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2012 Season, MPL

Path to the finals

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Heading into the final leg of MPL 2012, all four teams still have a chance of making the finals. However, not every team has the same odds or ease of way. Here’s what each team needs to make the finals.

Incredibles

They could make the finals even if they lose all three of their remaining matches. It helps when you pile up huge wins, early in the tournament! They’ve been dominant and truly Incredible in the fashion in which they’ve dismantled their opposition. A win in one out of their final three games guarantee’s them a spot in the finals.

X-Men

They have surprised some in winning three out of four, and sit pretty in second place at the moment. However, they are not yet out of the woods. On one hand, they could make the finals without winning any of their remaining three games (purely on NRR, in a situation where they could be tied on points with Avengers and Justice League), and at the same time, could end up at the bottom of the table if they do that – lose their remaining three games!

They control their own destiny over their remaining three games, and have multiple roads leading to the finals.
1) The simplest route: Beat the Justice League in the next match of the tournament – on 31st July – and seal a spot for themselves, and the Incredibles, in the finals. If this happens, the Justice League and/or the Avengers can only end up with a maximum of three wins each, falling short of the four wins that Incredibles already have, and X-Men will have.
2) Win two out of their three remaining games, giving them five wins in seven games, and thus sealing a spot in the finals. Along this route, they can lose their game to the Justice League, and still stay on as master’s of their own fate

Justice League

They have lost a couple of nail-biters and are 1-3 after four games. They are still master’s of their own fate, but face a crucial, do-or-die, semi-final like game against the X-Men in theirs and the tournament’s next match – on 31st July. A loss to the X-Men in this match knocks them out of the finals; this also ensures that the Avengers cannot make the finals. The Justice League have the following paths to the final, if they defeat the X-Men in their next match.
1) A win against the Avengers, along with a loss against the Incredibles, and end-up on 6 points. If the X-Men win none of their remaining games, Justice League and X-Men are tied at 6 points and NRR decides who between these two goes to the finals.
2) A win against the Incredibles, along with a loss against the Avengers, and end-up on 6 points. If the X-Men win none of their remaining games, Justice League, X-Men, and potentially, the Avengers are tied at 6 points and NRR decides who between these three goes to the finals.
3) Wins against Avengers and Incredibles gets the Justice League to 8 points. This scenario puts pressure on the X-Men and Incredibles. Here’s why:
a) If X-Men win against Incredibles and Avengers, having lost to Justice League, X-Men will be at 10 points, and guaranteed in the finals.
b) If X-Men win against Avengers, and lose to the Incredibles, X-Men are at 8 points and tied with the Justice League on points, with NRR deciding the other finalist – Incredibles will have their five wins, and are through to the finals.
c) If X-Men win against Incredibles, and lose to the Avengers, X-Men are at 8 points and tied with the Justice League on points. If the Incredibles, in the process, lose to Justice League, X-Men, and Avengers, they will also be at 8 points. NRR will then decide which two of these three teams go through to the finals. This is also the only scenario where in the Incredibles don’t make the finals, if they suffer crushing losses in their remaining three games. However, given their healthy NRR, which is way ahead of the other three teams, it is highly unlikely that the Incredibles miss out on the fina
d) Losses for X-Men against Incredibles and Avengers, will leave the X-Men at 6 points, and out of the finals
e) If the X-Men win against Incredibles and Avengers, they will be at 10 points. In this case, the Justice League will want the Incredibles to lose the rest of the way, allowing them to be tied on points with the Incredibles, and hoping their NRR is better than that of the Incredibles. The Justice League will find it helpful that they play the Incredibles in the last round-robin match.
f) If the Incredibles, win against the Avengers, along with losses against Justice League and X-Men, will be at 10 points. Couple this with scenario ‘e’ above, and the Avengers will be without a win in the tournament, and the Justice League, in spite of winning 4 out 7, including 3 out of their last 3,  with 8 points, will fall short of making the finals.

Avengers

They need they most help of all teams to make the finals, but that’s precisely why their path is relatively simple. Any scenario wherein the Avengers make the finals, results in the Incredibles being the other finalist.

For starters, the Avengers need two things, failing which, their campaign is over. One – a win for Justice League against the X-Men. Two – win their remaining games – one each against Incredibles, Justice League and X-Men. If these two things happen, then the following is required:
1) Wins for Incredibles against X-Men and Justice League: This ensures that X-Men have only 6 points – with losses against Justice League, Avengers and Incredibles in their last three games.  Thus X-Men and Avengers are tied at 6 points, while Justice League have only 4 points. NRR will determine who between X-Men and Avengers go through to the finals.
2) A win for Incredibles against X-Men, coupled with a loss for Incredibles to Justice League: This ensures that X-Men and Justice League have only three wins each, and in the process tied with the Avengers on 6 points. NRR will determine which one team between X-Men, Justice League and Avengers go through to the finals.

In summary

The Incredibles are in a very comfortable spot. One win or just small losses (not impacting their NRR too much) gets them to the finals.

The X-Men are also right up there, but a little careless cricket and other factors could still leave them watching the finals from the sidelines. However, they still are master’s of their own fate.

The Justice League, are still in it, but face a uphill battle. While they need to win at least two out of their three remaining games, even after winning all three, they’d like either the Avengers or Incredibles to defeat the X-Men – preferably both.

The Avengers are truly, on the brink, but one should never says never. Will they avenge their loses so far? Will they play party spoilers to either the X-Men or Justice League?

The drama unfolds starting July 31st.

(175)

MCC-2, NECA 2012

Bowling and fielding lead the way for a comfortable win

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Summary:
Franklin Cricket Club: 31/10 in 13.4 overs, lost to
MCC-2: 32/5 in 12 overs.
Played on 16 June 2012 @ Ashland Middle School, Ashland.

Match Report:
The cumulative talent of our group isn’t an issue. It’s our temperament that at times lets us down. As a bowling unit, we have more than enough to keep the opposition honest, but expecting us to run through batting line-up’s might be asking too much. Today though we put on a display like no other before. Talent, temperament, and effort all came together and the results speak for themselves.

Our bowling unit clicked like clockwork, and the fielders backed up the bowlers like a dream. It was a clinical exhibition of bowling and fielding, which ensured that FCC, following up on their disastrous 27 all out total from 2011, were bundled out for a meagre 31 in the 14th over. Our batting stuttered along, making it unnecessarily interesting, but we held on for a comfortable five wicket win at the end.

I won the toss – called tails correctly – and chose to field. It was a pitch that we hadn’t played on; the first time we were playing on this field. Having not played much for close to three weeks, I figured that it would be smarter to put the pressure on FCC to set a target for us to chase.

Kunal and Phani were running late, and we seemed to be two players short at the start. Swarooph, luckily for us, was at the ground, and joined us as the twelfth man – we drafted him into the playing 11 at the end of the fifth over as Phani hadn’t arrived. Kunal got to the ground mid-way through the first over, and joined us on the field at the end of it.

Krishna and Sachin opened the bowling and were on song from the word go. They bowled the first four overs of the innings; the scoreboard read 4/3 after four. We’d priced out a wicket in each of the first three overs – with the scoreboard reading 1/1 after 1, 2/2 after 2, and 3/3 after 3.

FCC had a number of new players in their mix, but there were some familiar faces as well. Santosh in particular is one of the more familiar faces, for he has burned us repeatedly in the past. He came in at the fall of the first wicket to steady their batting, and perhaps to counter-attack the bowling. Today however wasn’t his day, as he was caught by Swarooph at point, off the bowling of Sachin – Sachin’s third delivery, the second over of the match. Santosh was out for a duck, and we had out tail up.

Krishna, got their opening batsman, Nishanth, in the first over for a duck, caught by Sreeram at square-leg, and followed that up by getting Nikhil, their two-down batsman, caught and bowled, for the third duck of the inning, in his second over. FCC were slipping quickly and we were over-joyed.

Sashi, the other opening batsman for FCC, had done reasonably well, considering the mayhem around, to stand tall for his team, and score a few runs. Kunal came on to bowl the fifth over, and knocked Sashi over with his third delivery. Kunal pitched the ball up, which in turn dragged the batsman forward. To Kunal and me (at deep mid-on) it seemed like a play and a miss, as we both ooh’d and aah’d from our positions – we figured that the ball had just missed the stumps. However, Chirag, our wicket-keeper, and others around him were celebrating – the ball had clipped the off-stump and dislodged the bails. Chirag, and a few others saw it for what it was, and most importantly, so did the umpire. Their opening batsman, Sashi, after keeping Krishna and Sachin at bay, had been knocked over by Kunal.

Vikas, their captain, came to the middle and hit the straps right-away. He managed to disrupt Kunal’s rhythm and he conceded a few extras that over. However, the damage was already done. FCC were 4 down for about 12 runs after five overs.

Sachin bowled a third consecutive over, and kept things tight. Although there were a few wides in the over, the pressure was squarely on the FCC batsmen.

Aravind came in to bowl the seventh over, and managed to pluck out two wickets. Sachin, at mid-on, held on to a good catch – the ball dying on him, as he took it close to ankle high. Amol got into the action as well, as he took the catch at midwicket. With around 16 runs on the board, FCC had lost 6 wickets. Chirag reminded us, while ensuring that all of FCC heard him as well, about our (MCC) match against them from a year ago, when we’d dismissed them for 27.

Amol came on to bowl, and got a share of the spoils for himself. After toying and out-foxing the batsmen with loop, flight and turn, he sent down an arm ball – the faster one. The batsman charged down the pitch, pre-determined – likely tempted by the slowness and flight off the previous deliveries, looking to slog the ball to nowhere in particular. He got his wish, as all he managed was to nick it through to Chirag, who was fabulous behind the stumps. Just to play it safe, in case the catch isn’t given, Chirag dislodged the  bails as well, for the batsman was well out of his ground. However, the catch was given and FCC were looking down the barrel.

The next two overs didn’t get us any wickets, as FCC looked to steady a quick sinking ship – Aravind and Amol continued to play the song started by Krishna and Sachin, and there was no letup in the pressure on FCC. At the 10 over break, FCC had lost 7 wickets, with just around 22 on the board (due to the lack of a well kept scorecard, I can’t provide accurate numbers).

Chirag finally came on for a bowl in the 11th over of the inning, bowling off-spinners today. He kept the pressure on the batsman, although they managed to eek out five runs off his solitary over. Amol came back to bowl the twelfth over and bagged another wicket – Prasoon was caught (either by Malolan or Sreeram).

Amidst all of this, I’d felt a little left out, with the ball hardly making its way to mid-on. Liaqat, the FCC number 10, must have read my mind, as he hit the ball towards me and called Vikas through for a tight single. I attacked the ball and scored a direct hit at the non-striker’s end – FCC were 9 down in the 12th over.

Swarooph bowled the 13th over, and bowled with good flight. He managed to purchase some turn from the pitch as well. He managed to get an edge through to Malolan, which wasn’t taken – that however was the only down-side to an almost perfect day in the field.

Amol came back to bowl his fourth over, and got the big-fish – the FCC captain, Vikas, caught by Kunal at square-leg – as FCC folded for 31.

Chirag and Sreeram opened the batting for us. Chirag seemed to get off to a brisk start – two two’s in the first four deliveries, pulling them to the vacant area between square-leg and long-leg. However, he was out off the fifth ball, as the ball stopped on him while he was looking to flick it to the leg-side.

Nachiketh joined Sreeram and they started to build a partnership. The score had moved to 15 (or so) when Nachiketh hit a short ball, outside the off, straight to the guy at cover. I joined Sreeram, but was out soon – too early into the shot and the ball gripped the surface – for a straightforward catch to the guy at straight-short-extra-cover.

Malolan came to the middle to steady a rocking boat. Although he seemed to struggle, he refused to give up his wicket. Sreeram, who’d been in decent nick so far, fell to another catch. The stutter was on, and the match was getting unnecessarily interesting.

Amol joined Malolan, but was out for 1. We were just shy of 20 and lost half the side. The pressure was squarely on us. Sachin joined Malolan, and they held on for the next couple of overs. We went into the 10-over break at 22/5.

The break certainly helped us re-group as Malolan and Sachin went back to the middle, and kept their focus on the task ahead. After a few overs without any wickets, and as the runs trickled along, the pressure evened out. FCC had us in a spot of bother, but they didn’t have enough runs on the board.

We were entering the home-stretch and FCC couldn’t hang on. Amidst a few full-tosses, their opening bowler – Rahiq – bowling his third over, also bowled a couple of wides down the leg-side. Malolan capitalized on these by hitting the next two deliveries into the same area as Chirag had at the start of the innings, which got us within striking distance. Sachin got the final run, as we secured the win in exactly 12 overs.

Malolan and Sachin held on at the end. Our batting stuttered, and stronger opposition will certainly capitalize on this. Today however, we deserved the win for the bowling and fielding display that we put on. It was perhaps poetic that Sachin, one of the bowlers to have started this all in the first overs of the match, put the icing on the cake.

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2012 Pre-Season, The Moments

Hook, Line and Sinker

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One of the many attractions of test match cricket is watching the contest between bat and ball. However, it isn’t frequent that you see a batsmen, of the quality of a Ponting or a Tendulkar fighting hard for survival, with the thought of scoring runs far away.

Cometh the ODI and T20 formats, the contest is tilted towards the batsmen, who play the boss, and bowlers at times are simply minions. Pitches are tailor made for batsmen to plonk their front-foot down the pitch, and make the bowler pay for even the smallest of mistakes.

Cometh the hard-tennis-ball cricket that we play, pitches aren’t maintained, they certainly are not tailor made. They aren’t as bad as the ‘uncovered pitched’ of the 1930’s or so; the contest between bat and ball is more even. Scoring at four runs to the over can be challenging; scoring at five or more will certainly win you more matches than you lose. Bowlers and batsmen are always in the game. The age old adage, one ball is all it takes to dismiss a batsmen, rules aplomb.

That being said, it’s still rare to see a quality batsman, getting worked over for five out of the six deliveries of an over, and put out of his misery off the final delivery of the same over. As rare as it is, that is exactly what happened at the start of the season to Ankit, courtesy of Kaushik. The entire over was filled with ooh’s and aah’s, with Ankit at his usual, applauding the bowler with due sincerity, after being beaten clean, ball after ball after ball, with the final ball of the over spraying Ankit’s stumps. Ankit appreciated Kaushik’s bowling, as all of us stood by in amazement at the bowling, and bewilderment at Ankit’s gestures. We’d witnessed one of the best spells of fast bowling, and neither did we travel far, nor pay through the nose, to be a part of it.

Kaushik apparently, as we found out much later, is a middle-order batsmen, and only bowls occasionally, albeit in the dearth overs. This we learned via a monstrous 65 off just 33 deliveries, including 11 boundary hits, and one six, in a successful chase of 91, achieved in 14.3 overs.

MPL-1, circa 2009, surprisingly revealed Adai the fast-bowler, to go with Adai the batsman that we knew off. What’s with player’s not being upfront about their skills? Jeez!

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2012 Pre-Season, The Moments

Murphy’s law has a field day

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It was a tough first day for Mayank, and it all started as soon as he came on for a bowl. Rafeeq, his captain, dropped a sitter off Mayank’s first delivery of the season. Rafeeq then moved a few steps to his right, probably hoping to be better placed to field and catch the next one that comes his way.

Stupendously, another catch came Rafeeq’s way, off the very next ball, and some may call this a sitter too. However, the ball and Rafeeq appeared to be in different zip-code’s, courtesy of Rafeeq’s pro-active (or was it reactive?) move a minute back. Of course, given that he’d just dropped a sitter off the previous ball, there were no guarantees that he’d have taken the second catch anyway!

The batsmen were able to amble through for an easy single on this occasion, which very likely pricked Mayank. As if that weren’t enough, the fielder towards whom the ball went, tried to hit the stumps on the full for no apparent reason – the batsmen had already completed the single. To rub salt into a growing wound, there were two over-throws.

Mayank’s spell of three overs went for more than 20 runs. Things certainly weren’t going Mayank’s way!

If Mayank thought that the day couldn’t get any worse, he was in for a seriously rude shock – Rafeeq, having dropped two catches, had the audacity to compare Mayank’s bowling to mine (Raghuvir) – really? I wonder if that was a sledge aimed at Mayank, or a compliment passed my way!

At times, you just have to go through the motions, and hope a new day starts soon. When it came to batting, Mayank scratched around for a 6th ball duck – off the bowling of Adai, and caught by me!

To cap off a really ugly day, Pune Warriors, lead by Sourav ‘Dada’ Ganguly, beat the Chennai Super Kings. Certainly an inauspicious start to the season! Hopefully, just Murphy’s law toying with Mayank.

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2012 Pre-Season

Lessons from a failure

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We played the first, of many, one-off T20’s of the 2012 season. This one was against the Grafton Tigers (Grafton Cricket Club). The match was scheduled for an 8 AM, but our kit arrived a few minutes late. That resulted in a reduced 18 overs a side affair.

We posted 71/7 in our 18 overs, with Yashwanth top scoring with 34. The Grafton Tigers chased down their target of 72 in just under 16 overs, losing about 3-4 wickets in the process. Scorecards don’t reveal the entire story, and this is one of those occasions. The match was much tighter and the scorecard doesn’t throw light on the drama.

It was the first practice match of the season, and I had the honor of captaining the team. The loss hurts, but the lessons it taught are priceless. It was, after all, the first practice match of the season. I hope we apply the lessons learned towards our success in the upcoming season – MPL and NECA

1) Field placements.
I couldn’t get the field placements right for each bowler. I felt that two to three fielders at times were placed in positions where the ball was never hit to, or would never make it. Two to three out of nine fielders, bowler and wicket-keeper apart of course, is a significant number. Getting the field placements right is crucial and must change for each bowler, based on his style of bowling, his line and lengths, his strengths and weaknesses. Getting this right could result in saving 10-15 runs. Most bowlers tend to stick with the field that was in place for the previous over. Each bowler, should make the necessary adjustments in the field. The captain must ensure of this by talking to the bowler at the start of the over or spell. The hard-tennis-ball that we play with is a unique thing. It doesn’t quite travel the same way, and in the same angles, as the leather ball does.

2) End of the innings bowlers.
Captains need to know their bowlers well. Some bowlers prefer to bowl out in the first 10-15 overs out of the 20, while some others are just at home while bowling at the end. A team needs two to three bowlers who can bowl towards the end of the innings, or in a pressure situation. Building pressure, at the start of the inning, while bowling, is easier as compared to maintaining the pressure. A captain needs to preserve overs of specific bowlers not just for the end of the inning, but also for specific batsmen in the opposition.

3) Batting
While batting, be it setting a target, or chasing, it is crucial and critical to pace the inning. An ideal target to set when batting first, in a T20 match, is around 100. A sub-85 score needs a tight bowling display, combined with good fielding. A target in excess of 95 certainly puts the pressure on the team chasing.
Posting a 100 runs inside the 20 overs needs a plan. The plan calls for a well-paced inning. You need to get to around 45 in the first 10 – for no more than the loss of three wickets – which in turn means a start of around 20 in 5 overs.  This doesn’t require sending a pinch-hitter to open – we need batsmen who won’t take long to get set, will lay a good foundation for rest of the inning.
The knowledge on which batsmen are good at rotating the strike, at scoring the big shots, have temperament to keep a cool head when the match gets tight, are all important factors. A successful captain stays on top of this. Talent alone doesn’t guarantee a win.

4) The tennis ball we play with doesn’t travel on the lush fields that we play on. You may get a few two’s if the ball is hit into the gap, but singles are the easiest, and most frequent scoring options. Keep in mind that the ball is difficult to pick up in the thick lush grass. It isn’t an easy task for a quick, clean, pick-up and throw. Many tight singles that we don’t take are actually run scoring opportunities wasted/lost. Hit the gym, get in shape, sprint.
Rotate the strike, rotate the strike, rotate the strike. Target getting 4 singles an over. Manage that and the lose balls will follow. Dispatch the lose balls and the pressure is squarely on the opposition.

5) Lastly, I have to bring up what has been our achilles heel. We need to get a hold on extras. We concede anywhere between 15-20 extras an inning. We’ve got to cut down on this. No freebies, enough of the generosity. Atiti devo bava doesn’t apply in this case.

And one final lesson for me – no more scheduling matches @ 8 AM on Sunday’s, when the required travel to the venue is close to 45 minutes, requiring players to wake up at 6 AM. Spoilt by the amount of cricket on offer, some are beginning to complain about the early starts, eh Sistla?

(186)

2012 Pre-Season

2012 Cricket Season Kick Starts

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At long last, grumpy winter left town, allowing us to welcome the more pleasant spring weather. Fun in the sun was the theme, which meant cricket for some, and photography for Ono!

We quietly started the 2012 cricket season on the 7th of April, good two-three weeks earlier than usual. A little windy, but on a crisp spring morning.

A gathering of just over 15 of us who preferred playing some cricket over watching the IPL and/or other less useful things. Some new faces mixed with some returning characters. It made for some good fun.

Judging by all the talk going around, those of you who didn’t make it, sure are keen to know how the first day of the season was. The new talent on display are sure to push us for spots in the NECA team, while making the MPL teams stronger, and the player auction more exciting.

So here goes, more of a summary, than a match/day report from our opening day.

Merwan had the horror, err honor (or is it horror?) of being out to the first ball delivered in the 2012 season, bowled of a full-toss (off of Dipesh I think). He’d brought a friend along – Ram. Didn’t get enough of a look at Ram’s batting. Merwan and Ram left after the first match (we played two pick-up matches); they’ll have to wait their turn to impress us, and drive-up their MPL auction price.

Ram apart, among the new faces were Amol, Rohith, Koundi and Srikanth P.

Amol, a left-arm-spinner and right-hand-bat – it’s not Rafeeq in disguise (or was it?) – made an impressive debut. He flighted the ball more, and seems to have a very-brief halt in his action, just prior to delivering the ball – kind of like Ajmal. A strong and powerful batsman as well, adding to the ever growing list of all-rounders that we have. Rafeeq, what does this mean to your stock value?

Rohith is a right-arm-medium-pacer, but with a tendency to hurry the ball on. He is a pretty good batsman as well. Played both matches and was impressive.

Koundi is a right-arm-medium-pacer, with a smooth flowing action; something similar to Mukesh’s, for those of us who remember that kid. Bowled well in both matches. We didn’t mark out the side-lines at the bowling end – first day and all. Koundi however, took this as an open invitation to extend the popping crease as wide as he possibly could – bowling from close to 10 ft. wide off the stumps! Was he trying to trouble the batsmen with the angle or just plain confuse everyone? A useful lower order bat and a budding character!

Srikanth P, a right-arm-medium-pacer with an extra yard of pace thrown in there, was impressive too. Getting Ankit out, after a lot of back-and-forth between the two, marks a memorable start to the season for both! An intern previously, he wasn’t around for MPL 2011 – but is now here for good. Preferred to bowl round the stumps to all batsmen. What’s his strategy behind that?

The other regular characters that showed up included Dipesh, Krishna, Srikanth S, Ankit, Ono, Abhishek, Yashwanth, Swarooph, mE (Raghuvir), and a few others that apparently didn’t leave an impression on me!

Dipesh was as impressive as always, which was odd given that it was the first day of the season. He bowled yorkers at will – his three overs in the second match went something like 1/1, 7/0, 0/3 (three wickets for zero runs, which included a run-out) – with his last over being the penultimate of the inning, with the opposition requiring 15 for no loss. Did you hear about the numerous straight four’s he hit? Oh yeah, this kid is ready!

Ono and Abhishek renewed their tussle for the best keeper tag, although I think its time to change the keeper. They weren’t impressive enough, if you ask me – fumbling the ball too much for my liking. Or was it to my liking?

When it came to batting, Abhi played it smart, trying to ease into the season after a long time away from the field.

Ono though found a higher gear and went about smashing the ball for fours and sixes – the one over square leg, especially was impressive. He is contemplating not playing till the MPL auction, hoping he has done enough to secure a good price at the auction. Is he aware of the reality that he will not see a single penny that he is bought for!

Srikanth S was, well, Srikanth S – bowled well on his day, batted well on his day. Abhishek certainly was happy with his performance on the field, although I wasn’t too impressed – Srikanth S, you are in our group as a character first, and cricketing skills second. You didn’t really put up a show! Common man!

Krishna was as usual – fast, furious, and wide. Well more wide and then furious at himself. Probably compensated a bit for Rahul’s absence (tongue-in-cheek)!

Ankit, was off to a great start – chatting with everyone on the field. Teammate or not, doesn’t make a difference to this guy. That apart, his cricketing skills were also on display. Took his time to get his eye in, but then settled in for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, to deny me batting in the second match. Bowled well too. ‘Mouth of the Year’ for a second year running, and ‘MPL 2011 Final MVP’, surely well deserved.

Swarooph had a good first day as well. Bowled well in both matches, although he is probably still fuming at being run-out in the first match, without facing a single delivery.

Yashwanth bowled in the first match and seemed to pull a muscle and didn’t return to bowl in the second match. A steady start with the bat, I think, although I don’t remember clearly, given that its now close to a week since the day.

I, meanwhile, spent a lot of time in the middle – a little as a batsman trying to get his eye in after the winter hibernation, but most of it, as an umpire, waiting for Ono or Ankit to get out! Guys, you don’t have to bat so well on the first day of the season, and deny others a chance.

Some of the big guns – Ganesh, Priyank, and Aravind to name a few – stayed away, as they had to tend to ‘more important issues‘. Do ask them what these issues could be!

One of the only large guns, Sidhu, stayed away as well. When quizzed on his mysterious non-appearance, he is believed to have said that the temperature reading wasn’t large enough enough for his liking.

Wonder what colors the 2012 season will display.

(186)

About MPL

New Beginnings

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Stories often start with phrases such as ‘once upon a time’, ‘a long time ago’, or something along those lines. One of the more interesting stories in the world of Cricket has been the rise of T20 cricket, which in turn has led to the rise of a number franchise based leagues across the globe. The IPL is easily one of the more such recognized leagues. However, that’s not what I will be talking about today.

Three years ago, in the latter part of summer 2009, the dearth of opportunities to play competitive cricket, coupled with the large number of players looking for such opportunities, and inspired to no smaller extent by the success the IPL, gave birth to the  MPL. Over its three editions, the MPL has grown to be the premier event for our club, for our season.

The first edition of the MPL, over fall ’09, was organized in an ad-hoc manner, with ground permits coupled with fickle weather, making it a challenge to draw up a fixed schedule. We played our matches at the Mary Dennison Playground, in Framingham – a few on weekday evenings as long as daylight allowed us, and the remaining matches over weekend mornings. However, we had a lot of fun, and we knew we were part of something special.

Three teams formed through player auctions, where in three captains were hand-picked and given $100 – virtual money of course – to bid on players. The Sledgemasters won the first edition, defeating the Super Kings in a well fought final, with the JuggerNauts being the third team in the mix.

We had more luck with the ground permit in the second edition of the MPL – played at Sargent Field in Natick through the month of August, and Marry Dennison Playground in Framingham through September – but it wasn’t as easy as we would have liked. We managed to address a few logistical issues, including score keeping and scheduling. The Geek Squad and Mavericks joined the JuggerNauts in the second edition, with the JuggerNauts defeating the Geek Squad in the finals.

The third edition of the MPL, in 2011, was easily the best of the lot. With more members chipping in, we formed a group on Facebook for all sorts of banter – credit to Ankit for pushing this along. Chirag and Kunal chipped in with setting up a website and a database for tracking schedules, scores, standings and statistics. The site was setup on a free, shared web-host, making the availability of bandwith a challenge. We, a group of about 50, managed to crash the site by attempting to access it, all at the same time, as soon as the site went live. Over the duration of the third edition of the MPL, the site was a great resource, and a success story of its own.

We moved from scoring on paper to scoring using the CricMitra app, which was great in getting consistent scorecards. Chirag and Kunal put together a system to parse the scorecard at the end of the match and update player statistics and team standings, something all of us looked forward to eagerly – members of the winning team especially.

Hundred’s of photos were taken and uploaded to the Facebook group. These photos were a rage of their own, and convey a story for each match. As this site comes to life, we will need to import/upload all those photos over here. Ping one of us if you are willing to volunteer for this.

Permit for Sargent Field was available for the duration of the tournament, thus addressing the biggest road-block over the previous two editions. Just  around two miles  from the company, a serene sight, a beautiful ground, Sargent Field has become the home ground for us. The MPL will not be the same if it isn’t played at Sargent Field. We are grateful to the town of Natick for this amazing ground.

The Centurions defeated the Subjugators in the finals, after both edged out the Mavericks on NRR to make it to the finals. Each team played the other four times, and each team finished with 4 wins and 4 loses at the end of the round-robin stage. The chemistry between the teams matched the hype surrounding the match-ups, and the quality of cricket was top-notch.

With a significant number of people joining the company since the last edition, we are hoping to add a fourth team into the mix this year. Matches were scheduled over Tuesday’s and Thursday’s in MPL 2011. We are hopeful about scheduling matches on Wednesday’s as well. Each team played 8 matches in the round-robin stage last year. That could go up to  9 matches this year.

If all of this sounds exciting, we’d love to hear from you. We’d love to have you play with us. Characters especially are welcome to add some more color to our vibrant group.

Cricket Max could well claim to be the stepping stone towards T20 cricket, the growing success of which in turn led an idea called the MPL. The runaway success of MPL 2011 was a large step towards establishing the same as the cricket tournament for members of the MCC. As we move forward with our desire to improve further, we hope to establish something that can touch the lives of more people.

As the 2012 season draws closer, the bar for the MPL is set high. We hope to raise it higher. Bringing this site to life, a permanent home for all the ‘Buzz’ on the MPL, is the first step towards that goal.

A lot of excitement, and plenty of promise. MPL 2012, tentatively scheduled for July-August, is keenly awaited and cannot come sooner. Here’s awaiting another summer filled with memories, another story worth conveying again and again.

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Archives

The PG Wars

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History

Ganesh and Sachin – the captain and vice-captain of the MCC team – made themselves unavailable for the big match vs. Grafton Cricket Club. Priyank expressed desire to lead the MCC team vs GCC, and found favor with Raghuvir, aka the manager & vice-captain. The rest of the team also supported him wholeheartedly.

Ganesh aka ’Captain G’ challenged Priyank aka ’Captain P’ on August 26th 2009, to determine what works better – experience or enthusiasm! The first match was tied, but Captain P pulled out a spectacular win in the second match to lead his team front. Captain P continued his winning ways, by showing off his ’Midas touch’ against Grafton – his team winning it by 7 wickets.

Unable to take this hit, Captain G arranged for another show-off with Captain P, leading to the birth of the ’PG Wars’. Thus, every Wednesday, the two stalwarts lead their formidable teams to battle to show-off their skills and to gain bragging rights.

The battle for equality

While Captain P was looking to further improve his perfect record, Captain G managed to run those plans aground – he leveled the scores on Wednesday 09-02-09, winning by 15 runs in a match with a lot of drama. It must be noted that many players from Captain G’s team did not show up – were they intimidated by Captain P? – forcing Captain G to pressure (all inning long) an injured Adai to play – who eventually batted with a runner and did not field after that; was he concerned about a reprisal against him? – and borrow players from Captain P’s team – did he have a plan to break up a winning team and destroy team morale? Is this also a new chapter on ’sledging’?

Measuring scale 

Captain G has a record of 1 win and 3 loses against Grafton. Captain P has a perfect record against Grafton – 1 win and 0 losses!

So who’s better? Stay tuned till the next battle in the ’PG Wars’ unfolds.

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2009 Season, Archives, NECA

SCC @ MCC (NECA 2009) – Stuff of legends

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Summary:
Shrewsbury Cricket Club 95/8 in 20 overs, lost to MCC 96/8 in 19.5 overs.
Played on 25 July 2009 @ Mary Dennison Playground, Framingham.

Scorecard

Match Report
Some matches stay with us forever – this was one of those! Certain matches we remember with fondness for the way a team played, the way a team fought to come out on top, to come out triumphant – this was one of thos! It could be the 2 run win for England in the 2005 Ashes. It could be the 2002 NatWest final where India won over England via Yuvraj Singh and Mohd. Kaif. It could also be any one of the 1999 World Cup matches between Australia and South Africa – the one where Gibbs ‘dropped the World Cup’, allowing Steve Waugh to engineer a dramatic and famous win or the WC semi-final where SA were so close, yet so far (the infamous Donald run-out)! It could also be the Srinath, Kumble special at Bangalore vs. Australia in the Titan Cup in 1996.

Continue reading SCC @ MCC (NECA 2009) – Stuff of legends →

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