Pre Match Analysis Vs Cougars

Last match between Blitz CC and Legends was expectedly won by Blitz as they claim the much deserved 3rd spot in the Group F rankings. 

Coming Sunday it is a different ball game, better opponents and platinum in sight, it surely promises to be an exciting weekend for cricket!

Match Details

Sunday, June 7th

Start time: 8:30 am

Ground: Monta Vista High School 

Current Form

Cupertino Cougars: W L L A W

Having won toss only once in their 7 games, it is fair to say their luck is running little low in that department. But little luck and lot of hardwork is surely helping Cougars in points accumulation this season.Cougars bat really deep and back themselves to chase any score posted by the opposition. Having chased scores around 75-80 with ease (more than once!) probably explains their choice to field first in their only Toss win. 

Win for Cougars might see them end up at either of 4th,5th or 6th position whereas a loss will definetely mean 6th position for them!

Blitz CC:  W W L W W

A win against Cougars this weekend will almost ascertain a place in Platinum for the Blitz.

Blitz would definitely want to seal the Platinum deal this weekend rather than leave it till very end!

A win for Blitz might see them grabbing either of 1st, 2nd or 3rd spot whereas a loss might even see them slip to 6th spot! 

Watch out for

Sridhar Rs: This middle order batsman is the highest run getter for cougars this season. He has scored 69 runs this season with an avg. of 13.8 which involves 3x6's. 

What makes Cougars a great batting team is the fact that in the games they have played so far, there is always a new batsman which rises to the occasion. He gets his highest score, takes them to victory and claims his MoM while rest of the batsmen like Sridhar Rs. play support role.

Head-to-Head record

These two teams have never met each other.

My 2 cents

Majority of the wins for Cougars have come against weaker teams,they have failed to beat better teams like ChampsXi and Skiers11.

Cougars have to still prove themselves to be a force to be reckoned with!

On the other end, Blitz is missing some key names from the squad, either due to unavailability or injury. It will be true test of the team's character and fighting spirit.

Go Blitz!!

~j

We are already in platinum

Guys,

Based on the 3 more games left for us and other teams and also including abandoned games we are 100% into the platinum league of 32 teams. We qualify as 4th place team at the worst from our group and 2nd place at the best.If I read the rules right then the next round is a fresh start with two wins expected from 3 games to progress to platinum cup knockouts. I think we should utilize the last 3 games to bat first and put pressure on opposition. At the moment, our batting is still bit jittery and we need to focus on it as well as our running between wickets before the big games ahead.What say you folks?

Kartik

Selecting Playing XI for a game

Guys,

I was reading articles about how other cricbay team's decide on forming their XI for the game. It looks like Performance-Participation-Commitment index should be a good model to follow with captain and VC rating these factors for the playing XI on a scale from 1 to 10. There are times when players don't perform well but they do participate and committed to the game/team which sometimes goes against their selection. Just curious what blitzz janta things about this.

Kartik

Blitz CC vs Legends Pics

Source: Sriram

Check out this link for more snaps:http://www.pbase.com/sriram_g77/blitz_vs_legends

Calling all Blitz Bloggers

Sorry for veering OT, but I found this to be an interesting piece to cover. I am immensely happy to see the growing interest in Blitz cricket this season, mainly due to our improved performance. There have been more discussions about team dynamics, talks about getting uniforms, people contributing to logo designs, and last but not least, the launch of this blog. We are committed to playing cricket on game day, and to practice a bit before the game to attain a confidence level with our teammates and with our own game. Blogging is a bonus. All our contributing bloggers have blogged because they wanted to express what they blogged, and have done so in a fine fashion. I believe there is a writer in all of us; eloquence is not a prerequisite, subject matter expertise is not a prerequisite; the only prerequisites are interest, and a topic under the sun. Its an open call to all the blitz bloggers. The blog need not be about cricket. It doesnt have to make the people who read it happy; there is no pressure to perform on a blog like on the cricket field . I would like to use our blog to call all the dormant bloggers - you want to be heard, here is a platform, and blitz is the audience. Make yourself heard.

Pre Match Analysis Vs Aryans CC

Race to Top 5/Platinum picks up pace in Group F with Aryans CC and Blitz CC, placed at 7th and 4th respectively,take on each other at Mountain View this Saturday.

A win is important for both teams to stay in hunt for platinum, as every game in this group has resulted in a drastic change to table positions.

 

Match Details

Saturday, May 16th

Start time: 8:30 am

Ground: Whisman Sports Center, Mountain View - Baseball field (not 360).

 

Current Form

Aryans CC   WLWWL

Riding on a comprehensive victory against Chargers, Aryans is looking determined and confident to face their next challenge.

Victory for Aryans will push them up to 5th/6th place whereas a loss will see them maintaining 7th position or at best go up one spot (6th), end of this weekend.

 

Blitz CC   LWWLW

Although Blitz is coming into this game after a loss to YuvaXI. I don't think this team will let that game affect its performance on Saturday!

In fact I wont be surprised to see the team fully charged and super aggressive this weekend.

Victory for Blitz will push them up to 3rd position or maintain 4th position whereas a loss will see them slip to 6th/7th place end of this weekend.

 

Watch out for

Roshan Shanbhag: Having already crossed 100 runs this season at a healthy average of 20.6. This opening batsman from Aryans is in tremendous form.

He has smashed 2x6's and 3x4's in 5 matches, which is excellent for Cricbay standards.His ability to score runs at a fair pace has most definitely came in handy for his team's batting performance this season.

 

Ashwin Kolhe:Although he bats at number 7, this all rounder from Aryans scores at a phenomenal strike rate of 92.2!

Having accumulated 76 runs in 5 matches @avg. of 25.33 which involves 2x6's and 5x4's !! he finds himself on second spot for both Runs and Wickets this season for Aryans CC.

 

Head-to-Head record

These two teams have never met each other.

 

Aryans have won toss 3 times this season, electing to defend in one of them and chase in other two with latter being their preferred choice lately.

So, be prepared to bat first and put up a total for first time this season, if we end up on wrong side of coin this Saturday!

 

Go Blitz!!

Rambling on about Trust, Roles and Responsibilities

We always talk about batting, bowling, practice, opponents and strategy before a game. We decide a batting lineup and a bowling lineup. We are only tested when things do not go according to plan. We learn a lot more about each other if we are tested, and a bit more if we are tested, and we lose. Bouncing back from a loss shows character, and it means not just bouncing back with a win in the next match, its bouncing back and enjoying the game, bouncing back and getting the basics right, and its bouncing back and trusting the 10 other guys that play with you on the field. Lack of trust can manifest itself in many different ways - team members not very happy with the captain's field placements or batting/bowling lineups,a captain not really experimenting with the team he has, a striker not really responding to a non striker's call, a non striker not really trusting the striker to score runs, and hence attempting an inopportune single, a fielder not really trusting a call to throw at a particular end, a player who is more interested in finding faults in a non encouraging way, than on improving his own game and providing inspiration to his teammates, and finally a team not trusting in itself to bounce back. The above examples were only cited to explain my point and not to poke fingers at anyone.I myself am a victim of lack of trust,(for writing this blog in the first place :) ) and am no better. I remember, that after the win against champs XI, there was a call to practice on Monday itself, people were discussing their next opponents starting Sunday evening. I see nothing of that this week. I hope we all realize that we lost to a quality opponent , and we must not forget that just more than a week ago, we beat one of the other great teams in the bay area. You win some, you lose some, but you must always trust the other 10.

The second part of my blog is about roles and responsibilities. Everybody in the team needs to understand his role and responsibility. Everybody cannot be a batsman, and everybody cannot be a bowler. You might even have been selected purely for your fielding. We are a motley crew, and each of us brings something special and different to the team. The selection committee tries hard to be fair while selecting a team, and I am sure that one or 2 selections might be questionable in the eyes of others, which is natural. Fair rotation while maintaining the
chemistry is something that the team is looking for. Each player in the team needs to know the reason he has been selected. This will not happen without clear communication between the captain and the player. Tell the captain what your strengths are and let the captain make the call on how he wants to use you. Once the call has been made, the team members and the captain should trust the call and act responsibly. In an ideal situation, win or lose, the team always returns home happy, having enjoyed recreational cricket. Our aim is to win, but at what cost? I welcome comments and additions to this blog. Please feel free to rip me if I said something out of line (I always do, thats what I bring to the table ;) ). Looking forward to more wins and more trust!

Go Blitz!

Arun