Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Memories...

While my memory serves fresh, I wanted to put my thoughts on our win-

1. What this championship means to me, personally?
2. What I would like to remember about this season, as a team or individually?


This championship made the on-field and off-field efforts - incl broken fingers and crushed toes - all worthwhile. This win is even more special as this title has come after several years of hard work and toil. My last win in a major tournament was way back in the school (St. Patricks) days... :) ...

I would like to remember the semi-final clash against Oakland. Almost 600 runs were scripted over 6 hours. It was a slippery dark day where two determined teams battled it out in all fairness. We could bareky talk for hours after the game - drained out and exhausted but humble in happiness for reaching the finals... It was a pure thrilling game of cricket!

---

10/14/09

=suhail=

3 comments:

  1. Personally, it means that my contributions, small or not, helped in eventually achieving the stated goal of winning the championship.

    I played 4 total games; 1 friendly, 1 T20 and 2 league games. I was able to contribute one way or other even though I did not score a single run. Victory was achieved twice when I was at the crease, including a last ball win.

    --Anand N.

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  2. Personally and as a team it means,"Bhagwan ke ghar mein Der hai Andher nahi.":):)I started out the season with a bang and I was joking with everyone after my first game that it will be hard to top that performance and it might only go down from here.:) Unfortunately it turned out like that until the finals. My bowling stats kept deteriorating with every game. I got hammered in the last few games before the finals. I was starting to wonder what the heck is going on with my bowling after I started out with so much promise this season.

    I really wanted to do well in the finals and get close to my performance that I had in the first game. I didn't want to let the team down especially in the finals and didn't want let any of the family members down who were watching me and the ones who were waiting for the good news at home. I reviewed everything I did in the season and decided to make some adjustments to my bowling for the finals and fortunately it paid off and I was able to give my career's best bowling performance in a pressure packed final game with great support from all my team mates. All my team mates were cheering for me every time I bowled a nice delivery and support from supporters outside also kept the confidence going. Luckily I was able to save my best for last and I feel very fortunate 'cause of that. It is one day that I will cherish for a long-long time.

    What I will remember from this season is all the hard fought games we won and how close some of the games were. Victory feels a lot sweeter when the games are that close and there is a lot of pressure, suspense, fun, and a sense of teamwork goes into making it happen. If you look back on all of the games we played this season we had different member of the team step up and deliver when chips were down for us.

    We didn't get to the finals and win the championship just 'cause of couple of people's contribution but 'cause of the guts and effort of all of the players who played on this team however big or small their contribution may be. Every little bit helped and made a difference during our pursuit of the championship. That is why the celebration at the end of the final had us celebrating with so much joy and euphoria. Personally I enjoyed the Journey as much if not more fun than the destination. Hope to experience many more of these exciting journeys with Cleveland Cricket Club for years to come. Let's cherish this victory 'cause this is a very special year and season for all of us.

    TC,
    Manu

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  3. Anand and Manu - it was great reading your thoughts. Thanks for sharing..

    =suhail=

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