Match Feedback Joe Chemmanam - Mar 13 2010

Brief Scores

To start, we didn't field our best team. Prashant Police, Sangeet ,Anish was easily missing from our starting line up. The idea was to give some valuable time in the middle for our middle order batsmen including me, JP ,Sanal and Raju. plus a chance for players who couldnt participate in the previous matches.

Their Team batted 1st and scored 170 runs in their allotted 20 overs. 2 players scored well. Bowling wasn't the greatest and our fielding was pathetic at times with a lot of overthrows and poor backing up.

170 was a huge score for us especially without 3 of our best batsmen but we scored 169 in the chase and should have won the match comfortably in the end. Sanal (45), JP (30's) and Joe (30's) played well but each one of them got out at the wrong time. Needing 9 off the last over and just 3 off the last 4 balls, Joe got out and we lost by 1 run as we lost wickets on each of the last 4 deliveries.

Fielding

I am starting with fielding this time as i believe we lost the match due to our ground fielding. We missed 2 catches, one by me and one by Razzaq but it was the ground fielding where they consistently ran 2 after hitting it straight to the fielder. Backing up was really bad. At this level of cricket (we are playing B division cricket and not school cricket) we need not call up "back up" every time. If the ball is hit to the off side, the fielders ( square leg and mid on) has to move in such a way that if the fielder throws at the stumps he is ready to back up.
Same is the case if the ball goes to the leg side. The off side fielders have to back up ... Could have easily saved 25-30 runs here by improving our ground fielding.

Bowling

We are still having a small issue controlling the new ball though no one has come any where close to my record opening spell on the 1st match :P. still we need to control the extras with the new ball. They scored 31 in the 1st 3 overs with just 2 boundaries.

Joseph: Wasn't able to control the new ball and bowled some wides. but came back well in the middle and end overs. Good work.

Joe: Went for runs but got some crucial wickets. Bowled well in 2nd last over. Last 2 overs of their innings bowled by me and Joseph went for just 11 runs which was very good. Can improve on his bowling.

Shameem: he continues to impress and bowled 3 decent overs. Tried a slower ball which went for 6. Apart from that it was a good spell. was unlucky as an over throw 4 happened in his over.

Sajad: very good spell as always. Got us back into the match.. got crucial wickets also ... excellent spell .. we miss Hafeez also ..both these guys can really create pressure bowling in tandem.

Sanal: bowled ok ..he is a bit predictable .. but then batsmen has to take risks and he is always unlucky as most catches are dropped off his bowling ..the culprit this time being yours truly.

Razzaq: got his field completely wrong. I still dont know why he had a slip fielder when he came on to bowl ... and then with no one on the leg side, he bowled 2 leg stump deliveries which went for 4 ..was clearly an off day for him ..but a thing to note by the captain .. Need to talk to the bowler and make sure what he is trying to do ..coz in a knockout match, one small mistake is gud enuf...

Batting

Razzaq: Needed a good start from him as usual ..but then he showed that he is a mortal man and that the law of averages will catch up with anyone.. razzaq has been in tremendous form but yesterday was not his day ...

Raju: Very talented but couldn't get a move on yesterday ..its a matter of time and big men play well in big matches so hoping for a raju special in the knockout stages.

Sanal: Played a very mature innings ..didnt panic at all ..and played with minimum risk .. ran well ..and he along with JP resurrected our innings and got back the momentum ..we had scored just 10 runs in the 1st 3 overs .but by the end of the 6th we had close to 50 on the board. he is ideally suited player to play in the middle overs .. extremely well played but got out at a very wrong time... it was the last ball of their best bowler ..well played ..

JP: played positively and was in very good touch ..ran ok between wickets but then i think they could have stretched a bit more ..anyways a crucial partnership which really got us back into the match .. again spin turned out to be his downfall .. tried too many risky shots in the 1st over of spin ..well played

Joe: we needed close to 100 runs in 11 overs when he came to bat .. Joe played well giving strike to Sanal initially and then hitting a couple of boundaries when it was needed .. ran very well between wickets .. scorecard will show just 2 boundaries in his 30's and a lot of doubles and singles ... Should have finished the match himself .. got out which just 3 required from 4 balls ...but then hopefully wont make the same mistakes in the knockout stage ..well played

Sajad: ran well ..got tired because he was down with fever ..but tried his best .. was a bit weak against the shorter ball ... need to improve fitness ...

Joseph, Prashant Sr, Shameem: i totally agree that i should have finished the match myself but these things happen and invariably u guys would always be left with such situations as u come in to bat in the late middle order .... with 3 required off 3 balls, its important to keep ur cool and make sure u just connect the ball and at least take 1 run every ball ... dont try to finish in 1 ball ... just touch and run ..thats it ..unless u hit it back to the bowler, there is always a single available ....

Though we lost the match by 1 run, i personally believe that we did a great job especially in batting (scoring 169) with 3 of our main batsmen not available. The way we didn't panic except maybe for the last 4 balls of the match was good to see .... and most importantly, our idea of valuable time in the middle for Joe, JP and Sanal worked out ... This will surely help in the knockout stages.

Most important Part

we still haven't reached the semis. The team we lost to yesterday has won 3 out of 4 matches. Similarly the team we won against ( the broken nose), i believe that they also have 3 wins in 4 matches.. So our last match is crucial and a must win match ..

Ameer will be getting the scorecards and tables from the organizer. we will get a correct picture only after that...

Regards

Joe