The mid-summer break for our league has come and gone.. and it doesnt quite feel like it, since we've had a bit of a stop-start season on the field this year.
Still, some interesting games played the week before the break - including a controversial win for St Louis over previously unbeaten Pak Gymkhana in Division One. This week we talk to the always-animated Amit Kumar, captain of the aforementioned St Louis about their team and season; report on the Diversity Cup (where several MCC players played over the long-weekend in Detroit and did the league proud); chat briefly with Yousuf-bhai of the Flames, hero of the Flames win over Rogers Park, and part of one of the best and most remarkable stories of the season to date; and award the usual Top Performers in every division for the week. Hope you enjoy watching!
MIDWEST CRICKET WRAP - WEEK 8
- By Sadiq Yusuf
128 comments:
nice one Sadiq...I like how you played Michael...tribute..to the king..
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Shekhs said...
nice one Sadiq...I like how you played Michael...tribute..to the king..
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Heh. Thanks - but it was Faisal who chose it and did it (without my knowing, even :-)
I used to listen to Michael's music growing up, of course.. but I havent in years, and thought the recent public reaction was way over the top, personally :-) But still, I *did* think it was a v cool choice by Fais for our show for this week at least - nice understated tribute (much better than most of those over-the-top public tributes :-)
Next week, though, hopefully, we'll go back to playing *real* music (like Da Boss, maybe ;-)
c8w
nice job Faiz..
:-)
yeah..The Boss....he's one of my fav.
I wouldnt mind that..
Wow .. WildCats n Challengers playing at Riverside Park, IN ... gr88888!! I am sure that would be a wonderful high-scoring match ... from our experience ... aim to play full 40 overs ... don't get too ambitious looking at the fast outfield ... you guys would love it ...
Yep .. upload the score as soon as the match is over .. :) I will be waiting to hear abt the match result ...
Sadiq bhai -
Disagree with you on the 'over the top' comment about MJs passing away. He really was, the biggest music celebrity to ever live. I've lived in 3 countries and have never come across or even heard of one person who didn't know Jackson. He was a global music icon..you can't say that for many people nowadays....just my thoughts :-)
Thanks Appu....will keep that in mind..
outfield or not..our Batsmen like to go over the top..!!! if you know what I mean...
Bring it on Cats!!!!
:-)
romeen and naren...its on....
let the sledging begin..
couldnt agree more Asmar...
he was definitely the biggest music legend....after Elvis..
Alepsh,
You will get the updates from either me or Shekhs win or loose..
Shekhs the game is on, i have a few jelly beans already in my pocket so let the fun begin...
All the best..
Challengers beat the Wildcats quite comprehensively but not with the scores everybody may expect at Riverside Park.
WC restricted the Challengers to 155 and got bundled out for 80 odd!
Congratulations Shekhs and the Challengers, well deserved win!
Shekhy and Naren will provide the details.
But Romeen Sir ... how did u find the ground ??
Btw .. Phoenix beat Rogers Park by 3 wickets with 9 balls to spare ... Rogers Park - 153 allout, Phoenix - 155/7.
Hey Alpesh ... what happened in your game against Lucky 11?
Sadiq Bhai where are your updates for this weekend ?
Well ... Lucky 11 were allout for 120 and we were 88/5 ... Then there was a caught-behind appeal, which the Lucky 11 guys felt that it was their wicket .. However, the umpire did not feel the same and hence ruled it notout .. At this, few Lucky 11 guys started arguing with the umpire ... Gradually, argument got tensed ... and those guys started bad-mouthing the umpire and almost came to him ... Umpire tried to get the concerned players out of the match ... but they continued with the bad-mouthing and did not listen to him ... at which umpire decided it was enough ... decided to rule the match in our favor ...
I am sorry to see this happen ... but we all are ambassadors of cricket in this country ... and should respect the game ... Umpiring is a very tough job ... No matter what, we should respect the umpire and his decisions ... things might go our way or not ... but that does not give us freedom to behave in such a disgusting manner ...
Fake is pissed off.
First ever edition of Midwest Crap referred to past incidents involving Lucky XI. They must have been suspended last year, but they were not. Punishments will never be enforced because of nepotism. Unless and until punishments are meted out, this will continue to happen.
Alpesh this is tottaly wrong taffazul said it was not out on the ground but as soon as the match was called off he agreed that the batsmen was actually dismissed. This is not the way to play cricket. Even farraz agreed to the wicket. No stars did the same bullshit a few years back. The name of the may have changed but they are the same bullshitters as they were in no stars.
Alpesh this is tottaly wrong taffazul said it was not out on the ground but as soon as the match was called off he agreed that the batsmen was actually dismissed. This is not the way to play cricket. Even farraz agreed to the wicket. No stars did the same bullshit a few years back. The name of the team may have changed but they are still the same bullshitters as they were in no stars.
Go lucky 11 first sadik bs in playoffs now this.
Midwest get better umpires or send some of the players from division one like afroze or bhavesh people with knowledge of the game to umpire.
Bad decision in game will happen no matter how much training is provided to umpires, so either accept it and move on or keep complaining. Lucky is not the only Unlucky one, these things happen and proper escalation is to report to Umpiring Committee. On field drama is getting a little old now.
Same shit just different day contact to even Tariq doesn't resolve these issues no point plus that's bad discipline from taffazul to say the least that is not the proper way to play cricket
Chicago Fire Vs Rovers:
Chicago fire batted first and were reduced to 20/6 in 10 overs.. BUt their captain and another batsman(dont know the name) batted very well to score half centuries to take the score to 200. Prashant got 6 wickets for Rover.
Rovers chased 201 easily in 19 overs with Ravi Patel scoring a century of 48 balls. Dinesh scored 70 off 42 balls.
In the match between Lucky X1 and Titans, there were a few decisions that went against Titans when Lucky X1 were batting.
But Titans took it in their stride and went on and got Lucky X1 all out.
This was with a small drama and foul language and digusting behavior of Lucky X1 players too.
When Titans started batting, Lucky X1 knew very well that they could not win this match by playing it fair.
And when a decision went against them, they went berserk on an umpire and abused him, pushed him and also went to hit him.
None of the Titans players even mentioned anything about the umpire's decision and it was ruled not out.
But since Lucky XI could not win the match they behaved so disgustingly that they should have been thrown out.
And then Lucky XI started abusing the Titans players about their mom and family members.
A kid such as Javid Patel who is less than 18 years also abused and foul mouthed the umpire.
This kid also was telling the umpire that a six was not a six and a four. A good intervention by Hafeez of AAA ensured that the decison was a six.
Seems like some of the Lucky XI players have no marales. Again, as I mentioned, it was some of the Lucky X1 players and not all and Dadabhai was not able to control these guys since they would not even listen to him.
I believe some of these Lucky XI players need to be suspended and barred from playing in Midwest. They are Harunrashid Polli, Mustak Heera, Javid Patel, Sabbir and Samir.
Hopefully the league takes action on these players and we can have a good time on the field.
So all other teams, beware of playing against Lucky XI.
In the end, take an umpire's decision and move on.
Fellow bloggers,
A few questions.
What should an umpire do if he is abused and threatened the way the Lucky XI players did to the umpire yesterday?
If you were the umpire, what would you do?
If opposition hurled abuses at your mom and family members and used foul language against your team members, what should you do?
How does the league protect umpires from such a problem?
How does the league protect its players from such abuses?
The umpires come with an interest for the game, for a meagre $55 and they get abused. Is it right?
Why can't we move on with the umpire's decision?
All right guys here is a clear cut version of what happened. During the first altercation that occurred during the innings of LUcky XI the keeper from Titans kept making mention of how a wide was given down the legside when they thought that there had been a knick from sabbir. Thats where it started. Theen while we were fielding there were a couple of instances where the decision went against us. One was a clear lbw that hit the batsman flush on the toe right at the middle off stump lione and the umpire said not out. Then there was the final incident where there was clearly a noise and the umpire said it was not out and that he didnt hear the noise.
Now Cupid since it seems like you were at the game and you say that you trust Hafez bhai then listen to this very clearly. He headr the knick all the way outside where they were sitting across the road in the other park.
When the main umpire referred to Tafazzul he also said he didnt hear a noise, but after all the altercations were finished and the game had been awarded to them Tafazzul came to khalid dadabhai and anis patel and admitted that he heard a noise. Faraaz Durrani another of the Titans better p[layers had also clearly heard a knick outside of the boundary.
I mean why does it seem like we always get the unexperienced umpires to umpire the lucky xi games??
Last year in the playoffs we had two guys umpiring a playoff game that had never umpired any games in their cricketing careers? it just doesnt make sense to me.
one last thing i forgot to add and this is nothing personal against you appu but even when he gave you out caught behind and there was clearly a knick as the keeper caught the ball in front of first slip even then you stood your ground looking surprisedly at the umpire like you were not out. how do you answer that one?
Wow Lot of Drama happening here...
Firstly Congrats to Eagles on their comprehensive win over Purdue, Lakshmi at last you were on the brighter side of not having me as the umpire...
Masta: no matter what the decisions were you cannot argue with the umpire, if the umpire is not sure if it was an LBW then take it and move on, you have to have some sympathy to the umpire who is doing a thankless job out in the middle and if an umpire is unbiased in his decision be it correct or wrong we can live with it.
Finding qualified umpires is not an easy task, mistakes happen at international level so at this level so live with those decisions.
i have nothing to do with what happened yesterday. all i did was make sure that there was no physical altercation between anyone. I did not say anything to anyone. Im just saying what i saw. Naren you can ask romeen what kind of person i am. i never had any problems with umopiring up untill now. Chicago fire had the same problem yesterday in mossville fcrom what ive heard. Ravi was out caught behind, again this is what ive heard so far, yet the umpire said that he did not hear the knick. I mean one decision either way changes the whole complexion of the game. In our game against the titans if that caught behind was given then it would have put a lot of pressure on the rest of the batsmen because they were mainly tailenders left to come.
hey tonald on a lighter note can you please text or call me when you get a chance. Thanx.
hey tonald on a lighter note can you please text or call me when you get a chance. Thanx.
Sajid
Thanks romeen for the update...
I'll try to come up with a brief report (something like Madew's or Sadiq's)....
Well bowled CATs....restricting us to 155 on that ground is very impressive..
Congrats to all the winners..!!
oh and cupid i missed something that you said earlier. Javid patel thought it was a boundary and therefore signalled it a boundary but then the bowler who happens to be the same Harurrashid polli that you are referring to asked Hafez Adam whether it was a six or four and hafez bhai signalled it a six so harun came back to the umpire and told him that it was a six and not a four. As far back as i can remember that usually the word of the fielder is taken as the right word in our league but we had the decency to ask hafez bhai who was sitting on the boundary close to where the ball landed.
Masta: I am not saying you did something wrong, I know you too all i am saying is that if a few decisions go wrong take them as mistakes from the umpire and move on with the game, who knows if you guys still played you might have won the game, anything can happen in cricket, so a few wrong decision may impact the final result, but giving up the game is a Sin to me, its just my point of view, and that is how i see it.
Mastakilla ..
its ok .. the only reason I stood at the ground after getting out was that i was disappointed on getting out as i wanted to carry my innings through .. when ur players told me that i was out ... i said that it was true ... it was very good ball by the bowler, who beat me thoroughly ..
Well .. i was impressed by ur batting .. Carry on Mastakilla ..
milwakee won by 2 runs against flames
appu thanks for the compliment. unfortunately they wanted to try something new with the batting order hence me coming in at number 11. As faraz was telling me during the innings break ive been working really hard on my foot movement for the past two years. When i played with him i was a very attacking player and all i did was stand tall and whack any ball that came my way but now im trying to become a more all around player. Staying longer at the crease and getting my eye in is becoming a greater asset for me as after a few overs spent at the crease i can still whack the ball.
On a lighter note appu, you guys got real lucky yesterday because i was supposed to come on to bowl the next over yesterday but then the altercation happened otherwise i would have picked up a hattrick and bowled you guys out for 92. lol.
Eagles bt Purdue by 7 wickets.
On a very fast outfield eagles bowled well ( with good support from excellent fielding) to restrict a very good Purdue side to 181. Twp of their batsmen getting 50's. Both good knocks. One with endurance and one with aggression.
The chase began. We lost the first three wickets pretty quickly. And it 40+ when lakshmi went in. 140 more to go. and then it was poetry in motion. He pulled, cut, drove and slashed with such nonchalance it was a treat to watch. Ravi at the other end gave him admirable support and we got to the objective without losing another wicket.
The tense moment for us though was whether lakshmi could get to his hundred. So to give you a little idea of what we went through. here it is .
11 runs to win. 12 for lakshmi's hundred. first ball he hits it for a 2.
9 to win. 10 for 100.
next ball 4.
5 to win. 6 for 100.
next ball on the off side. fuller. lakshmi moves back and creams it over cover point for a huge six.
Game over.
Purdue has a talented team. Young, energetic and good spirited kids. And very very honest. It is a joy playing against such teams.
keep up the good work Purdue. You will teach a lot of teams a thing or two. You are a very good side. we just got lucky yesterday.
Congratulation to my good friend's from Eagles & Wildcats.
Masta what did you do when @ bat? I remember Appu saying something about being impressed by you or was is pressed by you lol.
Cupid you asked ....
What should an umpire do if he is abused and threatened the way the Lucky XI players did to the umpire yesterday?
Answer: RUN FOR HIS LIFE AFTER DECLARING THE NON CHARGING PARTY A WINNER.
If you were the umpire, what would you do?
Answer: I WOULD GET MY AK47 OUT SO THEY CAN SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND.
If opposition hurled abuses at your mom and family members and used foul language against your team members, what should you do?
Answer: MAKE A VIDEO OUT OF THIS AND UPLOAD ON YOU TUBE AND TITLE IT "FIGHTING DESIS".
How does the league protect umpires from such a problem?
Answer: MORAL SUPPORT & $50. I SUGGEST GIVE UMPIRES RIGHT TO CARRY GUN.
How does the league protect its players from such abuses?
Answer: HARD SPOT FOR THE LEAGUE, BUT LEAGUE HAS TO REVISIT MWCC CODE OF CONDUCT & ENFORCE IT. ONCE ENFORCED THEY CANNOT DISCOUNT IT BY GIVING FAVORS TO CHOSEN ONES.
The umpires come with an interest for the game, for a meagre $55 and they get abused. Is it right?
Answer: GETTING ABUSED ON GROUND STILL BEATS CLEANING CAR, DOING LAUNDRY, GROCERY & COOKING FOR YOUR WIFE. WHICH IS BASICALLY SUMMARY OF MY PAST WEEK.
Why can't we move on with the umpire's decision?
Answer: THAT IS WHAT RODNEY KING SAID AFTER HE WAS BEATEN UP BY COPS.
OK HE SAID WHY CANT WE GET ALONG BUT YOU GET THE POINT
hahaha TD...you rock..
thanks for the laugh...
The day you wished your name was SANJAY!!!
Wildcats Vs. Challengers - Riverside Park IN.
Wildcats won the toss and elected to field.
Nikhil started off with excellent line...right away..inducing edges...
Darshan started off flamboyantly for challengers driving and flicking...
Giri bowled Dax with a fuller ball...
Bhavesh joined Darshan and runs suddenly it was raining runs...Challengers were scoring at close to 8 runs an over...
Bhavesh looked extremely good..until he was runout (second time in a row)..when Nikhil tried to stop the drive and the ball bounced off to hit the stumps....
Afroze joined Darshan and things were looking very good for Challengers until Sanjay was introduced ...
Sanjay bowled Darshan the very first ball..
While Afroze was playing like Afroze...and Nilesh joining him the middle..cahllengers looked like they were gonna play a long innings..
but Nilesh was caught brilliantly on the midwicket boundary by shashi and Afroze was taken by Ajit in gully.and suddenly wildcats were on top...
Ankur and Nirav steadied the ship and slowly a partnership developed.....challengers looked like they will still get to the 200 mark..
but, Sanjay foxing Ankur to be stumped by Akhil and Nirav getting run out...with coupla quick wickets..saw challengers getting bundled out for 155
With an excellent outfield like riverside park, it was almost impossible to defend 155 in 40 overs...
Wildcats started off brilliantly with romeen and Sanjay playing some crisp shots thru and over cover....
wildcats looked like they were gonna run away with the game with 40/0 until Sanjay struck by making romeen edge to nilesh at second slip...
Javed joined Sanjay and they both started building up and looked very threatening...
spin was introduced in the form of Afroze..and afroze induced edges the very first over...
Sanjay was bowled by afroze in his second..
Couple of brilliant runouts by afroze...costed wildcats the wickets of Ajit and Nikhil...
briallinat piece of point fielding by affu..nikhil's was a direct hit...
with surya getting caught at long off...the game tilted in challenger's favor..
but Javid was solid at the other end milking runs and being patient..
when Sanjay was brought in for the second spell...he made javed drive uppishly to bhavesh and suddenly challengers tasted blood..
shyam followed hi MUCC teammate with a similar dismissal....and bhavesh obliged again...
Sanjay picked another wicket and Nilesh wrapped it up for challengers.
A good comeback win for challengers..
tough loss wildcats...after an excellent bowling performance..
It was Sanjays' day..one Sanjay took 6 for wildcats and another one claimed 4 for challengers..
it was the day you wished your name was Sanjay...!!!
ha ha ha...TD maaan you rock! BTW TD, are you playing this year? If so which team? I wouldn't mind stopping by the ground when you're playing to share a few laughs with you :)
I was so expecting a high-scoring thriller at Hammond on Saturday. Anyway, congrats Sheks!! Yet another tough loss, Naren. I'm sure you guys will bounce back to winning ways.
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MastaKilla said...
i have nothing to do with what happened yesterday. all i did was make sure that there was no physical altercation between anyone. I did not say anything to anyone. Im just saying what i saw. Naren you can ask romeen what kind of person i am. i never had any problems with umopiring up untill now. Chicago fire had the same problem yesterday in mossville fcrom what ive heard. Ravi was out caught behind, again this is what ive heard so far, yet the umpire said that he did not hear the knick. I mean one decision either way changes the whole complexion of the game. In our game against the titans if that caught behind was given then it would have put a lot of pressure on the rest of the batsmen because they were mainly tailenders left to come.
9:23 AM
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MastaKilla, I think you have heard wrong about Chicagofire's game against rovers---the incident was not about the nick and umpire not hearing anything. What actually happened was Ravi hit the ball on deep midwicket and a person caught (it looked like he was 2 to 3 yard behind the line when he caught the ball)--but instead of standing at the place where he caughted, in came back in 4 to 5 step. And midwest Rule's cheatsheat clearly says that you have to stay at your place when you take the catch on line. So, We had to call Tariqbhai and Ravi was given not out by the umpire at the end. And the umpire was not consistent on giving wides,( some of the balls were not wide and gave wides, and some were the wides balls but he did not gave) he was consistent through out the game. It was very irritating rovers and Chicago fire but you do not hear fighting with the umpire or swearing at him
And this thing happened with rovers twice in last two years. Last year I took the catch of Perrin from Evanston (I was one miter inside from the boundary when I caught, he was still given not out because i ran in)....This year same thing happen to us against Collinsville, one of my teammate took a beautiful catch on long on boundary but the batsmen was given not out again b/c the fielder run in couple of step. Initially, umpire gave out then he changed the decision and gave the batsman not out.
And I don’t know about other teams but Lucky XI visited Rovers last year. They brought the umpire who cheated left and right and still they ended up losing. But you did see Rovers fight with the umpire, we played our game and we won.
Hopefully this will put some light on what you heard.
But anyhow, nothing gives anybody any kind of rights to fight with umpire or swear at him. And from what i see on the blogs, this is second time such incident involves LUCKY XI.
Nothing against them but I just feel you got to respect the umpire. Mistakes can happen; you have to live with it.
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KoooL_Kat said...
Sadiq Bhai where are your updates for this weekend ?
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Umpired Giants/Illinois on Saturday - only game played at Washington Park. We were scheduled for Ground 3 (shifted from Heritage on Friday night - is Heritage no longer our ground? For a few weeks or something? Anyone know?).. Ground 3 was a pool on Saturday morning. Saw lots of bubbles, as water was bubbling up from underneath onto the surface at Ground3 too (in bright sunny conditions). There is clearly a burst-pipe or something there, which is ruining the drainage for all of WP.
Anyway. We moved our game to Ground One - only Ground 3 games are allowed to shift grounds this season (the single exception), because Ground 3 has been unplayable all year long, no other games can be moved from any grounds. Felt awful for Madison/Arena.. poor guys, one team drove from Madison, other team drove from St Louis, bright sunny conditions, and yet neither could play the game (they wanted to move to Ground1 too, maybe play a 25-over game after our match was finished... but you cant move grounds, so they werent allowed to. Its the rule, and the rule is the rule.. but I think we should look into some exceptions for next year, difficult though it is, and a perfect solution not really there.. but it just feels terrible when guys drive 5 hours and 3 hours to play, and its great weather, and they cant play anyway, poor guys).
Anyway. Good game, Illinois and Giants. Giants started well, then slid to 60/5 (Jack bowling v well).. then a long partnership betweem Moshi and Ali helped them recover, very good batting by both. They went from 60/5 to 137/7.. and then collapsed to 140 allout. Without those 2 partnerships in the middle theyd have been dead.
Illinois started well too, 39/0 at one stage. Ali then bowled very well, much quicker than I remember from the past. Captain Amer came on, and promptly got hit for 14 in his first over!
And then he started bowling cutters, and bowled brilliantly! Ended up getting 6-fer over his next few overs, including a hat-trick (lefty caught-behind with the ball jagging away, righty LBW with the ball cutting in, then righty clean bowled with the ball cutting in again). Illinois went from about 40/0 to about 80/9, and it was all over after a small last-wicket stand.
Good game overall - Illinois a little short, missing a couple batsmen (George, Collin etc), and Giants looking pretty good with their bowling on the day. Giants have only one loss and looking pretty good for a return to the playoffs, Illinois has lost their last couple and needs to get back to their winning ways soon.
c8w
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But anyhow, nothing gives anybody any kind of rights to fight with umpire or swear at him. And from what i see on the blogs, this is second time such incident involves LUCKY XI.
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Actually there were 6 separate "incident reports" filed by umpires for Lucky XI games last year (none by me, BTW, cos I didnt umpire any :-) The one incident (out of the 6) that youre remembering, presumably, is the most famous one - the playoff game (which eventually never ended. When 8 or 9 wickets were down, all the players were on the field arguing and wouldnt leave, and the umpires - Maaz and Mo of Muslim Gym - eventually called off the game without it being completed on the field).
I believe there was talk of "being on probation" at the start of the season, stemming from that playoff-incident. Maybe this incident constitutes violation of probation, I guess its up to management to decide :-)
c8w
Sadiq that playooff incident also involved you gave the wrong decision from outside which caused lucky the game
Bad decisions are a part of cricket. They are just like a dropped catch-for an umpire. They are both blunders that are sometimes inevitable but nevertheless must be accepted. If people like Lucky XI and Pak Gymkhana walk off the field when they get a bad decisions, then by the same logic they should walk off the field and harass each other when they drop catches-again by the same logic.
If you can't handle a part of the game, then dont play the game period. Cricket is a gentleman's game...at no cost should that be compromised.
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kobe bryant said...
Sadiq that playooff incident also involved you gave the wrong decision from outside which caused lucky the game
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Didnt give a decision of any kind, was only watching the game -and didnt even see the appeal because I was chatting with Hafez-bhai. Was consulted on the law, informed the umpire of what the law was given his description of the incident, and that was it. (For which I was shoved and attacked with a bat, but thats a different story :-)
The simple fact is, however, that mistakes happen - and everyone needs to learn to live with them. I probably made a mistake on Saturday in the Illinois-Giants game, for example.. Nokhram of Illinois pushed at a ball in front of his pad and then quickly tried to withdraw his bat, I thougt the ball caught the shoulder of his bat and ballooned up to be caught by first slip. Nokhram felt (and Jack at non-striker felt too) that the ball missed the bat, hit the pad instead, and ballooned up off there. (The Giants felt it caught shoulder of bat, then pad and ballooned).
This was, in retrospect, very probably an error from me - I hate it when it happens, I try not to make them, but its a bloody hard job, I make more than my fair share of mistakes. Nokhram didnt yell at me, though. He didnt curse at me. I talked to him both at break and post-game - and both were civil, even friendly conversations (we talked only a little about the decision, but much more about the game in general, some about the bowling earlier etc). Thats the way the game needs to be played.
We arent playing professional cricket, we're playing for fun (and even in professional cricket lots of mistakes happen anyway). People really need to learn to accept mistakes and behave better - bowlers and batsmen make tons of mistakes too after all. Yelling and cursing and threatening physical violence shouldnt ever be allowed in the league, no matter how horrible an error has been made (and not giving an lbw or a disputed caught behind doesnt, frankly, sound like a horribly bad error anyway - especially the LBW).
c8w
No use in arguing wit u sadiq but I still feel that the umpires should be better trained. The umpire didn't even know that in Midwest you are not allowed to bowl one bouncer per over. if they want to umpire they should be properly trained because after all they do get paid. These little decisions can change the entire game for either team. Nothing agAinst the umpire but I wish they could read the rule book. Also just for further notice it would be much better if they put some umpires with great experience and knowledge of the game.
Sadie I feel that there is something that I need to clear up here. We never ever complained about not getting the lbw. We were complaining about the caught behind that was not given. I mean half of aaa including hafez BHAI were sitting across the road from the ground and they heard the knick all they way over there but yet the umpire did not here the knick. You tell me how that would be possible. The leg umpire tafazzul when asked by the main umpire on the ground said he had also not heard anything but after the altercation was over and the match had been awarded to them he came over to Khalid BHAI and anis and said that yes indeed there had been a knick. FARAAZ durrani also said he heard the knick outside where they were positioned as well. I mean any team that has three or four decisions going against them in a single game will be frustrated. Am I not correct.
Mastakilla ...
It seems that you are trying to justify your team's behavior with the umpire y'day ... No reason whatsoever does give any team a right to treat a umpire in this way ... We also felt that some decisions did not go our way, but we took the umpire's word and carried on with the game ...
I myself have umpired many games in the last 4 years and would not expect this kind of treatment by any team ... And you guys do not have to see very far for inspiration ... AAA guys play the game in fair manner ... They respect umpire and his decisions ..
Heres my question to Mastakilla and Kobe Bryant,
In so many years of playing in Midwest cricket, have they or their teammates never gotten a lucky decision or a dubious decision in their favor??? Have they or their teammates always walked away when they nicked and umpire didn't give it out?
If their answers are No and Yes, then all they said is correct.. I am sure they have been in the lucky end of some umpiring errors and they just cannot tolerate when they are in the receiving end..
When international umpires make mistakes, how do midwest umpires, for whom cricket is a hobby and not a livelihood, not make mistakes??? So, do they mean to say that if they go as umpires, they will never ever make a mistake or if some one quizzes them on cricket they will always score 100/100?? Throw the first stone, if you have never ever been guilty....
no offense to anyone, but everyone needs to umpire before they realize how tough a job it is..
Appu ur batsman should have the decency to walk out. The leg umpire (taffazul) should have the guts and the morality to give the batsman out. Also he missed a few short runs and excused he was watching the ball and not the batsman. I myself am not on the lucky eleven roster but saw the bull shit through the playoffs and the same thing now.
Dinesh to ur comment I have never been on the recieving side. I have umpired a few games but not mistakes like this.
Firstly, not one Titans team member ever made a mention of the decision or the status of the wicket to Khalid Dadabhai or Anis.
We were all there and watching this match too.
Secondly, I am suprised that someone who sits so far away from the ground can hear a nick for a caught-behind with all the road traffic in place.
Seems like someone has sharp ears to identify nicks for opposing teams but not when their own team members had their share of nicks and lbw decisions going in their favor.
There were some decisons that did not go in Titans favor. Titans took it in their stride and did not argue or foul mouth the umpire nor did they push the umpire.
If you want to justify your disgusting actions Lucky XI players, go ahead.
But the way some Lucky XI players behaved against the umpire was disgusting and a shame to cricket.
I pity the umpire who bore this brunt.
I just do not know how a respectful person can take such a thing in his stride, never hit the person who foul mouthed him, cursed his family or pushed him and went on with his job. Kudos to the umpire.
If anyone has to umpire a game where Lucky XI is playing a few things,
- Please do not take your family members and friends to the match.
- Also, please leave your morals also at home since some of the Lucky XI players will hurt your soul.
- Have your cell phone at hand to call 911 so that the uruly Lucky XI players are arrested.
I only hope folks such as Sheks, Sadiq Bhai and influential folks take this matter to Midwest cricket management and take action against these unruly Lucky XI players.
And just look at these Lucky XI players on the blog too.
They tend to curse or foul mouth here on the blog too. How shameful can this be.
Did your Lucky XI batsman walk when they had nicked?
If not, then stop talking about another person.
At that point, did Titans team members argue with the umpire.
Did Titans team members misbehave with the umpire?
The answer is a big "NO".
They took it in their stride and got Lucky XI all out.
If you had the courage and belief, you should have done it too when a decision was not in your favor.
People who live under glass windows do not throw stones.
If you come to lucky game remember to bring a damn hearing so you can heAr the cuts. And Remember lucky will become the CHAMPS!
There was no knick Cupid and the titans keeper said the stupid things to sabbir. Please look at your actions be for you try to change the ones of others.
Sadiq you were not attacked at all with the bat last year. By giving a decision from outside you bought the trouble on yourself!
Go Lucky 11!!!!!!!!!
GUYS THIS JUST IN ....
I was in the garage detailing my 1927 Chevy Pinto when I heard that Knick all the way out here in Skokie, IL. At that moment I dropped the soap bucket and yelled HOWZAT. Then my wife said go back to cleaning car, I did not argue and continued .....
Good one TD..
at least you are keeping the blog alive..hahaha
Aiite fellas..
I was trying to keep myself outta this...but since the crap hit the fan...why not..
First of all...I completely agree with dinesh and other folks...umpiring is a thankless job...and please ..please ..respect your umpire..
he may not know many rules....but if he is assigned by the league or the VP of that division, then he has all the power to make decisions for that game...
You have no idea how hard it is to produce an umpire for each and every game, so please dont abuse or hurt the umpire, as he is just the messenger...dont kill the messenger..please..
situations like these will only make it worse for the mgmt to assign umpires..
If you have any complaints about the umpire, you can make an official complaint to the league and the mgmt will take action on it..
Back to the titans and lucky XI game..
Whatever happened is done..lets stop throwing crap around each other now..
Let the management handle the situation..
Masta and Kobe (BTW, I'm a huge fan)...please dont get emotional in here....as its only gonna make things worse..
Cupid, please dont get emotional either..
peace out ..
The three most thankless jobs in cricket are Umpiring, Wicket keeping and captaining. Not in the same order. So cut some slack guys.
The way i see it, by fighting and cursing one is only spoiling a good day in the park.
Sometimes you get a raw deal. Big deal. There is always another game and another umpire.
Having said that. I agree with someone who said that umpires need to be trained. Teams sending players for mandatory umpiring should take care in sending ones who are knowledgeable. If everyone takes care of that it will all be better umpiring.
We have had numerous decisions go against us but we have never complained because in the same token we might have benefitted somewhere. All part of the little parcel called cricket.
And the benefit of doubt should and always go to the batsman.
Sadiq,
your analysis of the sunday game? I could see your teeth all 15 overs.
On a somewhat separate note, I just did a search for the term "bull" and we all know what follows and all instances were provided by Kobe.
Kobe, there are limits on this blog and you're flirting very strongly with them.
There is an expectation that you (each one of us infact) must RESPECT the others on this blog and refrain from using certain language.
Please don't make me delete your posts because you have every right to share your opinion in a respectful manner regardless of whether people agree or disagree with you.
Thanks, and keep it cool.
Hi all,
TD, you're a riot. Keep it up. When's blogger ball?
Sorry I've been so out of it, but it's been unbelievably busy.
But I did get a request to monitor some of the comments as they were borderline. So, here I am.....
How's everyone else been?
Adi sorry for the bad language! I will try to refrain from the abusive language!
Boy oh boy! Is the chatter back on the blog or what?
Thanks to Lucky guys, now I know what to do next time the blog goes silent. I'll volunteer to umpire a game and the next thing you know is the blog is full of action :)
Everyone has offered their opinion on the issue of abuse of umpires. At the risk of repeating some of the earlier views, I'd say that the league has to adopt a zero tolerance policy towards abuse of umpires/players and walking-off the games. By walking-off a game because of a disagreement over umpiring decision is akin to robbing the other team in broad daylight for we all PAY to play in this league. I'd be damn pissed if I don't get the full worth of my money and not play a full game. As it is the season this year has been aweful with all the rain and horrible ground conditions. The last thing we need is such incidents to happen.
Last week it was Pak-Gym walking-off against St.Louis and now Lucky XI. I really hope the management acts to end this BS once and for all.
Just my 2 cents.
Thank heavens that this blog has TD to keep it real. TD, you rock dude! Keep it coming.
Yo Midwest I agree with you. Td your the best and keep it coming!
Blogger Preetam N said...
The three most thankless jobs in cricket are Umpiring, Wicket keeping and captaining. Not in the same order. So cut some slack guys.
_____________________________________
Umpiring is a thankless job, we all agree, for a good umpiring decision rarely gets mentioned but even a 50-50 decision could create such a ruckus.
But I don't understand why you say that captaincy and wicket keeping are thankless jobs. Captains and wicket keepers do get their full credit due for a job well done along with the brick-bats for screw ups.
I know that you're the captain of your team and you also keep wickets. Are you saying that your team doesn't appreciate your efforts? If so, do you want to come play for us? :)
Looks like CCI is the team to beat in Div II this year.
Can someone share their thoughts on CCI if you have played them this year and also any info on pitch(if astro/matting) and ground conditions?
Thanks in advance
Ha ha ha! Thats funny Midwest. I was not talking about myself though. I was talking in a general sense.
How many times do captains get credit for winning it is always the heroes of the game. But they get screwed for wrong strategies. ( please read Boycotts article about Strauss ).
And wicket keepers ka tho kya boloo. Everybody thinks it is easy to keep because you have gloves.
And no i don't have the appreciation problem with my team. We all know how much each of us are worth. And if they forget we make sure to remind them as modesty is a foriegn element in our team.
But thanks for the offer. I really appreciate it.
Preetam..
dunno about Captaincy...but keeping yeah...thats a thankless job...
I keep once in a while..when Mahesh is out...man its a tough job ...seriously we should get paid to do that....
No doubt wicket keeping is a difficult job, physically tough and mentally draining. But, it is not a thankless job. A good effort behind the wickets is truly appreciated by one and all. You take catches, it shows up in the scorecard. You do stumpings, it shows up in the score card.
As far as captaincy is concerned, for every such Boycott's article on Strauss I can point you to numerous other articles praising the captaincy of a certain Mark Taylor or a Stephen Fleming. Alan Border, Steve Waugh, Imran Khan, Saurav Ganguly, Dhoni etc etc...they're all well known for their leadership skills. Some of these players have even commanded a place in the team, for several months, purely for their leadership skills. Captaincy, a thankless job? I beg to differ.
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Shekhs said...
he may not know many rules....but if he is assigned by the league or the VP of that division, then he has all the power to make decisions for that game...
If you have any complaints about the umpire, you can make an official complaint to the league and the mgmt will take action on it..
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Exactly. There are procedures in place - if you are unhappy about anything, report it after the game and it'll be dealt with. But abusing and assaulting is hardly the way to go about things. I agree with Dinesh - its up to management to have a zero-tolerance policy with these things, something IMHO they have not always done a great job with, hopefully it will be better this time around.
Second - there has been a lot of talk about "sending inexperienced umpires"... that has been a problem this year especially for some games, because with 3 mandatory umpirings sometimes people who have never umpired a game are being sent by their teams. But note, inexperience is *not* a problem with Rafi Syed (who I guess umpired this game above).. he has umpired several games (5 or 6) this year itself. He has even umpired Division One games before - heck, he did United/Rogers Park this year itself! Having done a pretty major (and tense) Div1 game earlier this year with some of the best players in the league playing, he would hardly be someone about whom anyone could say "he shouldnt be allowed to umpire a middle-of-the-table Div2 game this week, he's not experienced enough for a game that important"!
People can have bad days and good days - umpires do, just as players do. There is *no* excuse, ever, no matter how bad you think a decision is, to react with abuse and physical attack. None.
c8w
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Preetam N said...
your analysis of the sunday game? I could see your teeth all 15 overs.
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Slightly modest report from Preetam :-)
Lightning outfield- Purdue always lost too many wickets, 181 ao in 32 overs! Started with Saumyang - very good player, 83 off 50 balls last match (at Purdue ground, not Hammond!) for which he won Top Performer in our show. Here, Saumyang scored 15 runs in his first 4 balls! First two stroked along the ground thru offside- 4s, third thru midwicket -4, then another - fielder got a hand to it, 3! Then dot ball.. and then he played forward to the medium-pacer, missed, and was quite brilliantly stumped by Preetam with his foot barely outside (I would never have given that decision from my end - the Purdue captain Neeraj didnt hesitate, raised his finger right away. Enormous credit to him and Purdue... and the keeper, lightning-quick stumping, game-changing wicket. Preetam also later held a leg-side catch off the spinner standing up which wasnt half bad :-) Seshu bowled very well for Eagles, Vikram was solid for Purdue with 50, Sachin had a terrific 60, great shots all around (was setting up Purdue for a very big score until he got tempted in Laxmi's last over and went for a six and got caught.. then captain Neeraj fell later that same over in the same way - those wickets set Purdue back badly after they had recovered very well and looked on course for 250-odd). 2 runouts to finish hurt too.
Still, despite 181 not being enough probably, Eagles were 41/3 after 8 overs when Laxmi went in,in a bit of a spot. And it was pretty much carnage after that.Purdue was quite vocal at 41/3, geeing each other up - and Laxmi, from what Ive seen, seems to thrive in those conditions (at least, Ive watched 2 tons vs Jaguars in similar conditions).
The outfield here was lightning quick - anything hit well and in the gap was four, and almost everything by Laxmi was. He had made 12 runs in 3 innings so far this year - there was making up to do, and he started right away (2 fours in his first 4 balls). The thing with Laxmi has always been that he has shots to most parts of the field, and times them equally well - which makes field-setting difficult, you cant just block one area. On an outfield like this, it was very hard for Purdue - the shots went to all areas, they were all hit in the middle of the bat, and everything in the gap raced to the boundary (and usually well past, having to be fetched from far away). Barely one or two "false shots"(ie shots not hit off the middle - but not in the air, just thick-edges that went for maybe two). Not a single ball hit the pads all day long, and I dont recall a single play-and-miss (hey, it was only 42 balls after all, not a long innings :-) Everything else was bang off the middle of the bat, timed, or stroked, or punched - it all seemed to come off the sweet-spot.
Carnage is what I said above - and its probably the only way to describe it (though admittedly quite aesthetically pretty carnage - pure cricketing shots, cover-drives, off-drives, square-cuts, one straight-drive that almost decapitated the non-striker Ravi.. he didnt time his pull-attempts early on.. one went for a four despite it, along the ground, slight bottom-edgeish.. but once he got his eye in he hit an enormous pulled six into the trees). In retrospect it was really quite short and sweet - Laxmi came in at 41/3 in 8 overs, game was over in 22 overs exactly... he was in the middle for 14 overs, he faced 42 balls (which is 7 overs, almost perfect symmetry :-)... 16 fours and 2 sixes, 76 off 18 balls right there (24 off his other 24 balls). It was basically quite magnificent batting - pure cricketing shots, chanceless (one half-chance at 87*... pulled, into no-mans land, Purdue captain Neeraj ran about 20 yards, dived full length, *might* have gotten a hand to it, but we couldnt quite tell for sure). Excellent job by Ravi at the other end too... perfect foil, never tried to match shots, quietly worked singles and rotated strike.
c8w
BTW, forgot to say, the end to Hammond/Eagles was actually even more dramatic than Preetam said :-) Laxmi was 87* at break, still about 28 or so needed, looked ok for a century.. and then, next over, there were *two* 5-wides, 10 runs in extras! It finally came down to 94*, 6 to century, 4 to win (not 5 as Preetam said), last ball of 22nd over (a big-shot is not percentage cricket, if it goes for four game is over and you end up 98* I guess)... anyway...ball was good-length-to-fullish, barely outside offstump.. he backed away, made room, kind of rotated his arm and somehow got under it, and basically scooped it over point. And, on a *very* long Hammond boundary, the ball sailed on and on, over the boundary, almost to the fence! A quite ridiculous shot, and in retrospect a bit of a poetic ending to it all.
The Eagles didnt do a great job with the video [ ;-) ] and also the battery ran out very quickly.. but even so, hopefully we'll get 2-3 of the boundaries from this innings on the "highlights" in our show this week :-)
c8w
Blogger Satish said...
Looks like CCI is the team to beat in Div II this year. Can someone share their thoughts on CCI if you have played them this year and also any info on pitch(if astro/matting) and ground conditions?
Satish .... no team holds #1 position mid way in the season by accident, but that CCI ground has to help a lot. One ball will rise and one will law low. This condition gives a home team a great advantage.
Guys it looks like the All Star Bloggers Ball Game will be on Thursday July 23rd. I will have this confirmed by later today and roll out a official announcement.
Where is Rup?
TD, Yeah..i understand that they are a good team. It is just that we never played with them all these 3 years so curious to here from others.
Thanks,
Satish,
Tonald is right.
Yes CCI looks in good form now.... The bounce is variable, you will see one short ball raising to your shoulders and the other one staying low below the knee roll.... Boundaries are decent size.
Hassan khan, leggie, has been on Song but I heard that he was taken apart against Jaguars.
Batting point of view, you guys need to have set batsmen go for long innings, that is important.
They are slightly susceptible to swing bowling, but Safdar Khan and their middle order have played well.
All in All they are good hosts, spirited side, cant take them for granted till the last ball is bowled.
Good Luck ....
Rohit/TD, Thanks for the valuable info and all the best to Giants and Jaguars this summer.
does anyone know if there are games this weekend? is the CER on?
Batting Stalwarts of MWCC ..
How do you guys play a genuine Outswing delivery ?? I got out to a big outswinger in my last match .. and still trying to figure out how would had I played that ball in order not to nick it .. :(
I would just leave it but I ain't no stalwart :)
Alpesh,
Anticipate. Try to read the bowlers hand and action to see if he will get swing and in which way. Secondly, chances are if the ball is outwinging that big, then it wont hit your stumps. Leave it.
Also, if the bowler is consistently bowlign outswing, take a middle and leg guard so you can reach the pitch and cover the line. Always negotiate the swing and try to play as far forwards as possible. Chances are that you played relatively away from your body or you didnt cover the line.
Satish - Call me and I will tell you all you need to know about CCI. Observing teams strength and weakness is my hobby 312-519-9054.
Alpesh - You said it yourself Big Outswinger. Best thing is to let the ball go, especially if the bowler is bowling big outswinger. Where was he pitching the ball leg stump?
Maverick - I cannot tell from your screen name who you are. I am sitting on the sideline this season but will play in All Star Bloggers Game. So come join us there.
Yep Atif bhai ... the ball was pitched on the leg stump line, hence i went to nudge it but it swung big and took the edge ..
SpeedSensation .. ur advice is great .. I will try to keep that in mind during our practice sessions .. I did not cover the line properly ..
Alpesh - Call Chiragh Patel or Asim from Giants and practice against them for 1 day. They are extremely good Outswinger's and sounds like you need practice.
Keep in mind that some balls are just too good and there is not much you can do as a batsman, keep an eye on the ball, cover the stump and let it go to keeper.
Appu,
I just noticed that you are having one HECK of a season...kudos..!!!
Keep it real..!!
On the top 15 for both batting and bowling..impressive...
And you are asking for advice...maybe we should ask you how to play... :-)
For All Star Blogger's Game my team members will wear Pink Thongs to support breast cancer research.
hahaha TD....
my team will wear Viagra sponsored thongs....in support of the lord of Erection!!!
My T Shirt will say Lord of Election and just to set proper expectation its going to be Baby Pink Thongs.
Shekhs remember Tushar who brought the drinks to last game. I don't have his email address. Can you ping him for this. I love that guy he is fun.
RAM, Rup, Jack where are you? cmon Cricket next week cannot be fun without you.
yeah...I'll Tushar know..
Thanks Atif...
hahaha...can one person be both - Lord of Erections and elections?
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Shekhs said...
hahaha...can one person be both - Lord of Erections and elections?
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Well, the former is Tonald, no? And hoping to be the latter, from what one hears, is the erstwhile Raja of Travancore? ;-)
c8w
Finger of Death - are you up for playing or officiating?.
Does anyone know Marghoob Bhai's email address .. Shekhs can you invite him to be one of the umpire?
hahaha....nice one Finger...nailed it..
Yeah..Finger, why dont you play for a change....
and I'll talk to marghoob bhai and see if he can umpire..
Just talked to Marghoob bhai....he can't do it..his shift @ work is in the evenings...so he'll try to stop by later..
If Finger is not playing, then please grace us by umpiring.....and good thing about Finger's umpiring is that - "There's no LBW"..
:-) hahaha..
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Shekhs said...
If Finger is not playing, then please grace us by umpiring.....and good thing about Finger's umpiring is that - "There's no LBW"..
:-) hahaha..
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Hey, gave 2 LBW's in 3 balls this Saturday against Tonald's old team :-) (and, while they were bowling, gave an LBW bang in the middle of a hat-trick from Amer.. caught-behind, LBW, bowled).
Its true, though, never given Sheks LBW yet... will have to rectify that next time Iam umpiring a Challengers game I guess ;-)
c8w
P.S. Hopefully umping should be ok next week.. though probably not quite at 6.. will let ya know TD
hahaha....I knew I dug my own grave with that comment...but then I can say that to you finger... :-)
We will be hosting our Annual All Star Blogger's Game next week and here is the details ...
Team: Shaikh 11 vs. Shekhs 11
Event Date: Thursday, July 23rd 2009
Event Time: 6pm to 11pm (25 Over Match)
Event Location: Hanover Park (Night Game)
Participation Confirmation Deadline: Sunday 19th, 2009 (Please email me directly to confirm your spot)
Entry Fees: $10 Per Player
Food & Drinks will be served
Looking forward to seeing everyone and final roster will be sent to everyone by Monday July 20th.
UPDATE .....................We have 20 confirmed. We will play 12 players each side so we need 4 more soldiers.
Confirmed Players
Aditya Burman
Ahsan Rasul
Alpesh Gohil
Ashif Patel
Asif Yusuf
Asmar Najam
Atif Shaikh (Tonald Drump)
Chiragh Patel
Ebrahim Ismail
Mankesh Ahluwalia
Mohammad Iftikhar (Moe)
Najam K Jafri
Naren Murkonda
Preetam Nanga
Rajiv Shah
Sajid Patel (Mastakilla)
Sameer Khan
Satyam Kaneria
Shekhs Aravind
Shiraz Najam
Please email me directly to confirm your participation at atifmshaikh@gmail.com
Finger said:
Well, the former is Tonald, no? And hoping to be the latter, from what one hears, is the erstwhile Raja of Travancore? ;-)
I think you are confusing Raja of Travancore with Zamorin.
Raja of Travancore for elections? that's sacrilege.
Zamorin is the latter. He knows very well. I am surprised he didn't clarify immediately.
---
Fake said...
I think you are confusing Raja of Travancore with Zamorin.
Raja of Travancore for elections? that's sacrilege.
Zamorin is the latter. He knows very well. I am surprised he didn't clarify immediately.
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Yes, sorry, thats who I meant - in my hurry those old Southie-rulers got mixed up (as they always used to during history exams in the old days :-) Not the Raja of Travancore, but the Zamorin of Cochin (or Calicut I guess).
We havent had a Midwest Crap edition for a while...anytime you have a new one, please do post :-)
c8w
P.S. BTW, maybe Romeo isnt checking the blog today.. but we oughta hold one spot for him for the Ball, Tonald, at least until he declines, no?
Finger Of D8th,
Romeo is out of town that day helping Salvation Army Clothing Drive for Katrina Victims.
TD said
"Romeo is out of town that day helping Salvation Army Clothing Drive for Katrina Victims.
"
what??
I think Romeo is out helping himself in salivating over clothed (that was an unnecessary word)Katrina....you must've heard it wrong..
Thanks Shekhs bhai .. But thats the truth .. I still have to improve my game :)
The 15-man squad for the Central-East Regional tournament starting tomorrow has now been released! The following is the squad:
Sohail Alvi (Captain)
Shahid Munir (Vice Captain)
Ajit Ramaswami
Amit Kumar
Ashar Mehdi (Wicket Keeper)
Asif Mehmood
Fahad Babar
Faisal Baig
Kabir Hussain
Kamran Syed
Lakshmikumar Rajaramachandran
Mehul Shani
Mohd Tayyub
Mohd Yousuf
Nasir Mehmood
Raheel Akhtar
----------
Rumour is that Asif is unfortunately not available tomorrow, only available Sunday.. which will leave the team a bit short of spin, sadly (the other top couple spinners, Khadry and Bakshi, are presumably also unavailable - probably the reason Tayyab of PakGym was drafted in at the last moment).
Comments about the squad, our chances, etc? It'll be hard to decide which 4 players are on the bench, to start with!
Good luck to the guys - I think they'll do brilliantly, hopefully win the whole thing (and by a big margin at that!). Sunday afternoon is the finals and we hopefully will be in it... if so, hopefully lots of people come out to watch, and support our league to a title-win!
c8w
What happened to Abhijit Joshi?
What is up with banning youngsters this league is crazy...as it is CER plays the least cricket cuz of weather and now we are depriving our stars of cricket with these politics....ridiculous
Dear Friends,
We got an overwhelming response for this event. Our roster is full now and here is list of confirmed players. If there is any changes in your participation then please call or email me directly so we can activate players currently on wait list. Also don't forget to bring $10 that will go towards covering cost of Food and Drinks.
You Can Find Us On Social Networking .....
http://www.facebook.com/events.php?ref=ts#/event.php?eid=97660923881
http://www.facebook.com/events.php?ref=ts#/group.php?gid=62038702669
CONFIRMED PLAYERS
Aditya Burman
Adnan Baig
Ahsan Rasul
Ali Moosani
Alpesh Gohil
Ashif Patel
Asif Yusuf
Asmar Najam
Atif Shaikh (Tonald Drump)
Chiragh Patel
Ebrahim Ismail
Javaid Iqbal
Mankesh Ahluwalia
Mohammad Iftikhar (Moe)
Najam K Jafri
Pabba Shabrinath
Preetam Nanga
Rajiv Shah
Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan
Sajid Patel (Mastakilla)
Sameer Khan
Satyam Kaneria
Shekhs Aravind
Shiraz Najam
Tushar Mehta
NOTE: If you registered and I omitted your name on this list then please contact me asap.
EVENT INFO:
Team: Shaikh 11 vs. Shekhs 11
Event Date: Thursday, July 23rd 2009
Event Time: 6pm to 11pm (25 Over Match)
Event Location: Community Park/Hanover Park (Night Game)
Entry Fees: $10 Per Player
Food & Drinks will be served
Thank you for your support and participation.
Tonald Drump Aka Lord of Erection
The first day of the Central-East Regionals is in the books.. and MCC is 2-0, and in the finals (set for tomorrow afternoon)! Once again, Id like to urge everyone reading... come out tomorrow afternoon to Washington Park and cheer MCC on in the finals of the CER. The game should start 2:30-3:00 and will be 30-overs.. and should be a pretty good competitive game, but we'll hopefully win :-) But everyone should come and vocally express their support - this is our league being represented in the finals, it should have as high a priority for us as any of our individual teams has.
As for today.. I was umpiring at Hanover, but I drove down to WP and caught the very end. Some pretty easy wins for MCC in the end.
In the morning MCC took on Minnesota - which has Fawad (formerly of Muslim Gym), Saminda (U19 star) etc. Mehul got Saminda for a duck early, Fawad got only single-digits, and Minnesota folded for about 80-allout IIRC - wickets sort of shared (2 for Mehul, 1 for Raheel IIRC at the top, and 5-8 for Yousuf of Peoria, apparently demolishing the late middle-order). The score was never really going to test MCC, and it didnt - they lost 3 wickets, but 37* from Amit and 16* from Laxmi took it home with lots of time to spare.
Second game in the afternoon was against Michigan (which had lost in the morning to GLCC) - Mehul etc didnt play this one, as other players were apparently rotated in. Didnt matter much - MCC batted first, Faisal got 38 in quick time apparently at the top, then Amit got 61 in the middle-order, and Ashhar smashed 80-odd late.. and MCC put up 238/4 in 30 overs! Michigan in reply made 70-something allout - the spinners riping thru the lineup, Tayyab with 3/16 and Laxmi with 4/10!
ICML looked a pretty strong side in the other afternoon game - beating GLCC (who won in the morning) quite handily in the end. They should have a good chance to beat Minnesota in the morning, in which case they'll play us in the finals in the afternoon. ICML, smarting from their defeat by us in the finals last year, is coming with a stacked lineup - they have Usman Shuja (current USA national team's fast bowler, winner of "Best Bowler" in the Central-West regional in Texas for 2 years in a row) etc. They will also bring in Waseem Khan to play for them tomorrow (and, of course, have Abhijit Joshi playing for them too). Should be a fun game!
c8w
This stupid regional tournament has canceled my games for this week.
Midwest Cricket Conference won the CER Championship. Congrats to Tariq Ahmad, Sohail Alvi and rest of the team.
Batting first MWCC scored 177 in 30 and wrapped up opponent at 106.
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Tonald Drump said...
Midwest Cricket Conference won the CER Championship. Congrats to Tariq Ahmad, Sohail Alvi and rest of the team.
Batting first MWCC scored 177 in 30 and wrapped up opponent at 106.
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Yep, Back-to-back-CER's! Good stuff.
Midwest didnt actually play that well..and ICML played very well, props to them - their opening bowler Usman Shuja, current USA paceman, is really very good - and they did damage early. MCC were 11/2 when I got there, 33/3 at 10 overs, then 40-ish for 4, 80-odd for 7. Eventually MCC fell to 125/9 in 25 overs.
But what makes our league the best, I suppose, is the quite ridiculous depth we have - where some *great* players dont even make the team! In this situation we were in deep deep trouble at 125/9 with only 5 overs left... but batting at #10 was Laxmikumar (maker of 8 centuries in our league, who made a chanceless 100* off 42 balls only last week in Div1!).. and batting at #11 was Kamran of Muslim Gym, one of the most feared batsmen in the league!
The instructions to these 2 guys was simple and really quite easy.. hit, score fast.. but make sure you dont get out :-) This was especially critical because ICML had bowled very very slowly -and would have overs cut if MCC batted all 30 overs.
So the #10 and #11 batted "cautiously"... and added an unbeaten 52 for the last wicket in 5 overs :-) Quite fantastic batting from Laxmi and Kamran - Laxmi destroyed the young spinner at one end (the kid who played for USA U19 last week, and had already claimed a couple wickets - hit for 18 in one over by Laxmi IIRC). And at the other end Kami hit a monstrous six over cover amongst other great hits. 29* for Laxmi, 22* for Kami, MCC leapt from 125/9 in 25 overs to 177/9 in 30 overs!
Because of the great batting job, ICML had only 26 overs to face.. and MCC opened with maybe the 2 best pacemen in our entire region, Shahid and Mehul. 8 overs later, ICML was 26/7 (4 wickets for Shahid, 3 wickets for Mehul), and the game was over as a contest. Shahid got Abhijit lbw early, hit one batsman on the gloves (neatly caught by Laxmi at slip), and clean-bowled 2 batsmen in quite spectacular fashion with fast outswingers that left the clueless; Mehul delivered his patented in-swing to trap the opener LBW, then varied pace to draw easy catches for the next 2.
MCC seemed to ease off the throttle a bit after that (neither Mehul nor Shahid completed their quota), and the eventual margin was 50-60 runs I guess. But the game was won pretty much in a 13-over span - the last 5 overs of our batting, and the first 8 overs of our bowling.
Great win all around. If only all these guys were available for the Western Regionals (neither Mehul nor Shahid are :-( )... with a pace attack of Shahid, Usman and Mehul, Id have backed our CER team to nail pretty much anyone we played, even the best of LA, Texas or SF/Seattle!
c8w
Congrats MCC....
Lakshmikumar and Kamran at #10,#11 LOL, That shows the strength of MCC....
Nice win!!!
Sadiq,
Do you know if/where the score cards are uploaded?
Great win all around. If only all these guys were available for the Western Regionals (neither Mehul nor Shahid are :-( )... with a pace attack of Shahid, Usman and Mehul, Id have backed our CER team to nail pretty much anyone we played, even the best of LA, Texas or SF/Seattle!
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Usman Shuja will be representing Dallas (Central west) not Central East.He plays for Dallas league.
On another note How did Tayub Mohd got into MWCC XI??????? Here comes the hate mail :)
I really would love to know the selection criteria upon which players were selected.
Adnan Baig
United Cricket Club
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Maverick said...
Nice win!!!
Sadiq,
Do you know if/where the score cards are uploaded?
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Doubt theyre available anywhere yet. I believe someone will be inputting them soon though - and when they do, Iam sure they'll be linked from the MCC Main Page.. probably in a day or two I guess.
c8w
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Adnan said...
)... with a pace attack of Shahid, Usman and Mehul, Id have backed our CER team to nail pretty much anyone we played, even the best of LA, Texas or SF/Seattle!
================================
Usman Shuja will be representing Dallas (Central west) not Central East.He plays for Dallas league.
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He *used* to play for the Dallas league - in fact as I mentioned earlier he won the "Best Bowler" award at the Central-West regional for the last 2 years.
However, he has moved to Chicago now, and they told me yesterday (a couple people, when I asked - eg Khurram, Prez of ICML etc) that he would play for our region this year... I spoke to Masood for a couple of minutes, and at that time (when Shahid and Mehul were in the process of destroying the ICML top-order, it was about 20/5 then) I suggested to him that both should be part of the pace attack in Minnesota, and he said to me "kya aap ko lagta hai ke Usman accha bowler nahin hai?" :-) (which of course I denied - I actually thought Usman should take the new ball, but those 3 ought to be the 3-pronged-pace attack of the Central-East outfit).
Oh, and I just looked BTW - the Central-West team for the Western Regionals has already been announced, and Usman Shuja is not in it.. so he presumably *is* available for us to pick. The Central-West team can be seen here:
http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/forums/p/2573/14005.aspx
All 3 other regions have already picked their regional squads for the Western Regionals now - I saw the South-West (LA) and North-West (Seattle+SF) squads earlier last week. (Samarth Shah, formerly of CCI and United, is in the North-West squad, BTW :-)
c8w
I didn't know that. I guess we'll be agressively pursuing him to join United :)
I hereby proclaim the blog dead. =[
hahaha..speed you are right...it is dead...
you showing up for the blogger's game?
This is the revised list of players playing in this All Star Bloggers Game. I will see everyone on Thursday between 6:00 and 6:30. If you are running late then please call me and let me know at 312-519-9054. Attire for this event will be Black or Blue Pants and Green or Blue Shirts.
Participating Players
Aditya Burman
Adnan Baig
Ali Moosani
Alpesh Gohil
Asif Yusuf
Asmar Najam
Atif Shaikh (Tonald Drump)
Chiragh Patel
Ebrahim Ismail
Krishna Kurup
Mankesh Ahluwalia
Mohammad Iftikhar (Moe)
Najam K Jafri
Narasimha Narahari
Pabba Shabrinath
Preetam Nanga
Rajiv Shah
Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan
Sajid Patel (Mastakilla)
Sameer Khan
Satyam Kaneria
Shekhs Aravind
Shiraz Najam
Tushar Mehta
Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009
Time: 6:00pm - 11:00pm
Location: Community/Hanover Park Cricket Ground
Street: 1919 Walnut Ave
City: Hanover Park, IL
Note: We may need 1-2 players on standby in case of last minute cancellation so please let me know via email atifmshaikh@gmail.com
blog is not dead ... we are just saving our energy for this Thursday.
Any information on Karachi vs. Wildcats 20-20 game tonight?
Wildcats beat Karachi by 5 wickets with 4 balls to spare.
Karachi scored 133 in 20 overs with Salman and Talha scoring quick runs at the start and end of the innings respectively.
WC chased the total with contributions from Kiran who scored around 50 runs and swetal around 25.
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WK pads – original Teknik Lite
WK pads – Paul Nixon Original
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Cricket helmet – Purist Navy
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Cricket Bag – Original L.E. Wheelie (Sold)
Cricket Bag – 707 Wheele
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Good win Naren!!
So Wildcats and Karachi are in from that pool.
The other 2 pools are still open.
Good game tonite - anjuman Vs. Muslim.
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