Important: The ABNT matches scheduled for today and tomorrow (6/8 and 6/9) will be rescheduled to a different date, as the lights at Community Park have not been fixed yet.
Update: The lights at Community Park have been fixed. So the ABNT matches on 6/10/2010 and then onwards will be played as scheduled.
129 comments:
Apu Bhai - Thank you for uploading the invite for ALNT. See you guys at Hanover Park on 6/7 @ 6. Food, music and cheer leaders - Heaven.
Lets go TD and gang....this is gonna be a blast..!!!
Everybody...show up for the ALNT opener and please make it a big success.
My predictions for coming week
wildcats vs eagles - wildcats
cci vs phoenix - phoenix
rovers vs chargers - rovers
pak gym vs flames - pak gym
muslim vs united - muslim
stl vs aaa - aaa
peoria vs bears - bears
purdue vs milwaukee - purdue
div II
rogers park vs jags - rogers park
milwaukee vs titans - titans
arena vs springfield - arena
illinois vs giants - illinois
hammond vs evanston - evanston
qc kings vs madison - qc kings
div 30/30
mwca vs advancers - mwca
hustler vs fenders - fenders
cougars vs chicago- dunno
dee park vs nighthowlers - dee park
chicago hawks vs desi tigers -desi tigers
chicago cricket club vs devonshire - chicago
warriors vs trailbalzers - trailblazers
dee park vs nighthowlers - nighthowlers ;)
hahaha Mitul...wishful thinking??
deepark vs nighthowlers - deepark :-)
That would be a fun game....
why not? ;)
Hoping the ground will be in good condition. Playing at Heritage Park and rain is in forcast for next few days.
yeah..true that...
hopefully, we'll have a game....
otherwise, lik Naren suggested, we may have to play detective to figure some of these nicks in here...
mitul, i know you really wants rain. you guys will be more than happy to get 2 points rather than losing 4.
but its not gonna happen cause ground will dry out by 2pm.
Mitul I picked Dee park cause challengers have a bye week and 4 challengers will play this game I know 3 for sure bhavesh Afroze and darshan along with nirav patel they will have a very strong batting order
JustChillin: From when did the league allow 4 players from Div-I play in the XI, its is 2 players on a given day my friend.
Agreed that their batting is strong, so does NH batting, so it will be an interesting and intense game for sure unless Buchiya or Darshan or Afroze or who ever from Dee park taken NH for cleaners :-).
Yes we consider DeePark as one of the strong team in 30/30. But as Naren said, two Div I stars at a time!!! It will be a good "fight" ;)
Chirag, We are not interested in 2 points. You are hosting my friend so make sure the ground is in tiptop condition ;)
JustChillin = Shekhs?
JustChillin cannot be Shekhs because he should know the rules :-) if he does not know let's bring a new Pres.... :-)
hahaha...justchillin is not shekhs...but shekhs is just chillin.....
yeah, we need a new pres..I agree...
Buchia is playing for sure, so it will be either Afroze, darshan or me....you'll be lucky to play with me....hahaha...
Sorry all never paid attention to 30/30 rules thanks naren will remember now
BTW, can we put something regarding ALNT Opener on the main website? Too many people just dont read the blog (at least thats how it appears from the lack of traffic :-)
Hopefully weather forecast for the next couple days improves, to allow us our weekend games, too..
c8w
Hi there, as the cer regionals are coming closer, lets talk about some probables. I think talha mohsin from Bear is another player who is really under rated but can be really dangerous to opponents when he is on song!! He can also score some quick runs in the middle order too and can definately destroy batting line up with his fast bowling. He was also part of the runners up team karachi gym khana last year in al tournament. Another player is Srijay, because he is fearless and can do some great damage with his aggressive batting and he is a good fielder too.
Some of the under rated players for cer tournament
asmer najam he is one of the best spinners in div 2 got a hatrick this week can be a solid team member. Quinten gerber can be a wicket taking machine for cer and a very solid attcking batsman. Talha mohsin geniun fast bowler. Moin babar geniun fast bowler. In comparesion with fahd his brother becomes under rated. Srijay kumar very hard hitting batsmen handy with the ball. Khawar from milwaukee another great batsman.
I would say now midwest should give opportunity to younsters like talha mohsin, quinten gerber, moin babar, fahad babar who deserves the place in any team, srijay kumar and other younsters now its youth who has to shine for our midwest league they have been performing through out the season.
My top 15 players of CER team:
Kabir (milwaukee)
Fahad (Flames)
Faisal Baig (UCC)
Ikram (AAA)
Kamran (MG)
Shahid Munir(PG)
Asher Mehdi (PG)
Asif Mahmood (milwaukee)
M Yousuf (Peoria)
Raheel Akhtar (PG)
Nasir Mahmood(Flames)
Reserves:moin, Talha, laxmi, srijay.
Its a really good combination seniors and youngster combined.
why they never picked moin before in any of the cer tournament from past three years. He has been performing in all the major tournaments, even this year in ny he was the mvp of the first game. He in 2008 got the 2 mvp of the u19 tournament in florida for usaca national tournament, and this year he already have 11 wickets in 6 games in only midwest. I think he needs to be give a fair chance.
-------
Desi king said...
My top 15 players of CER team:
Kabir (milwaukee)
Fahad (Flames)
Faisal Baig (UCC)
Ikram (AAA)
Kamran (MG)
Shahid Munir(PG)
Asher Mehdi (PG)
Asif Mahmood (milwaukee)
M Yousuf (Peoria)
Raheel Akhtar (PG)
Nasir Mahmood(Flames)
Reserves:moin, Talha, laxmi, srijay.
-----
BTW, Iam speaking only as a blogger (because its fun)... and teams are never picked only on the basis of stats, of course, we all know that.
But even so. Have spent a fair bit of time the last few days breaking down individual stats - last 3 years for batsmen in Div1, last 2 years for fast-bowlers in Div1,and so on.
And what struck me was this..while you have a set of good names above, excellent players all of them, even then in your entire squad of 15 above, you have only 3 of the Top Ten batsmen rungetters from the last 3 years; and you have 0 of the Top Five pacemen wickettakers of the past 2 years. (Ok, you do have the 1 spinner who nobody will really argue with :-)
(Just trying to make the point - no matter what team you select, nobody will really be happy with it ;-)
c8w
Finally India shows consistency ... loses to Zimbabwe twice in a row ... Shabbash !!!
hahaha Appu....hey being consistent aint easy..
they really worked hard on that....
nice one appu..
I agree with you finger of death
but i suggest our league should pick those players who are available also for the nationals what after playing regionals they are not available for the national last year same thing happened. One more thing we always say we all promote younsters from last 9 years of cricket in midwest i have not scene a single younster. Where we say youth is our goal to promote. When will this happen i am waiting. Young players like talha mohsin, salman ahmed, srijay kumar, moin babar , fahad babar he is the only one given chance
why cant we try to get other youngsters as well
fingerofdeath i think the same team have been winning for the last 2 years and they are undefeated for last 2 years. I think it would be unfair for them if they didnt get selected in the team.
Shekhs bhai .. the Indian team selection was skewed ... plus you win and then take rest - understandable .. but you lose and then need rest -- that is great ...
Regarding the selections for CER .. I see that bloggers are ignoring Div 2 altogether ...
"When will this happen i am waiting. Young players like talha mohsin, salman ahmed, srijay kumar, moin babar , fahad babar he is the only one given chance
why cant we try to get other youngsters as well"
Giving chance to youth makes sense as long as youth can compete or perform better than experienced players. For example Fahd Babar performs equal or better than anyone else and hence gets chance.
Can you really justify putting Talha, Salman, Moin, Srijay ahead of Shahid Munir, Fasial Baig, Raheel, Nilesh, Asher? I think The purpose of CER is to make the best team not the youngest team. The youth gets their chance in U-19?
If giving youth the chance is the way to go, wonder why most of the players in Australian team make debut in their 20s or even late 20s and not in teens?
According to your opinion then we can say you would not have selected Asher last year and sent a younger keeper like Akhil from Wildcats?
One other thing is if youth can handle the pressure of big tournaments. Abhijeet is perfect example who is a great young talent but is being forced to play in CERs tournaments and is consistently failing. I wonder what does that to his confidence.
My2 cents, youth should be groomed and given full exposure in U19s. but once you are making a team for CER, best of Midwest. You really have to pick the best.
If you would not give them chance. How will they become good players. If you are comparing shahid munir with talha , moin, quintin and other younster they all have geniun pace as compated to any other pace bowler in midwest. But if you think these young pacemen should have age factor above senior player do you think shahid and raheel now at age of 28 or above thirty can be a shining star for usa or midwest its time for youngsters to come up. And if you are comparing australia with midwest there is no comparision you have to look in australia domestic team how many younsters are there because midwest is a domestic team of usa think on it on a broad scale and realize what we are up to
ice_cold,
You are my new advisor...hahaha..
well said....couldnt have said it better..
Promoting youth and young cricketers is one of our primary objectives. But at the same time we also have to keep prestige and honor of our league, when it comes to tournaments like CER.
First off, we have to win.
Secondly, we need to expose our cricketers who have a shot to go further up, like Shahid, Raheel, Nilesh, Fahad etc.
Youth can be groomed thru other tournaments like U-19 etc and also by combining a good mic in these tournaments.
You also have to keep in mind that some of the consistent performers in the league have to be considered and cannot be ignored.
Appu,
No we are not ignoring Div2. We are definitely considering Div2 when it comes to CER or any other selection.
Shekhs
---------
ice_cold said...
Giving chance to youth makes sense as long as youth can compete or perform better than experienced players. For example Fahd Babar performs equal or better than anyone else and hence gets chance.
My2 cents, youth should be groomed and given full exposure in U19s. but once you are making a team for CER, best of Midwest. You really have to pick the best.
-----
Yes, I mostly agree, personally. Fahad has earned a spot, not because of youth, but because of performance. Nobody should get handed a spot, really - you have to earn one (it makes you hungrier, makes you perform better, for one). You can try and skew a bit younger/fitter if your players are good.. ie if you have a 25 yr old and a 35 yr old about equally good, you pick the younger one.. but you cant really pick the 25 yr old if he is not as good, IMHO.
Our day-in-day-out DivOne cricket is *very* good and competitive.. a little like Australian domestic cricket, in a way :-) Development IMHO can come by playing every week and learning - that, IMHO, is how Fahad got better (not just by playing 2 days of a U19 tournament somewhere)...remember Fahad didnt play in the CER in 2008, but started doing great in DivOne in 2009 and then made the team. He was never handed a spot, he earned it by performance on the field (not just by "showing talent", but by producing consistently good performances). He did great at the end of 2008 (including a 90+), and made it into Top 15 rungetters list for end of season.. in 2009 he got better, got another 90, another century (vs StLouis IIRC), topped the rungetters list in the entire league.. and *then* finally got into the CER team. No other young talent has matched that performance-level yet, unfortunately.
(And, BTW, Alpesh, nobody is ignoring Div2.. but Div2 is sort of ignoring us :-) Many of Div2's best players are saying they are not available for July 4th weekend, unfortunately, and so cant even really be considered for the 30+ man probables list. And right now, only that 30+ probable list matters..after that players have to be seen in practices and games etc against each other, before finally the squad emerges...but if you arent available to start with, there isnt much that can be done).
c8w
Sadiq,
Are you guys considering the Citizenship/Green card criteria for CER selection?
I understand that USACA has a rule about it for US selection and since the names you will chose for CER will eventually be the ones going to Nationals, is that something are considering? Doesnt seem fair to good cricketers, but no use if you expose people all the way to top and find out they cant go any further.
Why not only select people who have chance to go all the way?
Confucius Say:
Even the greatest of whales is helpless in middle of desert
lets talk about night tournament predictions:
Pak vs United Muslim - Pak
Flames Vs Wildcats - Close game but i will give it to Flames due to they have good youngsters
Billoger,
I agree with you... Whats the point for selecting a player in CER if they dont even have a greencard. MCC should look into this when selecting CER teams.
I wonder if this happens, how many players will be dropped
Not discouraging youth here .. but there is a co-incidence with the discussions here on the blog .. India went with youth in the recent tri-series and they have already been beaten badly by the Zimbabwe team twice ...
---------
Billoger said...
Sadiq,
Are you guys considering the Citizenship/Green card criteria for CER selection?
I understand that USACA has a rule about it for US selection and since the names you will chose for CER will eventually be the ones going to Nationals, is that something are considering? Doesnt seem fair to good cricketers, but no use if you expose people all the way to top and find out they cant go any further.
Why not only select people who have chance to go all the way?
--------
Winning the CER itself is not irrelevant either, tho, no? :-) As a league thats part of the goal too..(as long as we play only one tournament as a league, that will always be a big thing; eventually we need to play more tournaments, and then we can start thinking of different selection criteria for different tournaments.. but when you play one, its not fair to not give your really good cricketers a chance, in some ways).
As for the Greencard etc.. I asked about it last week itself, to the CER organizers (ie player eligibility).. no firm response yet so far (often the regional doesnt have a criteria imposed at all, the nationals does.. I was asking last week if the regional plans to follow eligibility rules this year.. I guess we'll get their answer soon, hopefully).
BTW, the USA rule isnt Greencard per se anyway... its a rule saying 5 nationals, 4 "deemed" nationals and 2 "open category" in your XI. Where "national" is citizen, or resident in the US for more than 6 months a year for 7 years (not greencard); "deemed national" is resident in US for more than 6 months a year for 4 years; and the 2 "open category" are ones who dont fit into either of above category. (What this means is that, say, a terrific player shows up in college here tomorrow and starts playing in our league.. he is a legal resident, long-term, but here a year only.. he can *still* be picked even for the USA, but only in "open category", ie his competition is likely to be harder).
c8w
Dear Fahd Moin is not there yet.
C8W: Stats doesn't tell you any thing. Laxmi and Satha had great stats too! There are cricketer who are proven cricketer who don't need stats to back them up, if they don't perform at higher level then I agree with you they have to show stats to come back in the team. Last couple of years team is performing great. No where in hte world you see whole team or 70% team is been changed over a year. Yes, three or four changes are acceptable.
BTW, Fahd numbers aren't that great either in CER or Regional or Nationals. Just for FYI.
Any update from last weekend U19 in Michigan? Who won that torunament? Historically our team has done great in this tournament.
Blogger,
The U19 team got terrible results....lost 3 out of 3 games.
Last year they won the tournament by winning 3 out of 3.
I wonder what changed so much in one year that we lost so badly?
From what I know, our team played lot of U-15 kids like 10,12 yr olds .. Due to some miscommunication, 2 teams from Chicago region showed up there and then we were asked to make one team out of it ... And hence, it was not our strongest team that played there ..
Me and moin also played just one game due to my highschool graduation
My pics for this week:
Div 1
wc vs eagles - wc
cci vs phoenix - phoenix
rovers vs chargers - rovers
pak vs flames - pak
muslim vs united - united
stl vs aaa - stl
peoria vs bears - peoria
purdue vs milwaukee - milwakee
Div 2
rp vs jags - rp
milwaukee vs titans - titans
arena vs springfield - arena
illinois vs giants - illinois
hammond vs evanston - evanston
qc vs madison - qc
India will have to fill Sachin, Rahul, VVS someday and they better replace Nehra etc. soon :) There are two approaches.. pic the ones who they think will be good and blend them with the seniors so they can learn/absorb along the way. imo this is not easy but actually a more expensive option..the young guys will get limited match exposure/opportunities and criticism because they will be in the shadow. Which means they will need to be persited with for a longer time. The other option is to clearly indicate this is an exposure opportunity, like what they did in this tri nation torney, send in as many fresh faces as possible. Here you tell the new guys "you are on your own". Now, getting their behinds thrashed by Zim I think is a good thing.. some, not all, are going to learn from this.. know where they actually stand at the higher level.. go back to domestic cricket and work harder...recognizing that replacing someone like Sachin, Rahul, VVS is not easy. So I dont think what India did, by sending in a new bunch of young guys, is necsarly bad idea and I think something good can come from it.
All this strategy does not apply to our league.. playing only 1 tournament a year.. we must reward good sportsmen with the pleasure and honour of representing our league. Youngsters need to grab what opportunities are given to them and play as much cricket as possible. They need to show the rest of the league they are serious about cricket by chosing to play cricket over graduation pictures. Then the league we may consider giving them more exposure...
So, I am with c8w on this, no hanky panky random policy for youngsters.. just send in the best we have.
An interesting 20-20 match in progress between USA and Argentina .. http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/460054.html
Any idea who the "Centurions" team is entered in the night tournament?...
All I know is that they have no affiliation to the 30/30 2009 championship team also called Centurions...
Jason, they are the Centurions team from the Naperville Cricket League ...
WC Vs Eagles game got rained out...
Milwaukee Rangers Vs Titans
----------------------------
Tafazzul Khan destroyed Milwaukee Rangers single handedly scoring 110* off 75 balls with 8 6s and 9 4s and gave Titans a big victory.
5 members of Milwaukee Rangers turned up late for the game and hence, Titans were awarded the toss, as well as Mil Rangers were docked 2 overs from their batting innings by the Umpire.
Titans asked Mil Rangers to bat first since there was forecast for heavy rain in the afternoon around 4. Mil Rangers started of slowly and survived the opening bowlers. But the first change bowlers Mughiz and Faraz took wickets in their opening overs. Mil Rangers then lost few quick wickets and were 65/5 at the end of 20 overs. But after the break, they got a partnership going and started scoring quickly. Zubair scored a 50 for them. They finally made 165/9 in their 38 overs.
Titans started the chase after a small break. Tafazzul started to see the ball big from the 2nd over and started hitting 4s and 6s. I got out in the 11th over at the teams score of 79. Then Faraz joined Tafazzul. As expected there was rain in the air and it started drizzling lightly. At this moment, though we had scored more than Mil Rangers 20 overs score, we had only played 15 overs. Our Captain sent the instructions to Tafazzul and Faraz to just block the ball so that we complete 20 overs asap. Tafazzul found it difficult his aggressive instinct and almost got out while defending. But in the 20 the over, he started again going for his shots. At the end of 20 overs, we were 117/1 and Tafazzul on 78*. After the break, Tafazzul and Faraz started scoring big. Faraz too hit a six and Tafazzul got to his hundred with some sensible shots. Tafazzul fittingly hit the winning runs with consecutive boundaries.
Tafazzul Khan is the Man Of the Match for this game.
Mil Rangers is a team of students from University of Wisconsin. They were a good host and served us delicious pizza (veggie :)) for lunch. Good Luck to them for the rest of the season.
Quick update on Phoenix vs CCI.
CCI batted first and put up a well-compiled 183.
Phoenix batted second, and chased it down in 36 odd overs for the loss of 7 wickets.
The pitch at CCI was a pleasant surprise to us. We expected a bit of a minefield, but it was true and a fair wicket, but a little different from WP!
Thanks to CCI who were wonderful hosts and to the weather gods for allowing this game to go through.
Quick Update on PCC Vs Bears:
Bears beat Peoria by 4 wickets. Bears bowled really well with spinners bowling in tandem. They got us into a skoop at 50/4 then we slowly recovered to end with 162/8. But some sensible batting by Bears took the game away from us. They chased us down with more than 5 overs to spare.Great Win for Bears and PCC back to the drawing board.
Cheers
Madew
AAA beat St.Louis
AAA won their fifth game in a row.
St.Louis batted first and scored 204 for 10 in 39 odd overs.
AAA chased it down with 10 or 11 balls to spare.
Agree with you touchpoint, even though we have a rule in place which says start at xyz time, we should give some buffer time for traveling teams. This differs from teams to teams, and i am of the view that most teams will not crib if the team is a few minutes late and that too when a team is traveling.
We received that good gesture from Peoria this year as a couple of our players got stuck in traffic.
But bottom line as you said, it is a gentleman's game so teams out to do what is good for cricket rather than for their team.
Wow, Division 1 is extremely competitive this year. Looks like some very good results. Check out the points table including some of this weeks results:
AAA - 5-0
Challs - 4-0
Wildcats - 2-2-1
Peoria, Rovers, Pak Gym, Milw, St Louis, Muslim Gym, Bears, Phoenix - 2-2
Flames - 2-1
Eagles - 1-3-1
CCI - 1-1
United - 1-4
Chargers - 1-5
Purdue - 0-1
Apart from the 2 leaders, 11 teams within 2 points of 8 points. Looks pretty tight!
Yea Agreed Adi :-) every game is going to be important for playoff hopeful teams, and June should give a picture of the teams who are still in the hunt.
AAA is on a roll and that is very impressive.
Rovers, congrats on a good win to you, despite some of the difficulties you had with your opponents. Sorry to hear that it was such a tough afternoon - but it's a little extra special to end the afternoon walking away with 4 points when your opponents haven't been the best behaved. I'm a little surprised and disappointed, but I guess it happens once in a while.
rovers you guys are class act. Played you guys in div2 and its sad that some teams are this cheap and want to claim points.
Hang in there buddy..
Ravi
I really feel sorry for the way you guys have been treated by Chargers. No team should go throught this again. Your post on the blog should keep every other teams on their toes when they host such teams.... I wish Management steps in to pull up Chargers..... As you have mentioned, I do know there are some really classy people in that team but it does not take too many cooks to spoil the broth... And congratulations on your team's win ultimately... good luck for the rest of the season.... And if you feel there were some players who were not in their roster, its the umpire's responsibility to verify that and take appropriate action....
Wow - Ravi, sorry to hear all this. Work out some kind of deal with Peoria (chargers are travelling to play against them).
Yousaf Bhai treat these Royal Kings nicely with Subs, Pizza, Wine and dine etc. Rafi and Gudu are good chaps BUT Mr.Captain is big time loser/spine less personality. TA shouldn't save them to be in Div-I.
United game is surprise to us, seems like management sweat heart !
Shekhs, any comment. How come game can start after 1hr 30 min without any action?
Any update on night game?
Wow - Ravi, sorry to hear all this. Work out some kind of deal with Peoria (chargers are travelling to play against them).
Yousaf Bhai treat these Royal Kings nicely with Subs, Pizza, Wine and dine etc. Rafi and Gudu are good chaps BUT Mr.Captain is big time loser/spine less personality. TA shouldn't save them to be in Div-I.
United game is surprise to us, seems like management sweat heart !
Shekhs, any comment. How come game can start after 1hr 30 min without any action?
Any update on night game?
a
On Chargers Issue : Their captain is one wierd fellow but they do have some decent guys, someone who witness the whole drama did verify that the host were trying their best to keep up with Javed's attitude. I am surprise how ppl like Rafi and Guddu let it happen.
Sometimes traveling teams are so pissed cause they had to travel that they start acting like they are having a bad period day.
-------------------------------
we will rock you said...
I agree with you finger of death
but i suggest our league should pick those players who are available also for the nationals what after playing regionals they are not available for the national last year same thing happened. One more thing we always say we all promote younsters from last 9 years of cricket in midwest i have not scene a single younster. Where we say youth is our goal to promote. When will this happen i am waiting. Young players like talha mohsin, salman ahmed, srijay kumar, moin babar , fahad babar he is the only one given chance
why cant we try to get other youngsters as well.
--------------------------------------
Mr. "we will rock you", before you start rocking too hard let me just teach you some basic scales of cricket anthem ;), the young players names you mention besides Fahad none of them are there yet to compete in national level, so let alone getting to US squad. They have not even had one big season in MWCC secondly they lack the mental toughness and maturity required on national level cricket.
Seems like you have never been to one of those events same as most of our current CER selectors.
ON CER Selection:
Why fix something which is not broken, we had a team last year who made us proud on regional and then some of them have proven their game on national level. They deserve to stay in team while we may keep 80% of that team and induct 20% quota for any new solid prospect who are mature n talented enough to be there and have proven themselves for atleast a couple of seasons in big games. Someone who can play THREE 50 OVERS GAMES IN THREE DAYs STRAIGHT in that HEAT.
Plus keep in mind you need proper stroke playing batsmens and solid Allrounders. NO BAT SWINGING TYPE so called pinch hitting batsmen needed.
How can we justify not selecting someone who have been in the top performers in CER last year ?
Interesting to see what happens, whether we try to keep it simple and keep our pride. Or we try something stupid and screw up this year. Another challenge for our mgmt.
Here is my picks:
- Shahid
- Ashar
- Fahad
- Kabir
- Asif milwaukee
- Asmar Najam
- M Yousuf
- Raheel Akhtar
- Nasir Mahmood
You can pick and choose rest from:
- Kamran,Faisal,Guddu,Quintin
Shahid and Asif both are natural leaders and have proven record on the field.
I dont think someone who just started having a good year in this season deserves to be in the team, they have not been in the lime lite for even one full season cant select based on 4 weeks. Their time will come.
point blank shooter,
Is my name in your list of probables a typo :-)
Why would you say that Asmar...you have been performing pretty good.....keep it real!!
good job with the hatrick the other day...
Point blank shooter,
What do you think about Afroze, Sachin Pahuja and Nilesh.
Also, your team seems to be composed of only pk players?
Shekhs,
Thanks for the kind words :-) I'm always confident in my ability but I was just humbled to be included in that list with these great players!
Yesterday the Hanover Park Mayor Rodney Craig announced that June 7th will be observed as Midwest Cricket Conference day in Hanover Park. This is a big feat for all of us.
Shekhs & Members of the Mgmt.: Wonderful start to ALNT. Nice to note that June 7th will be the MWCC day @ Hanover, Kudos on the historic milestone. The inaugration was extremely entertaining, many thanks for the warmth & hospitality. I am sure everybody felt welcome. Way to go..., keep up the good work. Looking forward to a pulsating tournament....and more!! Sunil
C8W: Can you shed some light on the process of selecting for CER from the initial pool of candidates.
You mentioned about some practice sessions/Games etc before the final cut happens.
It will be nice for people to know ahead of time so they can plan their weekends better with either cricket or family time.
This is the change people will appreciate rather than last minute notices which is something we got used to all these years.
I actually don't want to know the process which i think is as tricky as it gets, all i wanted to know are the dates for CER hopeful's for trials etc.
-------
naren said...
I actually don't want to know the process which i think is as tricky as it gets, all i wanted to know are the dates for CER hopeful's for trials etc.
-----
Naren - I apologize for the delay, I was hoping to get it all out and published yesterday, but there have been a couple of delays.
We will have the 40-odd man probable list announced later today, hopefully. At that time we will also annnounce the details of all the trial dates...
What I can tell you for sure so far is this - there will be 4 Selection Trials (3 in Hanover Park in the evenings, 1 in Peoria also in the evening). The first Selection Trial will be June 12th, Saturday evening at Hanover Park.
The next 2 Chicago trials, we'll have the exact dates by later this afternoon.. one will be middle of next week, one will be start of week after next (probably). The Peoria date will be set by Madhu Reddy, one of the selectors, after he consults some of the downstate probables for their convenience (that trial will also be sometime next week). Of the 4 total Selection Trials, it will be mandatory for all probables to attend at least one - players who dont attend *any* of the 4 trials (except in maybe cases of emergency) will not be considered for final selection. At least one selector should have seen all of the players who are going to be picked for the final squad within the last week or two, IMHO.
While we're making it mandatory for all candidates to attend at least one out of the 4 trials (you can attend all 4 if you want - the more the selectors see you, the better!).. we do want to make it as easy as possible for players to attend. Thus the first date choice of Saturday - Peoria is in town, Rovers play in Chicago next morning, Milwaukee doesnt play Saturday either..we're hoping those candidates (plus definitely those Chicago candidates who arent playing, and even some of those who are - trials are in the evening - will be able to attend). For convenience of people who work weekend evenings, we're planning at least 1 weekday evening trial etc. The idea is to make this somewhat easier for players to attend... but then, once that is done, you must at least show the committment to attend *one* of them :-)
Again, apologies for the delay - the formal announcement should be sometime in the next few hours.. the probable list is ready, just the final two selection trial dates (and ground availability)has to be set in stone before its all announced.
c8w
C8W: Week day schedule might be tough for people who are in that list and who travel for work.
The only way they can attend the session is by attending on Saturday at Hanover park, and that would mean they would have to either skip their game for the selection or hope to field first and get their batting done and rush down to Hanover park.... if their game is in Chicago.
Did you guys consider people who travel :-)
Sunil,
Thanks for the kind words.
It was a team effort. Everybody worked hard for the opening ceremony.
Thanks for all the support.
Thanks to everybody who showed up, it means a lot to us.
Thanks
Shekhs
What was the result of the first night game ? Scores and details please.. anyone ?
hahaha Shiva....thats the icing on our situation...
shiva, the lights at community park never turned on as some transformer got busted.
They are still working on it.
so, we didnt finish the game. Muslim-united were batting and finished 12 overs (IMHO)...
We took a break as it was getting dark and the lights were out.
So the game will be continued another day...
That is too much CER talk, we will win it again guys no matter who we send we have the best talent in the entire region. Its good to see some cricket this weekend despite the rain. What happened with Muslim vs United and Pak vs Flames? Looks like 2 very low scoring games. Any reports? Purdue beat Milwaukee too. Very competitive Division 1 this year!
We all know who the good players are and how fit they are this season. Then I dont understand the purpose of trials?
What are selectors going to see in their 15 mins of bowling or 10 mins of batting session which they havent seen so far this year or last few years?
What will be helpful is to pick 15 players, have their practice sessions (especially fielding). This way the players who will go together will have a bond and mutual understanding before they start tournament.
I 2nd billoger......I can't agree more. But I think the book cricket selector mr Sadiq would never get it.
So if asher or shahid don't show up or got out on first ball, r u gonna not have em on the ver team???
So why go through this whole drama of 40 players or trial sessions. U gonna Hurt the young player getting the trial hope and then not selecting. Get ready for more issues and drama.
I am delighted to note the professional and healthy discussions / brainstroming we are having on various topics, this augurs well by itself for the development of cricket. I had few thoughts (purely at a personal level) of what I would like to see in MWCC, some of these could be disruptive but worth debating, I presume. Here v go:
a. Providing wonderful cricketing experience and opportunity to aspiring cricketers across age groups - this moment has begun!
b. To be an iconic league of choice first locally, then regionally and finally nationally - imagine players from other regions wanting to participate (full or part time) in our league or vice versa in the long run... wonderful isnt't it. How does ALNT being a national tournament sound?
c. Towards the above, deliver consistently in CER & National level tournaments across all levels and build brand MWCC by winning tournaments Regional and National levels.
d. Create a potent pipeline of players across age groups who will be ready to bite the bullet when the gauntlet is thrown at them. How about an all youth team being fielded in 1st div and 30/30 - all under 21.
e. Identify specific talents who have it in them to make it to the big stage and groom them by horning their skills and providing professional training, coaching and right opportunities.
f. Have an age cut off so as we are working with people who realistically have a chance to knock the doors. Just being practical, not discriminating by age - please.
Given the above, it is important to define the measure of success. No doubt, winning tournaments are important, however sometimes ends dont justify means. To me personally, success is when we have quite a few players from MWCC doning National colors across age groups. This will be the moment of truth as we have really worked towards development of cricket and delivered towards our goals. I am more than convinced that INVESTING in youth will have a better payback in long term.
To this end, it will always be a great idea to have a blend of youth and experience in any side. If the question asked is do they have it in them, then let me share this, having worked with the U19 kids in over 3 to 4 national level tournaments, I have seen the kind of talent /oppositions / match situation these kids have handled time and again. With due respect to the Sr. cricketers, i wish to state that these kids have all lived upto the expectations worth enough to rub shoulders with the experience of some of our Sr. Cricketers.
I have seen Fahad send the best of the bowlers on leather hunt, I have witnessed the chin music delivered by Moin or his rattling the furniture of some of the big names at that level; I have seen Srijay send Ryan Corns & few other top bowlers out of the park like nobody's business; Abhijit putting up a pinnacle of patience to grind the opposition. These kids have not only delivered at national stage, they have delivered in our local leagues too. I have just quoted few names whom i have seen at the U19 level; I am sure if we dig deep there will be many more treasure house of talents in our league. In my humble opinion we need to have a balanced side with the youth getting equal opportunities to display their skills in right quantum. To me this is an investment - an investment into future of our league and a great service to the national cricket. We have seen the success of such investment (youth & experience) at international level too.
The biggest impediment for progress will be our FEAR FOR FAILURE. Let us take that out of the equation and create a paradigm shift to create a revolution which US Cricket history will be proud of. Let us together dare to dream differently and works towards converting it into a reality. After all a set of energitc individuals challenged the inveitable and dared to dream about bringing in a change and they did it right? I did say initially that some of the views could be disruptive - did'nt I?
Ops on putting 2 left arms spinners Aasmar and Asif in the cer......offcourse Asif Would be the pick, asmar's time will come. He already got few chances Togo to LA and he is growing.
Shekhs, make Sunil youth advisor and we will enjoy Div II. Div I and 30/30 for youth. Then Div-II will be most competitive. Is it going to address issue?
Wow I am new to this blog...Damn its hot and spicy. Just realise how much behind the scene stuff i have been missing.
I read about Chargers and Their Captain, too bad, League should take some kind of action of this kind of behaviors before things go out of control.
Just saw the 40 names though most of them are expected and we all know their game but not sure about these two ?
Hasan Khan (MuslimGym)
Saad Khan (MuslimGym)
Probably the VP factor ?
Honestly guys there are atleast 2 dozen better and more deserving players in the league then these 2.
Ram's name is there as a courtesy cause Asher is there.
Secondly isnt Bhavesh has illegal action why his name is there ?
Nice to see that mgmt trying to make ppl happy while selecting the CER but who knows this can also fire back if you invite them to all these practices and then select the usual stars who show up on the last practice :) ????
Damn! Sorry Ravi you had to go through the sour experience. We played Chargers once and they seemed pretty decent. I am sure it was one of those days. I would also want to hear Chargers viewpoint.
Rain is forecasted for this Friday and weekend. Even though climate will be little hot (in 80s), we have couple of big low laying spots in WP#3. It will be sad to see if PeoriaCC travels back to Peoria without completing a game because of water pond.
It is shame that Chargers have done misdemeanor in Peoria against Rovers. It makes me sadder that the captain of this team who should be the leading example lose his control along his brother. I am not sure if the umpire report is submitted but this issue needs to go to disciplinary committee unless they ignore the suspension for Chief Advisor’s team. By the way what does this chief advisor do?
These whole trials fiasco is a joke to me. They need to have the core player in the team without selection and have the trials for the new addition players in the team. Mr. Wallah needs to realize that he is not selecting a US team. He needs to get a real job to stay out of this nonsense.
This is a management question. It has been five weeks now. Few of the games moved without the notification on the same day Illinois/Hammond, Arena/Jaguars, and Flames/Pak due to rain. These teams should be receiving 2 points each but because of changing the venue it will favor the winning teams. It seems like that it is ok to bypass management approval and move your games if the Washington park is not available to anywhere or any other ground. This is not consistent and will be crucial in playoffs.
All the games were moved with the consent of the Management.. Management is also currently looking at moving some of the games this week as well. Just an FYI.
Also, it is absolutely fair to have a transparent selection process. Be it a superstar, we need to start getting used to Democracy here, as well as transparency.. If you are good, and you perform, you will be selected. For some folks, who we know are good, and have seen them play many good games over the years, failing during trials, can be accomodated. Hats off to Sadiq, for being so passionate about the game and our league. We are lucky to have him..
Good Luck to all the probables..
It may be a good idea to identify + announce the CER team Captain, Vice Captian in advance and then work with them to pic the 15.. in the end they should be comfortable handling them on the field. In addition to talent, fitness etc. team chemistry is also important. Any thought c8w,Madew and other selectors?
tatabybycu..... I realy like your idea, its very practical and apply on any level of the game. Also that way the captain and VC will be on all the trial events and will show more commitment from the start, otherwise u know how it goes with some of the super stars.
To be honest, I was surprised that this was not announced.. may be its implicitly understood who the catain is.. i dont know :) It would be nice to pack the team with all stars .. but whats the point if they dont play as a team.
Dont get me wrong.. I think the selectors have an important role, but it should be restricted to ensuring balance of the side and that there is no bias in the process. Picking a team should always be done by the captain - end of the day he is the one accountable :)
I dont think there should be any reshufling/rescheduling of games to accomodate teams with members who go for the selections or play in the CER. Let them play what they think is important. Why should the other team care?
tatabybycu Sir ..
The reshuffling currently is being done only for Washington Park# 3 games. The ground's drainage issue has resurfaced again and hence, the games are being moved to other grounds.
Guys, this is another example of how this management is proactive.. and not reacting at the end of the season. My bad Alpesh :) We will however keep watching to see if there is even a hint of bias in this process :).. just kidding.
btw, whats up with the selection in Peoria? We all know who Sohail is.. peoria guys Madhu already knows.. that leaves Ravi, Dinesh. Why selection for this beer session should be enough :)
What is the Criteria for being in the probables list of CER. For example, Hansraj from Arena, haven't played a single game this year for them and also not in the team list. He is in the probable and guys like me who sweat for the league every other weekend is missing...
Is it the fair selection process we are talking.. "a probable who hasn't played not even a game and not even in the team list in MWCC" Please let us not include names for favoritism. Instead, try that slot to somebody who had played this year in Midwest..
Let us do some fair job here.. Guys your comments pls
Fake it's a fair process bro. Your Team Captain submitted the names.
Adnan
United Cricket Club
----------
Namastey_Cricket said...
Just saw the 40 names though most of them are expected and we all know their game but not sure about these two ?
Hasan Khan (MuslimGym)
Saad Khan (MuslimGym)
Probably the VP factor ?
Honestly guys there are atleast 2 dozen better and more deserving players in the league then these 2.
Ram's name is there as a courtesy cause Asher is there.
-------
BTW, while I dont want to get into everything about selections, answering all anon questions on blog etc.. this one I thought I ought to say something about :-)
Whats been most impressive to me, in this entire process so far, is the absolute independence and lack of interference with the selection committee. There hasnt been a *word* said by anyone in the Management Executive Panel that could be construed as influencing - not a word about who is good, who should get picked. Not even when just hanging out after a game is over, that Ive umpired etc!
In the past 2-3 weeks, several people have mentioned particular names, while chatting with me (sometimes in chats at WP, sometimes after games Ive umpired, whenever). Many have said stuff like "you know, this guy from our team is very good, I hope you guys in the selection committee know how well he's done in the past" etc etc. But from the Executive Panel - none of them have even said that much!
So... the selection of Saad and Hassan from MuslimGym, the blame or credit certainly doesnt go to Moe - it belongs entirely to the selection committee :-)
As for why.. ok, back to being an argumentative Blogger for the moment :-) Saad has played in our league for a while now, as a left-arm-spinner - his current career performance is 51 games, 90 wickets, avg 16.11, econ 4.36. I personally happen to think he's a very good spinner, both in the past and now (he just got 4/15 in 8 overs this weekend, BTW)... in fact, there are a few other spinners even in the probables list who have not done as well as Saad has done over his career in our league..IMHO this was a pretty obvious pick for a spinner, actually!
As for Hassan.. yes, I can see a bit of controversy there :-) But the selectors were taking 5-6 21-or-under type guys in the list.. the idea being, they could benefit from exposure to the best players in the league, practicing with them etc, watching up close. And it is also encouragement - demonstrating that selectors are monitoring them too.. but IMHO only a few should get picked that way (3-4 maybe), you dont want an unweildy number for the practices overall, and they should be good enough to have a shot at maybe wowing the selectors and making the team. Plus they have to have shown something too, in the league. Frankly, I personally liked what I saw of Hassan a fair bit - I umpired the Challengers/Muslim game.. Challs are defending champs, excellent batting, and started 64/0 in 8 overs! They were still hammering when Hassan came on. He bowled 8-0-28-2, getting Afroze and Ankur (#3 and #5), it was v good bowling, I asked who he was.. and was shocked to find he was only 20 years old! So Ive paid a bit of attention to his name in scorecards since.. he was part of a 160-run stand vs Phoenix next match that essentially won the game, and also took 2 wickets; and in 30/30 he got another 50, and took 7 wickets in 3 games. For a 20-year-old (and in a department - spin - where our league is struggling for depth, unlike in pace bowling and batting).. IMHO Hassan is a very good U21 guy for the selectors to watch at camp... and then its up to him to wow them to try and make the final squad :-)
But,once again, if any of those guys happen to do well.. its the Selection Committee who deserves the credit please, not Moe :-)
c8w
--------
fake said...
What is the Criteria for being in the probables list of CER. For example, Hansraj from Arena, haven't played a single game this year for them and also not in the team list. He is in the probable and guys like me who sweat for the league every other weekend is missing...
----
Hansraj was made available for selection by Arena, they said he hasnt played so far this year, but will be playing for them as the season progresses, that he is fit and available. He played last year - and, frankly, was spectacularly brilliant when he played (once taking 6/9, once taking 7/16). His performances demand attention and recognition - and again, he *was* made available, he has earned the opportunity to at least perform in front of the selectors at the Trials. If he doesnt show up at the trials he wont be picked for the final squad obviously.. but his performances should earn him the opportunity to be allowed to show up, at least, IMHO :-) Thats kind of the purpose of the trials - to give terrific performers who are doing brilliantly (but in StLouis, away from Chicago-based and Div1-based selectors) a chance to show the selectors what they can do.
c8w
--------
Aditya said...
Quick update on Phoenix vs CCI.
CCI batted first and put up a well-compiled 183.
Thanks to CCI who were wonderful hosts and to the weather gods for allowing this game to go through.
------
That was a very quick update :-) It was such an exhausting day that I didnt even write a report on getting home myself, as I usually try to:-)
Anyway. Its too late now.. but just to mention a couple things..that the "well-compiled" 183 from CCI included some quite brilliant hitting from Imran. The pitch was slow, CCI was basically unable to put bat to ball against spinners for a while - they were 70/6 in the 26th over when Imran came in. And promptly hit his first 2 balls for six! He then continued in this vein - getting 83* off 40 balls, with 3 fours and 8 sixes! It was quite magnificent hitting - CCI is a smallish ground, but even so, maybe 1 of those sixes (flat over the bowler's head) would have gone for 4, not six, on other grounds. The other 7 would have cleared on any ground in MCC (a couple actually cleared by 20-30 yards!) CCI went from 70/6 in 26th, to 183/10 in 38 (last man runout with 2 overs to spare!) It was hugely entertaining to watch (well, maybe not for Phoenix, but anyway :-)
Thats one of the major memories I'll carry from that game - that hitting. The other memory was of something even more amazing.. something Ive not ever seen, in all the time Ive played or umpired. Jagdish of CCI, in the first match, got 40 runs and didnt bowl. In this (2nd) game, he opened the bowling, useful right-arm over-the-wicket mediumpacer, swung it a bit, got the opener bowled in his first over (1/2 in 1 over). Next over (3rd of innings), he says "left arm round".. I ask the batsman to move to other side.. and then suddenly it hit me, I turned around, saying "right arm around?" and he goes "No, *left* arm around" :-) And damn me if he didnt proceed to go left-arm around, between umpire and stumps, and bowl perfectly decent left-arm spin (conceding 5 runs off the next 2 overs)! Ridiculous!
Anyway, Phoenix at one stage slipped to 151/7.. but some nerveless batting from Manpreet and Prasanna saw them home, all-along-the-ground, 34* partnership for 8th wicket, no chances, carryign it home. Very impressive end of chase.
OK, I'll actually have 3 memories of the day... the third being a tornado hitting Kankakee County right when we were driving thru it on the way home :-) Athu couldnt see anything out of his windshield while driving, it was raining that hard.. so we pulled off the highway, went to a Denny's for an hour, and ended up getting home at 1:45am (after leaving at 6:30am).. leaving just enough time to catch a nap before heading to umpire Pak/Flames, getting to WP at 8:30am next day :-)
c8w
how about Shakir from Milwaukee for CER? He was the highest wicket take last year in Div1.
I see his name was not on available list from Milwaukee but I wonder what people think of him as taking for CER?
My Top 11 players from list:
1)Fahd
2)Faisal
3)Darshan Patel
4)Afroze
5)Asher
6)Shahid
7)Sachin Pahuja
8)Asif
9)Nasir Mehmood
10)Quintin
11)Raheel Akhtar
This gives you pure and reliable batsmen till #7.
Four pure fast bowlers, Raheel, Shahid, Nasir and Quintin. Followed by two quality spinners, Afroze and Asif.
c8w
Just to back your statistics.. Hansraj played only 4 games for MWCC whole of last year and this year he is not in the team list and haven't played a single game yet.
There is no minimum games or something to consider before someobdy in the probables.. Just the team said he is available and he is in probalbles
I am sure he is in the probables list with a sparing another MWCC Player who plays the whole year whole heartdely and as per you the only tournament we get to play the whole year and you pick people based on team recommendation and they haven't even played a whole season for MWCC.
GREAT FAIRNESS....
Adnan Bhai
I was recommended but not selected in the list... JUST FYI
---------
ice_cold said...
This gives you pure and reliable batsmen till #7.
Four pure fast bowlers, Raheel, Shahid, Nasir and Quintin. Followed by two quality spinners, Afroze and Asif.
----
Ice - thats a pretty damn good list you have there.. if youre willing to take all the criticism the SelComm gets, pls let Sheks know :-)
BTW, only one (somewhat major) disagreement above...while stats arent everything, and you never should pick on just stats, even so.. on breaking down the Div1 pacemen stats for the last 2 years, I found that one guy was the #1 pacer wickettaker, the #1 pacer bowling-average, and *also* the #1 pacer economy-rate, which is really quite remarkable.. and he is actually *not* on your list above :-) Care to guess who it might be?
c8w
Well Mr C8W, I think you might be refering to Mehul or Nilesh. I would have picked them in my top 11but as far as I KNOW (so plz correct me):
1) Mehul is injured and is hardly bowling this year
2) Nilesh was bowling with only 5 yards run up last year so that's why I left him out. If he is bowling like the Nilesh he was 3 years ago, then we have an agreement.
Anyway, I am glad that I chose a side which the chief selctor agreed upon (mostly) :)
The squad will be 15 people so I am sure if you and I were to choose 15, we will cover everyone.
Adnan Bhai
I was recommended but not selected in the list... JUST FYI
=========================
I would like to get to the bottom of it. Please email me at president@unitedcricket.org.
Adnan
United Cricket Club
Well I appreciate your response, but I don't want to earn my spot this way..
Atleast get to the bottom of this and put that spot to someone who is more deserved to play for MWCC.
I think I had my share of time already... My Point is not abt me, but the wrong people getting selected...
One very kind request to the Management.. We all know most of the Management visits this blog..
But Official website for Midwest is www.midwestcricket.org
Today this blog is updated with the lights problem resolved in the community park...
Our Own website Says it is not fixed yet....
Let us not make this blog to make official announcements as only very vew visits this...
Thanks for the suggestion Fake bhai .. I have control over the blog, hence updated the information here. The website too would be updated by tomorrow morning.
I understand.. But still the right way is update the website first and then on the blog, as over a period of time.. People shouldn't have confusion about which one is the official and correct version.
Always the official one should be the one to be updated first, I am sure website control also with one of the management people only.
This is just about the right process, and I really appreciate your quick reply.. Thanks.
Sadiq, if you defending the 2 Muslim player on these facts then u know how many others in the league who are more deserving and talented...ur an honest men with concious and u know what I mean ;)
Guys,
I am looking for a picture of late Abid Laheri. If anyone has a picture, can you please email it to me at alpesh@midwestcricket.org at earliest.
Thanks a lot!
Are there any updates on U-15 tournament which is going to be in NJ? Thanks,
Samir
Sent Abid's pic to you Alpesh and Sadiq
Thanks Shiva Sir ..
Challengers beat Phoenix big by 96 runs .. Darshan scored a half-century for Challengers ...
Challengers - 181, Phoenix - 85
Predictions for some of the games..
Wildcats vs Phoenix - wc
CCI vs St. Louis - cci
Purdue vs Eagles - Purdue
United vs Peoria - Peoria
Jaguars vs Titans - Titans
Madison vs Arena PRI - Arena
Nighthowlers vs Advancers - Adv
Flames vs Bears - Flames
Chicago Giants vs Rogers Park - RP
Springfield vs Hammond - Hammond
Q.C. Kings vs Evanston - QC
Muslim Gymkhana vs Rovers - Muslim
Chargers vs AAA - AAA
Milwaukee vs Pak Gymkhana - Pak
tatabybycu,
We have proved Mr. President wrong last week ;)
Hopefully weather will cooperate. Good luck to all.
Challs kicked out butts last night. We had them around 115 odd in 14 overs, which is pretty sedate for them.
Mr Chief selector, Bharat got both Nilesh and Mahesh bowled - :).
Darshan opened and played till just before the 18th over. He made a very good 56, but somewhat "sedate" for Darshan's standards. He did get going in the end, but Dax hit quite a few big ones and before we knew it, they made 181.
Tough to chase under lights, but it's even tougher when the opposition is bowling brilliantly. Our openers couldn't put bat to ball for the first 3 overs (6 runs) and then wickets started to fall. Dax, Sanjay, Manish, Charlie all bowled extremely well and made the ball talk a little bit. Nilesh probably had the worst figures of the pace bowlers, and his weren't bad for a T20, but that should tell you guys a little bit about how well they bowled.
While we weren't great, they played wonderfully, so hopefully we can put this game as a "mulligan" behind us and try and get a few Ws in the next few night games.
But for now, time to focus on the Wildcats who have some new recruits and are looking to pull away from the pack. I hope the rains stays away, so that we can get a game in.
Yeah Mitul...you guys pulled a good comeback win....last weekend..
good knock...
hopefully we'll meet in the playoffs....we'll settle the score then...hahaha
Aditya.....I don't think ur team has a chance against any team in nite or day , so forget about having any chance against the top teams ;)
NightHowlers Vs Advancers: NightHowlers
Namastey_Cricket said...
Aditya.....I don't think ur team has a chance against any team in nite or day , so forget about having any chance against the top teams ;)
N_C, wow no sugar coating on that comment! And why do you feel that we don't stand any chance? Are you predicting our relegation?
One more thing N_C, exactly which teams do you consider the "top" teams?
You may be surprised to find that our record against quite a few teams is better than what someone like you may expect it to be.
Don't be shy now N_C, do share your pearls of wisdom when you get a chance.
Jaguars Vs Titans
-----------------
Another comprehensive victory for Titans against the under-strength Jaguars. Jaguars were missing some of their good players today.
Since it was an early start (9 AM) and looking at the overcast conditions, Titans asked Jaguars to bat after winning the toss. Jaguars started briskly but were stunned to see Satyam getting out off the last ball of the first over caught in the slips. There after Jaguars kept losing wickets regularly. Asad the other opener played a good hand of 29 before getting bowled to Mughiz.
In the 18th over, Romit of Jaguars got hit in his face while playing Faraz's bouncer. It was scary. It hit him just below his right eye near his right cheek. Fortunately, there was no bleeding and it was just swelling. Even then, this incident surely explains the importance of wearing a helmet.
Romit then retired hurt. Jaguars were 88 after 20 overs. We continued playing without the break sensing the rain. Jaguars lost few quick wickets and were 104/7 after 24 overs. Then came the unavoidable rain. It rained very heavily for about 15-20 minutes. It was drizzling lightly but it looked like playable if it did not rain further. Both the teams then worked on the ground to make it playable. Since about hour and 15 minutes were lost, Umpire decided to make it a 34 over game.
Jaguars then lost quick wickets to our spinners and were allout of 122 in 26.4 overs. Harshad played well and was notout for 24. Romit showed courage and came to bat and was the last man to get out. For us, Tafazzul and Mukunthan grabbed 2 wickets each, while Mughiz, Ahsan, Schon and Myself picked one each.
Titans started their after 10 minutes and Tafazzul continued from his last week century, as if he never got a week break. He got one chance early on but was impeccable then. I played my sheet anchor role while Tafazzul kept hitting big boundaries at the other end. He scored a fifty in 14th over with team score around 75. He got out at the team score of 93 scoring a brisk 63 off 46 balls. Later on I got run-out and Mughiz lbw, but Faraz and Ahsan took us through with plenty of overs left.
We are playing Jaguars again in a month and I am sure they will come back hard at us. But it was fun playing them.
Congrats Alpesh, looks like you guys are in good touch .....
Congrats Appu !
I think its, time for a new thread.. c8w is going to make us scroll even more now :) New Topic: Namaste vs. Aditya :)
Update: PCC beat United by 2 Wickets ( Ram 48, Ravi 38, Talal 26)
with pouring down rain at the start of the game, we had to delay the start of the game by almost by 2 hours..we didn't start till 1 PM then it was reduced to 30 overs game..We won the toss picked to chase in wet and over cast conditions. United played smartly well and Peoria didn't bowl too well...most of the runs coming in extras..Ravi bowled a tight line to contain a bit but we weren't anywhere close to our regular efficiency..Adnan played great cameo, Faisal couldn't replicate his bludgeoning best against us :-) like it last 2 years and we will take it..United ended up with 144 in 30 for 7 wickets or so..pick of our innings was Kedars fielding exploits in short covers ..he was like panther prowling for some leather..assisted in 2 gr8 run outs! United top order did every well...kept their wickets but couldn't accelerate as intended, may be stuck pedal..;-) Had they put in 20 overs runs more..I think..we would have been in a soup.. but they did well to reach 144 very competitive total on this wet rainy day.
Peoria chased well with both Ram Velamakanni and Talal showing aggression and no mercy..they hit the new ball all over the park. They were terrific and gave us a great start..we never looked back after that..we were 112/2 at 18.2 when another bout of rain came down we had to stop the play agonizingly close to a game result at 20 overs...It was like watching to the skies like a Martin Sorcese movie only this time around twist was provided by our own umpire Mr. Sadiq Sorcese..who was running the screen play..hehe ;-) but wait was well worth it and we didn't disappoint the opponents either..we did everything in our arsenal to make the game was more interesting and close! Ravi stuck at one end and a slippery run out few rash shots from top order suddenly we looking down the barrel needing 26 runs and 5 wickets in hand...but we had plenty of overs and asking rate was never a issue...then came to 16 runs with 4 wickets..then came 7 runs with 3 wickets and 3 runs needed 2 wickets..and Cap Kiran took care of the runs...bless his nerves:-) we were all relieved..It wasn't pretty WIN considering ball was skidding and was hard to time on a wet carpet..we will take the WIN for what its worth..a 4 points in Midwest CC currency and leave at that..! We have been interchanging the core a lot lately..and it clearly visible hopefully Peoria CC will stick it together soon...:-)
United were gr8 hosts and they did everything possible to finish the game..Thanks to Faiz, Ravi, Gopi Mateen and rest of United for such graciousness, camaraderie..we enjoyed it all..Game didn't seem possible at the beginning ...but they made it happen..with extra cleaning efforts...! And Thank you Mateen bhai..for gr8 laughs..I am hoping u didn't catch ammonia..;-)
United team is very young team and they have quite a few talented players..its only matter of getting combination right and they will be good team..Wishing them the best in future..they r gr8 bunch of guys with gr8 attitude..Its gr8 to see they are investing in Midwest talent instead of outsourcing :-) Its good for the team and great benefit for the Midwest area cricket!
Phew...It was suppose to be a short update..:-)
Signing off..
Madew
For PCC
Post a Comment