vs The Banzai Charge 10/18 at 3:30 pm and vs Company 10/31 at 7:45 am

Vs The Banzai Charge 10/18 at 3:30 pm:

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The Banzai Charge (TBC) batted first and it was a familiar story, Yasser bowled one of the openers in the first over of the game, soon Shafqat at the other end bowled the other open the next over and wickets began to fall - left, right and center, one of their batsmen who went onto score 29 runs was out twice very clearly (both caught by me behind the wickets), but the umpire (from The Boss) thought otherwise - I think he was partly blind (sorry bud I had to say this), otherwise how would he can't give those out, those were big deflections, anyways this was the primary reason the TBC's went onto score 50 runs in 15.3 and they were all out. Nazeer and Yasser took two wickets and Mushtaq, Suhail and Shafqat one each. Faheed did well at deep mid-wicket to take two good catches and saved some boundaries.

Chasing 51 to win this should've been a walk in the park for us, but guess what we basically suck at chasing targets - that has been the case this season at least, we should have chased this down in may be 2 or 3 wickets down max, but we lost 4 wickets. Muneer and Faheed opened and started off well by playing aggressively, just when they looked set they threw it away, Faheed fell caught behind and I went in next to accompany Muneer, but Muneer holed out soon at long off for the umpteenth time - Muneer are you listening? Shafqat joined me next in the middle and we took the score close to the target, when it was hardly a few runs to get I threw it away, got out to a bad shot, it was full on the body close to the waist and I closed the face of the bat too soon and it took the edge for the ball to balloon up and the keeper made no mistake - Duh!. Mushtaq went in next and soon was bowled trying to flick to a ball on the leg stump and there we go again .. but Suhail and Shafqat made sure we didn't lose any more wickets and scored the remaining few runs, we chased it down at the end in 10.5 overs.

This should've been an easy win but we would like to do it this way, don't we guys? :-)

Vs Company 10/31 at 7:45 am:

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Our last preliminary game before the semis, we were supposed to play this game at MS #6, but due to a scheduling issue we decided to play at the Sammamish HS Grounds in Bellevue where we regularly practice. Company agreed to this and we started at 8:30 pm, we won the toss and elected to bat. Muneer and Adeel opened the innings, the team wanted to give Adeel a chance since he hasn't batted in any of the games he played for us. Faheed and Sumit did not play this game. We had Shuja and Adeel in place of them.

Muneer began in his usual fashion, and played some good shots all around, Adeel fell after scoring 2 runs caught behind, Muneer followed suit in similar fashion after making 14 runs. Nazeer and Mushtaq were now in the middle, Nazeer soon fell mistiming a straight drive and holed out to long-on (a very rare shot by Nazeer, he generally plays along the ground). I went in next, I felt the ball was coming onto the bat very nicely, there was a lot of moisture on the ground and it helped the bowlers, it was also good for batting, I got one on the middle and off-stump that I hit flat and over long-off for a six, soon in the next over I put one over the bowler's head (more straighter this time) and to the right and over the long-off fielder for another six, I gave it more power and elevation this time. I enjoyed playing both these shots. Mushtaq on the other hand played very intelligently milking it for singles and twos and showed great temperament, both of us brought the score into the 70s, I looked set for a big score and wanted to stay till the end, but I tried to flick one for a single and the keeper moved quickly to his left and did well to hold the catch, it was the faintest of edges. I made 21. Shafqat joined Mushtaq but soon fell for 2 runs, Suhail and Mushtaq then took us through the slog overs and Suhail did really well to blast a boundary in the last over, we were all out for 97 runs off 15.5 overs. Mushtaq made 31 and was run out - Splendid Innings!

Company needed 98 runs to win, but they really didn't look like they would get anywhere close from ball one, wickets began to tumble, thanks to some fine bowling from all our bowlers, the one that stands out to me was a super-fast in-swinging delivery from Suhail, the batsman Nitin had no clue and before he could even raise his bat to play the ball his stumps were rattled - top-class delivery. There were also some good outfield catches, Muneer's catch behind the wickets off Mushtaq, Mushtaq's catch at cover off Nazeer and Adeel's catch at deep square leg off Shafqat.

Shafqat got two good wickets, Nazeer, Mushtaq, Shuja and Suhail took one each.

Company were all out for a meagre 36 runs off 12.1 overs.

Onto the semis!

GO SARFAROSH!

vs Thunder 10/3 at 3:30 pm and vs The Boss 10/10 at 1 pm

We played 'Thunder' on 10/3 at Grass Lawn Park, it was a beautiful day, Thunder won the toss and put us into bat. Muneer and Nazeer opened and gave us a terrific start, Muneer began in his usual fashion, hitting the ball all over the park, Nazeer too was aggressive and made use of the shorter half side boundary with some beautiful cover drives and square-cuts. Muneer's six over the mid-wicket boundary standout as the best shot of the game, this was a ball pitched on a good length spot a middle stump line, Muneer timed his swing and balance to perfection and hoisted it over mid-wicket, this was Thunder's best bowler and the current leading wicket-taker in the Division, the bowler was stunned as were the fielders - terrific shot, way to go Muneer!

Muneer and Nazeer put on a wonderful opening partnership before Muneer got out. Sumit gave Nazeer good company in the middle before Nazeer got out after a scintillating knock of 36. Sumit played some beautiful shots and made sure we crossed 100 runs. Sumit and Faheed were unbeaten at the end with 24 and 6 respectively. We set a target of 104 runs for Thunder.

Thunder began their chase and never really looked like they would get to the target, they began to lose wickets at regular intervals, all the bowlers - Mushtaq, Shafqat, Suhail, Nazeer and Sumit bowled beautifully. Adeel did well on the field and held two catches. Thunder were bowled out for 58 runs at the end.

We played against TheBoss on 10/10 at the same ground. Nazeer won the toss and elected to bat - very rightly, another decent start, just when Muneer was looking dangerous he half-heartedly played an half-volley to long-on and was caught, Faheed went in next and broke lose, showed what he is capable off and played some really good shots - pulls and drives and in the 'V', Nazeer played as usual - if a youngster is watching and want to learn how to build an innings he should watch how Nazeer plays - great temperament. Nazeer made 20-odd runs before he was out caught going for the big hit, soon Sumit joined Faheed and took the score a little further, Sumit fell soon after and I went in to join Faheed, we ran well before Faheed was run out at the non-striker's end, it was the slog overs (14th over) and I played one straight to short cover and Faheed ran and was almost half-way down the track before I could say 'NO', Suhail joined me and soon another run out and Suhail was gone, I was trying to take advantage of the short half-side boundary and was trying to play it over cover, I missed a couple of balls but was able to get one right off the middle, at the end we were able to make 85/6 off 16.

TheBoss chasing 86 runs to win began to lose wickets at regular intervals, this has become a normal routine the last few consecutive games, we've been dominating in our batting and bowling departments, I hope this continues in this fashion, TheBoss was soon all out for 55 runs. Nazeer seems to have mastered on how to bowl on these slow tracks and ended up taking 3 wickets, Yasser took 2 and Sumit and Shafqat 1 each. TheBoss didn't really put up a fight and none of their batsmen looked threatening except may be one.

A great team effort again. GO SARFAROSH!

vs Tigers - Sep 27 '09, 8:15 am

We were back to the MS #6 Ground - the crappy ground.

Tigers won the toss and put us into bat. Faheed and Muneer opened, it was a disastrous start, Faheed fell to the 4rth ball of the innings, the bowler Anand was bowling fuller and attacking off and middle, it does take a while for most batsmen to settle-in early on in the innings especially the openers, I thought Faheed was a little too cautious and was not showing his bat to the ball to the first three deliveries he faced, rather defending with his body, the bowling was a yard or two quicker than what Faheed expected and to the fourth ball Faheed was late on the shot and was beaten for pace and lost his off stump. Faheed has not been among runs lately and that showed today, this is someone who has scored ~200 runs last season, but I am sure he will bounce back and will show all of us what he is capable of, its better to be out of form in the early part of the season rather than towards the end when we get ready for the semis and hopefully the finals.

Muneer continued his form from the last game and was striking the ball well from the word go, Nazeer who was in next called for the second run on a typical Muneer shot and was runout by a foot to a very good throw from the deep, it was unfortunate, Nazeer didn't face a single ball and was runout and thats the worst thing that can happen to a top-order batsman. Sumit came in next and stuck in well with Muneer, they took the score to 35 runs off 8 overs and then Muneer fell - bowled Vasu for a well made 22. Our scoring rate was 4+ an over, but we decided to send Suhail ahead of me to bump up the scoring rate even more I guess, Suhail played one straight to an overpitched delivery, he connected it well got the elevation but not the distance and holed out to the long-off fielder who went backwards and caught it well, Shuja? went in next on the fall of Suhail's wicket but soon ran himself out to a non-existent run, I went in next and didn't want to waste a single ball especially since it was towards the end of the innings, but unfortunately I dragged one on to my stumps to the very first ball I faced (the world crashed around me, its a terrible feeling to get out to the first ball), I should've gotten my eye in and played a couple of balls before I played that shot, but the general feeling I got was to go out and not to waste any balls and play the shots which I didn't feel right about, our idea should've been to play all the 16 overs and the runs would've come, its very important to save the wickets, there wasn't any need for Suhail to go #5 and also Shuja at #6 who is not a hitter (if that was the idea), we were towards the end of the 13th over now and we dug our own grave. Sumit on the other hand was watching the wickets tumble at one end, Sumit was very focused today and his shot selection was impeccable, he hit three beautiful boundaries and ran well for the singles and twos. Mushtaq was the last batsman in and he did well to take the score to 68 runs before he fell caught behind in the 16th over with 4 balls to spare, we were all out for 68 runs - not a bad score on this ground, certainly defendable is what we felt.

Mushtaq and Suhail opened the bowling attack for us and we settled down to bowl a good line and length, Mushtaq bowled one straight and one of the openers went across and lost his middle stump, soon after that Mushtaq bowled a beauty to the new batsman and was caught behind - on a hat-trick, wickets began to fall at regular intervals and the Tigers really didn't look like they were in control at any point of time in the game. They had no answer to Suhail's pace, he bowled beautifully today. Tigers were 38 for 5 off 12 overs and required another 31 runs off the remaing 4 overs - 8 an over was the required run rate, in the 13th over Muneer held a beautiful one-handed crucial catch at long-off running to his right to get the 6th wicket. There were also two runouts one by Nazeer-Sumit earlier and the last wicket by Sumit-me. Tigers were allout for 42 runs and we won comfortably at the end by 26 runs. It was a Fantasting bowling effort after a fair batting display.

Onto 'Thunder' next at GrassLawn Park - 10/3, 3:30 pm.

GO SARFAROSH!

vs Daredevils - Sep 13 '09, 8:15 am

Despite the Ramadan fasting we stuck together as a team and showed our commitment in the game today. Full marks to the bowlers - Suhail, Mushtaq, Shuja and Sumit - Job Well done! We restricted Daredevils to a total of 52, we basically ran through their batting line up and finished with 4 balls to spare - 52 all out off 15.2

Everything worked as per our plan, winning the toss was crucial and we did and we put them into bat, the ground was surprisingly very heavy with the over night dew.

I am sure everyone will agree that our man of the match was none other than our 'Munnu', he hung around till around the 10th over and took the pressure off us under difficult batting conditions - the cracking square-cut for a boundary and the six past square leg was brute force and it stands out in his well made '30'.

Nice decent all-round performance from Suhail as well (9 not out and 9/1 off 4 overs).

There were two brilliant runouts by Mushtaq (mid-wicket) and Adil (cover-point). Both the throws were to me the wicketkeeper and landed on top of the stumps.

Since the ground was heavy with the overnight dew our bowlers used it to good effect, the ball was skidding off the track and we made it difficult for their batsmen.

Daredevils did pretty well to defend their 52, they bowled fuller and yorker length deliveries and made batting difficult for us. Faheed and Sumit fell early, I went in next and decided that I will not get out and give as much support as I can to Muneer who was batting really well. I went in when it was the 6th over and batted with Muneer until the 10th over when Muneer went to clear the boundary for the second time and was bowled after picking one nicely off the middle to put it over the square-leg boundary fielder for a six off the previous delivery. Suhail came in next and batted pretty well until the 13th over when I threw away my wicket when there were 3 runs required to win. I was waiting for a loose ball and got one and wanted to square-cut it to the boundary to finish it off but I didn't middle it well, it hit the bottom of my bat and went up for point to go backwards and catch it, we lost one valuable point there, Shuja came in next and made sure we didn't lose anymore wickets, Suhail hit the winning runs with a boundary and finished it off in the 15th over.

A very satisfying victory Indeed!

A 'not so Thumping' win - but a win Nevertheless!

Vs Autobots - 8/16 - 11am

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After winning the toss we put Autobots into bat, Jay and Suhail bowled brilliantly didn't give the batsmen any room, both their openers were good players in my opinion, they played with a straight bat and then came the turning point - a runout, challenging Jay's arm from long-on, the second-run was probably there to be taken but Jay's hard and fast throw to Suhail (the bowler) found the runner a foot short and from then on wickets began to tumble like a pack of cards, at one stage Autobots were 15/5, but I think we gave it away again like we did in the previous game we began to bowl wides and noballs, at the end Autobots were all out for 40 off 14 overs. Jay, Suhail, Nazeer, Mushtaq and Sumit all of them bowled well, if Mushtaq can control his wides he'll be a great bowler for sure - undoubtedly.

Requiring 41 to wrap up, Faheed and Muneer opened, Muneer got out quickly holding out to long-on, Faheed made 5 before he went across to try and play his half-sweep-half-flick to fine leg and lost his leg stump, I think it was a little early in his innings to play that kind of shot even though this has fetched him a lot of runs in the previous season, I hope he plays straight and in the 'V' until he gets his eye in. Sumit and I were in the crease and I felt Sumit and I can hang in and not lose any more wickets and chase this meagre total, but apparently I failed to keep one down at point and hit a square cut straight to the point fielder who did well to hold on to it in his second attempt, I didn't get in the middle and it hit the bottom of my bat and spun to point. I was gone for 6. Nazeer soon fell stumped for 5. Jay went in next and he and Sumit made sure we didn't lose any more wickets and finished the game with 3 overs to spare and 3 wickets in hand.

It was Jay's day all the way, he accounted for 6 of the 7 wickets that fell in some way or the other - 1 runout, 2 outfield catches and 2 wickets (one of them a wonderful c&b). He also played sensibly at the end with Sumit.

Sumit batted brilliantly and did what was told of him and was unbeaten at the end with 11 runs.

A good win overall but not a convincing win.

We learned later that we missed an umpiring assignment the same day at 8:15 am and that will cost us 10 points (penalty) - Oops!

Well, lets look ahead and win the remaining games convincingly to make up for that 10 points.

Go SARFAROSH!

Winning streak comes to an end!

Aug 09, 2009 Vs TheOpposition

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After eight successive wins we lost today's game - Yikes!

We didn't bowl well and could have done a little better with the bat.

The Opposition (the team we played the semi-finals against in Div F) won the toss and elected to bat, this was a new ground (MS Ground #6) which we were not familiar with, it was an 8:15 am Sunday game, not sure what happened to our bowlers, we were pitching it short and wide and the batsmen capitalized on it and got off to a terrific start - just what they needed.

We gave aways 16 Extras and that says it all on how badly we bowled, it means 16 extra deliveries and 16 runs - bad, most of their batsmen chipped in with 10-15 runs and the rest were obviously extras, there were some brief moments of brilliance from a couple of our players one was from our one and and only Sumit - two terrific back-to-back deliveries both bowled and Adeel's (substituting for Amogh who probably fractured his little finger while fielding) spectacular dive to a quarter-chance catch. TheOpposition made 87 for 6 off 16 - Sumit and Nazeer took 2 wickets, Suhail took 1 and the other was a run out.

Faheed and I opened needing 88 to win, Faheed skied one to cover and was caught in the very first over, I started off well, I felt good since I was middling the ball early in the innings, the bowlers then began to settle in and bowled and a near perfect line, now I began to give them dot balls and our scoring rate was climbing, Nazeer on the other end was playing well not wasting too many deliveries and we ran singles and twos well, but we needed boundaries, our asking rate climbed to seven an over, I began to open my shoulders and was ready to go after the bowlers after a straight-six which I really didn't middle well to be honest and I was surprised that the bat that I was using still had that power to let the ball sail over the long-on boundary where the fielder caught it past the boundary line, soon after that Nazeer and I was caught in a bad-mix up and I was run out (yes, again) , Nazeer and I had a good 50+ run partnership, but soon Nazeer fell caught behind, Suhail and Sumit did well to get us close to the target, we required 13 runs off 10 balls and I still couldn't believe we lost it from there, 3-4 dot balls followed and Suhail was run out and Sumit skied one to long on and was caught. Last ball we required 6 runs to win and 5 runs to tie, Mushtaq almost did it with a straight lofted drive to long on but the fielder got it one bounce.

Good decent effort from TheOpposition and also we helped them out with our Extras and my inability to get runs quickly in the early part of the innings helped TheOpposition clinch victory.

On to Autobots next - 8/16 11:00 am.

GO SARFAROSH!

First Game - Summer League 2009

Well after basking in the glory for sometime of winning the Div F title for Spring League '09 the team is looking ahead now.

We kicked-off the season with a win in the first game against Zhakaas - yes the team we played in the finals last season, they looked like a tired lot, we didn't see a couple of their regular players. I was rested this game along with Mushtaq, we gave Adeel a chance to play in the '8'. Jay Nair found a place in the '8' as well (ofcourse).

Zhakaas won the toss and put us into bat :-) , Muneer and Amogh opened for a change, Amogh couldn't keep one down and was out caught at short mid-wicket, I think he should play to his strengths which is the cover region where he has that natural tendency to cover drive anything full or straight to him which is top class stuff, but he should be careful playing in the mid-wicket region to a ball anything on middle or leg - hit it really hard when you want to play in the mid-wicket region if not play with soft hands and keep it down and nudge it to square leg or backward square leg or even play in the 'V' into the mid-on/long-on region.

Nazeer came in next and settled down well with Muneer walking into the bowler and playing it straight for singles, Muneer was at his best - great pulls to the backward square leg region for twos, both of them did well until the 8th over, I felt that Zhakaas figured out Muneer really well later on as the innings progressed and began to bowl to him fuller on the off and managed to get dot balls, since the scoreboard was not ticking Nazeer began to take risks and was missing as well, 8-12 overs fetched only 10 runs total, something we should think about going forward. Muneer got out after the 12th over to a well made 28 off 39 balls. Sumit came in next to join Nazeer and began to accelerate - good decision to send Sumit ahead keeping in mind the batting conditions and the ball not coming onto bat we needed someone technically sound as well as someone who could hit boundaries and Sumit was perfect. Nazeer soon fell trying to accelerate the scoring, another fine innings from Nazeer - 29 off 33 balls. Sumit ended up unbeaten with 18 off only 12 balls and we made a total of 88 off 16 - I would say 12-15 runs short off target but nevertheless a respectable score.

Zhakaas began their run chase well, milking singles and twos, but we didn't wait too long for the first wicket, Amogh scalped the first one caught brilliantly by Suhail at cover, wickets began to fall at regular intervals, but one of their batsmen looked threatening and almost took the game away from us, he hit two sixes one of them a full toss and another one which he converted into a full toss, but thanks to Jay who bowled Prashant the danger batsman with a beauty which came in and took the bails off, the batsman had no clue on how to play that delivery he was trying to defend and still missed it - classy, Jay bowled brilliantly and gave away only 3 runs off 3 overs for 1 wicket - Jay Ho! :-), we wrapped them up at the end for a paltry 57, Amogh took 2 wickets and Jay, Nazeer and Suhail took 1 each, the other two wickets were run outs one from Nazeer and the last one from me when I sub'ed for Muneer in the field.

Good start to the season, Go Sarfarosh!