Print

Please post once and this message will disappear! Introduce yourself, say hello, jump into a discussion...

[CLR James]

This is a thread of faith. Let us all vow that all of us will speak the truth and the other will believe that.

We love cricket. Else we would not be here. But the question is, how did we play the game ourselves? Did we pursue it simply as a hobby or as an unrealized mission in life? I was born and brought up in Siliguri. I was always a better soccer player than a cricketer, but was always a keen student of the latter game. I played it and followed it a lot, primarily inspired by my uncle, who was a very good allrounder who did not play Ranji Trophy for purely parochial reasons. He was posted in Assam, was the captain of the Guahati Town Club, but never made it to the state side because of the political situation. I never saw him in his heyday. There was a cricket match organized the day before my cousin's wedding in 1987 in the small North Bengal town of Jalpaiguri. I was thirteen and opened the batting with uncle (who was 46) against a very rough local side that fielded the best of the local talent. I scored 27 in twenty overs, but I am sure at a strike rate more than 75. I just wanted to give the strike to my potbellied uncle, who, by then, was a beer drinker well established in Delhi. Uncle (Bablu kaku as I call him) hit seventy odd and sent the ball half a dozen times out of the ground. He just ran to change sides; the rest was dealt in boundaries. He also ran me and then himself out. That was when I (and I think a few others in both the teams) realized where we stood in terms of standard. Those were the times when we, in the bondocks of India, never saw top class cricket unless we traveled to Calcutta (which we, thanks to my father, did with unfailing regularity).

The long and short of it was that I was a steady opening batsman with a decent defensive technique. I was not afraid of fast bowling and never got stumped in my life because I played spin like Steve Waugh, from the crease. I could play three attacking strokes with confidence: a push drive between mid off and cover, the square cut, and the leg glance. The para club and the school team were the highest grades I made. A fifty odd made for the former on a matting wicket was my most memorable innings. I fielded in the slips or mid off and had no bowling skills whatsoever.

[sudzz]

To be very honest, growing up in Mumbai and in a middle class household, cricket and formal cricket was not something I could really look forward to or afford.

But I started playing the game rather late-around the time I was 10 or 11 was when I first played the game and I also remember that it was a under arm game being played in the entrance of my building and I scored 35 and then got into a brawl when I was declared out and I did not agree.

I have many a memories of the game (all played with rubber, tennis, MRI tennis (Only Mumbaites I guess would know what that is) balls etc) we used to play inter building, inter colony matches and I was pretty decent bowler and pretty much batted everywhere in the order (I dont recall having had batted lower than 7 though).

My first time with a full cricket kit was when I turned 15-16 I think and I was petrified of the hard cricket ball and dropped a couple of sitters and was literally shaking when facing the bowling.

But by the time I got to college I was pretty decent player essentially a bowler with slap bang attitude towards batting unless I was forced to open.

But by this time my # 1 sport was hockey and cricket came a distant second and therefore I chose to focus on the sport till one day during selection trials for Mumbai University a few guys came up to me and said please dont come for trials because we need the jobs we will get by getting selected whereas you can get a job even otherwise so if you like your legs quit.

[dhruvdeepak]

wonderful thread. i have a bunch of memories of playing cricket. now that i am out of university (and hence apparently not eligible to play or captain my university team anymore 'officially') i guess playing cricket will become less and less frequent, and i will have to hold on to memories only. ive posted some stuff before on different threads, ill try and dig up a few more later. CLRji just for you ill put up one particular story from UIUC days (i wasnt a protagonist in that story but it is hilarious nevertheless).

[Cover Point]

Suddzz, we use MRI tennis balls for our tennis ball cricket here in chicago too. Best tennis balls for cricket.

[sudzz]

Suddzz, we use MRI tennis balls for our tennis ball cricket here in chicago too. Best tennis balls for cricket.

You bet the best tennis ball for cricket, but dont you think its extremly difficult to swing the MRI ball.

[Cover Point]

Suddzz, we use MRI tennis balls for our tennis ball cricket here in chicago too. Best tennis balls for cricket.

You bet the best tennis ball for cricket, but dont you think its extremly difficult to swing the MRI ball.

Actually bowling always suffers with tennis balls. Most surfaces we play on ... the only thing bowlers can do is bowl wicket to wicket and bowl as fast as u can. Its a batsmans game.

[dextrous]

Suddzz, we use MRI tennis balls for our tennis ball cricket here in chicago too. Best tennis balls for cricket.

You bet the best tennis ball for cricket, but dont you think its extremly difficult to swing the MRI ball.

Actually bowling always suffers with tennis balls. Most surfaces we play on ... the only thing bowlers can do is bowl wicket to wicket and bowl as fast as u can. Its a batsmans game.

When I'm out of form, I actually prefer bowling with a tennis ball in the nets -- that forces me to get my line and length back as there's very little room for error.

[Zacked]

i can and still swing the mri ball... the rubber ball swings much better...  any one living in mumbai knows derby maidan... its near the Sandhurst road station... half of my life went there playing cricket... i miss those days now because here in dubai they dont play with MRI tennis balls instead they play with tape ball... though the tape ball swings but i am still yet to figure out how to connect it to my bat...

then there were days when i used to travel from vashi to azad maidan or cross maidan to play cricket... wooow i just miss those days...

[Zacked]

Suddzz, we use MRI tennis balls for our tennis ball cricket here in chicago too. Best tennis balls for cricket.

You bet the best tennis ball for cricket, but dont you think its extremly difficult to swing the MRI ball.

Actually bowling always suffers with tennis balls. Most surfaces we play on ... the only thing bowlers can do is bowl wicket to wicket and bowl as fast as u can. Its a batsmans game.

actually the more slow u bowl the more hard it is to hit... and i am talkin abt muddy grounds....

[sudzz]

bump...come on guys this is a great thread post away...

[Libran]

Nice thread CLR

I would consider myself a decent cricketer.Went thru' some coaching camps with Nazareth and P S Viswanath in Bangalore. Also have played 5th Division league. Played for the school and college teams and occasionally captained the Corporate team in my Organization. My earlier organization ANZ (Esanda) was in the top four in Corporate cricket in Bangalore

A middle order bat and off spinner. My memorable moments would be playing against Jeswanth in school cricket and one of the two batsmen not to give our wickets away to his guile. Have taken some blinder catches but somewhere down the line became butter fingered.

Was serious enough till family priorities(closure of our film making and distribution and related digressions) and Chartered Accountancy took over

[sudzz]

Nice thread CLR

I would consider myself a decent cricketer.Went thru' some coaching camps with Nazareth and P S Viswanath in Bangalore. Also have played 5th Division league. Played for the school and college teams and occasionally captained the Corporate team in my Organization. My earlier organization ANZ (Esanda) was in the top four in Corporate cricket in Bangalore

A middle order bat and off spinner. My memorable moments would be playing against Jeswanth in school cricket and one of the two batsmen not to give our wickets away to his guile. Have taken some blinder catches but somewhere down the line became butter fingered.

Was serious enough till family priorities(closure of our film making and distribution and related digressions) and Chartered Accountancy took over

When were you in Esanda? was it during Abay Huku's time?

[Libran]

Nice thread CLR

I would consider myself a decent cricketer.Went thru' some coaching camps with Nazareth and P S Viswanath in Bangalore. Also have played 5th Division league. Played for the school and college teams and occasionally captained the Corporate team in my Organization. My earlier organization ANZ (Esanda) was in the top four in Corporate cricket in Bangalore

A middle order bat and off spinner. My memorable moments would be playing against Jeswanth in school cricket and one of the two batsmen not to give our wickets away to his guile. Have taken some blinder catches but somewhere down the line became butter fingered.

Was serious enough till family priorities(closure of our film making and distribution and related digressions) and Chartered Accountancy took over

When were you in Esanda? was it during Abay Huku's time?

A few months after he joined, I had moved out.....How do you know him ??

[sudzz]

Nice thread CLR

I would consider myself a decent cricketer.Went thru' some coaching camps with Nazareth and P S Viswanath in Bangalore. Also have played 5th Division league. Played for the school and college teams and occasionally captained the Corporate team in my Organization. My earlier organization ANZ (Esanda) was in the top four in Corporate cricket in Bangalore

A middle order bat and off spinner. My memorable moments would be playing against Jeswanth in school cricket and one of the two batsmen not to give our wickets away to his guile. Have taken some blinder catches but somewhere down the line became butter fingered.

Was serious enough till family priorities(closure of our film making and distribution and related digressions) and Chartered Accountancy took over

When were you in Esanda? was it during Abay Huku's time?

A few months after he joined, I had moved out.....How do you know him ??

I was supposed to join Esanda as prod manager and he had interviewed me etc...

[avinashgodkhindi]

I started of at a very young age to play with my elder brother ( 7 years older) and was an opening batsman. Pretty technically correct and would love to bore everyone around me off from the game ( Gavaskar was my favorite then!!!). But when my brother moved for his Engg and I moved to a new locality in Delhi I had no friends to play with. I nurtured the dream and was very very vocal about it everywhere that I would surely become an intl cricketer by at leasst the age of 22-23. Folks at home though were smarter they never got me enrolled in any coaching club or any avenue to play serious cricket, just kept saying ya ya you will become a cricketer. Then in XI and XIIth class IIT exam became the all pervasive thought and cricket was in the back burner. Played some decent level cricket in college but nothing special, basically college politics. By now I was 6 feet plus and my standard forward stride was now becoming a total disaster, I was coming across and getting lbw. Became a middle order batsman and a decent medium pacer. I also had started to suffer from keratokonus,a problem with my eye balls that impair my vision slightly.It can be corrected with lenses but I didn't know of this then.So basically wasn't sighting the ball normally!!! My really experience with cricket came as a part of corporate cricket in MIsys in Bangalore. We didn't have a great team but played at a very decent level against some real top teams and held my on against these guys. Am the co chair of Chicago GSB cricket club this year and looking to restart cricket at GSB from this summer

[Aloo Kashmiri Ul Haq]

First gift from my parents was a plastic cricket bat, was obsessed to Cricket. Was raised in Chennai, our house for 15 years being an apartment with no space to play.

Used to play with the hard plastic balls (yes the ones that hurt just a trifle less than actual leather cricket balls) when I was 6-7. The "ground" would be the parking space which would be empty during the afternoon. Once, a friend of mine mimiced the body line series bowlers and bowled a full toss aimed at my face. The ball took the top end of my bat (a' la Sehwag) and hit an apartment resident's window frame, which immediately shattered into pieces. The lady who owned the house locked me up until my dad came looking for me.

We later moved onto "professional apartment" cricket, which was basically under arm bowling with rubber balls (10 Rs in Chennai, but 5 rs when bought in bulk from Mumbai). Every now and then the ball would sail down the three storey tall building and we'd have an "Anna" throw the ball back in the terrace. Graduates of this school of cricket were expected to master throwing balls up into the terrace as well as bring balls out of the gutter.

In summers I'd go to Mumbai. My nani has always lived in a chawl in Bhuleshwar. My cousin and I would play in the "chawl" when the neighbor whose door we used as a stump was away. However, the neighbor's presence was not always the only problem. My batting style was also refined into playing only straight drives, and lofted strokes many of which brought down the fluroscent 40 W tube lights with them.

Like every school going Indian boy I also had a desire to learn cricket in a proper academy. But, my parents like every other Indian parents wanted me to devote time to books. Wanting to get into the limelight I took up chess and from then on cricket was forgotten except when at times exhausted by the prolonged chess coaching I'd bunk classes to play terrace cricket.

[CLR James]

Great posts guys. Keep them coming.

[ramshorns]

Great posts guys. Keep them coming.

I will in couple of days as I find time.

[Libran]

Nice thread CLR

I would consider myself a decent cricketer.Went thru' some coaching camps with Nazareth and P S Viswanath in Bangalore. Also have played 5th Division league. Played for the school and college teams and occasionally captained the Corporate team in my Organization. My earlier organization ANZ (Esanda) was in the top four in Corporate cricket in Bangalore

A middle order bat and off spinner. My memorable moments would be playing against Jeswanth in school cricket and one of the two batsmen not to give our wickets away to his guile. Have taken some blinder catches but somewhere down the line became butter fingered.

Was serious enough till family priorities(closure of our film making and distribution and related digressions) and Chartered Accountancy took over

When were you in Esanda? was it during Abay Huku's time?

A few months after he joined, I had moved out.....How do you know him ??

I was supposed to join Esanda as prod manager and he had interviewed me etc...

Good you did not join..they closed shop a few months later....The Aussies came and screwed it up big time....
While the Indian management team was putting up a proposal to show how the Company can be EVA positive in 5 years  they sold out to Standard Chartered and moved on.......

[sudzz]

Nice thread CLR

I would consider myself a decent cricketer.Went thru' some coaching camps with Nazareth and P S Viswanath in Bangalore. Also have played 5th Division league. Played for the school and college teams and occasionally captained the Corporate team in my Organization. My earlier organization ANZ (Esanda) was in the top four in Corporate cricket in Bangalore

A middle order bat and off spinner. My memorable moments would be playing against Jeswanth in school cricket and one of the two batsmen not to give our wickets away to his guile. Have taken some blinder catches but somewhere down the line became butter fingered.

Was serious enough till family priorities(closure of our film making and distribution and related digressions) and Chartered Accountancy took over

When were you in Esanda? was it during Abay Huku's time?

A few months after he joined, I had moved out.....How do you know him ??

I was supposed to join Esanda as prod manager and he had interviewed me etc...

Good you did not join..they closed shop a few months later....The Aussies came and screwed it up big time....
While the Indian management team was putting up a proposal to show how the Company can be EVA positive in 5 years  they sold out to Standard Chartered and moved on.......

Yes I know and thats why I joined SCB though not in auto loans business and I used to work with a few colleagues who were ex Esanda.

[Blwe_torch]

Great post CLR! Applause!

I did mention earlier in some other thread that I represented Punjab University as an opening batsman and medium-pace bowler in 1987. I played 2 matches for PU..........one against the Punjabi University of Patiala and the other against the Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar or the Jalandhar University as we used to call it.
Around that time I played a lot of Inter-college cricket too. That was the highest level of cricket that I played.
In one match I had to face a hostile spell from Chetan Sharma( survived that), who was hired by the Thapar College of Patiala. Played against Amarjit Kaypee too.
During those days Punjab cricket was at a high, with KD, YS (senior), CS(sharjah). DAV College Chandigarh was the hot-bed of Punjab cricket.
Now I face hostile spells of my daughter's erratic bowling. She aims for my nose and not the wickets!
Also check out this thread which I started during the nascent days of this DG.
http://www.cricketvoice.com/cricketforum2/index.php?topic=4.0

[Blwe_torch]

Suddzz, we use MRI tennis balls for our tennis ball cricket here in chicago too. Best tennis balls for cricket.

You bet the best tennis ball for cricket, but dont you think its extremly difficult to swing the MRI ball.

Actually bowling always suffers with tennis balls. Most surfaces we play on ... the only thing bowlers can do is bowl wicket to wicket and bowl as fast as u can. Its a batsmans game.

CP, I remember in one thread you described beautifully how you opened for your local cricket tournament. I thought you guys played with deuce balls ( as you mentioned seeing off the new ball for the first 12 or 15 overs in a 30 over match ). What is the big deal of seeing off new balls, if you are playing tennis-ball cricket?

[ramshorns]

Applause's sent to each and every one of the posters on the thread.  CP I know you won't care but I still did.

[dextrous]

Suddzz, we use MRI tennis balls for our tennis ball cricket here in chicago too. Best tennis balls for cricket.

You bet the best tennis ball for cricket, but dont you think its extremly difficult to swing the MRI ball.

Actually bowling always suffers with tennis balls. Most surfaces we play on ... the only thing bowlers can do is bowl wicket to wicket and bowl as fast as u can. Its a batsmans game.

CP, I remember in one thread you described beautifully how you opened for your local cricket tournament. I thought you guys played with deuce balls ( as you mentioned seeing off the new ball for the first 12 or 15 overs in a 30 over match ). What is the big deal of seeing off new balls, if you are playing tennis-ball cricket?

CP thora fragile kism ka aadmi hai, laag jayeegi tennis ball sai bhi. Anyway, I made a good call excluding him from the CricketVoice squad, which will be played with a leather SG ball.

[Cover Point]

Suddzz, we use MRI tennis balls for our tennis ball cricket here in chicago too. Best tennis balls for cricket.

You bet the best tennis ball for cricket, but dont you think its extremly difficult to swing the MRI ball.

Actually bowling always suffers with tennis balls. Most surfaces we play on ... the only thing bowlers can do is bowl wicket to wicket and bowl as fast as u can. Its a batsmans game.

CP, I remember in one thread you described beautifully how you opened for your local cricket tournament. I thought you guys played with deuce balls ( as you mentioned seeing off the new ball for the first 12 or 15 overs in a 30 over match ). What is the big deal of seeing off new balls, if you are playing tennis-ball cricket?

No mate. The seeing off the new ball is (or was ... last years team) in the real ACC league cricket. White cricket ball, concrete pitches with astro turf on it and all that. So thats real cricket. I am also crazy enough to play tennis ball cricket in addition to this with a couple of teams here. We are currently playing indoor cricket here in an indoor soccer facility.

Talking of the leather ball cricket leagues, they are a lot of fun. Takes a whole summer day but worth it. Growing up in India, I never had the skill to be in the top cricketers so we never got a chance to play on good grounds with good bats etc. Now, I still am not very good, but I do have the ability to apply myself. I work hard in the field and run hard between the wickets. Manage to be adequate to play (and open) for a poor team. The experience is great. We have the best equipment (My understanding is that this is the same quality as internationals use).

Way back in 1992-95, I used to run the Stony Brook cricket club at the university. That was the time I started opening for my team and have enjoyed it. Dont have many strokes but do have the ability to place the balls and rotate the strike.

Bowl gentle, rather accurate, medium bowling. Works with tennis ball but not with leather.

[cricinfo]

i think CP  will love leather SG ball ...he cant have him in person...but at least in some form....can hit out or abuse ...even put his spit on him for shining ....and feel happy ever after

[Cover Point]

i think CP  will love leather SG ball ...he cant have him in person...but at least in some form....can hit out or abuse ...even put his spit on him for shining ....and feel happy ever after

Why would I want to do that to the best Indian captain ever who brought so much pride into the team?

Or do u confuse criticising a player who sucks at that moment with hating him forever?

And we would love to play with the SG ball unfortunately the ACC league authorities are way too cheap. We end up playing with an inferior white ball (it swings a lot more early..... but is inferior overall)

[Blwe_torch]

Suddzz, we use MRI tennis balls for our tennis ball cricket here in chicago too. Best tennis balls for cricket.

You bet the best tennis ball for cricket, but dont you think its extremly difficult to swing the MRI ball.

Actually bowling always suffers with tennis balls. Most surfaces we play on ... the only thing bowlers can do is bowl wicket to wicket and bowl as fast as u can. Its a batsmans game.

CP, I remember in one thread you described beautifully how you opened for your local cricket tournament. I thought you guys played with deuce balls ( as you mentioned seeing off the new ball for the first 12 or 15 overs in a 30 over match ). What is the big deal of seeing off new balls, if you are playing tennis-ball cricket?

No mate. The seeing off the new ball is (or was ... last years team) in the real ACC league cricket. White cricket ball, concrete pitches with astro turf on it and all that. So thats real cricket. I am also crazy enough to play tennis ball cricket in addition to this with a couple of teams here. We are currently playing indoor cricket here in an indoor soccer facility.

Talking of the leather ball cricket leagues, they are a lot of fun. Takes a whole summer day but worth it. Growing up in India, I never had the skill to be in the top cricketers so we never got a chance to play on good grounds with good bats etc. Now, I still am not very good, but I do have the ability to apply myself. I work hard in the field and run hard between the wickets. Manage to be adequate to play (and open) for a poor team. The experience is great. We have the best equipment (My understanding is that this is the same quality as internationals use).

Way back in 1992-95, I used to run the Stony Brook cricket club at the university. That was the time I started opening for my team and have enjoyed it. Dont have many strokes but do have the ability to place the balls and rotate the strike.

Bowl gentle, rather accurate, medium bowling. Works with tennis ball but not with leather.

Nice reading! Applause!

[sudzz]

Guys why are the regulars not posting...is it that they never played the game???

Come one SGUSA/LN/FLUTE/KBan/MT* .......many many others before you guys became cliquians or gangulians you were cricket lovers so please share...it makes for very interesting reading.....

MT*-not sure whether you ever played the game as such but surely there must have been a point of inflection when you discovered you loved the game.....