The snow is starting to melt, the hibernation starting to end....
Well, we're nearly into March 2009. Y'all know what that means - a new MWCC season! Has anyone started to think about it? Is the itch to play and win back? Is anyone alive in the Midwest cricket world - in cricketing terms?
Do you think we'll have the same number of teams this year? I feel like this league is slowly shrinking. The number of Div 2 teams is less, and that might impact Div 1 this year.
It seems that we need to pay the $100 if we want to enter a team for the ALNT by March 21. And then the remaining amount in June/July? If we don't pay this amount in March, then we can't enter a team.
I always used to think even after so many Asians are there in Australia, why none of them have made into Australian Cricket team ... Finally found that there is a Indian origin Women in their national women cricket team ... She is Lisa Carprini Sthalekar ... Maharastrian ...
Hey Shekhs, Adi and others, How are you guys doing. We have been having a good run of weather here in Saint Louis and we have had few days of good nets.
Arena will be back again this season. More or less the same team.
Hey Ajoy.. howz it going? we are doing well...just ready to play some cricket.. :-) glad that you guys are having good weather..and are ready to play.. are you guys planning to show up for the banquet/ AGM?
It was nice to see most of you at the meeting last week. To the credit of the management, the meeting seemed very productive and refreshing for as long as I could attend it. The primary points that were discussed this year that were new and refreshing:
1. Independent/Autonomous Judiciary Committee
2. Travel considerations for all Team in Div 1 and Div 2
3. On Time and Early planning to start season on May 2nd
4. Full schedule to be completed and availble by April 26th
5. Reflections from past seasons and areas of improvements
I look forward to seeing all of you sometime during the season.
Rogers Park is back with pretty much the same team from last year. Hopefully we will be able to build upon some success and chemistry that we initiated last year and go further and hopefully all the way to the Championship game this year. In any case, we wish all the best to all competing teams and pray that all our fellow cricketers go through Season 2009 without any injuries and harm.
Good Luck to all, and looking forward to the Season Opener....
I have a few guys who are looking to play for a team. If anyone is interested, please send me your contact information and I'll put you in touch with them.
I bet everyone is raring to go and can't wait to the season opener. This last stretch must be the toughest for us cricaholics. Yes my name is Shiraz (Hello Shiraz) and I am a cricaholic.. :). I hope the weather starts getting consistently warm for us to effectively start the proceedings on May 2nd. Only 30 days left. This is the final stretch. Naren, I would also love to bat/pad a few of the deliveries that you, Shekhs and Adi can send down my way as well, so please let me know as well. Hey Adi, we are confirmed for a Practice Match then on the 12th of April at Washington Park Ground 2. Let's hope and pray that is is 55 degress or warmer. Perhpas a good question for the bloggers. What do you think is an minimum appropriate teamperature to play cricket in Chicago?
Yes Adi, we are raring to go and hopefully this year we will be full strength for all games. We had some issues as it was our first year as a team and we have sorted out those issues and really itching to get on the field. We have a couple of new faces and a couple who have already played in the league but did not play last year for us.
Fortunately Saint Louis has been having a good run of weather and we have been hitting the nets on regular basis. We may be playing a practice match against Saint Louis Cricket Club (Div-I) team this coming weekend.
Shiraz.. bud ..wassup.. hey...leme know if you want to hit hanover..I'll throw some balls down... :-) Asmar, sup..you too bud..if you wanna practice..holler.. same goes with everybody..
I would like to do it today but will be working until 6. Can be there by 7 at the earliest. Does that work? Can't do it Saturday thought unless it is before 2 PM. Let me know if you guys want to do something early on Saturday like around noon or so.
yea kaptan i got injured even before the season has started. Sprained my lower back so am definately not going to bowl for a few days.. damn thing... so no chucking for now..
did I hear chucking...? you may want to talk to buchya about that.. the season's not even started.....yet.. :-) sorry Naren....hope your back feels better.. it was nice to get out and knock some balls....
Why is this place so dead, we are just a few weeks away from the season and no one is talking anything about cricket.... Sheky,Adi,Pree,Atif,Shiraz.....Romo...
Ajoy, how's the team looking this year? You guys going to have 11 for every game? Will catch up at the AGM.
Shekhs, sup sup foo...? How you doing? I'm so jealous that you guys keep getting hits at CP. I want to get a few sessions in as well.
Naren, you better take it easy dude. The body is getting old and can't recover as quickly!! :)
Shiraz, give me a call today if you can.
Adnan, thanks for the link. Looks like United is up to defend their Championship seriously this year. The roster looks interesting with the new additions.
Atif, hope the guys I referred to you work out. Giants this year baby!!
Romo, where you at? How are the Cats looking this year? Bet there's an interesting roster to be put up, eh??? I heard you have some interesting and talented recruits. :)
Adi Shekhs, Yes Arena and me are alive and kicking. We will hopefully have 11 for all games this season.
We have retained primarily the same team with couple of new face and couple of guys who got injured during the season will hopefully be fit thru the season.
howdy, friends, brothers and arch rivals... Hope everybody is hale and hearty and looks like all of you are raring to go. Eagles is treading on to unchartered territory ( atleast for us) this year and we had a few hiccups making a good eleven. Nevertheless we will still play. More or less ( literally) with the same team. Adi, naren send those extra guys to us. We would love to check them out. Shout out to Rohit, shiraz, alpesh and all my other friends. Shekhsy, naren, Rom, Atif and Adi are in touch thru facebook so I know how they are. Thx for making me the CFO, Atif. Sunne mein achcha lagtha hai.
Hey guys, Great to see some action on the blog. Can't really wait to get out and play some ball.
Why doesn't this damn thing display the date, along with the time, on which the comment was posted so that I know when you guys are hitting the nets at HP?
On a side note, are you guys familiar with twitter? I was wondering if we can use Twitter to tweet about the scores and match reports. That way we can broadcast the match updates to whoever is interested and don't have to rely on Sadiq to run across the WP during the drinks break to get an update. And the games that Sadiq umpires will start on-time after the break :)
wow, where did you go Rohit? yeah, please let those jaguars/ iit folks know...
Midwest, I think its a brilliant idea to use twitter.....its easy and more robust.. The only hassle (not really) is that everybody will have to create a twitter account, if they dont have one..
Been out for a while guys. Nice to see the interest brewing but from the look of things I say the interest is lagging???. I hope to see you all soon.. Don't know what ICC is up to yet.
Preetam, welcome to Division 1 -- there are no easy games here. Every game has the potential of being a nailbiter. This is the best cricket that can be played in Chicago. I wish you and the Eagles a great and successful season. I look forward to competing against you my friend, it will be fun.
This Saturday (April 18th, for the benefit of 'Midwest') looks really good. Rogers park is playing Phoenix at 9 AM at Washington Park Ground 2. Finally some cricket. Hopefully things will start warming up by next week hopefully. See you all soon, either at the Prize Distribution, AGM or on the field. Can't wait to get out there.
There has been some attrition in Teams. I wonder how that will impact them:
Sufian is not with Rogers Park anymore Kiran and Amit not with United Heard Imran from Pak Gymkhana not with them anymore Did not see Kamran on the Chargers roster Moid not on the Flames anymore
Any other attritions, Wildcats, Phoenix, Challengers others.
As the Wildcats, we went from rags to riches in about 6 weeks! We are still in the process of acquiring some very new exciting players. Will unveil (read unleash :)) them soon. And Chargers were not the only ones that got lucky with the MUCC dissolution, we got some very good players. Names coming soon.......
So Romo got the Cats some Pitbulls..I am very interested to see how they will survive together!!!!!...Ouch??????.
Shekhs..Yeh.. Fishing.. The kind where you buy one a them nice chairs with shades, holders and a little cooler all attached together under the beautiful....SUUUUNNNNYYYY..North Ave Beach... now this is da fun.
Adi..Adi...Why the pow'r house.. Thought phoenix was good enough to win it as is???
I definately agree with Romeen the gun is loaded,nice one romeen Rags to Riches is all about it for us this year.
I will leave the unveiling and all that stuff to romeen as i am not supposed to talk about that stuff in public ;-) pretty darn secret to hold on to...
Recession has had a say this year with all the job losses and stuff..
Well Tushar not there, that is a big void for Challengers.
I am excited to see the new look Wildcats. It's always exciting to see how the new faces fit..
It is great that Chargers did not have to face relegation. While like many others, RPCC had it's sight set on Guddo and Gang, but it's always nice to see an old name like Chargers stick around in Division 1. They have some serious talent and everyone should watch out for them this year. We did not get a chance to play them last year, although, heard the fireworks that Guddo produced against MG (97 in 45 balls or something). I am glad to see them survive.
I think relegation is a little tough for Division 1 teams. It usually ends up in disintegrating the clubs. While it is a good incentive to play and fight for survival, but we should implement some sort of a Permanant member status for teams that have been in Division 1 a long time and have proved their mattle over the years. For instance, if for some reason, Wildcats, Challengers, RPCC or Pak Gymkhana (all Division 1 champions of the past) had to be relegated, that would take away from the identity of Division 1. A team can have a bad year due to attrition, injury or weather. We need to define this rule better. RPCC almost faced relegation in 2003 as mid season, our Top 4 players (Waseem Khan, Omer Khan, Umer Ansari and Mirza) were banned from playing in the MCC due to ACC ties. The action was justified, but almost led to the disolution of our Team. That would be a sad situation. So I feel the pain of the Chargers, the Tigers and Meadows/Polos. We lost good talent like the Khera brothers due to this. Also I remeber Muslim Gymkhana was also lucky in avoiding relegation in the past due to a similar situation. In the end, I am glad to see our friends in the Chargers survive and look forward to playing them in Division 1.
Shiraz, You brought up a good point about the impact of relegation on some of the Div 1 teams. I don't agree with your solution on having a few permanent members irrespective of their performance in Div 1 though. (I always resented the UN having 5 permanent members with veto powers, and your solution is not much different from it).
I believe the relegate-promote policy of relegating the bottom 2 teams from Div 1 to Div 2 and promoting the top 2 teams from Div 2 to Div 1 was put in place to have the best teams of our league compete in the premier division. Looking at the results from the past couple of years I sometimes ponder and wonder whether the top 2 teams of Div 2 are better or worse than the bottom 2 teams of Div 1. We can't conclude either way because they play a completely different set of teams.
The best solution in my opinion is to pick the best 2 teams out of these 4 teams to play in Div 1. And how do we do that? We have the bottom 2 teams from Div 1 compete in the playoffs of Div 2 and the winner of the finals (or the finalists) makes it to Div 1. If the bottom 2 teams of Div 1 are really better than Div 2 teams, they'll win in the playoffs and retain their position in Div 1. If they can't win it all, then there are better teams in our league that deserve the chance to prove their mettle in Div 1.
I proposed this idea in our league meetings but it was shot down. I'm bringing it up on this blog, not to ruffle any feathers, but to just have a debate among the bloggers (hopefully in a civilized manner without any mudslinging). Oh, and also because I have plenty of free time today :)
its funny how everybody talks about the season starting and all..and want to play cricket....but when there's an open invitation......to play..there are no takers..
but when there's an open invitation......to play..there are no takers.. ================================== Now Sheky...I would love to but like I said ICC is only a name for now....... plus isn't that the day of the reception...
Rup, well I wasnt pointing any fingers...that way..I'll have to point one at myself....as I cant get challengers to play either... I was just making a general stmt...its ironical....
You want to play..but you cant play..
yeah..its the day of our banquet....that shouldnt make a difference ..should it..?
This league is in some serious Troubles and if no drastic changes are made we will be back to one league about 20 teams soon.
I just can't see any reasons why our League is not in Colored clothes and white Balls yet. why we are not pushing for a better 20/20 competition other than the night tour.
By gosh the ICC is already talking about using a Pink Ball for better vision and we are fighting for better quality red ones??..am i missing something here.
The best solution in my opinion is to pick the best 2 teams out of these 4 teams to play in Div 1. And how do we do that? We have the bottom 2 teams from Div 1 compete in the playoffs of Div 2 and the winner of the finals (or the finalists) makes it to Div 1. If the bottom 2 teams of Div 1 are really better than Div 2 teams, they'll win in the playoffs and retain their position in Div 1. If they can't win it all, then there are better teams in our league that deserve the chance to prove their mettle in Div 1. ========================= Interesting idea. So the the jist is that bottom 2 in div I play the top 2 in division II and the team that makes it to the Final should be allowed to stay in division I. I would support that.
Not a bad idea, but i guess we have a time constraint .... Last season pretty much went in to second week of October and then winter starts .... But the idea is pretty interesting and can be tried out this season if Summer extends into October....
Great Idea. I would support that myself. I don't think Division 2 teams would agree, but I think it is a great idea. You gotta be able to beat the worst teams of the year to qualigy to Division 1. That would absolutely be fair.
Well, I am soo excited, Rogers Park will be playing Phoenix tomorrow in a practice match at Wahington Park (Jaggi, we going to miss you Buddy, hope things are well in Singapore. shiva, we will miss you too Bud, it's always a challenge to figure out playing you. i remember you got Waseem Khan out, in that finla we played, when you were playing for Wildcats).
Rup, I like the red ball, I don't think there is any point playing in colored clothes, specially, when we are not playing night or day night games. Although I think 45 overs is too much and we should play only 4o or perhaps 35. For the few that would have to play regionals and others, they are good and exceptional cricketers and can do that anyways. I don't understand the logic of having to play thorugh Dew, Evening Shades, Bad Light in Chicago, specially in September. Perhaps we can also resolve the ground issues if we can schedule a 30/30 game and a 35 over game in one day. spekaing of that, I think 30/30 is too much for 30/30. It shoud be 25 over league.
Well it is a great day today and I am going to plan on being at Hanover Park to strike a few cricket balls. Naren, Shekhs, any interest. And Midwest, today = Firday the 17th of April. I am thinking somewhere around 4-5 PM.
Are there any folks near downtown who'd like to practice around here? Over the years, it has been painful for people like me to drive about 2.5 hours in traffic for 8 minutes of batting practice and gruelling fielding practice(and several dropped catches: yes I suck in the nets too :))
If there are a few takers, we can pick a day of the week and maybe even have nets at WP.
Rup, I like the red ball, I don't think there is any point playing in colored clothes, specially, when we are not playing night or day night games. =================================
Shiraz your comments above strike my point that we have no vision for the future and betterment of cricket in MWCC if we keep doing the same old thing.
We have got to get away from the Idea of the I or a few want and get to what Cricket Wants.
MWCC is one the few places in this world where one day cricket is still being played in white clothes and red balls..The other few are places where they don't afford it but i think we do.
That definitely brings back memories of that devastating match winning knock by Waseem in 2000 finals... 7 sixers and 2 boundaries.... getting his wicket is a treasure indeed.... you incidentally were more into bowling.....got 3 wickets in the finals....whats happened now ?
I would love to sit and debate with anyone who thinks that there should be no relegations unless the top 2 DIV 2 teams can beat the bottom 2 Div 1 Teams...
International cricket is doing the relegation if needed to give teams a chance to go back and figure out a winnig team and prove the belong up there again.
Here in MWCC we got teams who have become weak and crying or disbanding about relegation.
I will play cricket anywhere, anytime, even on one leg if i have to cause I love the game...If we all play for the love of the game then relegations will mean nothing
Shiraz, Thanks for being specific on date and time...it sure helps :)
It is a beautiful day today and I can't wait to get out and catch some outdoors. If I had the power, I would pass a law against working on such a nice day as today (especially indoors and in tiny cubes with no windows) .
I will come to HP but will I get to show-off my extra-ordinary batting skills? :)
There is a reason that 2 teams are relegated with respect to their performance for an entire season.....so after 14 games, if they cant perform well enough, I think they should be relegated....
If we allow them to play another game with div2 top teams, they might even win one..and get back in div 1...which I think is completely unfair to the div2 team, who worked their asses off the entire year to be # 1.
Rup, My proposal was not against relegation but for having the best teams of our league play in Div 1.
Div 1 is the premier division of our league and we ought to keep it that way by promoting teams that can compete at the highest level of our league.
How many times have we seen when the teams promoted from Div 2 get thrashed by all and sundry in Div 1? At the same time we also had teams that came from Div 2 compete for the top spot in Div 1 (Peoria and Pheonix for ex). So, it serves the best interests of our league to put rules in place which only promotes the best teams to Div 1. That will make both Div 1 and Div 2 interesting.
Sheks, I can surely give you some tips, but they don't come free...maybe a beer or two :)
You may not see much sense in my tips during the practice session in the nets, but I can assure you that you'll appreciate those tips after having a few beers with me :)
OK, guys, hit some balls for me and down some beers for me. The quiz on facebook said the closest batsman I am like is Sanga and Madhu got the same result. So, that made my day. Don't think I need any practice ;).
Romeen, Please post the link to the quiz on this blog. I'm curious to know which batsman I'm closest to (though I have a hunch that it's going to be Maninder Singh or Narendra Hirwani)
On the relegation topic ... if you want the best teams to play in Div 1, then why limit to only last 2 teams of Div 1 and top 2 teams of Div 2, lets make it top 4 teams of Div 2 ( the semi-finalists) and the bottom 4 teams of Div 1 ... this will be a fair thing then ...
Midwest, Looks like you are going to be the funny one for this season :). That's nice. I'm not sure if we can post that link,besides I'm technologically challenged. Hey Shekhy, you think you can do that? Did you guys have fun practicing?
We had some good workout in the nets, we expected Shiraz and midwest to make our practice interesting but both were missing...other than that, I got to bat first in the nets and that was a good thing ....:-), shekhy was tired with the amount of time he got to bat, shaky ??? just kidding....
Sorry for not being there on time. Asmar and I got there around 5:45 PM. I just got stuck with some last minute week close out stuff. We saw Kaleem and his new look team there. Nice guys. They told us you were there and just left. Asmar and I practiced with Kaleem and his tema for about 2 hours then. It was a lot of fun, sorry we missed you guys. In any case, naren, I am looking forward to seeing you and the new look Wildcats on Saturday next week at Heritage Park. hopefully the weather will hold up.
It was a great cricketing day yesterday, although it was unfortunate that there were no teams playing at Washington Park. We had a game with Phoenix in the monring and then me and some of my guys teamed suited up for the later game between Giants and Muslim Gymkhana. All in well, some of ended up playing 55 overs yesterday and it was exhausting. The weather was soo good, close to 74 through out the day. I played the whole day, in just a T-Shirt. Tons of Fun.
Adi, thanks for the game, it was real fun to play you guys. Wish you and your guys a Great Season.
Everyone else, see you at the Banquet or the AGM next weekend.
Wow, looks like the chatter is back on the blog. Good to see everyone.
Rup, no "powerhouse" labels for us. Just regular turn-over and replacement. You lose a few, you gain a few. Last year was a pretty amazing year for us, and it will be tough to try and match it, but we'll have to try.
Shiraz, it was fun playing with you guys. Nice to get out and get ourselves a bit of a bowl and a hit.
Romo, anytime you wanna play downtown, let me know. We have a few who'd be up for it.
Thanks for playing on short notice on Saturday. It was a fun game, and RP are looking pretty good. I'm sure you guys will have a good season this year and RPCC will be pretty busy during the "business" end of the season.
Rohit, Its preferable that all the 20/20 teams attend the AGM, as there will be announcements and potentially match ball give aways. So, I recommend one of you folks attending the same.
I hope everyone had a little bit of practice over the last week end....
I have been looking over the Teams per Div's... Looks like Div 2 is falling apart.. 30/30 up to 16 teams??...ICC could make it 17 before season starts???
Who wants to take a whack at why we are seeing this turn????
Given the #s we may have to lower the amount of teams in Div 1 to cover for 2 next year. Last 2 years D2 went from 26 to now 16 and 30/30 from 8 to 16!!!!.
ICC is one step away from 30/30. If the schedule us like the did last year..all over the place and hardly WP we are done.
In this case, relegation of chargers would have helped Div 2 with one more local chicago team ... Also Div 1 should have the best 15 teams, where each team plays the other 14 ...
Sorry Sheks, Naren....couldn't join you guys for practice on Friday. As much as I wanted to get out of work early on Friday, I had to stay late at work. Fortunately I got to play on Saturday and boy was it a beautiful day for cricket.
Rup, From what I gather, teams that don't like traveling and that don't want to spend a full day (due to family reasons, fitness reasons or whatever) are moving to 30-30. I'm not sure if the fees for 30-30 is lower than the fees for Div 1 or Div 2. If it is less, then maybe finances play a part too. It ain't a bad thing for our league if there are more teams moving to 30-30.
Aditya, you love the "under dogs" tag, don't you? No matter how many games you win, you'd still want to be the under dog. Common dude, step up and face the challenge of being the "runners up" of last year. You guys earned the bragging rights after last year's performance. If I were in your position, I'd be trash-talking every team by now :) This blogs needs a Terrel Owens or a Rasheed Wallace to make things interesting.
You need some Guransheed from someone who has that kind of attitude. Unfortunately for you guys, that's not me.
I guess the "underdog" label just sits better with me - because I'd rather be the underdog that over-achieved than the over-dog who underachieved. Plus, we only had one good year in Div 1 so far. If we have a good year this year, I'll be quiet coz I won't be able to claim underdog status any longer. :)
If you guys wanna add some "spice", why don't you make some pre-sesaon predictions? Div 1 and 2 playoff teams maybe? That should get a lively debate going - it always does.
anyone practicing on thur/fri? I wanna get some bat on ball if possible.
Good point Midwest...It's only 300.00 less for 30/30 so i don't think if the $$.. I strongly feel it's the traveling and Family...
Again.. we have to look to the future and where cricket will stand in MWCC. ..We are starting to get to the point where a lot of the players are running into Family issues..Our kids are getting to the age where we have to spend more time engaging in what they want to do..and it's so hard to get them to play cricket.
For the guys with older kids they are getting onld for cricket too..
We have got to figure out how we will make cricket more exciting whilst going to a shorter season or tour... My view is we have two tours instead of a long drag out 14 game season.
a 10 game regular season and P/offs and a 20/20 tour for over the last 5 weeks for those that want to play more cricket.
Shekhs are you all practicing this week end..Saturday morning... If yes..where. I will like to hit a few to see if i can still play.. Looks Like I wil be looking for a team to play with for this season.
I will be practicing on Friday, 24th of April, from 6 to 7 PM @ Hanover Park, if you or anyone is interested. And thanks for your confidence in our ability this year Adi. As far as Phoenix being an underdog -- Once you make it to the Final the year before, no one will take you as an Underdog. Whatever happens, you will be Phoenix, who went ot the finals and ended up as Runner Up's. So Adi, if this tag suited you last year to surprise teams, it won't this year, as everyone will bring their best game against you -- to beat the Runner ups..As far as Playoffs are concerned, that is way in the future, and I think people would need to see and understand Personnel chnages before making any predictions for this season. One thing is for sure, we will have some surprises this year, like we did in the last few seasons. Only 10 days to the season kick off. I wish we couls just do away with the cold and the rain now, so the grounds can bake for good 7/8 days. Is MCC planning to have an innaugration game or an Opening Ceremony? Ideally it will be a rematch of the finalists of last year..
I like the idea of having an inauguration game, with a little bit of fanfare and opening ceremony, between the finalists of last year. Hope somebody can pass this idea to the management committee before they finalize the schedule for the season.
Shiraz said... I wish we couls just do away with the cold and the rain now, so the grounds can bake for good 7/8 days.
I really wish our grounds are much harder and the grass well cut so that the ball can travel along the ground. I believe it's very difficult for players who play along the ground and who can't hit big shots in the air to score in such grounds.
I also hate it when the ball just stops on the fielder. I so want to show off my "sliding stop and throw" but don't really get an opportunity for that :)
On the MWCC blog page, I have added a link under "Non MWCC Links" called "IPL Blog". This is the new blog started by someone attached to the IPL that is the rage now. It's actually quite good. Do check it out.
Rup, If its nice on saturday....we might practice in Des Plaines....in the new astro turf they got in deepark.. Will let you know...wont be in the morning for sure..sometime afternoon....
no Rup... do you know where Deepark park and recreation area is? If you head east on Golf, pass Potter and make a right on Dee, the ground is after the next block (Emerson) on your right side. So Dee and Emerson.
Thanks for the FYI...Shekhs...Is this a new Ground?. That's about 10 mins from where I live so I will try and be there...if there will a practice on saturday?.
I will try and see if i can be there too, you also have to consider that other teams have those nets for them so it might be difficult to play at 6 PM unless those teams skip the practice which i doubt when the season is starting in a week.
I predict that all bloggers (except me) will be the top batsmen and top bowlers, considering all the practice thats being put in. Maybe we should have a blogger's team :)
Romo it does not matter how much you practice, Read about Gilly he did not play any games in between last year's IPL and this year and look at the carnage he inflicted today.... :-)
blog is dead. people need to start talking about cricket no one picked up aditya's challenge. iguess i be the first one tomorrow ipl boring so far or is it just me. afridi 6 fer what you got to say aboout that
Cool: I think its pretty early to determine who would make it to the playoff's this year with so many changes with additions n departures of players...
Midwest: Wildcats are playing Rogers Park on Saturday, i dont know about other games.. you are always welcome to give some batting/bowling tips if you want
I will try to hook up with Shekhs and his gang for some practice this Friday at D-Park.. Sheks call me if you all cancel.
Yep.. I must say the IPL looks a little dead right now... The scores have been a little on the down side... I think it's the rain..SA is approaching it's rain season so I feel we will have quite a few more Rain outs.
------- Romeen said... Awesome clip Adnan! I loved the 'alien probe' bit. Who are we talking about here? ------
Geesh. I just saw it (for the first time),apparently several hours after you guys! Fais said he would be "posting something funny as an ad", but geez! Didnt know what I was letting myself in for!
And he got my name wrong too :-) (its actually spelt Yusuf, BTW.. but everyone gets it wrong half the time :-)
Almost time to start thinking cricket again, after this weekend (as soon as the NFL Draft is behind us :-) Looking forward to seeing all you guys Saturday at the banquet (presumably everyone is showing up, right?)
Da..B-quiet..this Sat...We have got to spice that thing up a little more...Is it just me or you all see the same thing. Once the trophies are passed out ..in half hour da building is empty???... what a b-quiet!!!!
damn i missed a lot romeen: let's start with who will make playoffs in div 1 naren i dont think any team has more than couple changes except ofcourse your CATS :) boy what a game that was shekhs, i guess i spoke too soon BIG QUESTION HOW MANY OF YOU THINK IF UNITED CAN DEFEND ITS MAIDEN CHAMPIONSHIP? (NO IFS AND BUTS PLEASE)
Rup .. I think you shld decide fast if you are not going to put up a team .. as then only one team will get penalised in Div 2 of not getting a walk-over .. which would be unfair to that team ...
Alpesh...I am trying to field a team..I will feel very bad if Walk overs have to be given if ICC decides to drop out.. You folks know how i feel about walk overs.
Most of my guys were like tired of travelling all over the country to play cricket...My fingers are crossed that ICC will make it.
Maybe Adnan can fill us in on the replacements for Amit and Kiran.. United always seem to come up with a few big names so I will give them the edge as the current Champs ... It's not easy to repeat as champs but then again it not easy to win it too..
This is extremely sad Buddy.ICC is one of the veteran teams in tne league. What is going to happen to other talented stars of ICC, like Jack, as well as others. I hope you guys can make a team. If you don't, I think Krishna M. runs the MWCC team and roster, you should contact him. I am playing 30/30 from Warriors so it will be nice to play you there.
As far as the Schedule is concerned, i think Krishna K. is working hard to get it done, I think he is in India and working on the schedule during his vacation -- That is just Wild dedication man. While I understand the complexities and difficulties to complete the schedule (requests, grounds, etc), in my opinion it should have been published by now. This would eliminate any issues of the type that we experienced last year, when the schedule came out with a lot of issues and Krishna M and Sridher spent a lot of time to fix it.
Mmmmm..... United Repeat. In my humble opinion, repeating in this league is extremely difficult. I think Challengers and Wildcats are the only teams that might have repeated a championship since 1996. RPCC won 2 championship, 1998 and 2000, but could not repeat. Also it will be difficult to repeat without the services of their 2 of the TOp 5 batsmen and their top 2 bowlers from last year. Amit and Kiran (Ranji level guys) are hard to replace and fill the void. While I think Faisal will continue his batting form with good support form the likes of Doc Naveed, Mehul and Mateen, I think it will be very difficult for them to repeat, unless they have armed their lineup with some good bowlers. No hard feelings guys, just basing my 'assumptions' on some hard facts, while wishing you all the best for a successful and safe Season 2009.
IPL Sucks this year. Pakistan -- Australia had a good game first up, lets see how it unfolds today.
----- centurion said... finger, can you please elaborate as to what kind of show you will be doing? -----
Just saw this. Maybe the simple and truthful answer is.. a bad one? :-)
No, actually, its sort of still in the works, ideas still popping.. but the general idea is for a weekly 15-odd-minute video magazine type thing on Midwest Cricket. The idea started out (only like a week ago!) as just purely a video magazine from me every week... mostly that Id chat with someone before or after a game I was at for 3-4 minutes on tape (probably captains, sometimes best players, just general stuff about how their season was going, what they felt their chances were for the playoffs, something about them).. and since I umpire 2 games most weekends, thats 4 teams, it would be a 10-15 minute video-magazine. I though the best part would be the highlighting of players and places many end up not seeing (Satha was in our league for 4-5 years before anyone in Div1 knew he existed, almost - and he's a great bat. But in general lots of Div1 guys probably dont know much about Div2 guys outside of Chicago, and vice versa, many outside Chicago from Div2 probably dont know any good players from Div1, that sort of thing).
Since then the idea has.. evolved a little :-) It will still be mostly a video magazine, but there will probably be a couple minute verbal wrap-up on the week gone by (highlighting the big performances, the centuries, the 5-fers etc all across the league in every division), and a couple minutes look-ahead to the big games of the upcoming week, maybe a sort of "game of the week" to look forward to etc... along with the video magazine part that oughta be 15-odd minutes every week, Iam guessing (unless I talk too long, which is always a danger).
Its all still in flux..I was thinking more about it last night and today, and really there are so many little "stories" that Id like to do over the course of the season! I mean, Id like to do a piece sometime on the Midwest Academy - how guys from our league (Krishna Meluveetil, Ajit, Sridher etc) give up their time every week to coach kids, how well the kids are doing (our U19 teams are doing pretty damn brilliantly nationally). Id like to do a chat (probably with Sridher and Anwar or something) about umpiring in our league... the pressures of it etc. Before the Abid Laheri tournament rolls around Id like to do a chat with Sheks (though I havent asked him yet - hope he's ok with it :-) about the pressures of running a tournament like that, a quick lookback at last years tournament, whether he thought the champion team was any good ;-) Heck, Id like to do a chat with Romeen sometime about the difficulties of putting together an old old old team for the season... and still managing to do it so well that its one of the consensus top-three favourites for the title going in (along with PakGym and Challengers IMHO) :-) Id like to do a piece in a couple weeks about our league team for the CER (which is I believe like middle-May this year, in Chicago).. and after we win it (which we will) Id like to higlight how well our players did and our chances at the Western Regionals and hopefully the Nationals after that!
But those are all ideas for down the road... to answer your question,l what I was trying to say, before I got carried away, was that it will be mostly a short weekly video-magazine, a little about the week gone by, a little about the week coming up, and a little more about the various people and places in our league (who I happen to meet that week and can get on tape, coincidentally :-) Iam looking forward to it, actually, I think it could be a fair bit of fun.
Am actually hoping to kick it off sometime next week with the inaugural edition, a lookback at last season (via conversations, hopefully, with the captains of the eventual two finalist teams of every division... though I havent asked everyone if theyd like to talk yet, am hoping they'll be willing to do so at the banquet, hopefully that works out!)
TD,...The had this last year..only 6 was given to every team..so was the other new brand..
I guess the choose the Grays over the other one...This one looks better than the one from last year..more compact and Sheen..
I feel this one will swing a little more than last year's as the shape is more oval/upright compare to a flatter one last year????.. I could be wrong though..me talking swing bowling??
218 comments:
1 – 200 of 218 Newer› Newest»come out of hibernation ppl................
lets talk some cricketttttttttttttt..
Hello to all from Singapore.
Shekhs, whats going on my man? How r things with you and Challengers?
Did I hear that the Cats may not be putting up a team this year? Romeen, Naren plz confirm.
hey Jaggi...good to hear from you..
Howz Singapore treating you?
mail me your numbers, will give you a call...
things are good, not many changes with challengers...
we are excited and ready to play...
its hard to imagine a season without the CATS...hopefully they will have a team....who's gonna play the jellybean trick with me otherwise... :-)
Shekhs,
You need to be a bowler for anyone to play a jellybean trick on, not just a tail-end batsman!!! :)
Anyone looking for a team this year?
The blog might be a great way to get people hooked up with teams - whether it's Div 1, Div 2, Thirty30, or the Night Tourney.
Thanks for the support adi...will definitely keep that in mind ..
:-)
who said the jelly beans were to distract me anyways....
Hello...
Does anyone know if we will have a banquet this time around? If so when?
Lakshmikumar.
banquet is on the 25th of April Laxmi.
all the dates ate posted on a PDF file, for which there is a link on the website.
the AGM is on the 26th of april.
Shekhs,
Thanks man....
Lakshmikumar
Do you think we'll have the same number of teams this year? I feel like this league is slowly shrinking. The number of Div 2 teams is less, and that might impact Div 1 this year.
Can someone confirm the following for me?
It seems that we need to pay the $100 if we want to enter a team for the ALNT by March 21. And then the remaining amount in June/July? If we don't pay this amount in March, then we can't enter a team.
Is this correct?
I always used to think even after so many Asians are there in Australia, why none of them have made into Australian Cricket team ... Finally found that there is a Indian origin Women in their national women cricket team ... She is Lisa Carprini Sthalekar ... Maharastrian ...
yo..Appu and Tonald..sup..?
about time you got out of hibernation Atif..
so chicago Giants are still active?
Hey Shekhs, Adi and others,
How are you guys doing. We have been having a good run of weather here in Saint Louis and we have had few days of good nets.
Arena will be back again this season. More or less the same team.
Hey Ajoy..
howz it going?
we are doing well...just ready to play some cricket.. :-)
glad that you guys are having good weather..and are ready to play..
are you guys planning to show up for the banquet/ AGM?
Hello to all my fellow cricketers
It was nice to see most of you at the meeting last week. To the credit of the management, the meeting seemed very productive and refreshing for as long as I could attend it. The primary points that were discussed this year that were new and refreshing:
1. Independent/Autonomous Judiciary Committee
2. Travel considerations for all Team in Div 1 and Div 2
3. On Time and Early planning to start season on May 2nd
4. Full schedule to be completed and availble by April 26th
5. Reflections from past seasons and areas of improvements
I look forward to seeing all of you sometime during the season.
Rogers Park is back with pretty much the same team from last year. Hopefully we will be able to build upon some success and chemistry that we initiated last year and go further and hopefully all the way to the Championship game this year. In any case, we wish all the best to all competing teams and pray that all our fellow cricketers go through Season 2009 without any injuries and harm.
Good Luck to all, and looking forward to the Season Opener....
Phew long hibernation of sorts... i am itching to play cricket n damn this weather is not condusive atall...
Jaggi we had some issues with making a 11, but finally are going ahead with the season with the hope of finding a few good players as we move ahead..
I just hope to see some warm weather to atleast go bowl in the HP nets....
hey Naren..
lemme know if you want to throw some balls around..
Naren, me too! I'd love to bat a bit while you and Shekhs throw down a few!!! :)
Gentlemen,
I have a few guys who are looking to play for a team. If anyone is interested, please send me your contact information and I'll put you in touch with them.
Thanks,
Aditya
Looks like Rogers Park and Arena are raring to go..... and this could be both their years!
I bet everyone is raring to go and can't wait to the season opener. This last stretch must be the toughest for us cricaholics. Yes my name is Shiraz (Hello Shiraz) and I am a cricaholic.. :). I hope the weather starts getting consistently warm for us to effectively start the proceedings on May 2nd. Only 30 days left. This is the final stretch. Naren, I would also love to bat/pad a few of the deliveries that you, Shekhs and Adi can send down my way as well, so please let me know as well.
Hey Adi, we are confirmed for a Practice Match then on the 12th of April at Washington Park Ground 2. Let's hope and pray that is is 55 degress or warmer. Perhpas a good question for the bloggers. What do you think is an minimum appropriate teamperature to play cricket in Chicago?
Yes Adi, we are raring to go and hopefully this year we will be full strength for all games. We had some issues as it was our first year as a team and we have sorted out those issues and really itching to get on the field. We have a couple of new faces and a couple who have already played in the league but did not play last year for us.
Fortunately Saint Louis has been having a good run of weather and we have been hitting the nets on regular basis. We may be playing a practice match against Saint Louis Cricket Club (Div-I) team this coming weekend.
Amen to your thought of this coule be our year :)
Shekhs,
I will be coming for the AGM and will see you all there.
Shiraz..
bud ..wassup..
hey...leme know if you want to hit hanover..I'll throw some balls down... :-)
Asmar, sup..you too bud..if you wanna practice..holler..
same goes with everybody..
I am ok with chucking a few balls today i.e thursday or Saturday where the temperature looks to be around 50's...
Shiraz to your question of what sort of temperature is ideal, as a cricaholic myself i would say damn with the temperatures lets play the game....
Adi send those players our way, Wildcats might need a few for this year...
I would like to do it today but will be working until 6. Can be there by 7 at the earliest. Does that work? Can't do it Saturday thought unless it is before 2 PM. Let me know if you guys want to do something early on Saturday like around noon or so.
Naren, please don't talk about 'chucking' anything! I think some umpires read this blog too :)
I loved Shiraz's cricaholic introduction! Too funny!
So who'd like to play a practice game with the new look WC team?
yea kaptan i got injured even before the season has started.
Sprained my lower back so am definately not going to bowl for a few days.. damn thing... so no chucking for now..
did I hear chucking...?
you may want to talk to buchya about that..
the season's not even started.....yet..
:-)
sorry Naren....hope your back feels better..
it was nice to get out and knock some balls....
sure thing.. i will get better in a couple of days.... thanks for ur concern..
India Vs NZ: http://ind-v-nzl.blogspot.com/2009/03/link-1.html
MCC Season 2009:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/45/110172910_3ca0fd9202_m.jpg
nice one Shiraz..funny... :-)
Why is this place so dead, we are just a few weeks away from the season and no one is talking anything about cricket.... Sheky,Adi,Pree,Atif,Shiraz.....Romo...
Shekhs r u up for some nets today??
I want to test my back today....
Lemme know..
yo Naren man...I agree....we need to talk more cricket..
yes, I'm upto some nets today..
lemme know a good time..
Any idea when is the schedule coming out?
I think its scheduled around 25-26th of this month...
Thanks Naren.
Shekhs you coming for the AGM?
Hey all,
Good to see the chatter pick up a bit.
Ajoy, how's the team looking this year? You guys going to have 11 for every game? Will catch up at the AGM.
Shekhs, sup sup foo...? How you doing? I'm so jealous that you guys keep getting hits at CP. I want to get a few sessions in as well.
Naren, you better take it easy dude. The body is getting old and can't recover as quickly!! :)
Shiraz, give me a call today if you can.
Adnan, thanks for the link. Looks like United is up to defend their Championship seriously this year. The roster looks interesting with the new additions.
Atif, hope the guys I referred to you work out. Giants this year baby!!
Romo, where you at? How are the Cats looking this year? Bet there's an interesting roster to be put up, eh??? I heard you have some interesting and talented recruits. :)
Anyone else alive??
yeah ajoy, I'll be there for the AGM..see you there..
how have you been?
Adi..my man...same old Sh#$ different day..
yeah, CP is convenient for Naren and me....anytime you want to stop by..let us know..
Tango is too busy ..i mean Romo is too busy with work....he's been doing calls ...
Adi Shekhs,
Yes Arena and me are alive and kicking. We will hopefully have 11 for all games this season.
We have retained primarily the same team with couple of new face and couple of guys who got injured during the season will hopefully be fit thru the season.
Cant wait for the season to start.
Hi Shekhs,
Hows it going? Have been in hibernation for a long time now. What about t20 this season?
Preetam, Rup, Atif hows it going guys?
Rohit
We will be at the Hanover Park nets today after 4 PM, if anyone would like to join..
hey rohit...welcome back..
t20 is on bud.....we need more teams...for more fun...I'll be running that league again..
I hope to get some help from you youngsters. :-)
whats crackalackin fellas?
Rup, brutha..where art thou?
howdy, friends, brothers and arch rivals...
Hope everybody is hale and hearty and looks like all of you are raring to go.
Eagles is treading on to unchartered territory ( atleast for us) this year and we had a few hiccups making a good eleven. Nevertheless we will still play. More or less ( literally) with the same team.
Adi, naren send those extra guys to us. We would love to check them out.
Shout out to Rohit, shiraz, alpesh and all my other friends. Shekhsy, naren, Rom, Atif and Adi are in touch thru facebook so I know how they are. Thx for making me the CFO, Atif. Sunne mein achcha lagtha hai.
Hey guys,
Great to see some action on the blog. Can't really wait to get out and play some ball.
Why doesn't this damn thing display the date, along with the time, on which the comment was posted so that I know when you guys are hitting the nets at HP?
On a side note, are you guys familiar with twitter? I was wondering if we can use Twitter to tweet about the scores and match reports. That way we can broadcast the match updates to whoever is interested and don't have to rely on Sadiq to run across the WP during the drinks break to get an update. And the games that Sadiq umpires will start on-time after the break :)
Any thoughts on this?
Nice Shekhs.... I am not in US anymore , so I will let these guys know....
Hi Preetam good luck with Div 1 .... Yeah forming a team every year is a tough task ....
wow, where did you go Rohit?
yeah, please let those jaguars/ iit folks know...
Midwest,
I think its a brilliant idea to use twitter.....its easy and more robust..
The only hassle (not really) is that everybody will have to create a twitter account, if they dont have one..
Shekhs,
I am in Dubai. Moved out for good. Recession had the last laugh so had to take the decision.
One of these days these guys will call you and talk to you about T20.
Don't worry I will not be far away from cricket, will keep blogging, that way I can stay in touch with the league....
Rohit
Rohit,
thats good to hear...that you want to stay in touch with midwest cricket.. :-)
Good luck with everything..
thanks for the support
Guys, we are looking for a team to play a practice match on 25th April in the morning at Community Park?? Let me know if any team is interested.
test
Been out for a while guys.
Nice to see the interest brewing but from the look of things I say the interest is lagging???.
I hope to see you all soon.. Don't know what ICC is up to yet.
Rup, my man...whats up?
hey, we need to get out and grab a coupla beers..hit me up.
Shekhs,
Do'n fine meh fren!!!!
How about the reception coming up..we could hit a few beers then.
The weather looks poor this week end... are you all practicing anywhere?.
I think facebook is stealing this blog's thunder. Maybe we need more fun stuff here.
Preetam, welcome to Division 1 -- there are no easy games here. Every game has the potential of being a nailbiter. This is the best cricket that can be played in Chicago. I wish you and the Eagles a great and successful season. I look forward to competing against you my friend, it will be fun.
This Saturday (April 18th, for the benefit of 'Midwest') looks really good. Rogers park is playing Phoenix at 9 AM at Washington Park Ground 2. Finally some cricket. Hopefully things will start warming up by next week hopefully. See you all soon, either at the Prize Distribution, AGM or on the field. Can't wait to get out there.
I agree romeen, FB is killing the blog....
There has been some attrition in Teams. I wonder how that will impact them:
Sufian is not with Rogers Park anymore
Kiran and Amit not with United
Heard Imran from Pak Gymkhana not with them anymore
Did not see Kamran on the Chargers roster
Moid not on the Flames anymore
Any other attritions, Wildcats, Phoenix, Challengers others.
Hi Shiraz
How is it going ? I wish I could play on Saturday against you guys but have prior engagements......
I thought Advancers and Chargers moved to Second Division.... am I missing something ?
Shiva
Wow..Lots of changes... looking like the IPL right now....
Good Update shiraz!!!!!!
Speaking of changes...ICC ... is just registering a name...Hope we get a team going or I will be looking for a spot by the Lake this summer???
totally...romo..FB is screwing up the blog..
we need to get outta there..
know what...we need to get some gals in here...
I agree with Shiraz about Div 1 - its a dog fight Preetam...anybody's game anyday..
Challengers will be missing tushar - as he has family commitments...
Shiva,
MUCC kinda disintegrated, so chargers got lucky and are staying back in Div 1 - talk about buying a lotto..
Are we going fishing Rup...?
count me in too...i'll go for the beer..
As the Wildcats, we went from rags to riches in about 6 weeks! We are still in the process of acquiring some very new exciting players. Will unveil (read unleash :)) them soon.
And Chargers were not the only ones that got lucky with the MUCC dissolution, we got some very good players. Names coming soon.......
the cats are back!!!
back with a vengeance....not being able to make the playoffs last year....
so phoenix and cats are loaded up now...
phoenix are being like a perennial powerhouse now..
Phoenix have a couple of players who left and a couple of new players who are pretty new to the league... so overalll nothing fancy.......
Romeen
You beat me in this one with MUCC disintegrating..... and I know your new recruits.... they will make a mark no doubt
Shiva
So Romo got the Cats some Pitbulls..I am very interested to see how they will survive together!!!!!...Ouch??????.
Shekhs..Yeh.. Fishing.. The kind where you buy one a them nice chairs with shades, holders and a little cooler all attached together under the beautiful....SUUUUNNNNYYYY..North Ave Beach... now this is da fun.
Adi..Adi...Why the pow'r house.. Thought phoenix was good enough to win it as is???
I definately agree with Romeen the gun is loaded,nice one romeen Rags to Riches is all about it for us this year.
I will leave the unveiling and all that stuff to romeen as i am not supposed to talk about that stuff in public ;-) pretty darn secret to hold on to...
Recession has had a say this year with all the job losses and stuff..
hope to see you all once the season starts...
yeah Rup..lets go fishing.... :-)
Naren and Romeen...please dont unleash your prospects on your poor brethren..
Well Tushar not there, that is a big void for Challengers.
I am excited to see the new look Wildcats. It's always exciting to see how the new faces fit..
It is great that Chargers did not have to face relegation. While like many others, RPCC had it's sight set on Guddo and Gang, but it's always nice to see an old name like Chargers stick around in Division 1. They have some serious talent and everyone should watch out for them this year. We did not get a chance to play them last year, although, heard the fireworks that Guddo produced against MG (97 in 45 balls or something). I am glad to see them survive.
I think relegation is a little tough for Division 1 teams. It usually ends up in disintegrating the clubs. While it is a good incentive to play and fight for survival, but we should implement some sort of a Permanant member status for teams that have been in Division 1 a long time and have proved their mattle over the years. For instance, if for some reason, Wildcats, Challengers, RPCC or Pak Gymkhana (all Division 1 champions of the past) had to be relegated, that would take away from the identity of Division 1. A team can have a bad year due to attrition, injury or weather. We need to define this rule better. RPCC almost faced relegation in 2003 as mid season, our Top 4 players (Waseem Khan, Omer Khan, Umer Ansari and Mirza) were banned from playing in the MCC due to ACC ties. The action was justified, but almost led to the disolution of our Team. That would be a sad situation. So I feel the pain of the Chargers, the Tigers and Meadows/Polos. We lost good talent like the Khera brothers due to this. Also I remeber Muslim Gymkhana was also lucky in avoiding relegation in the past due to a similar situation. In the end, I am glad to see our friends in the Chargers survive and look forward to playing them in Division 1.
yeah, Tushar leaves a huge void...but hopefully will rejoin us soon....
when should we have a blogger's nite out...?
yea Bloggers ball sometime in the mid of the season...
We saw some fireworks from Shiraz last year so hoping to see the same...
Me and Asmar to play a long innings again this year will be on the cards, as well as my captain's books :-)...
Point taken Shiraz...But if you don't relegate then what happens to the ones who want to get up to Div 1.
"to err is human"...If you don't accept your Faults or mistakes then you will have no room for improvement....
I say leave the rule as is..
Shiraz,
You brought up a good point about the impact of relegation on some of the Div 1 teams. I don't agree with your solution on having a few permanent members irrespective of their performance in Div 1 though. (I always resented the UN having 5 permanent members with veto powers, and your solution is not much different from it).
I believe the relegate-promote policy of relegating the bottom 2 teams from Div 1 to Div 2 and promoting the top 2 teams from Div 2 to Div 1 was put in place to have the best teams of our league compete in the premier division. Looking at the results from the past couple of years I sometimes ponder and wonder whether the top 2 teams of Div 2 are better or worse than the bottom 2 teams of Div 1. We can't conclude either way because they play a completely different set of teams.
The best solution in my opinion is to pick the best 2 teams out of these 4 teams to play in Div 1. And how do we do that? We have the bottom 2 teams from Div 1 compete in the playoffs of Div 2 and the winner of the finals (or the finalists) makes it to Div 1. If the bottom 2 teams of Div 1 are really better than Div 2 teams, they'll win in the playoffs and retain their position in Div 1. If they can't win it all, then there are better teams in our league that deserve the chance to prove their mettle in Div 1.
I proposed this idea in our league meetings but it was shot down. I'm bringing it up on this blog, not to ruffle any feathers, but to just have a debate among the bloggers (hopefully in a civilized manner without any mudslinging). Oh, and also because I have plenty of free time today :)
Guys, we are looking for a team to play a practice match on 25th April in the morning at Community Park?? Let me know if any team is interested.
Jab tak team nahi milegi .. likhta rahunga ... aakhri dum tak .. :)
lol Appu....thats funny..
its funny how everybody talks about the season starting and all..and want to play cricket....but when there's an open invitation......to play..there are no takers..
but when there's an open invitation......to play..there are no takers..
==================================
Now Sheky...I would love to but like I said ICC is only a name for now....... plus isn't that the day of the reception...
Rup,
well I wasnt pointing any fingers...that way..I'll have to point one at myself....as I cant get challengers to play either...
I was just making a general stmt...its ironical....
You want to play..but you cant play..
yeah..its the day of our banquet....that shouldnt make a difference ..should it..?
I tell you guys this much....
This league is in some serious Troubles and if no drastic changes are made we will be back to one league about 20 teams soon.
I just can't see any reasons why our League is not in Colored clothes and white Balls yet. why we are not pushing for a better 20/20 competition other than the night tour.
By gosh the ICC is already talking about using a Pink Ball for better vision and we are fighting for better quality red ones??..am i missing something here.
Hear ya Shekhs.. but I will like to show up at the banquest Clean, fresh and not tired..
A pink ball?!!
That's some devious bowler's plan to get all the homophobic batsmen out! :)
Yeh.. Romo ....Pink balls and men don't go well ..
The English were pushing it so you think we got a lot of Homo over deh!!!!
well, if you get distracted by the pink ball..you could also end up having pink balls...
The best solution in my opinion is to pick the best 2 teams out of these 4 teams to play in Div 1. And how do we do that? We have the bottom 2 teams from Div 1 compete in the playoffs of Div 2 and the winner of the finals (or the finalists) makes it to Div 1. If the bottom 2 teams of Div 1 are really better than Div 2 teams, they'll win in the playoffs and retain their position in Div 1. If they can't win it all, then there are better teams in our league that deserve the chance to prove their mettle in Div 1.
=========================
Interesting idea. So the the jist is that bottom 2 in div I play the top 2 in division II and the team that makes it to the Final should be allowed to stay in division I. I would support that.
Adnan Baig
United Cricket Club
Adnan,
Not a bad idea, but i guess we have a time constraint .... Last season pretty much went in to second week of October and then winter starts .... But the idea is pretty interesting and can be tried out this season if Summer extends into October....
Great Idea. I would support that myself. I don't think Division 2 teams would agree, but I think it is a great idea. You gotta be able to beat the worst teams of the year to qualigy to Division 1. That would absolutely be fair.
Well, I am soo excited, Rogers Park will be playing Phoenix tomorrow in a practice match at Wahington Park (Jaggi, we going to miss you Buddy, hope things are well in Singapore. shiva, we will miss you too Bud, it's always a challenge to figure out playing you. i remember you got Waseem Khan out, in that finla we played, when you were playing for Wildcats).
Rup, I like the red ball, I don't think there is any point playing in colored clothes, specially, when we are not playing night or day night games. Although I think 45 overs is too much and we should play only 4o or perhaps 35. For the few that would have to play regionals and others, they are good and exceptional cricketers and can do that anyways. I don't understand the logic of having to play thorugh Dew, Evening Shades, Bad Light in Chicago, specially in September. Perhaps we can also resolve the ground issues if we can schedule a 30/30 game and a 35 over game in one day. spekaing of that, I think 30/30 is too much for 30/30. It shoud be 25 over league.
Well it is a great day today and I am going to plan on being at Hanover Park to strike a few cricket balls. Naren, Shekhs, any interest. And Midwest, today = Firday the 17th of April. I am thinking somewhere around 4-5 PM.
Are there any folks near downtown who'd like to practice around here?
Over the years, it has been painful for people like me to drive about 2.5 hours in traffic for 8 minutes of batting practice and gruelling fielding practice(and several dropped catches: yes I suck in the nets too :))
If there are a few takers, we can pick a day of the week and maybe even have nets at WP.
Shiraz,
I'm in for practice today...4:30 pm then?
plz lemme know..
Rup, I like the red ball, I don't think there is any point playing in colored clothes, specially, when we are not playing night or day night games.
=================================
Shiraz your comments above strike my point that we have no vision for the future and betterment of cricket in MWCC if we keep doing the same old thing.
We have got to get away from the Idea of the I or a few want and get to what Cricket Wants.
MWCC is one the few places in this world where one day cricket is still being played in white clothes and red balls..The other few are places where they don't afford it but i think we do.
I could stop by Hanover Park if you all are practicing there..Just to say hi..no practice for me..saving my energy for game time
Shiraz
That definitely brings back memories of that devastating match winning knock by Waseem in 2000 finals... 7 sixers and 2 boundaries.... getting his wicket is a treasure indeed.... you incidentally were more into bowling.....got 3 wickets in the finals....whats happened now ?
Shiva
I would love to sit and debate with anyone who thinks that there should be no relegations unless the top 2 DIV 2 teams can beat the bottom 2 Div 1 Teams...
International cricket is doing the relegation if needed to give teams a chance to go back and figure out a winnig team and prove the belong up there again.
Here in MWCC we got teams who have become weak and crying or disbanding about relegation.
I will play cricket anywhere, anytime, even on one leg if i have to cause I love the game...If we all play for the love of the game then relegations will mean nothing
Shiraz, Thanks for being specific on date and time...it sure helps :)
It is a beautiful day today and I can't wait to get out and catch some outdoors. If I had the power, I would pass a law against working on such a nice day as today (especially indoors and in tiny cubes with no windows) .
I will come to HP but will I get to show-off my extra-ordinary batting skills? :)
Midwest...
we would love to see your extra-ordinary batting skils... :-)
also, some tips..if you dont mind.. :-)
My take on relegation...
There is a reason that 2 teams are relegated with respect to their performance for an entire season.....so after 14 games, if they cant perform well enough, I think they should be relegated....
If we allow them to play another game with div2 top teams, they might even win one..and get back in div 1...which I think is completely unfair to the div2 team, who worked their asses off the entire year to be # 1.
So, I think we should leave the rule as it is..
My $0.02
Rup,
My proposal was not against relegation but for having the best teams of our league play in Div 1.
Div 1 is the premier division of our league and we ought to keep it that way by promoting teams that can compete at the highest level of our league.
How many times have we seen when the teams promoted from Div 2 get thrashed by all and sundry in Div 1? At the same time we also had teams that came from Div 2 compete for the top spot in Div 1 (Peoria and Pheonix for ex). So, it serves the best interests of our league to put rules in place which only promotes the best teams to Div 1. That will make both Div 1 and Div 2 interesting.
Sheks,
I can surely give you some tips, but they don't come free...maybe a beer or two :)
You may not see much sense in my tips during the practice session in the nets, but I can assure you that you'll appreciate those tips after having a few beers with me :)
absolutely....beer is on me...
:-)
I will appreciate any tips..especially after a coupla beers..
I think I know now..who you are..how come you decided to use a nick this year...or recently.. :-)
you always blogged using your real name..
I will probably swing by and join the guys in HP at 5 PM... see you guys there..
OK, guys, hit some balls for me and down some beers for me.
The quiz on facebook said the closest batsman I am like is Sanga and Madhu got the same result. So, that made my day. Don't think I need any practice ;).
Sigh, if only these quizzes were right.
Romeen,
Please post the link to the quiz on this blog. I'm curious to know which batsman I'm closest to (though I have a hunch that it's going to be Maninder Singh or Narendra Hirwani)
On the relegation topic ... if you want the best teams to play in Div 1, then why limit to only last 2 teams of Div 1 and top 2 teams of Div 2, lets make it top 4 teams of Div 2 ( the semi-finalists) and the bottom 4 teams of Div 1 ... this will be a fair thing then ...
Midwest,
Looks like you are going to be the funny one for this season :). That's nice.
I'm not sure if we can post that link,besides I'm technologically challenged. Hey Shekhy, you think you can do that?
Did you guys have fun practicing?
We had some good workout in the nets, we expected Shiraz and midwest to make our practice interesting but both were missing...other than that, I got to bat first in the nets and that was a good thing ....:-), shekhy was tired with the amount of time he got to bat, shaky ??? just kidding....
Naren & Shekhs,
Sorry for not being there on time. Asmar and I got there around 5:45 PM. I just got stuck with some last minute week close out stuff. We saw Kaleem and his new look team there. Nice guys. They told us you were there and just left. Asmar and I practiced with Kaleem and his tema for about 2 hours then. It was a lot of fun, sorry we missed you guys. In any case, naren, I am looking forward to seeing you and the new look Wildcats on Saturday next week at Heritage Park. hopefully the weather will hold up.
It was a great cricketing day yesterday, although it was unfortunate that there were no teams playing at Washington Park. We had a game with Phoenix in the monring and then me and some of my guys teamed suited up for the later game between Giants and Muslim Gymkhana. All in well, some of ended up playing 55 overs yesterday and it was exhausting. The weather was soo good, close to 74 through out the day. I played the whole day, in just a T-Shirt. Tons of Fun.
Adi, thanks for the game, it was real fun to play you guys. Wish you and your guys a Great Season.
Everyone else, see you at the Banquet or the AGM next weekend.
Wow, looks like the chatter is back on the blog. Good to see everyone.
Rup, no "powerhouse" labels for us. Just regular turn-over and replacement. You lose a few, you gain a few. Last year was a pretty amazing year for us, and it will be tough to try and match it, but we'll have to try.
Shiraz, it was fun playing with you guys. Nice to get out and get ourselves a bit of a bowl and a hit.
Romo, anytime you wanna play downtown, let me know. We have a few who'd be up for it.
anyone practicing on wed or thur this week?
Shekhs,
Is it necessary to attend the AGM for 20-20 too? I am not sure, wanted to clarify....Thanks....
Shiraz,
Thanks for playing on short notice on Saturday. It was a fun game, and RP are looking pretty good. I'm sure you guys will have a good season this year and RPCC will be pretty busy during the "business" end of the season.
Good luck.
Guys, we are looking for a team to play a practice match on 25th April in the morning at Community Park?? Let me know if any team is interested.
Rohit,
Its preferable that all the 20/20 teams attend the AGM, as there will be announcements and potentially match ball give aways.
So, I recommend one of you folks attending the same.
no worries Shiraz...we'll do it another day...
I'm glad you guys had a good cricket weekend..
I hope everyone had a little bit of practice over the last week end....
I have been looking over the Teams per Div's... Looks like Div 2 is falling apart.. 30/30 up to 16 teams??...ICC could make it 17 before season starts???
Who wants to take a whack at why we are seeing this turn????
And so da story goes... This Blog is ded again!!!!!!!.
C'man guys..theres got to be something we can talk about.
yo rup...howz it going?
Rup, I think primarily its the recession causing a stir ....lot of teams kinda dissolved due to loss of ppl and relocation...
but also, a few teams opted to play in 30/30...
do'n ok Shekhs..
Given the #s we may have to lower the amount of teams in Div 1 to cover for 2 next year.
Last 2 years D2 went from 26 to now 16 and 30/30 from 8 to 16!!!!.
ICC is one step away from 30/30. If the schedule us like the did last year..all over the place and hardly WP we are done.
In this case, relegation of chargers would have helped Div 2 with one more local chicago team ... Also Div 1 should have the best 15 teams, where each team plays the other 14 ...
Sorry Sheks, Naren....couldn't join you guys for practice on Friday. As much as I wanted to get out of work early on Friday, I had to stay late at work. Fortunately I got to play on Saturday and boy was it a beautiful day for cricket.
Rup,
From what I gather, teams that don't like traveling and that don't want to spend a full day (due to family reasons, fitness reasons or whatever) are moving to 30-30. I'm not sure if the fees for 30-30 is lower than the fees for Div 1 or Div 2. If it is less, then maybe finances play a part too. It ain't a bad thing for our league if there are more teams moving to 30-30.
Aditya, you love the "under dogs" tag, don't you? No matter how many games you win, you'd still want to be the under dog. Common dude, step up and face the challenge of being the "runners up" of last year. You guys earned the bragging rights after last year's performance. If I were in your position, I'd be trash-talking every team by now :)
This blogs needs a Terrel Owens or a Rasheed Wallace to make things interesting.
cannot agree with you more Midwest.....Aditya is trying to play the underdog game these days...hehehe..
yeah, we need some Garansheed for this season...
Midwest, Shekhs,
You need some Guransheed from someone who has that kind of attitude. Unfortunately for you guys, that's not me.
I guess the "underdog" label just sits better with me - because I'd rather be the underdog that over-achieved than the over-dog who underachieved. Plus, we only had one good year in Div 1 so far. If we have a good year this year, I'll be quiet coz I won't be able to claim underdog status any longer. :)
If you guys wanna add some "spice", why don't you make some pre-sesaon predictions? Div 1 and 2 playoff teams maybe? That should get a lively debate going - it always does.
anyone practicing on thur/fri? I wanna get some bat on ball if possible.
Good point Midwest...It's only 300.00 less for 30/30 so i don't think if the $$.. I strongly feel it's the traveling and Family...
Again.. we have to look to the future and where cricket will stand in MWCC. ..We are starting to get to the point where a lot of the players are running into Family issues..Our kids are getting to the age where we have to spend more time engaging in what they want to do..and it's so hard to get them to play cricket.
For the guys with older kids they are getting onld for cricket too..
We have got to figure out how we will make cricket more exciting whilst going to a shorter season or tour...
My view is we have two tours instead of a long drag out 14 game season.
a 10 game regular season and P/offs and a 20/20 tour for over the last 5 weeks for those that want to play more cricket.
Shekhs are you all practicing this week end..Saturday morning...
If yes..where. I will like to hit a few to see if i can still play..
Looks Like I wil be looking for a team to play with for this season.
Adi,
I will be practicing on Friday, 24th of April, from 6 to 7 PM @ Hanover Park, if you or anyone is interested. And thanks for your confidence in our ability this year Adi. As far as Phoenix being an underdog -- Once you make it to the Final the year before, no one will take you as an Underdog. Whatever happens, you will be Phoenix, who went ot the finals and ended up as Runner Up's. So Adi, if this tag suited you last year to surprise teams, it won't this year, as everyone will bring their best game against you -- to beat the Runner ups..As far as Playoffs are concerned, that is way in the future, and I think people would need to see and understand Personnel chnages before making any predictions for this season. One thing is for sure, we will have some surprises this year, like we did in the last few seasons. Only 10 days to the season kick off. I wish we couls just do away with the cold and the rain now, so the grounds can bake for good 7/8 days.
Is MCC planning to have an innaugration game or an Opening Ceremony? Ideally it will be a rematch of the finalists of last year..
I like the idea of having an inauguration game, with a little bit of fanfare and opening ceremony, between the finalists of last year. Hope somebody can pass this idea to the management committee before they finalize the schedule for the season.
Shiraz said...
I wish we couls just do away with the cold and the rain now, so the grounds can bake for good 7/8 days.
I really wish our grounds are much harder and the grass well cut so that the ball can travel along the ground. I believe it's very difficult for players who play along the ground and who can't hit big shots in the air to score in such grounds.
I also hate it when the ball just stops on the fielder. I so want to show off my "sliding stop and throw" but don't really get an opportunity for that :)
"sliding stop and throw".... All I am thinking is give me a chance to go pick it up and hopfully throw it back in ..save a run..maybe.!!!.
It's hard to realy get Dry grounds anywhere in the M/West through May. Let's pray for sunshine and above 60 for the first month???
Guys,
On the MWCC blog page, I have added a link under "Non MWCC Links" called "IPL Blog". This is the new blog started by someone attached to the IPL that is the rage now. It's actually quite good. Do check it out.
Shekhs,
Thank you will inform these guys....
Rup,
If its nice on saturday....we might practice in Des Plaines....in the new astro turf they got in deepark..
Will let you know...wont be in the morning for sure..sometime afternoon....
Shiraz, I'll try to stop by on friday..
Des..Plaines...Deepark????
Am Lost unless you are talking the Forest preserve on golf ..??
no Rup...
do you know where Deepark park and recreation area is?
If you head east on Golf, pass Potter and make a right on Dee, the ground is after the next block (Emerson) on your right side. So Dee and Emerson.
they put a new astro turf there..
Thanks for the FYI...Shekhs...Is this a new Ground?.
That's about 10 mins from where I live so I will try and be there...if there will a practice on saturday?.
yeah Rup..its a new ground...
I will give you a call and let you know the time..
Shekhs,,,,Sounds like a plan. hope to see you Sat..
Shiraz,
I'll be there on Friday - 6pm at HP nets to practice with you. Thanks.
Adi,
I will see you there.
I will try and see if i can be there too, you also have to consider that other teams have those nets for them so it might be difficult to play at 6 PM unless those teams skip the practice which i doubt when the season is starting in a week.
yeah, Community Park pitch # 1 is reserved by Titans...
we may have to do it in pitch # 2..
I will try and stop be Friday PM..HP...
If you all cancell...let me know
I predict that all bloggers (except me) will be the top batsmen and top bowlers, considering all the practice thats being put in. Maybe we should have a blogger's team :)
Romo it does not matter how much you practice, Read about Gilly he did not play any games in between last year's IPL and this year and look at the carnage he inflicted today.... :-)
yeah...Romo..there's a significant difference between talented stars and practicing bloggers...
it will all be clearly evident once the season starts..
I like the idea of bloggers' ball..
blog is dead. people need to start talking about cricket no one picked up aditya's challenge. iguess i be the first one tomorrow
ipl boring so far or is it just me.
afridi 6 fer what you got to say aboout that
Cool: you are right. Let's start discussing cricket. Well, I'll let you do the honors first and see if I agree/disagree with you.
I think IPL is more fun in India. Besides, the rain doesn't help.
I agree. I'm still waiting for the Kolkata game to start.
I wonder how it is like in England right now.
IPL 2 has been pretty boring so far, except for the old hands (Kumble, Warne, Dravid etc) doing their tricks and the fakeiplplayer blog.
Even the last two blog entries of the fakeiplplayer have been bland. Hopefully he'll regain his old touch :)
Are there are any practice games this weekend? Who's playing whom?
Cool: I think its pretty early to determine who would make it to the playoff's this year with so many changes with additions n departures of players...
Midwest: Wildcats are playing Rogers Park on Saturday, i dont know about other games.. you are always welcome to give some batting/bowling tips if you want
I will try to hook up with Shekhs and his gang for some practice this Friday at D-Park.. Sheks call me if you all cancel.
Yep.. I must say the IPL looks a little dead right now... The scores have been a little on the down side... I think it's the rain..SA is approaching it's rain season so I feel we will have quite a few more Rain outs.
Check it out.
http://unitedcricket.org/sadiq.asp
Awesome clip Adnan! I loved the 'alien probe' bit.
Who are we talking about here?
Rup, will call if we cancel...
this practice on friday is in Hanover Park....
the one in deepark is on saturday..
dang.......what a game...RR vs KKR....
I think IPL is getting more interesting now..
that was one hell of a game..
I dont seem to find anything on that page ??
Awesome clip Adnan! I loved the 'alien probe' bit.
Who are we talking about here?
========================
It says at the end of the clip.
Alright Shekhs...
I will see if i can stop by Tomorrow pm.. at HP.
I got some chores for Sat so i will see if I can stop by D-park
Nice one Adnan...
He doesnt drink much beer..but when he drinks....he only drinks Dos Equis...
Shiraz, Rup, Shekhs, 6pm at Community Park on Friday. I'm definitely coming.
I will be there...
and anybody else interested..please show up....
midwest??
heloooooo? anybody home? are you guys ready for sume fun?????
testing..
-------
Romeen said...
Awesome clip Adnan! I loved the 'alien probe' bit.
Who are we talking about here?
------
Geesh. I just saw it (for the first time),apparently several hours after you guys! Fais said he would be "posting something funny as an ad", but geez! Didnt know what I was letting myself in for!
And he got my name wrong too :-) (its actually spelt Yusuf, BTW.. but everyone gets it wrong half the time :-)
Almost time to start thinking cricket again, after this weekend (as soon as the NFL Draft is behind us :-) Looking forward to seeing all you guys Saturday at the banquet (presumably everyone is showing up, right?)
c8w
Adi, Shiraz, Rup, Sheks - I will see you at the nets tomorrow @ hanover. It will be good to see you guys after a long hibernation...
All,
I amm plnning to be at HP by 6 tomorrow. See you all there.
finger, can you please elaborate as to what kind of show you will be doing?
Finger on board...Welcome!!!!!1
Da..B-quiet..this Sat...We have got to spice that thing up a little more...Is it just me or you all see the same thing.
Once the trophies are passed out ..in half hour da building is empty???... what a b-quiet!!!!
See you all at practice this PM..HP.
Ok...Let's talk Cricket.
Are we getting the full Schedule out this Sunday at the AGM..anyone wish to confirm...Adi???...
ICC may not make it...I think i will be Playing with the Kids MWCA this year if accepted...Who can i contact to set that up?.
If ICC don't make it then Div 2 is at 15 teams???
damn i missed a lot
romeen: let's start with who will make playoffs in div 1
naren i dont think any team has more than couple changes except ofcourse your CATS :)
boy what a game that was shekhs, i guess i spoke too soon
BIG QUESTION HOW MANY OF YOU THINK IF UNITED CAN DEFEND ITS MAIDEN CHAMPIONSHIP? (NO IFS AND BUTS PLEASE)
Rup,
yeah...we'll have a blast at the banquet...party on..!!
It would be sad if ICC wont have a team...you guys have been around for a while...hopefully you'll be able to form one...
welcome back mirchi...
yeah COOL...you were a bit too cool... :-) I think the IPL is heating up..
Rup .. I think you shld decide fast if you are not going to put up a team .. as then only one team will get penalised in Div 2 of not getting a walk-over .. which would be unfair to that team ...
cool said -
"BIG QUESTION HOW MANY OF YOU THINK IF UNITED CAN DEFEND ITS MAIDEN CHAMPIONSHIP? (NO IFS AND BUTS PLEASE)
"
Its going to be hard to defend their title without Amit and Kiran.
But the huge positive factor for United is experience...they have tasted blood..and they are the champs..
so I will never underestimate the heart of a champion...
I'll give them 50-50..
Alpesh...I am trying to field a team..I will feel very bad if Walk overs have to be given if ICC decides to drop out.. You folks know how i feel about walk overs.
Most of my guys were like tired of travelling all over the country to play cricket...My fingers are crossed that ICC will make it.
Maybe Adnan can fill us in on the replacements for Amit and Kiran..
United always seem to come up with a few big names so I will give them the edge as the current Champs ...
It's not easy to repeat as champs but then again it not easy to win it too..
Rup,
This is extremely sad Buddy.ICC is one of the veteran teams in tne league. What is going to happen to other talented stars of ICC, like Jack, as well as others. I hope you guys can make a team. If you don't, I think Krishna M. runs the MWCC team and roster, you should contact him. I am playing 30/30 from Warriors so it will be nice to play you there.
As far as the Schedule is concerned, i think Krishna K. is working hard to get it done, I think he is in India and working on the schedule during his vacation -- That is just Wild dedication man. While I understand the complexities and difficulties to complete the schedule (requests, grounds, etc), in my opinion it should have been published by now. This would eliminate any issues of the type that we experienced last year, when the schedule came out with a lot of issues and Krishna M and Sridher spent a lot of time to fix it.
Mmmmm..... United Repeat. In my humble opinion, repeating in this league is extremely difficult. I think Challengers and Wildcats are the only teams that might have repeated a championship since 1996. RPCC won 2 championship, 1998 and 2000, but could not repeat. Also it will be difficult to repeat without the services of their 2 of the TOp 5 batsmen and their top 2 bowlers from last year. Amit and Kiran (Ranji level guys) are hard to replace and fill the void. While I think Faisal will continue his batting form with good support form the likes of Doc Naveed, Mehul and Mateen, I think it will be very difficult for them to repeat, unless they have armed their lineup with some good bowlers. No hard feelings guys, just basing my 'assumptions' on some hard facts, while wishing you all the best for a successful and safe Season 2009.
IPL Sucks this year. Pakistan -- Australia had a good game first up, lets see how it unfolds today.
See all of you around between 5-6 PM today at HP.
Shekhs said...
so I will never underestimate the heart of a champion...
I'll give them 50-50..
==========================================
Talk about sitting on the fence :)
See y'all at the banquet.
hehehe..Midwest..as long as its no barbed wire or broken glass fence....I dont mind sitting on it..
Shiraz..i hear ya...I know everyone is pulling for ICC to survive as much as ICC is and I just want to say Thanks to you all for the Vote...
I am Trying to bring a few old folks back out Just so we can have a team..Will keep you al posted.
So Sheky says it's a matter of what type of fence..HMMMMMM.
My take is a fence is a fence and can do some serious balls hurting if you don't sit right!!!!!!
If..choice..I prefer da ground on this one..
well, preferably I'll rather not sit on a fence...
especially when I'm drinking..
See you this PM at HP..Shekhs??
you are still coming out..right?
-----
centurion said...
finger, can you please elaborate as to what kind of show you will be doing?
-----
Just saw this. Maybe the simple and truthful answer is.. a bad one? :-)
No, actually, its sort of still in the works, ideas still popping.. but the general idea is for a weekly 15-odd-minute video magazine type thing on Midwest Cricket. The idea started out (only like a week ago!) as just purely a video magazine from me every week... mostly that Id chat with someone before or after a game I was at for 3-4 minutes on tape (probably captains, sometimes best players, just general stuff about how their season was going, what they felt their chances were for the playoffs, something about them).. and since I umpire 2 games most weekends, thats 4 teams, it would be a 10-15 minute video-magazine. I though the best part would be the highlighting of players and places many end up not seeing (Satha was in our league for 4-5 years before anyone in Div1 knew he existed, almost - and he's a great bat. But in general lots of Div1 guys probably dont know much about Div2 guys outside of Chicago, and vice versa, many outside Chicago from Div2 probably dont know any good players from Div1, that sort of thing).
Since then the idea has.. evolved a little :-) It will still be mostly a video magazine, but there will probably be a couple minute verbal wrap-up on the week gone by (highlighting the big performances, the centuries, the 5-fers etc all across the league in every division), and a couple minutes look-ahead to the big games of the upcoming week, maybe a sort of "game of the week" to look forward to etc... along with the video magazine part that oughta be 15-odd minutes every week, Iam guessing (unless I talk too long, which is always a danger).
Its all still in flux..I was thinking more about it last night and today, and really there are so many little "stories" that Id like to do over the course of the season! I mean, Id like to do a piece sometime on the Midwest Academy - how guys from our league (Krishna Meluveetil, Ajit, Sridher etc) give up their time every week to coach kids, how well the kids are doing (our U19 teams are doing pretty damn brilliantly nationally). Id like to do a chat (probably with Sridher and Anwar or something) about umpiring in our league... the pressures of it etc. Before the Abid Laheri tournament rolls around Id like to do a chat with Sheks (though I havent asked him yet - hope he's ok with it :-) about the pressures of running a tournament like that, a quick lookback at last years tournament, whether he thought the champion team was any good ;-) Heck, Id like to do a chat with Romeen sometime about the difficulties of putting together an old old old team for the season... and still managing to do it so well that its one of the consensus top-three favourites for the title going in (along with PakGym and Challengers IMHO) :-) Id like to do a piece in a couple weeks about our league team for the CER (which is I believe like middle-May this year, in Chicago).. and after we win it (which we will) Id like to higlight how well our players did and our chances at the Western Regionals and hopefully the Nationals after that!
But those are all ideas for down the road... to answer your question,l what I was trying to say, before I got carried away, was that it will be mostly a short weekly video-magazine, a little about the week gone by, a little about the week coming up, and a little more about the various people and places in our league (who I happen to meet that week and can get on tape, coincidentally :-) Iam looking forward to it, actually, I think it could be a fair bit of fun.
Am actually hoping to kick it off sometime next week with the inaugural edition, a lookback at last season (via conversations, hopefully, with the captains of the eventual two finalist teams of every division... though I havent asked everyone if theyd like to talk yet, am hoping they'll be willing to do so at the banquet, hopefully that works out!)
c8w
That will be nice if you can get it up and running finger!!!!.
New or improved inovations is what our League needs right now.
Some ..any..one!!!1
please start a new Blog.. cricket is here..next week end...Like I can't wait sort of???.
Let's talk some smack!!!!
TD,...The had this last year..only 6 was given to every team..so was the other new brand..
I guess the choose the Grays over the other one...This one looks better than the one from last year..more compact and Sheen..
I feel this one will swing a little more than last year's as the shape is more oval/upright compare to a flatter one last year????.. I could be wrong though..me talking swing bowling??
I think the ball was tried a bit last year and came back with good reviews..
definitely better than last year's balls..
Aiite fellas...we are all set to start the season this weekend...
Goodluck to everybody...have a fantastic season!
Welcome aboard Shekhs....
I am going to start the Gathering of ICC to commit to the heart breaks of this season schedule!!!
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