Predictions and Results for Week 12

Just about a month n half away from regular season end. Still most of the play-offs spots are wide open. Many interesting games coming up this weekend. Lets get on with predictions, discussions and word-wars for Week 12.

Predictions and Results for Week 11

Predictions, results, general mud-slinging, and all around good times during week 11.

Predictions and Results for Week 10

The long weekend has come and gone. Time to get back to being serious. Time to play some cricket. Time to predict winners and losers, update the blog with results, and generally talk about anything (but the CER hopefully!).

Good luck to all.....

Week 8 Predictions and Results

The last week before the long weekend and what can be viewed as the middle of the season. After this, teams can take stock of their position, and then make a run at the playoffs. No team has secured a berth as yet, but there are some knocking on the door on all three divisions. Who takes another step closer to the post season?

Week 7 Predictions and Results

Predictions, news, results, and general chatter for Week 7.

Week 6 Predictions and Results

Time for week 6 predictions, deliberations, and results. Now we start getting into the meat of the season and separating the "pretenders" from the "contenders". Good luck to all!

Week 5 Predictions and Results

Lot of controversies going on this week and lots to keep the bloggers busy. But lets not forget the reason we are all here - the game of cricket. So, while important issues and controversies must be discussed and acted upon, lets also keep an eye out on this weeks games and make some bold predictions. Good Luck to all and hope good weather and better sense prevails!

Kudos to MWCC team for winning CER and Welcome back Tango!!

MWWC Management finally sent the team to CER and the team loaded with tons of talent comprehensively won the tournament. Congrats to the entire team !!

Also our king blogger Tango is back and to his demand, I am starting this new thread ...

Also lets discuss about Cricket all over the world and in the midwest region .. 2 great test matches and IPL season coming to end in the coming weekend ...

दूसरा हफ्ता

Well, week 1 was a bit of a damp squid (all puns intended). Only a handful of games took place, but already there was one upset, two titans stayed the course, and some good cricket all around. Will the weather Gods relent and finally allow some cricket to be played, or will Rup add to his cooler collection?

ps. I tried enabling this "hindi" translation feature for the heading. Interesting.... For those of you that don't read hindi, it means week 2.

Week 1 Predictions and Results

Week 1 for the Midwest Cricket Conference is about to start. Time for wood and leather to make contact, time for the words to heat up, and time for the rivalries to be renewed! Last year we had a first-time Champion for both Divisions. What will this year bring for the new teams in Division 1 and the new teams in Division 2? Will the old powerhouses still remain dominant, or will some new upstarts have their way?

About time to find out....

Season 2008 - just a month away

Guys ..

Hope you all are out of hibernation and have started practising for the 2008 Season with your teams. We already had a strongly contested elections this year and hope to see many similar cricket matches on the cricket field this season.

So as usual, we will see new teams joining the league, players moving around, may be new grounds and many other changes hopefully. Again time for predictions for the Div 1, Div 2, Div 3 winners ..

Let us start predicting on Division winners right away .. and see who is right at the end of the season .. Also post in about any updates about your teams or new teams if you have ..

And most important question, will we see Tango and Neanderthal_walking jugal-bandi on the blog this year ??

Congratulations to Muslim Gymkhana and Advancers!!

We have two new Champions today. Muslim Gymkhana lifted the Division 1 Championship by defeating Purdue University while Advancers completed a superb season with a thrilling 12 run win over a fighting IIT to claim the Division 2 Championship. Both IIT and Purdue can be proud today. They played hard and fair, but it was not their day. Both matches were at Washington Park and what a terrific atmosphere we had!. We should congratulate and thank the folks that made all the arrangements at the ground today. There was a large tent ( very important on a hot and fairly humid day), chairs, food, beverages and an impressive turnout. Hats off to all the volunteers!! We got one more final tomorrow and that should bring down the curtain on this 2007 season. We may have to put the whites and the kit away for a few months, but Shekhs tells me that blogging can keep one warm -- you got to listen to the sage -- Lets keep it blogging, folks.

Our New Address!

If you look up at the address bar you may notice that we have a New address!!!
Yes, we are now at www.midwestcricketer.org
Please spread the word...

Elections: 2008

Fellow cricketers,

I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to stand for President of the MWCC in the upcoming elections in 2008. Tariq and his team have done a fantastic job in helping our league get to this level, but with some new leadership and ideas we will be able to elevate this talented league of ours to the next level. I believe that I can achieve this.

I have spoken to Tariq about my intentions to run for office. He appreciates that I let him know and has wished me the very best.

I plan to go through your suggestions in the ideas page and will be providing more information on my team and the agenda in the next couple of weeks. Please feel free to add more thoughts / suggestions to that list.

In the meanwhile if you would like to be a part of my team, please let me know via email at
jaggi@midwestcricket.org

Good luck to all the teams in the Semis and Finals.

Jaggi

Sunday Fun at the old Ballpark

It was a beautiful Sunday to be in Washington Park, and with
the league getting Ground #1 back for the playoffs, it was
fun to have 4 meaningful games in progress at the same time
once again.

I was at Ground #3, umpiring Advancers and Evanston. Evanston
began well, but always lost too many wickets - they were 59/3
in 10 overs to start, and 83/5 in 20. Perrin was their main
performer again, hitting 64 or so out of 139 allout (he had
just hit 2 sixes and 16 off one over, carrying Evanston to
132/6 off 33 overs, when he was runout - and Evanston folded
for 139 soon after). Advancers bowling looked very solid -
Ram and Subashish formed a very effective opening pair, and
the 3 spinners bowled beautifully.

At breaktime we got updates from the other games too -
Milwaukee had collapsed against a rampant United pace attack
of Mehul and Yusuf, and were down to 47/6. CCI were being
held in check by IIT, reduced to 40/5 in 20 overs. And the
Wildcats were 90 odd for 4 in 20 overs. Eventually at lunch
we found that CCI had folded for 75, and the Wildcats got up
to 229 in their 45 overs. Milwaukee had folded for 54 - but
they reduced United to 18/4 in reply (so that was the game
some of us watched at lunch :-) Kabir had claimed 3 wickets
and Wade 1 - Wade was getting monstrous bounce (particularly
remember Mehul fending one off his throat!) However he also
had one go over the keepers head for 5 noballs, and then
Faisal hit him gorgeously for a massively long pulled six
over squareleg that effectively settled the issue.

Returned to umpire the Evanston/Advancers game - Evanston's
bowling is usually quite good, and it started well. They
induced a sitter of a catch second over that was put down,
then got the first wicket soon after. Shakir was dropped
behind soon after coming in as well. But then Shakir and
Khadri (both fasting all day) took over - the Hyderabadi duo
batted gorgeously, dispatching the bowling to all parts of
the field. By the time Shakir was dismissed for 50+, the
game was effectively over as a contest. Paul put the finishing
touches, Khadri remained unbeaten with a brilliant 60+, and
Advancers had looked awesomely good in winning by 8 wickets
with 20 overs to spare!

At the end of our game, we found that IIT had also won easily
in a handful of overs, and United had won their game by 5
wickets in the end. So it was down to one last game - the
first genuinely *good match* of the playoffs, Wildcats vs
Muslim.

When I got there (soon after hearing, with much joy, that
the Cubbies had won 8-0 and the hated Brewers had lost, now
giving the Cubs a 3.5 game lead), Muslim had just lost its
third wicket (Kamran caught at the boundary), and were 50/3
in 12 overs and it was game on. Mehmood and Afroze batted
brilliantly however - Mehmood in particular smacking 3 sixes
in a single over, and looking fantastic. A misunderstanding
(and a great piece of fielding) put paid to his innings
however - Romeen from the boundary to Satish the bowler, and
a direct hit at the batting end that found Mehmood short.
Afroze had things under control, however - it was only when
he holed out at the boundary (after a terrific knock) to
leave Muslim at 165/6 that the game appeared to be genuinely
up in the air again.

It was then that captain Farhat and Rizwan got together, for
a critical 35 run stand that pushed the game towards Muslim
again. The asking rate had crept up to 6/over, but Rizwan hit
2 *huge* sixes off Giri to get it under control again... before
a Giri slower ball clean-bowled him to end the over! It was
30 to win with 3 wickets in hand now (the runrate, after
Rizwan's pyrotechnics, down to less than 5/over however).
The game was now very evenly poised.

Once again, however, the skipper Farhat was involved in a
critical stand - this time with Arif. Once again Arif played
his natural game, playing the big shots, while Farhat kept one
end secure and made sure Satish (bowling beautifully and
searching for the elusive breakthrough) was played out
safely. Eventually Satish got his man, getting Arif to hole
out to Naren - but by then 25 vital runs had been added, only
5 were needed to win, and critically, Satish had run out of
overs.

With 5 runs needed in 2 overs (and 2 wickets in hand), Farhat
defended a ball or two, then dispatched a four over the
drawn-in field, a wide the next ball ended it. Farhat came
in with 70+ runs to win and the scoreboard will show he made
only 23 in the end - but that is where statistics can
sometimes lie, for that innings was worth as much as some
centuries. Entering with 70+ to win, securing one end,
sheparding the lower order, and eventually hitting the winning
runs - it was a Miandad-esque knock, and worth its weight in
gold.

The Wildcats are three-time champs for a reason, they are
probably the toughest team in the league - for a decade theyve
been the hardest team to beat once they put 200 on the board
in a playoff situation. They fought all the way as is their
wont, and came very very close to pulling it off again (but
for some missed catches they actually might have). But that
makes Muslim Gym's victory even more creditable - given the
situation and the opposition, this must surely be the best
win for their club in a decade, maybe ever.

With Purdue apparently beating Challengers (reports and
details from Hanover will be much appreciated!), a couple
of very intriguing semifinals are set - St Louis vs
Purdue, and Muslim vs United.

Overall, a very fun day at the old ballpark (except for the
fact that it had to be ruined by Rex and his gang's abysmal
show at night)!
-------

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