the sweet taste of victory?

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..

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!

ahh and yes... do not raise questions on how my previous two blogs are contradictory!

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 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!

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 :)