Saturday, October 10, 2009

Rain God spoils the EPL weekend :(

The attendance was quite good (at least the poll said so) and many of us were simply waiting for the game. But rain God made it his day turning the pitch into a perfect place for soccer game or rain dance.

Have a look at the street in front of my house - view from my kitchen !


Today's game is called off - Anybody is still interested in cycling to the venue?
I am going to enjoy hot Tea and Pakoda while watching any recent Hindi movie :)

Another view of soaked Nuernbergerstrasse and Gebbertstrasse junction from my balcony !

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Poll for game on coming weekend (10/11 Oct 2009)

Weather forecast:
Mild rain on Sat/Sun ; temperature in the range of 10 to 16 degC


Game on last weekend (3/4 Oct 2009)

Once again I would like to forget the statistics and scores of the games we played... not only because I do not remember them but also because I want to test your memory this time.

I think this will serve two purposes - First, we can appreciate the top performers of the day and second, it will, in the form of a quiz, test your attention-to-the-details-of-the-game (How much are you involved in the game)?

So the quiz starts like this:

Q1) Who do you think was the top run-getter of the day?
A: Saket
B: Mukesh
C: Madhu
D: Shubhajit
E: Other (Name) _______

Q2) Who was the 'pinch-hitter' of the day?
A: Vibhash
B: Pranav
C: Ajit
D: Shubhajit
E: Other (Name) _______

Q3) Who was the best bowler of the day?
A: Saket
B: Jagraj
C: Madhu
D: Shubhajit
E: Pranav
F: Umakanth
G: Other (Name) _______

Q4) How many games were played on the day?
A: 2
B: 3
C: 4
D: Did we play on Saturday?

Q5) Whose bowling was tough to play on the day?
A: Ishan
B: Jagraj
C: Madhu
D: Shubhajit
E: Pranav
F: Umakanth
G: NLN
H: Other (Name) _______

Q6) Who took most wickets?
A: Saket
B: Jagraj
C: Madhu
D: Shubhajit
E: Pranav
F: Umakanth
G: Other (Name) _______

Q7) Which fielder (including keeper) amazed you with his fielding on the day?
A: Ishan
B: Mukesh
C: Madhu
D: Shubhajit
E: Shriram
F: Umakanth
G: NLN
H: Other (Name) _______

Q8) What was the highest team score of the day?
A: in 40's
B: in 20's
C: in 70's
D: in 80's

Q9) How many run-outs and stumpings were done (in total) ?
A: 4
B: 6
C: 8
D: 5

Q10) How many players turned up for the day (in total) ?
A: 4
B: 12
C: 8
D: 20

Bonus question:
How many of you would write comment on EPL Blog?

Friday, October 2, 2009

Last week's game

Hi Everyone,
Blame it to my aging memory or not-so-active/prompt-response from fellow colleagues (on the match scores) or to even Team India getting out of Champion's Trophy, I do not have full scorecard for the matches we played on last weekend. Still I thought I should blog few lines on it.

The highlights of the day were:
* Superb bowling performances by Jagraj (until he was taken for task by Umakanth)
* The matches were pretty low scoring until Ajit woke up in the final game
* There was a nice > 4 over (yah..it means > 50% of the match overs) batting partnership between Umakanth and Mukesh (the common man) for the last wicket. They took the score from ~21 to 43 thanks to great strokes from Uma. He took charge and made Jagraj sweat in his over. Till this match Jagraj's bowled so well that even strike batsmen of EPL had tough time playing it.
* Last match will be remembered for superb strokeplay from Ajit. He really looked bullish on Grusher and Pranav , the helpless but otherwise striker bowlers. Ajit's team made 56 or so in a 5 over game.
* Poor fielding by Pranav and few more :)

Do let me know if I miss something?

EPL Cricket Quiz

Hello Everyone,

Here are two quizzes to test your CQ (Cricketing Quotient).

1) Identify the player shown here.


2) Identify the player shown here.
Hint: For those having poor eye-sight (like me ;) ) this pic is made up from faces of two players.


Rush your entries 'as comment' here !

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Game on 19-Sept-09


This Saturday saw one of those rare moments when we had more than expected (as per the poll) players on the field. Another unusual thing was to have the youngest player in the history of EPL on the field.

This young chap Arya, son of Saket, reminded us of young Tendulkar while facing fiery bowling of Grusher and Madhu. Despite getting injured by a direct-on-waist delivery from Grusher, he continued batting handsomely.

Teams:
T1 - Madhu, Mukesh, Grusher, J.R. Uncle, Umakant, Shriram, Ajit, Ishan
T2 - Pavan, Pranav, Subhajit, Saket, Arya, Rajeev, Vibhash, Rudra, Arunava

Match 1:
After winning the toss, T2 decided to bat. The bowling from T1 was tight and on-target that T2 kept losing wickets regularly. Thanks to last-minute-entry from Pavan who kept the scoreboard ticking and helped T2 to pile up a respectable chase of 32 for team T1.

T1 started rather very slow scoring just 11 runs of their first 4 overs. By the time it was realized that the asking rate is getting beyond reachable, most of the 'famous' batsmen were back behind the tree (our pavilion). Mukesh who has been in good form for past 2-3 weekends had nothing much to do with last 4-5 balls. T2 lost the match very poorly.

MOM: Pavan (any other nominations??)

Match 2:
This time again T2 won the toss and piled up 35 runs target to team T1. There were some good contributions from Pavan, Vibhash and Rajeev. Though poor batting form continued for many of their star batsmen, T1 looks better this time with inclusion of Grusher. He proved his inclusion by bowling to perfect line and length and then batting through out the inning to ensure T1's victory. Grusher hit the 1st Six of the day too.

MOM: Grusher

Match 3:
With series being leveled at 1-1 between the two teams, 3rd match was expected to be full of emotions, drama and performances. Well if you expected the same, you were not disappointed at all.
T2 won the toss and riding on awesome strokes from Shubhajit, Vibhash, Saket and Pavan made 50 runs. This was the time when T2 sighted victory but T1 players has something else in mind. There came handsome reply, in terms of shots, from Ajit who was in hibernation for last few games. Then Grusher was not ready to ground the bat so easily. He smashed boundaries to ensure T2 wins and seals the series.

MOM: Grusher/Ajit

POD - Performer(s) of the day: Grusher, Pavan

Others with significant but irregular performance: Ajit, Shubhajit, Madhu (bowling), Pranav

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

EPL Weekend Cricket Poll - 12/13 Sept 2009


Poll Link: http://www.doodle.com/qy2ucgtekrcqeeef

You can also participate by clicking on "Participate".


Sunday, September 6, 2009

Erlangen Premier League Video - Enjoy !!

Also available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgGE0nJSYzw


* Sorry for the poor quality of the audio.
** Feel free to comment !

Friday, September 4, 2009

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Vote for weekend game (29/30 Aug 2009)

Please caste your vote !!
Link: http://doodle.com/hrw3kg6pk7auzqee

Cloudy weather made the ground half-occupied !!

What a weather !!!
If you had a look outside your window from your bed and 'assumed' - no match today due to rain, then you were wrong. The reality was something else - The ground was absolutely dry. But the problem was many of EPL members thought like this and didn't turn up at the ground.

Match 1:
Manish & Ishan Vs. Pranav & Shubhojit - Mukesh being the player common to both the teams

Only the 'off' side of the ground was used for valid runs. Any shot on the 'leg' side resulted in a penalty of -1 or -4 (yeah...I wrote MINUS 1 and 4). The matches were of 4 overs.

Pranav and Shubhojit won the toss and scored 10 runs. The target of 11 runs proved to be too much for Manish (previous weeks STAR performer) and Ishan and they lost the match.

Match 2:
Manish-Ishan-Ajit (MIA) Vs. Pranav-Shubhojit-Mukesh (PSM)

With Ajit's arrival, it was 3-a side match. PSM batted first and put a target of 20 runs for MIA. MIA again failed to perfom and lost the match. Ajit looked lost in dreams ;)

Match 3:
Manish-Ishan-Ajit (MIA) Vs. Pranav-Shubhojit-Pavan (PSP) with Mukesh being again the common player

The ground restriction was removed and full ground was utilized (except the runs behind wickets). This made MIA to stretch themselves. They played really well in their inning of 44 runs which was well supported by entertaining shots from Ishan and Ajit. Even Mukesh could hit a boundary. PSP was not able to bear the shock and lost the match in an unsuccessful chase :)

Match 4 & 5:
Team: Same as in Match 3

These matches were again hi-scoring games simply due to less fielders on the ground ;). Match 4 was won by PSP while MIA had the last laught winning the match 5.

Player(s) of the day:
* Everyone played well - batted well, bowled well and fielded well. Mukesh gets additional credit for good keeping :)

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Cast your vote for weekend cricket (15/16 Aug)

Poll Link: http://www.doodle.com/rt6fsrsp4is8a4i8

Weather forecast
(Ref:
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/weekend/GMXX0034?from=36hr_topnav_business )

Sat (15-Aug) : Sunny, High-27 degC, Low-14 DegC

Sun (16-Aug): mostly sunny, High-27 degC, Low-14 DegC"

Cricket on a hot Saturday - 8 August 2009

It is quite unusual to see 'burning-hot' mornings in Germany but it was a very hot Saturday morning when we started our game. Though the game started a bit late, around 9:30 am instead of regular 9:00am, it was full of fun.

Teams:

Team 1: Pranav, Ishan, Saket, Mukesh, Pavan, Amit, Abhishek (later moved to Team 2, when Manish left after 2 games)

Team 2: Anoop, Shubhojit, Venugopal, Prakash, Manish and Jagraj

Match 1:
Manish and Shubhojit started the inning with a blast. Riding on Manish's swashbuckling inning (3 x 6's, 5 x 4's) their team put up a total of 65 in 6 overs. Credit for such a big score goes mainly to Mukesh who conceded too many runs in the only over he bowled on Saturday.
Saket's team started the chase but fell apart against superb bowling from Anoop. They lost the match mainly due to Manish's batting, Anoop's bowling and fielding and Shubhojit's all round performance.

Match 2:
After the embarrassing loss in the very first game, the strategy was revisited in Saket's camp. Mukesh was advised to confine himself to keeping and batting only ;). They won the toss and started the inning in a slow fashion with their tally reading 14 runs in 3 overs. But the next over from Venu (from opposite team) turned out to be very expensive and scoreboard was shining with 38 runs/4 overs. However, the bowling team returned back with tidy bowling again by Anoop and Shubhojit and at the end of 8th over, the target for them was 50 Runs.

Team 2 started the chase with caution..everything was on target untill Team 1 decided to bring his star bowler, Pranav, to attack. The nail-biting moment started when Pranav bowled superbly to give away just 2 runs. The target for Team 2 was 11 runs from last 6 balls. Saket took the responsibility of bowling the decisive over. It was again a tight bowling by Saket who gave 6 runs in first 3 balls. At the end, Team 2 surrendered when they needed 4 runs from last ball.

Match 3:
With Manish gone from the squad, Abhishek moved to Team 2. Team 2 batted first and made a modest 20 runs in allotted 6 overs. Pavan bowled really well to restrict the batsman. Team 1 achieved the target overcoming the initial glitch caused by Anoop's bowling. Pavan won the game for Team 1 hitting a huge six.

Player(s) of the day: Anoop, Manish
Other significant performer(s): Pranav, Shubhojit, Pavan

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Quiz Result: Dude ! Where is the ball ?


Hi everyone,
Thanks to all those who participated and made this quiz a successfull one (The participation was higher than the number of players turned up last week on the field ;)

So its the time to tell you the result - right answer and the winner !!

Hold your breath...here comes the right answer :)

As you can see in the 'original picture', the ball is positioned at "C".

And the winner is - Sanjay Tank. He wins the opportunity to face 2 overs of 'fiery-bowling' from Mukesh.

Dear Sanjay,
This offer is valid only till the end of this season of cricket. So rush to the ground on coming weekend to claim your prize ASAP.

Rest of the EPL team,
Don't loose heart, you may win next rounds of quizes... be prepared !!



Sunday, August 2, 2009

EPL Quiz: Spot the ball


Leave aside the discussion on whether you are coming for the game or not? Let's see how good is your CQ (Cricketing Quotient).

Have a look at the picture below - the question is not that who is hitting the ball but which ball is hit by the batsman?


Spot the correct (and original) ball - Is it at location A, B, C or D. You are the winner if you can correctly identify the right location of the ball.

The winner(s) will get attractive prizes - on the field, among all the fellow EPL members.

Submit your entry as comment !!

** Quiz Takers So far:
Option A: 3 Votes | Ajit, Abhijit, Subham
Option B: 0 Votes |
Option C: 1 Votes | Sanjay
Option D: 4 Votes | Ishan, Pranav, Madhu, Umakanth

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Abhijit ensures his presence felt by EPL members

It was a purrr-fect weekend weather for cricket and guess what? Abhijit, former EPL member, a dashing sportsman was in town. The game started little late, mainly due to 'unplanned-greet-Abhijit' sessions as and when people were joining the game.



Teams:
Abhi's (Bowled-n-handsome): Abhijit, Adi, Umakant, Keshav, Shubhojit, Jagraj, Sanjay
Saki's (The drunkards): Saket, Mukesh, Puneet, Ajit, Ishan, NLN, Manish

We played 3 matches on Saturday:

1st Match:
Abhijit's team was asked to chase a moderate total of 44 runs in 8 Overs. Mukesh, Ishan and Ajit from the opponents bowled tight overs to restrict Abhi's well below the target.

2nd Match:
Abhi's took it defeat in the first match quite seriously and after winning the toss decided to bat first. There were some good batting display by their team and they set a target of 49 for Saki's.
Saki's 'over-rated-over-paid' batsman displayed a dismal batting performance and they could manage only 38 runs before getting all out despite a good start by Manish.

3rd Match:
If someone is going to remember this match it will be for dashing batting of Sanjay and Ishan (and for poor bowling from Saket and Ajit - sorry folks i had to mention it ;)
Batting first and riding on Sajay's historic-super-natural batting performance, Abhi's made a handsome 71 in allotted 8 overs. Saki's needed a glimpse of Sanjay's image on any of their players...and whola!! Ishan hit 5 sixes to compensat the damage done by Sanjay. But at the end it was Abhi's who had the last laugh.

Saki's claimed that they wanted to gift Abhijit a feel of winning the series, so they lost intentionally. There were some rumours that main cause of Saki's defeat was 'no bowling by Mukesh' ;)


Poll : Cricket on weekend (1/2 Aug 2009)

Request you all to cast your vote - even if you are not coming !

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Poll for Weekend Cricket (25/26 July 2009)

Please respond !

If you are not able to go to the poll page then use this link: http://www.doodle.com/4krxcaa4qhsqnwgh

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Rainfall on Friday and Saturday spoils weekend game

We had plans of enjoying the game on Saturday despite the rain forecast. But the rain started from Friday evening and ensured that most of us are going to enjoy Saturday morning at home. Saket, who inspected the pitch alone on Saturday morning followed by Mukesh, mentioned that there was a little puddle at the batting spot. Also the wet grass could have been dangerous for many of us (over-sized-fielders). So there is no cricket this weekend. Let's hope for the best for the coming weekend.

Monday, July 13, 2009

With none from Infy, it was Siemy Vs Siemy...

Another weekend with forecast of showers in the afternoon...but even that could not hold the cricket loving enthusiasts inside the house. None from Infy side turned up - mainly due to security threat (issued by weather forecasting department). Their key players were on trips outside Erlangen.

So with all-around-Siemy-folks, it was an internal battle inside Siemy. We played 3 matches.

Teams
Siemy-1: Madhu, Ajit, NLN, Ishan, Umakant, Anup
Siemy-2: Saket, Shrivatsa, Adi, Krishnan, Raj, Mukesh

Match 1:
Batting first, Madhu's team scored 50. Ajit was major contributor for his side. Mukesh's bowling came quite handy for Saket's team knowing the fact that he was out of game for 3 weeks. However, poor form of the batsmen kept haunting Saket and company and they lost the match.

Match 2:
Ajit continued with his batting form and contributed significantly for Madhu and co. to pile up 63 runs. Adi and Mukesh bowled expensive overs. Once again Saket's team were unable to chase the target from alotted 7 overs.

Match 3:
Saket won the toss and elected to bat first. Mukesh and Saket gave a stable and solid opening partnership (1st wicket fell in last over :). Team set a target of 54 in 6 overs for Ajit (Madhu's deputy) and company. None but Anup played some spectacular shots. One time it looked like he would snach victory from Saket's team but it was the splendid bowling performance by Krishnan that ensured victory for Saket and company.

POD (Players of the day):
Batting: Ajit, Anup, Saket
Bowling: Krishnan, Ishan, Anup
Fielding: Mukesh, ? , ?

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Adi returns as Siemens and Infy play out a 2-2 draw

Sunday 21. June
Match 1
After a delayed start due to the late arrival of the Kits match 1 started with (around) 7 on each Side and 8 overs per side. After a good bowling effort from all the Siemens bowlers(Shubhojit,Krishnan,...) , Infy was bowled out for 20. This target was chased down by the Siemens batsmen with ease as Adi marked his long awaited return to the Siemens team guiding the team home with lots of overs to spare.
Match 2
Siemens batted first and got a total of about 60 (Madhu & Saket almost batted thro ), which was chased down easily by the Infy batsmen
Match 3
This time Infy batted first & got a good total of around 60. This stiff target was made to look very small by Subojit, who shmashed Subham for 3 sixes in an over.
Match 4
The last 6:6 Over game saw Siemens post around 40, which was never going to trouble the Infy batsmen, who got there with a couple of overs to spare.

Men of the Day : Subojit, Gursharan
Men who probably wished they stayed in bed: Ishan ;-)( expensive overs ), Shubham (expensive overs : career being compared to Manoj Prabhakar )
Men who strangely did not bowl: Ajit, Madhu

P.S:: There could be a change in Siemens captaincy next week as some tactical moves are being questioned by some sources of the media.
Some sources were quoted saying that Adi or Saket are being tipped to replace the current captain next week !

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Poll: Speak up please you cricket experts :)

T20 World Champions are out of race now but the cricket fever has not gone down yet. The big question remains unanswered - What went wrong for Team India? Was it wrong decision from the captain or irresponsible top order batting? EPL invites all the members to speak up about how India lost the plot.

Dear fellow EPL members, please enter (as comment) JUST TWO reasons that, according to you, crashed India out of the tournament.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Sunny-Saturday enlightens the game

Thursday was holiday and EPL members thought of enjoying the holiday with some good cricket. But, as the old saying goes - Man proposes God disposes, the games was washed away by heavy storm and regular rains.

Saturday was sunny and it looked as if we really have summar back in Erlangen. EPL members geared up and had nice time playing from 9:30 am till 1 pm.

Result Summary:
* Infy - 2, Siemy- 1 (No points for guessing Total 3 matches)
* Key Performers of the day: Sanjay, madhu, Vibhash, Grusher, Pranav, Vikram, Rajendra (very nice keeping)

Match # 1:
Siemy won the toss and elected to bat first. They made a modest total of 65 in 12 overs. Madhu contributed significantly. While chasing 66 in 12 overs, Infy made a great start, thanks to explosive battings by Vikram and Amit. After 3 overs Infy seem to be finishing the game well within 10 overs. It was then Siemy showed brilliant bowling performances by Sanjay, Vibhash, Madhu and Ishan. Superb bowling and fielding changed the way match was going and Siemy cruised to victory in the last over by claiming all the wickets of Infy.

Match # 2:
Winner to bat and Siemy took a slow, rather very slow start. Grusher was on fire and bowled superbly to claim 4 (or more) wickets giving only 6-7 runs. Pranav accompanied him in the bowling department (खरबूजे को देखकर खरबूजा रंग बदलता है !). Siemy made a modest 46 which never was defendable seeing the condition of the pitch :).
The target was easily achieved by Infy (with some exhibition of classical cricket and bookish-shots).

Match # 3:
Some people left from as it was already 12pm. We played a game of 8 overs a side with the remaining players. Siemy bowled badly and conceded too many runs. Infy gave the target of 66 in 8 overs. The batting from Siemy was not up to the mark and they lost in the last over (by some 25 odd runs). I would like to mention the synergy and accuracy shown by Rajendra as keeper.

** Disclaimer: Again, the content is purely based on my memory (for the numbers) and vocabulary (for the presentation of the numbers). Feel free to add comments / suggestions :)

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Gloomy weather highlights poor show by Siemens & Co.

The weather was gloomy and so was the mood in Si-Camp. The first match went real close... but at the end Infy had the last laugh.

Infy Vs. Siemy - 1st Match:

Infy batted first. The going was tought as the wickets kept fallng regularly. Infy, who were all out in the last over, set a target of 68 in 10 overs for the Siemy. Gagandeep Nanra was the star batsman and helped the team to reach a respectable score of 68.

Siemens started poorly scoring just 28 runs in first 5 overs. Infy bowling was good with all the bowlers pitching in as required. Puneet bowled an excellent first over taking two wickets, followed up by sine economical spells from other bolwlers. From Siemy side, Saket and Umakant displayed good running (between the wickets) skills and added valuable runs. But at the end, Siemy fell short of few runs and lost the match.

Infy Vs. Siemy - 2nd Match:

Winners to bat so Infy batted first. Siemy started well with the bowling and fielding but Infy had some key players for the show. An explosive opening by Vikram helped the team reach 25 in 3 overs after which the rain pitched in. Once again Gagan scored fluently to help the team reach 71. The 2nd half of the first inning was played amid the rain. The unpredictably-bouncy-pictch (thanks to rain) and good spells by Infy bowlers the match was almost decided in favor of Infy. Siemy tried their best but lost by ~28 runs (these were the runs that came off boundaries in the Infy innings).

* Thanks to Pranav for giving more inputs on the match statistics. Rest of the contents is based on what I remember :). Feel free to correct if you think they are wrong.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Way to EPL Cricket Ground



Location:
Behind the Greek Restaurent IRIDION in Alterlangen (Damaschkestr. 59, 91056 Erlangen)

Bus Connections:
287 and 288 (nearest stops for the ground - Veit-stoss-strasse OR Schallershofer Strasse)


* Link on google maps
http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=Damaschkestr.+59,+91056+Erlangen,+Germany+(Irodion+Restaurant)&geocode=%3BFXO99AIdMoWnACEBE-PlSMSI_w&dirflg=&saddr=erlangen&f=d&dq=irodion+loc:+erlangen&sll=49.593715,10.97861&sspn=0.013688,0.060918&cid=18413182893877826305&ie=UTF8&ll=49.593563,10.978636&spn=0.003853,0.009656&t=h&z=17


World Cup T20 Started...

Hello Everyone,

Did you watch the inaugural match between England and the Netherlands? I enjoyed the nail-biting finish by the Dutches. Looks like Abhijit (our old EPL member who migrated to the Netherlands after his PhD from Erlangen) has trained them quite well !! :) :) but I felt, Brits were lacking basics in fielding and missed many runouts without stopping the singles - they were simply unable to spot the stumps even from 200 mm distance !!

BTW, following were the links that worked for me quite well :
  • http://124.217.239.98/~crictime/server1.htm (Multiple servers)
  • www.cric7.com
* If you know more links, please put them here as comment to this post.

Hope India doesn't give an "indian-hospitality" to its neighbor in today's match :)

Important Links for EPL Members

Attendance Poll: 

http://www.doodle.com/8fbfyb94647dzzrm

EPL / Cricketers in Erlangen group on Yahoo:

Thursday, June 4, 2009

hi mukesh, thanks for creating the blog

Cricketing Moments - Few pictures !

Hi folks,

Here is the link to some of the pictures of EPL on Orkut:



5/29/2009
Mukesh
Erlangen Premier League :)

Welcome EPL members !!

Hello Cricket Enthusiasts !! 

As promised, here we go LIVE on blog site. I am sure you will find it as a fun-filled activity to blog about our games, match-winners, top-performers...., and more importantly, the fun we have during the weekend.

Soon, I will invite you all as authors so that you all can post your own blogs :).

Feel free to comment, suggest new ideas and even trying new things on your own..

Viel Spaß, Bis nexte game 
- Soni