~ Play For Country Not For Self ~

The Look On Ojha's Face

2012-01-28T06:34:00.000+01:00

"the look on ojha's face after finding out about his fans from Germania"

picture by Sehwagology, who met Pragyan Ojha in Adelaide on 28th Jan 2012, and obviously told him the terrible truth.

With friendly permission.

Oh my slow-left-arm-bowling God

WHAT A CORKER.

You can follow Sehwagology on Twitter and Facebook. and read his blog:

Awestruck,
Wes

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Pakistan - Make New From Old

2012-01-26T08:05:00.000+01:00

Pakistan flag by Alpak

With quiet joy I am observing the proceedings in the Pakistan camp. A lot of things have changed for the Pakistanis in the last year, the heart of their bowling unit got ripped out of the team, followed by loud Cassandra calls regarding Pakistan's future reputation and bowling stocks.

The team has recovered from the blow in a remarkable fashion. Under the quiet and focused leadership of Misbah-ul-Haq, who leads the way he bats the way he looks the way he speaks, Pakistan have put in the hard yards, without any theatrical poses, hysterical screeches or the typical drunken monkey insanity. Misbah himself is thriving as a batsman and leading from the front, accompanied by hilarious because affectionate banter on the social networks. No glitz, no gloss, no disco. Just serious earthy cricket.

There is no such thing as a Posh Gul, Posh Hafeez or Posh Ajmal. The entire bowling section is unfancy and effective. Saeed Ajmal, to some extent, has stolen the hearts of the cricket lovers worldwide with his bubbling personality and wiggly looks; he embodies the image of the good funny chap who you wish to be around just because his mere presence does you a hell lot of good. The odd ten wicket haul raises the question why he was not picked earlier. Mea culpa as well, having been an avid Danish Kaneria supporter I feel guilty and ashamed for my blindness on the other eye.

Misbah's greatest feat however is that in no time he managed to banish the spotfixing aura from the Pakistan team. The trials and convictions have only taken place a few months ago, but when you look at how Pakistan are going about their business, all predictions about how they would carry stains and blemishes for years to come have been proven wrong. The decision to make a clear cut and, thus far, also keep the shady Jacket Boy Wahab Riaz, who for some reason did not get prosecuted, out of the game, must be applauded. His selection would send out a message to all players that if you quietly stay off the radar and keep your head down you can get away with murder.

So for the umpteenth time I am now expressing my hope, and that of many others, for a new age of Pakistan magic. And perhaps a bit of madness. But just a pinch ;)

Cheers,
Wes

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Clonting, Parke And The Indian Riddle

2012-01-24T14:10:00.001+01:00

Good old times. Ponting and Clarke are revelling in their Cardiff memories like an old couple post retirement, enjoying the birds, the warm sunbeams, the neatly mown lawn around them, snacking some chocolates and stretching their old bones out on the garden bench, the awful modern Adelaide architecture posing the backdrop for their romantic reveries.

It has not been that long since both, and a few other members of the Australian Test side, absolutely dominated their tourists at will. Pakistan, always a worthy opponent, and the West Indies come to my mind. The stalwarts in the batting line-up are still the same, in fact, with Watson and Katich unavailable for different reasons, the degree of mightiness has even dropped further.

It is true that the bowling has lost its surprise factor in the lines of Mitchell Johnson, but apart from that the selection has not changed much: Hilfenhaus, Siddle, Harris are by no means bloody beginners. The major difference lies in the limb adorned by the captain's armband: it is less hairy, less magical, less grumpy and, thank God, not covered in spittle from the fingertips to the elbow. (Subsequently, it makes me wonder if the home humiliation against England, and the suboptimal results in the away series against Pakistan, were but a Ponting-related two-off.)

Should this really be the whole secret behind Australia's turnaround? What about India? When they toured South Africa, they did not roll over either. And nobody would accuse the Saffers, particularly in the pre-Tahir era, of preparing raging Bunsens. So what the freeroaming worshipped udderbearer has been happening in England and Australia? I think the Indians are missing Jaydev Unadkat.

Jaydev Hypnokat, why didst thou not get selected???

Seriously. When India travelled to England I was tremendously looking forward to my two least liked teams hammering each other to hell and back. But by the end of the tour the fates of Abhinav Mukund (clearly overchallenged with the role of an opener in English conditions, but goddammit, give the kid some time), brave steedlet Praveen Kumar, the indefatigable Rahul Dravid and poor Giraffe Boy Ishant had moved me deeply.

Now, several Australian single and triple tons and ten wicket hauls later, India have ripped my heart out. I'm not willing to put up with it any longer, with the sight of eleven vulnerable pink bellies pointing up to the sky, the helpless high-pitched puppy yelps, the little paws twitching desperately as the nightmare comes to haunt them time and time again, the bubble of cruel godforsakeness, which enwraps each of the Indian players.

Still this is Adelaide, it has turned into Adelaide after three quick wickets. On paper the Indian batting line-up is capable of occupying Ponting's and Clarke's romantic bench amongst the LEGO buildings from day 3 to day 5. But do they have the willpower to do so, can they be bothered to actually go for it? Please India, try, for Umesh's sake!

Cheers,
Wes

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'Stupid Stat Nobody Needs' Of The Day

2012-01-12T00:33:00.000+01:00

Hi guys, something completely offtopic today.

I was listening to the latest OHOB podcast and they have a new feature called tea time teaser, which is nothing but a stats question asked at the end of the show and answered in the next one. Did you for example know that Mike Hussey has, since January 2008, scored the same amount of Test ducks as Chris Martin - twelve. One has to wonder, is this a defeat for The Muss or a victory for The Phantom? ^^ And the only player who has scored more, fourteen, is Mitchell Johnson. Back then at school I would not have a day expected to come on which I find a number hilarious. Anyway.

This episode's question does not bear quite as much humorous potential as the Muss Martin one, but I love the answer nevertheless:

Which player, who is not a wicket-keeper, has so far taken the most catches in T20 Internationals?

Easypeasy, just go to Cricinfo > Statistics > T20 Internationals > Fielding Records.

I did suspect it would be some Australian/Oceanic thing and lo and behold, the answer is:

LRPL Taylor.

From the start of his T20I career until now 'Lurple' ((C) John Kloppenburg) has taken 39 catches at a satanic average of 0.666 per match. And, even loer and beholder, can you guess the other player in the table with that average?

It is... Mike Hussey.

Now, since we were speaking of Dutchies, weirdly both the Borronator and Pieter Seelaar are sitting together in the table like Siamese twins, with 5 catches each from 9 innings, and thus have a catching average of 0.555. They are obviously trying very hard to grow some horns, hooves and Punter pelt, but while by average they are better fielders than the table topper, the evil factor seems to keep eluding them somehow.

Thanks for joining me for the 'Stupid Stat Nobody Needs' Of The Day.

Cheers,
Wes

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2011 - My Crappy Cricket Team Review

2012-01-02T23:14:00.001+01:00

Disclaimer: This post entirely comprises of my unaltered and un-enhanced memories, the lack of research has been compensated by the inclusion of a lot of shitty English, and only the events my perforated brain deemed worth recalling found entry in this review. Your own memories will most likely be completely different, especially if you have a clue about cricket.

Wes wishes all of her readers a Happy New Year :)

Australia

Madness. Manic laughter. Joy, tears, bipolar insanity. What started out as the longest public funeral in the history of mankind steadied into a slow yet sustainable recovery, with a helpfully unnoticed, successful tour to Sri Lanka, the unforgettable, hysterical South African adventure and a home defeat by New Zealand with a subsequent recovery against the visiting Indians in the last Test of the year. Michael Clarke's men have certainly known to entertain the worldwide audience, who kept their fingers crossed for either signs of rehabilitation or the continuation of the Australian slump. Since bad wishes rarely come true, the revamped Australian administration, also because half of the first string side was hospitalised, unearthed gems like Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins and James Pattinson, but did not manage to convincingly stuff the holes in the batting department. Much of the re-awoken interest in Test cricket can be attributed to the hot and cold Australian Test performances, people were glued to the screen, punters tore their hair out in desperation, no matter what reason suggested, the Aussies would do the opposite. Underneath this billowed surface a steady cool stream has guided the boat to friendlier shores. May Australia's rise continue; setbacks have to be expected, but Captain Pup holds the steering wheel firmly in his hands.

Bangladesh

My brain is full of holes. I only remember that Shakib Al Hasan has grown beyond his own greatness. The Deshis are going through a horrible phase at the moment. Where is the team that gave New Zealand a drubbing, and England a tough time? The spirits are hanging low again.

County Cricket

Middlesex! Middlesex! Middlesex are now playing in Division 1. We conveniently ignore the fact that Surrey are now doing so, too. But we cannot ignore that the great Tim Linley was Surrey's hero of the year. Neither can we ignore Ollie Rayner. Olixander The Great has turned his back on Sussex for good because, smart as he is, he understood that only in symbiosis with Gareth Berg he can strive for and achieve total domination. Domination of what? Well, of EVERYTHING. And he shall not worry for his army of disciples are lying in the dust before his feet, awaiting his orders, ready to jump up and walk over the bent backs of their rivals for His Blondest Highness. Hampshire got relegated. And thanks to the Champions League T20, my ongoing long-term affair with Somerset has deepened even further. Ahhh Zumerzet. No further memories from this summer.

England

Samit Patel. Craig Kieswetter. Flipside: Ian Bell undisputedly and undisputably inhabits positions 1-100 on my smack list. Otherwise uninteresting.... But here's something else Pom-related: England have now disappointed us with two shitty summers in a row! In 2010 the visits by Australia and Pakistan took place, with both teams struggling in the unfamiliar conditions - Pakistan were shaken by the match-fixing scandal and Australia by Steven Smith - and in 2011 [see India]. Since all things come in threes, we can already brace ourselves for another forgettable European season.

Germany

The 'Germs' defended their spot in World Cricket League Division 7 in a series of nervewrecking, thrilling and hard-fought battles against old foes in Botswana *dankeschön* and experimented with a few new guys in the European T20. I hope some useful insights could be gained from that. My Player Of The Year: Javed Iqbal. For 2012 no ICC events are scheduled for Germany, since the European 50-over league got scrapped, for which the responsibles must get birched until they can't walk any more.

India

Got beaten at home by the Windies [long pause.... no gloating, I swear^^]. Now this has been a crazy year in the relationship between me and the team I like least. A lot of things have happened and unhappened again. In stark contrast to their unstoppable march to the World Cup title, India's titanicesque complete and total drowning in England has, dare I say it, shifted them a tiny wee closer to my heart. The giant lying on the ground moaning and bleeding from numerous wounds can soften the hardest rock. I shall of course leave unmentioned my more intensely than ever rekindled affection for Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha and The Dhoni, and will not confess that I have very secretly started to follow Tamil Nadu's Ranji Trophy campaign GO TN GO from the corner of my eye a fair while back. A woman has to have her secrets, no? ;)

New Zealand

From what I remember 2011 was actually a tremendously successful year for NZ cricket. Crushed Pakistan and South Africa in the World Cup, had a good away series in Zimbabwe and put the cherry on top of the whipped cream on top of the 16-layer kiwi Pavlova with a Test victory against Australia in Hobart. Ross Taylor's first campaigns as a captain were certainly shone upon by a bright star. You go LRPL!!! Add to that some tender sprouting in the batting department and, from the viewpoint of an outsider, the exciting discovery of Doug Bracewell, and you'll feel strong and refreshed enough to bear another year of Chris Martin.

Pakistan

[insert big chin scratch] Pakistan played away from nearly any public attention, which weirdly coincides with Misbah's unflamboyant batting and leading style. In the quiet of the night they went about their business with focus and application, found structure and strength. The grapevine murmurs of team unity even, despite the return of show pony and supreme butt exposeur Shahid Afridi. However, the jail sentences for the spot-fixers have shocked me, and a part of my heart wishes they had not been necessary. Out of the three I miss Mo Asif most, since he is not to return to international cricket; not that I can imagine.

Redbacks

The Redbacks won the Big Bash 2010-11 and I swear it was glorious and furious win, with the specialty of a triple spin crown in the form of Adil Rashid, Aaron O'Brien and YES Nathan Lyon, who got picked from the lawnmower and thrown into the cold water , where he swam like a fish as if he had never done anything else. The rest is history: after a stunning Big Bash campaign and just a handful of First Class matches he got selected for Australia A and subsequently earned his Test Cap. There he is now, successfully defending his position as Australia's current No. Test spinner. We shall pull the veil of silence over the remaining Redbacks and Adelaide Strikers adventures of 2011.

South Africa

Vernon Philander. Is there anybody speaking about anything else?

Sri Lanka

World Cup final. Kumar Sangakkara's Cowdry lecture. After which the world stopped caring about Sri Lanka as a cricketing nation. The series against Pakistan, had it not been for a few unremittingly cheering Pak fans, would have been drowned out by the noise caused by the clash of the bigger teams, and the series against England went entirely unnoticed. Had they not pulled the landslide victory against South Africa in the Saffish Boxing Day Test out of the hat, we would by now be wondering what this Sanga dude is about. Sri Lanka have a mountain of work to shovel away, best wishes from the Old World.

West Indies

Beat India in India. Now if that isn't a clear indicator of the New Wave Of West Indies Cricket Domination (NWOWICD) you can call me Klaus-Peter. I'm expecting a lot more of this blazing hot stuff from them in 2012.

Zimbabwe

Back to Test cricket. Everybody immediately thinks of Brendan Taylor's heroics and Keegan Meth's lack of teeth. I seem to recall that even Elton was back in the runs. People will also not forget how Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh. Nobody remembers the defeats that came thereafter. Because we want Zimbabwe to enjoy a place in the sun. The perception of this team has always been a weird one, people are cheering on the victories and ignoring the defeats. This is how much we wish Zimbabwe to be successful. With Graeme Cremer back in the fold -hurrah!!!-, the Zimbies will hopefully be able to take the next step on their return to old glory :)

I wish you all love, peace and apple pies,

Cheers,
Wes

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HILFENHAUL

2011-12-28T02:56:00.000+01:00

Ben Hilfenhaus is back.

Viva la Tasmania.

I love cricket.

Cheers.

Ben Hilfenhaus' post match interview after Day 3

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Australia v India - Five Hours Before The First Test

2011-12-25T19:37:00.000+01:00

The current 22-legged experiment by the mad ~~dawgs~~ scientists at CA: David Warner, Ed Cowan, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke (capt), Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin (wk), Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon, Ben Hilfenhaus (!)

(How Wes reads this line-up:

OMG Hilfy is in the side HILFY IS IN THE SIDE OMGGG world do you hear me Hilfy is baaaaack. Please don't get hammered :/ )

versus

A fearsome and female-friendly selection from: Ravichandran Ashwin, MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, VVS Laxman, Abhimanyu Mithun, Pragyan Ojha, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav

(How Wes reads this line-up:

Hehe Dhoni... has the ears of an emperor! Well... of an emperor's elephant. Still have to see a pic in which he looks shit. Ojha... induce melting process in 3... 2...1... lol 'Wriddhiman' lol lol. Umesh Yadav hopefully I'll get a good stream!!!)

In English:

Bring it on.

Cheers,
Wes

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Josh Taylor: My favourite game of 2011 – Zimbabwe v Bangladesh, Only Test

2011-12-23T17:28:00.001+01:00

There was perhaps a question over height. However, there was never a question over whether or not Kyle Jarvis deserved his fourth wicket of the innings. Umpire Dhamasena raised his finger to trigger celebrations on the pitch and amongst those who had come to watch. Never before had a contest between the 9th and nominally 10th ranked test teams carried so much significance. Following five and a half years in a self-imposed exile for reasons not entirely cricket related, Zimbabwe returned to test cricket under the guidance of Alan Butcher and with a young, highly talented captain in Brendan Taylor.

Zimbabwe flag by Alpak

Though four Zimbabweans made their test debuts, including new ball pair Kyle Jarvis and Brian Vitori, a team unity was clearly visible, one that rose far above the turmoil and divisions of decades previous. This was a side selected on merit, eleven players incredibly proud to be the new faces of Zimbabwe cricket. Bangladesh’s captain Shakib al Hasan won the toss and after three nervous overs, including an unbelieveable missed run-out opportunity, Tino Mawoyo crashed three off-side boundaries off Robiul and Zimbabwe were away.

A century opening stand was followed by three figures for Hamilton Masakadza, a man almost ever-present in the side during the years in exile. Bangladesh clawed the innings back, taking 8-66 but on a Harare wicket showing movement in the air and off the pitch, 370 as a first innings looked imposing. And so it proved, as despite decent innings from Shakib and Mohammed ‘in-out-in-out’ Ashraful, debutant Vitori utilised left arm swing at pace to take 4 wickets and dismiss Bangladesh for 287.

Following a shaky start to the second innings, it seemed apt for Taylor to strike his maiden test century, removing all but the slimmest of hopes of a Bangladesh victory. A declaration at tea on the fourth day displayed how intent the home side were to win and despite some entertaining slogging from Abdur Razzak, the match was only going to end one way. Kyle Jarvis generated away swing to great effect, accounting for four batsmen including Robiul, to end the match.

It was a victory toasted not just in Zimbabwe but by most cricket supporters around the world. Much had been made of the plight of cricket in the country; a victim of political instability, of players departing for pastures new and of rapidly dwindling resources. People rightly hark back to the times of the Flower brothers, Campbell, Johnson, Streak, Olonga. Of course they were days to savour, but Butcher built this current side with the future very much in mind. To move on fully from troubled times is the best way for this ‘new’ test nation to progress, and the 4th to the 8th of August 2011 was the perfect first step.

As for Bangladesh, well they were always going to lose out on this tour. Had they won, they would have been dismissed as minnow bashers. On the other hand, a loss served only to amplify the voices querying their status as a test playing nation. Zimbabwe meanwhile went on to face rather more substantial tests against Pakistan and New Zealand, but nobody could suggest (well, except for Scyld Berry) that test cricket would be better off without them.

~ ~ ~

You have just read a guest contribution by Josh Taylor, the friendly Hampshire squirrel from Clear Cricket. You can get in touch with Josh via Twitter (@halftracker) and Facebook (Clear Cricket: page, profile).

Cheers,

Wes

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Australia v New Zealand At Hobart: Who Let The Doug Out?

2011-12-12T15:04:00.001+01:00

Hobart, day 4

Kiwis, you've stunned me!!! Congratulations, back pats and hair tousles on your most important Test victory in 20 years.

Coming to Hobart New Zealand found familiar conditions and exploited them to maximum benefit. A fair while ago, when thinking about my favourite grounds, Hobart seamed (haha pun!) to me like a natural extension to the row of New Zealand cricket grounds, not just for its picturesque seasidishness but also for providing conditions that more often than not guarantee a high degree of entertainment for the fast bowling fetishist, no matter in which format of the game. New Zealand's young talents were given a more than condign frame to show off their skills, and boy they did. What a historical triumph for new skipper Ross Taylor and a side in the midst of renewal. Young Doug Bracewell, who routinely finished the job for the Kiwis, Dean Brownlie the middle order batsman, 22 year old Trent Boult, and Chris Martin, the Benjamin Button of Kiwi cricket, seized the chance to stomp their feet down and tear the Australian batting line-up apart. Daniel Vettori tragically had to watch the thriller from the sidelines but The Man will be more than pleased with the result.

On the Australians, you have to mention the Vics. Man Of The Series James Pattinson delivered some amazing goods, and with both him and Cummins two extraordinary fast bowling talents have been unearthed for future apocalyptic crusades against the enemy. Even though ahead of the Test I had not got tired of mentioning that in Hobart also Peter George gets 10 wickets. On a side note, the loud howls of the warcry "Vics do it better" are based on the assumption that only Pattinson and Siddle had been able to reap the Kiwi wickets. A bizarre misconception. The wickets would also have fallen, if the selectors had picked a bunch of Indians for the attack.

Oh. I'm beginning to see my mistake here. ^^

David Warner shoved his big fat bat up his critics' digestive channels, and certain people who had been backing him to deliver were hopefully running around in their backyards in the middle of the night with the Australian flag in hand (true story, the latter). It still makes me laugh like a maniac to look at the scorecard and see the highest score of the match, an unbeaten century, stencilled behind David Warner's name, in a game played on a minefield in the lushest of greenhouse vegetation. It's been a long hard battle for Pitbull to reach Baggy Green honours, and unlike any other First Class batsmen complaisantly nodded through, Warner successfully defeated the windmills in the shape of the ever-doubting ignoramuses. Long may his rise continue.

Nathan Lyon showed again his remarkable character, coming in at 11 with a respectable number of runs to get he was determined to finish the job, just like when he helped Australia to double their score in the now legendary Saffa Test. And in my opinion the goal was absolutely within reach. But I am wondering a bit why he basically was on strike all the time. Perhaps Warner should have stepped up here. I'm not saying Pitbull was concerned about the well-being of the asterisk behind his score. But surely he has taken an important lesson from this match: when you are batting with the tailenders, you carry an additional load of responsibility.

An extra word on David Warner and Nathan Lyon. Until the start of the second innings a number of people who you'd expect to know matters better were doubting Warner's maturity as a player of the long format. The same applied to some opinions about Nathan Lyon even after he had proven his value in Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. Views were presented which obviously stemmed from fallacies such as "I and the majority of my readers and listeners only know Warner from the T20, thus he is not suitable for the longer format and will fail" or "Neither me nor my audience have heard of Lyon before, therefore he is a ridiculous pick for the Australian Test side and I feel fairly safe mocking him". Not only does this thinking expose severe flaws in the respective person's logic, but you have to be wondering why people who are paid to write and talk about Australian cricket have no idea of Warner's evolution or have seemingly never heard of Lyon, not even of his leading position in the Big Bash table of wicket takers. But wasn't there also a selector who preferred to walk his dog while Australia were playing Test cricket... I do honestly expect from a professional or semi-professional cricket writer or a panel show of cricket experts to present the facts to their audience and not to simply mirror their readers' or listeners' uninformedness to an extent that makes the average follower of Australian cricket sink into the ground with embarrassment. /rant

Picking a video to round off this post has not been an easy task but eventually I settled for a Peter Siddle press conference, which reminded me of the reasons why I used to collect his interviews :D

That's about all the scrambled egg inside my head can come up with for today. I'm looking forward to the clash with India. Some Indians are already celebrating the victories before the matches have actually taken place. Let's just wait and see what happens.

Cheers,
Wes

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Australia v New Zealand Round 1: New Faces, Old Story

2011-12-04T11:10:00.001+01:00

Lessons from this match:

All hail the brave Lyon king rawwwwrrrrr, 7 for 88 in his first Test on home soil is not bad for an offie with just a dozen or so First Class matches under his belt. Michael Clarke is in stellar form, and loves Nathan Lyon, too. It is overwhelming to see the amount of appreciation, which the hesitantly welcomed Canberra boy is beginning to receive. The Redbacks, who plucked him off the heavy roller's seat and chucked him into the Big Bash arena with stunning results, have ironically lost him to the Australian Test side before they could actually benefit from his talent in Shield cricket.

Those were the times... Nathan Lyon on his way to utter Big Bash success

The looming chopping block brings out the doggedness in Punter. Muss is still struggling. Phil Hughes manages to get out when Australia are chasing 19. David Warner carries the bat on debut. Vics do it better. Hahahaha joking! They are just lucky sometimes.

And the Kiwis minus Dan still collapse like a card house outside their backyards against proper opposition.

Except for Dan Brownlie and Jesse Ryder, who makes 36 in tributoid anticipation of Mark Cosgrove's Test debut.

/daydream

No in fact it is Dan frickn Christian who will possibly stride out into the arena in Hobart!! Well, with some likelihood. Yes he is regarded as inconsistency on legs, but in my opinion he has been improving steadily in the last two years and I hope, and know for that matter, that if he receives the Baggy Green he will fight like a Spartan and ram his claws into the Kiwis' eyes and sink his teeth into their soft bodies and tear out lumps of flesh and gnaw on their bones and... ah you are getting the idea. He will totally be just Dan. Read more about his deservingness in this article by Adelaide Now, and the respective Cricinfo announcement.

Dan Christian as himself

Since Callum Ferguson has totally fallen off the edge of the world - or does anybody actually remember that this guy was once regarded as the future of Australian middle order batting before he sacrificed his health for his fatherland, came back strongly, but nobody freaking cared!!! - I'm now schlepping sacks of fruit and nuts to the temple of DC in order to make him bang in the door of the Australian Test side.

You can facepalm some more over my delirious Redbacks hype if you follow the South Australia Redbacks FB page :)

Cheers,
Wes

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Cricket On The 1st Of December

2011-12-01T15:15:00.001+01:00

Germany WK-batsman Kashif Mahmood supports Bayern München. Poor bloke must have been hit on the helmet pretty often.

India aren't playing. I am endlessly sad and aggrieved. The Harbhajan Singh bashwagon has inevitably come to a halt. And with Surrey signing Murali Kartik an ambassador from the land of the roaming moos is once again going to be a pain in the butt of a team I support (Middlesex in this case).

South Africa are hibernating for another couple of weeks. Sleep won't come though. As soon as they close their eyes a bright boyish smile appears in front of them, slowly running apart until it exposes huge ugly fangs like rusty knives, ready to tear into the flesh and souls of the South African players.

Pakistan. Has any of you guys heard anything about ~~Shahid Afridi~~ Pakistan? I haven't. For proper information please contact the cricket teams of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, should they still manage to pick up a phone.

England have ceased to exist. Hurrah!!!

Australia and New Zealand: no known activities. But admittedly I have not been able to keep track of them anyway, since I'm heaps busy maniacally sacrificing lens cleaning cloths at Daniel Vettori's altar.

Zimbabwe: No news either. And now excuse me, I have to go and roll myself in Brendan Taylor's lucky socks.

Cheers,
Wes

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Mumbai Indians And NSW Blues To Play Biennal T20 - What Shit Is This?

2011-11-24T13:53:00.001+01:00

Shaun Tait's field to Sachin Tendulkar.
Mumbai Indians v Redbacks, CL T20 2010

I will tell you: awesome shit!!! As you may know, I absolutely love the concept of the Champions League T20, there might be the odd thing to fix, but for a meta cricket fan with an interest in domestic cricket it's like the climax of the domestic T20 season.

Now, NSW Blues is one great, star-studded team and Mumbai Indians likewise, but due to the estimated 80% mercenaries on temporary contracts they always bring some fresh faces into the mix. I think the idea of a private little feud between an Indian and an Australian domestic team is just magnificent.

Imagine Bayern München playing against Juventus or ManU every two years -realistically it would probably just be Lyon-, let's call it the Lederhosen trophy!! As a German I would absolutely love that.

Now as I like the NSW Blues and the CL T20 I absolutely welcome this move, since the collaboration extends to many other fields as well. It's great for the fans, as well as the clubs and their treasuries. In fact they should play this every year and try to brand it as some kind of Mini Ashes. And the greatest benefit of which I hope that it will come from this is... Indian overseas players at the Big Bash League ^^ Alright that's a long way to go, but a challenge is there to be accepted! They have signed Poms, they might as well take that last step and look around in India. Imagine an Indian spinner (coughcough) bowling the Redbacks to the title. The mere idea makes me faint like a stupid little fan goat.

The chairman of NSW explains that the match is going to take place "(...) in the month of September in Australia, because in Sydney, at the time, there is a week-long festival called Parramasala. It's held in a region of Sydney called Parramatta where a majority of Indians and South Asians live. It's a week of Indian culture, drama, art; we get artists from India. We thought by playing a short game of Twenty20, it'll fit in nicely to add colour to that."

I am not sure what he means by "short T20", five overs a side? And the event is already being promoted like some happy pancake party with puppies and overjoyed, uninterested young mothers and their blissfully giggling babies floating through the air, not the emergence of the little rivalry one would wish for. However, I'll hope for the best, nothing is eaten as hot as it's cooked.

But they should play one match in Sydney and a re-match in Mumbai of course. A genuine little mini series. The trophy is already in the making, Mark Taylor has been picked as a name giver, the respective Indian counterpart is still to be decided upon.

I think the idea bears great potential and I want the Redbacks to pick it up, too. Unfortunately old rivals Mumbai are now taken already, but Bangalore would be great as well. Keep the flame burning!!! :D

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Edit: It just occurred to me that Mumbai's visit will provide the classic NSW Blues team with a some T20 again, remember, the state T20 teams have ceased to exist with the foundation of the city-based Big Bash League, which is supposed to emulate the IPL a little. How ironic :)

Edit of the edit: it's of course not the Mumbai Indians, but the Mumbai team (which renders the whole articles rather pointless). Thanks to Anonymous in the comments for pointing the misunderstanding out to me!

Cheers,
Wes

Very Green And Very Baggy: The All-Australian Cricket Podcast!

2011-11-23T13:25:00.000+01:00

Click to go to episode 1 of the podcast

A few days ago I said to Ian from The Baggy Green Blog, hey Ian why don't you do a podcast, and lo and behold, the baby has come into this world today! Ian is a Cricket Australia fan machine, the guy lives, breathes and shits Australian cricket, and now he also talks it!!!

He sounds like he has done nothing in his life but recording podcasts, he reminds me a bit of Iain O'Brien in the way he speaks, don't ask me why, he offers the same level of enthusiasm and genuine dedication to discussing cricket. Would love if Ian did live comms during a match, would sure be fun and first and foremost very informative and interesting. The pod has rocketted to a top rank on my personal list of fav pods right away. Let this be a recommendation to you :)

Style: monologue, straight-forward, no frills, no crap, no intro, and most importantly no irritating, infuriating jingles!!! Just the way a pod has to be. Thank you and live long and prosper, Baggy Green Pod!

Subscription links here (RSS, itunes, zune and so on)

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Cheers,
Wes

Pat Cummins Is The New Santa Claus

2011-11-21T19:51:00.001+01:00

Who needs Christmas after this match, I am speechless, and sweatless, and nerveless, and have lost another fair few other things as well during that chase, two kilos of weight perhaps, my mind and my pants. Almost^^

Yeah sure it would have been great if Mitch had been able to hit the winning runs, but then when Haddin went out and I was cursing my rear off, what an epic tale was brought to the ultimate climax in Pat Cummins the kid striking the winning boundary. Do you know the feeling when something is so right you might start to cry. That's how I feel at the moment.

Tests in South Africa are generally always worth following no matter who's touring. Don't know what it is that makes them so interesting, the thing they all have in common is that they are hosted by the Proteas in their home grounds, both of which are among my favourites because they will always provide a great contest between bat and ball. SA have not been able to win a home series against Australia since the Battle at the Teutoburg Forest, and only a liar would deny that this circumstance added some more spice to the contest, and will contribute to the tingle in the next one.

Everybody is lauding this two-Test series as unforgettable, the proof for the vitality of Test cricket, but if you look at it from all sides equally you will realise that this unforgettability is based on some really forgettable outings; like Australia only just scrapping past their lowest ever Test total (thank you Nathan Lyon :)), fumbling behind the stumps, partially wayward bowling, average fielding and small crowds.

As a counterweight shooting stars like Pat Cummins, Vernon Philander and Usman Khawaja have provided the star dust, the excitement and, more or less literally, the wide, happy smiles, thus consequently setting the social networks on fire. So either of these aspects, the mix of the abysmal and the heavenly elements of this match, the light and the darkness, both evenly embodied in the person of Mitchell Johnson, turned this summit of the elephants (buffaloes respectively) into such a spectacle.

I agree with many people who say that his innings might have bought Ricky Ponting some more time. I'm not so sure if this also applies to Brad Haddin's emergency-fifty in the last innings. My head is too full to ponder what might happen next in terms of the Aussie line-up. And what do we make of Phil Hughes??? Let me unearth out a few reminders from you:

I am honestly wondering if he is ever going to start this journey predicted for him...

Anyway. Great series. Wish there had been a decider. The crowds seem do be increasingly uninterested, but the internet boils over during Tests. Are we seeing a shift in preferences here? People simply don't want to sit in the stadium all day any more, when they can as well watch the match on their TVs at home, scratch their butts, get a beer from the fridge without having to enqueue (for the loo neither), or work/do whatever simultaneously, probably particularly the latter. At the T20 the grounds are reasonably full, and in 50 over cricket the disastrous scheduling might effect the crowdkill. Well, that was just a random thought.

My brain still feels like just removed from the pressure cooker, as you can tell from this load of rubbish, so I'll call it quits for now.

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Cheers,
Wes

Sorry Graeme Smith... I didn't mean it so!

2011-11-16T15:56:00.001+01:00

One day before the next Test between South Africa and Australia I have to share this absolutely precious nugget with you. It is called "savausday2".

The post originally appeared on Rishabh's Billy The Worm blog and as usual when Rishabh creates a cricket comic he just nails it (pretty remarkable for a pink little earthworm ;)) Thanks Rishabh for the permission to share this.

And yes just a few days after I thought I was over the old Boofhead, old wounds are torn open and I ruefully take him back. ARGHH! Apart from that, his chest might be fatty, but his brain is not!

Cheers,
Wes

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Warner, Dravid, Sehwag. Just Because.

2011-11-13T08:53:00.001+01:00

Pitbull - ready to bite

So David Warner has been called up to replace Shaun Marsh in the second Test against the Saffas. Judging from the reactions, it still comes as a huge surprise to many. Obviously the broad public can't help associating him with T20, but the elders have long attested Pitbull his capabilities in First Class cricket, where he averages 59.66 (!) at a strike rate of 70.75, albeit from ten matches only.

Warner has always insisted that his goal is Test cricket, and has consequently worked on his game. Smart, patient and skilful are not the first attributes that come to your mind when you think of his brutal outings in the shortest format.

But let figures speak. His high average originates from 16 innings incl. one not out, in which he scored 895 runs altogether. His strike rate seems to suggest that he runs his top of the back of the legs off. But out of these 895 runs he scored a whopping 518 (almost 58%) in fours and sixes. I actually thought that was really much. Until I looked at.... but more on that later.

Now if you subtract these runs and the respective number of deliveries from his total of balls faced and runs scored, you will see that from the remaining 1143 deliveries he made 377 'run' runs (in singles and twos or threes). So minus his boundaries he has a strike rate of 33 (2 runs/over) that gets upped to about 71 by the fact that he hits nearly every 10th ball (9.6%) for four or six.

To put this into perspective here are Rahul Dravid's Test figures: average 52.92, SR 42.43. Over half of his runs come in boundaries as well (50.9%), but he only strikes it big off about every 20th delivery (5.37%). Off the remaining (non-boundary) deliveries he scores at a strike rate of 22! Dravid makes a hundred in more than every 8th innings, and a 50 in over 25% of the rest, so altogether he makes a big score in over one third (34.91%) of his innings. Ahh The Wall. Excuse me while I pause to grin blissfully with eyes turned inwards.

OKAYYYY I know. We should rather look at Virender Sehwag for comparison. Sehwag strikes 64.07% (!!!) off his runs in boundaries. That means he strikes boundaries off 12.68% of the balls he faces, or in other words, more than every 8th ball. Off the remaining deliveries he makes one run every third ball on average (like Warner). Sehwag's overall Test average is 52.30, which is remarkable if you look at his monstrous strike rate of 81.98. Sehwag makes a hundred in about 14% of his innings, which is about every 7th innings (!), and scores fifties in 21.64% of the remaining ones. Overall, he converts 32.69% of his innings into big scores.

David Warner has so far scored hundreds in 18.75% of his innings (about every 5th innings), and converted 15.38% of the remaining innings into fifties, which is an overall big score conversion of 31.25, i.e. nearly one third. Of course you cannot read too much, perhaps nothing at all, into ten four dayers against largely non-international attack. But I am not the only one who is keen to see Warner prove his point. Go Pitbull!

Very unfortunately for injured Shaun Marsh it is him who is returning home, and not little Phil Hughesless* .

I hope Marsh recovers quickly. However, since Warner and Hughes have played at least a few matches together at NSW, perhaps something productive can emerge from this new opening partnership. Here is a post on Ian's Baggy Green Blog that contains some more in-depth views on the possibilities at the top of the Australian batting order.

Cheers,
Wes

*© PFCNFS

PS. I'd like to apologise for any mistakes made in the frenzy, but my brain kept racing and I couldn't stop. Sachin is only missing because the respective numbers are not provided in his Cricinfo profile. Generally the figures given above should be okay, though. Feel free to leave me a comment, or give me a pasting for my blasphemous comparisons on Twitter or Facebook ;)

On The Smack List With You, Graeme Smith!

2011-11-11T13:47:00.001+01:00

I have tolerated his fat.

I have tolerated the fact that he says "Ahhhh, look" in every second sentence.

I have tolerated that he got married (not to me, mind!)

I have supported him through his darkest hours, when even the fiercest of the Saffa fans were crying for his cubic head.

And how does he repay my loyalty?

With a matchwinning, batcarrying, 101notoutbeing captain's knock against Australia!

I've had enough. On the smack list with you, Graeme Smith!!!!!

Cheers,
Wes

It's Not The End Of Indian Test Cricket Yet!

2011-11-07T17:55:00.000+01:00

This is what score of the first India v West Indies Test looks like right now:

West Indies 304 & 21/2 (14.0 ov)

India 209

No, the match isn't taking place overseas, the tragedy is unfolding in India. Of course the Indians can still win the match, but they'll have to pull the socks up high here.

Upon expressing my surprise on Twitter I got the following reply from Homertweets (hope Shrikant doesn't mind me quoting him here):

'@WesPFCNFS wake up and smell the coffee sunshine.. Its IPL or bust!'

To be frank, even if all signs seem to confirm this assumption, I still refuse to believe it. Giving up on the highest form of the game contradicts anything I've ever learnt about India so far. Indian fans are obsessed with rankings, they always want their team to be the first, the best, the most, the highest. Still fresh in my memory are the jealous Indian moans during the last football world cup, from which India were shut out due to the lack of a proper football team; the ecstasy after winning the cricket world cup at home this year; and the satisfied tummy pats all around when India had climbed to the top of the Test ranking, particularly compared to England, who almost made an embarrassed impression after taking possession of the five day throne.

Therefore, I'm stubbornly ruling it out that the Indian cricket fans are willing to let India's reputation in the highest form of cricket go down the drains for the sake of a domestic T20 tournament. At the end of the day, Sachin is still God, The Dhoni is not to be doubted, Rahul Dravid still has a frenetic following, and in the bowling department some delicate, pink, albeit bearded, little flowers are shyly blossoming.

Also, Indians -except those to who it doesn't apply of course ;) - are classical in-rubbers, i.e. each and every success will be smeared on the opponent's bread with great determination, each defeat is played down with the most adventurous excuses and you needn't waste time disagreeing here because I know what I'm talking about! This is why India is the most popular and most important opposition a cricket team can have. The fire and the steam that comes with every match against the Indians turns the clashes into the most entertaining and exciting battles on a cricket field. I have written about the necessity of a strong Indian Test team already and can only repeat myself here.

A friend of all things Russian, Pragyan proudly presents his newest
samowar.

Spotting the above tweet, Sehwagology rebutted:

'@HomerTweets @wespfcnfs - except we keep finding good test bowlers. :('

I bet Sehwagology is sharing my dream of locking up Praveen Kumar and Pragyan Ojha in a room for a couple of years in the hope that many arduous, consistent and workhorse-like little Test bowlers will emerge from this.

I find it a tad weird but also exciting that it's India's bowling that keeps the Test flame burning. The passing on of the sceptre from the batsmen to the bowlers, especially the ones I had selected for worship a fair while ago already, makes the team a lot more amiable to me. There is of course still a huge gap to fill in the fiery, searing, cattywampus fast bowlers department, but pace alone seems not be indispensable as long as India can open the bowling with Pragyan Ojha...

...OMG OMG finally we have reached the paragraph in which I can bubble with joy about the selection of my favourite non-Australian spinner besides Ollie Rayner. I had predicted that he would save Test cricket and there's no doubt that he must have read this post and thought by himself HELL YES I'M GONNA DO THAT.

He took seven out of the twelve Windies wickets that have fallen so far, it should have been eight even, and will hopefully keep steamrolling on tomorrow. It is a shame that the selectors have only picked him in a Test they perhaps did not deem that tricky, but who cares, Ojha is the man. Please allow me to rub my belly in satisfaction, and to happily nibble on a chocolate-filled cookie.

So for the love of Test cricket, let's hope India can steer the boat into safe waters.

Cheers,
Wes

PS You can always join me on Twitter or Facebook for a little banter.
PPS Apologies if you find that this post is all over the place :P

About Couch Talk - The Cricket Couch Podcast

2011-11-01T15:42:00.001+01:00

This post is long overdue, let me introduce to you one of my all-time favourite cricket podcasts:

Couch Talk - The Cricket Couch Podcast is hosted by Subash Jayaraman, an Indian cricwit residing in the United States. As far as I know he also publishes at Spin and is the co-founder of the cricket website Clear Cricket. Anyway.

Why is the Couch Talk one of the best cricket podcasts around? Because Subash gets them all. Jarrod Kimber, Nitin Sundar, Osman Samiuddin, Dileep Premachandran or Firdose Moonda; the chat with the latter has been one of my favourite episodes to date. A lot more nuggets than those I am remembering right now have inhabited Subash's Couch, not just renowned cricket journalists and officials, but also fans, bloggers and pundits such as Nishant Joshi, the mastermind behind Alternative Cricket, mspr1nt from the Wicket Maiden, the great Anupam Mukerji from the Pitch Invasion radio (this episode prompted me to tune in to the station and what shall a say except for confessing that I'm a true PI zombie now) or former Zimbabwe bowler Henry Olonga; this was a cracker of a pod as well and a must listen for all who are genuinely interested in cricket.

But it's not just the quality of the guests which makes this show so enjoyable. Subash is usually well-informed, has researched his topics well, audibly loves what he is doing and first and foremost he allows his guests get into a flow, he gives them the opportunity to open up and tell their stories, just like the psychoanalyst would do with his patients; while he himself just gently guides this stream of words by asking the occasional question. The result is a fantastic and pleasant, informative and inviting listening experience, which is, by the way, introduced and concluded by the greatest cricket podcast theme music in the history of the sport. It gleams and glitters like the sole star in an otherwise pitch black sky, because let's be honest, most podcast jingles have obviously been made to annoy the living hell out of the listeners. But this one does not only please the ear, but puts dancing little hearts in my eyes whenever it is playing. Kudos to Aravind Murali for creating this wonderful piece of music.

Sana Kazmi (@sanakazmi) and Masuud Qazi (@MasuudQazi)

So, if this show is dripping with nectar and honey - and liquid chocolate -, why am I writing this post only now? Ashes and dirt all over me, but it needed the appearance of Magic Masuud, aka Masuud Qazi from the Bloody Cricket Blog, to pen down these lines of delight. Masuud has been attending the London spotfixing trial and is talking about his experiences there, in tandem with Sana Kazmi, world's most well-known Afridi fangirl :P, and both give their thoughts on the latest Pakistan-related topics, a very insightful talk this is, and it provides the listener with a good dose of new brain food. You guys should check this out!!

You can follow The Cricket Couch on Twitter @thecricketcouch and via Facebook The Cricket Couch, and of course also subscribe to it on itunes: The Cricket Couch on itunes.

Hope you're gonna enjoy the pod as much as I do,

Cheers,
Wes

Australia's Little Ones

2011-10-27T21:26:00.000+02:00

Awwwww. They are so funny and innocent still.

Patrick Cummins and Mitchell Marsh are doing a tour diary during Australia's current visit to the Saffaland (where the moocows are mooing louder than anywhere else and they also have more meat on the hips, healthy and happy moocows they are, with shaggy fur though and bucket hooves, hence a related story is discussed by the two shy little Aussie rugrats).

I hope that during the Test leg of the tour, when Mitch Marsh is not a part of the squad anymore, Usman Khawaja will join Pat for some banter. Uzzy is hilarious, as anybody who has read his diary on the NSW website will have to confirm.

Now watch this:

PS. I know that some of you want to Mrs. Robinson Mitch Marsh. I can see it down at the bottom of you black hearts!! ^^

Cheers,
Wes

Aussies Who Don't Sledge

2011-10-25T14:48:00.000+02:00

The Pitch Invasion guys and girls brought up a very interesting topic in one of the latest shows:

Which players in the recent history of cricket never sledge anybody?

When the question came to Australia, a lot of umming and ahhing filled the room, until one eventually managed to come up with the names of Michael Hussey and Pat Cummins, the latter of who still being too new-born and innocent to spew out any verbal filth, but sure to catch up with Watto and Mitch very soon. I was shocked by this poor outcome and also slightly irritated because I couldn't think of any other players either. This can't have been it already? So my brain started rotating and as usual, the thought process yielded some amazing results:

The first name that popped up was Nathan Lyon. This guy is just too odd-looking and too decent to have a dig at the opponent's female family members. He's awkwardly-spoken, but decent. And how could they forget about Nathan Hauritz, the greatest non-sledger (and probably also biggest sledge-receiver) in the history of mankind! Which takes us to Xavier Doherty... can you imagine Xavi sledging anyone? I can't. And Steven Smith? Well to be frank, he has the balls, but probably keeps his mouth shut for obvious reasons.

Are we beginning to see a pattern here? Yep. Australia's presumable non-sledgers are almost all amongst the recently picked spinners. Now compare both, their success with the ball and amount of foulmouthery, to Shane Warne's. Are we beginning to see a pattern inside the pattern? And why the heck has nobody noticed it yet?

So here's my advice to Australia's recent, current and future spinners:

For the sake of God, fatherland and cricket, start bloody sledging!!!

Cheers,
Wes

India v England - The 'Payback' Series

2011-10-23T17:50:00.000+02:00

Does anyone remember how Australia, losing the last two Ashes series,
beat the shit out of England in both of the subsequent ODI series,
away and at home?

No?

Cheers,
Wes

Are You Kakmal In Disguise

2011-10-21T15:44:00.000+02:00

Due to not being able to watch yesterday's 3rd ODI between India and England I just read the Cricinfo bulletin and nearly choked one my tongue upon the realisation that Craig Kieswetter had not only fluffed the Jadeja runout, but also two further, very costly chances earlier in the game.

Kies is not considered the next Gilchrist, not even the next Manou. He has his critics. You would expect him to make the odd mistake. But last night he must have had a shocker. Had the subcontinental air, the relative closeness to the Pakistani border, benighted his mind and nullified his skills?

No, I will tell you what it is: the bloke is under immense pressure. With Buttler and Davies and half of England breathing down his neck he cannot afford any hiccups behind the stumps, and let's not talk about his spot as an opening batsman in ODIs, a dance in butter stilettos on glowing embers.

It could not become any more obvious than in this series that nerves turn into failures, failures turn into more nerves, which will turn into more failures. Give the guy a break! Tell him that he's gonna play in the next 10 matches. Let him calm down, settle in and do his job.

Kies can.

Cheers,
Wes

Are India The Most Boring Cricket Team In The World

2011-10-17T18:11:00.000+02:00

India either win by a large margin or lose totally lamely, at least that's what most of the matches look like which I have recently followed. Actually I am wondering if this could be backed up by statistics, don't think so, they aren't Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, and I guess there are as many nailbiters amongst their matches as amongst those of other teams, but that's how it looks to me.

I am waiting for a match involving India that makes me cling to the edge of my seat, the last one I enjoyed was the tie against England during the World Cup about 500 years ago, and I want more of this, moooaaaaarrrrrrrrr!!!

Come on the cappuccino boys, I know you can do it. Give me some sugar, some pepper, some spice! Lose some wickets, get only just over the line, take the series to the last match!

I hope the Poms will buck up and win the next one to insert some life back into this tour. Otherwise I will be doomed to follow the rest of the series just for the sake of listening to Pitch Invasion. Don't get me wrong, it is brilliant on its own, but it would be even more fun with the panelists killing themselves and each other with excitement ^^

So come on Poms, pull the socks up and come back hard!!!

Cheers,
Wes

Ollie Rayner Has Joined Middlesex And Nobody Tells Me!

2011-10-14T18:36:00.000+02:00

Ollie Rayner in his Middlesex attire

I think my eyes just popped out of my head!

Ollie Rayner has joined Middlesex in a permanent deal, the news was hidden at the bottom of the Dalrymple departure article. Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god?!?

To anyone who has been following Middlesex's fate in the County Championship Division 2 over the last two years with at least a quarter of an eye (like me) it is fairly obvious that Sussex mercenary, Teutonic hunk and PFCNFS pet Ollie Rayner has single-righthandedly dragged Middlesex out of what you can basically call the utter gutter, and effected their promotion to Division 1.

This post was actually a draft I never published -had a tummy feeling that there was still something coming in this regard- , originally about Middlesex exploiting Ollie Rayner's invaluable services in order to get promoted to Division 1 and then leaving him to rot with Sussex in the basement, but there is justice and decorum in this world, and Ollie has been signed for good, yes for good, because they would be fools, with barn gate sized holes in their heads, to let him go again.

So what can we look forward to next year?

A full freaking season of Gareth Berg and Ollie Rayner, the Snow-White & Rose-Red, the Hänsel & Gretel, the.. well... Stan and Ollie of County Cricket. Berg has been absolutely outstanding this season again, if you don't believe me look up his figures, I have shamefully failed to acknowledge his performance appropriately thus far; and we shall not forget how the these two Marilyns kickstarted Middlesex's 2011 season to put the club's promotion aspirations on a solid basis.

Anything else?

Ohhhh yes. Another year in the centre of Middlesex's frontline significantly increases his chances to spearhead the German ascension to Test Cricket. And when the glorious day has come we shall commemorate his 2011 season in our ~~Hakas~~ Schuhplattlers. A furore germanorum libera eos domine! Harg harg.

On a more serious side note, gratz the Middle! Too bad Hampshire have gone down... will my two favourite county sides ever play a four-dayer against each other? Perhaps in two years already, when Middlesex have inevitably returned to Div. 2 due to their lack of Owais, and should Hampshire fail to get re-promoted (likely, given Howell's, Tahir's and Hamza's absence, as well as Corker's full and Macca's gradual retreat from the county of brain.)

Anyway. Lobet den Herrn!!! ^^

Cheers,
Wes

Match-Fixing: Australia's Bracken-, Excuse Me, Bracket-System

2011-10-11T20:01:00.000+02:00

The Mazhar Majeed tapes are keeping the cricket pundits on their toes, as more and more details from Majeed's meetings with NOTW Journalist Mazher Mahmood are cropping up during the London spot-fixing trial.

I am sure that most of you are informed about the latest proceedings and everybody has more or less already made up their minds about these news, however, there are a few things that need to be taken into consideration:

What speaks in Majeed's favour is that his revelations have proven sufficiently true in the past. Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif have all been found guilty. Furthermore Majeed has now also thrown the names of Imran Farhat, the Akmal brothers and Wahab Riaz aka Jacket Boy into the mix, out of who Kamran Akmal and Wahab had been under scrutiny by the pundits anyway (and the letter combination S-Y-D-N-E-Y is starting to hover above my head again). Majeed nebulously stated they were "his" players. Interestingly, he did not mention Danish Kaneria.

It never gets old: Wahab Riaz aka Michael Jacket (Pak v SA ODI 3, Dubai, 2 Nov 2010)

Apart from that the past has shown that not even the most reputable men are able to resists the call of cash, and in the world of corruption there exist no frontiers.

The bracket fixing, of which Majeed speaks, sounds like a proper plan due to its relative undetectability. Bowling-wise, depending on the match situation, only one player is required, however if you want to fix the batting things get a bit more complicated.

Ummmm. These were the thoughts that crossed my mind when the fear crept up that any Aussies could indeed have red stains on their hands as well.

Here's how James Sutherland reacts to Majeed's claims. I am not sure if he has understood in which way the allegations against the Pakistan trio emerged, since he keeps harping on the fact that the ACSU has not approached him over any suspicious observations, and hence suggests that Majeed's statement holds no water.

Now, what are the factors that make Majeed's claims appear like the incoherent mutterings of the Crazy Cat Lady?

Majeed states to have close connections to Brad Pitt, Roger Federer and other celebs, who he could recruit for a cricket tournament; as well as to have managed Chris Gayle and Nathan Bracken, and to know the agent of Ricky Ponting; the latter two of who had their respective representatives deny any such claims vehemently. Further names he mentioned during his boasting fit were those of Brett Lee, Yuvraj Singh, Habhajan Singh, several retired England players, Lalit Modi, and even that of former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf.

Another argument against Majeed's claims is brought forth by the ACA CEO Paul Marsh, who rather harshly replies that "...one of the differences between the Pakistan players and our players is we've got a proper player system in place here. Our guys are paid well, they are educated well and you would have to question the motivation our players would have to get involved whereas in Pakistan they are not paid very well, are not educated very well and they leave themselves open to approaches from blokes like this."

Also, unlike in the case of the no balls, which can be executed individually by single players, the bracket system applied to the batting period can only work, if a certain number of players collaborates. Since Majeed speaks of ten brackets per match a considerable part of the Australian line-up would have to be involved in the fixing, which currently overstrains my imagination.

But: since Amir, Asif and Butt have been found guilty, one cannot even approximately estimate at which point in this cascade of swaggering and name-dropping the truth ends and fantasy begins.

So although it seems that Mazhar Majeed might simply have exaggerated the facts grossly, these "new" revelations, recorded over a year ago in the course of the investigations by NOTW undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood, have opened a new can of worms. It remains to be seen if any consequences accrue from these claims apart from Nathan Bracken litigating the bejesus out of Majeed.

What a huge pile of dung.

Cheers,
Wes

Help Save BBC Cricket!

2011-10-08T16:29:00.000+02:00

Last night I saw this article on Will Atkins' The Short Midwicket blog:

Save BBC Cricket

It came to me as a major shock to hear that the BBC wants to cut costs exactly there where it hurts not only us continental and overseas county cricket followers most. Will, a well-known and popular Middlesex pundit and aspiring cricket journalist, details why the the move is wrong, and tells you what you can do to protest the decision, and thus the most likely consequences.

I'd like to add that the live coverage of the county cricket matches, broadcast not only via radio but also internet stream, does not only serve as an umbilical cord between the expats and their home clubs, but it also recruits new county cricket fans and followers in the most unlikely corners of the world, and thus helps spread the word of cricket (and should therefore actually be ICC-funded, but that's another story ;)).

Had I not stumbled upon Kevin Hand's excellent Middlesex live coverage, not got addicted to the highly emotional commentary and hilarious banter between him and his guests and co-hosts there would not have been any Middlesex section on this blog. No Berg-bandwagon, none for Toby Roland-Jones and none for Ollie Rayner.

I wouldn't have a clue about the delectable rivalry between Middlesex and Surrey, Mark Church's excellent and charming coverage of the Surrey matches, and first and foremost I would not have started this mindless, highly enjoyable Tim Linley hype during a time when he was still trying to get picked for the first string side regularly.

Facebook page "Save BBC Cricket"

Twitter account @SaveBBC_Cricket

I also would not keep my fingers crossed for Somerset and Sussex, and godcanyouimagine I would not know anything about Hampshire. The mere thought makes me writhe in pain. In fact I have met so many great people through following the county cricket I can't even recall all their names.

Thanks for all that, Kevin.

And due to the insights into the whole county cricket circus I've also grown a soft spot for some of the English players.

No thanks for that, Kevin :P

To cut a long story short, a summer without the BBC cricket coverage has become unthinkable for me.

So please guys, join the moan and support the protest against these cuts, if you want to keep enjoying how Kevin nearly kills himself trying to pronounce archipelago or Satyanarayana Srinivas. And if you love your county cricket!!!

Cheers,
Wes

Champions League T20 - The Redbacks Are Out

2011-10-05T22:33:00.001+02:00

Royal Challengers Bangalore v South Australia at Bangalore
[scorecard]

Don't know what to say. Anybody who has seen the match will understand what I mean.

Dan Harris with his gorgeous 100, Ferguson with his well-timed 70, and at the end Dan Christian piled on a total of 214, of which I thought the Redbacks could defend it rather easily. What a foolish thing to believe. Klinger's injury, which earned him a free ride in an ambulance, now seems like a bad omen.

Of course the same batting conditions applied to the opposition as well and the Kohli/Dilshan partnership took the match away from the South Australians. Until Shaun Tait, omitted in the last two matches, came back for an incredible, mindfunking three over spell, and the wickets fell in bunches. Dan Christian, who had been granted the honours to bowl the last over, had to defend six runs with the last ball... and gave them away.

I still can't believe it. Hats off to Bangalore for chasing this total down. I had a feeling at the start that it would be Kohli-Day.

After the previous match against Somerset had been abandoned without a ball bowled, and the teams earned one point each from it, both South Australia and the English side were in the position to reach the semis, if they won today. Somerset lived up to the expectations and kicked the Warriors out of the competition.

Now it is up to NSW to keep carrying the Aussie flag. I hope they and of course Somerset will reach the final.

Cheers
Wes

A Cricket Post On New Germany's Birthday

2011-10-03T18:54:00.000+02:00

Happy 21st birthday to my home country New Germany. This bulky, yet kinda handsome young bloke from the heart of Europe is now allowed to drink in the USA! But I guess he'll rather just have a glass of water^^

On this occasion I would like to say thank you to everyone including my mum, who dared to stand up for a democratic change in 1989 and risked their safety and lives, and those of their families, to make East Europe a better place, and to finally end the Cold War.

Without these guys I wouldn't be sitting here writing these lines on my own blog.

Without them I would not be reading English cricket websites, would not be talking to cricket players -and their mums- from Israel, to fellow Redbacks supporters from Adelaide, or cricket-obsessed maths teachers from New Zealand.

I would not be able to engage in heated discussions with cricket wits from Asia, I would not be sharing big hopes with fans from Zimbabwe, I would not debate cricketing buffaloes with Bangladeshi Saffa-fans residing in Canada, I would not be watching live matches on the internet, or laughing my arse off listening to an Indian cricket radio station.

Without these guys, Rana-Javed Iqbal would not have taken 8 for 9 against the team of the Czech Republic. I would not know who he is. I would not know cricket. There would not be a Czech cricket team. And there would not be a Czech Republic.

Now, like every cricket fan I tend to view life as a match of cricket, and to explain and describe it in cricket terms and metaphors. So, here comes the inevitable question of the day:

What sort of cricket player is New Germany?

As a right-handed batsman he is a heavyweight in the middle order, who can always be relied upon to save the innings, if the top order has imploded. Not a Hussey yet, but he's working on that problem with Katoesque determination. Gifted with seemingly infinite patience, he would rather scratch around for a whole day than chuck his wicket into the bowler's throat. The tailenders and younger players generally like to bat with him because he protects them well and makes them feel safe, so that they can concentrate on doing their job. He is a player of the classical Test mould, has a fairly good range of shots and uses his feet against the spinners to some success, but takes no risks. Unlikely to get stumped, run out, or caught in the deep. When he middles it, the ball tends to fly out the ground.

Fantastic ODI batsman, but will never really make it into the T20 team, because he values his wicket too much. His Test average oscillates around 48, but not everyone in the team appreciates that. Everybody knows that he could bat at the top, but he insists that he's happy with what he calls "opening the middle order batting".

He is a handy medium pacer known to bowl in precisely the same spot for hours and hours, but he hardly has any tricks or tactics up his sleeve, and if he knew any, he probably wouldn't make use of them. Once or twice in a day he likes to bowl the odd bouncer, just to underline his standpoint.

Whenever the captain tells him to field at slip or short leg he starts to grumble, because he does not like running around with a helmet on. Eventually he gives in, realising that everyone in a team has to take responsibility. However, if the captain employs all-too-offensive tactics, he often would just like to leave the field. In such situations he is unmotivated to the point of stubbornness, and needs to get kicked and dragged along. He believes that he will not change his mind on this issue in the foreseeable future and therefore is assigned tasks of a more auxiliary nature, which he can accomplish enthusiastically and reliably.

He doesn't understand the concept of sledging and will thus often be seen shaking his head and sighing sadly.

As the vice captain of the side he knows how to guide and motivate the team, but he sometimes tends to try and do all the batting and bowling by himself. Although he encourages the less experienced players and those that are going through a form dip, he needs to dare delegate work more efficiently to the other seniors in the team.

In the dressing room he is not considered the greatest entertainer, he hardly ever sings, and he dances like a bear. Often he can be found sitting in a corner pondering his technique, the mistakes he made in past matches, and how to do better in the future. He likes to share these experiences with the younger players, but some just roll their eyes over his endless repetitions of "this mouldy old shit". Sometimes he has his 'special five minutes', in which he audibly wonders if winning is the primary goal of the game, and if it is fair to crowd eight fielders around a No. 11.

Mrs. New Germany:
Hides inside the house, terrible WAG

Doesn't really have a best friend in the team. People who know him better are ok with him around. He is expected to deliver and usually does; he considers these expectations an indirect way of expressing appreciation and is content with that. He benefits from his thick skin when it comes to putting up with the different kinds of personalities in the team.

In private life he is married with a gorgeous girl, who buzzes with energy. She likes to cook, to sing and dance, and to wear beautiful dresses. People turn their heads after her when she shows up outside the house, but it doesn't happen very often. He loves and admires her exuberance and joyfulness, but they just won't rub off on him.

Overall, he looks like he's still gonna have a long and successful First Class career ahead of him. Some say he has peaked already, but with his skillset, learning aptitude and the game changing so quickly, predictions are really hard to make.

I'd pick him any time. Would you?

Cheers,
Wes

Master Of Puppets

2011-10-02T19:23:00.000+02:00

I just spotted a great post by Tim Holt, it is called Cricket Marketing 101- Use The Name Of Sachin Tendulkar, in which Tim de-constructs the cheap and obvious strategies employed by Shoaib Akhtar's PR consultants, who use the name of Sachin Tendulkar and the remote-controllability of his easily manipulable zealots, to increase the sales of his silly little book, and the hype around it. On this occasion Tim also mentions how bloggers more or less blatantly exploit Sachin's name to trigger a deluge of blog visitors.

From the top of my head I can name several blogs who played that card. I did that, too, as a rather obvious pisstake on this strategy of "no given f*k + little effort = many clicks"; put Sachin in the title and gazed at the jump in visitor numbers with disblief. It is hilarious, and it gives you a feeling of power over the masses, to summon them just by pronouncing the magical two words, but at the same time it is also scary to get overrun by a raging mob, and logically copping a fair bit of stick from them as well. Tim, in his article, calls them fanbois, I used to call them "Sachin zombies" and Sachin the "zombie master", and if you adopt the role of a high priest, by singing his gospel and giving the Sachin sermon, you can control them as well, which is exactly what these bloggers are doing. The same crazy effect does, BTW, also apply to Shahid Afridi.

Which means that the current constellation of Tendulkar, Akhtar and Afridi involved in one and the same incident is getting mirrored as a superangry multi-climax in the visitor figures of any cricket-related medium. This peak in the traffic stats, and subsequent slump, also seems to suggest the other way round that the respective audience doesn't care about much else (but I guess most people I personally talk to are "meta" cricket fans, who are interested in cricket in general and will click any headline that promises a good read).

What I find interesting as well is how different the priorities of the fanbois are, if you compare Sachin and Afridi as players, their image, personality, reputation and aura, and what they have accomplished in their careers. But I guess it takes a bunch of bored sociologists to analyse the motivation of the two kinds of fanatics, and their reasons for picking these two specific, opposite types of national sports icons to idolise.

But back to Tendulkar, the tactic of utilising his name while actually not giving a shit could be observed excellently when Sachin had made his ODI 200. Everybody wanted to have their share of the traffic cake, and Sachin posts kept popping up on blogs on which you would otherwise not find a single article about him, let alone India in general. Some even posted two posts in a row about him, making it fairly obvious that they were just trying to stay at the top of everybody's blogrolls *ahem*.

Most bloggers are amateurs, hobby writers who don't earn a single penny with their texts. So why this frenzy, this anxiety, if you couldn't care less about the player? Apparently the blogger's currency, in which his or her efforts get rewarded, is attention, reputation, response, approval, and the great summoning powers described above; measurable by the number of clicks, comments and shares. Shoaib Akhtar however is milking the holy Sachin cow for real monetary profit, measurable in his bank account, and willingly aided by anybody who picks up his cheap manoeuvre and helps him deliver the word to the potentially outraged.

I would say Akhtar 1, Bloggers 0

And while we, the media, the bloggers, readers, consumers and Akhtar, are getting lost in this secondary theatre of war, there is a guy whose market value benefits most from these permanently and continuously bubbling emotions, which provide him with seemingly eternal public omnipresence... his name is The Little Master, and he needn't even pull the strings :)

Cheers,
Wes

This post also appeared on DieHard Cricket Fans

Champions League T20 - The Redbacks Strike Back!

2011-09-27T20:13:00.004+02:00

Kolkata Knight Riders v South Australia Redbacks at Hyderabad
[scorecard]

Callum Ferguson... Australia's most extravagant omission

Since I have little time today let me just hammer some figures around your ears:

Callum Ferguson 70* off 40, Dan Christian 41 off 27

Dr. Daniel Harris due to another three wickets is currently second in the bowling table with Rusty Theron et al... lulz? And this ranking includes the wickets taken by bowlers in the qualification tournament as well!

The Redbacks have pulled this back magnificently here, of course you can't tell if dropping Tait and unfortunately also Rashid, and drafting Gary Putland and Kane Richardson in, effected the change of fortune or not, but the change worked insofar that they have won today. We have to take into consideration that South Australia could bat first and were thus, thanks to sensible batting all the way, in the position to confront KKR with the big total, which of course helps any bowler. But on the other hand Putland and Richo shared five wickets amongst them and bowled well in the given circumstances.

However, a win is a win. The team is now heading to Bangalore, hope they can take the momentum with them.

Onward and upward from here!!!

Cheers,
Wes

PS. Aaron O'Brien did not just bowl well (best econ), but he also took another ripper, just saying. If you are nice I will undig the GIF I made of stunner he took in the Big Bash^^

Champions League T20 - Redbacks Under Siege

2011-09-25T15:47:00.000+02:00

Warriors v South Australia at Hyderabad
[scorecard]

Well to make a long story short, after losing the toss and thus bowling first, the Redbacks' new ball bowling basically gave away all the runs that made the total unchaseable. While the two Dans, Redbacks Player Of The Year Dan Christian and Dr Daniel Harris, bowled wonderfully at max 6/ov and took four of the five wickets, Shaun Tait leaked a shocking 13.25 per over, and opening with the spinners was perhaps not the smartest move (although in the Big Bash it worked at times). I am not blaming Taito for the large Saffa total but he's had one of his mitchy lowlights today. Hats off to JJ Smuts for his 88 off 65; Saffa greats Mark Boucher and Colin Ingram made the best of their stays at the crease as well.

Having to chase 172 the Redbacks batsmen crumbled in the face of the classy South African bowling attack, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Rusty Theron, Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Nicky Boje are all experienced campaigners and past or present fixtures in the South African national side and I must admit that their experience made the difference here. It felt a bit like two different worlds clashing and the side with plenty of internationals in it came out on top.

Generally the competition is a lot tougher this year and due to the qualification round all of the weak teams got eliminated prior to the group stage, unlike last year when there were still a few punching balls around, on whose defeats you could coast to the semis. I guess the Champions League really deserves its name this time.

The Redbacks will now have to look how to plan for the next match, whether to stick with the three-pronged spin crown, or to throw another seamer into the mix. Gary Putland has done a good job for the Redbacks over the last years, and Big Bash final protagonist Kane Richardson is surely keen to get a shot as well. I'm having the feeling that perhaps Ben Edmondson could have added value to the attack... :(

Cheers,
Wes

This post also appeared on DieHard Cricket Fans

The Champions League T20 Starts With A Cracker

2011-09-23T23:55:00.002+02:00

Champions League T20
Royal Challengers Bangalore v Warriors at Bangalore
[scorecard]

The death at the death ^^

What a wonderful opening match, energetic, closely fought, with great performances by both teams, and won by good running off the last ball. You really couldn't have asked for anything better, except perhaps for an audience more appreciative of good, exciting cricket.

For the third time in a row I find myself tremendously enjoying this tournament, no matter how many Indian teams are taking part in order to improve attendances, TV ratings, or to make an Indian winner more likely.

I think the point of the Champions League lies somewhere else. You still get to see the deserving domestic teams from all bigger cricketing nations, and being able to enjoy the Warriors again, this wonderful organic combination of many of my all-time Saffa faves, captain Johan Botha, the eternal Nicky Boje, the ginger dominator Rusty Theron, the good old Lonwabo Tsotsobe aka Tsobie ((C) PFCNFS), and the legend that is Mark Boucher, as if they had not been away from the screen for one year, felt as pleasant, refreshing and inspiring as in 2010.

I am actually wiping a tear over Botha's stunning knock and the way Rusty turned up in his second and final spell. Like warm apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream: comfy food for the cricket connoisseur. Plus, somebody said Nicky Boje was 38 - I deem this a blatant lie :D

And on top of that, due to the lopsidedness towards the IPL participants, a whole bunch of other favourite players of mine appear in the competition as well. With delight I watched Daniel Vettori putting in a fighting performance with the ball as the captain of "the opposition", Anil Kumble was jumping around, AB de Villiers played his part, and the Messrs Kohli and Gayle do at least command my respect.

So I will keep enjoying this tournament as in the years before, even the matches in which none of my favoured teams are playing; in fact the CL is one of the highlights of my personal cricket year, and of course it would be nice if the Redbacks or NSW or Somerset or some Saffas made it to the final, but even if not, there's always a bunch of guys playing for who you can keep your fingers crossed. Thanks for that, Lalit.

Cheers,
Wes

This post also appeared on DieHard Cricket Fans

Shahid Afridi Will NOT Play For The Redbacks In The Champions League T20!!!

2011-09-17T17:31:00.000+02:00

Because, why the blooming heck would he?! The last (and only) time he played for them was two seasons ago in 2009/10, and he did not follow this up with an appearance in the Champions League 2010 either! So why would he suddenly pop up now and play for them in the CL, after getting replaced by Adil Rashid in the last Big Bash?

Redbacks squad for the CL: Cameron Borgas, Daniel Christian, Tom Cooper, Callum Ferguson, Daniel Harris, Michael Klinger, Nathan Lyon, Tim Ludeman, Aaron O'Brien, Gary Putland, Adil Rashid, Kane Richardson, Chadd Sayers, James Smith, Shaun Tait

Hope this helps,

Cheers
Wes

That pic would actually make for a great blog logo :D

How Selecting Pragyan Ojha Will Save Cricket

2011-09-16T23:11:00.000+02:00

One of the great moans of the summer, not just uttered by me, but by a lot of Indian fans as well, was how Ojha continuously managed to fly under the radar of the selectors. By now he has brought this art to perfection, spectacularly bowling his county side Surrey CCC back to Division One by taking 24 wickets at 12.96 in the four must-win Championship matches for which he was signed when Surrey's promotion looked in danger (please scroll down for the match list), but I dare doubt once more that the gospel has reached Indian shores.

Pragyan Ojha (r.) with Aditya (@forwardshortleg)

Surrey cricket manager Chris Adams joins the chorus:

"It's not for me to comment on India's selections but I'm amazed he's not playing Test cricket," Adams said. "I strongly believe he will play 100 Tests for India, from what I've seen. I may be hitting high, but he's a wonderful bowler with wonderful skills. I expect him in the next six months to break into the India team and be a permanent fixture."

Which takes us to my obvious yet probably initially incomprehensible wish for a strong Indian Test side. Wait, what? Yup. Let me explain it to you.

Why it is in everybody's interest that India take a leading position in the longer formats:

In Germany we have a saying: "Viel Feind, viel Ehr'!" ('many foes, much honour'); whenever in my short career as a cricket fan Australia managed to beat India, it was a great reason to celebrate, a triumph eliciting joy and happiness. Compare this to the hollow dissatisfaction felt by most of the hopeful curious onlookers during India's English summer, and you will know what I mean.

Secondly, India is undoubtedly the largest cricket market in the world. If India are doing well at Test cricket and ODIs, the market will stay interested in the Indian Test and One Day side, and thus Test cricket and ODIs will keep enjoying a somewhat high priority not just within the ICC but in general; a necessary counterweight to the dominance of T20, which is sprawling rapidly throughout all levels of national, international and regional cricket and taking possession of the virgin, susceptible minds of young players. No, I have not given up the hope yet that somehow we can get our European 50-over league back, fool that I am :)

Thirdly, happy Indian cricket fans are friendly Indian cricket fans. It is very good for everybody's nerves.

Of course you might argue that deflated Indian cricket fans are silent Indian cricket fans, which is even better...

I think that's a matter of personal preference; as a hippie I would pick the jolly ones over the suiciders.

Therefore, select Ojha.

Quod erat demonstrandum ;)

Cheers,
Wes

Pragyan Ojha's Championship matches for Surrey in 2011:
2/19, 2/29 v Leicestershire
1/40, 6/8 v Northampstonshire
1/83, 2/42 v Essex
4/48, 6/42 v Derbyshire

This post also appeared on DieHard Cricket Fans

This only looks like an India post but it is not

2011-09-14T18:33:00.000+02:00

India's English summer disaster is slowly and quietly coming to an end, the players are looking forward to finally going home, hiding under their blankets, silently crying into their pillows hoping the pain will subside rather quickly, and therefore abstaining from any participation in the ICC's annual award ceremony.

Naturally the ICC finds they need to drag the Indians and their luckless Euro campaign back into the spotlight and humiliate poor MS some more by declaring him the winner of this year's ICC Spirit Of Cricket award for starring in England's cricket nadir of the summer.

In case my opinion on this incident has gone unnoticed: Bell deserved to stay out for the rest of his life, for his hubris to umpire his own match, and not calling himself an arrogant funkwit afterwards. Dhoni being awarded for the circumstances that bullied him into retracting his decision - a stadium full of angry English drunks (potential vandals and looters as we know!) and the Pom staff embarrassingly doing a Henry IV in the Indian dressing room - is frankly said absolutely ridiculous. He rightfully refused to react to this farce.

I'm not saying this because Dhoni is sacrosanct thus I assume a foetal position and freeze in religious paralysis each time he opens the mouth. Honest.

Tim Southee won the ICC Pigeonhole Of The Year Award for some admittedly impressive bowling figures against Pakistan approx. 25 years back, which I don't even remember. The same applies to the performance of the second most serious contender for the award, Tim Bresnan *mwaha Paks*

Devendra Bishoo, Emerging Player Of The Year, beat PFCNFS-pet Azhar Ali in the respective category, and subsequently walked straight onto the smack list.

Some more farcical rubbish: Afridi not making the ODI team, Malinga being its carrier of drinks, New Zealand not winning the annual New Zealand Award, and Steven Finn not becoming ICC 12th Man Of The Year (thanks Finny for pointing this out!).

Ai haz a finished.

Cheers,
Wes

Thank You, Nathan

2011-09-01T21:57:00.000+02:00

Redbacks and Adelaide Strikers spinner Nathan Lyon took 5 for 34 on his Test debut against Sri Lanka

.... for preventing me from writing two India posts in a row. Keep going boy, and don't ever think of leaving SA.
BTW here's Greyblazer's preview of the Australian bowling attack, he'd have picked Lyon over Beer as well, but suspected Aus would pick Beer ^^

So, yeah, as you can see, I'm still alive, kind of :)
Cheers,
Wes

India Are Still Pissing Me Off

2011-08-10T23:47:00.001+02:00

I am writing this after day 1 of a certain Edgbaston Test, and in a state of utter crabbiness and mental disarray. Although my brain is temporarily being inhabited by a little curry-munching caterpillar, at least for the duration of this tour, hence this solitary supportive post, India wouldn't be India if they didn't manage to annoy the indigestibles out of me on every thinkable and unthinkable occasion.

Well obviously and doubtlessly India are getting pommed because Harbhajan was as useful as a third nipple. On a very interesting side note, Harbhajan's bowling began to suck right when he stopped irritating me. Or am I confusing cause and effect here? Sanjay Manjrekar on the other hand offers the expert opinion that Harbhajan couldn't take any wickets because he isn't Shane Warne. Duh.

What is Ojha doing in the squad? Dancing naked on the rooftop and shaking his vegetables? Cause I ain't seeing him play!

How useless has Sachin been so far?!?

I think I like Sreesanth. No, really... I. Like. Sreesanth. *chucks self off a skyscraper in slow-motion with a dynamite stick in the pants whose fuse is burning down in slow motion, too*

The Indian fans are still a bunch of nutty lousewits, abusing Praveen of all people; him, who has been the only player besides Dravid and in parts Ishant and Sreesanth, who actually pulls the socks up (in his case the socks were probably fuming considering how many overs he bowled because of the shoddy performance of *odders*)! Oh yeah and swatting Swann with his mighty, mighty Swannswatter has endeared him to me all the more :)

Speaking of Ishant, my favourite long-haired giraffe has accidentally run into unfriendly talks with an ill-tempered lawnmower. On the smack list with him! Yes I am superficial like that.

Thank God the man with the greatest name in the history of Indian cricket, Gautam Gambhir (pronounce it with a strongly exaggerated Apu accent), is back in the side. You go Gauti!!! Until you stumble on 38, that is...

Saviourwag out for a Golden! Can't believe they've dropped my latest pet Mukund for that!!!

And St. Doughknee is finally in the runs, alas, it looks like a lost cause already. Unless a miracle happens, like a Laxman 500 or Ishant taking 10 before lunch tomorrow, India are fooked, their No. 1 spot is fooked, and worst of all, England will be the new kings of Test cricket.

Excuse me while I seek the loo.

Wes

Zimbabwe - A Muffin Recipe

2011-08-08T18:44:00.000+02:00

Zimbabwe v Bangladesh, Only Test
[scorecard]

Majestic. Good, thrilling and entertaining Test cricket. Attitude, style and a very happy end.

If Zimbabwe's return to Test cricket was muffins the recipe would look as follows:

Ingredients:
1 captain's knock
2 effective newbie bowlers
2 useful opening batsmen
1 special Hammy ton
8 wickets for Mpofu and Elton
opposition that gets punished for mouthing off
epic reward for a very aggressive declaration

Preparation:

Mix all of the ingredients except for the last two in a large bowl with a green tinge on the bottom. Line a muffin pan with eleven red wrappers, transfer the batters into the pan. Bake at medium heat for five days or until a stump comes out clean. Immediately glaze with the reward and generously sprinkle with the punishment.

Serve warm and enjoy.

Way to go, Zimbies :)

Cheers,
Wes

Euro Div 1 T20 - Final Post, Finally!

2011-07-26T21:18:00.009+02:00

[galleries] [match reports] [tournament home on cricinfo]
[table and scorecards Group A] (Austria, Croatia, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Italy, Norway)
[table and scorecards Group B] (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Jersey)
[results and scorecards play-offs]

Germany

Germany v Gibraltar [report by Cricket Germany]

Well well. Germany lost their last match against Gibraltar, and perhaps it's because the Gibs are slowly overcoming their long-term slump, or because Germany had made some very bold line-up changes ahead of the match to give the back-up players another opportunity to gather experience, rested Javed and Milan, played three wicket-keepers and pushed Asif down to 8... yup, Germany had actually travelled to the Islands with three potential keepers in the luggage, and in the final we played all three of them, a funny constellation you won't see too often in an international match.

Ehsan Latif finished the tournament on a high, he had been bowling really well, but perhaps would have liked a few more wickets, but against the old foes Gibraltar he bowled just magnificently, 2-19 plus 15 runs, I'm very pleased for him. Kashif Haider enjoyed a fantastic tournament (more on this further below) and also in the last match he showed the opposition where the frog has the curls, 2 wickets, although they came at a price, and 23 runs as a middle order batsman.

The others

A few remarkable results were achieved on the last day, Israel rammed the broken Croatians into the ground and won by a large margin, they will be wondering why it took them until the last match day to deliver such a brilliant performance. The strong Norwegians also dominated in their last match, bundled France out for 70 and strolled home. Denmark inflicted on Italy what was essentially the great-grandmother of a drubbing, you rarely get to see an implosion like this Italian one, congratulations go to our northern neighbours for deservedly earning the crown.

Glory to the king

Kashif Haider (c) Cricket Germany

Been thinking of awarding a player with the "PFCNFS German Player Of The Tournament Award" and am ending up handing it to Kashif Haider :)

He's been the best and probably most consistent and reliable German bowler of the competition with 11/164 at 14.90 a piece and a more than decent economy rate of 5.85, and I liked how he approached his batting tasks -which included a brutally hammered 37* in the decider against Croatia- with a confidence that earned him the No. 6 spot in the batting line-up in the last match, in which he successively top-scored. Not bad for a guy who is classified as a tailender and usually bats below the other spinners and Rana-Javed Iqbal.

I'm wondering if he could be a lower middle order prospect for the future, i.e. as a pinch hitter in T20s, but nobody knows how the team will look in two years... however, not many will disagree if I say that it's cool having an aggressive, effective and experienced leggie like Kashif in the side and I hope he stays available for a long time to come.

Some other players really impressed me as well:

I liked what Dilshan Rajudeen was doing up there at the top, two matchwinning knocks in seven matches plus some really excellent stuff with the ball and in the field. Wish the tournament had been a little longer, so that he could have really started to thrive. Had the feeling that he was becoming some sort of core unit over the course of the competition. Dilshan was the second strong contender for the PFCNFS award :)

Two other names that kept sticking to my mind like glue were Syed Shah and Imran Chaudhry, I think they really contributed key performances and justified their selection especially if you consider that they had big shoes to fill. Both of them fired right from the start and turned out as key players quickly.

Kashif Mahmood and Ayoma Abeywickrama were kind of rivalling for the WK spot with Ben Das, which resulted in all three of them getting the gloves chucked at their heads seemingly randomly; all did well as far as one can interpret from the scorecards, but Kashif stuck out to me, Ayoma didn't get a lot of chances to shine, but I would really like if they got some more opportunities in German colours.

Of the veterans Javed Iqbal (I hope he has recovered from his injury), captain Asif Khan with his big knocks and Shakeel Hassan proved their class once more, I needn't make a big wave here about the hard yards they're putting in for the team time and time again, but would just like to say that I am really, really happy about the seniors that are playing for Germany, hopefully all them will be there again in two years...

Speaking of two years, I had actually planned to attach a longer rant about the ICC's politics in the regions, but it's still kinda halfbaked and I need to wait for some further info.

So all I'd like to say at this point is how glad and grateful I am to be able to follow such an awesome team (that includes the staff) and would like to express my thankfulness for the great rollercoaster ride and respective happy ends to each of these adventures in the past 12 months, can't wait until the Germs climb the bus or plane again to travel the world and show what hard wood they are made of. Thanks everyone for the great time.

Cheers
Wes

PS: If you like this blog, don't hesitate to follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook for a nice cricket chat :)

Final Euro T20 Post In The Works

2011-07-25T22:22:00.000+02:00

.... apologies for the delay

Euro Div 1 T20 - Day 4 - Play-Offs - Germany Ruthless | Italy, Denmark Qualify

2011-07-24T11:21:00.003+02:00

First of all commiserations to Israel and Croatia, as I said in both the previous posts Israel were nowhere near showing their full potential, and while their bowling undoubtedly picked up penetration towards the end, Josh Evans, again, and Herschel Gutman each with 3 for less than 20, their batting line-up simply didn't fire. I would not be too worried about them, though, they will immediately ascend to Div. 1 again in the next Euro T20 cycle.

Italy and Denmark

Big congratulations and bear hugs go to Italy and Denmark, who with remarkable performances against the two hosting sides Jersey and Guernsey secured their spots in the World Twenty20 qualifiers in Dubai next year. Denmark downright pummelled Guernsey into defeat with another display of absolute dominance.

Germany

Asif Khan (l.) and Dilshan Rajudeen top-scored for
Germany (c) Cricket Germany

Croatia v Germany [cricinfo scorecard] [report by Cricket Germany]

In brief, Croatia didn't have the ghost of a chance. In detail, after losing the toss and being put in Germany had reached 48-1 after 5 overs and my confidence grew. Well it was not like we had a choice, do or die was the motto. The next update appeared after 10 overs, Germany had swiftly moved onward to 92 for the loss of just one more wicket, and I quietly estimated our COW to be something like 80%, excluding any kinds of spontaneous implosions that is. At 151-5 with 5 overs still to bat I chuckled in disbelief, and when the innings closed at 222-7, the highest total scored in the whole tournament so far and the new German T20 record, it was pretty obvious that we had successfully defended our spot in the sun.

With glee I noted that both captain Khan and Dilshan Rajudeen had fired again, and when eventually the scorecard was put online you could figure that Dilshan had played a very smart, yet commanding opener's knock, while Asif absolutely smashed the Croatian bowlers left and right. Very useful runs came from Imran Chaudhry once again; additionally the two Kashifs, Mahmood and Haider, came over the Balkan bowlers like the apocalypse. I am especially happy for leggie Kashif Haider, who crowned his excellent bowling performance in this tournament with this unbeaten 37*.

Croatia must have been shaking in the face of this, frankly said, near unchaseable total, and our bowlers made light work of the Croatian batsmen. Germany largely banked on spin aided by part-timers, which meant that Ehsan didn't play. After his injury in the previous match Rana-Javed Iqbal was luckily up and running, as well as alive and kicking butt massively again, had Croatia in a shambles at 14-2 and conceded a mere 13 runs in his four overs, a mindboggling feat on a 222-run pitch. Kashif Haider, in the wickets, too, went for just 17, the second spell that left the Balkan brigade desperately gasping for air. Shakeel Hassan, Imran Chaudhry and Dilshan Rajudeen (:D) shared the remaining spoils amongst them, with Shakeel and Dilshan taking two each and none of them leaking too many.

Remarkably Germany's performance curve in this tournament is nearly congruent to that in Botswana; after demoralising initial defeats they bounced back strongly and clicked in the decider. Perhaps the old lore about Germany being a tournament team proves true in cricket once again.

The others:

France beat Austria mainly thanks to Ayya (48) and Zika Ali (4-13) again. Norway registered their fourth win in six matches, beating Belgium by 3 wickets, I'd like to especially congratulate the Norwegians on their achievement, as they surely weren't having an easy time out there with the horrible tragedy in their homeland on their minds, and they generally deserve praise for playing a very strong tournament. Gibraltar defeated Israel in the second relegation duel and will therefore remain with us in Division 1, is this the turning point for the Gibs?

Today:

On the last day of the tournament the final rankings are determined... Denmark and Italy will fight for the ultimate crown, and we are facing Gibraltar in order to find out if we are still dominating them ;) Here's the full list of today's fixtures, the matches start at 9 GMT / 10 BST/ 11 CET, except for the grand final, which is staged in the afternoon at 14:30 BST:

3rd-4th match: Jersey v Guernsey (FB Field)
5th-6th match: France v Norway (Farmers)
7th-8th match: Austria v Belgium (Grainville)
9th-10th match: Germany v Gibraltar (Victoria College)
11th-12th match: Croatia v Israel (Les Quennevais 1)
Final: Denmark v Italy (FB Fields)

There was something else I was going to say, but it must have slipped my mind over night. All I can say is well done Germany, exceptional performance and attitude in the most crucial match of the competition, please try and finish the tournament on that same strong note,

PS: If you like this blog, don't hesitate to follow me on Twitter or friend request me on Facebook, I'm always up for a nice cricket chat :)

Cheers
Wes

Euro Div 1 T20 - Day 3 - Girte hain sheh-sawar hi maidaan-e-jung mein

2011-07-23T09:35:00.001+02:00

("Only warriors fall on the battlefield")

This is what my friend Zeeshan replied, when I told him about yesterday's saddening defeat. Now I am smiling, somewhat happier... how right he is! Nevertheless, we are are now left in the situation of having to play winless Croatia, the carriers of the red lantern in Group A, in today's play-offs...

Not many words shall be said anymore about the crushing defeat handed to us by table toppers Denmark. The Danes had immediately recovered from their little slip-up against Belgium and bullied their way to victory against both our batting and bowling. Since this is a blog and not a newspaper I claim the liberty not to mention the Messrs. Klokker, Ahmed, Pedersen, or Bashir Shah ;)

However, my thoughts go out to our veteran quick Rana-Javed Iqbal, who in his heroic attempts to keep the wickets from tumbling hurt himself on the chin and had to be treated at hospital. Hopefully, hopefully it is nothing too serious and he can take the ball in hand again today. Speaking of German cricket greats, here's another nice pic kindly provided by national scorer Wraye (who needs a Twitter account, unless she already has one):

The Germs during practice in their new, heaps awesome and incredibly stylish training kits. Click to enlarge.

Israel

Israel v Belgium

Although Israel were bowled out for 106 I believed for a long time they could pull off a stunning victory. Josh Evans, who has had a tough time in the Island this year, bounced back with a magnificent bowling performance of 3-14 off his 4 overs and sent three of the Belgian top order batsmen back to the hutch, and after the Israelis had taken another two wickets Belgium were reeling at 57-5. But that was the last wicket Herschel's men could take and so unfortunately they finish the group stage without a victory, which In my humble opinion does not display their potential in the slightest.

The others

Please refer to the match reports linked above for more results, I would just like to mention the once-in-a-lifetime performance by Austria's captain and wicketkeeper Amar Naeem, who, in Austra's match against Croatia, smashed an incredible 100* off 63 and collected 5 stumpings and a runout. A truly kaiserliche performance, I hope the Austrian cricket board pays him in Linzer Taler :P

Today

So after the group stage is over the play-offs take place today, in which the teams face their counterparts from the opposite group each, you know the pattern: A1 v B2, B1 v A2, and so on. Since we finished second last in our group we are meeting the 6th ranked team of Group A, which is Croatia. Here's hoping for a big big big win... relegation looms!

List of today's fixtures, the matches start at 10:00 GMT/11:00 BST/12:00 CET:

* Italy v Jersey (Farmers)
* Guernsey v Denmark (FB Fields)
* Austria v France (Grainville)
* Norway v Belgium (Les Quennevais 1)
* Gibraltar v Israel (Les Quennevais 2)
* Croatia v Germany (Victoria College)

To be honest I have no favourites concerning the two qualifier spots for the World T20, but will hope that among these two Guernsey could make it. At the end of the day of course whoever takes the honours will be Europe's best possible representatives at the World Twenty20 Global Qualifier to be held in spring next year.

I will be keeping an eye on the score and my fingers crossed for the men in red and so should you. We are absolutely capable of beating Croatia, but they are in the same desperate situation as us and so I expect them to fight nail and tooth. But that's one of our strengths, too, and the weather looks good, so all that's left for me to say is

Go the Germs! :)

Or, as Brian Mantle puts it: "Verlieren ist heute verboten."

PS. extra happy cheers back @ Kashif Mahmood ^^

Wes

Euro Div 1 T20 - Day 2 - Germany Are Back With A Bang

2011-07-22T02:56:00.001+02:00

[galleries] [match reports] [tournament home on cricinfo]
[table and scorecards Group A] (Austria, Croatia, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Italy, Norway)
[table and scorecards Group B] (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Jersey)
Ball-by-ball coverage: [Croatia v Norway] [Jersey v Belgium] [Jersey v Denmark] [Guernsey v Italy]

Day 2, originally to be played on Wednesday, got completely rained out, so the teams had 24 more hours to recover from the two Tuesday matches and gather their spirits. The weather improved vastly on Thursday and luckily allowed for proper results from all matches.

Germany
[day 2 report by Cricket Germany]

Yeah what shall I say, after two straight losses we have registered back to back wins on Day 2, absolutely amazing, and for me personally one of these days on which I will happily trade any pay TV cricket broadcast for seven or eight delayed score updates on a slow website.

Israel v Germany [really really awesome gallery]

Since Israel were sadly not looking too great on Day 1 most of my and the team's hopes would have rested on beating the Negev nurdlers and then seeing where the momentum can take us from there.

Israel opted to bat and Daniel Hyman looked dangerously well-settled making a half-century before getting wrestled down by Kashif Haider (a splendid 2-16 for the leggie from Bochum) stumped by Ben Das, who was back behind the wicket! Some double figures were racked up by other batsmen as well and Israel reached 138 off their 20 overs. Of course -the regulars among you have seen this coming- I cannot leave Rana-Javed Iqbal's 2-22 unmentioned hehe.

Our batting had seemed to be a bit wobbly and although 138 doesn't look unchaseable I thought ok let's see. And indeed, both openers went out without scoring and No. 4 Kashif Mahmood didn't hang around for too long either, all three of them falling prey to Eliezer Samson, but lucky is the side that calls a Khan their own! Captain Asif (59*, 7x4) ganged up with Imran Chaudhry (60*, 2x4, 3x6) for a thrilling 109-run partnership to see the 'Germs' home within little more than 16 overs, lacking the respect especially for the bowling of Herschel Gutman, who went at 10/ov.

YES! Germany had bounced back, got the first win under the belt and that always seems to get us going, and not for the first time King Khan leading from the front provides the backbone for a great partnership that eventually results in a victory.

Germany v Belgium

With a much more optimistic approach we took on the powerful Belgians. I had not realised that they had lost their first game of the day versus Jersey, scoring a miserable 85 all out, and so they suffered their second defeat in one day, this time by the hands of, let's be frank, Rana-Javed Iqbal, as despite a decent German batting performance (144 off 20 overs mainly thanks to Dilshan Rajudeen) and some devilishly good bowling by Syed Shah (3-19), the ever-performing Shakeel Hassan (2-22) and Kashif Haider once again (2-28) Belgium only needed 6 or so from the last over with two wickets in hand, and who if not Javed could have been picked for this job! A runout and two dot balls later he held the final wicket in his hand! Okay okay I'm shutting up already. But hey, death over madness is the whole point of T20 :)

Concerning the batting I would like to add that Dilshan probably felt he was due a score and boy he delivered it, 58 off 47 from the young opener, a half century that provided the foundation for Germany's successful defence. A useful contribution came from Shakeel Hassan; Fazal Rathore made 16* in Boom Boom style. And, tadaaa, Javed gave himself the runs he needed to bowl that last over, adding 14 off 16 at the end of the German innings.

Wicketkeeping-wise the coach juggled his act yet again and this time he asked Kashif Mahmood to slip into the gloves. A catch, two runouts and a stumping leave me with nothing to complain about! ;)

Furthermore I have ordered temple construction for the two new players Syed Shah and Imran Chaudhry, wow.... stunning performances right from the start. Chaudhry, in his amazing knock against Israel, was batting with a runner from the 7th over on and still made the highest score of the match, simply astonishing. If you consider that the side is more or less a patchwork job, since so many new players have been added, the understanding must be like amazing. Shah on the other hand, of who I had known embarrassingly little, except that he had recently moved from Göttingen to Hamburg and is considered a "great spinner", absolutely justifies his reputation.

Sorry for this brainless stuttering, just trying to do some maths here, as the official match report will probably not be up before tomorrow. But!!! German national scorer Wraye Wenigmann -cheers!!!- bestowed this absolutely priceless gem of a team photo upon me, look for yourself, I am still trying to pop my eyes back into my head:

Dear fellow cricket bloggers, look closely at this picture, or click to enlarge if necessary, and then tell me if your teams love you the same :P

Thank you so so so so much everybody! And by that I also mean Mr. @Cricket_Germany, Brian Mantle, as well as Brian Fell for his gripping match reports, which really enable you to relive the entire action, and first and foremost also all of the players that have previously played for Germany and did not manage to travel to the Channel Islands this time, but have carried us from the European 50 over league straight through to the WCL Div. 7; thank you for all the hard yards you have put in for the side, this place would be so much more boring without you.

We have now climbed to the fourth rank in the table, with Belgium and Israel below us! Tomorrow Denmark, what will we be able to muster I wonder... we were tipped as one of the teams who could make it into the semis... hey Jungs, was haltet ihr von der Idee? Ehsan wie siehts aus? ;)

Israel

Unfortunately Israel have registered another two losses today, first against us (see above) and in their second match, in which they bowled so well and restricted France to 112, they folded completely and could only make 80 in their reply. To be honest their performance so far leaves me with a big question mark above the head. Can't really blame it on Gabi Schachat's absence anymore, can you... :(

I *know* they can do better than this, not sure why they aren't clicking quite yet, there is heaps of individual talent in the side, perhaps they are a little overawed by the presence of all these bully teams, dunno... Depending on the doability, it would be important for them to organise bilateral matches, of course their geographical situation doesn't make it easy for them to just hop across the border, but maybe something regular can be organised involving the Mediterranean teams... just some mutterings from a tired brain.

"De odders" (Dhoni):

Group A: Austria had sensationally beaten hosts Guernsey in the morning, but crumbled to 64 all out against Norway later on and had no chance defending this total. Norway have won three out of their four matches so far, impressive performance by the Norsemen! Gibraltar celebrated their first victory of the tournament in their match against Croatia, the latter are winlessly stuck at the bottom of the table.

Group B: Denmark are back with two wins from their today's matches, they also beat hosts Jersey and are occupying the top spot in Group B. Annoyingly France, having got beaten by Denmark today, are ahead of us only because of their superior net run rate. Grrr.

Alright I've just realised that somebody has obviously replaced my brain with mashed potatoes, so that's good night for today and thanks a lot to the great people who were so kind and wasted their time talking to me over the course of the day, from Germany as well as from other countries, you are awesome :D

PS: If you like my blog don't hesitate to follow me on Twitter or friend request me on Facebook, will gladly respond.

PPS: If you detect any BS in this post let me know... will gladly put it right... tomorrow! ;)

Cheers,
Wes

Euro Div 1 T20 - Day 1 - Suboptimal Start For Germany

2011-07-19T23:32:00.003+02:00

[galleries] [match reports] [tournament home on cricinfo]
[table and scorecards Group A] (Austria, Croatia, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Italy, Norway)
[table and scorecards Group B] (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Jersey)
Ball-by-ball coverage: [Denmark v Israel] [Austria v Gibraltar] [Israel v Jersey] [Gibraltar v Norway]

The opening day was almost entirely dominated by the bowlers. Bowl first and win seemed to be the motto in most of the matches, and as a result we saw a lot of small totals that could hardly be defended. However, there are exceptions from every rule...

Germany
[day 1 report by Cricket Germany and pictures of the new kits]

Germany v Jersey:

German key figures: Imran Chaudhry 36 off 25 incl 3 sixes, Syed Farid Shah 2-19. Alright expecting to beat the elephants of the tournament would perhaps have been a little too much of an ask but I am so happy that two of the most reputable new players have immediately taken the bull by the horns. Gut gemacht Jungs!

Germany v France:

Asif put France in and the Frenchies managed 126 off their 20 overs. Doable? Yes. After 5 overs Germany were 33-0. Doable? Hell yesss! The next update appeared 5 overs later: 45-5!!! WHAT??? Must be a typo surely??? After 15 overs they had recovered to 75, but were needing like 10/ov... eventually were all out for 92 in the 19th over, the young French quick Zika Ali taking 3-17. Our France specialist FarOOq Ahmed must be sitting at home with a bleeding heart!

Sorry I don't mean to sound negative, will love and support the German team always, but I'm just a bit gutted for the boys here, and tomorrow will be another difficult day with matches against Israel and Belgium, the latter having beaten both France and Denmark today! Some more thoughts on Germany can be found at the end of this post.

Israel

The legation from the Holy Land shared our fate today, got beaten by both their opponents, Denmark and Jersey, rather comprehensively, after being put in and not amassing enough for their bowlers to defend, although Herschel Gutman of course couldn't help being impressive. They will face us and France tomorrow.

The others

Norway start with a win out of their two opening matches, they beat Gibraltar, who are still struggling and started into the tournament with two losses, the defeat against Austria being the other one. Italy fulfilled their expectations, and beat Croatia (narrowly) and Austria (convincingly). Guernsey and Jersey won both their matches as well, so the only hiccup has really been Denmark succumbing to Belgium.

What we can take from the day is that the favourites have justified their reputation, and are joined by the very strong Belgians.

Sorry my friends...

... if I really don't feel like writing more on today's events. While our bowling might suffice I have the nagging feeling that our batting is really the weak spot here. Am not happy with the absence of Tarun Rawat and Ashwin Prakash in particular, because (just my humble, ignorant and completely irrelevant opinion) we should perhaps try and give the youngsters a chance to gather some more international experience, but yeah "life is the biggest obstacle in life" I guess, and you can only pick 11 players for the match and have to make a harsh decision sometimes...

I will also keep beating the drum for Ayoma Abeywickrama, since judging from the Göttingen FB group updates he seems to be a good batsman, and deserves some more opportunities to show his class.

These views are all just based on hunches and gut feelings, so please don't bite my head off here... I also promise to be less grumpy tomorrow. A victory would help... perhaps against Israel, since a certain Israeli legspinner has announced that they would thrash us, so we have to give them a proper response ;)

PS: Will be thankful for any support! Don't hesitate to follow me on Twitter or friend request me on Facebook :)

Go the Germs!

Cheers,
Wes

ICC European Division 1 Championship - Latest News

2011-07-16T19:41:00.002+02:00

European Division 1 Championship (T20) 2011
Squads | Tournament Programme and in-depth squad descriptions (PDF)

Interested in the German team? To receive official updates during the tournament, ask all your questions on German cricket, and to express your support, please follow @Cricket_Germany on Twitter.

Germany:

... your name is depletion... I was worried that a lot of players could not afford to take time off for a second week-long tournament this year, but still hoped that most of them would make it. However...

SQUAD: Asif Khan / Captain (Düsseldorf BlackCaps CC), Javed Iqbal / Vice-Captain (DSSC Berlin), Shakeel Hassan (SV Wiesbaden 1899), Dilshan Rajudeen (Bonn CC), Mudassar Razzaq (Dortmund CC), Fazal-Azeem Rathore (DSSC Berlin), Kashif Haider (Bochum CC), Kashif Mahmood (Pak Berlin), Syed Farid Shah (Pak Alemi, Hamburg), Milan Fernando (Serendip, Munich CC), Benjamin Das (Düsseldorf BlackCaps CC), Ehsan Latif (Pak Berlin), Imran Chaudhry (DSSC Berlin), Ayoma Abeywickrama (Göttingen UCT), Brian Fell (Manager), Keith Thompson (Coach)

PFCNFS-readers' favourite Satya Srinivas is missing a German tournament for the first time in his career, Germany have drafted two possible replacements into the squad, one of them being Ben Das (Germany selector), and Ayoma Abeywickrama. While Ben keeps wicket for the successful Düsseldorf Blackcaps I think that Göttingen's Abeywickrama would be our man here (because of the fact that his name kinda gives you a clue on this talent ;) ), and Ben jumps in when needed. But don't you find it amusing that it takes two people to replace Satya ^^ *bad but good joke*

Another gaping hole opens up in the side due to the absence of Rishi Pillai. Extremely painful since he's been having a super great run in domestic cricket.

The sparkling bowling allrounder Rajeev Vohra is not available either, schöner Dreck, I was of the opinion that he would make for a good T20 player as well. Damn.

Opener and, if you believe the rumours, Germany's sharpest fielder André Leslie is missing out, too, another big blow to our chances.

I'm also inconsolable about the unavailability of spinning allrounder Farooq Ahmed, he's high up on the list of my fav players and I needn't comment on his value in the Channel conditions, he had kickstarted his last year's Island campaign with a MOTM performance in this legendary match against France.

Out of the group of fringe and future players who are always on stand-by and pop in whenever needed I can't see anyone in the list. No Tarun Rawat, Ashwin Prakash, Shafraz Samsudeen or Khalid (Thomas) Butt.

So basically the entire middle order, incl. some of their possible replacements, got ripped out and has to be substituted.

However, I am very relieved to spot some familiar names in the list, these being skipper and stalwart Asif Khan, opener Milan Fernando, who seamlessly continued his rich form from Botswana and is coming off a stellar domestic season, the irreplaceable Shakeel Hassan, legmaster Kashif Haider, our ingenious strike bowling duo Rana-Javed Iqbal and Ehsan Latif, and of course Dilshan Rajudeen.

Too bad I hardly know anything about the new players in the side, some of them seem to originate from Javed Iqbal's Berlin team, i.e the one unbeatable force in the Wild East, so I trust they are capable replacements. No Dresdenians yet, but we should be getting there over the course of the next five or six decades, I am confident ;)

►►► Some details about the new guys and background info on the role of T20 in Germany can be found in this article on the Cricket Germany website, for more see the PDF mentioned above.

Israel:

[Interview with Herschel Gutman about cricket in Israel and the preparation for the T20]

The Israel squad features all the great names I remember from last year perhaps with the exception of Gabi Schachat, so it quite looks like their opposition is in for a pasting here, especially as unlike some other countries the men in blue have not played any tournaments yet in 2011, which means they are sending their first string selection to Europe; they also started to practise early for this competition. Since the Israeli T20 cup has just finished (congrats Josh Evans and Ra'anana!) the players should be in the best possible fettle for the format. I firmly believe that we are going to hear more from this team in the future; although the coverage of Israel cricket outside the country might still be a bit sparse you can figure from the reports in the media that their support at home is growing constantly and the development of their local structures never comes to a standstill. You feel that something is bubbling underneath the surface and wants to break free very soon...

Random thoughts...

...Gibraltar have had a horrid last 12 months and will aim at returning to the European elite. While they will surely be missing the services of Christian Rocca and Richard Buzaglo the team is stuffed with young hopefuls as well as enough experienced forces and the format should help them to set an exclamation mark. Norway have suffered the mother of all blows since they are without Damien Shortis, and the 100% lack of Ehetsham ul-Haq keeps my affection within tight limits :P Guernsey feature all the names that annoyed the goodness out of me last year already. France are sending Ayya into the battle again. Jeeeeez.

Sorry for this topsy-turvy excuse of a blog post, more on everything in the coming days. Go the Germs!

Cheers,
Wes

Well Roared, Lyon!

2011-06-30T09:02:00.000+02:00

Zimbabwe XI v Australia A
[scorecard]

Nathan Lyon, Big Bash Final 2011

You knew this was coming, so feel free to skip the obvious and spend your time elsewhere ;)

Nathan Lyon took 4-22 on his international debut, was awarded the Man Of The Match Trophy as rightfully as it gets, and outshone SOK.

(long pause)

And, has it sunk it yet? Tehehe. I couldn't believe my eyes. Not that I had ever had any doubts about his potential, but these are the Jack-in-the-box moments a Redbacks fan lives for. It were basically Lyon's wickets (and his catch off John Hasting to remove Elton) that induced the Zimbabwean batting collapse and thus Nathan won the match for Aus. No I'm not discussing this with you ;)

Well I have to say that this Australia A outfit appeals to me so much more than the current first side, watching them win makes me as happy as in the good "old" days. The team is stuffed with young talents, who have all come off tremendous domestic seasons, hungry and eager to hit their claws and teeth into their opponents' flesh. Let me cite Nic Maddinson as another example, who top-scored for Aus with 63; honourable mentions: John Hastings, who ripped out the Zimbabwean middle order with his threefer, Callum Ferguson for his half ton, and I would also like to mention Luke Butterworth for his quick removal of Zim skipper Brendan Taylor.

We need to consider that these guys have partly not really played together yet, but once the cogwheels mesh, I am particularly thinking of the fat underbelly in the form of Mitch Marsh, Steve O'Keefe, T-Paine and Butterworth, something big, baneful and cataclysmic should arise from this line-up and bring doom over their enemies. Okay okay, but you know what I mean. Hopefully they can overcome the Saffas that effortlessly, too.

Zimbies.... ah man.

Bowling-wise you can't really complain, since they restricted Aus to a gettable total and prevented really big scores, at some point I was even afraid Aus wouldn't make it past 200. Chris Mpofu was the standout bowler with 3-31. But the batting... a tragedy, always and forever. Voices arise that want Elton Chigumbura dropped for good. Craig Ervine will surely click in one of the coming matches, but unlike Aus the Zim lower middle order isn't really looking like the big bad monster from the swamp, to put it diplomatically, although I expect that runs will come for Mutizwa.

What positives can Zim take from here? Hamilton Masakadza is back! Yeah baby. Much responsibility rests on his and the openers' shoulders, it is crucial for Zim that these three make 130-150 between them if possible. Mpofu is awesome but the bowlers can only do so much if the batting fails to do their job, even though there is always room for improvement of course, I won't claim yet that they are missing the leggie, but it's imaginable that Cremer is chewing his footnails off in frustration. Furthermore there seems to be no info available concerning the whereabouts of Tatenda Taibu :/ Should we be worried?

Alright, now the Saffas.

Cheers,
Wes

Finally The Cricket Starts

2011-06-24T21:01:00.000+02:00

Triangular Series Zim XI - Aus A - Saffa A

About time!
No, Middlesex losing (and India winning...) one match after another is NOT interesting. I don't care if you disagree :D

Australia A squad for the ODIs: Tim Paine (capt, wk), David Warner, Aaron Finch, Callum Ferguson, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Marsh, Luke Butterworth, Stephen O'Keefe, John Hastings, Trent Copeland, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc

Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Tim Paine captaining is gold enough but just the first morsel of the gooey goodness. Finch = great pick, Fergs = selfpick. Warner has extended his repertoire, and we shall see what he can do up there at the top. Matthew Wade is not the keeper. Mitch Marsh... jawohl! Luke Butterworth (LBW) so deserves a spot in the sun, I'm repeating myself here. But it just keeps getting better:

SOK, 100-fold NSW player of the year and a delight to watch with both devices, should have got a contract ahead of all these secondary and tertiary Australian spin options, but ah well. Show them SOK! Copeland is interesting, nobody can tell if he's a senior player or not, but he's deadly when fit. So they say. And then... lo and behold... Nathan Lyon! I hope and pray he won't go under in this star-studded line-up, but he has what it takes to excel in this environment, at least that's what I'm wishing for. Go Nathan, spin 'em round! Beautiful team. You could include plenty more players, Adam Voges, George Bailey, Kane Richardson, okay I'm getting carried away here tehe.

Ray Price and Elton Chigumbura share a happy
moment during the World T20 2010

Zimbabwe XI squad for the ODIs: Brendan Taylor (capt), Regis Chakabva, Tendai Chatara, Elton Chigumbura, Craig Ervine, Hamilton Masakadza, Keegan Meth, Christopher Mpofu, Forster Mutizwa, Raymond Price, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu, Prosper Utseya, Brian Vitori, Malcolm Waller

A squad that fulfils all wishes of the Zim connoisseur except for the injury-induced absence of Graeme Cremer, which could prove really costly. In the back of my head I'm still seeing him becoming a Zimbabweish Gareth Berg or maybe it's his cat-like sweep shot, I don't know. Or maybe his sweep shot isn't even cat-like and my mind is playing tricks on me. Anyway get well soon Graeme. The good news is that quite obviously Keegan Meth has recovered in time for the one-dayers. Love the "capt" behind Brendan Taylor's name, hopefully the captaincy is going to fire him up and helps him out of his slump. The main thing is Elton can concentrate on his cricket now. No Greg Lamb, no Charles Coventry. Pretty sucky from my personal standpoint but yeah. No complaints about the rest. Wait a minute... where is Shingi?? GRRRRR. Malcolm Waller shall be under scrutiny since I haven't microscopied him yet.

South Africa A squad for the ODIs: Jacques Rudolph (capt), Craig Alexander, Farhaan Behardien, Loots Bosman, Rilee Rossouw, Rory Kleinveldt, Heino Kuhn, Ethy Mbhalati, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Vernon Philander, Rusty Theron, Roelof van der Merwe, Jonathan Vandiar, Morne van Wyk

Names I like: Theron (duh!), Vandiar, Kuhn, Miller, van Wyk and of course Rilee Rossouw. McLaren is currently playing for Middlesex in the T20 and not doing the worst of jobs there, by that I mean he doesn't suck more than any of the other players, even though it's not enough to help them out of their misery. Too bad no Friedel de Wet or Rob Frylinck. Jacques Rudolph is a former Yorkshire Pudding and as such used to be a pain in the backside. That's all from me on the Saffas.

Soooo... I hope Zim will make good use of their home advantage and get some decent crowds in, and in terms of Australia the tour should become a cracker anyway. The Saffa squad does not feature a lot of the players that hammered Zim on their last ODI tour to SA, in fact I think only Rusty and David Miller were a part of this apocalypse (unless I am confusing Miller with Colin Ingram again) and Zim would probably like to take their chances here.

Cheers,
Wes

A Matter Of Fat

2011-06-16T23:10:00.000+02:00

From a recent conversation with a cricwitty friend:

Him (out of the blue): Mark Cosgrove is a good batsman, but he is too fat.

Me: o.O

Me: Can you say that again?

Him: I said Mark Cosgrove is a good cricketer, but he is fat.

Me: No, no, just the first bit!

Him: Mark Cosgrove is a fat cricketer...

Me: -.-

Cheers,
Wes

Blogging Outside The Box

2011-06-12T19:24:00.002+02:00

OK so I reminded myself that there are also white blokes involved in the cricket and today I'm gonna show you two of them:

Tim Holt - Cricket Through The Eyes Of An Irishman

Tim Holt's blog is one of the latest additions to my blogroll, I was amazed to see the broad range of topics he covers (including stuff like "the top ten most beautiful Indian women" etc). As an Irishman residing in Melbourne he has travelled a lot, in the course of which he gathered a remarkable amount of knowledge about many countries and cultures. Additionally Tim knows his cricket inside out and often gives you an interesting new angle on the subjects he picks for his posts. As an appetiser I would like to recommend you one of his recent articles, "William Shakespeare on Shahid Afridi", and needless to say that his today's post on Mark Cosgrove is a must-read for all friends of the big master.

You can follow Tim on Facebook, he welcomes anyone who would like to join a good discussion.

Michael Wagener - Cricketgeek

Michael is a phenomenon, I can't think of any blogger producing content similar to his. A maths teacher by profession, he specialises in analysing cricket statistics in his very own "Mykuhl" style, off the beaten track, in ways that reveal a lot more about the players and their capabilities than the common statistics, and you can't help the feeling that a lot of teams could benefit from Michael's analysis, if their coaches and selectors read his blog. Furthermore he also offers solutions for present problems in cricket. I can't recommend a specific post right now, because all of them ooze with awesomeness, so please just click the link above and check him out!

Michael also appears on Poshin's latest Verbal Slogs podcast, you can't afford to miss this one, he dissects contemporary batsmen under the aspect of how quickly they actually score by running. Absolutely shattering stuff, which also sheds some light on the reasons for certain teams' current slump and, respectively, success. I am delighted to hear that he will make another appearance on the next podcast.

To engage Michael in statistical and other debates you can follow him on Twitter: @Mykuhl

Poshin can be contacted via Twitter (@poshin_david) and Facebook, and here's his blog.

Happy reading and listening!

Cheers,
Wes

Satya Srinivas - An Interview With The German Wicket-Keeper

2011-06-01T22:20:00.003+02:00

Satya Srinivas (c) DCB

This is the most special moment for a cricket writer: an interview with a player of the team you love. Srinivas Satyanarayana aka Satya has been keeping wicket for Germany for three years now and I was absolutely delighted that he agreed to have this little chat with me. Born in India in the city of Calcutta and brought up in Hyderabad he came to Germany as a young bloke, and with a lot of determination and (he will disagree) talent he battled his way into the national side. Get yourself a good cup of tea or coffee and enjoy a look into his fascinating world. The interview was conducted like a chat, hence the casual style, enjoy!

Hey Satya how are you today? Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions, is this the first interview you give as a cricketer?

Hey Wes I am good. My pleasure!! Yeah this is definitely my first interview as a cricketer and probably my last as well :)

Oh never say never. Alright, could you perhaps introduce yourself to our readers a bit i.e. you give us a short summary of your cricket career, from your first backfoot defence to your present situation?

Ha ha ha... I am no great cricketer in this regard. But have been always passionate about the game. Learnt my cricket in the streets of Secunderabad. Have been playing cricket since the age of 6 if I remember it right. Feel lucky to be playing cricket even in a country like Germany where cricket is almost an unknown sport.

Six is a nice age to start playing cricket, did you always want to become a wicket-keeper?

No not really, started of as an off-spinner, played my school cricket as a batsman who can bowl a bit of off-spin. When I realized it was hard getting into my University cricket team in Madras (now Chennai) I decided to take up wicket-keeping at the age of 20 realizing that I could actually do a better job than the keeper at our University at that point in time, that's how it all started. Having a couple of sessions with MSK Prasad at the St. Johns Cricket Academy in Secunderabad motivated me to take the job seriously. My childhood friend Ashley was a great inspiration as well. By the way MSK Prasad is an ex-Indian wicket-keeper :)

Wow do you think you could still take a couple of wickets if your captain needs you to?

Sure... you should ask Brian Mantle [Pres. of NRWCU / Nordrhein-Westfalen state team]. I have actually opened the bowling playing for Bochum CC and also have about 3 five wicket hauls if I remember it right. Those were the times when I was a lot fitter and easily did all 4 departments for my team (batting, bowling, fielding and wicket-keeping) ;) Isn't it funny!!! Lots of people seeing me now will not dare to believe it... anyways that's how life is :) I still do come up and bowl a few overs for my team Köln A whenever needed.

Dear me. I think I have unearthed a gem here! Let me just quickly pick myself up from floor.

Ha ha ha....no no not at all. My intention was never to boast about myself... please don't get me wrong. I just meant of course I can come up and bowl a few good overs whenever needed.

Satya batting against Guernsey in Jersey in 2008

You have addressed fitness, as an amateur cricketer who also plays for the national side you need to maintain certain fitness standards, how do you manage to keep fit amongst all your worldly duties?

I used to maintain my fitness by playing badminton and table tennis here in Essen in the Kreisliga [district league]. Those were my winter sports. But in the last 15-18 months my fitness has taken a beating with all the job related travel I do.

Also until 2009 I was playing most of my club cricket in Holland as well as in Germany. Playing in Holland was a great motivator as I played in the Eerste Klasse there and hence got to play against and with several first-class cricketers from various cricket playing nations across the world. I will definitely now work on my fitness as I still have a feeling that I have still a lot to contribute to German Cricket :)

Impressive stuff... so this is how you've made it into the national side... BTW you've mentioned Bochum, did you play with Kashif Haider [German legspinner] there?

No unfortunately not. I have only played with Kashif in the NRW squad and the German national side. I guess he joined Bochum in the year 2005, by which time I had already parted company with Bochum CC to play for Cricket Club of Rheinland (CCR).

The German captain Asif Khan described in an interview how difficult it is to always take a week off from work in order to travel to the international tournaments, how do you personally tackle this problem, is your boss cooperative?

I cannot obviously involve my boss in all this. I am allowed a certain number of holidays in a calendar year and I need to accommodate the cricket tournaments for Germany in this schedule. The people at my company are really appreciative of the fact that I represent a national team. But my first responsibility is obviously towards my job.

But there are people in our team who work as taxi-drivers or work in restaurants, who basically take time off without getting paid during such kind of cricket tournaments for Germany. Everyone basically plays for the passion of the game.

Satya batting against Vanuatu, World Cricket League Div 8 2010. Also in the pic Trevor Langa of Vanuatu (c) ICC

Have you ever had to miss out on an international match or tournament due to work commitments?

I have been playing for the German national team since 2008 and the WCL Division 5 tournament in Jersey was my first outing in German colours. Luckily I haven't missed a single cricket tournament for Germany yet.

I hope it's gonna stay that way :) A different question, did or do you have any role models as a cricketer?

Several in fact, I get inspired by several things that happen on a cricket field. This great game teaches you a lot of things. Role models when it comes to wicket-keeping "Nayan Mongia". A lot of people would laugh at this answer of mine... but one should watch the purity in glove work of this man. He was a great wicket-keeper, who had lovely soft hands, which is essential for a keeper. Ajay Jadeja and Sachin Tendulkar are also my favorite cricketers. Rishi Pillai [German allrounder] is a great mate of mine too !!! :) How can I forget his name!

I think I have a lot of reading up to do after this interview, and thank you for answering in advance what you would regard as an important skill in wicket-keeping. OK let's have a closer look at your batting. What's your highest one day score so far?

Satya keeping against Guernsey in Jersey in 2008

My highest score in one day cricket is 150 batting at no.3 for my club side in Holland in the year 2006.

Do you have a signature shot, a stroke that is characteristic for you?

Phew... a tough one to answer, you should be asking my team mates or co-players this question.

Will try and do that, if the occasion arises. Which bowler did you find the most difficult to face so far?

No one in particular here in Germany. But quite a few in Holland and India. To be frank I cannot motivate myself to play league cricket in Germany. I am not saying this to talk highly about myself. I just get motivated when I play a higher level of cricket. It's not at all a good thing for any youngster to follow. I am changing myself in this regard and trying to focus during any cricket game that I play in. Everyone needs to be learning everyday in his / her life and I am no different in this regard... hence will change myself... :)

Alright... and internationally?

Mohd. Murad [Kuwaiti fast bowler] perhaps is the quickest that I have faced in quite some time, maybe the last 3-4 years... But other than that I cannot think of any. There have been good spells of bowling along the way for sure but I cannot remember the bowlers' names... Sorry for this!

Ha. I was thinking of Murad as well! Which takes us to another interesting topic. You've travelled a lot with the national side and have seen many places all around the world. Can you tell us something about your adventures on the road, where did you like it best?

Every place had its charm. Cannot pick on any one place. Every single tour has been enjoyable. Made some wonderful friends along the line, met some great people, shared some lovely memories with my team mates... Sorry cannot pick on any one special occasion. It's been a great ride until now with the German cricket team and am thankful for the opportunity given to me. Will like to think that I have given it my all in every single game that I have played for Germany till date.

Most recently the team travelled to Botswana for the WCL Div 7 and took the opportunity to go on a Safari, is that correct? Did you see any dangerous animals? Who was more afraid of the other, you or the lion?

Ha ha ha... Good one... Will definitely like to think that the lion was afraid of me as it never made an effort to appear in front us, in spite of we ending up specially paying a few bucks to pay them a visit... :)

What do you think was the main reason why Germany missed out on promotion to Div. 6?

It's a pity that we missed out on promotion. Because with regards to the effort of every single player in the team there was absolutely no lack of it, as you can see in the way we came back especially after losing the second and third games against Nigeria and Botswana respectively. We were literally down in the dumps and depressed after the third game against Botswana.

Nothing against my mates here, but I would like to add a frank opinion here... The third game against Botswana we had it in our kitty especially posting a total of 229 on the board and having them at 90 odd for the loss of 7 wickets. We lost this game mainly due to some indisciplined effort from all of us on the field. German Cricket has got a lot of individual talent with both the bat and the ball but we as a team have to learn to be disciplined and have to make a conscious effort on the field for making a nice picture for people looking from the outside :) That´s the only criticism from my side... SORRY FOR THIS GUYS... But I like to talk honest and straight and could not hold this back...

The German squad and staff in Guernsey 2010 (c) DCB

Thank you for this very straightforward view, I had the feeling as well that Germany are a very strong bowling side and especially the Botswana match could have been won. Right, among the people you met were there also some players from the other sides; is Hisham Mirza as funny as he appears to be?

I cannot comment a lot on Hisham Mirza, as I haven't had a lot of conversations with him. But as a cricketer I think he has got a level head on him and carries the Kuwaiti team pretty well on the field.

Speaking of captaincy, have you ever skippered a side?

To be frank not much. Just twice, both times when the captains appointed for the game could not make it for some reason. First game as a skipper was for NRW in 2005/2006 against the British Army, where I happened to score 143 opening the batting :) The second game as skipper was for the German National team during a practice game in Husum against the Denmark A side just before the tour to Botswana, which we lost. Though I personally think that I have a good cricketing brain on me:) Would never choose myself as the captain cause I generally feel I do not have the patience to do this job... which is the key for any captain irrespective of the type of sport being played. But my record as a captain is not bad with a win percentage of 50 :)

Satya honestly you are a man of thousand talents. Change of topic, do you also follow other international teams, like for instance India?

Yes as I told, cricket is my passion, I do follow a lot of cricket around the world.

Do you think India won the World Cup because Sachin didn't make a ton in the final?

No not at all. It was a great team effort. Sachin did play a role during the entire tournament... and it was time others stepped upto the party, like Dhoni did in an awesome fashion.

Oh you appear not be as superstitious about that as some other Indians! Did you also follow the IPL? The Deccan Chargers didn't look too great this year, or are you more the whistle podu type of person?

Ha ha ha....I switch sides according to my comfort zone :) Basically Deccan, CSK AND KKR are the sides I can root for in any IPL.

Okay this IPL question has now lead us to the silly and final part of the interview, I wanna play a little game with you. Out of two things I would like you to pick the one you prefer or would choose, if you had to.

Reverse Sweep or Dilscoop?

Never did any of this before... because I already manage to find some stupid ways to throw my wicket away :)

Tomato or cucumber?

None as of now :)

Warne or Murali?

Both, Warne for his guile with an orthodox leg-spinning action, Murali to have had such an outstanding career in spite of all the controversies surrounding his bowling action.

Box or helmet?

Box (1st place - as it is a question of balls) and helmet (2nd place)

Coffee or tea?

Coffee or tea based on my mood, prefer both.

DCB [German Cricket Federation] or BCCI?

Ha ha ha...I have nothing to do with the BCCI. Of course DCB as it has provided me with an opportunity to represent Germany.

Is there actually anything from India which you are missing in Germany?

The happiness... it's an age old thing that, the people who have everything crave for even more and hence their headache increases everyday :) The best thing about India is even the poorest of poor manage to put up a smile on their face at the toughest of times. I love my country of origin. Thankful for the opportunities that Germany has presented to me.

Alright last but not least.... would you wear a shirt with this print?

No I will not, as I know who Adam Gilchrist is. I respect him as he has single-handedly revolutionized the role of a wicket-keeper batsman in the modern day game.

Thank you for this awesome, incredibly enlightening interview Satya, my head is buzzing with all the new info. Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I did. Whatever happens in the future, I wish you all the best. Any last words to the readers?

I thoroughly enjoyed this experience. Thanks for taking the time to do this bit for an unknown cricketer... really appreciate your efforts in this regard. I wish you all the very best in all your endeavors as well Wes.... Keep playing cricket for the enjoyment and fun of it. At the end of it all it is after all a game....HAVE FUN GUYS!! Keep supporting and rooting for cricketers outside the test playing nations as well, as they play an important role in promoting the game across the globe to an extent.

You've heard the man, from my side there is nothing more to add except for a big thank you.

Extra special thanks goes to @Cricket_Germany for their great support, encouragement and general sociability ;) Follow them on Twitter and love your Associates!

Super kudos goes to Aditya (@forwardshortleg) from the Forward Short Leg blog, who was so kind to help me out with the Telugu translation. Follow this good man on Twitter and read his blog!

So that's it, sorry for the below par questions, thank god Satya compensated my lack of wit with his detailed answers. Hope you still found it enjoyable of sorts, thanks for reading,

Cheers,
Wes

This post also appeared on DieHard Cricket Fans

Re: Aaqib Javed

2011-05-28T20:16:00.006+02:00

Aaqib Javed observing bowling practice in 2007
(c) Faras Ghani

Well well. Sometimes people try to challenge my non-existent knowledge of cricket trivia and so I got asked "What are Aaqib Javed's best ODI bowling figures?" Ahhhm... who? I like these questions because they are about the only way to make me look up stuff every cricket fan should know about, no matter how late he or she joined the madness. Alright here's the answer:

7/37, Wills Trophy, 25 Oct 1991, Sharjah, final between India and Pakistan.
Aaqib led his side to a furious 72-run win over the Indians.

Aaqib, a talented fast bowler who could swing it both ways, suffered from the popularity of his now-legendary competitors and could never really start a proper international career beyond ODIs, however, in that match he must have come down like a hailstorm over the Indian batsmen and completely swept them away, as they in vain attempted to chase Pakistan's 262, in which Zahid Fazal had top-scored with 98, before he had to retire hurt, albeit not due to any vicious Indian bowling, and to which Saleem Malik contributed an equally powerful 87.

Ravi Shastri and Navjot Sidhu had survived the opening bowlers, but when Aaqib came on the wickets started to tumble. Sidhu departed in his first over, and in his third he removed Ghastli, Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar via hat-trick. Brilliant, especially if you consider that he was only 19 years of (Pakistani) age at that time. Sachin went for a golden. Strangely this does not fill me with a lot of schadenfreude... I'm telling you, my friends, these Indians, they have knocked me soft already...

However, the only batsman that had made it past 50 was Sanjay Manjrekar, the Man of the Tournament; this made me chuckle a bit because the scorecard looks pretty much like what the media types are doing nowadays... Shastri being largely useless, while Sanjay provides the substance. If this pattern indeed bears any prophetic relevance you will inevitably be dead worried about Sachin's future media career, haha.

Alright. Now I know something about Aaqib Javed. Good stuff. As Pakistan's current bowling coach he is certainly working hard on compensating the loss of Asif and Aamer, good luck with that.

Cheers,
Wes

Kudos @Zeeshan Ahmed from *[ I Am Zeeshan ]* for the video link.

Euro Div. 1 T20 - Drama, Baby!

2011-05-21T21:12:00.001+02:00

Cricket Germany was so nice to tweet the fixtures (PDF) of this year's ICC European Div. 1 T20 tournament. Let me interpret the pitting for you, strip it of any frills and summarise it in one sentence: ooof.

Group A - Guernsey: Italy, Guernsey, Norway, Gibraltar, Croatia, Runner up Div 2

Group B - Jersey: Denmark, Jersey, Germany, France, Israel, Winner Div 2

Hello again! (c) Herschel Gutman

Cricket Germany finds it's a tough group and I have to say with Denmark and Jersey we're gonna have some real Goliaths in the group and neither France nor Israel cave in easily, Israel have beaten us in the most recent encounter, too, and according to skipper Gutman they are practising hard. The winner of Div. 2 will have won it for a reason as well.

What speaks in our favour is our excellent attack; I can't help the feeling that T20's nature has begun to benefit the bowlers, not only because the batsmen are expected to hit it big more often than in the other formats, but also because there is hardly any time for them to settle in, and they permanently have get adjusted to new bowlers due to the micro spells that are common nowadays and have been used to great effect even in the 50-over game. But we also have some big hitters in the side, as well as batsmen who can adapt to the requirements and construct a mini innings if need be. I hope that both our pacers and slow bowlers will thrive in the channel conditions, and that the format itself increases our chances of beating the big teams, especially with our smart resource management.

But it's gonna be a tough piece of work. Needless to say that my nerves are about to disintegrate already, especially since T20 stresses me out more than any other format. But I'll just try and approach the tournament in the Pak way: every match we win is the most important match in the history of cricket, Germland Zindabad and Boom Boom Hurrah, and if we lose it's because the format prevents the teams from displaying their actual skill level.

Seems a great plan to me,

Cheers,
Wes

Cricket Germany Confirms Existence

2011-05-17T18:01:00.001+02:00

Don't run up the walls just yet, I've got to get something out of the way first...

On a small, embarrassing, initial side note:

Ehsan Latif had most probably not got dropped for the Kuwait match, but missed out injured. Cricket Germany spoke of numerous injuries in their Norway report, which sheds a different light on the line-up that played against Kuwait. So in all likeliness I totally misread the signs. Of course that is mere speculation, too, but it makes more sense than my original theory. Apologies Ehsan for interpreting your absence as a strategic stroke of genius :(

I'm pretty sure, however, that such mishaps can be ruled out in the future, since

Cricket Germany's Twitter account

is gonna provide us with a steady flow of information, which will hopefully also include injury updates and so on. Yes you are reading correctly, the German Cricket Federation (DCB) has dipped a toe into the lukewarm water of the social network seas and I hope this will help spread the word of world's finest little cricket team a lot faster than my lame attempts at tournament reports aimed at approx 2.5 readers. Another advantage of this important step, so I hope, will be live tweets from the matches, i.e. scores, a word on the pitch, remarkable events during the match etc. And perhaps the odd quote from a player :) I hope for lively interaction and can only recommend you to hammer the follow button for your daily dose of Associate love. Go the Germs!

A small update on the European Div. 3 T20:

Sweden have bullied their way to Div. 2 unbeaten and according to Barry Chambers their chances of promotion to Div 1 cannot be underestimated. I'll keep an eye on them. Or two. Two very, very close eyes!!!

There was something else I was going to say, but it has slipped my mind for now. It's gonna be a hot summer!

Cheers,
Wes

Germany - A Look Back, At Pakistan, And Elsewhere

2011-05-11T01:35:00.001+02:00

Well obviously I'm not done yet.... so here's a few more words on the hottest cricket topic of the last week ^^

World Cricket League Div. 7 - Player Of The Tournament

Throughout the whole tournament I had had the feeling that our Rana-Javed Iqbal would and should be it, since he hadn't only been the number one ranked bowler in the table by wickets, average, economy rate and maidens, but he also captained the side (and on top of that earned the MOTM) in the victory against Kuwait, the latter a feat only Germany managed to achieve.

Kuwait's Mohammad Murad, just 21 years old, runner-up in the bowling table, part of the champion side and taking four in the final, would obviously be the second contender, delivering an impressively consistent performance throughout the whole competition, and also showed his determination with the bat against us.

If you look at the figures you will see that both bowlers have taken three wickets per match on average, and if Murad hadn't had to miss out on one game perhaps their stats would look like mirrored images. In fact, the chances of such an outcome would have been pretty high:

Click the image to view the entire table

So I think that Murad got picked for the trophy because of the above mentioned soft reasons, his young age and him being a part of the side that won the tournament.

But!!! Attention ladies and gentlemen, hold on to your seats:

Rana-Javed Iqbal was born on the 25th December.

This is not only one of the highest religious holidays in most Western countries due to the celebration of Jesus' birth, but also the birthday of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the father and founder of the state of Pakistan, and therefore a public holiday in Pakistan as well. In that context there also needs to be mentioned that 'Javed Iqbal' is the name of the son of Sialkot poet Muhammad Iqbal, one of the most highly respected Pakistani philosophers and great minds behind Pakistan's foundation (there is even a street named after him in the German city of Heidelberg). I will spare you another load of Iqbal-worship today, but you see where I'm coming from: in terms of soft factors Rana-Javed beats Mo Murad by a flipping mile! Statistically, however, the two bowlers should have shared the honours. Or maybe I'm just a wee bit jealous of that young whippersnapper from Kuwait :P

~~~

WCL Div. 7 - Glass Ceiling For Germany?

No, I don't think so. The competition was obviously a lot tougher than in WCL Div. 8, where we saw big differences in the skill levels of the participating teams, and enjoyed an undefeated run into the final. But in my opinion we were capable of reaching WCL Div. 6 as well. Nobody knows what would have happened if Farooq had bowled his quota in the match against Nigeria, or had been been introduced against Botswana earlier. There are so many situations in life when you get the best ideas retrospectively. Hinterher ist man immer schlauer.

The Team

Our team's efforts have largely been carried by the most experienced forces in our side: Milan Fernando, Farooq Ahmed, Asif Khan and Rana-Javed Iqbal -see above- proved to be absolutely irreplaceable once again. I hope and pray these guys are still going to stay around for a while. Their departure would leave gaping holes in the German line-up, and cut deep wounds in my every German cricket supporter's heart.

Age-wise the next batch of players, Shakeel Hassan, André Leslie, Kashif Haider, Rishi Pillai, Satya Srinivas and the searing Rajeev Vohra have contributed tremendously to our efforts and will play key roles in our future successes, and I'm convinced they are going to do a stellar job for us.

The youngest generation, comprising Ehsan Latif, the second spearhead of our attack and equipped with a veteran's amount of experience already, as well as Tarun Rawat and Ashwin Prakash look promising prospects for our country, and surely some more gems are slumbering below the surface waiting to be unearthed by the German Cricket Federation soon.

The Summer Of Cricket 2011

July holds some more international challenges in store for the German teams:

From 19th to 24th the European Div. 1 T20 Championship will be played in Jersey and Guernsey. Oh god I mustn't look at our competitors: Croatia, Denmark, France, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Israel, Italy, Jersey, Norway... (big gulp of terror) plus the two highest-ranked teams from Div. 2, which takes place from 20th to 25th June in Belgium. The Div. 1 list features some of the strongest teams in Europe, and in random cricket anything can happen, so we have to be prepared for some seemingly unlikely results as well. I am utterly happy that Israel are returning to Europe for a couple of slog-outs, good luck guys, all the best. Gibraltar will be without Christian Rocca for the first time in like 300 years :(

Another important event takes place from 27th July to 2nd August: the European Div. 2 U19 Championship, which is staged in the Isle of Man. The teams competing with Germany are Belgium, Denmark, France, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain. Tough tough tough. I will try and get my hands on some scorecards or whatever material is available, the future starts here!

~~~

So, thank god, there is some more continental cricket to come this year, before the German tournament schedule inevitably ends for the season... For now I would like to say thank you to the two or three people who have visited the blog during the last week, I hope you'll be popping in again in July :)

Cheers,
Wes

World Cricket League Div. 7 - Kuwait, Germany Flex Muscles On Finals Day

2011-05-08T22:45:00.008+02:00

A beautiful last match day at the end of the tournament, with wins for both my favoured sides. The bittersweet taste on the German lips has intensified even more, while Kuwait have all reasons in the world to throw a cracking party tonight!

Match Day 6
[scorecards] [points table]
[cricinfo bulletin] [ICC match report and post-match statements]

The Final: Nigeria v Kuwait
[gallery]

Hisham (batting against Germany)

I am utterly pleased to report that Kuwait have easily won the final against Nigeria and are taking the trophy home! It was a match I was following with eagle eyes, the battle of the two elephants, and while Kuwait had won the first encounter with the Africans, after losing against us they could have easily slipped against Nigeria as well.

But Kuwait showed a disciplined and focused performance. Unfortunately Sibtain and Hisham Mirza couldn't score, but Irfan Bhatti announced his return to the runs with a handy 60, and a wagging tail provided the Kuwaitis with a total they were able to defend comfortably. The prodigal young left arm fast bowler Mohammad Murad bowed out of the tournament with a fabulous 4-20, Saad Khalid and Azmatullah Nazeer took two each.

Kuwait have shared a long road with us from the beginning of WCL Div. 8 last year to the final day of WCL Div. 7, and while we were the only team to beat them, they defeated the two African sides when it counted, deservedly edged ahead of us and will surely cause a turmoil in Division 6 as well. I am wishing the desert warriors, captain Hisham and his talented team mates, all the best on their march through the divisions, and expect to hear a lot more good news from them in the near future.

Playoff for rank 3: Botswana v Germany

[no gallery] [match report from Cricket Germany - great stuff as always]

Outstanding captain's knock by Asif Khan

Dear god, that was our most laborious victory of the whole cup! But our winless streak against Botswana has ended! Furthermore we finally won a toss; not that it mattered, because we were batting first again anyway ;)

Tarun Rawat replaced Kashif Haider for this match, no Ashwin Prakash though, which left me grumbling for a bit. Tarun did not embarrass himself and added the third-highest score to the German total. Interestingly Farooq Ahmed opened the batting today and what shall I say, the poor bloke shouldn't have read my blog.... this whole Boom Boom business obviously got to him a little and after a short, noisy rampage he departed for 21. Pitifully Milan and André couldn't contribute a lot today, but since the 8th of May is also known as "Day of the Indian Batsman" in large parts of the world, captain Asif Khan and Rishi "the legend" Pillai took over, and the rest of the innings is history: after exactly 100 balls Asif Khan celebrated a century as precisely timed and elaborately constructed as a Swiss clockwork, eight fours and two sixes had been enriched with a lot of fine running and interdigitated impressively with Rishi's wonderful 67 off 69, and after Shakeel Hassan had finished the innings for Germany, Botswana faced the challenge to exceed a whopping 269 runs by at least one run in order to beat us for the third time in a row.

But now raise the curtain for the big Rana-Javed & Ehsan show!!

"No... wait a minute... not just yet... no, no... not yet... oops... 14 wides in ten overs... Botswana 64-0... hello? Could we have some typical early German inroads please? Oh I understand, Botswana are trying to pull off another BOT v NOR today, and we are destined to look on as they are attempting to reach the target for the loss of two wickets. Sigh."

At that point I honestly thought the autobahn had got even flatter, deader and unbowlsier than in the first innings... can an artificial wicket get flat and dead actually? While I was still trying to adjust my confused brain to the new situation of our precious opening pair remaining wicketless for many, Rajeev Vohra came on steaming out of his ears and nostrils, lowered his horned forehead and drilled his angry antlers into Botswana's Sehwag, Faisal Rana (33). One down, nine to go. Vohra again the man to apply the important cut. My appreciation for him increases with each over he bowls; you realise this when you impatiently demand his re-introduction into the attack.

Rana-Javed Iqbal, best bowler of WCL Div. 7
18-176, avg 9.77, econ 3.27, SR 17.8

But Botswana showed us their shark teeth and kept galloping onward without even turning a hair. Asking rate? What asking rate? It took until run no. 125 and the interference of the incredible Farooq Ahmed, until the next wicket tumbled, the dangerous wicket-keeper Sequeira (24) had to walk back to the dugout. However, the second opener Noor Ahmad had put his tent up at the crease and invited his family for a little picnic, there was nothing our attackers could do against his stubborn resistance. The new batsman Motlanka however didn't feel like having a sandwich and Shakeel Hassan claimed his wicket after just 4 runs. Botswana were 130-3 after the 27th over, there were plenty of runs to score yet, and everyone settled around Noor's tent for an increasingly extended family dinner.

Except for Rana-Javed. At 180-3 he removed Noor and his tribe with brute force, and an emotional tear rolled down my face, since I had been imploring him desperately not to leave this match with empty hands. He sooooo deserved to take wickets in his last Div. 7 appearance, just think of all the hard yards he had done for Germany in this tournament! Him taking out Botswana's top-scorer (74), when I had already started to sort of give up any hopes of stopping them, proved that sometimes reality has a strange, beautiful sense of poesy about it.

Still, Botswana had six wickets left and less than 100 runs to get, Noor's departure however lit up my mind and I started to believe that from here on we could still turn the match around if we held on to it now, and Shakeel had tasted blood. He took the next two batsmen out in quick succession, and at 183-6 our chances had increased dramatically. Although Botswana's lower middle order and tail were determined to torment the German supporters some more, Germany wanted it badly, you could smell it in the air (even over here hehe), Rana-Javed Iqbal sent the Botswana skipper Akrum Chand on his way for a 3-ball duck, the second beautiful wicket for our selfless workhorse from Sialkot, and after Farooq, the mighty mighty Farooq, who bowled at a sensational economy rate of 3.11 in this runfest today, had removed the last recognised batsman, Rajeev Vohra pocketed the remaining two wickets to end Botswana's and my agony.

Playoff for rank 5: Norway v Japan

[gallery not up yet]

Sadly Japan couldn't win their last match either, Div. 7 is simply a level too high for them still, although they showed a very spirited effort in chasing Norway's 225. They got bogged down by the Norwegian bowlers, but Patrick Giles-Jones made an admirable 68*, and I think there is hope for Japan's future. On the Norwegian side a certain Shahid A. (yes, that guy) made 37 and took three wickets, while to my indignation Ehetsham-ul-Haq had been dropped for the match!!! Can you believe it! Since both Norway and Japan got relegated to Div. 8 they will have a chance to pit their strengths against each other again, with our old mates from Vanuatu and Zambia, if I remember correctly. Good luck, friends!

~~~

That's all from me for today, perhaps I'll add some more general retrospective thoughts and a little outlook into the future later. Germany's victory against Botswana will have them ruing their narrow defeat against the hosts in the group stage even more, and I imagine that the odd player will bite his own backside in grumpiness, and the question of what could have been will be floating around in our minds like a grey cloud for a fair while. But we have shown what sort of wood we are made of, "Don't mess with the Germs" is the message we have sent out to our fellow participants! So we can take a lot of positives from this competition and I hope the German camp will travel home equally satisfied.

Cheers,
Wes

World Cricket League Div. 7 - Germany Not Crying In The Rain

2011-05-07T23:59:00.003+02:00

Match Day 5
[scorecards] [points table]
[cricinfo bulletin] [ICC match report and post-match statements]

Germany v Norway
[gallery] [really nice Cricket Europe gallery]
[great match report by Cricket Germany]

Satyaaaaa!!! Top-scorer, 3 catches,
2 runouts: my personal MOTM No. 2

Oh dear oh dear. We lost the toss once again, and I came to the conclusion that the guys are just too bloody honest for any sort of gamble. Great was the delight to see Asif Khan back in the fold, but Norway's bowlers made the best of the conditions and had us reeling at 102/5 in the 29th over. Schockschwerenot! This was the first time that I couldn't sleep ahead of a German match and the scorecard seemed to prove my stomach's efforts to become the next psychic octopus right. A few guys got into double figures, but only Satya Srinivas' powerful 52, which gave me a few facesplitting grins, lifted the total to a somewhat defendable level. Defendable if you play against Gibraltar at Guernsey that is... 184 all out after 46.4 meant that in case of a defeat we needed to prevent Norway from reaching their target in approx. less than 40 overs (thanks DV for the calculations) to stay on top of them via NRR. Bowling them out would of course be the preferable modus operandi.

And then it started to rain...

And days later we saw the D/L target written out on the scorecard:

Norway need 140 from 28.4 overs.

Gahhh. A comfortable total if you keep wickets in hand and hit out towards the death overs. So wickets wickets wickets was the motto and I hoped our attack leaders could make their usual early inroads. Ehsan Latif was back for Ashwin, and I so wished he would finish the tournament on a personal high. My faith in Rana-Javed Iqbal exceeds any measurable dimensions now anyway. However, the little man in my head was driving me insane with his "Wet ball wet ball, nanana nana!" chants.

Rana conceded a single run in his first over and that was enough for the Norwegians to chuck the first wicket right into Ehsan's greedy throat. HRRRUMPH! Skipper Damien Shortis, who had only just made 91 the other day, gifted keeper Satya Srinivas with his first catch of the day. Rana leaked a few at the other end but Ehsan, despite going for a few as well, did not bowl a single wide in the whole match [please pass out NOW], and kept taking them out. The second wicket fell in the third over, lbw by Ehsan, and both openers had gone, Norway 15-2. Rana was replaced by Rajeev Vohra, who kept it really tight. I loved how he put pressure on the batsmen and got rewarded with wicket No. 3, caught by Asif Khan, so probably nicked through to the slips, 21-3.

But please, no optimism, we are English. Almost. And the guy who had just strode out to bat was... Shahid A.

Ehsan took the MOTM honours for his pretty 4-26!

Shahid Ahmed, to be precise. What a nuisance. Rajeev Vohra, in collaboration with Satya, removed Shahid's partner Shahbaz Butt at 40-4, only to have Shahid gang up with my personal dangerman and dread of dreads Ehetsham-ul-Haq (the guy actually deserves his own tag on this blog, so, there it is) and these two stuck like glue to the crease, but also didn't get bogged down, and instead kept the run rate in check really nicely. Fingernails, hairtips and random, protruding objects in the closer surrounding were chewed off in a series of nervous breakdowns. These two offenders put an agonising 42 on the board, before Ehetsham, being an ul-Haq and therefore perhaps not a race horse between the wickets, got run out by Farooq Ahmed and Satya! Satya was having a cracker of a day, which continued when he and André Leslie also ran out Wasim Gill, who had replaced Ehetsham. Norway 91-6, I began to sniff morning air, as we say over here! But six down means there are still some capable bats at the crease and with just 49 runs to get at around 5/ov and the powerplay left anything was still possible for the Viking legation, but the two runouts in quick succession seemed to suggest that they were starting to lose their heads, completely unnecessarily.

And the Germans had sunk their teeth into the Norsemen's flesh. Shakeel Hassan, bowling like the absolute meister bowler he is, eventually hit the stumps of Shahid Ahmed, and from there on wickets kept falling regularily. A nice mix of attack options ensured that the tail would give me the odd scare without starting to wag. Ehsan, the good Ehsan, grabbed four altogether; Shakeel took his well-deserved second wicket, and although I so wanted Rana-Javed Iqbal to take a wicket as well it wasn't meant to be. Sorry for my current religious comparison fit, but Rana reminds me of Moses, who had successfully lead the people of Israel to the Holy Land, without being allowed to enter it himself. ARGH! Life can be so cruel. So yeah, Rana is the Moses of cricket, and he parted the sea for his team mates again today, literally if you will. I am absolutely sure about that.

PS. I can offer you another fascinating theory about why Norway surrendered to Ehsan: the last time he played against them, at the Euro Div. 2 in 2010, he took four as well, so their nerves were a shambles already when they only saw him running in. Har har. I would furthermore like to mention that also Satya, gutsily knocking the bowlers around just like today, had played a vital role in this match :)

Asif Khan says:

"It's mixed feeling for me today, we had two games that we lost by two wickets and this game we won but it was very close - on the whole though we're still delighted that we're a part of Division 7. Our batting didn't click so well today but Satya proved his worth under pressure and I think to have got them out for under 140 on this wicket is a real achievement."

Oh god I love defending so much. We are so bloody good at that. When we are defending I always have a sense of basic trust in the team, like a child has in his surrounding. During the relatively short time I've been following Germany I've seen our bowlers pull off the craziest and freakiest mindf***s. It doesn't matter if the other team sends us in... we will defend anything, against anyone, against Rudi, rain and D/L. That stupid little slip against Botswana in the middle overs has cost us the promotion though, and I could smash something in, because getting neither promoted nor relegated means in the first place that Germany won't be playing any WCL till 2013. NOOOOOOOOOOO :(

I need to figure out the next dates on the European schedule, but it might be a while as well. Hopefully the experienced guys are keen to keep going, I want to see these blokes for another round of Germany v Botswana (by which I mean the next WCL Div. 7, not the shit and giggles match tomorrow, which we must win of course, just to restore some pride, and hopefully our young guns will get a decent ride out, they absolutely deserve it, albeit not at the cost of dropping Ehsan of course). Oh yeah Botswana....

Botswana v Nigeria

[gallery]

Godogod Botswana. I am sure they had envisioned a way more glorious end to their WCL campaign on home soil. Bundled out by the Nigerians for 123 (!!!) and additionally hurt by D/L they didn't stand the ghost of a chance and had basically lost the race for the second promotion spot after the first innings. Congratulations Nigeria on the promotion, you thoroughly deserve ascension! Oh and guess what, Nigeria captain Endurance Ofem had "expected more from them" (no joke, but a good running gag nevertheless). But getting 0 points for a miserable batting performance is better than suffering the fate of the Japanese...

Japan v Kuwait

[no gallery]

Japan, so far win- and pointless, did not get to bowl or bat a single over against Kuwait. The match was abandoned without a ball bowled, and Japan finish the group stage of the tournament with one point from a game they didn't play. The humiliation must be exorbitant. You can only feel for this brave little island team. I am lost for words. On the other hand Kuwait's ascension fills me with delight, and it looks like I'm gonna follow them now with one eye at least, good luck at the WCL Div. 6, Hisham and Co.!

~~~

Outlook: tomorrow the final and the playoffs take place, which will not influence the outcome of the tournament, but determine the final ranking in the table. Kuwait and Nigeria, both promoted, will fight for the No. 1 spot, Germany and Botswana, retaining their WCL Div. 7 status, play for rank 3, and the two relegated teams Norway and Japan will try to avoid carrying the red lantern.

Ooooof.

Cheers,
Wes

World Cricket League Div. 7 - Germany Settle Old Scores

2011-05-05T22:49:00.004+02:00

Match Day 4
[scorecards] [points table]
[cricinfo bulletin] [ICC match report and post match statements]

Germany v Kuwait

[gallery] [beautiful gallery on Cricket Europe]
[super awesome match report on the Cricket Germany website, confirms gorgeousness of Farooq's c&b ^^]

(For the other two matches please scroll down)

Captain, MOTM, smarty pants: Rana-Javed Iqbal

"I enjoyed captaining the side today and the boys just seemed to really listen to me."

"On a personal note, I think my bowling is well suited to the conditions here in Botswana and we use the same type of matting in Germany which I knew was going to work in my favour. I'm really pleased to win man of the match but it's an even better feeling to win the game."

-Rana-Javed Iqbal, leading wicket-taker of the tournament by a mile: 16 for 106 from 4 matches, avg 6.68, at 2.76/ov

~~~

Today I died. I'm still dead, I'm talking to you from the realm of the lifeless. Perhaps by tomorrow or so my spirits will have returned. I hope you don't mind my anaemic complexion and empty stare. I promise not to burst into remote-controlled, hollow Sachiiiiin Sachiiiin groans. Alright, so let's have a look at operation "Revenge of the Lederhosen":

5-25 for Rana-Javed Iqbal
(Ranus Magnus Africanus)

Unfortunately I couldn't follow the first innings, but checking the score my jaw dropped in shock: Asif Khan wasn't playing. I hope for the love of god that he's just caught a stomach bug, but I fear he is injured. "Thomas" Khalid Butt replaced him.

The second change in the line-up concerned an issue I had been thinking about as well: our dear Ehsan Latif got dropped for offspinner Ashwin Prakash. We remember that the last time Ehsan faced the Kuwaiti batsmen he suffered a terrible trauma, so although I was utterly sad not to spot his name in the line-up I was curious to see how Ashwin would be doing. My heart skipped a beat upon the discovery that Rana-Javed Iqbal, the German hero of the tournament, had been appointed to captain for this match. I do generally bandwagon bowling captains heavily, so Rana the brain man assumed a popesque aura on my inner monitor. If you know what I mean. Ahh.

It seems to be an unwritten law in this tournament to bowl first if you can, and since we lost another toss, Kuwait put us in. Milan Fernando (59) did not get run out today and subsequently scored most of the runs for Germany. André Leslie and the good Shakeel Hassan chipped in as well, but not much support came from the rest. Just like in the Div. 8 final it wasn't Mo Murad or any other fast bowling kid who grabbed a bucket of wickets, but the wickets were spread almost evenly among the bowlers, so I think Hisham Mirza's permanent juggle of resources saw us twitch around and so we got bowled out for 188. We have defended smaller totals before, but never in my whole life I would have dreamt of a victory against the Kuwaiti batting machines.

Enter captain Iqbal.

Farooq has a happy: Rana (No. 7) has just removed Saud Qamar

He immediately continued from where he had left the day before, and opened the innings in tandem with Shakeel Hassan. Oh you most glorious of wicket reapers, you who just needs to stick his hand out, and into whose palm the wickets will fall like the sweetest ripe grapes fall from the vine. Irfan Bhatti, the granite pillar at the top of the Kuwaiti batting order, left for a duck. Abid Mushtaq followed him on his heels for one. Shortly after, the second metaphorical rock got removed in form of the fearsome Saud Qamar, and Kuwait were 21-3 courtesy of Rana-Javed Iqbal.

I quietly celebrated these colossal partial victories, but refused to get excited. Because 1) the terrifying Sibtain Raza was at the crease, 2) concrete wall Hisham Mirza was at the crease, and 3) the first change bowlers came on. And oh yes Sibtain dropped his anchor and didn't even think of leaving. But Iqbal played with his bowling options so cleverly and mixed them up so wisely that I erupted in spontaneous declarations of total agreement every now and then. This smart juggle never really released the pressure from the batsmen, and when Sibtain departed in the 25th over for 56, bowled Kashif Haider (YES!) caught Rishi Pillai, I thought we were back in it. Mirza however would still have been able to get them home, if his partner just nurdled around a bit, because the asking rate was oscillating around 4.odd. But when the fifth wicket fell due to the perfectly timed introduction of Farooq Ahmed the gates swung open. Farooq also removed skipper Mirza a few overs later, Kuwait were 128-6 and the smell of tail was lingering in the air.

A smiley Sibtain Raza enjoys his 50

Just the right time for Rana's second spell: another two batsmen disappeared into his bottomless pit of death, and at 8-132 I was convinced that from here nothing can go wrong anymore. Boom Boom Farooq had enough overs left, Kashif exerted great control on the ball, and then there was still.... Ashwin Prakash. Any German supporter probably suffered a shock of medium-large dimensions when Shakeel had to pull out of his last over (I hope it's nothing serious!!!). Ashwin finished the over for him with two tidy deliveries, but was never considered for activity again. Instead the skipper had the more experienced Rajeev Vohra and of course Rishi Pillai fill the remaining overs, who bowled well enough for the role assigned to them. I feel bad for Ashwin though and would like to witness his talent, of which was spoken so highly, as soon as possible. He's had a couple of nice cameos now I am curious to watch him over the longer distance.

But back to the match... Kuwait had 56 runs to get with two wickets in hand, none of them with any batting credentials, Farooq was bowling his four letters off, but young Mohammad Murad successfully hogged the strike and lived on nurdles, nudges and the occasional boundary; but slowly, almost unnoticeably, the asking rate kept climbing and reached 6 at some point, which can put a lot of pressure on two tailenders. However, Murad was obviously attempting at some "Mo-Aamer-v-NZ" heroics and had my nerves in tatters so much that random muscles in my body began to twitch uncontrolled. Unlike me, Boom Boom Farooq held his nerve and DANG Murad's partner fell prey to a certainly gorgeous caught and bowled. I suspect that they had left the powerplay until the end, because the wicket fell in the 46th over, after both seemed fairly settled. Murad however was clinging on for dear life and they sneaked closer and closer towards the target, but Farooq and Kashif Haider, the latter returning for the death when Iqbal was bowled out, tightened the screws unbelievably and finally Murad lost his nerve and surrendered to Kashif, who, so I felt, had taken one of the most important wickets of his career in this moment.

Kashif erupts in joy after taking the last wicket

Words cannot describe the relief, my nerves were dangling in loose bundles and I couldn't move or breathe or control my facial expressions. Bloody hell Germs!!! This match, this victory has to be attributed to the probably tidiest and most disciplined bowling performance I have ever seen of the Germans.

I don't want to hear anything about Kuwait having got sloppy due to their superior position in the table. The fight of the tailenders illustrates impressively that Kuwait did not want to give in and fall victim to a side that had just narrowly lost two matches against two medium-strong teams. I also won't speculate that Iqbal's bowling brain perhaps gave us the edge in this thriller. Everything just fell into place and for the first time our team's admirable efforts were rewarded accordingly.

Unfortunately this hard-fought victory won't change anything about the fact that we've lost the race for ascension, but our position in the fight against relegation is a lot stronger now with two wins under the belt. Which takes us to the other two of today's games...

Nigeria v Japan

[gallery]

It is so sad to see Japan get mauled over and over again. I really feel for these poor blokes that have travelled so far and don't seem to stand the ghost of a chance against any of their competitors. Today it was up to Nigeria to knock the stuffing out of them and they did so by 90 runs. Ah well. :(

Botswana v Norway

[no gallery up yet]

These two sides would guarantee a really interesting match. A Norwegian victory could have kept the door to promotion open for us. Norway put a decent total on the board, 272 (captain Damien Shortis 91) certainly gave them the opportunity to inflict defeat upon the hosting side. Sounds like a good plan, but you need the bowlers to back it up. Norway didn't have them. Botswana approached the chase very cautiously, paying most of their attention to keeping wickets in hand, and their careful course of action paid off in the end, they only lost two wickets and arrived at the target 20 balls early, with opener Faisal Rana hammering a whopping 158 off 143 balls. Amazing.

~~~

Outlook: after another day off tomorrow we are playing our last group match on Saturday against our fellow Europeans from Norway. It's gonna be a tough match I can tell you. Today's victory has put us in the position that even if we lose against them we can still stay on top of them via NRR and secure a spot in the next Div. 7. Kuwait have only Japan left to play and with all due respect I don't think they will lose. So the second thriller will take place between the two African sides Nigeria and Botswana, who, both equipped with 6 points, will fight for the second promotion spot. The losing team will remain in Div. 7 along with either us or Norway. Should Japan win against Kuwait by like 500 or so runs, the table will be wide open again, with all four of us, Botswana, Nigeria, Kuwait and Germany back in the race for spots in Div. 6. Well, one may dream ;)

For now I need to rest my sorry nerves...

Cheers,
Wes

World Cricket League Div. 7 - Germany v Rudi Koertzen et al

2011-05-04T19:44:00.004+02:00

Germany's captain Asif Khan was battling at two fronts today: Botswana and Rudi Koertzen :P
Note that Akrum Chand is holding the German pennant, which we bestow upon all our opponents. Makes for a nice scalp, doesn't it. Grrr.

Match Day 3
[scorecards] [points table]
[cricinfo bulletin] [ICC report and post match statements]

Botswana v Germany
[gallery] [alternative gallery on Cricket Europe]
[André Leslie blog: day off and match day 3] [match report by Cricket Germany]

That's it. I'm quitting it. I can't take it anymore. My nerves are shot. I have no sweat anymore, no tears, no voice, no stomach (I think it has rotated itself to death).

BOOM BOOM. That's four. My MOTM Farooq Ahmed

Batting: Botswana opted to field first. Both our openers got removed for a combined 1 run, Fernando got run out for a duck. The middle order steered the ship into safe waters, magnificent knocks from Asif Khan (65), Farooq Ahmed (69) and Rishi Pillai (47 off 49), plus some quick runs from the tail. Total: 229, from 47 ov. (reduced match again). Absolutely defendable with our attack.

Bowling: Rana-Javed Iqbal and Ehsan Latif started with a wicket each in their first overs, Ehsan even began with a wicket maiden (at that point I decided that I had seen it all and could die in peace). First change Rishi Pillai, who hadn't even got the ball thrown at him in the previous match, took a wicket in his first over as well. Things were looking fab at 28/3. Then the bowlers totally lost the plot. Leaking wides galore, getting hammered (especially the spinners) and the bowling figures made my eyes bleed.

Finally Rana The Incredible and Shakeel Hassan came together for a great tandem, built up some pressure and took two wickets between them, and they even managed to push the asking rate to 6 at one point. When they were bowled out, Farooq Ahmed continued their great work, the dangerman Modise, Botswana's top-scorer, had been run out by Rajeev Vohra, and Farooq took another wicket, so the hosts were 7 down with 76 runs to get, and the skipper partnered Farooq with Kashif Haider and Ehsan. While Kashif managed to reduce his previously voluminous economy rate, Ehsan leaked too many runs to keep up the pressure that Farooq applied with some insanely tight bowling. When Vohra returned into the attack and took the 8th wicket -the lower middle order batsman Omar Ali, who had kept the innings together for Botswana in the latter stages- it was too late and the tailenders knocked the remaining runs off rather easily.

One could state that the match followed a similar pattern as that against Nigeria, but this time I had the feeling we had enough runs on the board, and we played some really powerful and competitive cricket, but the bowlers with some really erratic spraying in the middle overs fluffed it at some point. With 44 extras we nearly cracked Kuwait's record of 48; against Japan it didn't matter but today it cost us a must-win match. We'll have to see now how it goes on from here. Kuwait will be the next hard nut to bust, which leaves Norway as another must-win game, we need to avoid relegation at all cost. I imagine there's enormous tension in the German camp right now in view of this situation, I hope the boys will keep their nerves and play another strong match against Kuwait tomorrow. I'm still totally pumped because of the displays of Ranus Magnus Africanus and Boom Boom Ahmed, and it'll take a while until my nerves settle down again. Man!

PS. Go the Germs!!!!!

Kuwait v Nigeria

[no gallery up yet]

WHOAHHHHHHHHHHHH. Is this the same Nigerian team against which we struggled on Monday? Bowled out for 153 and then hammered into the ground by the Kuwaitis within 25 overs! This Kuwait steamroller is unstoppable. Sean Philips was again the stand-out batsman for Nigeria by a mile, hardly any support came from the others. Saad Khalid, "yet another" Kuwaiti fast bowling kid, grabbed five wickets during Nigeria's demolition. Kuwait raced home for the cost of just one wicket, and the undestroyable batting machine Irfan Bhatti, as well as Saud Qamar (I had already started to miss him hehe) ran away with the victory in hand. In my opinion Kuwait have wrapped up their promotion now. What a mighty freaking team.

Japan v Norway

[gallery]

Norway beat Japan, I must admit expectedly, by 53 runs. The Norwegians accumulated a nice total of 244 and bowled the Asians out for 191. Norwegian stalwart Ehetsham-ul-Haq and wicket keeper Ifthikar Suhael scored most of the Norwegian runs, Shahbaz Butt took 4 wickets.

~~~

The table: Kuwait are resting regally at the top with three wins out of three, looked up to by Botswana and Nigeria with two wins each. The European teams follow on the ranks 4 and 5, with Germany sitting on top of Norway due to a better net run rate. Japan are carrying the red lantern with no wins yet.

Will add more stuff when it's out, wish us luck for tomorrow,

Cheers,
Wes

World Cricket League Div. 7 - Murky Monday

2011-05-02T19:35:00.008+02:00

Match Day 2
[scorecards] [points table]
[cricinfo bulletin] [ICC day 2 report]

Germany v Nigeria
[gallery not up yet] [André Leslie blog match day 1/2] [great emotional report by Cricket Germany]

Dammit. Nigeria opted to field first and it was a good decision for them. Only Milan Fernando's fabulous 82 sticks out on the German scorecard. The middle order collapsed spectacularly, before the tailenders added another handful of runs to take the total to 166, coincidentally exactly the same target that Norway had set the day before and could not defend against the Nigerians either. After our opening bowlers took three wickets and had me hope for a typical German scenario -make only just enough runs for our excellent attack to defend- the ball got older and for the first time we were facing the expected problems on these wickets, they suit the pacers and our spinners (the experienced Shakeel Hassan came in for Ashwin Prakash) couldn't take any wickets. When Nigeria only still needed 70-odd runs, André Leslie came on and removed skipper Ofem first ball. But the drought continued from there, Ehsan Latif upon his return took another quick wicket, but the main man Sean Philips had dug himself into his crease, and Nigeria chased the target down rather comfortably.

It lies in the obscure why Rishi Pillai didn't get the ball thrown at him and Rajeev Vohra came on so late that his wicket didn't effect the outcome of the match anymore; and why Iqbal, who has taken nine wickets in two matches now, wasn't brought back earlier. I will have to look into the match reports to find out about that. I'm pretty sure of what Endurance Ofem will be thinking now... "I had expected more of the Germans" ha ha! Well it was a slip and we need to correct the mistake in the next matches. The table is still open, and our bowlers worked hard as usual, but it's not getting easier from here and our batsmen, especially the middle order, will need to contribute more.

Kuwait skipper Hisham Mirza takes no prisoners,
brings up his 50 against Norway

Kuwait v Norway
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Surprise, surprise. Norway, who lost against Nigeria on day one, made 246 against Kuwait's strong attack. Alas, they failed to take wickets, and the Kuwaiti batsmen, obviously avid readers of this blog, started to show their strength again, losing only three wickets during the chase. The fine knocks from Ehetsham ul-Haq (69) and Muhammad Shahbaz Butt (72*) as well as a mindboggling 48(!!!) Kuwaiti extras enabled the Norwegians to put a score on the board they should have been able to defend more easily than the day before, but Kuwait know better which way to hold a bat. Irfan Bhatti (64), a household name to my readers, keeper Sibtain Raza (77*) and skipper Hisham Mirza (64*) shared the duties amongst themselves almost equally and made the chase a walk in the park. What an amazing team the Kuwaitis are. Well done. The desert warriors are firmly and deservedly sitting on the throne at the top of the table. I expect them not to drop the trophy anymore from here, this second big victory will sow fear and terror in any future opponent. PS. Mo Murad 6-39.

Botswana v Japan
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The shocker of the day. Japan got bowled out for 86, and that included 15 extras. Botswana strolled to victory with 121 balls to spare. Just look at the scorecard for the details, I'm not discussing this any further.

~~~

A day off is scheduled for tomorrow and on Wednesday Germany will continue with a must-win game against the hosts Botswana, while Japan will face Norway and Kuwait lock horns with the the No. 2 in the table, Nigeria, a match that makes me want to grab some popcorn and just enjoy the show hehe.

Cheers,
Wes