Not an extensive Week One to our season, as we all know. Still, as they say in our business, "Break a Leg". No, wait, thats not right (Iam still learning the new terminology obviously)... "The Show Must Go On"! Thats right, thats what they say!
So, without any further ado, let me present the Second Edition of our weekly video-magazine, The Midwest Wrap (this week, shockingly, including brief highlights! A rare happening - dont get used to it :-)
MIDWEST CRICKET WRAP - WEEK 2
MIDWEST CRICKET WRAP - WEEK 1
By Sadiq Yusuf
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164 comments:
Thanks Mirchi and NJ....from the previous blog...
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Mirchi Pathan has left a new comment on the post "The 2009 Season":
I heard the milwaukee ground is going to be cement track ? Is that true? Asif would still be a decent bowler on any surface. I guess Milwaukee has finally realized that they need to get used to playing on cement tracks to do well in playoffs. I think its a Good move.
But, for teams from Chicago and elsewhere playing in milwaukee meant playing on a different surface that grips and turns square with low bounce and required decent "straight" bat skills against Asif & Co.
- Good luck to Milwaukee. Hope they will do well on a new surface this year.
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Good points from Mirchi and Rup on the last blog... except one possible correction - what I heard was that Milwaukee was going to a concrete pitch, yes, but I heard it was going to be astro laid over it, not jute. Thats the part I was particularly sad about - to me astro makes battnig too easy compared to jute-matting anyway, I much prefer a game on matting.
Mirchi- you echoed almost all my thoughts, that I expressed during "One More Thing" at the end of the first edition of the Midwest Wrap :-) (quickly grabbing opportunity for a plug - unitedcricket.org/midwestwrap.asp :-) It was very difficult for Milwaukee to roll the pitch, dry it every time during rains, cover it etc, so I understand them not wanting to do it and switching to concrete. But even so, I think its a tragedy - to me, really, it was (Iam repeating myself), the last great test of batsmanship in the league - it was "real" cricket, really, natural surface, rolled, helpful to spinners with grip and turn (more than concrete). Facing Asif there, you had to be a damned good batsman, a real batsman, to come out having scored runs. Asif will still be a great bowler - but on Astro you can slog across the line and get away it it, not what you can easily do on a natural turf surface against a spinner.
As for Milwaukee's batting.. Romesh told me last year that he had been asking his teammates to switch to concrete after playing in WP - he felt the bounce was true and came onto the bat, and was better for batting than the low-bounce and sometimes uneven-bounce on the mud at Lincoln. I think that part is true - I think batsmen like Romesh, Asif himself, Kabir - those guys are good batsmen, they'll score more on the new pitch IMHO (but, of course, they will need to score more - if you batted first and got 150 in the past it was enough to win in Milwaukee, that wont be true anymore). It will all be an adjustment - I think Milwaukee will score far more runs than it has in the past, but also give up more runs.. how quickly they adjust will determine their win-loss record for the year, obviously.
c8w
Sadiq
The week 2 wrap looked good...excepting that you were totally in the dark.....
Atif
Whats happened ? Or Are you kidding ?
c8w,
Milwaukee never had decent batting line up, except for Ramesh, Khabir and Asif. They will heavily depend on this trio to come good on this batting surface.
The first Milwaukee guy who could be very happy with this surface change will probably be Allen Wade.
His bowling might spring in couple of paces and opening combination might look pretty good with swinging Khabir.
I think Milwaukee will struggle for first 8 games and will probably catch up later on and will be too late, but still early and well-prepared for 2010 season !!
Atif,
We will be more than happy to have you on board. We will either fix your problem or fix you.
Call me @ 773-416-1246
Predictions for this weekend
Div 1:
Wildcats over chargers (crushing win)
Peoria over St.Louis (close)
Bears over Rogers Park (close)
United over Phoenix (close)
Pak over Milwaukee (crushing win)
Challengers over Royals (??)
Muslim Gym over AAA (crushing win)
Sheks, Romo, c8w, Adi..what do you guys think ?
Mirchi,
I love your comment on "we will either fix your problem or fix you"
Hilarious shit. I will call you tomorrow and we can discuss this further.
Atif,
Thats news. Good luck friend with the season.
Regards,
Rohit
wow...Atif...didnt see that coming..!!!
Good luck to you brutha..
Mirchi said -
"Predictions for this weekend
Div 1:
Wildcats over chargers (crushing win)
Peoria over St.Louis (close)
Bears over Rogers Park (close)
United over Phoenix (close)
Pak over Milwaukee (crushing win)
Challengers over Royals (??)
Muslim Gym over AAA (crushing win)
"
I would agree with most of it (minus the crushing wins) except for United over Phoenix.....I think Phoenix will win this one...
I dont think anybody is gonna get anymore crushing wins.....the league's getting competitive...
Ok..TD..Ya making big news..
I was hoping to see you at da park Sunday.. ICC hosting Giants???.
Hope everything works out for you.. I know you will find a team quickly but if it does not work out we can Talk.
Nice predictions I see..am wondering why so many crushing wins??..do you have privy info Mirchi..cause only that can exp why your wins are so crushing!!!
Chargers, charge the opponents more than themselves. With Javed leading from front what can you expect?
Milwaukee will find the going too tough and would be wondering what the heck just happened - surface changed ??
AAA will take this whole season to realise that this is DIV I, where as Muslim would like to start with the KILL after a horrible last season...
Thats why i think these games are going to be crushing ones...
I think the Pak vs Mil game will be close.. I am inclined to give Mil the edge cause I am not sure how Pak will play Wade and Asif on this new wicket.
I agree chargers are in trouble.. they should have come to Div 2 and regroup..they didn't so let the murder begin..looks like it alredy begun..
AAA will do better this year. I think they are more prepared for Div 1 this time around..Muslim on the other hand has had some knee jerk games..depending a lot on a few players.
Now Div 2..... ICC is ready for the kill... We will be trying for knock out of 3 - 30 pks..Bust up 2 64ozs and walk away happy on our opening day.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mirchi :)
TD, good luck with your search, if only this had happened 6 weeks ago, you'd be a wildcat :) (of course, only if you wanted to be one, that is).
C-man..Romo...I know you can speak a word or 2 for TD if he wants to be a Cat??....
Sheky.. where are you..Da blog needs ya..
Adi..Are we looking into the Fantacy league??
hey fellas....got really busy with work....what was I thinking.. :-)
I agree with Rup...Pak Vs Milwaukee could be a very close game..especially since its a new astro turf...ball is gonna spin a lot....
but then again Rup, Pak has picked a very good spinner in Tayyab....so we'll have to wait and see..
TD, we'll hook you up with a team before this weekend....send me a mail....keep me posted..
Thanks Shekhs & Rohit.
Romo - That would have been cool, but I am more like a Wild Horse "that is what she said" lol.
hahaha TD...you getting very ambitious there...I like that..
This should be your FB or any other profile heading - "Cannot be tamed - as wild as it gets..!!!"
Welcome aboard Shekhs....
Give us a lil tit bit on ya Callengers game this week..VS Royals...
Seeing it and all will be a Royal Challenge of the Patels'..???...
Good on there Sheky.... How many teams ya think looking for untamed and Raw energy????
The Royal Challenger game this weekend is gonna be a tough test for Challengers, coz the royals this year is a good squad, especially their bowling is right there on the top 5.
They have about 7-8 quality bowlers which is going to test our out of form batting...
we've been in a batting slump for the last coupla years..so it will be a real test..
It'll be royals bowling vs challengers batting...if we can put anything more than 175 (if we play the full 40)..it will be a good contest...coz the ground is still gonna be heavy..
but it will an interesting game.....
I think a lot of them are looking for untamed and raw energy, that helps to swing the momentum..or change the body langg...
Just got done seeing the week2 wrap.
Very nicely done! Good job!
Shekhy, you look more like a rock star than a cricketer!
I think we should all help develop this webazine.
And as always, very relevant and interesting coverage by FOD, but can we 'shed some light' on you the next time please? With a name like FOD and the lighting, it felt like we were watching somebody from the Witness Protection Program. :)
thanks for the donation Romeen. We really appreciate it.
What amazed me most is that Saud lost 70 lbs....I didnt even recognize him when I bumped into earlier....I said Hi..and I was like I have seen him somewhere...
dude..you Rock Saud..kudos to you...I apologize for not talking to you more....next time..definitely.
Good luck with the marathon...
thanks shekhs for some dough...appreciated as always...
OMG that was Saud!! Way to go dude.And yeah, good luck with the Marathon.
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Romeen said...
I think we should all help develop this webazine.
And as always, very relevant and interesting coverage by FOD, but can we 'shed some light' on you the next time please? With a name like FOD and the lighting, it felt like we were watching somebody from the Witness Protection Program. :)
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Believe me, after some of the incidents Ive been involved in over the the past few years, at times the WPP has been seriously considered :-) (last week I hid behind shades, this week a new innovative method was used.. still working on what to use next week, am leaning towards Mardi-gras-style masks but am open to suggestions).
Seriously, people have been very gracious with their time and in their willingness to talk - its all greatly appreciated. We (or rather I) have had some teething issues - Fais has pretty much been on the ball from the start with terrific editing and really excellent musical choices - but the intro and segue recording, for eg, was me this week.. resulting in the spectacular lighting snafu that you watched :-) Probably shouldnt have done it indoors at all - the lights felt "normal", but obviously you need more than normal for recording purposes :-) (bad rookie mistake).
A lot of other stuff is a problem with logistics - Id love to do some roundtables once in a while, for example, but logistically its very hard - would have to meet several people Monday or Tuesday, record it, get it to Fais, then Fais edit it, and all in a timely fashion for Wednesday or so...thats where the logistical problems come in (recording on Sunday would often mean not even knowing the results and details of the weekend, which is sorta pointless). Hopefully some of that stuff will be a little more possible once Night Games start etc - when more people congregate in one place than on a normal weekend.
c8w
thanks romo....my goal was to be a rock star....but became an accidental cricketer...
:-)
In an effort to raise awareness and the hope for Cricket as an Olympic sport in 2016, United Cricket Club in association with Indian American Heritage Museum http://www.iahmuseum.org (IAMH) and Field Museum is proud to present Cultural Connections program. Adnan Baig President United Cricket Club will be among the guest speakers discussing the rise of this sport in Chicago and origin of this great game. Please show your support by attending this event.
Cultural Connections Program: Transplanted Sports
Co-presented by Brazilian Cultural Center of Chicago, Indo-American Heritage Museum
Sponsored by Environment, Culture and Conservation (ECCo), a Division of Science at The Field Museum
Colonists and immigrants have planted seeds of athletic activity that flourish far from their original settings. Japanese settlers in Brazil popularized the ancient Samurai martial art of jiu-jitsu while Indians excelled at the elaborate English colonial team sport of cricket. Today, in the U.S., Brazilian immigrants promote jiu-jitsu while Indian Americans create cricket pitches in city parks. Come learn how people of all ages strive for mental and physical fitness through Brazilian jiu-jitsu and how popular competition between national teams prompts unofficial cricket matches. A Brazil jiu-jitsu demonstration and an explanation of cricket’s rules will illustrate how each activity keeps “bodies in motion.”
Saturday, May 16th, 11:30am-2:00pm
at the Indo-American Center
6328 N. California Avenue
Pre-registration is required and space is limited. Reserve your seats by calling (773) 830-1481 or e-mail culturalconnectionsevents@gmail.com. For more information, go to www.fieldmuseum.org/ccuc.
Teachers can receive 2.5 Continuing Professional Development Units (CPDUs) for each Cultural Connections program attended.
General admission is $15; teachers, students, and seniors are $10; children under 12 are free. A sampling of traditional foods is always served. Admission fees will be collected at the door. Cash or check only please.
Rup,
I am working on the fantasy league and will set it up shortly. I already have a few ideas for it, but just need to figure out how to run it and how to manage the logistics. I want to do it via the blog, but similar to the way other fantasy sports are run with a draft, etc.
Anyone volunteering to help figure this out?
What Adnan is doing is crucial for promoting cricket in local areas as well as increasing awareness. We should all show our support by going, and by showing that the game has a very large calling here. Hats off to Adnan and UCC for taking some initiative and helping the community so unselfishly. If it weren't ofr UCC, cricket would be so far back. It is unfair that they get used by international stars like Abhijit Joshi and others, but we must encourage them and donate to them for they are the future!
Great job Adnan....
Can't be there...have a game @ Purdue..
you have mine and Challengers' support..
Midwest Crap: Online Edition, Volume 2
How have you all been doin'?
Aiite fellas, first things first.
Did you guys notice how Maverick Mud's Man Friday on the ground was overwhelmed when he received special prize at the banquet. Afterall, we all play cricket in the grounds that he painstakingly nurtures. Kudos to him. WikiWala did a great job with the launch of Midwest Wrap. He needs to be commended. The label Midwest Crap is neither meant to discredit his efforts nor meant to act as a rejoinder. Midwest Crap is...well...a crap.
Kudos to The Crusaders as well. Nice job. But please don't take us back to the middle ages.
Now moving on to things more temporal...
MadKulfi got a prize apparently for helping the league in previous incarnation. Well, whatever.
Mini world cup is on this season. The weekend of Aug 2nd is when all selected players compete for faking (spelling mistake intentional) rights. Since this serves no purpose - other than soothing the ego or whatever of chosen few, can it be simplified with only few teams competing? Can one of you drill this into Maverick Mud? If you need any tools for support, you may purchase them from neighborhood Homeless Depot, Loos or MenoPaas. Send the receipts to TennisBelly for reimbursement. Alternatively, Sir Halwa can issue checks too.
Zamorin, do you agree we need better food at the banquet? Using your well cultivated accent, can you influence? Next time we can get it from your favorite joint near the park. Guys, Zamorin has been thinking about next years Midwest elections. Its good to have dreams. Missile Man certainly recommends it.
Pretty Skin and Lord of the Erections have formed an alliance and are working on organizing a dildo fight. Not sure where this will lead to. Anyway, let us hope for the best. Nothing is in our hands, except ofcourse the...
ChaufferGent has been silent on the management front. Apparently he was berated by Maverick Mud after selection debacle last year during a tournament.
On closing thoughts, Rooafza believes infants will magically start growing pubic hair if trophies are dished out. If only that is so easy...
More later, stay tuned.
Ok Fakey ....nice one again..
Although, it will take me some time to decode the nicks..
ChaufferGent and Rooafza cracked me up... :-)
dildo fight - I'm assuming is the blogger's ball..nice..
Man..I tell ya..Fake is got the Niks up an running...Nice piece again..
I think he has clarified any doubts who MAV Mud is>>>Pres..
I think I know who TennisBelly and Sir Halwa is.. A gave away on the check writers!!!!!
ChaufferGent and Rooafza ...Good ones.. Cracker I say..
thanks Adi...looking FWd for the Fantacy league... Not the Kind that Rooafza has in mind Though..!!
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Shekhs said...
Ok Fakey ....nice one again..
Although, it will take me some time to decode the nicks..
Shekhs said...
ChaufferGent and Rooafza cracked me up... :-)
dildo fight - I'm assuming is the blogger's ball..nice..
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Yes, very nice one again, just read it - and I thought a little easier to decode than last time, far fewer political references :-)
Iam not sure I got the Rooafza above, though, at least not at first glance.
We now know who Maverick Mud was supposed to be, anyway. Presume Crusaders is United. MadKulfi is obviously supposed to be Madan :-)
There are only 2 people who issue checks in the league IIRC, so TennisBelly and SirHalwa are obvious enough from there.
My first thought of Zamorin turned out wrong I think.. but then I was thinking "fave joint near the park" to be near WP, maybe its Hanover thats being referred to - and Iam not sure who MissileMan is (Kalam? We have a Kaleem in our league, not a Kalam :-)
c8w
Zamorin neats the crap out of me as well..
Rooafza is our own Rup....with respect to his recommendation of trophies for each age limit..
Good ..break through Sheky..
don't know about pubic hairs but i know there will be some real Grey ones if the trophies come falling Down.."no Fake about that"
Nice one again, Fake. I understand some of it, still trying to figure out most of the names.
Rooafza definitely tops the list. I'm guessing Missile Man refers to APJ Abdul Kalam and not to any of our league members.
I think Zamorin is Adnan. what is the link?
Rooafza is funny.
ChaueffeurGent?
Missile Man?
Pretty Skin?
Lord of the Erections?
I think 1 refers to Atif. Which one? Who is the other?
Midwest. That makes sense on missile man. Nice. I think I got ChauffeurGent too and pretty skin and lordie. Actually, pretty skin helped me get lordie and himself. He confirmed CG for me.
scratch that. Zamorin is not Adnan. My bad. So then who is pretty skin? Coz that is now zamorin. Romeen?
Zamorin means Samoothiri..
an Old ruler of northern Kerala......I guess we got that resolved...
Ok, Fakey..you are scaring me....you know way too much about me..
After reading TDs posts yesterday, I'm wondering if both Pretty Skin and Lord of the Erections refer to Atif.
I don't get ChauefferGent and TennisBelly, though I think I can figure out who TennisBelly is.
Man Friday doesn't get the appreciation and recognition he truly deserves, for he's the only one in the management who works his ass off without expecting much in return. I'm happy that his efforts are recognized on the Fake blog.
Lord of the erections is definitely TD
ChauefferGent is jaffer bhai..
Friday is probably the most hardworking person in our league...
I think we blogger's should honor him at our Blogger's ball game..
Predictions Div 2 and div 1 anyone ?
Aditya, Shekhs,
common now spill the beans on Pretty Skin now that we all think that Lord of Erections is TD.
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Shekhs said...
Zamorin means Samoothiri..
an Old ruler of northern Kerala......I guess we got that resolved...
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Yes, this I knew - the Zamorin of Calicut, kings for many years (greeted Vasco da Gama etc). But I still couldnt get it.. cultivated accent, and fan of RajunCajun (joint near the park) is what I thought.. now I think its actually fan of Pepper-n-Salt instead (joint near the other park :-)
Anyway, I suppose its Sheks - except I didnt know you were such a fan of Pepper-n-Salt (and initial the thoughts of Rajun-Cajun had actually led me in a different direction, but that guy didnt fit in a few other ways :-)
c8w
Midwest..I know I'm not pretty skin.....phew..
:-)
Finger,
Yeah I love pepper n salt...matter of fact, everytime I've got biriyani from there...it was amazing...
Adi and I figured out who FAKE is.....it was Adi actually...
but we'll just pretend that we dont know him..
Aditya and Shekhs playing Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. I'm surprised that you mentioned it here that you've identified who fake is. Just don't take the cover off his identity for it will impede his creativity and might even force him to stop blogging.
I wonder if Fake's blog is creating the same commotion in the MWCC management as the fakeipl player's blog created in the KnightRiders management team :)
Anybody has any insider information on this? Shekhs, c8w???
I agree, we shouldnt take the cover off Fake's identity...moreover I was just messing with him...have no clue who it is.. :-)
I think you are taking this tad bit serious midwest.... :-) I dont think the mgmt even knows about Fake.....unless the "Management is Fake" (pun intended).. :-)
Shekhs, I'm just enjoying the blog....I was only joking, you're taking me seriously :)
Shekhs, I thought you're part of the management and you think the "Management is Fake"? Are you hinting that you're the Fake blogger???
And now I'm Sherlock Holmes.
Lord of Erection is an upgrade, I was thinking Fake will slap me and call me SUSAN.
Atif
I have brilliant idea. Blogger's Strip Club Party.
We can see who the real Lord of Erection is.
Midwest,
I could be fake....you never know.. :-)
hahahaha.....nice one TD....very funny...you should be doing TBS sequences...
Chauffergent = Yosuf Flames
tennisbelly = humayun mirza
sir halwa = sohail alvi
prety skin = aditya
lord of erection = atif
rooafza = rup
zomarin = sheks or romeen
Update on QC Kings v/s Evanston @ WP2
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Evanston who were placed at 74/4 at break were bundled out for 89. Thanks to a new recruit Leg spinner Sunil who claimed 6 wkts on his debut for QC Kings.
Thanks
Pankaj
wow Pankaj...
that was quick...congrats on the win...and nice job sunil..
where did you blog from?
Shekhs,
We have not won yet. The update I gave was after the first innings. Last I heard, we needed 16 with 5 wkts in hand.
Our captain is updating me every hour or so. I am blogging from my home. Hate to be away from cricket though.
Thanks
Pankaj
WildCats Vs Chargers
Wildcats won the toss and elected to bat first on a cold and damp day. The conditions on the ground were pretty bad with cold wind blowing all day, with no sight of sun around.
WC had a bad start with Romeo and Krishna opening the batting, and Romeo getting a golden duck for his season opener.
Akhil and Krishna started playing with caution and the score was moving around slowly, and Akhil was playing well within himself and he got out backing off and slipping on to his stumps.
Krishna played well till he got bowled by Vijay, at this point WC were 70/3 in around 20 overs.
Satish joined Surya in the middle and both of them were taking the score along well scoring around 4-5 runs each over without taking any risks, and all of a sudden WC lost wicket of Satish, Surya, Nari and Javed in a span of a few overs, at this point WC were 90/7 and looking down the barrel, and the tail wagged well to end at 145/9 in 40 overs.
Chargers started well thinking the game was theirs and they did not take too many risks and scored briskly, Guddu played a couple of good hits to the fence, and they were placed well at 10 over Chargers have scored 40 without loosing a wicket, and the introduction of Sanjay got us a breakthrough immediately with his first ball he got a wicket, and he along with Nari, Satish and Giri kept the scoring in check, and at the break Chargers needed 80 in 20 overs with 7 wickets in hand.
Rafi and another chargers player were playing well not taking too many risks and keeping the score card moving. They needed 60 in 13 overs and that came down to 24 in 4 overs and there were constant wickets on the way, them loosing Rafi, Kamran in the way. Giri was our star performer on the field taking a very good catch, and acrobatically getting two vital run outs.
In the end it came to 13 of 2 overs, and i bowled the 39th over and gave away 5 runs and the equation was 8 in 6 balls and Javed bowled the last over, and we got two more wickets as run outs and we won by 2 narrow runs of the last ball.
It was indeed a below par performance from the Cats in Batting, but we backed our bowling and fielding well to get a much needed win.
Good tense game till the final ball was the best thing to happen on a damp and cold day...
Mirchi Pathan, AAA has won Div 2 twice in the last recent years. They just added a striker bowler and a couple of fresh legs. They not compete well a couple of years ago due to lack of commitment. They also have a Ranji Trophy batsman Chirag Vhora but he might or might not play due to availability. I think they still have a guy named ADAM MENK. From what I've seen and heard from around the league he is pretty good. AAA will have a competitive year but come on a CRUSHING DEFEAT? Give them some respect. I can recall they beat Muslim when they entered DIV One a couple years ago. It will be a great game and the team that plays their best will win.
Shekhs said...
I agree, we shouldn't take the cover off Fake's identity...moreover I was just messing with him...have no clue who it is.. :-)
Oh! really? No clue, eh? Shekhs.
Guys, hate to see you all go off on a tangent. Here are some possible clues.
1. The nicks are enshrined in certain principles. No duplicate nicks unless otherwise qualified by "AKA".
2. Lord of the Erections and Pretty Skin continue to offer brilliant ideas.
Patel Cup Update::
Challengers won the game with around 7-8 wickets in hand.
Royals were bundled out for 90, and Challengers led by Bhavesh reached their target in 15 overs to boost their NRR.
Complete match analysis of Patel cup is very much awaited from Sheky...
Naren, thanks for the summary. What a game!! Great team effort from the Cats. The Chargers played very well and in the end it could have been anybody's game.
Just returned from WP (Sunday evening). When I last checked, the United-Phoenix game was shaping into a good one, Phoenix were 160 or so for 3, chasing 250, with 13 overs to go. Faisal continues his smashing form, made 90+ today.
i was about to post the update on last year's rematch of the finals and looks like romeen beat me to it. well anyways looks like its going to be a cracker of a game.
congrats CATS on a close win.
Shuaib what happened with the AAA-MUSLIM game, was midwest right in his predictions or you in your defence of AAA.
Peace
Shuaib Menk,
Take no offence, but you guys have played horribly bad in Div I over the last years. One or two wins does not change the fact that you guys are good only in Div II. I would be very happy to see you guys do well in Div I, but I really doubt it. Also, there are tons of examples of ranji trophy, U-19, U-23 players performing miserably bad in MCC.
Why dont you guys prove everybody wrong and play well, and win some games then I might show some more respect.
~ MP
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cool said...
i was about to post the update on last year's rematch of the finals and looks like romeen beat me to it. well anyways looks like its going to be a cracker of a game.
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It *was* a cracker of a game in the end - though I wasnt sure it was going to be at the half-way stage :-)
Both teams were a bit different from last year, both missing players today too (both bowling lineups were a little thin - United missing some Gopi,Mateen etc, while Phoenix missed Prasanna and Arun got hurt early and couldnt bowl at all. The Arun injury looked horrible early on, BTW - tried for a catch, got hit on the forehead, lots of blood pouring out etc. He felt good enough to come back and field by the end of the innings, thankfully).
Faisal batted like the calendar had never turned a page - just like last year, for most of his innings. 91 in the end, with 5 or 6 big sixes (the best was one where he hit Priyank a long way over cover early). Tariq Usmani got 38 - the opening partnership was 108 in 23 overs. Doc was caught behind off a terrific Priyank outswinger for a duck (in his last game, against the same team, he had made 70-odd unbeaten in a heroic innings - its a funny game :-) Mehul then batted excellently for 37 (also with 2 sixes, shockingly :-) Lots of additional good hitting at the end, and United ended up getting a huge 245 (especially given the heavy outfield). Phoenix didnt field nearly as well as usual, dropping a few catches, a few overthrows etc.
I thought Phoenix might be down and out at this stage - this is the same ground where Romeo's Wild Performers defended 145 yesterday (and the same one where the Challengers defended 135 last week!) This was even more the case when Phoenix started 13/0 in their first 5 overs.
But Phoenix had proven to be very professional chasers late last year, and they showed why today with a valiant runchase. They were 62/1 by the 12th over, and 106/3 by 20-over break (Adi 40, Sameer 28, Athu 23). Naveen then got 39 in Diwakar's company, and it was 163/5 by 30 overs - needing 82 off 10. The next 5 overs saw 42 runs (more than half the need) as Mitul hit out for 29 (with one huge six over longon off Imtiaz) before his skier was critically caught by the keeper Snehal. Still at 205/6 it was down to 41 needed off 5 overs.
At this stage, though, United spent one of Mehul's two remaining overs - and he gave up only 2 and got Diwakar caught by the keeper off another skier for 35, and it was 39 needed off 4 with only 2 wickets left.
Phoenix stayed in the hunt - it was 29 needed off 3, 23 needed off 2 and finally 17 off the last over.. but Mehul conceded only 3 to the last pair off it, and Phoenix ended up 14 runs short. A wonderful effort from them in the run-chase though - in retrospect, it was some terrible luck with injuries and some dropped catches in the morning that cost them dearly.
A terrific game in the end, coming right down to the wire - marred only by freezing cold conditions for the last 90 minutes :-) (It had been nice and warm, almost.. and then suddenly the clouds took over, the wind picked up, and the playing conditions for the last hour-and-a-half were about as brutal as we've ever had).
c8w
BTW, hopefully we'll get a report from Shiraz on the Rogers Park/Bears game.. that seemed like a bit of a cracker too :-) RP was in lots of trouble early, but recovered to 185 by the end (fifty by Sufian and 40 or so by Affan IIRC). When I last checked details Faisal Nafasat had gotten a 50 opening for Bears (his first-ever in our league), and Bears were down to needing 53 in nearly 11 overs with 6 wickets in hand. However RP fought back to take the wickets in the end (I could only hear the celebrations, but couldnt get the details at the end :-)
c8w
Hi All,
Rogers Park defeated Bears by 17 Runs.
Bears won the toss and put Rogers Park in to bat. We started slowly, although, with some the aide of some wayward bolwing, our opening stand was of 30 Run1 Runs in 4 overs with Yawaar back in the pavilion. 11 runs later, I was bowled by a straight Ahsan delivery, that I think I ended up playing across the line. Arid, our new guy was caught napping on the non striker while Jigar was vigilant and charging. Nasir, kammy and Mohtassim tried to consolidate but were out in single digits, to some good bowling from Hammad and Jigar. From 41 Runs for 2 in 8 overs, we were 82 for 7. Then Faraz showed some fireworks to have a partnerhsip of 30 odds run with Mohtassim, scoring one 6 and a four, scoring 16 odd. the came the partnership of the game for the 8th wickets. Sufian and Affna delat with a spinners well and put away the quickies as well. They had a partnership of 56 runs. Sufian taking charge of most of it scoring 44 in the end. Once Sufian was out while acclerating in the death overs, Affan took over and scored his 39. With some contributons from the tail, RPCC ended up at a target of 184 all out. We felt pretty good about the score, since the ground was quite heavy.
Bears started off well getting 20 odd in thr first 3 overs, before Affan got Azaaam pulling to a swinging one, only to sky it to the keeper. In the battel of Nasir (RPCC) VS. Nasir (Bears) RPCC came through and Nasir got Nasir out bowled. AT this time, Bears were 30 odd in 7 Overs or so. They needed 63 to win in 20 overs in case of rain and were well on target. Faisla played well and then came a rain shower with Hail, and it came so fast we did not get a chance to cover the mat. Although it only rained for 10 minutes, it put us behind schedule by 1 hour. We had to swap mats with ground 3 (since no game was played) and started again. Shahis and Faisla took the Bears to 88 for 2 in 20 overs, needing 96 in the rest of the 20. They batted well for anohter 25 runs and at this time Faisal got tired and was getting cramps. With limited feet movement Nasir had him trapped LBW in front of the wicket for his briallina 50 odd. He played well and led from the fornt. With Faisal gone and the run rate climbing, Shahid tried to force the issue, but was brilliantly out to a peach of a delivery from Aamir. Shahid walked without waiting for the umpires decision. With both these guys back in the pavilion, the rest of the Bears team folded for under 50 odd runs and in the end RPCC won the game. It was a great game and Kudos to Bears for fighting it out till the end. Wish them all the best for their next games. Right now, I am just happy to have come back home with a 'W' for the team in my first actual game as Captain. I thank all the boys and seniors, who did a tremendous job in supporting me, and performing with high intensity and energy, specially in the end of the game. Thanks to all.
United/Phoenix was a high-scoring thriller! It takes guts to chase a big score.
Faisal's six over cover reminds me of a similar hit off Madhu Reddy against Peoria last year.
Mirchi bad boy Mirchi boy lol. Give AAA a break. They will seriously surprise people. I played with them half season and loved it. You have to kill them beat them. Just saying they are here to stay.
Heading to Hawaii and debating should I take my laptop for blogging........ hmmmmm hmmmmm hmmmmm well then there is free porn online too, that saves me $14.95 X 5 days = $75. I am taking my laptop.
Mirchi Pathan, What team do you play for? AAA will be good this year and its a game. There are 17 great teams in Div One and it will be a tough year. If we play as team we will stay in Div 1
AAA vs Muslim Gym rained out due to bad ground conditions at Heritage Park
Sorry folks.. nothing to report from the ICC block... Game called off again ..WP 3 still unplayable???.
ICC season is now set to start on 05-30-09..hosting Springfield at WP but if the rain falls we may be starting on June 15th...Flipp'n crazzy..I tell ya.
Looks like we had an exciting week of cricket on the games played..Congrats to al the winner..for the non winners.. there is always the next game so keep your chin-up!!!
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Fake said...
Faisal's six over cover reminds me of a similar hit off Madhu Reddy against Peoria last year.
-----
Thats exactly what it reminded me of too - but then I was coincidentally at the other end umpiring for both those games!
Which made me curious, actually - did you just hear about both shots and thought they may have been similar, or did you actually watch em both too? :-)
c8w
FOD r u just giving yourself up so easily or r u helping FAKE maintain his cover and confuse everyone else ecvenmore than they already are.
Nice Detect work FOD... So it brings us to who in United is "FAKE" ..... Could it be NJ??.
It was a seee-saw game... initially United were on top...... and then Phoenix got it going.... but then Mehul came and did his thing in batting as well as bowling.. especially his change of pace were too good..... he probably made the difference..... still we feel confident of our performance in the match and hope to rectify our mistakes and move forward....
hey shuaib menk, i am sorry to say your team has politicians rahter then players. The ground was playable except for a mirno area in the 45-50 yard amox 5 feet wide by 15 feet long with some soft spots. Our team spent over 150dollars to get mulch etc to get the ground ready. Your team never wanted to play us? They were happy to walk away with two points. Hafiz told us clearly lets call it a rain out and have a "Practice Match" The excuse not to play was lame we will get injured, however they won't get injured playing a practice match. We couldn't have asked a better day to play sun was out it was about 65 degrees and nice breeze. Hafiz also stated " would you have done all this effort if you were to play pakgym" our answer was yes!!! We look foward to play every weekend not to gather points by rain and hoping to survive the division. Win or loss we love cricket and thats why we all take time out from our work and familly time to PLAY, not go home in 2 hours with 2 points!!!!! If you think your team is good, tell them to play other teams to prove it, not sit home happy with two points at the end of the season. Not to mention there was a game played on the same ground on saturday when the ground was in worse shape, it didnt rain sat nite. So if there is a will there is way. 3 of AAA players played with us in a friendly 20-20 match since we were there and madea a match out of it for fun!!! TELL YOU PLAYERS TO PLAY CRICKET NOT POLITICS!!!!
FYI umpire was willing to call the game if AAA wanted to play!!!!
sorry for typo's damn wireless keyboard lol
nice try finger.
Shuaib Menk,
You guys were scared to play!!
If that is your strategy then you guys will soon be back in Div II.
I can understand the Muslim Gymkhana's pain. You guys clearly knew that you will not be able to beat Muslim, hence opted for an easy way out. Why dont you guys show some character and play games, then you can think about winning.
~ MP
One good article on rise of LBW wickets overs the last 20 years ... http://blogs.cricinfo.com/inbox/archives/2009/05/dissecting_the_lbw.php#more
scared to play...Why???
I am still baffled as to why WP 3 could not play... our game got cancelled the night before??
For the guys that played at WP on sunday... were the grounds that wet??
Nice games over the weekend. Wild Cats vs Chargers, United vs Pheonix, RP vs Bears...all turned out to be good games.
From the score card, it looks like Peoria vs St. Louis was also a cracker of a game. We need some details from Madhu.
Muslim Gym vs AAA and ICC vs Giants are the two "rained-out" games this week. Sorry guys, I feel your pain at not being able to play when the weather is perfectly fine.
BTW, I have a question and would like to know the fellow bloggers opinion. Can batting, bowling and fielding, good or bad, be contagious? I mean can good batting on end really inspire confidence in the batsman at the other end and other batsmen to follow? Can sloppy fielding by one affect the fielding of the entire team?
My captain doesn't want me anywhere near the playing field, even as a 12th man, for he fears that my performance during the warm-up session before the game will rub-off on the other team members. How justified is his argument?
Rup,
From what I heard WP3 was like a pool with ducks swimming around. The only game that was possible there was water polo.
So the Ducks have made home on WP3.. .. We need to have park district look at getting rid of the ducks or we could see a permanent pond there..I am pretty sure the ducks are feeding off the grass and roots???.
Or we can do a BBQ...Fresh ducks ..any style you want em!!!!!
that's f'd up Midwest...Unless you got the real Mojo...i don't see why your captain wants to kill you Career??.
If that ever happens you have to Blog to shed your tears on!!!!!!
rup we had a game rained out on ground 3 on sat, the ground is a mess!!! east side is totally soggy and south is full of puddles. ?? Y cant the grounds comitte members lay dirt or pump the water out the grounds a day or two before so the grounds will be playable on the day we are suppose to play!!! If the leauge can spend thousand of our dollars on lawsuit, Y not spend few on pumps, hoses and level the grounds by getting a dump truck to lay dirt on the needed areas. The pumps and dirt couldn't cost more then 2500-3500. WE will be able to play cricket every week unless its a real rain out:) Unfortunatley we have a game on ground 3 again next sunday and its suppose to rain on thrusday:))))
Does anyone remember what was the cost per cricket ball, given in the last AGM ?? I vaguely remember it was like 450 Rs ... is that true ..
Sorry Moe...
WP is not going to do anything until after the Olympic bid is confirmed.
If Chi.town gets it there goes the Ducks and ponds.
If no..Then we need to get rid of the Ducks and fill the low spots up. The ducks have made the Puddles worst cause the Feed of the mud and Roots thus causing drainage poor.
Maybe a protest to save WP3 in in order!!!! wha ya al seh???
Pak Gym beat Milwaukee CC. Milw put us into bat on a cold, dreary day with showers and a hail storm, but we were able to get in a 40 over match thanks to Milwaukee players who had covered the pitch and run ups overnight and again when it rained during the match. It is still a matting over turf wicket for now, no concrete/astro yet.
We totaled 185/9 with Shahid hitting an important and patient 50 with Bakhshi (36), Irfan (28)and Tayyab (23) contributing important (and difficult to come by) runs. Asif as usual troubled everyone again and ended up with 3 wickets. Milw dropped a few catches that hurt them in the end.
Sun was out in the break and the 2nd inns was in much better conditions (for both sides). Milw kept losing wickets at regular intervals and only Asif and Kabir were able to put up a partnership. Once Kabir was out, Asif didn't get any support from rest of the batting and the mounting run rate (7.5+) led to wickets. Milw were all out for 120 odd. Bakhshi bowled a great spell and got 3 for not very much. Shahid also collected 3.
Raheel,
"Bakhshi bowled a great spell"
You meant
"Bakhshi chucked a great spell"
How can somebody knowingly say bowled a spell when it comes to bowlers like Bakhshi and Bhavesh.
Gogol, If you can chuck like them then you too can bowl. Chucking also is an art, which not many people can master. Bhavesh and Bakshi have mastered it and have done well. The umpires are not objecting so why are you crying here... There are tons of bowlers in our league who chuck, but not many are as effective as Bakshi and Bhavesh.
As a batsman you should be able to play chuckers.
Mirchi Pathan said...
Chucking also is an art, which not many people can master.
=====================================
Maybe they should go play baseball and leave cicket to people who can rotate their arm without bending the elbow.
Midwest said:
My captain doesn't want me anywhere near the playing field, even as a 12th man, for he fears that my performance during the warm-up session before the game will rub-off on the other team members. How justified is his argument?
I think that's the saddest thing I've heard in cricket. Midwest, unless you are a complete disrupting force like a compulsive streaker or something, I think your captain needs to take a chill pill and get off of his high horse.
FYI umpire was willing to call the game if AAA wanted to play!!!!
=============================
I thought teams cannot call the game off. Only the umpire has that authority. Am I missing something here??
Adnan
United Cricket Club
Mirchi Pathan you never anmswered my question. What team do you play for?
AAA vs. Muslim Gym
Why we would be scared to face a team. We beat Muslim Gym before in Div One. I know AAA respects them greatly, they won the championship a few years ago. They got another 15-16 games to play and it will be great match ups. Again AAA respects Muslim Gym and they are a great team but the grounds were unfit to play. Playing a practice game is way different then a real game. A player is not going to risk his body for a practice game. I think we all know that. Again Im not saying AAA is the best team. They have great players and DIV ONE is a whole differetn ball game. Having played in Div 1 we have gained some experience. I am not here to bash heads. At the end its a game. AAA plays with fast in Ramadan and that is commitment and willingness to play.
I hear rumors of Atif Playing for AAA is that true Atif? It would be great seeing you play for us again.
Midwest,
It was indeed a great game! My personal thoughts are one man brilliance took the game away. Amit was in the some sort of a groove. He told us that he almost got stolen by a tornado the previous night at Cabondale and he shows up and replicates a tornado on our ground:-) It was fantastic innings and a CHANCELESS THE one...and he didn't seem to get tired at all! We did well to post 185/9 on slow ground but we couldn't stop the tornado from churning up runs on the field. Basically, Kutis batsmen Sohail, Senthil just flourished around him and got the 'W' in their pokets. Though wickets were falling, they didn't fall quick enough for us. Kalyan bowled brilliantly and so did Ravi, Yousaf and Kiran. But if Tornado comes with a mood like that and whips runs on the ground its unstoppable. Last time we felt so helpless was against United and Chargers ...Unites chased down 260 odd runs. Fais was the destructor in chief...Guddu was other destuctor in chief though we ended pulling it off by 6 runs or so...
YES I do remember the six of my bowling over the extra covers into the field. I dont' think no bowler would mind homers like that when its such a brilliant shot~! PCC have work cutout for rest of season, we are very happy that Teams are bringing their A game to play us...We looking for a good season in the end WIN or LOOSE...I think we are in discovery phase right now and chips need to fall in place after few team players left this year.....
One special mention goes to Tehsin bhai..who was playin brilliantly and pulled muscle and walked out of the field as retired hurt. I really commend his sportsman spirit and it shows character of the person as a cricketer. Numerous times I have been in MCC league where batsmen out of breath complain about some injury and get a by-runner. When Tehsin bhai walked out they were in very crucial stages of the games as they needed 10 over 60 odd runs. Immediately we struck and got 2 wickets, but then Tehsin bhai came out to ensure a WIN! I salute to his spirit of the game and I think every batsmen should learn from him to play 'Fair and Square' though its their preorgative. We PCC hope for a Speedy recovery for him!Congratulations to St. Louis on a great WIN and I think it should give lot confidence to them. I wish our team luck as we chase elusive Mr. W...
Madew
PCC
I thought teams cannot call the game off. Only the umpire has that authority. Am I missing something here??
=============================
Adnan that was the Midwest interpreted rule.. but it was corrected at the last umpires training session...
I think the ICC rule goes like this..
The Captains have the power to decide is they want to play or not if the conditions are poor. The umpires have the power to call the game off if in their eyes the see the treat of serious injury although the players want to play...
Hope this helps
I say leave the chucking thing alone..Unless one of you is willing to Video tape the bowler and send in for testing we ain't gota choice....
Madhu...thanks for the Update on what sounds like a great game...
Hope you guys keep your chin up from two heart wrenching losses to start the season.
Congratulations for all the teams who won in week 2.
Anyone on the predictions for Week 3 across Div 1,2 and 30-30??
My predictions...
WP3 is not playable this week end again..Add Heritage park and Hammond if they have games and we got more rain outs again...
Good one Rup, I hear your pain and rain seems like a taboo word for now in this league...
Naren..The rain Gods are against us cricket loving folks for now...
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Not to mention there was a game played on the same ground on saturday when the ground was in worse shape, it didnt rain sat nite. So if there is a will there is way
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It is very much the umpire's call if the ground is fit for play or not IMHO - and if the umpire felt the game couldnt be played, thats good enough really.
However, is the part above actually true? ie that a game was played at the ground on Saturday, that there was *no* overnight rain, and then a game was not played on the same ground Sunday? There was some rain around in different places Saturday night, but I dont know about the Hanover Park area.. was there none at all at Heritage? If so, that makes it a little rough to not get a game in at all I guess. We had a hailstorm on Sunday afternoon at WP, but the games continued soon after... at least in my game we got the matting covered while it hailed, but Rogers Park and Bears didnt even do that, and played soon after anyway (despite a few puddles on the side of the pitch and on the runup IIRC).
c8w
Rup, the good thing this year is no team will have more than 3 rain-out games. If your game this coming weekend gets rained-out that'll be your 3rd rained-out game and then you don't have to try to appease the rain gods as any further rain-outs for your team will re-scheduled.
Alpesh Bhai, sahi hain headlines pe naam pahunch gaya. Great Knock!!!
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Shiva said...
It was a seee-saw game... initially United were on top......
------
It was indeed a terrific game.. but there was one incident thats probably worth mentioning, since it was somewhat unusual (at least, its never happened in a match Ive umpired before :-)
United were on top, but Phoenix was fighting back during their innings, and Diwakar was leading a terrific run-chase late. The ball was hit away, and they ran hard for two...I ran sideways to get side-on for the best angle for the possible runout, and noticed that one bail was on the ground, blown off by the wind. The throw came in, Diwakar was going to be short, I saw Imtiaz collect the ball and use it to strike the stumps, and DC was still short. I nodded cos it was out.. and DC started walking off.. and then I called him back (to much consternation amongst the United folk, obviously :-)
What had happened was this - only one bail had blown off, the other one was still on. By law, you then only have to dislodge the one remaining bail in your runout attempt, and the runner can be out (my unfortunate informing of Mo about this law after he asked me about it was what led to the infamous "playoff incident" with Lucky last year, so Iam not likely to ever forget this particular law easily :-) However, when Imtiaz had collected the ball, he had used it to strike the stump (pretty hard)..but had (unluckily for him) hit only the one stump that *didnt* have the bail on! So, that one stump he hit was now standing at a bit of an angle.. but the other 2 stumps were standing upright, with that one bail still on them!
If you have one bail on and one bail off, all you have to do is knock off that one remaining bail. OTOH, what you could otherwise do, I guess, is uproot the stump completely. In this case *neither* happened - the stump was struck with the ball in hand, but not uprooted completely - it still stood upright, albiet at a slight angle.. and the only bail that had been on to start with was still on as well, still not dislodged! Thus, by law IMHO, the stumps had not actually been "broken" by the fielder at all (despite his collecting the ball and hitting the stumps with it).. and so the runner was not out :-)
There was much heartburn amongst the United fielders at this ruling obviously, but to their credit they played on without completely losing their tempers at me :-) And it ended up being a very good game in the end (and continued to be played in good spirits between the teams too, which was especially good to see, even including some good-humored banter between opposing captains et al).
c8w
Yea i was at the ground when that incident happend and we were as much bemused why DC was not out as he was clearly short of his ground, I for one thought Sadiq had a shandy before the game :-), just kidding it was too cold even to think why DC was not out.
On the part of friendly banter between the two Caps, I saw it was a bit ahead than that, if it does not lead to any fist fights its fine...
Actually, I was asking Faisal where he got his hair cut, and he kept pointing to the direction in which the barber's shop lay!! :)
Fais also shared with me some of his workout tips, and Mehul jumped in with some dietary suggestions. We also discussed some of the fortune that United was amassing! :)
In the end, it was all left on the field along with a very well played and hard fought game. I'm sure that the next time we play we'll have some more advice for each other - that is the nature of this nascent rivalry.
Waddya say lefties?
Shuaib Monk,
How does it matter which team I play for? You should concentrate on playing games on the field, not off the field, and not come up with excuses not to play. Lets hope AAA will learn from their mistakes and focus on surviving in Div I.
~ MP
Rup,
Chucking is accepted (sadly) but should not be mentioned as "great spell" and "awesome bowling".
Just get out of here. Your full of it. Dont bother being on the blog if you are scared to say what team you play for.
I concur, Adi. There were a lot of friendly heated discussions and suggestions and gestures with fingers mostly between Adi, myself and Faiz. I was honestly surprised they gave us such a great fight. Phoenix were a tad unlucky as well. Mitul dropped Faiz early on, which did cost them dearly, while couple of important skiers for us went to the wicket keeper. I am happy we had 245 to defend, cannot imagine what we would have done if we only had 150 on the board.
I will be surprised if they are not in the final 8 for playoffs.
Mehul
UCC
Chucking is accepted (sadly) but should not be mentioned as "great spell" and "awesome bowling".
================================
Next time a chucker mentioned this .. you ask what spell.. as for awesome..It's AWE alright..Some kinda bowl'n right!!!
I think if MGT stand up more strongly for the Umps we can see the umpires calling these guys for chucking..they don't call it cause these fools will act up if called and some go as far as threatening the Umps...
Thisn is a MGt issue and I hope they step up and do something about it.
Anyone up for practice this friday at HP Skekhs, Adi, Asmar, Shiraz, Rup Anyone ???
Shuaib Menk now cries like a baby... Just because he didnt get his answer he seems to loose his pants, or I should say the ants got into his pants!!!. What a baby...grow up baby... Blogging is not about revealing your identity(Nor is anybody obligated to reveal their identity), blogging is about expressing your point.
This cry baby behavior is so very typical about you guys(Except some good folks). This is exactly how you were crying in front of the umpire.
HA HA HA HA.....
Thanks Midwest bhai ... I was lucky to get a chance when I was on 0 ... :)
Appu, great knock bud...and good spell too...
nicegame..congrats Titans..
c8w,
Interesting decision there....
Rohit
Yeap Nice one Alpesh good luck
Rohit....
Thanks Shekhs bhai n Rohit ...
And here come more rain for this weeks games..It stinks...
Good luck to all teams and I hope everyone gets to play..though it looks like the rain gods have different views. ...
Shekhs..How is da night tour coming along... Are we going to have one???...and seeing you will be checking this out can you look up a rain dancer also...If hard to get we will do with a Lap Dancer..I know TD and Lord of Erections will like to see us get a LD??.
rup,
you are not asking shekhs to do a lap dance if it keeps raining. are you? LOL
Statement from MOE MOE:
FYI umpire was willing to call the game if AAA wanted to play!!!!
=================================
It is very much the umpire's call if the ground is fit for play or not IMHO - and if the umpire felt the game couldnt be played, thats good enough really.
==========================
Here is Rup's response
Adnan that was the Midwest interpreted rule.. but it was corrected at the last umpires training session...
I think the ICC rule goes like this..
The Captains have the power to decide is they want to play or not if the conditions are poor. The umpires have the power to call the game off if in their eyes the see the treat of serious injury although the players want to play...
Hope this helps
===========================
Can someone please put an official word out? Sadiq you're part of an umpiring comittee, can you have a official word posted on Midwest web site regarding who is authorized to call off the game. We would like to see consistency in every thing we do. I think some are going by Umpire's word and some are just taking it upon themselves to decide whether the ground is fit to play or not.
Adnan
United Cricket Club
Adnan,
You are correct in asking for a MWCC interpretation of the Law and
I think it's MGT that has to do this...Or do we have this Law in MWCC already??
We can make it a Bylaw of MWCC and disregard the ICC law to avoid us mis-interpreting the Law..
rup,
you are not asking shekhs to do a lap dance if it keeps raining. are you? LOL
=============================
Na Cool..I don't think Sheky can stop the rain even if he is willing to do Lap Dance..I was more hoping he can get a good LD from HB!!!!!
Now, one from HB will not just stop rain but Cricket also!!!!LOOOOOLLLLLL::))))))
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Can someone please put an official word out? Sadiq you're part of an umpiring comittee, can you have a official word posted on Midwest web site regarding who is authorized to call off the game. We would like to see consistency in every thing we do. I think some are going by Umpire's word and some are just taking it upon themselves to decide whether the ground is fit to play or not.
---------
The law is pretty clear on this, and as usual comes down heavily on the side of the umpires :-) I think thats the way MCC works too anyway, usually.
Basically, law 3.8 states the following:
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8. Fitness of ground, weather and light
The umpires shall be the final judges of the fitness of the ground, weather and light for play. See 9 below and Law 7.2 (Fitness of the pitch for play).
------
Which is pretty unequivocal, really.
The law then goes on to 3.9.. which does offer a few more options to the teams. It basically says (paraphrasing) that, if both teams *want* to play in case of bad conditions (or if the batting side wants to play in bad light),..then the umpire can allow them to play.. but then if they decide after starting that they want to stop, the umpire should call off the game only if the conditions are, in his opinion, just as bad or worse than when the game began.
And even with this little extra option for the teams, the final authority is *still* given to the umpire.. because the law says that, even if both captains agree to play the game etc, if at *any point* the umpire thinks the conditions are unsuitable, he can suspend play.
None of these above laws really seem to have come into play in the match in question anyway - ie AAA/MuslimGym, because apparently *both* captains were not in agreement to start with (MuslimGym apparently wanted to play, AAA didnt). To me, in this above case, the "extra option to teams" ie law 3.9, actually doesnt apply at all.. because those are for *both teams agreeing*. If both teams dont agree on conditions, the call is purely the umpires anyway IMHO - as stated in Law 3.8 (ie "final judges of fitness of ground etc").
c8w
Does that mean Muslim Gym suffered becaue the umpire did not know how to exercise his authority? How can we stop that from occurring in the future?
Adnan
United Cricket Club
My first time on the blog this season and I see that everyone has started where they left off last season ... this is good.
The Muslim Gym Vs AAA match; I believe the umpire felt that the ground was not playable and would have called off the game. However, as we all know we get only four (may be five) months of cricket in a year and he left the decision to the captains ... meaning he would umpire if both teams wanted to play. As it turns out one of teams did not want to. End of story. There really is nothing more to it.
Situations such as these have occurred many times in the past. I recall an instance were we played in a paddy field - the ground wasn't fit for cricket but both the teams agreed to play and thankfully the umpire was more than willing to officiate. Why waste a good drive to Springfield? Right c8w? There have been other instances where we have been very willing to play but the other team has been apprehensive and vice versa. The bottom line is that if the ground is not playable and a team feels that they do not want to risk injury then I believe we should give them the benefit of the doubt. After all, cricket is still a gentleman's game. Why all the name calling?
Regarding the three rained out game rule for 2009 (is there really such a rule??) ... it makes absolutely no sense! At least, I don't understand it. Who decides which game of the teams rained out games should be replayed ... the fourth one? What if it turns out that the it is the first rain out for the opponent? Can the team pick which of the four rained out games it wants to replay? I believe if we follow through with this rule it will just result in confusion at the very least and potentially some very unhappy team(s). In my humble opinion (or IMHO, as C8W would say), rain and rained out games are part and parcel of the game and we should just learn to live with the fact.
Well enough of my rant ... all the best to the teams this season.
Until next time ...
I beg to differ MSA. Just because it went on in the past does not mean that it should continue to happen in the future. If the rule is clear in stating that the Umpire is the one who will make the call then it should strictly be enforced. As you mentioned we only get 4-5 months of cricket and we should maximize every opportunity to play Cricket. Besides where have you seen such a descripency where rule says one thing, but the teams do something different. This is a matter of concerned as later down the road there will be playoff implications in Division I and Division II. More so in Division II. Imagine if United walks off with 2 points against teams like Wildcats, Pak Gym and Challengers. Wouldn't be fair to those teams who might beat these teams, but could not make the playoffs, because United did not folow the rule. Bottom line, if the rule is there then it should be followed and applied to everyone.
Adnan
United Cricket Club.
Did the umpire OK the ground to play and AAA didn't want to? OR, did he say the ground is not fit to play but if both capts agree we can? If it was #1, AAA is at fault. If its #2, they had a right to refuse.
To me, in this above case, the "extra option to teams" ie law 3.9, actually doesnt apply at all.. because those are for *both teams agreeing*. If both teams dont agree on conditions, the call is purely the umpires anyway IMHO - as stated in Law 3.8 (ie "final judges of fitness of ground etc").
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In this case Muslim Agreed (spent $150 on mulch :) but AAA refused.
Seems to me that the umpire was kind of in disagreement with the ground being in playable condition. However, he didn't want to be the culprit so he left it upon both teams. Since Muslim Gym were hosts, they tried to fix the ground to the best of their abilities, however, AAA still refused to play. A little shady on AAA's part but nothing illegal. I wouldn't want to play Muslim gym either if my @$$ was relegated to Div II or any other team who I thought would beat me. After all, remaining in Div I is the top priority, not actually playing cricket. Didn't you guys get the memo?
Hey Guys ... Does anyone know how to log into the team e-mail ? is there a new password like how we had for scores and stuff ? appreciate the help
And da raving and ranting goes on. who is right and who is wrong...??
MWCC needs to set up our own By-Laws for this one I say...Make it simple and in American English not like the complicated ICC england Stuff..
Rule: MWCC Playing condition 1 and only 1!!!!.
"the umpire(S)are the sole responsible party in deciding if the conditions and Ground is ok to play the Match".
a)If the ump say no game ..bad ground you go home with 2 points.
b) If ok to play: Then
1) If both teams don't want to play the will both be fined and -4 points for abondanment of game.
2) If one team don't want to play the a walk over is given to the team wanting to play and other team gets a -4 points.
3) If conditions get worse after start then the ump can reduce the overs or call off the game as he sees fit and the points split as the ump call it.
Or
Adopt the Technical ICC rule and decipher the crap as to who can do who and what happens after who done who!!!!!
MSA,
MWCc 2009 rule for rain outs..clearly states that the first 3 rain out games are not and will not be reschedule..every rain out after that will be re-scheduled...period!!!
So you see... there is no choice on the team as to which rain out game can be re-scheduled.
Oh boy what a mess i have created, but its nice to hear everyone's point of view!!! However i asked the umpire how come there was game played at the same ground a day before and there was no rain, infact it's gotten alot better. We all have played in muddy baseball diamonds at hanover etc,and replaced balls as needed, we have rain delays during international cricket. There was enough mulch on that little muddy area. The run up and batting wicket was perfectttttttttt!!! The ground was improving every minute!!! I recall playing a playoff match agains pak gym where water was splashing everytime the bowler bowled the ball. WE didn't back down. We get few months to play cricket and in chicago we can't excpet perfect grounds. As far as win or loss its part of games we have to lost to good and bad teams. We just wanted to play thats all and felt ground was in very playable condition!!!!!!!!
I don't think you created a mess Moe!!!!!.
You have raised a topic on an ongoing issue which needs some serious attention and corrective actions to prevent future crap like what happened at the cricket ground...
Can some one start a new Blog for this coming weekend games...
Adi..what's up with da Fantacy league..or is it just your fantacy???
Shekhs..missing in actions..
TD has gone hunting for Lap Dancing..
Romo must be on some serious on-calls!!!!..
Midwest wrap week 3 posted.
www.unitedcricket.org
Adnan
hey Rup and fellas....yeah, am out of town...so missing all action in here...
looks like there are some interesting discussions.....will join next week..
ahh finally back to blogging. So lets see where to start off... moe moe i think that you are blowing this out of proportion and what happened will not be corrected by the league so lets just let it rest there... excellent start for challengers winning 2 of 2... congrats shekhs...Rup where are you playing this week...i get to play against my old team Fire...My prediction if we bat first score 275 and then bundle them out for 75.
The Masta is back on Board...Though I have this feeling that you have been blogging all along under a different name??? were you..????
Bold prediction I say..275..Lucky11..That a lot of weight you are putting on the backs of Lucky..may sink em as we all know they are not a consistent scoring bunch..unless you are saying Fire is that bad??.
I am going to Moline this Sunday...Looks like ICC will be playing their first game..We are going to try for a win..My prediction is ICC wins a close one..Either by 10 runs or 3 wickets.
Ok Sheky...We will pardon ya fo now.. hope we get you full blogging again ..sooner...
How is the night Tour coming along.. is registration closed??
It's freaking Friday...Crciket around the corner for this weekend and no bloggers....
Where are the predictions pundits..???
Adi, Finger ETC..are ya all ded..can we get a new Blog going..
Rup ..
Will start a new blog in the evening .. until then carry on here .. :)
Midwest Crap for this week has been cancelled due to inclement weather.
mastakilla man thats not cool man ;).... heard you have moved to lucky 11 now ....
Seems like there is going to be someone duck hunting this weekend at the park..
Its been raining from the morning around Hannover Park and Heritage Park, and if there are any travelling teams I would recommend them having a word with the host team..
Duck hunting sound like the only plan .. Naren..!!
We were not schedule to play this weekend but due to changes we are now going to Moline..I hope weather is ok as i can't start the season with 3 Duck out games!!!!!!
Has anyone found the real Sun god yet..we can't seem to get a Rain.. dancer nor a Lap Dancer::)))
Good Luck to all teams this week end..I hope you all get to play.. just avoid the ducks or you could be end up in jail for Bird cruelty.
Hi Guys,
Good luck to all those who will get to play this weekend.
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naren said...
Its been raining from the morning around Hannover Park and Heritage Park, and if there are any travelling teams I would recommend them having a word with the host team..
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Yeah, its rained most of the day - but its been sort of spotty, not bucketing down or anything. Its supposed to rain pretty hard tonight (though theyre saying its going to be mostly south of I-80 or something). If thats the case, Iam hoping WP holds up well enough to play tomorrow (though its gonna be cold all weekend too). Heritage - that might always be kind of doubtful I guess.
c8w
So far the water logged grounds are WP 3, Hammond, and Heritage Pk.
I suggest travelling team if any for these grounds contact their host and ask for an early morning (7AM ) update so that the game can be called before any travelling happens.
For the Local team, some one can make an early check and have the captains call it off with the league before the drag the whole team to the park and call a wash out there.
As per the mgmt rules, any team affected by more than 3 rain-put matches will get their 4th and so on such match resceduled. But what about the games that cannot be played due to unplayable ground conditions due to rain on previous days ?? They are not rained-out games ... but abandoned games due to unplayable ground conditions ... and our website has abandoned and rained out as two different possible match results ... Confusion prevails !!!!!
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