcats vs
Muslim.

When I got there (soon after hearing, with much joy, that
the Cubbies had won 8-0 and the hated Brewers had lost, now
giving the Cubs a 3.5 game lead), Muslim had just lost its
third wicket (Kamran caught at the boundary), and were 50/3
in 12 overs and it was game on. Mehmood and Afroze batted
brilliantly however - Mehmood in particular smacking 3 sixes
in a single over, and looking fantastic. A misunderstanding
(and a great piece of fielding) put paid to his innings
however - Romeen from the boundary to Satish the bowler, and
a direct hit at the batting end that found Mehmood short.
Afroze had things under control, however - it was only when
he holed out at the boundary (after a terrific knock) to
leave Muslim at 165/6 that the game appeared to be genuinely
up in the air again.

It was then that captain Farhat and Rizwan got together, for
a critical 35 run stand that pushed the game towards Muslim
again. The asking rate had crept up to 6/over, but Rizwan hit
2 *huge* sixes off Giri to get it under control again... before
a Giri slower ball clean-bowled him to end the over! It was
30 to win with 3 wickets in hand now (the runrate, after
Rizwan's pyrotechnics, down to less than 5/over however).
The game was now very evenly poised.

Once again, however, the skipper Farhat was involved in a
critical stand - this time with Arif. Once again Arif played
his natural game, playing the big shots, while Farhat kept one
end secure and made sure Satish (bowling beautifully and
searching for the elusive breakthrough) was played out
safely. Eventually Satish got his man, getting Arif to hole
out to Naren - but by then 25 vital runs had been added, only
5 were needed to win, and critically, Satish had run out of
overs.

With 5 runs needed in 2 overs (and 2 wickets in hand), Farhat
defended a ball or two, then dispatched a four over the
drawn-in field, a wide the next ball ended it. Farhat came
in with 70+ runs to win and the scoreboard will show he made
only 23 in the end - but that is where statistics can
sometimes lie, for that innings was worth as much as some
centuries. Entering with 70+ to win, securing one end,
sheparding the lower order, and eventually hitting the winning
runs - it was a Miandad-esque knock, and worth its weight in
gold.

The Wildcats are three-time champs for a reason, they are
probably the toughest team in the league - for a decade theyve
been the hardest team to beat once they put 200 on the board
in a playoff situation. They fought all the way as is their
wont, and came very very close to pulling it off again (but
for some missed catches they actually might have). But that
makes Muslim Gym's victory even more creditable - given the
situation and the opposition, this must surely be the best
win for their club in a decade, maybe ever.

With Purdue apparently beating Challengers (reports and
details from Hanover will be much appreciated!), a couple
of very intriguing semifinals are set - St Louis vs
Purdue, and Muslim vs United.

Overall, a very fun day at the old ballpark (except for the
fact that it had to be ruined by Rex and his gang's abysmal
show at night)!
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Playoff Weekend Sept 22, 23 -- Discussion Board

Open board to discuss playoff games on weekend of Sept 22 and 23.

Division Two Playoffs - Sunday

Advancers vs. Evanston: Sun, WP3

Playing on Sunday, as is their wont, will be Evanston - a
veteran team who, as #6 seeds, are having one of their best
seasons in a while.

Evanston's bowling has always been steady to good - that has
never been a problem, what with the pace of Donald (13 wickets
at 3.9 ER this year), and the steadiness of Perry and Anthony
(20 and 16 wickets respectively). This year, there has been
the addition of the canny legspin of Rizwan, and the offbreaks
of Deron (21 and 10 wickets respectively).

But the added dimension that has turned Evanston from a solid
team into a contender is the addition of one man (though some
would say it is actually two men) - and that is Perrin Donieke.
Young, athletic, fast and truly hostile with the ball, Perrin
has been the best bowler in the league this year - yes, he may
be only 3rd in wickets (with 30 wickets in 14 matches), but it
is at the ridiculous economy rate of 2.56, by far the best in
the league. And what makes him "two men" is the batting - with
nearly 400 runs at opener he leads Evanston's run list as well
(and is in the top 10 for all batsmen). In his first year in
the division, he may already be its single best player.

Evanston's batting has sometimes been its achilles heel in the
past, but that has turned around this year - partly, as
mentioned above, by the addition of Perrin, but also by the
turnaround in form for Jim Sajjad (350 runs in 13 games), and
the contributions of several others around them (Steve, Mikey,
Rizwan and Deron have all scored over 200 runs this season,
with Deron coming off a century in the first playoff game).

Waiting for Evanston is #3 seed Advancers, a team that relies
on the strength of its spin, just as Evanston relies on the
strenght of its pace. In Shakir (27 wickets), Khadri (21
wickets) and Pavan (17 wickets) the Advancers possess by far
the best spin attack in the division. Add to that the presence
of pacemen RamGopal (19 wickets) and Saurabh (15 wickets), and
you have one of the best balanced attacks in the tournament -
not least because no less than 3 of the above 5 bowlers
concede less than 4 runs an over! It is an attack with depth
and variety, and has led the Advancers to great success this
season - they have suffered only 2 losses, and even in those
games the opposition only managed 136 and 92 runs respectively!
In fact Advancers can claim to have been very unlucky all year
- but for a rain-rule loss to IIT, they could well have been
the ones already in Division One this season instead of Peoria
(since they actually had the better runrate at the time). That
loss, however, pushed them down to 3rd spot from a potential
first and has left them needing to win the title to make it
to Division One.

The Advancers batting too is deep - they boast 6 players who
have scored fifties, and 5 with totals over 175 - but it
undoubtedly relies mostly heavily on the famous Shakir-Suresh
jugalbandi, clearly one of the top duos in the league. Both,
appropriately, averaged 47 each for the season - Shakir the
league-leader with over 600 runs, Suresh not far behind with
470. Backing them up are Sandeep, Pavan and Khadry, the first
two with over 200 runs for the year and 2 fifties apiece.

Contest to watch: The pace and hostility of Evanston's attack,
against the spin and guile of Advancer's.

IIT vs. CCI: Sunday, WP4

On Sunday CCI will return to the scene of its greatest triumph
- Washington Park, where merely 8 days earlier a young #12
seed, in the playoffs for the first time, had shown up with 10
men, and beaten the loaded #5 seeded Jolly Rovers team boasting
no less than 5 former Division One players. Given the
circumstances and the yawning gap in playoff experience, that
game must surely rank amongst the greatest upsets in recent
playoff history.

The team that authored this remarkable Cinderella-story is a
fascinating amalgam of youth and experience, and, somewhat
unusually in our league, a variety of nationalities and
cultures. The undergraduate skipper Imran leads an outfit
that includes players whose ages range from his 16-year-old
brother Hassan to his professor father Dr. Safdar, and other
personalities as richly varied as Indians from various regions
(Anil, Abhijit and Kushal have been regulars), a couple of
chatty Aussies (Manu and Chris), and a nehari-loving
former-skipper from Lahore (Tanweer). And last weekend, this
motley crew of ten men formed a cocktail potent enough to
derail the heavily favoured fifth seed.

But CCI isnt just a wonderful Cinderella story, it is a team of
talent, discipline and spirit that has played well all year.
The bowling is probably the key - the pacemen (Abhijit and
Kushal, a dozen wickets each this season) were solid and
disciplined last weekend, and skipper Imran has been the
leading wickettaker for the year (with 20). The Khan-family,
actually, contributes CCI's three leading wickettakers for
the year, with paterfamilias Dr Khan and tyro Hassan (18 and
16 apiece), followed by yet another spinner Tanweer (with 15).
CCI also bats a long way down, with 7 batsmen having gotten
over a hundred runs this year, its outstanding performers
being the two Aussies Manu and Chris, along with Tanweer
(though it was the young skipper Imran who probably played
the key innings in the playoff win, blasting a vital 43 at
the end after Manu had provided an excellent start).

Waiting for CCI is IIT, a traditional Division Two powerhouse
that had only two losses all season (one of them a hearbreaking
1-wicket loss to the eventual league topper, Peoria). IIT is
a team all of Division Two has come to know well, and
at the core they remain the same - in Ajay and Laxmi (near
570 and 430 each) they have maybe the two best batsmen in
any team in the division, and theyre capably backed up by
skipper Vasu (310), Pankaj (190) and Akhil (140). It must
be said, however, that the batting doesnt look quite as deep
as in the past, with the loss of batsmen of the calibre of
Ankur, Moyeed and Abhijit over the past couple of seasons.

The bowling has also suffered the loss of a lot of pace bowlers
in the past few years - but is still led by Padmaraju, one of
the finest pacemen in the division - backed up by Mihir, Akhil,
Vijay and Vasu. The strength of the attack, however, probably
lies in its spin bowling - Laxmi, Chakri, Sudipto and Ajay form
a very solid spin quartet, one of the most effective in the
league. All of this, in addition, is backed up by the best
fielding outfit in Division Two - fielding of the calibre
that often lifts the attack to even greater heights.

Ten may have been the New Eleven for CCI last week, as Manu
so memorably put it - but this weekend the Cinderella-team of
the league goes up against a traditional powerhouse that has
been one of the strongest teams in the division all season
long. On Sunday, we'll find out if the slipper still fits.

Contest to watch: Ajay and Laxmi against the CCI bowling.
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Division Two Playoffs - Saturday

Its time to clear the mind of all the controversies of last
weekend, and look forward to one of the best weekends of the
year - quarter-final weekend in the MCC. So far, with
calculators still working overtime in Division One, it is
only the Division Two matchups that are set.

Peoria vs. Jaguars: Saturday, WP2

The #8 seeded Jaguars, coming off a game in which they avenged
a one-sided early-season loss to Madison, take on top-ranked
and presumptive title-favourite Peoria this Saturday.

These are, to coin a phrase, Not Your Daddy's Jaguars (yes,
I know, wrong car-reference :-) But this is a team radically
altered from the glory days of Jatin, Arvind, RP, Amit et al,
who made the Jaguar's a perennial playoff team a few years
ago. There has been an extreme influsion of youth - there are
near half-a-dozen current IIT students on the roster -
bringing with them exuberance, youthful athleticism, and a
touch of playoff inexperience (which made the win over a
very good Madison side all the more creditable). And these
are heavily contributing youngsters led by the movie-theatre-
trinity of Satyam, Shubam and Shameer-um (and Shabri, whose
name doesnt quite fit the old-timey Bollywood movie, but who
is a heavily contributing bowler despite it)!

The Jaguars are a team whose strength is clearly its batting -
and what a strength it is! The only team in Division Two to
top 3000 runs this year, the batting is led by the youthful
rising star Satyam Kaneria (who failed to make a single
century, yet scored nearly 500 runs in double-quick time this
year) and one-drop Ajay Radhakrishnan. But the batting is
very strong and deep and very much a team effort, with no
less than 9 players having made a fifty for the Jaguars
this season. Amongst the nine is paceman Vishal Kundra, a
destructive batsman who also leads the attack paired with his
old pace partner Raish, and the three new-boys Satyam, Shabri
and Shameer, all five with double-digit wickets this season.

Waiting for the Jaguars is Peoria - tanned, rested and ready.
Madhu's team has lost just once this season, and yet shows up
nowhere on the statistical charts! How is this, you may ask?
Because they are a team, and built as such, with different
people given exposure at different times with the playoffs in
mind. (It also doesnt help individual stats if only one batsman
has batted even 9 times this season, with the rest all having
even fewer knocks!) Peoria may have only 2 batsmen who have
crossed 200-runs this season (Madhu himself and Maninder Bola, who averaged 64 in only 7 innings - two of the best allrounders
in the league), but literally everyone can bat in this team
(as was demonstrated by a chanceless fifty by the #10 Vishal
that won Peoria the game against IIT this season, in what was
clearly the game of the year). The true strength of Peoria,
however, strong as their batting is, might well lie in their
bowling - as demonstrated by no less than 7 bowlers in
double-figures in wickets, and a staggering six of them with
economy-rates under 4 runs an over! Kiran, Maninder, Madhu and
Kalyan have all taken a 4-fer this season, and form possibly
the strongest bowling lineup in the division.

Contest to watch: Peoria's league-leading bowling attack
against the Jaguars league-leading batting lineup.

QC vs. Giants: Saturday, WP3

The other Saturday game sees a replay of one of the best games
of the year, the tie played out at Mossville between #2 seed QC
Kings and #7 seed Giants a few weeks ago.
http://www.midwestcricket.org/asp/Score88.asp?id=2745
This is also the replay of a playoff game a year ago, when the
Giants relatively easily upset the higher-ranked QC Kings who
were then in their first season in our league.

The Giants have long been known as a very good bowling side
backed up by perhaps the best gloveman in the division in
Shashi, and that holds true this year as well with 4 bowlers
in double-digit wickets, 2 of them with excellent economy
rates in the mid-3s (Asim and Moatsim). The clear leader
of the attack, however, has been Atif who has had a monster
season - with 33 wickets at an average of 11, he is the highest
wickettaker in the league. The batting has sometimes been a
worry in the past, but is much-strengthened this year with
the addition of the former-Phoenix Omer - who has hit 2
centuries and 300 runs in only 6 games! Vajid too has a century
this year, and over 400 runs to his name, while Yasin remains
one of the best allrounders in the division (with 276 runs and
12 wickets) - his name on the scorecards may have change, but
his performance remains as consistently outstanding as ever.

The Giants came within 10 runs of making Division One last
season, after a terrific run thru the playoffs. With a thumping
win to start this season's playoffs last week, they are a team
brimming with the confidence that they can repeat that run,
and take it a step further this time around - a confidence that
makes them one of the most dangerous teams in this tournament.

Waiting for the Giants are the QC Kings - a team many from
Chicago dont know as well as we should. Their quality is
obvious from the fact that they have lost just once all
season long, and won many contests in dominating fashion. The
QC Kings are a deep and balanced outfit - their batting may
be led by the highly prolific strokeplayer Hari Kiran (who has
scored nearly 400 runs in only 10 matches), but it is a side
with no less than 6 fifty-makers, and 9 who have scored more
than a hundred runs this season, thus one possessing no tail
whatsoever. The bowling too is very well balanced,with 3
bowlers (Satish, Nihar and Pankaj) taking 20 or more wickets
each at impressive averages, and Rahim claiming 17 in only
9 games. In addition this year, QC Kings may have what they
lacked a year ago - a player who knows as much about
Washtington Park conditions as anyone in the league, in the
form of our old friend Dimpy (who, as an aside, also adds
tremendous value to the team with both bat and ball, as
everyone in our league is well aware).

Contest to watch: Hari Kiran against the Giants bowling.
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Discussion for games played weekend of September 15th

Updates, reports and discussions of both regular season and
playoff games played the weekend of September 15th
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The final week of the 2007 regular season

It seems that all Div 2 games have been completed and the playhoff picture has only just become clear. Congratulations to the top 12 on making the playoffs. Congratulations to Peoria Cricket Club for winning the regular season and qualifying for the promotion to Div 1. One spot for promotion to Div 1 is still up for grabs and there is a lot of talent in all the playoff teams. It's win or go home, so the intensity level is going to be higher, and the quality of games better. Good luck!

We come down to the final week of the regular season for Div 1. The late-peaking Royals have just joined the playoff race with a impressive victory against fellow contender Rogers Park. It seems, by all accounts, that Muslim Gym has made the playoffs if they have been awarded the game against Pak Gym. As of now, it seems like there are 6 teams vying for the last 3 playoff spots with Muslim Gym, United, and Roger's Park holding their destiny in their own hands. Pak Gym, Phoenix, and Royals will need to win their final games and will need some help for the above teams if they are to make the playoffs. However, nothing can be confirmed as yet because no official announcement has been made on the status of the Muslim Gym vs Pak Gym game and the decisions taken regarding the incident that occurred during the game. This decision will have major implications on an already murky playoff picture.

At the bottom of the Div 1 table AAA, Capitol, and Flames are fighting to stay in Div 1. If the Flames upset St Louis, they will be safe, but a loss could spell doom for them depending on NRR. Capitol has played out all their games and will have to wait and watch to see what unfolds. If AAA win their remaining 2 games, they could avoid relegation if the Flames lose to St Louis and their NRR is better than both Flames and Capitol.

Despite being the last week of the regular season there is everything to play for. It's a must win situation for all teams. There are favourites for each of the situations, but as usual, nothing can be taken for granted.

After all, this is Cricket!

The Division Two Playoff Picture

The regular season reaches its climax for Division Two this
weekend, with the final round of matches - and the playoff
picture, as usual, is still not entirely clear.

The top of the table is almost set - Peoria takes on Universal
this weekend, and a win will assure them of top seed as well
as automatic entry to Division One. The next 3 seeds, assured
of byes, are also set - Advancers, IIT and QC Kings will all
finish in the top four, they cannot be caught by anyone else.
The next 3 teams in the current standings are also assured of
playoff spots - Evanston, Jaguars and Madison - totalling 7
(out of 12 possible spots available for the playoffs).
Evanston will probably drop 2 points, their "tie" against
Jolly Rovers probably being ruled a loss, but are still assured
of the playoffs with 36 points.

After that, things get interesting - especially with not all
teams having updated their results. The next 4 teams (spots 7
thru 11) all have 32 points apiece, and all have 1 game left.
The Giants, CCI and Jolly Rovers have un-updated scoreboards
(Lucky has updated everything, and have finished their
schedule) - however both Giants and CCI are actually still at
32 after 13 completed games at the moment. With Jolly Rovers,
we have had no news of their match a few weeks ago against
Tigers... fellas, please let everyone know, it affects several
other teams too :-)

And finally the battle for the last playoff spot... Raiders
and Springfield are both at 30, Collinsville at 28, and
Illinois at 26, all with 1 game left (Collinsville has
not updated their loss in the last game yet - they have 30
from 13 games, not 12).

The big games to watch this weekend are as follows:
Springfield vs Warriors: A home win for Springfield will push
them to 34, and almost certainly into the playoffs. A walkover
will suffice too.

CCI vs Advancers: A very difficult home assignment for CCI,
who have a poor run-rate despite being at 32 points. A win will
see them make the playoffs... but only a win may suffice, due
to the poor run-rate. If they lose, they must hope for 2 of
the Raiders, Springfield and Collinsville to also lose this
weekend.

Giants vs Raiders: One of the best contests of the entire
weekend - Giants, at 32 points and a good runrate, are almost
in barring a disaster this weekend. Raiders, at 30 points,
have to have a win - and just a win will probably be enough. Also the most even contest in terms of table-positioning, an
8-win team taking on a 7-wins-and-1-rainout team in a do-or-die
game!

Collinsville vs QC Kings: A hard away-game for Collinsville,
who lost a huge contest at CCI last week. Still, a win could
take them to 32 points, and into a run-rate battle for the last
playoff spots.

Jolly Rovers vs Madison: This game really is crucial only if
Jolly Rovers lost to Tigers... of which we are still unaware,
weeks later :-) If it was a win (or even a rainout), Jolly
Rovers are probably already safely into the playoffs (with
34 or 36 points going into this last game).

Illinois vs Chicago: A real longshot for Illinois - they can
get to 30 points with a win, and 11 teams already have 32.
However, if Springfield, Raiders and Collinsville all lose and
ICC beats Chicago... we could have one of the most dangerous
#12 seeds in the history of the Division Two playoffs!

These above games will probably decide the playoff spots.
IMHO the cutoff will most likely come at 32 points this
season... everyone with 32 *could* make it, but there is a
strong chance that one 32-point-team will be left on
the outside looking in based on runrate (CCI has the poorest
runrate of any of the 32-point-teams currently - given that
they missed out on the playoffs two years ago on runrate,
they will surely be very very keen to upset the Advancers
this weekend, to get to 36 points and make very sure!)
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Discussion of games played weekend of September 1st

Discussions and reports of games played the weekend of
September 1st

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