Virender's Blog-2008

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

I use the blog for writing but would also keep this blog active by posting few more photos.
Tomorrow we are playing are our first match in mumbai.
Hopefully we do well enough to gain exprience and try out the new players as well.

 

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Can't miss to attach this photos.

 

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Having 6 days of holidayfor diwali inculding the weekend was a blessing in disguise.
We had scheduled a match on 28th in our home ground.
There was a suspense over the playing 11 and i choose to stay away from it.
We had our local team in opposition who lost to us in the last match.
We had around 14 players in the team and was good to see that everyone will be playing in rotation.
We lost the toss and were put in to field.
Our opening bowler were out of touch and the one of the new ball bowler had a bad day with pretty close calls in catches and misfield.The other in-form was out of touch and was replaced in 6th over itself as captain instructed me to bowl from that end.With two more fast bowlers available that call did surprised me but i was ready for the task and bowled 4 overs giving away 11 runs and taking 1 wicket.
My overs were in short spell as i was told to head towards the pavilion so the other player can come in to field.Similarly after few overs the captain came out and another player went in and so on........
While sitting in the pavilion i was talking to my captain about the spinnners role in our bowling attack especially with wickets being slow and low.He has understood that and was interested to see the progress of others spinners as well.
Meanwhile all the bowlers were taking stick from the batsmen and they batted for 40 overs scoring 220 runs and every bowler hammered around the ground.
I was very very keen to bowl in the middle session and in slog overs and requested my captain as well but he turned it down..
The bowlers went for an approx 5-6 rpo.
We had a tough task to chase with new batting order to check with.
I am now in the lower middle order so new guys are being groomed to bat in the top order.
Our opening batting failed but thereafter we had a steady partnership for a while and when our two very exprienced batsmen were batting we had a chance to win but one rash shot changed our fortune and we struggled to score even 150 runs.
We had given up a good chance to win and keep the winning tempo but the opposite team played better cricket than us.

Still this is a learning process for the club with new youngsters being groomed...as batting is a problem area for us.
Personally i was happy to perform very well and did got the appreciation from my teammates who also raised the doubts of not letting me bowl more overs and i am sure captain will re-think about it...

 

[schwab2clarkson]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Having 6 days of holidayfor diwali inculding the weekend was a blessing in disguise.
We had scheduled a match on 28th in our home ground.
There was a suspense over the playing 11 and i choose to stay away from it.
We had our local team in opposition who lost to us in the last match.
We had around 14 players in the team and was good to see that everyone will be playing in rotation.
We lost the toss and were put in to field.
Our opening bowler were out of touch and the one of the new ball bowler had a bad day with pretty close calls in catches and misfield.The other in-form was out of touch and was replaced in 6th over itself as captain instructed me to bowl from that end.With two more fast bowlers available that call did surprised me but i was ready for the task and bowled 4 overs giving away 11 runs and taking 1 wicket.
My overs were in short spell as i was told to head towards the pavilion so the other player can come in to field.Similarly after few overs the captain came out and another player went in and so on........
While sitting in the pavilion i was talking to my captain about the spinnners role in our bowling attack especially with wickets being slow and low.He has understood that and was interested to see the progress of others spinners as well.
Meanwhile all the bowlers were taking stick from the batsmen and they batted for 40 overs scoring 220 runs and every bowler hammered around the ground.
I was very very keen to bowl in the middle session and in slog overs and requested my captain as well but he turned it down..
The bowlers went for an approx 5-6 rpo.
We had a tough task to chase with new batting order to check with.
I am now in the lower middle order so new guys are being groomed to bat in the top order.
Our opening batting failed but thereafter we had a steady partnership for a while and when our two very exprienced batsmen were batting we had a chance to win but one rash shot changed our fortune and we struggled to score even 150 runs.
We had given up a good chance to win and keep the winning tempo but the opposite team played better cricket than us.

Still this is a learning process for the club with new youngsters being groomed...as batting is a problem area for us.
Personally i was happy to perform very well and did got the appreciation from my teammates who also raised the doubts of not letting me bowl more overs and i am sure captain will re-think about it...

Wow! Sounds like you need to talk to your coach about the way your captain treated you.
Diwali - is that your christmas celebration?

 

[edladd]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

It's the festival of lights I think. In the place I work they have a special dinner of indian food followed by traditional Indian sweets. Virender, can you explain what the purpose of the festival is please?

 

[schwab2clarkson]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

It's the festival of lights I think. In the place I work they have a special dinner of indian food followed by traditional Indian sweets. Virender, can you explain what the purpose of the festival is please?

Oh ok. Thanks for that.

 

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Unfortunately he is the Captain and coach as well.
We don't have a dedicated person as coach but a senior makes up for that job and he is in line with captain for making decisions.
Ed, The diwali festival is celebrated as homecoming of Lord Rama when killed King Ravana for abducting his wife...
Earlier it was celebrated with lamps and then it started with fire crackers....
Now it is more of celebration time with holidays,firecrackers and sweets.
It can be compared with X'mas.... but we have many festival in India resulting to many more holidays and holes in our pockets as well....

 

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Today had good net session...
Of late i have good practice in the nets with spin bowling and batting reallly shaping up in good form..
With two matches in two weeks and with good peformance in fielding as well;the confidence has started to come back,,,
I am sure some of the people will be amused by it and are keeping a close eye on the developments...
I am just doing my daily routine...and keeping it quiet....
I have started to record the batting session details in nets and will prepare an excel sheet with batsmen details in the nets so at the end of the week;a fair idea will be presented as to how many batsmen batted how many times in a week??
I have updated and checked my bowling stats and still a healthy bowling avg of 10 with strike rate of 24 and econ of 2.5 is maintained as well.
This record of stats was started towards the end of last season and managed till date...
I will be updatng my bowlign stats regularly as the figures do inspire me to do much more better.
I am writing the details of the bowling stats and if any one can cross check and update it; i will be gladly delighted..
Bowling Record:
Runs-146,Wkts-15,Overs-59,Balls-360.
These scores are inculding extras of my bowling as well...
Anyone has a query then please revert back...

 

[schwab2clarkson]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Unfortunately he is the Captain and coach as well.
We don't have a dedicated person as coach but a senior makes up for that job and he is in line with captain for making decisions.
Ed, The diwali festival is celebrated as homecoming of Lord Rama when killed King Ravana for abducting his wife...
Earlier it was celebrated with lamps and then it started with fire crackers....
Now it is more of celebration time with holidays,firecrackers and sweets.
It can be compared with X'mas.... but we have many festival in India resulting to many more holidays and holes in our pockets as well....

Have a word in he's ear and if he is still being a bit mean to you then tell him that you will change clubs or better still tell the guy who runs the comp that you have got a guy who isn't treating you fairly as your skipper and as your coach.
I noticed with the diwali festival all the smoke from the fireworks hadn't cleared and was causing the cricketers and the umpires some problems first up on day 1 of the 3rd test in Delhi.

 

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Thanks for the advice and will observe the development.
Can't say abt the fireworks smoke for the 3rd test in Delhi..but it is sad for the game...

 

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

With lackluster attitude of some players the supposedly match on Saturday was called off,that has got me thinking abt conducting the future matches and I am sure if we keep on carrying the way things are happening then it will be like this only;;anyway i made sure that this coming Saturdays match is booked.
As I will be possibly working then might not play so i got another players involved in the fixing the match date.
For the upcoming matches;I will schedule it in mumbai and then ask my players and if there are less players I will arrange it from mumbai itself.
We should make a habit to play in mumbai more often..

The last week practice sessions were OK with bowling and batting happening at good rhythm.
Luckily my ex-coach wanted to bat in our nets and our captain agreed;he batted before me and after i went he was observing very closely.
Good thing his bowlers were also bowling including himself and i had a great time batting against them.
All them were hit for some beautiful shots which were enjoyed by my team-mates and the shouting and whistle were very embarrassing to the ex-coach as his bowlers and he were taking to a nice beating.
Otherwise the last whole week was perfect in nets.Just this weekend i was exhausted from bowling in the nets and not enjoying it so i use to leave the bowling in middle of the net session.
I am sure the coming nets from Tuesday to Sunday goes very well and our club plays this Saturday's match.

 

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Last week's practice went very well.
Bowling was fine with fitness routine followed by me and my fellow off spinner with discipline.We report to the ground by 6:AM and with cold climate it gets very chilled out in the middle.
On bowling front;I did not tried any thing new and just kept on bowling on the right spot with occasional pace change.At times there was good amount of spin and bounce.Had all the batsmen in trouble when try-ed to charge on my bowling.
Batting also got more very well with batting on the ball's merit.
Out of the 6 days of nets;I bat for any avg for 3-4 days which is quite good for me as i normally get good fast and spin bowlers.
Since the wicket is unpredictable with uneven bounce watching the ball very closely is very important.I got into trouble only once and had a tough time to bat with ball bouncing unevenly.That makes the concentration level very high.
I go preparing my mind to watch the ball,play with a straight bat and not loose my wicket.So far batting has been very good.
We are also getting good fast bowlers in the nets and so far everyone has been in trouble and i have managed to bat well against them.
We are also having a match this coming Saturday against my ex-coach's team.
If I am in town then i will play that match.

 

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Our wicket has become a sort of minefield with uneven bounce even to spinners as well.
So watching the ball very closely and surviving is the key to batting in our nets.
Attached photo might provide the clue.
But still i would prefer to bat in this wicket because i am able to concentrate very hard and save my wicket with executing scoring shots as well.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Virender - how do you put the spin on the ball? Do you bowl any variations that are like the Flipper? Do you bowl the Doosra and if so how do you do it - what makes it spin?

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Blimey 6am! I thought I was fairly committed - that's amazing - no wonder your lot are beating our lot out there at the minute! How often do you practice - it sounds like you practice almost every day of the week?!

 

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Virender - how do you put the spin on the ball? Do you bowl any variations that are like the Flipper? Do you bowl the Doosra and if so how do you do it - what makes it spin?

Dave,

It is a typical left arm orthodox spin like leg spin.My key variations are change of pace with quicker delivery.I do bowl the googly that spins like off spin but i rarely use it as my leg spin and armer deliveries are much more effecient.

 

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Blimey 6am! I thought I was fairly committed - that's amazing - no wonder your lot are beating our lot out there at the minute! How often do you practice - it sounds like you practice almost every day of the week?!

Yes,I do reach the practice ground by 6:30AM alongwith my off spinner.
It gives me the extra time for warm-up,strecthing and at times for knocking or spot bowling practice.
Usually we have nets from Tuesday to Friday but from this season we have nets on Saturday and Sunday as well.So it gives us 6 days in a week of practice.It is really great to have more and more practice.
Also i will be posting more photos in coming days.

 

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

We had our match on last saturday on 21st.
The match was scheduled to start at 9:30AM but our players reached the venue by 9:30 itself.That annoyed our coach very much.The opposite team were ready by 9:15 itself.I was the first to arrive at 9:05 AM.
So no warm-up no team meeting happened just all were given a good hearing.
On top of that we lost the toss and were put to field on a good batting wicket.
Our fast bowlers did bowl very well to get the top order wickets on regular intervals but our fielding started to slip slowly after the 15 over.By the spinners came we were completely out of order and spinner got the beating inculding myself.
All the players were pathetic in fielding not able to stop the ball going between their feets,side by their feets and even failing to take clean catches.By the time 30th over was completed the captain was just watch all of it like a mute spectator and chaos continued till the 40th over.We bowled our fast bowlers and that effected our over rate.
In the end we were given a target of 267 runs within the alloted time of 4 PM.
Again we were suppose to start early by 13:15 PM;but started after 13:30PM because one opener went to get his bat and the other was having a late lunch.We started with unusual opening batsmen and then only the 3rd and 4th number slot were decided and not for the rest.
I was told to go for umpiring in middle which left me wondering about my batting number.
Still we batted reasonably OK and had good chance to win but time was out of our hands and it ended in a draw.
We scored 200+ runs in 23 overs losing 5 wickets.
So by run-rate we were the winner but with the overall performance we doubted to claim the winning title.
We were behing the over-rate right from the start of 1st inngs.
All of the bowling was done by fast bowlers and spinners were under-utilised which also affected the over-rate.
Most importantly poor fielding cost us unwanted runs which set us a big target.
According to our coach;we gave away 100+ runs due to bad fielding.
Alongwith fielding,bowling strategy needs to be worked out to ensure over-rate is in control and also the opposite batsmen don't get an opportunity to score heavily from fast bowlers.
Spinners are to be used more often and do the bulk of bowling.
With the tournament starting from next sunday;it looks a distant possibility and i have right fully pulled back my name from the playing 11.
I am not interested to play in the upcoming tournaments at all.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Why don't you want to play in the tournament? Will you still get to play in other matches?

By the way I've now got my Canon G9 so I'll be able to shoot some video. The only thing is the quality is so good I'm not sure I can reduce the file sizes so that they're usable on youtube!!! I'll try and get some shots of me bowling this Saturday and if I can I'll post them.

 

[Virendersingh.berthwal]

Re: Virender's Blog-2008

Dave,

Most of the players are unhappy with the current actions and decision taken by our captain and coach related to team build-up.
That has also put off my interest in playing matches at for now.
I hope the team gets together and all the issues are resolved.
I had a private meeting with the captain on Sunday reporting him about the match details happened on Saturday and discussed a lot of issues with him related to team composition,bowling strategies,fielding,batting line-up and also nets.
He was surprised with lots of my observations and suggestions.
I even offered to lead the team comprising mostly of bench players.
I am sure overall he must be impressed by it as for the last two days i do see a change in his attitude.
He is regularly closely observing the nets procedure and even telling the coach the same things as suggested by me.
I hope that he will be able to balance the team again.
For now I have requested not to consider me for the upcoming matches till i tell him so which he has accepted.
For now my focus is more on fitness and practice.