Debacle at Milwaukee
This blog is being written upon special request by my team mates. Our vice captain, who usually writes articles after every game, wasnt available for this one. So, i figured, its good blog material, might post it here as well. (Hassan Bhai's comment on my blogging, is that once i land a job, it'll reduce, and this 'useless activity' will altogether cease, when i get married !)
Saturday, May 22nd started early for me. As would be evident with my earlier blog, it started off with me knocking my new BDM Old Gold, outside my apartment complex at 6.45 am. Adnan, came to pick me up at 8, and we went on our way to pick up Shakeir as well.
The rest of the team came in two other cars, and captain Musheer went in his, dropped his family off at a relative's in Milwaukee and then join us.
Two hours of 'Tok Tok's in the car, and 100 miles later, we reached Milwaukee, but were aghast at the condition of the ground we were to play on. The ground wasnt fit enough to play Kabbadi, leave alone Holy Cricket. So, the hosts took us to another ground.
After another delay of 2 1/2 hours, an hour of which, the host team disappeared, leaving us 11, scratching our heads, as to what to do, the match started finally. Milwaukee United won the toss, and decided to put us to bat. The match was reduced to 30 overs a side.
It must be mentioned here, that this was a clay pitch, over which was a wet and soggy mat, thanx to overnight rain, and then another mat was rolled over this one. So we knew the odd ball would keep low, and had to watch out for it.
There was a few changes in the team since the last match. Vice Cap, Atif, wasnt available, and speedster Hasan, and Sonics Royal Jester and swashbuckling batsman, Rehan and Milan Mian werent playing. One new addition to the team was Aamir, who played with us the last match of last season.
Capt. Musheer decided to shuffle the batting order a bit, and Naseer, surprise of surprises, wanted to go opening, instead of his customary one down, which he loved.
Capt bhai, told me that he'll send me lower down the order and i agreed: "Shizzle, ma, Nizzle" (Thats 'Sure, my nigger', if u didnt know, and dont ever go Shizzle ma Nizzle with a Black dude, unless he's a very good friend!!!)
Naseer and Muni went opening, and Muni was given clear tips (read instructions ;) ) by this author, to offer a straight bat to deliveries coming in line with the stumps, and hit them through the line, and to play across the line if they were outside the line (if he wanted to, considering how across the line he played during the first match, and the furniture behind him was rearranged !).
Well, Madurai Veerar, Muni, was the first to go, during the third or fourth over. Playing across the line to a delivery coming in line with the stumps !!!
Aamir, went in next. Aamir played some sweetly timed and breath taking shots. And Naseer, the dependable, and our 'Dravid' was going good at the other end. Things started looking good, when Aamir, was foxed by the wily bowlers of Milwaukee. Clean bowled, Aamir walked back, and in goes Vinay. Vinay, played a very uncharacteristic, cautious knock, which baffled me. He didnt seem to be playing his natural game. After a couple of overs of prodding, pushing and fishing, another star talent was back in the pavilion.
Time for 'Pull Master' Muzzaffar, aka, Muzzie. Again, a few good shots, excellent timing, and then boom, gone. Clean bowled. I suspect the ball kept low on him. Naseer, seemed to be running out of partners at the other end. And in I go. My job was cut out, to stay there, and was told that as well. Naseer mian, played some more good shots, and then, to one bowler who seemed threatening, Naseer, hit him out of the match, and possibly for the next few matches as well. A blinder of a shot, and the bowler tried to catch it, but the only thing the ball seemed to touch was his finger nail, which was out of his finger in a jiffy. Poor guy, had to be rushed to a hospital. (This is another reminder for all our team mates, to make sure, ur nails are cut short, before every match!!)
So, someone else had to finish that over, and this dude bowls a short one at Naseer, and Naseer, who loves to pull, tried to pull this one, intending to find the square leg boudary. All he found was the square leg fielder. My feeling is, Naseer was set up for this. Again, an indication of how wily our opponents were.
I was joined by Capt. Musheer, and by now, the humidity increased a hell lot, and i was sweating hard, and needed my customary Gatorade (which was 8 balls after i came in, but hey, i was thirsty as hell even before i walked in !!).
But no sign of it at all !!! I had to yell, scream, beg, and threaten, before half a bottle came my way. Now u know why i dindt click in this match either!!! (i need an excuse, didnt i?).
Anyway, the ground fielding of our opponent team was electric, and i say ground fielding alone, because, anything that came in the air, they seemed to make a hash of it. I gave them two sitters, in the first two balls that i faced, and they dropped it. And after some pushing the ball around for singles, i saw a juicy short pitched one. And the moment it pitched, i knew it was going a lil low, so i went down on one knee to pull it, but much to my dismay, the frickin cherry kept lower than that, and then the nice wooden arrangement behind me was shattered. Capt saab claims i played even before the ball came near the bat, but i beg to differ, i played at a line, where the ball wasnt there at all, it came much much lower.
So, Adnan, goes in next, a few good shots, and a few good and needful runs later, he's back as well. and in goes, Kush. He plays a few excellent shots, confirming my belief, that he should go higher up the order. And he gets out to another foxy variation of one of the bowlers, out to a googly. 'Star runner between the wickets' - Tiruchi Tiger, Arun goes in to the non striker's end. Musheer, who's played a captain's innings so far, having amassed 22 runs, perishes. (How, i dont remember). Shakeir joins Arun, who's still at the non striker's end. And Shakeir, offers his pad, to a ball, when he should have offered his bat. And Sonics is back in the pavilion. Total? - 108. Highest Scorer, Captain Musheer - 22, Next highest - Naseeer - 21.
As for Tiruch Tiger? So near, yet so far. He didnt get to face a single ball !
After some confusion about the lunch arrangements, which the home team should have made for us, we start the match 15 mins after our innings. Kush opens the bowling. Musheer sets the field, and asks me to go to third man. Considering how much i love to be in the thick of things and be in the middle, not to mention i'm an asset as a close in fielder (and a huge liability as a deep fielder !!!), i told Musheer this though (only the asset part mind u !!). So, i'm promptly dispatched to point.
First over, third ball from Kush, the opener slahes. The ball flies clear of point, and I dive to my left, catch the ball in mid air and land hard on the ground. This catch, and the fact that it came in the first over, lifts our morale, and so does our tail, which starts wagging.
Second over, bowled by Adnan, and doing injustice to himself, bowls quite a few short deliveries. Which, the brute of a batsman, whatever his name is, dispatches 'em all over the park. Finally, Adnan, takes the new batsman out.
A few good overs from Kush, and a few short pitched overs from Adnan, who showed flashes of brilliance in the amount of swing he can get, when he pitches up (he got the dangerous opener plumb in front to a 'shocker' yorker, but the 'blind as a bat' umpire, wouldnt give him out!). Star spinner Shakeir comes in. He keeps the batsmen in check and takes the dangerous opener out, who holes out to Aamir at a place between deep square leg and long on.
Then comes in this kid to bat. He takes guard, and starts to bat, then stops, runs to the umpire, tells him something, and runs back to the pavilion. I hope he's gone to a rest room break and wont return due to a bad bout of diahoerra (they were already one batsman short due to the injury and i hoped we could use wickets in any way they come !!)
But this kid, has forgotten his abdomen guard, wears it and comes back. Imagine that, forgetting ur ab guard? Dude, thats the first thing u ever wear. Dont u see, how Sachin Tendulkar, always checks if he's got his guard or not, or whether he's dropped them somewhere? His groping and fiddling of his ab guard is legendary. I've never seen any other batsman do it as much !!
Anyway, the kid looks uncertain, and is hesitant, prods around a few singles. And Shakeir gets him too finally, this kid, deciding to let the ball go, and the ball, goes alright, but not before clipping the bail off the stumps.
Captain saab decided to roll his shoulders a bit with the ball, to no effect, and then wicket keeper Muzzie comes on to bowl, with little success.
The new batsman, and the other one, Chandru, wrap up the game. Chandru, playing some lofted and excellently timed shots, all around the park.
Verdict - Our bowlers came good in this game, but they didnt have enough runs on the board to defend. We, the batsmen, let the team down this time. And our batsmen, were restricted by some excellent ground fielding by the opponents, not to mention, a wicket to wicket line, which wasnt easy to score off.
P.S - My memory is a lil hazy on this one, and if the order of events are a lil different, then bear with me. I'm still trying to recover from the lack of water and Gatorade.
Saturday, May 22nd started early for me. As would be evident with my earlier blog, it started off with me knocking my new BDM Old Gold, outside my apartment complex at 6.45 am. Adnan, came to pick me up at 8, and we went on our way to pick up Shakeir as well.
The rest of the team came in two other cars, and captain Musheer went in his, dropped his family off at a relative's in Milwaukee and then join us.
Two hours of 'Tok Tok's in the car, and 100 miles later, we reached Milwaukee, but were aghast at the condition of the ground we were to play on. The ground wasnt fit enough to play Kabbadi, leave alone Holy Cricket. So, the hosts took us to another ground.
After another delay of 2 1/2 hours, an hour of which, the host team disappeared, leaving us 11, scratching our heads, as to what to do, the match started finally. Milwaukee United won the toss, and decided to put us to bat. The match was reduced to 30 overs a side.
It must be mentioned here, that this was a clay pitch, over which was a wet and soggy mat, thanx to overnight rain, and then another mat was rolled over this one. So we knew the odd ball would keep low, and had to watch out for it.
There was a few changes in the team since the last match. Vice Cap, Atif, wasnt available, and speedster Hasan, and Sonics Royal Jester and swashbuckling batsman, Rehan and Milan Mian werent playing. One new addition to the team was Aamir, who played with us the last match of last season.
Capt. Musheer decided to shuffle the batting order a bit, and Naseer, surprise of surprises, wanted to go opening, instead of his customary one down, which he loved.
Capt bhai, told me that he'll send me lower down the order and i agreed: "Shizzle, ma, Nizzle" (Thats 'Sure, my nigger', if u didnt know, and dont ever go Shizzle ma Nizzle with a Black dude, unless he's a very good friend!!!)
Naseer and Muni went opening, and Muni was given clear tips (read instructions ;) ) by this author, to offer a straight bat to deliveries coming in line with the stumps, and hit them through the line, and to play across the line if they were outside the line (if he wanted to, considering how across the line he played during the first match, and the furniture behind him was rearranged !).
Well, Madurai Veerar, Muni, was the first to go, during the third or fourth over. Playing across the line to a delivery coming in line with the stumps !!!
Aamir, went in next. Aamir played some sweetly timed and breath taking shots. And Naseer, the dependable, and our 'Dravid' was going good at the other end. Things started looking good, when Aamir, was foxed by the wily bowlers of Milwaukee. Clean bowled, Aamir walked back, and in goes Vinay. Vinay, played a very uncharacteristic, cautious knock, which baffled me. He didnt seem to be playing his natural game. After a couple of overs of prodding, pushing and fishing, another star talent was back in the pavilion.
Time for 'Pull Master' Muzzaffar, aka, Muzzie. Again, a few good shots, excellent timing, and then boom, gone. Clean bowled. I suspect the ball kept low on him. Naseer, seemed to be running out of partners at the other end. And in I go. My job was cut out, to stay there, and was told that as well. Naseer mian, played some more good shots, and then, to one bowler who seemed threatening, Naseer, hit him out of the match, and possibly for the next few matches as well. A blinder of a shot, and the bowler tried to catch it, but the only thing the ball seemed to touch was his finger nail, which was out of his finger in a jiffy. Poor guy, had to be rushed to a hospital. (This is another reminder for all our team mates, to make sure, ur nails are cut short, before every match!!)
So, someone else had to finish that over, and this dude bowls a short one at Naseer, and Naseer, who loves to pull, tried to pull this one, intending to find the square leg boudary. All he found was the square leg fielder. My feeling is, Naseer was set up for this. Again, an indication of how wily our opponents were.
I was joined by Capt. Musheer, and by now, the humidity increased a hell lot, and i was sweating hard, and needed my customary Gatorade (which was 8 balls after i came in, but hey, i was thirsty as hell even before i walked in !!).
But no sign of it at all !!! I had to yell, scream, beg, and threaten, before half a bottle came my way. Now u know why i dindt click in this match either!!! (i need an excuse, didnt i?).
Anyway, the ground fielding of our opponent team was electric, and i say ground fielding alone, because, anything that came in the air, they seemed to make a hash of it. I gave them two sitters, in the first two balls that i faced, and they dropped it. And after some pushing the ball around for singles, i saw a juicy short pitched one. And the moment it pitched, i knew it was going a lil low, so i went down on one knee to pull it, but much to my dismay, the frickin cherry kept lower than that, and then the nice wooden arrangement behind me was shattered. Capt saab claims i played even before the ball came near the bat, but i beg to differ, i played at a line, where the ball wasnt there at all, it came much much lower.
So, Adnan, goes in next, a few good shots, and a few good and needful runs later, he's back as well. and in goes, Kush. He plays a few excellent shots, confirming my belief, that he should go higher up the order. And he gets out to another foxy variation of one of the bowlers, out to a googly. 'Star runner between the wickets' - Tiruchi Tiger, Arun goes in to the non striker's end. Musheer, who's played a captain's innings so far, having amassed 22 runs, perishes. (How, i dont remember). Shakeir joins Arun, who's still at the non striker's end. And Shakeir, offers his pad, to a ball, when he should have offered his bat. And Sonics is back in the pavilion. Total? - 108. Highest Scorer, Captain Musheer - 22, Next highest - Naseeer - 21.
As for Tiruch Tiger? So near, yet so far. He didnt get to face a single ball !
After some confusion about the lunch arrangements, which the home team should have made for us, we start the match 15 mins after our innings. Kush opens the bowling. Musheer sets the field, and asks me to go to third man. Considering how much i love to be in the thick of things and be in the middle, not to mention i'm an asset as a close in fielder (and a huge liability as a deep fielder !!!), i told Musheer this though (only the asset part mind u !!). So, i'm promptly dispatched to point.
First over, third ball from Kush, the opener slahes. The ball flies clear of point, and I dive to my left, catch the ball in mid air and land hard on the ground. This catch, and the fact that it came in the first over, lifts our morale, and so does our tail, which starts wagging.
Second over, bowled by Adnan, and doing injustice to himself, bowls quite a few short deliveries. Which, the brute of a batsman, whatever his name is, dispatches 'em all over the park. Finally, Adnan, takes the new batsman out.
A few good overs from Kush, and a few short pitched overs from Adnan, who showed flashes of brilliance in the amount of swing he can get, when he pitches up (he got the dangerous opener plumb in front to a 'shocker' yorker, but the 'blind as a bat' umpire, wouldnt give him out!). Star spinner Shakeir comes in. He keeps the batsmen in check and takes the dangerous opener out, who holes out to Aamir at a place between deep square leg and long on.
Then comes in this kid to bat. He takes guard, and starts to bat, then stops, runs to the umpire, tells him something, and runs back to the pavilion. I hope he's gone to a rest room break and wont return due to a bad bout of diahoerra (they were already one batsman short due to the injury and i hoped we could use wickets in any way they come !!)
But this kid, has forgotten his abdomen guard, wears it and comes back. Imagine that, forgetting ur ab guard? Dude, thats the first thing u ever wear. Dont u see, how Sachin Tendulkar, always checks if he's got his guard or not, or whether he's dropped them somewhere? His groping and fiddling of his ab guard is legendary. I've never seen any other batsman do it as much !!
Anyway, the kid looks uncertain, and is hesitant, prods around a few singles. And Shakeir gets him too finally, this kid, deciding to let the ball go, and the ball, goes alright, but not before clipping the bail off the stumps.
Captain saab decided to roll his shoulders a bit with the ball, to no effect, and then wicket keeper Muzzie comes on to bowl, with little success.
The new batsman, and the other one, Chandru, wrap up the game. Chandru, playing some lofted and excellently timed shots, all around the park.
Verdict - Our bowlers came good in this game, but they didnt have enough runs on the board to defend. We, the batsmen, let the team down this time. And our batsmen, were restricted by some excellent ground fielding by the opponents, not to mention, a wicket to wicket line, which wasnt easy to score off.
P.S - My memory is a lil hazy on this one, and if the order of events are a lil different, then bear with me. I'm still trying to recover from the lack of water and Gatorade.
posted by Hifzur at
12:13 AM
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