Previous posts on Cricbay when our team was covered in the cricbox

GROUP F Blitz CC vs Daredevils
Two new names in my Cricbox for a change, and why not. After all, Blitz CC have truly lived to their name this season, by pulling off great upsets. First they humilated Chargers with a stunning performance and then they repeated the same with Skiers 11. Both the oppositions were left dumbfounded about this newly found form of the Blitz CC (Although I liked their previous name a lot - Bhajji's Monkeys). Blitz who is yet undefeated this season, unlike their previous stints, would be facing Daredevils for the first time, who yet have to register their first ever win in their Cricbay stint. They are a new team, with and would love to take their first win home to taste the real success of tennis ball cricket in Cricbay.
Facts: Blitz CC was ranked # 54 in the opening ranking table for this season, when Skiers were placed at # 18 and Chargers at # 30. Daredevils are placed at # 66.

GROUP F

Skiers XI vs Blitz CC

Sunday 04/05 @ SGI Park, Mountain View

The Big Picture

Skiers XI took a break for the 2008 Fall Open which means that they have played just o­ne regular season in Cricbay. But in this short time they have give a fair glimpse of their potential by managing to make it to the Platinum group in their very first season. Getting past the pre-quarter stage is just a matter of time and experience.

Blitz CC entered Cricbay the same season as Skiers XI but are a little more experienced having played the 2008 Fall Open. They did beat Kings last regular season, but since then they have struggled to beat any team in the top half of the league when provided an opportunity to play them. But every new season is a fresh beginning and Blitz CC seem to be charged up, coming off a crushing victory against a Chargers team at pretty much full strength. Whether this is the trigger they were looking for to reach greater heights, o­nly time will tell.

Form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)

Skiers XI - WLWWL
Blitz CC - AWWLL

Watch out for ...

Avinash Karthaveerya (272 runs) and Suryanarayanan D (284 runs) were in prolific form during last years regular season. They were ably supported by their lead bowlers in the form of Shankar Narayanan (40 wickets eco. 2.84) and Prudhviraj (26 wickets eco. 2.94). They will be counting o­n these guys to keep a choke-hold o­n their opponents again.

For Blitz CC their batting mainly revolves around their leading man Puneet Shetty (343 runs) with others looking to stay with him and chip in with whatever they can. The bowling is well led by Kartik Ramaswamy (63 wickets) and Avinash Kumar (42 wickets). But restricting the opposition scoring rate has always been their primary concern.

Home/Away Realities

Skiers XI know how to make use of their home ground very effectively. They have managed to win 8 of the 11 games that they have played at home, but defeats at home have been pretty comprehensive as well. This will be their first home game of this season and will be interesting to see if they can maintain that winning touch at home.

Blitz CC had a bad start to both their previous seasons and have a win % of o­nly about 34%. In the 15 odd games that they have played away from home they have managed to win o­nly twice game, this is a dismal record by any standards. Beating Chargers in the season opener is just the start they would have been hoping for if they want to move to the upper half of the league.

Approaching milestones

Avinash Karthaveerya (Skiers XI): Requires 28 runs to complete 300 runs.

Suryanarayanan D (Skiers XI): Requires 16 runs to complete 300 runs.

Arun Ram (Blitz CC): Requires 5 wickets to complete 25 wickets.

Group F:
Blitz CC Vs Xterminators @ San Jose:

This is a contest between 2 teams which are both a year old in Cricbay and have played almost the same number of matches. Over the 3 seasons they have played they have never faced o­ne another. Players to watch are definitely both the captains since they both have a healthy average above 10 and they will be looking to start the season o­n a positive note. Xterminators have a couple of very exciting players but there is inconsistency of them being available throughout the season which sometimes makes them unpredictable. They are also now under a new management team. We will wait and see if these changes would give them the edge to terminate the blitz theyll face from Blitz CC.