TFC Kings Team Photo from Jan 16 game

TFC Kings at the MAQ ground after the match against the BAPS Lions

Standing (left to right) : TK Singh, Vikas Bhadauria, Neville Dias, Rohit Puri, Vinod Gulati, Mukesh Kumar, Mark D'Sa, Raj Amarnani, Jolly Singh, George.

Sitting (left to right) : Gaurav, Shaan, Girish Kumar.

Practice and a Surprise Match

In preparation for the much awaited Pinks Series startin next week (Jan 23rd), we called for a final team practice on Saturday Jan 16th. Initially we'd requested BAPS Loins for a rematch, but they were planning their own team selection at another venue and declined.

First, a quick note on the ground. Since everything in Ft Lauderdale was already booked, we played at a new ground this time - the MAQ ground in Delray beach. MAQ, is of course Mr. MA Qureshi, a prominent WPB based businessman of Pakistani origin who loves Cricket and has built this ground with a natural wicket and batting cages for Nets etc. The facility is lovingly maintained by Mr Amir Saddique, who received us very warmly and provided us an excellent day of Cricket. A Big Thanks to both Amir and of course to Mr. Qureshi who was gracious enough to come to the ground personally and meet our players. From the TFC side, I think this is the begining of a beautiful friendship.

Second, one of the problems with trying to organize Cricket with weekend cricketers is the uncertainty about who will actually show up. Everyone has a busy life, with family and personal commitments on weekends. 3-4 of the regular players - Arun, Vashi, Vivek, Naresh - had cancelled due to prior commitments. I was to pick up 3 of our players along my way, and TK and Vikas had called me from the road, but during the long drive up I was wondering  whether anyone else would show up, and how many gaalis Raj would give me if non one else showed up. In the event, I need not have worried. When we reached there, at almost 10:30 AM, we already had about 10 people at the ground and they were already playing in the nets. It is moments like this that make the whole effort and time worthwhile. Thanks a lot to everyone who came for the practice, knowing it would be only practice and not a match - Rohit, Girish, Sequeiras (Sr y Jr), George, Vikas, Mukesh, Mark D'Sa, Jolly, Raj A, Vic Shroff, TK Singh, Neville and Vinod Gulati.

We started around 11 with some fielding drills - basically everyone in a circle around the stumps with Jolly hitting the ball to everyone in turn, with the objective of collecting the ball and throwing it back to Neville. This activity was very popular.....NOT. Amir offered to call his guys to come and play a match with us. We agreed and while we waited, we decided a batting order based on the old "numbering" method and begin some batting practice. The wicket was very damp due to the cloudy and wet weather in the past week, and the ball was staying very low. About 12 of us had batted and it was already 12:30 when Vinod got a call from Hitesh of the BAPS Loins (saara south Florida jinhe Loin ke naam se jaanta hai) that they wanted to play a match against us.

Since it was late we decided to play a 15 over a side match, with a hard stop at 3 PM. TK won the toss and wanted to bowl first, but he was persuaded by us to bat first instead. Since Girish and Mark were padded up, they opened for us. They were both out cheaply, and then TK went in. TK never gets adequate batting practice because he opens the bowling for us and always gets dropped down to the lower order. This time we wanted him to get a nice long session, and he obliged by dropping anchor at one end. Jolly at the other end played his typical game with fast singles mixed with cheeky pulls for 4 down deep fine leg. It was our most productive partnership with TK scoring 14 and Jolly 27 out of a team total of 97. TK got out trying to hit out, and then Raj ran himself out. We thought we were in some trouble when Vikas and Sequeira too were cheaply out, but Vinod and Rohit had other ideas. Rohit hit out in the last two overs, including an excellent lofted 4 over mid-on, to take us to a safe if not winning total.

Having played BAPS before, we knew they have a big hitter in Rajat, and we had to curb him to have any chance of winning. Rajat opened with Kunal and they managed to play our the first 3 overs without much problem, although we controlled our extras very well and even the fielding was very tight. Missing Naresh, I was worried about our close in fielding, but Girish was amazing at Mid-on, and stopped many runs with his quick dives and clean collection and throws. Another revelation was Mukesh. Not many of us knew that earlier when we were practicing, Mukesh got a call from India that his brother had been admitted to the ICU. Obviously feeling low, he nevertheless fielded fantastically at short 3rd man, and saved many runs from the cheeky cuts employed by the BAPS batsmen. Mark, patrolling the mid-off/short cover region is another great fielder who threw himself around and stopped any runs.

Due to the pressure we were able to bring from our fielding, the BAPS players were forced to take risks. This showed, when in the 4th over, Vic got Kunal clean bowled. In the 6th over, Raj got us another breakthrough, another clean bowled. Raj has this ability to clean bowl well set batsmen with his deceptive turn and the pace at which his deliveries skid through. He got another one in his short spell of 3 overs, proving why he is so highly rated in our team - in every match he has played, he has taken a minimum of 2 wickets, usually clean bowled and usually well set batsmen since he bowls first change for us.

From the other end, Mark applied some pressure and wickets continued to fall. At the 10th over mark, BAPS were 53, needing 45 in 30 balls to win. But the big-hitting Rajat was still at the crease. In the 12th over, TK threw the ball to Girish who was getting good turn during practice. Facing him was the danger man - Rajat - who had already hit a couple of lofted 4s through long-on. The 4th ball of Girish's over, Rajat was out, and it had been painful to watch the left-hander's struggles in the previous 3 balls against the amazing amount of turn and bounce Girish was extracting. 20 balls 38 runs! Vikas got the next over, and got a wicket. 16 balls and 32 runs needed. Sequeira bowled the next over, which saw an amazing catch at shortish point by Vic Shroff, who dived forward and caught a fast travelling shot just inches above the ground. This was the other danger batsman, Chirag. Now Hitesh himself walked in, with 26 needed off 10. He calmly hit a 6 and a 4 and took 2 doubles, to bring it down to a much more manageable 12 off the last over. By now everyone was jumping around and shouting, including the BAPS players who were gathered at the boundary rope and screaming and cheering their batsmen. Vic Shroff took the ball, and our fielding fell apart completely. We conceded 3 triple runs and 2 singles off the first 5 balls, to bring the scores level. On the last ball, with 1 to win, Hitesh faced Vic. In the electric tension, no one even noticed that it was already nearly 4 PM against a planned hard stop at 3. TK went up to have a word with Vic, and then Vic ran in and clean bowled Hitesh!!! Match tied!

Another last ball finish for the Kings, and this one though not a win, felt almost as good as the impossible last ball win against the Titans back in September. For me, Vic Shroff was the man of the match for his 2 wickets and the amazing catch, but it really was a team victory, with amazing contributions with bat, ball and in the field by every player, and I am sure we will take a lot of confidence from this game, for our series starting on the 23rd. Of course we still have to work on our fielding, specially the tendency to panic under pressure, but we have a lot of positives too, in the way our batsmen hit out during the last 2 overs to lift our score, and then the way we bowled to keep taking wickets and curbing the wides specially, to pressure the opposing batsmen. We have discovered some excellent close in fielders who will be valuable in the upcoming series. In all, I feel very good about the coming matches, and about the fact that we have such a wide selection of committed and enthusiastic players now to keep the Kings caravan rolling along.

PS - still waiting for the team photograph from Amir. Will post as soon as he sends it.

PPS - All the best to Mukesh Kumar who has left for India to be with his family. Our prayers are with his brother and his family during this difficult time.

Kings Vs Australia

The new year started with 2 spectacular batting collapses - playing against the BAPS Lions at the fabulous CBRP Cricket ground in Ft Lauderdale, the Kings collapsed to 125 all out, and on the other side of the world the once almighty Australia playing against Pakistan at the fabled SCG, collapsed to 127 all out.

Now, you can look at these two facts in many different ways. For example, some of my fellow team members may think that the Kings are as good as Australia. It is also justified if you claim the opposite, that Australia are as bad as the Kings. I would point out however, that the Kings were 96 for 2 at one point, which the Australians could only dream about on that day.

I know what you are thinking. Due to the remarkable similarity in the 2 statistics, the obvious question in any reasonable mind would be - are the Kings now ready to take on Australia? On this point many of my teammates would agree with Ricky Ponting, whose likely response if invited to bring his team to Broward county for a 25 over a side friendly game against the Kings will be "you've got to be fucking kidding me mate".

I would however, like to point out to my dejected teammates that the real lesson here is this - anyone can have a bad day on the field of Cricket. We have all heard Ravi Shastri loudly (why does Shastri always shout into the microphone, by the way?) say many times on our TVs that the game of Cricket is a great leveller, and the minute you start thinking you are too good for the opposition, you are brought right back down to earth. That is exactly what happened to Australia against a young but talented Pakistan side on a grassy pitch, and that is also exactly what happened to the Kings on a cold, windy day against an inexperienced but talented BAPS side. At 96/2 with barely 70 runs needed for victory with 12 overs to get them against an attack (if it could be called that - many would object) that had already bowled 30+ wides in the first 13 overs many of our players had already mentally switched off.

We forgot that prophet of Cricketing wisdom, Ravi Shastri, who never tires of telling us that : a. Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties, b. In the short format one over can change the game, and c. the ball went to the boundary like a tracer bullet. OK, that last one does not apply to our situation, specially after Vashi and Naresh got out.

But, it is largely true that the BAPS Lions "set the cat among the pigeons once our two well set batsmen were out, and then they really disturbed the furniture" twice by bowling out Raj Amarnani and Vivek Mishra.

I did not help matters by responding to a wrong call for a run which was just not there. The ball went straight to the mid-off fielder, and it was my call, not the non-striker's. I should have yelled "NO" and sent Raj back, but instead I had a stupid moment and got run out for 1 (my personal worst score ever.)

Things got worse from there, when Vikas skied one up and the fielder, very unexpectedly, took the catch. Vikas had taken two catches during the BAPS innings, and probably felt the need to give back in a friendly gesture. Obviously, we expect the visiting team to react with a friendly gesture of their own and drop the catch, but BAPS were not in the mood to be friendly.

Arun Gidwani, the hero of our last (and only) win, snicked one to the wicketkeeper and was really upset.......... with the umpire, for giving him out. Vic Shroff then decided to run himself out just to make things interesting. Still, we had TK and Rohit, and with TK there is always hope. Not that day though. With 40 to get from 6 overs TK hooked a short pitched ball strongly, and also found a very interesting way to lose the match, by getting out hit wicket!!

All in all, not a day the Kings would like to remember fondly. However, remember it we must, to take a few lessons from it -

1. the game is not over until the target score has been achieved.

2. we need to practice our running between the wickets, specially run calling and whose call it is.

3. younger, fitter teams will always beat us by their fielding, and we can do one of two things (or both) - practice our fielding and throwing more, or run aggressively and take every run from the hits that go in the gaps. Early in our innings we ran a lot of slow singles where we could have run an easy two if not a fast three.

4. this team needs to play more matches, and practice a lot more. The distance to CBRP for practice is a problem, specially on weekdays. We need to find a practice facility in Doral (or maybe FIU) where we can hold at least one nets session a week for the next 8-10 weeks.

5. Any team, even the champion sides like Australia, can have a bad day against not so good opposition. The main part is how we recover from it and learn our lessons and move on. The season is just starting, and we have the beginning of a very good team. We need to recognize our strengths and move on from there. Then, one day maybe, Ricky Ponting may not think we're kidding him when we invite him to Ft Lauderdale.