I had started off thinking id write a eulogy on how the team had smashed everyone else in the league and all that.. but then when i came to this page, thot a little more.. and decided to write this.. (im writing this intro after having written the main piece)
Well, we finally did it - we won the Singapore cricket knockout league.. something we've dreamt about for the last three years.. it was always the unattainable thing that we played for but never realistically thot we'd get to.. u know.. the closest thing i can think of is when u get a recognition in office.. u dont really work towards it, but it almost comes to u as a by-product of something else..
anyway.. so the match itself.. rain curtailed, fairly depressing to start with.. most of us wouldnt voice it but we were bloody jealous of raff who decided to bunk in due to the rain.. i was particularly impressed with Aditya, Santosh and Sudoku who despite knowing that they wouldnt play braved the rains to get to the ground.. takes a big heart to do so.. i know i prolly wouldnt have come.. particularly after ur regular at nets and still dont get a chance to play.. but i guess there are ppl who will choose talent above commitment - just dont agree with that personally i guess...
we finally started at 10:30 - and within 30 mins, it was evident that they didnt stand a chance against our disciplined and in patches brilliant bowling.. of course their demographical background stood in the way of them thinking and approaching the game differently (most of them were nepali shaabjis).. bakir/goel kept it tight and then venky came up with his clinical spell that killed any hope of a fightback.. and paddu/swaps just helped mop up the tail..
anyways, 77 in 15 ovrs was never a tough target to chase, and despite us losing fairly regular wickets we never really looked in danger after srirams initial onslaught.. a beautiful flick of the hips sailed over what is the longest boundary we have ever played on.. my shot of the season if you ask me.. It also turned out to be 2 good games in a row for me.. following up my 47 with a very unconvincing 35 - i just have to know how to keep my head down while driving, and to curb the instinct to hit the ball with all i have..
but the best part for me in the day was actually before and after the match..
a) Playing on the field while the ground dried up - what fun, played bombard, baseball and even some indoor cricket where bakir got super senti!
b) The brewerkz lunch post that.. wat a feel to be sitting with your team to eat and chat.. i honestly think we should do that after every game..
Nett, its the team and the ppl that spur me on to play every weekend.. and not really the competitive spirit of wanting to win despite everything.. wonder how long that is sustainable..
Monday, September 10, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
wow, whew and damn!
those are the three words that come to mind when i think about last weeks cricket match..
WOW due to two things:
a) Bakir - what a guy.. in the proverbial queue for talent up there, this guy somehow managed to be in the beginning of the line for everything.. I think it begins to insult him when lowly people such as me try and write an article on his talent -so ill do what ABMs do best - show the data and u can judge on ur own..
Coming in at 40/2, scored a brutal 46 in 33 balls (high-lights being the sixes off full tosses as if he were swatting a fly).. followed that up with 4-0-14-4 - incredible in a 20 ovr match! and then to add insult to injury and bundle it all in - he scored two brilliant runouts (of course with Tingo)
b) Our bowling/Fielding: More and more reminding me of the German WWII forces, well oiled, efficient and almost cold heartedly clinical.. Nitin, Bakir, Swappy, Paddu and the revelation of the day for me - Sudhakar, all bowled thier heart out and more importantly without losing the mind part of it.
Special mention to sudoku of course, I would never imagine any1 coming to play a match with the knee state that he has.. but never a complain, never a crib - always in the thick of action - great going buddy!
WHEW now..
lemme say that a few more times... WHEW!, WHEW! WHEW!
I finally scored a few.. very very scratchy and very over eager - but like paddu says, the score book carries no missed catches.. no swipes and misses.. i ended up with 47 (26) - 47 more than than my cumulative for the season!
DAMN!
Well, im not going to play a few matches now :( , this weekend is Fitris wedding in Jogjkta in Indo, Then going to India for 3 weeks so no cricket for a month.. it will be a good test of whether i can resist cricket next season (as per my retirement plans :)
Anyway, Raff is back, so is Esh and hopefully Venkat/Matt will play a few too.. and we should have a problem of plenty! ... will be waiting for Paddus email updates guys .. so keep them coming!
WOW due to two things:
a) Bakir - what a guy.. in the proverbial queue for talent up there, this guy somehow managed to be in the beginning of the line for everything.. I think it begins to insult him when lowly people such as me try and write an article on his talent -so ill do what ABMs do best - show the data and u can judge on ur own..
Coming in at 40/2, scored a brutal 46 in 33 balls (high-lights being the sixes off full tosses as if he were swatting a fly).. followed that up with 4-0-14-4 - incredible in a 20 ovr match! and then to add insult to injury and bundle it all in - he scored two brilliant runouts (of course with Tingo)
b) Our bowling/Fielding: More and more reminding me of the German WWII forces, well oiled, efficient and almost cold heartedly clinical.. Nitin, Bakir, Swappy, Paddu and the revelation of the day for me - Sudhakar, all bowled thier heart out and more importantly without losing the mind part of it.
Special mention to sudoku of course, I would never imagine any1 coming to play a match with the knee state that he has.. but never a complain, never a crib - always in the thick of action - great going buddy!
WHEW now..
lemme say that a few more times... WHEW!, WHEW! WHEW!
I finally scored a few.. very very scratchy and very over eager - but like paddu says, the score book carries no missed catches.. no swipes and misses.. i ended up with 47 (26) - 47 more than than my cumulative for the season!
DAMN!
Well, im not going to play a few matches now :( , this weekend is Fitris wedding in Jogjkta in Indo, Then going to India for 3 weeks so no cricket for a month.. it will be a good test of whether i can resist cricket next season (as per my retirement plans :)
Anyway, Raff is back, so is Esh and hopefully Venkat/Matt will play a few too.. and we should have a problem of plenty! ... will be waiting for Paddus email updates guys .. so keep them coming!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Yesterday was an intersting day.. not in the same way id expected though..
For one, the rain gods decided that the dream run needed to stop, and as i say now, it was probably the only thing that couldve saved Kaybee.. Vikranth was visibly relieved and happy at the prospect of not having to cocntend with sriram, bakir, matt and paddu demolish him and his teams bowling attack... I for one was really looking forward to the match, and secretly hoping that I got another chance at the top of the order.. :p and more importantly hoping that Paddu would give me a bowl..
anyway, so we sat there and watched it pour and despite swappy and nitins valiant attempts to lure us onto the field for some practice..
and then came the part which I found interesting.. after a quick b/f at LN, we went for golf driving.. to the Bishan range, and it was fun to see the cricket team bond over non-cricket activities.. it was good to see the non-clinical Bakir as he miscued a shot and Paddu as he ironically ditched technique for pure might (the opposite of what he recommends in cricket!).. venkat of course, remained his calm self taking to it pretty well.. tingo continued his big hitting, easily clearing the 200 mt mark !
Then despite bakir and me hankering for a game of bowling/pool, Paddu and Venkat decided to live to thier middle age and went home.. just when we were seeing the spark of non-cricket bonding .. for the first time...
Which reminds me of what Mark (Brill) and me were talking.. we guys should spend more time off the field as well together.. for starters, we should eat lunch together after a game, even if its just at ceylon sports complex.. get in ur families for those who have them, and make it a sunday meal thing, rather than just finish the game, pack the kits and run ur own way..
For one, the rain gods decided that the dream run needed to stop, and as i say now, it was probably the only thing that couldve saved Kaybee.. Vikranth was visibly relieved and happy at the prospect of not having to cocntend with sriram, bakir, matt and paddu demolish him and his teams bowling attack... I for one was really looking forward to the match, and secretly hoping that I got another chance at the top of the order.. :p and more importantly hoping that Paddu would give me a bowl..
anyway, so we sat there and watched it pour and despite swappy and nitins valiant attempts to lure us onto the field for some practice..
and then came the part which I found interesting.. after a quick b/f at LN, we went for golf driving.. to the Bishan range, and it was fun to see the cricket team bond over non-cricket activities.. it was good to see the non-clinical Bakir as he miscued a shot and Paddu as he ironically ditched technique for pure might (the opposite of what he recommends in cricket!).. venkat of course, remained his calm self taking to it pretty well.. tingo continued his big hitting, easily clearing the 200 mt mark !
Then despite bakir and me hankering for a game of bowling/pool, Paddu and Venkat decided to live to thier middle age and went home.. just when we were seeing the spark of non-cricket bonding .. for the first time...
Which reminds me of what Mark (Brill) and me were talking.. we guys should spend more time off the field as well together.. for starters, we should eat lunch together after a game, even if its just at ceylon sports complex.. get in ur families for those who have them, and make it a sunday meal thing, rather than just finish the game, pack the kits and run ur own way..
For the last few weeks - ive thought long and hard and have finally decided.. this will be my last season of playing cricket.. it will be a challenge, but like they say, tough calls need to be made.. there will be so many places to go on the weekends - now that spunky is here, hopefully ill have a captive participant to my weekend breaks ;)
Also, ive realised that somewhere sometime it boils down to simple numbers.. tennis, squash, badminton and even swimming keep me much fitter (which i desperately need) vs. cricket.. also on a fun/hour spent criteria, they dont do all that bad either.. of course i know i will miss playing with a team, and ill miss being a part of it.. but i guess thats where the tough part comes in :)
The other fairly sorry disconnect is at a personal level - the amount of stuff i do on the field today (all owing to my poor performance of course) is not in line with the time investment im making in it.. so in bakir parlance, i may be investing in a small business, with no real right to win in the future either.. and im investing above case rate..
But want to retire at a high! so lets get them this season guys!
Also, ive realised that somewhere sometime it boils down to simple numbers.. tennis, squash, badminton and even swimming keep me much fitter (which i desperately need) vs. cricket.. also on a fun/hour spent criteria, they dont do all that bad either.. of course i know i will miss playing with a team, and ill miss being a part of it.. but i guess thats where the tough part comes in :)
The other fairly sorry disconnect is at a personal level - the amount of stuff i do on the field today (all owing to my poor performance of course) is not in line with the time investment im making in it.. so in bakir parlance, i may be investing in a small business, with no real right to win in the future either.. and im investing above case rate..
But want to retire at a high! so lets get them this season guys!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
A tribute to one of our best
This week saw the departure of Tapish - off to Stanford to do bigger, better things.. enroute to becoming the financial engg whizz that he wants to be..
From the day he first turned up in the nets, we knew we had caught a big one - whether it was his perfect line-length new ball bowling, to his super fluent batting, he was at the forefront of what happened with P&G cricket - a true pillar of our short history as a serious serious team
His half centuries have gotten us out of many a hole and coming in at no. 3 (especially after our often brittle opening partnership) he has played the dual role of walling up one end and at the same time keeping the score board ticking as he moved effortlessly along.. as paddu said, the hallmark of his batting is that he always seems to have a lot of time ..
The man on bowling fire is another treat to watch - swinging the ball both ways - miserly as ever and equally adept with the new ball as the ol cherry ..
Well, here is to one of our best players - we will miss u Tapish, and best of luck in your life ahead - hoping to see u around in Singapore soon and keep in touch!
the heart of cricket at p&g
On a separate note, the last 2 weeks has clearly shown us what Paddu has come to be for our team - if he is not around, the team just doesnt function.. no offence to Sriram/Bakirs ability to organise games.. but Paddu is just something else.. from paying a lot of money from his own pocket, to being the first to be on the field to constantly pursuing the quest of sponsorship :)
not really the mark of champions
Over the last two weeks, we've seen a marked change in the the team discussions, the spring in the step seems to have taken the route of June media (missing i meant - sorry for the stupid joke - am still smarting from the cuts :)) ..
No longer do u see people having animated discussions in the hallways, no more midday cricket intellectualisation - no more digs at raff for his diversity based nepotism, Esh for despite diversity equal treatment and not even Ganjis pure fluke double figures in the last 3/4 games..
I've always believed that truly winning teams do not change their demeanor - not in the halo of victory and not in the pain of defeat .. its just an insult to their ability and mental strength.
Whether we are champions or a loosely held bunch of talented cricketers - only the next 4-5 weeks will tell..
No longer do u see people having animated discussions in the hallways, no more midday cricket intellectualisation - no more digs at raff for his diversity based nepotism, Esh for despite diversity equal treatment and not even Ganjis pure fluke double figures in the last 3/4 games..
I've always believed that truly winning teams do not change their demeanor - not in the halo of victory and not in the pain of defeat .. its just an insult to their ability and mental strength.
Whether we are champions or a loosely held bunch of talented cricketers - only the next 4-5 weeks will tell..
Nitins IM post fer u all
This post is Ganjis - so any comments here are actually directed at him.. he will be replying to ur comments...Clearly BMs in laundry dont have much to do!!_______________________________________________________
In the true spirit of over intellectualization of this lazy sunday sport called cricket, I sat down last weekend and compiled the stats of our team for batting, bowling and catching.
Key highlights...
TEAM STATS (because there is no I in team... or something like that):
Highest score so far - 217 in the last game against Tanker Pacific c/o B & M (seemed more like S&M at the time... but that's another story).Lowest score batting first - 161 against Fusion. We really should've got 200+ in this game. But we got 10 points anyway.
Extras conceded by the opposite team are making us look better than we are - 189 of the 885 runs we've scored this season are from extras! That's 38 runs per game!!! Highest average on our team after Bakir.We, on the other hand, have conceded 105 extras of the 664 runs we have conceded. 21 per match. Considering we haven't had to bowl a full 30 in most games - this is still fairly abysmal.Partnerships win matches. But we have only 3 partnerships of over 50. The highest one is the blatant ill treatment of Tanker bowlers by Bakir and Matt who put on 111 for the 5th wicket until Matt got bored =). Then was Tapish and Bakir who put on 63 for the 3rd wicket against Fusion and Esh and me with a 57 run opening stand against Fusion as well. Need to get more 50+ partnerships on the board!
BATTING:Bakir tops the batting averages (51.0) as well as total runs scored (153). This makes him the only guy to have crossed 100 for the season. Matt doesn't have an average yet (hasn't been out yet), but he looks like the only guy who could give Bakir a run for his money.Next in line on averages are Esh (24 with 3 well compiled 16s, getting out only twice), Sriram (21, helped by his 38NO against SMU) and Bharath (20 from the only innings he's played)
On cumulative runs, after Bakir (153), the next guys have managed only half of this - Paddu and Tapish (77), followed by me (76) =)
No prizes for guessing who tops strike rates - Matt (175), Paddu (132), Raf (128) and Bakir (121) are the guys to count on to accelerate. Admitedly there are other smashers who haven't had much of a hit (Shiv, Nitin Goel)
Boundary hits - Bakir (again) leads with 20 hits to the boundary - 14 X 4s and 6 X 6s... followed by well.... ahem.... me (13 X 4s) =)) and Matt (7 x 4s, 2 x 6s from one innings!!!).
BOWLING:Paddu tops the wickets chart with 10 against his name at a miserly average of 8.5 runs per wicket, a wicket off every 13 balls, giving away only 3.9 runs per over.Tapish is a close 2nd with 9 wickets (ave - 10.6, balls/wicket - 15.4, RPO - 4.1)
Following them in terms of wickets taken are Bakir (7) and Nitin Goel (6).If you're looking for quick wickets, turn to Paddu (13.1 balls per wicket), Matt (14), Swappy (15) or Tapish (15.4)But if you're looking to stop the runs, go to Bakir (3.5 RPO), Paddu (3.9 RPO) or Tapish (4.1)Overall averages - Paddu (8.5 runs/wicket), Bakir (9.9), Tapish (10.6), Swappy (15.5), Nitin Goel (16.7
)Shiv - looked for a way to pat you on the back... so here goes.... BOWLING DISCIPLINE (Bakir's fave topic). Top of the charts are Shiv, Tapish and Bakir (0.4 extras per over)... too bad there's no stat for full tosses per over!! (Shiv - thats for taking a dug at my running!! =)). Then we have Matt (0.7), Paddu and Venkat (0.8).
Catching:Diversity quota rules here. Raf (surprise surprise) and Esh top the charts with 5 catches each. Raf with a couple of blinders in the field and Esh with his new found talent as a keeper.
NET - By the power vested in me by myself, I hereby announce the following titles for the season so far (these might change over the rest of the season) -
Best Batsman - Bakir
Best Bowler - Paddu
Best Fielder - Raf (Esh - Raf is white so he edges you out!!!)
FINALLY - Disclaimer - a lot of this data is based on small base sizes - so expect swings with every game.I will be updating this after every league game. Hopefully thats less painful that creating this in the first place!
Happy IMing! =)Nitin
In the true spirit of over intellectualization of this lazy sunday sport called cricket, I sat down last weekend and compiled the stats of our team for batting, bowling and catching.
Key highlights...
TEAM STATS (because there is no I in team... or something like that):
Highest score so far - 217 in the last game against Tanker Pacific c/o B & M (seemed more like S&M at the time... but that's another story).Lowest score batting first - 161 against Fusion. We really should've got 200+ in this game. But we got 10 points anyway.
Extras conceded by the opposite team are making us look better than we are - 189 of the 885 runs we've scored this season are from extras! That's 38 runs per game!!! Highest average on our team after Bakir.We, on the other hand, have conceded 105 extras of the 664 runs we have conceded. 21 per match. Considering we haven't had to bowl a full 30 in most games - this is still fairly abysmal.Partnerships win matches. But we have only 3 partnerships of over 50. The highest one is the blatant ill treatment of Tanker bowlers by Bakir and Matt who put on 111 for the 5th wicket until Matt got bored =). Then was Tapish and Bakir who put on 63 for the 3rd wicket against Fusion and Esh and me with a 57 run opening stand against Fusion as well. Need to get more 50+ partnerships on the board!
BATTING:Bakir tops the batting averages (51.0) as well as total runs scored (153). This makes him the only guy to have crossed 100 for the season. Matt doesn't have an average yet (hasn't been out yet), but he looks like the only guy who could give Bakir a run for his money.Next in line on averages are Esh (24 with 3 well compiled 16s, getting out only twice), Sriram (21, helped by his 38NO against SMU) and Bharath (20 from the only innings he's played)
On cumulative runs, after Bakir (153), the next guys have managed only half of this - Paddu and Tapish (77), followed by me (76) =)
No prizes for guessing who tops strike rates - Matt (175), Paddu (132), Raf (128) and Bakir (121) are the guys to count on to accelerate. Admitedly there are other smashers who haven't had much of a hit (Shiv, Nitin Goel)
Boundary hits - Bakir (again) leads with 20 hits to the boundary - 14 X 4s and 6 X 6s... followed by well.... ahem.... me (13 X 4s) =)) and Matt (7 x 4s, 2 x 6s from one innings!!!).
BOWLING:Paddu tops the wickets chart with 10 against his name at a miserly average of 8.5 runs per wicket, a wicket off every 13 balls, giving away only 3.9 runs per over.Tapish is a close 2nd with 9 wickets (ave - 10.6, balls/wicket - 15.4, RPO - 4.1)
Following them in terms of wickets taken are Bakir (7) and Nitin Goel (6).If you're looking for quick wickets, turn to Paddu (13.1 balls per wicket), Matt (14), Swappy (15) or Tapish (15.4)But if you're looking to stop the runs, go to Bakir (3.5 RPO), Paddu (3.9 RPO) or Tapish (4.1)Overall averages - Paddu (8.5 runs/wicket), Bakir (9.9), Tapish (10.6), Swappy (15.5), Nitin Goel (16.7
)Shiv - looked for a way to pat you on the back... so here goes.... BOWLING DISCIPLINE (Bakir's fave topic). Top of the charts are Shiv, Tapish and Bakir (0.4 extras per over)... too bad there's no stat for full tosses per over!! (Shiv - thats for taking a dug at my running!! =)). Then we have Matt (0.7), Paddu and Venkat (0.8).
Catching:Diversity quota rules here. Raf (surprise surprise) and Esh top the charts with 5 catches each. Raf with a couple of blinders in the field and Esh with his new found talent as a keeper.
NET - By the power vested in me by myself, I hereby announce the following titles for the season so far (these might change over the rest of the season) -
Best Batsman - Bakir
Best Bowler - Paddu
Best Fielder - Raf (Esh - Raf is white so he edges you out!!!)
FINALLY - Disclaimer - a lot of this data is based on small base sizes - so expect swings with every game.I will be updating this after every league game. Hopefully thats less painful that creating this in the first place!
Happy IMing! =)Nitin
hitting a rough patch!
This has been due for a while.. not surprising cos its definitely not the carrier of the best news.. we lost our cricket match last weekend - after a streak of 4 wins.. Pretty much nothing worked for us .. actually thats not true - some stuff did :) Anyway - lets cut to the point, What worked :
Bakirs batting - im getting bored of writing this - but really - this guy is somethingelse.. very unlucky to get out at 49 - and there is no way he'd get out unless he really wanted to :) - while he is there - the score board is on a perpetual roll!
Raff: Brilliant batting again - and no - im not writing this cos im pressurised by diversity issues ;) - none of the shots in his 30 were in the air hits .. ice cool with no nerves .. ud never know whether he is in a meeting, playing cricket or jsut gunning down germans.. and one would think he should thank the blog writer for championing him..
Swapnil: To me this was the coming of age of swapnil - under a lot of pressure he delivered the stuff .. not too fast , concentrating on line/length - shaping up well to replace tapish!
What didnt:
Catching : 7/8 dropped catches - really - as tapish says - unless u practice, there is no way one can get these ones :(
Batting: (apart from bakir/Raff/Goel/Swap)
Opening: Sriram and Ganji got off to a brilliant starts, both looking their best this season - but both got out to pretty bad shots.. and made me eat my words about Esh - I now revise my stance to a) Ganji/Sriram go in first b) if an early wicket falls, send Esh else send Swapnil (or Matt if he is around)
Middle order: Tapish, Paddu and me pretty much did nothing.
Bowling: we bowled very well in the first 5/8 overs but after that we really didnt do much apart from Swapnil/Nitin goel in patches.. I think we should retain Nitin at opening bowler spot (as he gets smashed otherwise) and he has gotten us wickets in his 1st 2 overs in all matches. Keeping Paddu for later is better option as he can control the old ball significantly better than any1 else in the team (and the league i think).
Overall , I think it was a good jolt to get, and more importantly, it tells us that we need to step up the fielding and catching. At the same time, we need to learn how to keep our heads down and not lose those early wickets. I for one have been humbled - will not scream for the first 10 overs 90 runs that id been asking for - 10 overs - 60/1 is perfect guys.. :)
Bakirs batting - im getting bored of writing this - but really - this guy is somethingelse.. very unlucky to get out at 49 - and there is no way he'd get out unless he really wanted to :) - while he is there - the score board is on a perpetual roll!
Raff: Brilliant batting again - and no - im not writing this cos im pressurised by diversity issues ;) - none of the shots in his 30 were in the air hits .. ice cool with no nerves .. ud never know whether he is in a meeting, playing cricket or jsut gunning down germans.. and one would think he should thank the blog writer for championing him..
Swapnil: To me this was the coming of age of swapnil - under a lot of pressure he delivered the stuff .. not too fast , concentrating on line/length - shaping up well to replace tapish!
What didnt:
Catching : 7/8 dropped catches - really - as tapish says - unless u practice, there is no way one can get these ones :(
Batting: (apart from bakir/Raff/Goel/Swap)
Opening: Sriram and Ganji got off to a brilliant starts, both looking their best this season - but both got out to pretty bad shots.. and made me eat my words about Esh - I now revise my stance to a) Ganji/Sriram go in first b) if an early wicket falls, send Esh else send Swapnil (or Matt if he is around)
Middle order: Tapish, Paddu and me pretty much did nothing.
Bowling: we bowled very well in the first 5/8 overs but after that we really didnt do much apart from Swapnil/Nitin goel in patches.. I think we should retain Nitin at opening bowler spot (as he gets smashed otherwise) and he has gotten us wickets in his 1st 2 overs in all matches. Keeping Paddu for later is better option as he can control the old ball significantly better than any1 else in the team (and the league i think).
Overall , I think it was a good jolt to get, and more importantly, it tells us that we need to step up the fielding and catching. At the same time, we need to learn how to keep our heads down and not lose those early wickets. I for one have been humbled - will not scream for the first 10 overs 90 runs that id been asking for - 10 overs - 60/1 is perfect guys.. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)