(a)Musings & not so (a)Musings

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Bat Story (contd.)

Since there never is a cricket match at the Midwest Cricket Conference over long weekends (and i'm quite sure that'll be the case with every other cricket league in the US), I have two weeks to go before i get to play another match.

And two weeks to get my bat ready (Which is a hell lot of time)!!

Contrary to my earlier attempts at knocking my bat in my apartment, with some loud music to drown out the Tok Tok, I thought i'll be nice to the neighbours. Not that anybody would be home during the day, but some poor soul might be recovering from some illness, or someone might have worked in the nights, and trying to catch up with some sleep.

So I decided to knock my bat in my terrace. And does my terrace have a spectacular view.
I live right off Lake Shore Drive, in Chicago. This terrace, overlooks, Lake Shore Drive, and an unhindered view of Lake Michigan. In between, Lake Shore Drive, and the lake, is a lush green golf course, studded with beautiful trees.

Sitting at this place, i've been knocking my bat, one hour sessions, and i've finished about 6 hours in total. One way to tell whether the bat has been knocked in well or not, is to press on the wood, with your finger nail. If it leaves a tell tale mark, then your blade is not ready yet. The mark my nail leaves now ,is a small tiny one. Almost ready. If i had a match, i could use my bat confidently without any worry, but since I have more than a week to go, then I can knock it in a li'l more. The more knocked a new bat is, the better. So yippee!!

I've already identified the sweet spot in my Baby Blade, and its pretty decent in size. Only thing is, i hate the dull Tok, that comes from below the sweet spot, and above it. Guess, thats the deal with Kashmir Willow bats. Hopefully next year, if I get to make a trip to India, i'll have an English Willow, maybe Grade II or Grade I.

So, bat's getting ready, now what needs to be done, is to score some runs !!!

Talking about the bat, (which is BDM, as i've mentioned in an earlier post). There was a flyer that came with the bat, extolling the virtues of the bat manufacturer, and some instructions on the care of the bat. The language, I must add here, is supposedly English, but borders on humor. An example, quoted verbatim....

"In case of an AWKWARDLY TAPPED, YORKER on hard ground, when ball strikes the BOTTOM EDGE or TOE of the bat with SUBSTENTIAL FORCE, OR A MISTIME SHOT CROSS HITTED, when ball is knocking hardly with the INNER SIDE ENDGE OF THE BAT, CAN CAUSE BREAK DOWN or even IRREPARABLE DAMAGE at any time in the life of a CRICKET BAT."

Now, talking about the flyer, and humor, I cant possibly leave out the picture of the male model in it, can I? There is a picture of poor soul, who in my opinion, must be an employee at B.D.Mahajan & Sons, (most likely the accountant sort). I think he must have been threatened with losing his job, as i doubt anybody in their right frame of mind, would pose for such a picture.

The picture, apparently is an attempt to showcase, the full range of gear that BDM produces. There's this dude, wearing a batsman's attire, helmet, armguard, pads, thigh pads, chest guard, etc etc. The thing about this picture is, said dude in question is wearing a sleeveless vest, and an underwear !! I'm surprised, how they didnt have the guy turn around a little, so that the picture can also show that they also manufacture, the abdomen guards. (Oh, actually, its brilliant. The shot shows a tinge of white between this guy's thighs, and a tinge of blue at this backside. So, its a white ab guard, over a blue underwear. Brilliant photography !!)

And wearing all this, poor dude, is actually smiling. I guess its a smile of relief, that he saved his ass, and his job !!

*************************

Disappointment

Mr. Perkins, the biology teacher at a posh girl's school, said during class, "Miss Smythe, would you please name the organ of the human body, which under the appropriate conditions, expands to six times its normal size, and define the conditions."

Miss Smythe gasped, then said freezingly, "Mr. Perkins, I don't think that is a proper question to ask me. I assure you my parents will hear of this."

With that she sat down red-faced. Unperturbed, Mr. Perkins called on Miss Johnson and asked the same question.

Miss Johnson, with composure, replied, "The pupil of the eye, in dim light."

"Correct," said Mr. Perkins. "And now, Miss Smythe, I have three things to say to you. One, you have not studied your homework.

Two, you have a dirty mind.

And three, you will some day be faced with a dreadful disappointment."



Monday, May 24, 2004

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.

Sunday, May 23, 2004

My Bat Story

I have been playing club cricket, here in the Midwest, through a conference called the Midwest Cricket Conference.

Joined a new team, called Sonics last year, and have continued with the team this year as well. Bunch of fun people, and great to get to play club cricket here in the US, which i've never been able to do back in India.

My brother, back in India, had the shock of his life, when I told him I was playing club cricket, and I needed to buy a bat from India. His exclamation was "I've hardly seen u play cricket here even at school, and you are playing cricket there??!!" His shock was even more profound, when I told him, I was the opener for my team's batting line up. (It's another thing that I am not a swashbuckling opener, but a patient, grafter, but why give information thats not needed was my logic :) )

Anyway, after atleast a month and a half of research on cricket bats, I purchased an MRF Bonzer from www.bigblue.safeshopper.com
I was very particular about buying an English Willow, rather than Kashmir Willow. English Willows are much more expensive, and their performance is much better. Was supposed to get my Blade Baby on Monday the 17th, but no, it didnt arrive. Being the impatient guy when it comes to things he's got his mind and heart on, I couldnt take it. So, called this chap there at the store. He says, 'Oh, yes, sorry, I messed up, I sent your bat to the knocking in place, i wont charge you for this, its my mistake, but i'll send it after its done'. And my reply, 'Thats nice, thank you, but i have a match the coming saturday, and i want my bat by then'. (Its another thing that i wanted to knock my bat myself, and i was pissed its being knocked by somebody else !!). So, i asked this dude, can you please send it by overnite delivery? He says, he'll check and get back to me. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I never got my bat, neither was i able to reach him either. Gave him a couple of warning messages as well, that i'll cancel my order if he doesnt call me back. No Use. So i promptly cancelled it, and went ahead to good ol' Devon Avenue, to buy a bat. And this was Friday evening, match was next day.

I was a man on a mission - I had to play the next match with my own bat !! (its another thing that a new bat needs to be knocked in, and this usually takes about a week, or, 6 - 7 hours of knocking in. but i had other plans to make up for the knocking in. like waking up early the next morning, and knocking all the way in the car, to the match venue, which was at Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Checked out a couple of stores, and finally zeroed in on the only other one i could buy a bat at. Store called, Gandhi Appliances. (Yes, they sell, all kinds of appliances, and its not a sports store at all, but then again, this sounds better than the only other store i could buy a bat - Noor Meat Market !!)

Checked out a few bats, had to finally settle in on a Kashmir Willow, BDM, Old Gold to be precise. And boy, did i take some time to buy it. I took 3 bats, and was trying out its weight, played some imaginary cover drives, and pull shots, much to the annoyance of the store keepers. Zeroed in on two bats. Couldnt decided on either one, some more cover drives, pull shots and back foot defense. After 45 gruelling minutes, decided to go by my instincts, and bought a bat that was a tad heavier than the other one. (My request for a weighing machine to compare the weight of the two bats was turned down, snobby guy !!, says we dont have such machines, and to think it was an appliance store, Nincompoop !!)

Phase 1 of mission complete, now Phase 2 in progress, to locate a bat mallet and some linseed oil to knock the bat. 'Appliance' store, and 'Meat Market' carried neither. So i had to borrow from someone. After 20 minutes of calling around, located one. and it was a long way away. So got a friend of mine to pick it up and give it to me, as he was driving back to the city from around where they were. The time i received it, 10.30 pm. and i had to leave Chicago by 8 am the next day.

And I had slept only 4 hours between two days, thanx to my part time job, and i was dead tired. Oiled my bat patiently, and was off to sleep. I wake up at 5.30 am, did my usual morning ritual, showered, and was out of my apartment by 6.45. And then it started. The Knocking. Final phase, Phase 3 of my mission was in motion. A new bat needs to be knocked in for atleast 6 hours, my math told me i'll have atleast 4 - 5 hrs knocking done in, and it should be good enough.

So, I knocked, and knocked and knocked. Annoyed, all the early morning joggers, walkers, and dog poop collecters, but heck i cared. Its my Baby Blade, and i need to get her ready for the game.

And then my friend arrived to pick me up, warned him that i'm gonna knock my bat in the car, and he said it was cool, and that i could go crazy with it. (Thats what i wanted to hear! God bless his soul.)And i knocked, and knocked. Picked up another team mate on the way, and we were on our way to Milwaukee. And i knocked, and knocked. In the car. Poor Adnan, and Shakeir. After about an hour and a half, Shakeir gave up, and pleaded. Ofcourse, i admire their resilience, i was thinking they'd give up much sooner, but nice guys, they put up with the constant 'tok tok' from the back seat.

The conversations used to go like this:
Adnan: Yada Yada Yada
Shakeir: Blah Blah
Me: Tok, Tok, Tok.

Eventually, by the time the game was to start, I realized Baby Blade wasnt ready to be played, so put it away for another round of knocking later.

About the match, well, its another story, and you'll hear about it, in my next blog.

And as for my Baby Blade, she's still being knocked, much to the annoyance of my neighbors !!!!


Hello All, am back to good ol' blogspot from tblog.

(Pssst, i got a great marketing deal from Google, considering that i'm a blogger of unique qualities. Was offered an account in their Gmail account, and after some thought at the offer, i accepted) ;)

Now, my account blogs shall be hosted at blogspot henceforth.

A deal is a deal, aint it? 1000 mb of email space, and being a member of an exalted group (read the small number of Gmail account users, aka, testers). So, me's here for good, i guess :)

Now i'll have to figure out a way, to move my posts (which are thankfully a few), from tblog to blogspot. Will check it out later.