Recently the news going around was that the Washington
Park pitches were to be re laid (or reconstructed as
we’re talking cement here, not turf!). I have now
played at almost all the MCC grounds bar the ones in
Indiana and I can safely say that the most enjoyable
cricket is played where the pitches are hard and true.
They offer nice bounce and carry for the quick
bowlers, turn and bounce for the spinners and the ball
comes nicely on the bat for batsmen willing to play
their strokes. The Washington Park pitches offer that
along with the astroturfs at the St. Louis and
Milwaukee United (Lindsay Park is it?) grounds.
The only pitch that needs to be re laid in my opinion
is the one at Hanover Park, which can at best be
described as a spongy carpet! We have all seen time
and again a spinner’s ball bouncing at throat height
from a good length, while the faster bowlers’ balls
sit up. It is definitely a batsman’s paradise as night
cricket is played here which produces quick runs and
also the final last year, where 600+ runs were scored.
I understand that for night cricket to be popular
there have to be 4s and 6s, but it would be even more
interesting if there is a Washington Park style
matting-over-cement or the astroturf seen at St Louis
and Lindsay Park grounds. The Hanover Park outfield is
the quickest of all in my opinion and I don’t think
the runs will dry up if we change the pitch, it will
just make for more exciting cricket.
Written By: Raheel Akhtar ( Pak Gymkhana)
Friday, May 26, 2006
Thursday, May 25, 2006
The Great Cliched Weekend
So what is the biggest cliche in cricket? Why its
the hoary old "The game is never over till the
last ball is bowled", of course. Along with
"It's a game of glorious uncertainties".
Unoriginal stuff, no doubt - and it makes me
wince every time I hear yet another boring
international commentator say it.
And yet...sometimes things happen that make
you wonder if those really arent the only things
you *can* say. This weekend was one of those
times - I was involved (and around) a total
of 3 games this weekend, and ALL of them
fit the above cliches to a T.
The first was a game I was next door to -
the Wildcats against the Bears at Washington
Park, as big a Houdini-act as the league has
seen in many a year. The reigning champions
started their title-defense solidly enough,
moving to 70 for 3, before things went
horribly wrong. Faisal broke through twice
in quick succession, Hammad claimed a couple
with his leggies, Arif ran through the
tail in an inspired spell of 4 wickets in
three-and-a-half overs, and the champions
were down and out at 124 allout. The script
went according to plan as the
Bears began their chase - they advanced
serenly to 91/3 by the 20-over break, with
the amazing veteran Humayun Mirza set
solidly at 41*.
And then the first of those Glorious Uncertainties
of our Cliched Weekend kicked in. A wicket
was claimed with the first ball after the
break, another with the first ball of the
next over, and an improbable fightback
had begun. When Hammad was consumed by
Nikhil and Salman holed out to Ramji, the
cat was truly set among the pigeons. The
Bears crumbled under the sustained (and by
now almost patented) Wildcat pressure, and
when lastman Faisal was finally runout (by
half the length of the pitch), the Wildcats
had Escaped to Victory in the improbable
manner usually envisaged only by the
ultra-sappy Hollywood (or Bollywood) writers.
They had won a quite ridiculous game of
cricket by 5 runs, as the Bears contrived to
lose 7 for 28 with the game on the line.
Satish and Nikhil had bowling unchanged and
done all the damage after the break, ending
with 4 and 3 wickets apiece.
While these crazy things were happening on
Ground 4, I was on Ground 3 busy watching
some more craziness first-hand. The Jaguars
had batted first and received varied
contributions in their innings - 27 from RP
and 30s from Kalyan and Harshad, which took
them up to 191 against a good-looking
Continental attack. When Continental chased,
veteran Hafeez took on the Jaguar bowlers
with gusto, and Continental were in command
at 108/2 at the 20 over break.
However, once again the break started the
craziness. Hafeez fell for an excellent 65,
and Continental crumbled, losing 5 for 38
to be reduced to 145/7. Iftekar and Zeeshan
hadnt given up, however, and they launched
a brave counter-attack for the 8th wicket
and reducing the target to only 10 required
off the last 3 overs before Zeeshan went for
one shot too many and holed out. Number 10
Sandeep played a couple of crisp shots,
however, and the target was down to 4 runs
to win off 8 balls. But there was one final twist
left in the tail however, and Harshad produced
it - he consumed Sandeep caught behind, and
clean bowled the last-man second ball to end
it! The Jaguars had won by the wafer-thin
margin of 3 runs, with poor Iftekar stranded
with an unbeaten 21 at the other end - and
with 7 balls still left to play!
After bearing witness to such craziness on
Saturday, (when games in Washington Park had
been decided by an average of 4 runs per game :-)
I thought Sunday might be a little
more ordinary as I headed to Peoria for what
I thought was the Game of the Week in Division
Two. Peoria CC, with 8 players who ended
the regular season as #3 seed in Division One
last year with Rivercity before leaving to
form their own team, were playing last year's
Regular Season Champions IIT. The game took
place at the excellent new Peoria CC facility -
the first-ever game at the ground which has
a brand-new pitch (complete with brand-new
astroturf), and a sort of mess-hall 50 yards
away with lunch-time seating, excellent bathroom
facilities, and even the capability (if advance
warning is given) of having burgers and dogs
prepared on a grill by cafetaria staff! With
a consistently strong breeze from the river
a half-mile away, it looks like it will be
a most pleasant place to play cricket.
The game began with Peoria CC playing like
the first-division team they basically were
last season - an excellent bowling effort
to start, throttling the IIT batting. Their
only blemish was the number of wides conceded
as they failed to control the copious amounts
of swing their pacemen obtained - but still,
they reduced IIT to 57/7 a couple of overs
after break, and it looked to be a very quick
day in prospect.
What IIT CC has always had, however, is a sort
of bulldog fighting spirit, a kind of cussed
refusal to give up on a game. Rohit, Mihir
and Pallav combined to put up a remarkable
101/1 in the remaining 17 overs, and IIT made
it all the way up to 158/8 by the end of their
40 overs, a quite outstanding effort. They
now had something to bowl at, something that
had looked very unlikely only an hour earlier.
Peoria CC made light work of it at the start
however - aided by a couple of missed slip
catches and some clean and bludgeoning hits
by Kiran, they marched to 83/1 by the 20-over
break. This continued after break as well, and
at 97/1 off 24 overs, it looked all over bar
the shouting.
This wasnt The Great Cliched Weekend for
nothing, however! Kiran was excellently
caught at midoff (off a skimming, low, flat
hit), and wickets began falling at alarmingly
quick intervals. Sudipto winkled out two
wickets with his deceptive offspin, a runout
complicated matters further, and Arka claimed
a caught behind to make things very interesting.
When Madhu's attempted big-hit over midwicket
went a mile into the air instead, and
was calmly held by the bowler Arka when it
came down, Peoria was suddenly still 35
away with only 4 wickets in hand. Padmaraju
in his next over claimed Raja and Santosh
while bowling a double-wicket maiden that
changed the game completely. And Peoria's
last hope Vivek Bhaskar was amazingly,
brilliantly caught the first ball of the
next over - a straight hit over the bowler's
head was somehow run down by the wide-longon
fielder Amit Patil, who covered at least 25
yards to hold a fantastic catch on the dead
run. Two balls later a close leg-before appeal
was turned down (the ball struck the pad
marginally outside the line of offstump, and
he was playing a shot :-), but the batsman
tried to steal a leg-bye and was runout
instead... and IIT had pulled off a remarkable
victory, as Peoria had contrived to somehow
lose 9 for 29 in 9 overs, and be bowled out
with 6 overs still to play!
Those were the three remarkable games of cricket
I was involved with this weekend. Three games,
all of which were dominated by one of the teams
most of the day, and yet it was the other team
which eventually won. Games where one team
appeared to have the game easily in hand, had the
game won at a canter really, about an hour
before they somehow ended up losing! The Wildcats
claimed 7/28 to win by 5 runs, while defending
124! IIT started the day at 57/7 - they should,
by rights, have made about 80 allout and been
heading home an hour later... instead they
managed to put up 158, saw the opposition
reply with 97/1, and *then* claimed 9/29
to almost comfortably defend 158 by a margin
of 32 runs!
I suppose cliches are cliches for a reason -
they may be old and hoary, but they are
usually true. (Oh, and the amazing Satha
played his first league game of the season...
and, of course, made a century in about 50
balls. In our league, I dont suppose there
is anything more cliched than that - they
ought to only put it in the "headlines" if
he actually fails to make a century on
some weekend in the future).
Written By: Sadiq Yusuf
the hoary old "The game is never over till the
last ball is bowled", of course. Along with
"It's a game of glorious uncertainties".
Unoriginal stuff, no doubt - and it makes me
wince every time I hear yet another boring
international commentator say it.
And yet...sometimes things happen that make
you wonder if those really arent the only things
you *can* say. This weekend was one of those
times - I was involved (and around) a total
of 3 games this weekend, and ALL of them
fit the above cliches to a T.
The first was a game I was next door to -
the Wildcats against the Bears at Washington
Park, as big a Houdini-act as the league has
seen in many a year. The reigning champions
started their title-defense solidly enough,
moving to 70 for 3, before things went
horribly wrong. Faisal broke through twice
in quick succession, Hammad claimed a couple
with his leggies, Arif ran through the
tail in an inspired spell of 4 wickets in
three-and-a-half overs, and the champions
were down and out at 124 allout. The script
went according to plan as the
Bears began their chase - they advanced
serenly to 91/3 by the 20-over break, with
the amazing veteran Humayun Mirza set
solidly at 41*.
And then the first of those Glorious Uncertainties
of our Cliched Weekend kicked in. A wicket
was claimed with the first ball after the
break, another with the first ball of the
next over, and an improbable fightback
had begun. When Hammad was consumed by
Nikhil and Salman holed out to Ramji, the
cat was truly set among the pigeons. The
Bears crumbled under the sustained (and by
now almost patented) Wildcat pressure, and
when lastman Faisal was finally runout (by
half the length of the pitch), the Wildcats
had Escaped to Victory in the improbable
manner usually envisaged only by the
ultra-sappy Hollywood (or Bollywood) writers.
They had won a quite ridiculous game of
cricket by 5 runs, as the Bears contrived to
lose 7 for 28 with the game on the line.
Satish and Nikhil had bowling unchanged and
done all the damage after the break, ending
with 4 and 3 wickets apiece.
While these crazy things were happening on
Ground 4, I was on Ground 3 busy watching
some more craziness first-hand. The Jaguars
had batted first and received varied
contributions in their innings - 27 from RP
and 30s from Kalyan and Harshad, which took
them up to 191 against a good-looking
Continental attack. When Continental chased,
veteran Hafeez took on the Jaguar bowlers
with gusto, and Continental were in command
at 108/2 at the 20 over break.
However, once again the break started the
craziness. Hafeez fell for an excellent 65,
and Continental crumbled, losing 5 for 38
to be reduced to 145/7. Iftekar and Zeeshan
hadnt given up, however, and they launched
a brave counter-attack for the 8th wicket
and reducing the target to only 10 required
off the last 3 overs before Zeeshan went for
one shot too many and holed out. Number 10
Sandeep played a couple of crisp shots,
however, and the target was down to 4 runs
to win off 8 balls. But there was one final twist
left in the tail however, and Harshad produced
it - he consumed Sandeep caught behind, and
clean bowled the last-man second ball to end
it! The Jaguars had won by the wafer-thin
margin of 3 runs, with poor Iftekar stranded
with an unbeaten 21 at the other end - and
with 7 balls still left to play!
After bearing witness to such craziness on
Saturday, (when games in Washington Park had
been decided by an average of 4 runs per game :-)
I thought Sunday might be a little
more ordinary as I headed to Peoria for what
I thought was the Game of the Week in Division
Two. Peoria CC, with 8 players who ended
the regular season as #3 seed in Division One
last year with Rivercity before leaving to
form their own team, were playing last year's
Regular Season Champions IIT. The game took
place at the excellent new Peoria CC facility -
the first-ever game at the ground which has
a brand-new pitch (complete with brand-new
astroturf), and a sort of mess-hall 50 yards
away with lunch-time seating, excellent bathroom
facilities, and even the capability (if advance
warning is given) of having burgers and dogs
prepared on a grill by cafetaria staff! With
a consistently strong breeze from the river
a half-mile away, it looks like it will be
a most pleasant place to play cricket.
The game began with Peoria CC playing like
the first-division team they basically were
last season - an excellent bowling effort
to start, throttling the IIT batting. Their
only blemish was the number of wides conceded
as they failed to control the copious amounts
of swing their pacemen obtained - but still,
they reduced IIT to 57/7 a couple of overs
after break, and it looked to be a very quick
day in prospect.
What IIT CC has always had, however, is a sort
of bulldog fighting spirit, a kind of cussed
refusal to give up on a game. Rohit, Mihir
and Pallav combined to put up a remarkable
101/1 in the remaining 17 overs, and IIT made
it all the way up to 158/8 by the end of their
40 overs, a quite outstanding effort. They
now had something to bowl at, something that
had looked very unlikely only an hour earlier.
Peoria CC made light work of it at the start
however - aided by a couple of missed slip
catches and some clean and bludgeoning hits
by Kiran, they marched to 83/1 by the 20-over
break. This continued after break as well, and
at 97/1 off 24 overs, it looked all over bar
the shouting.
This wasnt The Great Cliched Weekend for
nothing, however! Kiran was excellently
caught at midoff (off a skimming, low, flat
hit), and wickets began falling at alarmingly
quick intervals. Sudipto winkled out two
wickets with his deceptive offspin, a runout
complicated matters further, and Arka claimed
a caught behind to make things very interesting.
When Madhu's attempted big-hit over midwicket
went a mile into the air instead, and
was calmly held by the bowler Arka when it
came down, Peoria was suddenly still 35
away with only 4 wickets in hand. Padmaraju
in his next over claimed Raja and Santosh
while bowling a double-wicket maiden that
changed the game completely. And Peoria's
last hope Vivek Bhaskar was amazingly,
brilliantly caught the first ball of the
next over - a straight hit over the bowler's
head was somehow run down by the wide-longon
fielder Amit Patil, who covered at least 25
yards to hold a fantastic catch on the dead
run. Two balls later a close leg-before appeal
was turned down (the ball struck the pad
marginally outside the line of offstump, and
he was playing a shot :-), but the batsman
tried to steal a leg-bye and was runout
instead... and IIT had pulled off a remarkable
victory, as Peoria had contrived to somehow
lose 9 for 29 in 9 overs, and be bowled out
with 6 overs still to play!
Those were the three remarkable games of cricket
I was involved with this weekend. Three games,
all of which were dominated by one of the teams
most of the day, and yet it was the other team
which eventually won. Games where one team
appeared to have the game easily in hand, had the
game won at a canter really, about an hour
before they somehow ended up losing! The Wildcats
claimed 7/28 to win by 5 runs, while defending
124! IIT started the day at 57/7 - they should,
by rights, have made about 80 allout and been
heading home an hour later... instead they
managed to put up 158, saw the opposition
reply with 97/1, and *then* claimed 9/29
to almost comfortably defend 158 by a margin
of 32 runs!
I suppose cliches are cliches for a reason -
they may be old and hoary, but they are
usually true. (Oh, and the amazing Satha
played his first league game of the season...
and, of course, made a century in about 50
balls. In our league, I dont suppose there
is anything more cliched than that - they
ought to only put it in the "headlines" if
he actually fails to make a century on
some weekend in the future).
Written By: Sadiq Yusuf
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
24 All Out!!!
No that is not a typo, it's not 124 or 42. If you
happen to go to the midwest webpage (which you
probably have since you found this Midwest Cricketer
link ;) ), click to view the scorecard behind the
first headline of Division 1 this week (by the way my
name is spelled Raheel not Rahil, who's incharge of
the headlines?!). Pak Gymkhana vs Milwaukee CC played
on Sun, May 21 was looking like an even contest with
Milwaukee having the slight edge after they had
reduced us to 153 all out (from being 100-odd for 3 at
the 20 over mark). The total was a fighting one,
nothing more nothing less and we were one bowler short
wth Farman bhai injured. Myself and Imran Ahmed (a new
recruit) got the ball rolling and we struck some
telling blows early on with Imran dismissing both the
openers and I dismissed 3 middle order batsmen
including the lynchpin of Milwaukee CC Asif Mahmood.
The score was 19-5 and Milwaukee were looking to
restore some respectibility to the scoreboard more
than anything else.
At this point the captain Rashid bhai took Imran off
and gave the ball to Shahid Munir. After warming up in
his first over which went for a solitary run, Shahid's
2nd over read like this W-W-W-W-0-0. First 2
unfortunate batsmen were bowled, the third managed to
somehow get his front pad (or foot shall I say) in the
way and was lbw, the fourth again bowled! The last 2
balls inexplicably missed the stumps and the over came
to an end! It was exhilerating stuff, high pace and
bull's eye accuracy. I completed the rout in the next
over by bowling the last man with the first legal ball
and Milwaukee CC were 24 all out in 10.1 overs. Mr.
Extras top scored with 10 and the highest score with
the bat was 4 !
Written by: Raheel Akhtar (Pak Gymkhana)
( Note from Editor: Raheel, I'm not the editor for the MCC Home Page. That is done by the webmaster. I hope he reads this and makes the necesary correction - Hari)
happen to go to the midwest webpage (which you
probably have since you found this Midwest Cricketer
link ;) ), click to view the scorecard behind the
first headline of Division 1 this week (by the way my
name is spelled Raheel not Rahil, who's incharge of
the headlines?!). Pak Gymkhana vs Milwaukee CC played
on Sun, May 21 was looking like an even contest with
Milwaukee having the slight edge after they had
reduced us to 153 all out (from being 100-odd for 3 at
the 20 over mark). The total was a fighting one,
nothing more nothing less and we were one bowler short
wth Farman bhai injured. Myself and Imran Ahmed (a new
recruit) got the ball rolling and we struck some
telling blows early on with Imran dismissing both the
openers and I dismissed 3 middle order batsmen
including the lynchpin of Milwaukee CC Asif Mahmood.
The score was 19-5 and Milwaukee were looking to
restore some respectibility to the scoreboard more
than anything else.
At this point the captain Rashid bhai took Imran off
and gave the ball to Shahid Munir. After warming up in
his first over which went for a solitary run, Shahid's
2nd over read like this W-W-W-W-0-0. First 2
unfortunate batsmen were bowled, the third managed to
somehow get his front pad (or foot shall I say) in the
way and was lbw, the fourth again bowled! The last 2
balls inexplicably missed the stumps and the over came
to an end! It was exhilerating stuff, high pace and
bull's eye accuracy. I completed the rout in the next
over by bowling the last man with the first legal ball
and Milwaukee CC were 24 all out in 10.1 overs. Mr.
Extras top scored with 10 and the highest score with
the bat was 4 !
Written by: Raheel Akhtar (Pak Gymkhana)
( Note from Editor: Raheel, I'm not the editor for the MCC Home Page. That is done by the webmaster. I hope he reads this and makes the necesary correction - Hari)
Monday, May 22, 2006
Sleep is for normal people and Faraz is anything but Normal
A guy goes to work Friday night, works all night and then travels 3 hours to Urbana to play a game, finds his team in a mess at 23 for 6, bats through the innings until the 39th over by which time he is the last man out but not before scoring a tenatious 60 to help his team to a respectable 139. He then comes back and bowls a fiery spell with the new ball, takes 2 wickets in his first over, comes back to bowl a mixed bag of spin/pace to take a further 3 wickets, then takes a key catch to secure a miracle come back win for his team all the while chatting away relentlessly to lift the spirits of the fielders and bowlers. After the game he travels back 3 hours to Chicago and goes straight to work! What do you call this guy?? His name is Faraz Sarwar Durrani and I'm lucky to have him as my team mate.
Faraz embodies the spirit of the Midwest Cricketer - that rare breed that waits patiently through six months of brutal winter and then happily comes to play in the semi-freezing early spring months with a "whatever it takes" mentality. Do you have players like this in your team? Send their stories ( with photo) to editor@midwestcricket.org.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
How Can I Contribute?
If any of you would like to write on this blog, please feel free to send in your articles to editor@midwestcricket.org. You can also send one photo with each article. Make sure you let us know your full name and Team name. Match Reports, Player Profiles, New ideas etc are most welcome. We cannot promise that everything that we receive can be published.
If you want to post Interviews, match Clips etc taken with a camcorder or Cell Phone, here is how you can do it. Post the clips on either You Tube ( youtube.com) or Google Videos ( video.google.com) and then send a link to editor@midwestcricket.org with a brief summary of what you want the description to say. Again, don't forget to send your full name and Team name.
If you want to post Interviews, match Clips etc taken with a camcorder or Cell Phone, here is how you can do it. Post the clips on either You Tube ( youtube.com) or Google Videos ( video.google.com) and then send a link to editor@midwestcricket.org with a brief summary of what you want the description to say. Again, don't forget to send your full name and Team name.
Monday, May 15, 2006
The Weather Ballet
The rain Gods had no mercy on us this past weekend…It’s been a frustrating time for most teams to get this season off on an exciting note due to the bad weather. Well, with all the optimism, I hoped that by the weekend it will all play out Ok and we will have an exciting weekend of Cricket. That was not the case to be and most games this weekend were rained out…except for a few that happened on Sunday.
The first thing I do every Monday morning is to check the weather channel and more often than not it’s not pleasant. An occasional rainfall, cloudy and thunderstorms are part of the mix ninety percent of the time. Starting then and up until the weekend I pray to the rain Gods to have mercy…because I have waited eight months to play cricket…
I have begin to realize that the cricket season has become a parcel of my life…and playing cricket has great impacts on my everyday life…but not being able to play has adverse effects too….The minute the truth hit me and all my optimism went out the door, I felt depressed and weak. That led to a fever and by the end of the day I ended up with high temperature helpless not knowing how I could make the weather better…
With so little time in a year to enjoy something we love so much, the best we all can do is to hope its going to be warm, sunny and bright this coming weekend and the rest of the season…
The first thing I do every Monday morning is to check the weather channel and more often than not it’s not pleasant. An occasional rainfall, cloudy and thunderstorms are part of the mix ninety percent of the time. Starting then and up until the weekend I pray to the rain Gods to have mercy…because I have waited eight months to play cricket…
I have begin to realize that the cricket season has become a parcel of my life…and playing cricket has great impacts on my everyday life…but not being able to play has adverse effects too….The minute the truth hit me and all my optimism went out the door, I felt depressed and weak. That led to a fever and by the end of the day I ended up with high temperature helpless not knowing how I could make the weather better…
With so little time in a year to enjoy something we love so much, the best we all can do is to hope its going to be warm, sunny and bright this coming weekend and the rest of the season…
Friday, May 12, 2006
New Pitches at Washington Park
Those of you who have games at Washington Park on the week of June 3rd: Be prepared for the sweet smell of fresh cement ( is there such a smell?!).Tariq confirmed today that new pitches are going to be laid on grounds 2, 3 and 4 of Washington Park on May 22 and 23. Workers are going to rip out the existing cement pitches and fill in a brand new pitch. So, those of you who are in to watching that sort of stuff can show up at the ground on those two days! You won't be alone. Tariq says he plans to be there too. That is why he is the president and I'm just a lousy blog writer.
Monday, May 08, 2006
The First Week
Life has become hectic after being appointed General Secretary this year. People thought I was crazy to accept the role considering that I am working full time and studying part time. Wifey has been very accomodating of this and has promised to help me out with the additional responsibilities. If some of emails have a feminine touch to it, you now know why.
What a week it has been and I must say I was mighty pleased with the way Washington Park looked when I walked in early on Saturday. The grass was well cut, the boundaries and the 30 yard circle were marked. My cover drive did manage to almost reach the fence, it was a great feeling.
Teams that played in WP-1 didnt quite share the experience that we did, but in all, I heard some good words from all the teams. Magnus did a terrific job.
Our first game against United did not go according to plan. Catches win matches and that was very evident in our game. They caught half, quarter chances while we dropped sitters. Sunil Kulkarni took blinders, one of Anand and other of Vinod to completely turn the momentum in their favor. I was in the non-strikers end when a full toss was smashed by Vinod back to the bowler(Sunil) who dived and caught inches above the ground.
We now travel to Wisconsin, where another United(Milwaukee United) team awaits us. Hopefully, its our turn to take the catches and get 4 points.
What a week it has been and I must say I was mighty pleased with the way Washington Park looked when I walked in early on Saturday. The grass was well cut, the boundaries and the 30 yard circle were marked. My cover drive did manage to almost reach the fence, it was a great feeling.
Teams that played in WP-1 didnt quite share the experience that we did, but in all, I heard some good words from all the teams. Magnus did a terrific job.
Our first game against United did not go according to plan. Catches win matches and that was very evident in our game. They caught half, quarter chances while we dropped sitters. Sunil Kulkarni took blinders, one of Anand and other of Vinod to completely turn the momentum in their favor. I was in the non-strikers end when a full toss was smashed by Vinod back to the bowler(Sunil) who dived and caught inches above the ground.
We now travel to Wisconsin, where another United(Milwaukee United) team awaits us. Hopefully, its our turn to take the catches and get 4 points.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Back in Washington Park
It was great to get back to Washington Park this Saturday. It was a bit disappointing to see that only the grass on our ground was not cut ( Probably because my game was at WP1, which is not an MCC Ground), but glad not to see broken glass. The good news about the bathrooms is that the public restrooms on the south east corner of the grounds is now actually open, but the bad news is that it is still a nice, long walk which means that the trees and bushes around the ground got watered down well this weekend. Jaggi tells me that the management is working with the City on getting the potties in place soon.
United Cricket Club ( photo above) is a smart team. Notice that most of them are well layered with stylish sweaters and jackets. Maybe that explains why they won in style over Tigers. Remember that in the month of May, it makes a lot of sense to wear thick layers if you have a game at Washington Park. Even if it is 70 degrees, the wind can freeze your rear off, especially while you are sitting outside the field.
My team, NoStars got manhandled by Eagles and so it was not a particularly good weekend for us. As far as I'm concerned, I'm seriously thinking of taking up another game..maybe golf..where you don't get hit by hard balls. I need to ice down the swelling again before I can sleep tonight. Still, I'm glad that we are back on the field. My mother was right - I'm nuts about this game. But, I'm glad I'm not alone.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
The 2006 Season - Finally!!!!
Hi Everyone, Welcome to the MCC 2006 season! Whew! Like a lot of you, I have been waiting for this weekend for months. Its that time of the year...time to start looking forward to picking up the broken glasses from the Washington Park pitch ( 7 months worth of broken beer bottles - Ah), time to struggle with the Mat trying to roll it in to position while also trying to make sure that the darn blue cover does not fly off in to the lake, walking 1/2 a mile to relieve like a gentleman ( and who can forget that first breath inside those portable potties-eh?!)- All said and done, I still love this experience. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to be able to play organized cricket like this in the US of A. Its a blessing to be able to hang out with a terrific group of guys and play a game that we all love ( Thank You, Dear MCC!). So, lets just go out there and make the most of it. I hope you all have a terrific 2006 season- safe, exciting and some great cricket!
Now, that being said, I also want to welcome you all to our new blog. Last year we had a lot of fun with the Newsletter and we hope we can build upon that this year in a different format. We are going to learn how to develop this as we go along. Feel free to send us your ideas. You can also comment here ( Be kind!). We hope you like this.
Now, that being said, I also want to welcome you all to our new blog. Last year we had a lot of fun with the Newsletter and we hope we can build upon that this year in a different format. We are going to learn how to develop this as we go along. Feel free to send us your ideas. You can also comment here ( Be kind!). We hope you like this.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
A Conversation with Vikram Chakravarthy
Vikram Chakravarthy, considered to be one of the most technically correct batsmen in MCC, has played most of his cricket with the talented Wildcats. Prior to 2005, he had two championships under his belt and played a monumental innings in the finals to get his third. He stroked a match winning 139(*) while chasing a huge target of 306 in 50 overs, against a spirited, fast, disciplined and talented Pak Gymkhana bowling attack. Vikram spoke with Jaggi Nadig after the game.
Your immediate thoughts after the game. It is an awesome feeling. It was a great game, very exciting and by God’s grace, we were able to defeat Pak Gymkhana, the toughest opponents in the league. I had good support from Nikhil and Satish. We won the game with 5 balls to spare against a tough team and that’s what makes this victory sweet.
About the momentum going in to the game We beat the Challengers in the Semi-Finals and that boosted our confidence. We have a good batting side and played to our potential.
About the dropped catches. Dropped catches are part of the game, but, we were able to take advantage of it.
Last 5 overs and 45+ runs to go, what was the strategy. We treated it as a 20 over game and a couple of big hits and were going to be back in the game. I was lucky to get some hits of Farman, who typically is very consistent.
Where were you born/brought up? I was born in Chennai India and brought up there.
What do you do for a living? I am a project lead in offshore IT related services for a Financial Industry.
How long have you played cricket? For about 28 years, right from the age of 5 yrs.
What is your favorite cricketing memory? Scoring a first century when I was in my 8'th grade for a school game.
What is your worst cricket memory? Actually all have been pleasant ones and I try to take things as positive on anything worse happenning to me in cricket.
Who is your favorite international player? Batting Sachin and Gilchrist and bowling Akram and McGrath
Who is your favorite MCC player? I admire quite a lot of cricketers in many aspects and quite a few from all teams ranging from Meadows, Pak Gymkhana, Challengers, Kutis and ofcourse Wildcats. I cannot name just one but to name a few Shahid Munir, Tushar Mehta, Kiran Kambhambatti, Sohail,Ajit Ramasami and Satish Reddy, Khera brothers, Dr. Akber Khan, Tariq Usmani, Naveed, Krishna Meluvittil & many more. I draw inspiration from senior cricketers like Masroor, Khalid Butt, Tehsin, Yousef Ahmed, Tariq Ahmad, Humayun and the eversmiling Margoob bhai.
What are your hobbies outside cricket? Listening to music, dancing and socializing with my pals.
Favorite Movie? Swades, Munna Bhai MBBS, Sixth sense.
Few words about your family? I get the 100% energy from my wife Anita who encourages me a lot and comes to every game to cheer me and the team. I attribute all the big scores that I have to her ;-) My other half of the family are in India and I miss them quite a bit. I make it up somehow by having close ties with my friends in chicago and socializing there with them.
Shahid Munir: A Profile by Zafer Hameed
With a run-up as graceful as a cheetah going for a kill, Shahid Munir comes in to bowl, accelerates and releases his thunder-balls, with the speed of greased lightening. The batsman, at the receiving end, lunges forward to defend, but the ball has already whizzed past him, swinging into the hands of the wicket-keeper. Whew! Lucky to survive. The next delivery could possibly be an in-swinging yorker, to which the batsman is a trifle late, reading and reacting, and finds the wickets flattened.
Shahid Munir is one of the quickest bowlers in the Midwest Cricket Conference. He is not just a ‘quickie’ who can bowl. He swings the ball both ways, to keep the batsman guessing. Shahid stupefies batsmen with ‘toe-crunching’ yorkers and well disguised ‘slower ones’. For the 2005 Season, Shahid is the #3 bowler in the Midwest Cricket Conference with 34 wickets, at 4.36 runs per over, reserving his best for Wildcats, 5 for 36 off 8 overs!
As a batsman, Shahid has all the strokes in the book and some more. Blessed with a good eye, balance and timing, he makes stroke-play so easy and effortless, like the great Viv Richards. Shahid seemingly caresses the ball, on its way to the boundary. He relishes quick bowling – the short- pitched stuff that he pulls and hooks for fours and sixes. The fuller length ones are driven in the ‘vee’, through extra-cover, long-on, long-off. Shahid is essentially a classic batsman, who nudges and strokes the ball to pierce the field. Shahid steals sharp singles, converts singles to twos and twos into threes. For the 2005 Season, Shahid is the #8 batsman amassing 435 runs, with one fifty and one century - reserving his highest knock for Book Club - 112 with five fours and ten sixes!
Shahid is a complete cricketer. – batsman, bowler, fielder and Team player. Though he started his career as an opening batsman and opening bowler, for Pak Gymkhana, Shahid bowls first or second change and bats at 4, 5, 6 or 7. Again, he paces his inning based on the need of the Team. No wonder, Pak Gymkhana won the 20/20 Night Cricket Tournament Championships for 2004 and 2005 and are the favorites going into the Division I Finals, against the Wildcats, Sunday, October 16, 2005.
Shahid, the person, is shy and unassuming. Born in Sialkot, Pakistan, Shahid played for Punjab University, and earned his MBA degree as well. He enjoys going out with friends, movies and music – Punjabi Bhangda, Qawali – Ibrar-Ul-Haq and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Shahid was the only player in the Midwest Cricket Conference to be selected for the US Team to tour Canada in 2005
Written by Zafer Hameed, Elgin CC (Please send your comments to zafer@midwestcricket.org)
Spotlight on Pak Gymkhana's Centurion Hasan Shah
Hasan Shah, an elegant right hander, has played most of his cricket for Pak Gymkhana in the US. Back home in Lahore, he has played for the Pakistan Under- 19 team. He has fond memories of playing with international stars like Mazad Khan, Rameez Raja, Mansoor Elahi and most importantly, Wasim Akram. He was twice selected to the US national cricket team and has attended training camps in Houston and California. He also played Pro-cricket in 2004 for the Chicago Tornadoes.
Hasan, scored a brilliant century in the championship game and shared a 250 run partnership with Shahid Munir. He spoke with Jaggi Nadig a few weeks after the game.
Your thoughts about the game? A month after the finals, it still hurts. We put up a good total on board and were very confident of defending it. Catches win matches, unfortunately, we dropped too many catches and the Wildcats took full advantage of it.
Your brilliant century and the record breaking partnership with Shahid Munir? Shahid is a brilliant cricketer and is a fantastic athlete. We had lost 4 wickets for 50 odd runs and it was very important for both of us to stick on. We encouraged each other and kept rotating the strike initially, taking very few chances. Once, we had settled in, we took a few risks and it paid off.
What was the strategy during the two day break? We have a bunch of very good bowlers and were happy about the break. It gave our bowlers some rest. Also, Wildcats needed more than 9 runs per over and with our bowling attack, we still were quite confident. Unfortunately, we didn’t learn from mistakes and dropped a few more catches. The Wildcats are a talented bunch and made us pay for the mistakes. I also want to add that the Wildcats are a very good, talented and a friendly team. They play hard. We both had good crowd support and that’s very good for the game. We hope that more people turn up for future games.
Where were you born/brought up? I was born in Lahore, Pakistan and migrated to the US in 1987.
What do you do for a living? Self Employed.
How long have you played cricket? Since I have been a kid
What is your favorite cricketing memory? Hitting three sixes in one over of Abdul Qadir and leading my school cricket team (Divisional Public High School) to a famous victory against a visiting English team from Brighton College.
What is your worst cricket memory? I get disappointed when I don’t make runs. Losing in the championship game was a big disappointment.
Who is your favorite international player? Imran Khan
Who is your favorite MCC player? There are a lot of cricketers from MCC that I like- Bakshi, Rashid Khan, Farman, Sanjay Barretto and many more.
What are your hobbies outside cricket? Going to the gym, reading cricket magazines
Favorite Movie? Legend of the Fall
Few words about your family? My entire family is back in Lahore and I miss them everyday, especially my two daughters.
Match Report: Div I 2005: Finals: Pak Gymkhana vs Wildcats
On Sunday the 16th of October, at Community Park in Hanover Park, Pak Gymkhana and Wildcats Cricket Club played the last game of the 2005 season, for the Div I Championship.
Wildcats won the toss and elected to field. Pak Gymkhana was soon in trouble – 50 for 4 in 12 overs. The Wildcats team and their cheer-leaders were ecstatic and the Pak Gymkhana team and supporters were gloomy. Pak Gymkhana desperately needed some one to rise to the occasion and save them from imminent disaster. Shahid Munir and Hassan Shah did just that. At first, Shahid was content to defend and rotate the strike, while Hassan pushed the score with an occasional four. Later, Shahid accelerated and overtook Hassan Shah with a flurry of fours and sixes. He plundered 19 runs off an over of Balaji. With the score reading 281 in the 35th over, Shahid Munir was run out having scored a magnificent 133. Hassan Shah soon followed, after scoring 103 runs. The other Pak Gymkhana batsmen did not capitalize on the foundation laid by the 231 runs partnership of Shahid and Hassan. The Pak Gymkhana innings ended at 306 runs in 47.1 overs. Nikhil Javeri was the pick of the Wildcats bowlers with 4 for 46 off 9.1 overs. Satish Reddy and Sanjay Barreto chipped in with 2 wickets each and Krishna Kurup had one.
Facing a daunting total, Wildcats started cautiously. Eschewing risks, the batsmen kept the score-board ticking. Romeen Lavani was out early for 3. Satyapal Singh joined Sanjay Baretto to stabilize the innings, but did not last long, scoring only 16. Vikram Chakravarthy joined Sanjay and held the innings together. While Vikram rotated the strike, Sanjay pushed the score, till he was out after scoring 29 runs. Nikhil joined the steadfast Vikram and they pushed the score steadily. Nikhil was out after scoring 27 runs. Satish joined Vikram, who had opened up and started playing his shots. With the game tentatively poised at 260 for 5 in 45 overs, the game was called off due to bad light and was to be continued on Tuesday, October 18, 2005.
Needing 47 runs off 5 overs, with 5 wickets in hand, Vikram and Satish resumed their innings Tuesday, and continued merrily along. They scored 8 off Shahid’s first over, in singles and twos. In the next over of Farman Khan, who had bowled magnificently and had contained the Wildcats in his previous spell, they plundered 19 runs off him and cruised to victory in the remaining 2.1 overs without losing a wicket. Man of the Match, Vikram scored a magnificent 139 not out and Satish, an unbeaten 53.
This was certainly one of the best finals ever played in the history of Midwest Cricket Conference – 3 centuries, 613 runs scored, close, exciting match played in good spirits by both sides, with warm weather, drama, fireworks, cheer-leading, more than 300 spectators, community support, live running commentary and fund raising for Earthquake Relief. What else could one have asked for?
Written By: Zafer Hameed, Elgin CC (You may send your comments to zafer@midwestcricket.org)
Wildcats won the toss and elected to field. Pak Gymkhana was soon in trouble – 50 for 4 in 12 overs. The Wildcats team and their cheer-leaders were ecstatic and the Pak Gymkhana team and supporters were gloomy. Pak Gymkhana desperately needed some one to rise to the occasion and save them from imminent disaster. Shahid Munir and Hassan Shah did just that. At first, Shahid was content to defend and rotate the strike, while Hassan pushed the score with an occasional four. Later, Shahid accelerated and overtook Hassan Shah with a flurry of fours and sixes. He plundered 19 runs off an over of Balaji. With the score reading 281 in the 35th over, Shahid Munir was run out having scored a magnificent 133. Hassan Shah soon followed, after scoring 103 runs. The other Pak Gymkhana batsmen did not capitalize on the foundation laid by the 231 runs partnership of Shahid and Hassan. The Pak Gymkhana innings ended at 306 runs in 47.1 overs. Nikhil Javeri was the pick of the Wildcats bowlers with 4 for 46 off 9.1 overs. Satish Reddy and Sanjay Barreto chipped in with 2 wickets each and Krishna Kurup had one.
Facing a daunting total, Wildcats started cautiously. Eschewing risks, the batsmen kept the score-board ticking. Romeen Lavani was out early for 3. Satyapal Singh joined Sanjay Baretto to stabilize the innings, but did not last long, scoring only 16. Vikram Chakravarthy joined Sanjay and held the innings together. While Vikram rotated the strike, Sanjay pushed the score, till he was out after scoring 29 runs. Nikhil joined the steadfast Vikram and they pushed the score steadily. Nikhil was out after scoring 27 runs. Satish joined Vikram, who had opened up and started playing his shots. With the game tentatively poised at 260 for 5 in 45 overs, the game was called off due to bad light and was to be continued on Tuesday, October 18, 2005.
Needing 47 runs off 5 overs, with 5 wickets in hand, Vikram and Satish resumed their innings Tuesday, and continued merrily along. They scored 8 off Shahid’s first over, in singles and twos. In the next over of Farman Khan, who had bowled magnificently and had contained the Wildcats in his previous spell, they plundered 19 runs off him and cruised to victory in the remaining 2.1 overs without losing a wicket. Man of the Match, Vikram scored a magnificent 139 not out and Satish, an unbeaten 53.
This was certainly one of the best finals ever played in the history of Midwest Cricket Conference – 3 centuries, 613 runs scored, close, exciting match played in good spirits by both sides, with warm weather, drama, fireworks, cheer-leading, more than 300 spectators, community support, live running commentary and fund raising for Earthquake Relief. What else could one have asked for?
Written By: Zafer Hameed, Elgin CC (You may send your comments to zafer@midwestcricket.org)
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