Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Week 6 Predictions and Results

Time for week 6 predictions, deliberations, and results. Now we start getting into the meat of the season and separating the "pretenders" from the "contenders". Good luck to all!

186 comments:

Aditya said...

Wow, I gotta say India look in good form. We finally have a good team with good bench strength and hopefully can carry the momentum from the last few tours / tournaments to become a dominant force like the Aussies. Might just be wishful thinking on my part, but it isn't easy to demolish a strong unit like Pakistan.

DeepDownWithin said...

pretender=tariq, contender=??????(who after jaggi)

Rup said...

That a strong opening for this blogg...what ya drink'n Adi??.

Well ICC can't say for sure where we realy stand or how good we are right now... rain out and nmore to come is not giving us a chance to get get out mojo going..given we do not practice at all?.
My muscles still ache from all the water I bailed with the cone last week and got a rain out to show for it??

Rup said...

I don't know Adi..only time will tell if India can become a power house like the aussie's...
Any team that get an open p/ship of 155/21.3 overs..at 7.2 runs per over will scare the crap out a ya..
I guess the 20/20 IPL league has done a lot of good for Indian players.. I thought Ghambir was always a slower pace bat but from the IPL and carry over to taday he looks more aggressive these days..
Like i said lets wait as see.... in the past India has ran into bad patches too often given the talent at hand.

Rup said...

Ok Adi, Lets talk MCC...
Given your (Phoenix) excellent start .. and from the schedule it looks like you guys can go 10/0.. The last four games are your tough ones.... Are you willing to.. say Phoenix 10/0.. Great if this happens.. If it does you got drinks and dinner on me??

Rup said...

Any one knows where Shekhs is??.

Don't tell me you are still depressed for the loss??

We need you on this blog

Unknown said...

So how does it work the team for which faisal and abhijit have been selected is that a CER allstar team and may probably includes the likes of shahid muneer or afroze from the MWCC team, that is if they are selected?
==============================
That's right Anon.


Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

Shekhs said...

yo Rup...and fellas..
Had a long day....tons of work..

Lotta good stuff in here..

First of all - Congrats Faisal and Abhijeet..awesome ..
Hopefully you guys will go further up ..
Good luck!

Rup, Adi, Romeen, Jaggi, Adnan, Ram, Samir, everybody else..
are we meeting this friday..?

Unknown said...

Have comments in the previous thread been disabled already?

c8w

Unknown said...

adnan why dont you tell everyone else who else is on the team so suspense doesnt kill anyone im pretty sure you know the whole cer team

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

Shekhs I may make it to the bloggers party this friday. Where is it?

Unknown said...

adnan why dont you tell everyone else who else is on the team so suspense doesnt kill anyone im pretty sure you know the whole cer team
=============================
I have no idea, but I can find out.


Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

Shekhs said...

Ram, we dont have a place yet..
I'm trying to figure out who all are gonna make it and then make the call..make it convenient for everyone..

You have a place in mind?

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

Champs, Oakbrook?

Shekhs said...

I'm fine with that..

lets see what the rest of the folks are gonna say..
I've only heard from you and Rup..

Unknown said...

Khurram Kabir – MCC

Amit Kumar – MCC

Raheel Akhtar – MCC

Mohammed Asif – MCC

Moin Babar – MCC

Afroze Siddiqui – MCC

Fawwad Babar - MCC

Folks this is a tentative short list and very unofficial.

Rup said...

Nice hearing from you shekhs.

Champs..Yeah..
do the have pretty waitresses... I know the Niles one use to..I heard they change owner??

C-man bloggers...let hang out for a few!!!!!!.

Did i scare Adi away with the 10/0 proposal.... C-mon Adi this is not like "Indecent proposal" the film..

Rup said...

Krazzy...Why don't you send an e-mail to MGT and see if they will give you the info on players selected?.

Shekhs said...

thats cool..
congrats to all the selected MCC players..

Preetam N said...

this friday....at champs...i am in. Ram we can carpool. You drive i drink.

Preetam N said...

do you guys have the same problem. The link to the title of the thread takes me to the midwestcricket site.

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

I think it was designed that way, fervently hoping to keep the discussion week 6 focused !!!

Adi?

Shekhs said...

nice teamwork Preetam...
lol..I like that..

Rup said...

The deal is done...
Stanford 20 Mil .. winner take all between WI and England...
+ a 9.5 Mil for a quad tour every year including WI, Eng and two other teams...

Who has more money to spend.. BCCI or Stanford ???... who will break the bank ant at what cost..
Who is willing to gamble and give the real reason for this give that Stanford don't need the money??

20/20 has taken over the cricket world..is this good or bad for cricket as most in our league MWCC thinks playing longer/more cricket is good??
What's your take????????????

Rup said...

so far we only got 4 guys for the bloggers ball..

There is no registration fee guys.. Just show up and play and pay for the match?..
There will be no suspensions if you play in this one!!!!

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

we got four now for this friday...

Aditya said...

Preetam, Ram is correct, this is by design. Just thought it would be cool if you could go between the "analysis" site (blog) and the data site (MWCC)!! :)

Guys, can't make the blogger ball. Hope y'all have fun.

Unknown said...

--------
Khurram Kabir – MCC
Amit Kumar – MCC
Raheel Akhtar – MCC
Mohammed Asif – MCC
Moin Babar – MCC
Afroze Siddiqui – MCC
Fawwad Babar - MCC
--------

Most of these are pretty obvious choices based on the tournament
performances IMHO. Amit and Afroze were the two best batsmen in the entire tournament - Amit with 85 and 36 in his 2 innings, Afroze with a 30 and 72 in his 2 innings (neither got to bat in the first match IIRC - or maybe Afroze got like 2 not out or some such). The interesting thing is, are either of these guys available? Both, IIRC, are going
to India at some point in the summer - hopefully its after July 4th so both will be able to greatly strengthen the CER squad at the Western Regionals.

Raheel bowled well (and a lot - 10 overs consecutively in Game 2, 8 overs on the trot in the final) and was obviously one of the better pacemen at the tournament (Shahid was injured and couldnt bowl much, which obviously
affected his status). Kabir was given the "Batsman of the Tournament" trophy (before they took it back later, saying htey had a calculation error,
that he had 2 or 3 less runs than another guy) - but his run totals were among the top couple for the tournament. Asif got 6 wickets in 2 games (and didnt get to bowl a ball in the finals). Moin and Fahad are probably selected to go with the squad for future exposure - they were both at the
CER for the same reason (neither actually played in a match).

The one really glaring omission from this list, if true (I recognize Adnan said its only tentative and may not be entirely accurate)... Bakshi. He was
given the "Best Bowler of the Tournament" trophy - he got a 5fer in the first match, a 2-fer in the second (7 wickets for the tournament, the highest), and didnt get to bowl in the final. He also got a 30+ in aggressive
fashion opening the batting in the final. How do you leave out the guy who was given the "best bowler" award from the squad?

(Another to feel hard done by would be Yousuf of Peoria - he claimed 5 wickets for 6 runs in the final, and was given the "MVP of the Finals" award).

Hopefully we'll get to see the entire list soon - Iam very curious to see who is on it :-) Especially the attack - if only 1 paceman and 1 spinner are selected from the MCC side when it was by far the best bowling
attack in the tournament, Id like to see who else made it!

c8w

Aditya said...

Ok Rup, I will respond to your obviuos bait. 4-0 is a good start and we are excited about it no doubt. But we could have easily lost to RPCC. It was too close for comfort.

We have the following 6 teams - Chargers, Royals, Bears, St Louis, Flames and Advancers - to beat to go 10-0. All are good teams and on any given day any of them can beat any other team. So, I would not dare to assume, predict, or expect any such start from us.

I know that is such a wussy politically correct answer but that, unfortunately, is all that I can think and I will accept the ribbing you will give me. :)

Aditya said...

ps. St Louis has always been a playoff contender and is one of the top teams. Advancers won Div 2. So, for those 2 games at least (if not more), most would consider us the "underdogs".

Unknown said...

Alpesh had elsewhere asked for more details on Kiran Kumar. Adnan, not wanting to give future opponents a leg-up by letting them know more about his new guy, demurred and gave a short answer.

Bound by no such compulsions, here is more (I think :-)

From Hyderabad from what one hears, and supposedly Ranji etc. And, given an approximate age, he is most probbably Sangani Kiran Kumar. Can one of the United folks confirm? :-)

If so, more details of his career can be found at:
http://cricketarchive.co.uk/cgi-bin/player_oracle_reveals_results2.cgi?playernumber=18156&playername=kiran%20kumar&playernameexact=&displayplayername=S%20Kiran%20Kumar&team=&teamexact=&opponent=&opponentexact=&captain=&wicketkeeper=&homeawaytype=All&matchtype=All&resulttype=All&startseason=&endseason=&searchtype=InningsList&startscore=&endscore=&startwicket=&endwicket=&branding=cricketarchive

Played Ranjis for Hyderabad, last played first-class cricket for them in 1997. Thats a *very* high level of cricket. Even in a brief first-class career, he played against some excellent players - early on against TN, for eg, he played against a side that had Ramesh, Sriram, Badani, Robin Singh, Sharath etc (4 of them current or future internationals).

He didnt play *for* Hyderabad after 1997, but still continued playing high-level cricket. In 2000 in the Moin-ud-Dowla tournament, for eg, he played on the same team as Javagal Srinath, VVS Laxman, Nikhil Chopra, Dodda Ganesh and Sarandeep Singh (seems to have actually batted in Laxman's company, from the scorecard, sharing a 74-run partnership with him!)

Even as late as 2002 he was playing in the Moin-ud-Dowla tournament - against Cricket Association of Bengal (led by Rohan Gavaskar, and with basically a Bengal-Ranji-side competing - Deep Dasgupta keeping, Paul and Bose the opening bowlers, Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Saurashish Lahiri and Subhomoy Das all in the team).
That was only 6 years ago.

All in all, if this is the same guy, a pretty useful pick up for United, really :-)

who_what said...

sadiq
omission of bakshi could be due to, oh i don't know... the fact that he chucks???

Unknown said...

sorry guys can't make it to the bloggers' party.

Preetam/Adi
Way to go guys....perfect start!! keep up the rhythem.

Shekhs,
I was surprised u guys still played :) Good knock by Bhavesh...almost won it

Congrats to all the selected players


too many rained out games for us so far... (2/3) plus no game for us this week....that sucks :)

good luck to all



Samir_Royals CC

Shekhs said...

yeah Samir, we had to play....and trust me it was nice after about half hour after the rain stopped..
The sun came out..it was really a good weather to play..pleasant..

what was really not pleasant was our performance..we threw away the game..

I'm glad we played that game, definitely an eye opener..

wow..United picking Ranji players..wats up with Adnan.. :-)
Now, you have a ranji player, a perennial all star in Mehul, 1 US under 15, 1 potential US in Faisal...not bad..
And you get international players (Faisal Iqbal) to play a few games..
I got to talk to Buchia and see if we can recruit some Ranji players.. :-) Joke..

Shekhs said...

Appu, you're invited too.. :-)
to the blogger's get together..

Unknown said...

wow..United picking Ranji players..wats up with Adnan.. :-)
Now, you have a ranji player, a perennial all star in Mehul, 1 US under 15, 1 potential US in Faisal...not bad..
And you get international players (Faisal Iqbal) to play a few games..
I got to talk to Buchia and see if we can recruit some Ranji players.. :-) Joke..
==============================
I got two more coming.


Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

Shekhs said...

Nice...
If you have more than 11, please feel free to share.. :-)

Alpesh said...

Shekhs bhai ..

I was talking about practice ... do you go for practice at Hanover park?? Let me know whenever you go .. I will join .. I need to practice ..

Shekhs said...

yeah Appu..I definitely need to practice..will call ya when I plan to go..

Sean said...

Hi guys, this is Sean from the Houston Cricket League. I am heading up the organization committee for the Western Conference Tournament that the CER team is participating in on the July 4th weekend.

I want to encourage you to keep an eye on the HCL website for information about this tournament.

www.houstoncricket.org

While not much is there right now about the event, more will be added as we get closer to the tournament. I am excited to tell you that we will have live scoring on the website during the tournament.

We are excited to host this event and welcome the CER team to Houston.

Regards

Sean Chapman

Alpesh said...

On the USACA website, it is shown that Chicago is going to host a U-15 tournament in August .. so is it MWCC that is going to host it or United or ACC?? Any ideas ...
Will Abhijit be playing in that tournament ??

Alpesh said...

Sean !!

Welcome to our blog ..

Sean said...

Thanks mate - I stumbled over it while looking for something else this afternoon. Great to see that other leagues have drama also ;)

Tonald Drump said...

Sean,

Please email me your contact information - we had couple of talented guys that moved to Houston and are looking to play in a league there.

Email me at atifmshaikh@gmail.com

Unknown said...

The sun came out..it was really a good weather to play..pleasant..

Shekhs,
Don't rub it on now....damn it!!! We also learned our lesson :)

Samir_Royals CC

Unknown said...

he is most probbably Sangani Kiran Kumar. Can one of the United folks confirm? :-)
================================
Leave it up to Sadiq if you want the cat out of bag. Yes he is the Sangani Kiran Kumar. The other two that will be joining United are Amit joshi (Nipun's brother, another first class cricketer and Mangalpally Srinivas, Kiran's team mate). we are gearing up for the tournament in July to be held in Florida. The list of candidates that we have put together is impressive. Among the potential candidates, Rajgopal Satish has accepted the invitation along with Shabbir Ahmed (Pakistan fast Bowler). Don't worry guys more than likely they won't be playing any MWCC games.



Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

Unknown said...

Adnan said...
Don't worry guys more than likely they won't be playing any MWCC games

Adnan,
We ain't that bad :)...lol jk

Samir_Royals CC (MWCC) :)

straight_drive said...

Playing first class batsmen is sort of ok in this league afterall Faisal Iqbal scored 56 in 50 balls which is good but not extraordinary. If Shabir Ahmed plays he is likely to cause more damage since I dont think most or any batsmen in our league would have ever countered that kind of pace 135-140kph.

Unknown said...

-------
Adnan said...

The other two that will be joining United are Amit joshi (Nipun's brother, another first class cricketer and Mangalpally Srinivas, Kiran's team mate). we are gearing up for the tournament in July to be held in Florida. The list of candidates that we have put together is impressive. Among the potential candidates, Rajgopal Satish has accepted the invitation along with Shabbir Ahmed (Pakistan fast Bowler).
------

Amit, of course, has played in our league before (a couple of years ago),so people know him. Very good left-arm spinner and solid anchoring batsman. Couple of years ago, at least, he was coach of Ahmedabad City U19 team back home.

M.Srinivas is a familiar name - I recognized his name from the Ranjis quicker than Kiran Kumar's when I read it above actually (probably because he played more in the 2000s). Keeper and sometimes opener for Hyderabad. Also played at a very high level - opened in Ranji games, played 9 fc games until 2002 or so. His only Ranji century came at opener in the Ranji pre-quarters against a Chandu Pandit-led Madhya Pradesh (I think that might have been the year MP went to the finals) - his century came against an attack which had both Hirwani and Rajesh Chauhan (so presumably most MWCC spinners shouldnt be *too* difficult to face ;-) Also played against excellent players into the 2000s - one Karnataka team he faced, for example, had an attack of Srinath, Prasad, Ganesh, Joshi etc. On looking him up I found he has been playing as a "pro" in England the last couple years (including last summer, in Essex), so he oughta be in pretty decent touch, relatively.

Both these guys will be showing up for MWCC games, presumably? United will probably get stronger as the season progresses, if thats the case.

For the FL tournament thing.. Shabbir Ahmed people know about already. R.Satish they might not - but he is a terrific choice, the best of all your recruits if he's coming for sure (Samarth can probably tell you a lot about him). Very very good batsman - was one of the stars of the best TN U19 team in a while, and starred (and captained IIRC) at the U22 level, but kept getting too few chances for TN (despite doing well in limited opportunities). So moved to play Ranjis for Assam, and did brilliantly - including a double-century a couple years ago. So two years and a bit ago TN actually re-recruited him from Assam for their middle order :-) In the last game,a must-win game for TN to survive in Division One of the Ranjis, in the small 4th innings chase, Satish top-scored as TN beat Baroda by 2 wickets to survive by the skin of their teeth (the Baroda attack included both Irfan and Yusuf Pathan, as well as Rakesh Patel who made the India squad as paceman a few years ago; the TN batting including Karthik and Badani who are internationals, and Badrinath who is close to being one). That was Satish's last game for TN - in the offseason he was recruited by the ICL, and became captain (IIRC) of the Chennai team (whatever they are called :-) He is still only 27 years old. He is a terrific cricketer, with ability and smarts and nerve - he should be very useful in the Florida tournament for you guys, if he plays.

c8w

Unknown said...

-------
Sean said...
Thanks mate - I stumbled over it while looking for something else this afternoon. Great to see that other leagues have drama also ;)
------

"Other leagues have drama also"? Bah! You guys may or may not have a better cricket team than ours (with Sushil Nadkarni et al, you may well have)... but you cant hold a candle to the midwest in terms of drama! Whatever else you say about cricket in the Central-East region, in drama and politics and intrigue we are unquestionably Numero Uno! (Did the strongest cricketing league in your area choose not to play in the Central-West tournament for a decade and more, for example, and then, making their return, picked their squad the day before the tournament began and proceeded to dominate all opposition anyway? I'll bet not :-)

Anyway. To echo Alpesh, welcome to our blog Sean. Feel free to contribute - tell us more about your squad and its players (and even boast about their cricketing abilities if you wish :-), we'd like that. But just dont imagine you can ever beat the Central-East in politics and intrigue, nobody can ;-)

c8w

Sean said...

No, I have to admit, we are mere rookies when it comes to that level of drama. We haven't made it onto cricinfo with ours!

The CW team has not been finalized yet, but when it is it will be posted on the HCL website.

It will be captained by Rahul Kukreti and have 4 current USA players

Preetam N said...

Houston has some very good cricketers and very good teams. I played there many many years ago. It is defenitely better than the Virginia league, where i also played a year. But there were two things that I didnt like about playing in Houston. One, the distance. Every ground there is an 'away' game for us here. Second, was the discipline. Teams would fight constantly, Use expletives, Come to blows etc. There was not much done about it. I am sure it has changed now. I remember a game we played against a west indies team and they constantly used expletives against us. One guy even called us the 'N' word and there was no complaint system or anything. Has that changed now Sean ?

Sean said...

Houston is a big city, but we are fortunate to have a park with 5 grounds where the majority of games are played. There are also 5 other grounds around the city.

I can comfortably say that player behaviour has improved, that doesn't mean we don't have our incidents, however I can only think of one physical incident in the last 4 years, and that resulted in a 12 month ban on a player.

Having neutral umpires and umpire training has helped.

When did you play and for what team?

Alpesh said...

Guys .. no reply for my question .. The national u-15 tournament is going to be held in Chicago from July 25-28 .. Who is helping USACA to host this ?? MWCC, United, ACC ...

Else .. kya aapki khamoshi ko hi hum apna jawab samje .. :)

Unknown said...

It will be held under the auspices of CER USACA. Since the board has appointed Chidmabar Joshi of NCL to head all youth activities for this region, he will be responsible for setting this up. Whether he will get cooperation from MWCC that remains to be seen. United will be there to help if asked.


Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

Big Hitter said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rup said...

Guys .. no reply for my question .. The national u-15 tournament is going to be held in Chicago from July 25-28 .. Who is helping USACA to host this ?? MWCC, United, ACC
============================
Alpesh,
Why don't you submit this to management and see what response you will get.. Asking us is not much help seeing the final decisions will be made by MGT..

Adnan thanks for all the FYI you have been able to provide so FAR.. I know it's greatly appreciated by all of us looking for the info..
Lets hope MGT can start being up front with us.


Rup

Jaggi said...

Guys.. I am going to start deleting messages filled with filth. I am sure we are all capable of writing without having to resort to that style of language.

Sean, welcome to our blog. It sure is interesting to hear about experiences from your part of the country.

Bloggers ball, I am a "may be" at this point. I got a dinner to go to, but, if that gets cancelled, I will make it.

Who all are playing in the CRY tournament?

Rup said...

Welocme to our blog Sean...

Can you join us this Friday .. Bloggers ball for a few cold ones.

Shekhs..are we still on for this??

Rup said...

FYI... Looks like WI got the upper hand on the Aussies again... 98/4..

I am a gambling man???.. 6pk .. Aussie not make 225??? .anyone??

I hope MGT don't find out who Finger is or he could join me on the s**T list...

Rup said...

CRY..It's charity???..

Do we need permission from MGT to participate??..
How about a Bloggers Team?? I am good??..

As Jaggi said .. Lets not play dirty??

C Jack said...

111/5 Aus windies giving them a run for their money...
lets go boys

Unknown said...

Rup bhai, any word on suspension? I am still waiting.



Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

C Jack said...

aussies are ARROGANT fools.. came out attacking I guess to prove to windies that they not scared of pace.. they are in hot waters now. lets hope my boys can close it out.

Rup said...

sorry Adnan.. Nothing yet.. I guess we will have to call in again to see where we stand this week??..
Or are we ok to play until further notices?? am not clear??

Yeah Jack.. They freaking just dropped Symonds.. Not good for WI??

Sean said...

You now have an arrogant fool Aussie on your blog :)

Wish I could join y'all for drinks, sounds like a blast - not sure the wiff would be overly impressed with that one though.

Just finished a selection call for the CW team. Since you guys have made me so welcome I will give you guys the world exclusive!

( 1) Sushil Nadkarni (vc)
( 2) Orlando Baker
( 3) Rahul Kukreti (c)
( 4) Damodar Bhat
( 5) Vinod Shankar
( 6) Bilal Zahid
( 7) Owen Brown
( 8) Carl Thomson
( 9) Niraj Shah
(10) Sudharshan Chavva
(11) Mustafa Rafique
(12) Nadeem Haroon
(13) Kartik Vittala
(14) Majid Rizvi

How about that for an exclusive :)

Aussies to make 330!

Rup said...

Aussies to make 330!...

could happen.. if Benn bowls 6 more ocers ands Symonds still there..

Sean...Carl Thompson... Is it the same Big Carl..Fast bowler that i played with about 10 years ago??.

If that's the best you all come up with i am putting my monies on MWCC...providing we field a team

Sean said...

I am sure it is.

Don't worry about Carl, the old man can still bowl! I can't wait for the CER to finally have a decent team, should make the event exciting.

C Jack said...

rup man benson robbed us again.. The same symond dude just like he did in sydney vs india...
the more things change the more they remain the same

Sean said...

Shouldn't be bowling down leg side anyway :)

C Jack said...

sean you got to be kidding me...

Alpesh said...

Sean,

I know Damodar Bhat .. say my 'hi' to him .. He was my captain in the Patni Computers Cricket team ... very good opener ..

Aditya said...

Sean,

Welcome to the blog. Thanks for the exclusive!

As for Symmo, you can't afford to give him any lives. He'll make you pay big time. The problem (or great thing depending on your point of view) with the Aussies is that you can get them to 45/6 and they'll still put up 300 on you because they are always attacking. They really play their cricket aggressive. That's why they are number one. That is also why India is now doing well - they are getting aggressive and the talent level is up there. Yes, had to throw in a bit about my boys in blue.

Still, I'd like to see WI win for 3 reasons:

1. Want to see WI get back to some of that old glory.
2. Want to see Australia come back to the bunch so that games are less predictable.
3. It'll make Rup and CJack happy. They'be been crying about the rain all week!!!!!!!! :):)

Jaggi said...

Details of the CRY tournament is on the midwest website. Narasimha is one of the organizers.

I think it would be great to put up a blog team. I have also been asking my fellow Phoenix folks, but, if you are interested - email me at jaggicricket@gmail.com.

Our weekend game against Milwaukee got moved to Sep. Have to wait till end of June to play my first game.

Rup said...

It'll make Rup and CJack happy. They'be been crying about the rain all week!!!!!!!! :):)
===========================
Adi...Rain or no rain I will be happy come Sunday..We play'n Evanston..
-------------------
Sorry you got a late start Jaggi..put together the blog Team or if you need I will play with Phoenix.. Jack how about some charity Cricket??
--------------------------

Rup said...

Sean looks like you got a bunch of older guys on your team...

Damodar... opening bat.. little chunky..beer belly... If i am right you ain't gonna beat MCC..

Sean said...

I would say say we have a great blend of youth and experience.

I thought we were playing the CE region, not MCC. Damodhar is quite fit now days.

I hope CE does bring a strong team, the CW and SW regions have dominated the Western Conference without much challenge for some time

C Jack said...

Rup what charity cricket you talking about? we will talk this weekend.

Rup said...

My Fault Sean ..Yep it's the CE and once MCC agrees to let our boys play we (CE) are going to be the team to beat...

Damodar Fit...Good news for him ..
you see, he set a lasting impression on me when we played together.. We were chasing 242 in 50 overs. It was also the USA trials for WI Busta Cup team.. He opened batting got out in the 39th over for 55.. only got there cause he score 12 the over before..
His fiery innings left us needing 114 in 8 over.. lost by 43 runs with 4 wikets in hand..
I hope he has put some zest in his running and not hogging the strike these days??
Just one of those memories..Sean

Rup said...

Jack check out MCC web page..

Sean said...

Absolutely out of character for the Damodhar I know, who is an aggressive stroke make and scores quickly.

C Jack said...

oh ok... Yea that should be fun

Rup said...

That's what we were told too Sean.. After that inning we were all ready for test cricket.. I am taking your word that he is better these days..

Anyways i am still backing my CE team to beat the ????? out a ya al.

What is you all web page address so we can check your boys out.. I am a strong believer in statistics and what have you done for me lately??.
You got ours and we will keep you updated on any other league once our team is announced

Rup said...

Jack we will talk more about this Sunday in evanston

Sean said...

Well the players are from Houston and Dallas.

Orlando, Niraj, Rahul and Sushil play for the USA team and should be easy to look up.

The Houston website is www.houstoncricket.org. A quick link to the stats page is http://www.sportstatz.com/ss/web.asp?mode=104&club=149

The Dallas website is http://www.ntcricket.com/ and the stats can be viewed on the resultsvault link on the homepage.

Enjoy your stats hunting :)

Rup said...

Thanks Sean...

i will definitley check em out..

Rup

Shekhs said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shekhs said...

Yeah Rup, lets do it..
worst case, the 4 of us will be drinking..that aint bad..
:-)

Unknown said...

-------
Sean said...
No, I have to admit, we are mere rookies when it comes to that level of drama. We haven't made it onto cricinfo with ours!
-----

Wasnt actually talking about that - thats only an internal league matter, not a Central-East-Region matter per se :-) The real political intrigue in CER never makes it to any CI pages :-)

The thing is, our league (in my purely biased opinion) is by far the strongest league in the Central-East - 50 teams, based around the entire Midwest etc. And we havent played CER (no USACA tournaments of any kind actually) for a decade and more. This year it was decided at the last moment to send a team, it was picked a day before the tournament, 20+ players were asked and turned down the chance to go (thus our team that played CER was clearly not full-strength or even close).. and still they won all 3 matches - one by 8 wickets (and 30 overs to spare), one by 140 runs, and the final by 190 runs. Honestly, even with the team we sent, IMHO from what I saw maybe 3-4 non-MCC guys is all who should make a "real" CER lineup based on that tournament, at best. (The only one certainty from another team who should *definitely* make it is probably the keeper Ashhar - who used to play in our league till 2 years ago. After that there *may* be one or 2 more marginal calls, at best).

Of course, that wont happen - all leagues who played will have representation in the final squad, out of 14 players rumours are we might get 6. And of those 6 a couple may be in India.. if they let our league have those spots anyway (and we can pick players who didnt play in the CER) then the team may still be ok - if they dont, then the team will still be fairly weak, probably. (Afroze and Amit were 2 of the best bats in the CER - if both are in India and cant play, for example, there are not 2 other batsmen in other teams in the CER who are even remotely at that level, not from what I saw at the tournament. Our league could put up 2 batsmen as good or better than Amit or Afu if asked - but those guys didnt play in the tournament).

Secondly, 2 years ago, Minnesota won the CER. This year they didnt participate (and will get 0 players on the CER squad, as a result). The quite-strong Michigan league from a couple years ago has split (into MichCA and Great Lakes CC).. supposedly the cricket strength is still with MichCA, but MichCA wasnt allowed to play the CER either, and so no players from there will be eligible to be picked. That must obviously reduce the strength of the squad.

Iam not one of these guys who thinks Central-East cricket is the best there is, there is none better etc etc. But I do think that if we put up a real full-strength CER side, we'd be pretty damn competitve (players who leave our league do pretty well elsewhere - one guy who, 2 years ago, was the 2nd best bat on his own Second-Division team in our league, ended up moving to San Fran and was in the North-West regional squad last year, for example - very good player, but wouldnt have made an allstar team in our league itself the year before). Unfortunately, due to politics and all the rest, CER has never actually put up a full-strenth side - and probably never will. This year with our league guys playing it might hopefully at least be a reasonably decent outfit - before that it was really a pretty crap team all around, as has repeatedly been shown by the results.

c8w

Unknown said...

-----
centurion said...
sadiq
omission of bakshi could be due to, oh i don't know... the fact that he chucks???
--------

If thats the reason he was omitted, then its a completely and utterly crap reason IMHO.

Lots of people have expressed doubts about Bakshi's action in the past. Heck, its very possible that that is the reason he wasnt taken to the LA Open all these years - in conditions ideally suited to spin, when our team sorely needed spinners, one of the spinners with really good stats in our league (whose batting is also ideally suited to the 20/20 format) was never taken along... presumably because people felt that maybe he'll be called, and then wont be allowed to bowl, which will leave us short a bowler etc etc.

Well, Bakshi went to the CER, and bowled a full-quota of overs in the first couple of games (and took 7 wickets, and won "best bowler of the tournament"). In every match he played, there were 2 neutral, qualified, certified umpires standing. And not just any ordinary "certified umpires" either - every umpire who stood in the matches he played was supposedly board-certified and on the panel of umpires of the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India). One of these umpires, for example, was Mr. Radhakrishnan - he umpired 7 first-class matches last year in India (6 Ranji Trophy matches and 1 Duleep Trophy match), and is actually offically an "international" umpire (he was the 4th umpire, the "Reserve Umpire", for the India vs Australia ODI at Nagpur last year, the 6th ODI of the 7 match series)... Mr. Radhakrishnan umpired in 2 matches that Bakshi played, in the CER. All these umpires stood and presumably examined Bakshi's action in match-conditions in the CER, and not one of them ever no-balled him. If that isnt good enough, what is?

Whatever people may or may not think about his action around the league is kind of irrelevant, really. The one time he was bowling with 2 neutral and qualified umpires, he passed. Thats all that is relevant - after that, the only thing to look at is his results with the ball. And his results with the ball were good enough to win him "bowler of the tournament" in this instance.

Given all that, it would be utter crap to not pick him for the CER squad, especially with the rumoured "he chucks" excuse. With neutral qualified certified umpires standing, he was never called. Until one such neutral, qualified, certified umpire actually calls him for chucking, the rumours and talk should be irrelevant - all that should be looked at is his performances on the field, and he should be judged solely on those. And on those alone, he should walk into the CER squad for Houston, given the performances in that tournament.

c8w

Asif_Mehmood said...

Jaggi,
why ur game with milwaukee rescheduled?

Jaggi said...

I am happy to see the Midwest Cricket Academy make an early call for the U-19 nationals which will be held in August. Good job guys !!

Jaggi said...

Advancers had back to back games. Our game was rescheduled to avoid that.

We were given no choice but to accept the change. I wonder when the schedule will be frozen.

Rup said...

I don't know finger..
why don't we put him under the camera and submit for testing..I don't know if the umps were looking for him chucking at the CER..
Since everyone, other than a few MCC players thinks he chucks, then why can't we use the maojority..

We have too many checkers in our league and statements like yours above only allows for more chuckers..IMHO!!!!

Unknown said...

I think both school of thoughts are valid. If the BCCI panel umpires did not call him for chucking then Bakshi should be given a clean bill of health. On the other note what is the guarantee that he will not be called for it in Houston? When Bakshi played against NCL in CER, I spoke to the umpire and he told me that Bakshi only chucks when he bowls a faster one. OK! so why did he not call it? Bottom line, there is no consistency and If I were a selector I would steer away from controversy and not pick him as a bowler. Bakshi is an excellent bat and at the right age to be exposed to higher level Cricket.


Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

Rup said...

Same scenario with Samuels of WI.. chucks the faster one and now can't bowl...then again he is out for other reasons.
I still remember getting bowled in the night game with a 70 MPH spin??.
That's his wicket taking delivery so he does not want to give it up unless we take it away from him.

Can we justify picking him as a bat only??. Maybe, but i feel we have better pure batsman than him to pick.. he is always picked as an alround/spin.
My take

Rup said...

Adi,
Where are ya....

Scared to take me on da bet..
This is just like setting goals in life and trying to achieve it.. nothing wrong in failing for it's "better to try than fail to try"....

Now that Jaggi is coming back to the line up your chances shold be looking good??.. or you can be a wusssssss!!!!1.

Looks like your boys for Ind are on a roll.. Ghambir..!!!! he's got my vote..

By the way WI fighting with Aus.. all on Chanderpaul again??

Aditya said...

On Bakshi, I will say this since I kept to him at the CER. He had a consistent action, whether normal or faster ball. Also, I don't think he ever really bowled a faster ball!! Sine he was the Best Bowler of the tournament, he deserves automatic selection. Murali, Bhajji, Shoaib Malik were all picked despite doubts of their action. One should not think "What if", one should just think "What is".

On those umpires that Sadiq reveres so much, they were terrible. There was a clear bat and pad of Abhijit to short midwicket of Shahid and he said not out. Not only was the noise deafening, but the ball would never have travelled that far directly off the pad! Radhkrishnan "the international" was either blind, unaware of the rules, or just plain biased. I will not allege bias, so it was one of the other two! He was possibly the worst umpire of the tournament. So, to use those umpires to add credibility to an argument is as prepostorous as not selecting the best bowler, the best batsman, or the MVP for the CER team.

Aditya said...

Rup, I'm here.

What is the bet? I should be clear on the condition and terms before I "wussy" out.... ;-)

Aditya said...

Rup, as I sais earlier. This MiB team is a team that went toe to toe with the Ausssies. Last tour, they nearly beat them in the test matches. This tour, they were robbed in Sydney, and yet pulled off a win in Perth! Then, the young team took the last One-day cup (nine series is it??) which will rankle with them. They have also have a better 20/20 record. The confidence level in this team is sky high right now and they really believe they can beat the Aussies anywhere. Watch out....

ps. Chanderpaul is a machine. Unbelieveable. If only he could get some more consistent help, WI could become a world beater again.

Alpesh said...

Aditya ..

The team needs to have a good genuine spinner to be a world beater .. WI first needs to give a long run to their spinners .. and then they can claim to have a balanced team .. Also Gayle, Bravo need to make big scores like Sarwan, Chanderpaul ...

Unknown said...

----------
Adnan said...
I think both school of thoughts are valid. If the BCCI panel umpires did not call him for chucking then Bakshi should be given a clean bill of health. On the other note what is the guarantee that he will not be called for it in Houston?
--------

IMHO there is never a guarantee that someone *wont* be called - and there shouldnt be. After all, you dont have to chuck every ball, you can just chuck the odd one - and thats the one you ought to get called for.

I dont think you can or should un-select a player on that basis in this particular case. In general if you do for a very very obvious chucker - ok, I can see and understand that reason. But when a guy has been passed the *only* time he was in front of 2 qualified and certified umpires, then that tops the other arguments IMHO.

In front of 2 certifield and qualified umpires, he was not called during the entire CER, despite taking more wickets than anyone else. IMHO that means he should just be judged on performance in selecting the team to the regionals. If he gets called in the regionals then that is something entirely different, and we can cross that bridge if and when we come to it - but it is unfair to *presume* he will be called and so not pick him. And it is especially most unfair to make that presumption after he was *not* called last month!

c8w

Unknown said...

------
Aditya said...
On those umpires that Sadiq reveres so much, they were terrible.
...
Radhkrishnan "the international" was either blind, unaware of the rules, or just plain biased. I will not allege bias, so it was one of the other two! He was possibly the worst umpire of the tournament. So, to use those umpires to add credibility to an argument is as prepostorous as not selecting the best bowler, the best batsman, or the MVP for the CER team.
--------

Hey, *I* think the MCC squad had such low regard for first-class-level and international-level umpires mostly because theyre used to such brilliantly superior quality umpiring that they receive on a weekly basis from our Midwest umpires... so much so that even international umpiring levels are a significant step down ;-) *raising collar, in Elvis-voice "Thank yuh, thank yuh ver muhch"*

Seriously, Iam not trying to make any claims about the decision-making or anything in the tournament - I know the MCC guys were very very upset about the level of umpiring they got, and they were the ones who played. I personally only umpired a couple games with others, and there were no complaints or controversies in the games I did with my fellow umps, at any rate, so thats all I can go by.

But I will say this - they *do* know the laws, for sure. Radhakrishnan for one - whatever you may think of his decision making, he knows the laws for sure, and very very well, I talked to him about several things when I umpired with him on Saturday. Maybe he made mistakes etc, but lack of knowledge of the laws was not a reason for it IMHO.

And the fact is, no matter what mistakes an umpire may or may not make during a game - if he is qualified and certified, has taken tests and passed them in regard to the laws etc.. then how can one disregard his opinion in a chucking-case? You cant, IMHO. He can give a wrong LBW, a wrong caught-behind, whatever.. but that doesnt IMHO mean he doesnt have the knowledge of the laws to judge a chucking case. Its kind of different, you have more time and many opportunities to judge it (unlike a split-second one-time decision for LBW, or whether the ball hit the bat or pad before it went thru to the keeper).

And besides, the umpires we get at the Regional level are unlikely to be any *more* qualified than at the CER level - not when the CER level had current BCCI-certified umpires brought in from India. It may not say much about umpiring standards in India, if thats our players' opinion about them... but the standards of umpiring at the Regional level in the USA are not going to be *better* surely. If someone's action is passed at this CER level, I think we shouldnt presume it wont be passed at regionals. Once Bakshi's action has been passed by certified umpires at CER, *he* deserves to get the benefit of doubt until he actually gets called at the next level at least (*if* that even happens, to start with).. at least now, after being passed, the benefit of doubt should not be skewed *against* Bakshi, is all Iam saying.

c8w

Rup said...

OKKKKKK..OOKKKK.
Cut the novels out and lets leave the chucking thing alone..

I believe as an umpire you call it as you see it and if they did not see the chucking then all is good.

Unknown said...

Oy Rup! Whats all this about you guys playing Evanston *this* weekend??

I just saw it on the schedule - when did that happen?? I *always* do that game, its my fave game of the year.. Iam sure it was like the 2nd last weekend of the season, no? I remember checking the schedule for it! Did it just get changed?

Iam due to be in Purdue this Sunday apparently. Thats really sad - it'll be the first time I dont do an Evanston/Illinois game for like 3 years I think. Sucks.

c8w

Rup said...

Yep.. Evanston this Sunday.
it was changed due to the make over of the entire DIV schedule.
You can still make it to the game..

Devils_advocate said...

Interesting news..cricket getting some news mileage now..

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2008/06/13/shot.360.thursday.cnn

Devils_advocate said...

The Cricketers of Compton 1:59
Becky Anderson reports on how Cricket is transforming lives in LA's notorious compton area.

see this..

Sean said...

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2008/06/13/anderson.us.spirit.of.compton.cnn

A direct link

Gotta learn that rhyme!

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

Sadiq,

Evanston vs Illinois game was rescheduled to accomodate specific request by Illinois, which, amongst other requests and serious balancing needs/avoiding back-to-backs played a part in Div 2 rescheduling.

Unknown said...

I dont think you can or should un-select a player on that basis in this particular case. In general if you do for a very very obvious chucker - ok, I can see and understand that reason. But when a guy has been passed the *only* time he was in front of 2 qualified and certified umpires, then that tops the other arguments IMHO.

===============================
Maybe we can obtain a note from these BCCI umpires just in case Bakshi gets called. Also we should invite these Umpires to officiate Challengers game and have them clear Bhavesh, so he can bowl in L.A. Open :)

Aditya I remember an icident involving Bhajji where he was called by a certain umpire and since then, BCCI had protected him by not having him play whenever that certain umpire was officiating.

Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

Aditya said...

Finger,

We differ on the umpires. They may be certified, they may be qualified, but they were bad. There were others who were better - their standard was much better. So, I expect that the standard at the next round will be better than it was at this round, despite the lesser qualification/certification. So, he knows the rules, but does he know how to apply them? Clearly not! And I'll give him the benefit of eyesight as well. One mistake happens, but glaring errors from top level umpires is disappointing. Many mistakes in a single game is ridiculous. That is their profession!!!

Now, I am in favour of Bakshi's selection, not against (we agree on this point)!

Aditya said...

Adnan, you do have a valid point, but I would add that it was only "after" he was called. And then they did bring him back specially when he performed - for better or worse!!

And maybe Bakshi should be in the category of Murali? :)

Aditya said...

Rup good luck for the game, but gotta give some kudos to my man D.

Anonymous said...

Its safe to say that "Scheduling This Year" has been a colossal fuck up.

Hopefully better planning next year will yield better results.

Unknown said...

Brothers, I just recieved a very disturbing news. Apparently the deadline for confirming the list of players from MWCC to participate in the oturnament has come and gone and there has been no response from the management. I urge all the concerned parties to please inquire with the management to see whether we are sending the selected plyers to Houston.

Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

Unknown said...

Adnan what happened to your game?

Unknown said...

who picks the team thats being sent to houston?

naren said...

WC VS United It was an amazing match.....

WC won the toss and decided to field first, United started slowely with some steady bowling from Satish and Nikhil and they were slow for about 6-7 overs, taking an odd single or two...
Faizal was struggling to middle the ball initially, gave a caught and bowled chance to satish who grassed it, and once he got the chance Faizal started to take his chances hitting some big shots.
Abijit on the other end was content in taking 1's and 2's, abijit was runout in a mixup with Faizal, he scored around 20 runs and by drinks break united were around 95/1.
After the break once the slow bowlers started bowling the runs dried down, and that made faizal take the risk and he could not connect a full ball and was bowled.
From being 130/2 united ended up with 211 in 45 overs. WC made a good come back at one point the score we were looking for was around 250 + with the batting they had.

WC started chasing the target with intent and we were scoring well and were 40 5 overs or so, but a sudden lapse of concentration from Swetal cost us our first wicket, and 2 balls later Sanjay was back as well. Vikram got a good slower ball and was bowled through the gate and all of a sudden WC was looking down the barrel.
Nikhil was holding fort at the other end and with Ajit they were in the process of rebuilding, a sudden lapse of concentration from both Nikhil and Ajit brought us to a tough situation needing about 140 runs to score in 22 overs, at this moment United might have had thought that the match was well n truly over, but Satish and Prakash had other ideas, and boy how well they played, satish was the agressor, hitting some aggressive 6's and 4's and Prakash giving him good company taking singles at will.
Both of them always kept us in the hunt scoing about 4-5 runs an over, and we needed around 60 from the last 10 overs, and 25 from 5 and Satish hit the final nails by hitting some big sixes to end the game with an over in spare.
Satish and Prakash had an unbeaten partnership of around 130-140 runs and this win was an amazing one, and Satish was at his best, fighting extreem cramps to take the home and this is an important with for WC keeping in mind our points...

It was a great game played and was good to play with United... hard luck guys luck was not on your side on the given dayy.....
Ghoda u rock dude......

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

Eagles beat QC Kings

Batting first, Eagles scored 209/6 in 40 overs.

Eagles started rather carefully on the face of two quick wickets earlier. Preetam and KRK Mohan established a semblance of respectability to the run-rate. At the break we were 80/4. Spinners bowled from both the ends and we were unable to force the pace. The culprit being Ram.

After being ~ 115/5 in 32 overs, Eagles final score was made possible by a 29 ball 60+ by Vishnu on his Eagles batting debut with atleast 6 sixes. They were huge hits in WP. Preetam batted brilliantly, anchored our innings to score an unbeaten 70+. Preetam and Vishnu together put on a 90+ unbeaten partnership in the final 8 overs to take us to a winning total.

Responding to a 200+ total was always going to be a challenging task. QC Kings began slowly the first 6/7 overs and then accelerated with adept singles and twos. Pankaj and Balaji embarked on a recovery after the loss of first two wickets to take QC Kings past 50. But after the break, QC Kings lost few quick wickets one after the other. The highlight was Harikiran's catch by Ravi off Mankesh in the deep midwest boundary. A shell-shocked Hari stood in the wicket for some time before walking back.

Withe equation at 96 off 16 with 3 wickets, they launched a valiant fight back. Next wicket fell to yet another great catch by KRK in the long-on boundary.

They were batting with 1 less batsman owing to injury. But to our credit, we kept the pressure on and the equation stood at 45 off 4 with two wickets. In the end they folded for ~170.

One of the QC Kings players was injured on the field and had to seek immediate medical attention at nearby hospital. Hope he recovers soon.

Unknown said...

...fighting extreem cramps to take the home
=============================
Didn't he get a runner?


Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

naren said...

Didn't he get a runner?

Yes he did get a runner,he could have got a runner some 5-6 overs earlier but he did not, he got the runner only when he absolutely could not run....

Unknown said...

I was under the impression that runner is only given when there is an injury to the player. I was not aware that runner could be allowed for player who was exhausted or purely on the basis of 'out of steam.'

naren said...

I am a newbie to this league, and in my league career i have seen many instances where a person was allowed a runner when they had cramps..
I am pretty sure you should be knowing that too, so i dont know what the league rule is or i am not that prudent enough to know if this rule pertains to ICC books...

FYI Satish never took a runner from the time he started playing in MWCC so there does not arrise a question of " Out of Steam" or Exhausted..
Anyhow I would not want to drag this issue any further....
Thanks for your information on the above mentioned rule...

Preetam N said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Preetam N said...

Ram, the person who got injured was the 12th man. QC Kings batted with the regular eleven.
Not of mention here about Manu Chopra the umpire from Hammond. Extremely good umpire ( Sadiq, he will give you a run for your money ). Very calm and very consistent throughout.
QCKings are a very good and friendly team, they just ran out of luck. And I guess they were as shocked as we were with the 29 ball mayhem from Vishnu. His sixers cleared the ropes by yards. And WP grounds are not small.
Good luck QCKings in your future games

Unknown said...

FYI Satish never took a runner from the time he started playing in MWCC so there does not arrise a question of " Out of Steam" or Exhausted..
================================
Age may have something to do with it.

straight_drive said...

Adnan you're a bitter bitter man! Accept gracefully that you lost and move on!

Unknown said...

There is nothing to be bitter about. I am questioning Umpire's decision as to what basis he allowed a runner. It's not WC's fault if umpires' are inapt and posses no knowledge of the game.

aaagzzz said...

test

Tonald Drump said...

AAA vs Jolly Rovers,

Result = Rained Out

AAA batting first scored 180ish with 3 over remaining. Jolly Rovers did not get to bat at all as rain storm flooded the grounds.

Shekhs said...

Escape To Victory!!!
Thats the movie I saw on my 8th grade field trip to Kodai...with Pele trying his footwork on the silver screen..

Escape to victory was challenger's story on saturday, when we escaped from Milwaukee with a win..

We had a wake call in our previous game..but then Buchia decided to hit the snooze button..and - "hum to saare so gaye..ghode bechke.."
borrowed that from Shaq..

Anyways..a nail biting, heart breaking rained out game, decided on 20 over stats gave challengers a "W".

With whitewater not being available the game was played at Lincoln park.
The ground was a mess and we couldnt start until 11:30 am, so the game was reduced to 40 overs.

Milwaukee United won the toss and decided to bat.
MUCC lost wickets at regular intervals, with a few batsmen chipping in with useful 20-30 runs.
MUCC were 46 at the 20 over break.
They managed to score 85 more in the next 20 overs with Javed contributing most of the runs.

Challengers, since we were snoozing, kept loosing wickets at regular intervals as well.
Except for a cameo from DAX, Challengers looked like they were gonna lose back to back games.
Thats when Mr. cool Amin took over at one end...held the reins with both his hands and feet..but still couldn't stop the bleeding at the other end.
Challengers were 91/9 at one stage, requiring 43 in 20 something overs. The last wicket put around 17 odd runs and thats when the rain gods intervened..
It was a beautiful day and there was no sign of rain whatsoever..

The game stopped for half hour and then after looking a the ground conditions, the umpire decided that its playable..
We continued playing with most of the challengers biting their fingers, as they ran out of nails..
The 10th wicket pair held their nerver for a few more overs, when it started raining again..
It kept raining on and off..and the umpire decided to call if off and award it to challengers based on the 20 over mark..
Challengers were 117/9 in 30 overs when the game was called off..

MUCC tried the best anybody could've done to make that game happen...and kudos to them..

Unfortunately for them, the weather didnt hold well..
I dont know what Buchia did with the rain gods..but that worked for us..

We'll take the "W"..
Good luck to MUCC!
And yeah...forget about the wake up calls and eye openers..we are gonna keep snoozing.. :-)

Rup said...

Looks like the blog on fire.. Why we had the umpire conference/traing is becoming a joke. Looks like some of these guys who attended can't read, comprehend or just plain arrogant.
===========================
The rule clearly states that a batsman should not be allowed a runner due to exhaustion..."Cramping is a form of exhaustion and in my books the batsman has either got to bite the dust and try and continue or retire and allowed to come back to bat atfer the fall of the next wicket"..This is the rule

It's freaking pathetic that these same people who want to play more and longer cricket frequently com up lame and limp with cramping excuses.
This is not something new and has been a ridiculous problem in our league. This needs to stop now before we become a league of cramping F"""s in the hot weather.
Just an FYI to all my fellow cricketers, If I am umpiring you will Cramp your behind, behind the boundry line??.
Umpires please read the rules given to you.. and if you have already started please stop using it for TOILET wipes..

"in our game yesterday we had a discussion because the ump said a ball that bounces above waist height is a no ball" ???? ouch

Rup said...

ICC got busted up by Evanston.

We were able to start at 11 am and ICC wont the toss and eleceted to bat first.
ICC VS Evanston is big rivalry but ICC has got to show more respect to Evanston bowlers.
We struggled form the go tryin to lick Evanston and before you know it we were 25/5. Your truly fought for a while, 31, but when i got out it was a matter of time before we fell for 102. Perrin 5 fer did us in.
Evanstan came out trying to put a licking but we got two quick wickets. It looked a contest for a moment before Evanston took over a kick to crap out of us..The got to 102 for 2 in 20 overs.

Alpesh said...

Shekhs Sir ..

Congrats on a lucky win ...

We are having a terrible season so far .. Lost to Madison by about 68 runs .. Their last 3 batsman scored about 60-65 runs which made the main difference ..

Shekhs said...

Thanks Appu!
tough Luck with your loss...

I noticed that you guys bowled 37 extras...now thats probably what got you more than the tail..
I know its easy to preach, but I'm just stating the obvious....you got to bowl better, especially on the road..can't afford to give 25 + extras on the road..at least thats what I think is one of the keys to winning on the road..

Shekhs said...

Good win Ram/ Preetam!
Looks like (I'm not jinxing..just patting the back) you guys are on a roll....way to go!

Rup said...

Now,,,Shekhs.. Should i congrat you on your L***Y Win..
A W is a W so I will let you by this time..

Congrats to all the winners.. for the guys who lost or rained out let hope next week is better..
MidWest needs a break from the rain so that is positive on our side.

Rup said...

Alpesh ICC is there with you all.

We need to turn this around in a hurry.. We will try that much i can promise you all.
Rup

Rup said...

By the way guys.. WI was going great till recent.
They had a good chance till Bravo got out and Chander...Well lloks like only umpire F++K ups will get him out.

don't get me wrong guys.. I love the Aussies because of their style of cricket but they are now starting to try and win at all cost..
Just a matter of time before the fall apart.. Unless the ICC keep giving them umpires that go Blind so often in their FAVOR..

Shekhs said...

yeah Rup...we are with the 2 of you..we can't quite count that as a Win, so we need to turn it around as well..

yeah..lousy or not..we'll take the W..

Shekhs said...

Fellas..
What do you think about Kevin Pieterson's grip change and going left handed to clob Styris for 2 sixes...?
He changed his grip and stance, while the bowler was running into bowl...

I think its creative, but would've been nice if he did that before the bowler ran in, so that he could adjust the field..

Because there is a subtle difference in playing a reverse shot and playing left handed..

Rup said...

There is no rule objecting how a batsman should stand "Lefty or righty".
once the bowler starts his run up the ball is live and the batsman can inovate in any way.
As a bowler you can choose to bowl or hold the ball back "Dead ball" or get hit for 6's??.

Peterson is good at inventing shots and it been his worst enemy on a lot of occasions..He is a very good bat and i don't feel he needs to invent shots to score.

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

Shekhs

Thanks, wishing you and your team continued luck and success!!!

Ajoy Lal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alpesh said...

Rup ..

Thanks Sir !! Yep, we need to turn around the tables before it gets too late.

However, I am seeing that the team that regualrly practices are getting good results. My team this season just meets on the match day ... and hence I believe these failures ...

C Jack said...

Most of these umps dont care thats all. I cannot understand why someone will do something half heartedly.
Congrats Evanston good ass kicking you gave us.

Rup said...

Alpesh ... and i thought ICC was the only team that shows up and play ball without any practice??.

Positive cricket will turn a bad start around.

Sean said...

Rup - both teams had decisions go against them (i.e. Bravo twice last night) - do you really think the ICC has conspiracy with the umpires to keep the Aussies winning - if anything it would be the other way - everyone wants the best team to fail, it is human nature.

Anyway - glad to see the WI playing good cricket again.

Go Aussies!

Preetam N said...

Shekhs,
Thanks. we are trying.
Rup,
why are your scores not posted yet.
Correct me if i am wrong. I have seen a lot of international games where batsmen do get runners for cramps. Tendulkar, during the world cup final. Dean jones one time. etc etc. I think you do not get a runner only if it is an existing injury. Cramps can happen even with the weather conditions, dont you think.

Tonald Drump said...

Define positive cricket RUP?

DeepDownWithin said...

Adnan as a senior member of united I expect you to be more fair. The fact is that Satish played brilliantly. You did not lose because Satish used a runner in the later part of his innings, it was simply bcos your team could not defend the score. I expect you to give credit where its due. As some bloggers have mentioned, there have been plenty of situations in international games where runners have been provided. Peace !!

DeepDownWithin said...

and Rup take a chill pill brotha. Why do you get so worked up. If I was umpiring, I would talk to Faisal/Mehul(who is the captain between the two?) and ask him to allow a runner. It is very easy to fake an injury.

Unknown said...

Tendulkar? World Cup final? Are we talking cricket or some other game? :-) Tendulkar was out for 4 in the 1st over, which was a boundary off McGrath between mid-on/midwicket. I'm fairly sure he didn't use a runner for that 1 over.

I have no idea about the law, and usually don't bat long enough to get cramps. But Tendulkar and World Cup final caught my eye.

-Samarth.

Big Hitter said...

sean welcome 2 blog. congrats on aussies doing well again. still best team in world but not as dominant.

cricket is team sport. anytime u believe that 1 decision cause of loss then lost already. 3-4 bad decisions in innings can cause loss but not 1. as i know only 1 bad decision today against wi.

runner is given for game injuries only including cramps. eg: Salman Butt wanted runner in T20 finals but was not given due to injury in previous game. in our league is more difficult. bcoz ppl fake. umps b more strict. give runners but only 4 cramps not bcoz old or slow or tired.

Big Hitter said...

good catch sammy. welcome back. if anything tendy not use runner when he should. hates 2 use runner. wish he would bcoz he does more harm 2 self.

Guest_rule said...

I don't understand what is the big deal when someone is down with cramps uses a runner in the later part of his innings.

This is very common in international cricket. If i remember correctly Saeed Anwar's record 194 in ODI against India he had a runner for most of part of the innings due to cramps.

http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/131440.html

1997
The highest score in one-day international history. Saeed Anwar battered India in the Independence Cup match at Chennai, smearing 194 off only 146 balls in Pakistan's 35-run victory. None of his team-mates got more than 39. It might have helped that he had Shahid Afridi as a runner from the 19th over - Anwar was free to concentrate on bashing boundaries, and he did: there were 22 fours and five sixes, three of them off consecutive deliveries from Anil Kumble.

I am sure there are many more like this.

Guest_rule said...

Tendulkar used runner due to cramps towards the end of the innings against Pakistan in 2003 World Cup. Ofcourse he got out soon after that.

Recently Dhoni used in Tri-seried played in Australia due to cramps and I don't remember who but i think Rohit Sharma came in as a runner and got Dhoni run-out. Dhoni commented later that he could have ran faster on his own than a runner and India lost a close game.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/cwc2003/hi/newsid_2810000/newsid_2811400/2811475.stm check this link where Tendulkar used runner in worldcup.

Big Hitter said...

best umps in my opinion

anwer khan
sridher

Rup said...

Rup,
why are your scores not posted yet.
===============================
They will be in tonight.
Came home yesterday..Fathers day.. spent the rest of the evening catching up with my Daughter.. sorry that came in my way of entering scores for a cricket game.
=====================
Sean I got no blood with the Aussies but it's not good when you have too many teams complaining about umpires jacking them and Aus winning.. No lie it been ridiculous recently..

As for Bravo.. if he got a break it's much deserved for the umpire have realy jerk him off for a long time now.. Don't get me wrong i am not saying umpire should have or make up for wrong call by making another bad call to compensate..
"two wrongs do not make a right..

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

I'd like to add Manu Chopra to the list - very assertive, confident and calm. Teams will listen.

Very few in our league infact are assertive. By that quality, Sadiq and Owen Gray (not umpiring this year, I guess) would make my list as well.

Rup said...

and Rup take a chill pill brotha. Why do you get so worked up. If I was umpiring, I would talk to Faisal/Mehul(who is the captain between the two?) and ask him to allow a runner. It is very easy to fake an injury.
================================
Not worked up my friend.. This is a huge problem in our league and if we don't stop it then who will..
The rule does not say ask the captain but it's the sole judgement of the Umpires.

What pi***s me off is that these guys have cramp..so the get a runner and then start swinging the bat like Hurcules, charging down the wicket and then talk smack after hitting you all over the place..
A player with cramp should have limited movement if true???.

Yes it happens in int cricket but very rare compare to our league we see it pretty frequent.. Wait till the weather realy warms up and you may not have the same feeling you do now.

Rup said...

best umps in my opinion

anwer khan
sridher
=========================
BH unless i missed it Anwar Khan umpired ICC vs Evanston yeaterday.
Cool & calm yes.
Yesterday we got a conversation on why he called a no ball on a shot of a length pitch where the bat ducked under..
Answer " Bouncer above the waiste is a no ball?????

Unknown said...

Southpaw said...

Tendulkar? World Cup final? Are we talking cricket or some other game? :-) Tendulkar was out for 4 in the 1st over, which was a boundary off McGrath between mid-on/midwicket. I'm fairly sure he didn't use a runner for that 1 over.

--------------

Samarth,
I think Preetam was talking about the game vs Pakistan in WC in SA....Preetam correct me if i'm wrong...:) What a great innings he played!!

In my opinion, I think cramps don't happen on purpose...specially being a batsman that's the last thing you'd want that some is running for u (specially when ur settled down :))...just my thougts!!



Samir_Royals CC

Big Hitter said...

rup umps not favoring aussies. aussies know 2 take advantage put pressure. thus win. bad decisions part of game. happen 2 all other teams. has happening 4 many years. wi not deserve 2 win. giving katich and jaques centuries in second innings is mitake. it sux 2 lose but u should b used 2 it!!

Rup said...

Define positive cricket RUP?
===============================
As a player don't F**k up and make excuses???.
play to your ability and play the role ask of you in the given match situation...
when in trouble dig deep down and find the extras to help your team.
Hope this helps

Big Hitter said...

ram there no way owen gray can b on list. i seen him sleep instead of umpire. he is 1 of worst. sadiq not bad but def not best. at least he not biased.

rup am surprised about ur story on anwer. mayb i hear 2 sides first. u known 4 being biased 2 ur side.

manu mayb good but i not remember if he umpired me or not. lets hope he that good.

Unknown said...

Adnan as a senior member of united I expect you to be more fair. The fact is that Satish played brilliantly. You did not lose because Satish used a runner in the later part of his innings, it was simply bcos your team could not defend the score. I expect you to give credit where its due. As some bloggers have mentioned, there have been plenty of situations in international games where runners have been provided. Peace !!
=================================
Here we go twisting the Sh%^$&* again. Did I anywhere on this blog bash Satish or WC or did I or anyone from United stated that we lost the game because of the runner? I am merely raising an important issue here. Like Rup said you ain't getting squat on his watch. Therefore what makes other umpires so special that they could differentiate between a real and fake injury (again do not twist it, I am not saying Satish faked it). In order to avoid the controversies I agree with Rup that if you got cramps, either play with it or take it oustiside and come back when you feel better. We are not even close to a first class level and umpires certainly have a long way to go, then why not avoid controversy?
Hope this is crystal clear.


Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

Rup said...

BH,
It's the umpires I freaking got a gripe with.. They should be investigated for Match Fixing.. There is no way in the world ICC should let some of these guys get away with some of the calls they are making..
I ain't got a problem with WI loosing..they are turning the corner and now that we got Money poured into WI cricket (thanks to Mr. Ford) they will rise again very soon..

As I stated before I can't figure out why the Aussies seem to get more benifits of doubt than their opponents..This is a fact not just grapevine info (I know Sean will not like this).

Rup said...

rup am surprised about ur story on anwer. mayb i hear 2 sides first. u known 4 being biased 2 ur side.
======================
Call me a liar if you want..Don't bother to apologis either when your investigation is over??.
Biased for my side..Sad coming from you..
If defending what's right and good for cricket make me Biased in your books then so be it..Will not loose sleep over it.

Big Hitter said...

i never called u liar. dont get sensitive. there no b investigation. will find other side story b4 i remove anwer from my top umps list.

Unknown said...

The official reason for Tendulkar getting a runner against Pakistan in WC 2003 was hamstring pull, not cramps. He was limping after the game, around 1 hour after he was out. He was doubtful for the next game also. Whether he was faking it or not, I don't know. :-)

Same with Saeed Anwar. He got a runner very early in his innings (definitely before 20th over). He also did not come out to field even 1 ball when India batted. That's a total of more than 6 hours. I don't know of any cramp that lasts more than 6 hours, 3 of them sitting in AC pavilion. :-) Unless he was faking it, it was an injury, not cramps.

-Samarth.

Unknown said...

Adnan this are your comments, if this is not allegation than i dont know what is. dont take me wrong brother but accept the loss, satish probably one of the fittest guys in the legue (yes even at his current age, whatever that might be).
"I was not aware that runner could be allowed for player who was exhausted or purely on the basis of 'out of steam.'

Unknown said...

"I was not aware that runner could be allowed for player who was exhausted or purely on the basis of 'out of steam.'
===================================
Why don't you google 'how cramps occur.' and then let me know whether I have made accusations.
While you're at it also let me know if there has been a case where a runner was given purely on cramps basis.

Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

Unknown said...

Although the exact cause of muscle cramps is unknown (idiopathic), some researchers believe inadequate stretching and muscle fatigue leads to abnormalities in mechanisms that control muscle contraction. Other factors may also be involved, including poor conditioning, exercising or working in intense heat, dehydration and depletion of salt and minerals (electrolytes).

Unknown said...

adnan, read this story and it will erase your doubts,
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/331177.html

Unknown said...

hare's another example.
Dravid cramped up and required Karthik as a runner and the run rate quickly began to escalate

Unknown said...

adnan i think in this case frustration of not winning a game you thought you had probably is getting better of you. you probably never used a runner and thats why its making it little harder for you to accept it. there are some cases in this league where taking a runner has become a habit but satish is definetly not one of them

Unknown said...

Here we go. Next time I have cramps please come to my rescue if I don't get a runner. I am going to print this article and keep it with me at all times. This is good news for guys like us who are out of shape and prone to cramps.

Rup said...

Cramps..all the blog about this is the reason why we are getting and achieving very little in this league..
Here we have a few guys addressing a serious problem we all know exist in our league and so many of you busting up thinking we are trying to rob you of your bank account.
seem like some of you want this to continue as you will need a runner on your fake ass cramp.
Wait..Wait..I got to blame the umpires for allowing this not you guys for supporting it..
Tell you what..in my 16 years in this league I have played lots of exhaustive days of cricket and never once took a runner while batting because it not the right thing to do unless you are really injured.
And before you all jump the gun, I am not bragging but just stating fact to support my case..
thanks to all the guys who will like to see us put a stop to this.

TrueChampion said...

I don't think comparing international cricketers and umpires to those in MCC is all that wise. But certainly, getting a runner is a great asset to most batsman. You can conserve your energy and get more time to look at the field. Often times it ends up benefiting the team immensely, since the batting team is allowed to choose the runner. And they almost always pick runners who are very good between the wickets.

Do the Wildcats win this game without Satish getting a runner? I don't know. Does Saeed Anwar score a 194 without a runner? No idea. The question isn't about Satish or Saeed, but about certain players abusing the runner policy because the umpires are too scared to take harsh decisions against them.

If you still don't know what I'm saying, then go check and see how many times Hasan Shah has asked for a runner. Umpires and MCC need to really look into such foul play and stop a player like Hasan, who is nothing more than a 'lazy excuse for a cricketer' from tarnishing the game.

Unknown said...

rup you talking about serious problems read before you rush to adnans rescue i already mentioned there are some guys who have made a habit of it, my whole thing was i dont think player at question here is like that, and adnan you asked for an instance when "A RUNNER WAS PROVIDED FOR HAVING CRAMPS", that's all i did, you asked i provided, i also mentioned that you probably never used a runner. it's a problem with few guys and guys you should mention it when that happens not when a guy takes a runner and you lose the match thats all. rup and adnan PEACE, guys i have lot of respect for you guys as a cricketer.

Unknown said...

Criccrazy, come on man. I apologize if I said something out of whack. I think we both are saying the same thing. Just because Satish does not have a history of getting a runner does not make it right. The rule has to be applied evenly to everyone. Just as you said there are certain people who take advantage of it. Well in order to maintain the consistency and eradicate such behavior, all umpires need to adapt a uniform policy. If the panel decide that any batsman who gets a cramp should get a runner then fine, I don't have an issue with it, but if one umpire says yes and the others say no then where does that leave us?
Hope this calrifies my stance on this issue.


Adnan Baig
www.unitedcricket.org

Shiraz said...

Hi All,

Congratulations to all the winners of last week, and commisseration to all the non-winners (losers sounds weird).

The only reason I am writing is because I have to admit, that Purdue was a great host to us last weekend. Thanks guys, for Shade, Food, Water and Well Spirited Game. Good Fight by Airaj, I hope he is doing ok. Good Luck for the season. It was a pleasure playing you guys on Sunday.

Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan said...

Big hitter,
You are Tango. Don't try to change your writing style!

Alpesh said...

Guys...

Most of the cricketers .. in fact .. most of the sportsmen are superstitious in one way or another. Is it because in sports .. apart from hard work .. you need luck too to do well .. that they have these superstitions ??