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I just recieved an e-mail from my Swiss Under 17's coach that there's a selection camp for the Swiss adult team tomorrow (Saturday 23rd) for a series against Luxemburg coming soon, and I am selected for that camp. Topping the bowling averages for the Swiss team in the European championships did help me afterall I suppose. :)
I'm not sure whether I will be selected or not, but I hope I can do my best during this selection camp tomorrow and if possible, get a selection in the squad that plays Luxemburg.
 
Re: king_of_slaves's blog.

Wow, congratulations! I'd say it will be tough to get onto the adult side when you're under 17, but it's going to be great experience! Best of luck, enjoy the camp and I hope you get good news!
 
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I'm aware myself that at 15, my chances of getting a selection are very slim, but like you said, it's going to be a great experience getting to meet some of the best Swiss cricketers.
 
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15! Wow, that's even more impressive. Even if you don't get through this time it'll look great on your CV.
 
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king_of_slaves;29213 said:
I just recieved an e-mail from my Swiss Under 17's coach that there's a selection camp for the Swiss adult team tomorrow (Saturday 23rd) for a series against Luxemburg coming soon, and I am selected for that camp. Topping the bowling averages for the Swiss team in the European championships did help me afterall I suppose. :)
I'm not sure whether I will be selected or not, but I hope I can do my best during this selection camp tomorrow and if possible, get a selection in the squad that plays Luxemburg.
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Well done!
 
Re: king_of_slaves's blog.

Top stuff that mate! Good luck, it will fantastic if you get through. And U17's at 15 is fantastic!
 
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And rain ruins the day...

It would've been great to attend the training camp for the Swiss national team. In fact just as I was about to leave from my place for the ground where the camp was being held, I received an SMS on my mobile from the organizer that due to bad weather which doesn't look like it will improve, the camp has been cancelled. Which means that the selection for the squad against Luxemburg would be made based on the performances in the league. I never anticipated being selected for the adult side, but I wanted to make the best out of this opportunity of meeting some of the best Swiss players around. Alas, rain ruins the day.
 
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Playing a match for the Geneva Under 17's tomorrow against our rivals Zurich U17's! It's going to be so much fun! I think there's going to be a lot of sledging around but it's going to be all good fun, most of us know each other pretty well as we play together in the Swiss U17 team but then again, I can't wait to beat them tomorrow!
 
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Geneva U17's vs. Zurich U17's.

40 overs per innings:
Another awesome day of cricket for me! Losing the toss, we were put into bowling first and I was opening the bowling as usual... The first wicket of the innings came in the second over with the other opening bowler getting one of their opening batsmen out. In the third over, I bowled a double wicket maiden getting the other opening batsman bowled to a yorker and having their captain bowled as well. In the fourth over, the other bowler striked again and took another one of their middle order batsman and when I took another wicket in the fifth over, their score was 9-5 (runs-wickets) They had a little resistance partnership in between but it wasn't good enough as I took another wicket in the 8th over and by the time I ended my spell, I finished with career-best bowling figures of 5-1-10-4. (overs-maidens-runs-wickets)
We had them all out for 57 and if not for 25 extras (10 wides counting as 2 runs under ICC under 17 rules which we were applying during this match, 2 byes and 3 no balls) the match would've been over pretty early. Our openers took half the amount of overs the Zurich guys did to post their total as they chased the target down in 10.2 overs. Not only was this disappointing for the Zurich players, but also for the few spectators as they were limited to a mere 30 overs of cricket. But then we agreed on playing another match, a Twenty20 which was a much closer match.

Twenty20:
We had decided to bat first here and our coach reversed the batting order in order to give the others a bit of a 'batting practise'. Which meant that I was going in at 9... That technique didn't really work out well as at one stage we were 20-5, but then one of our Under 13's who was in for this match, rose to the occasion making a fine 38 stabalizing the innings and when I came in with about 2 overs to go, it was a slog fest! The first ball I faced provided me with enough width to cut the ball between gully and point for four and then on the first ball of the last over, I hit a six over long on (my first six in any outdoor cricket match) I was supported very well with the opening batsman-wicketkeeper who came in at 10 and scored 16 off 4 before getting out (6-4-6-out) We ended up on 121-9 which was a very good recovery considering we were struggling at 20-5 at one stage. Our bowling line up was completely changed as well as our coach didn't want any of those who bowled well in the first match to bowl. The Zurich guys played much better, ending up on 108. If they hadn't retired their opening batsmen in the 6th over, they would've easily won the match, but then again the fact that they didn't change their batting order whatsoever and we were bowling with our part-timers didn't help...

The official match report:
http://genevary.play-cricket.com/content/view.asp?id=10212354&cid=200
 
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Sorry for the late update, but my match where I was playing for the Swiss Under 19's vs. The Swiss Veterans on the 6th got called off due to rain and just as I thought that my season was over, I might be playing for an adult side in a twenty20 competition as they're slightly short on players.
 
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Thanks a lot. :D The Twenty20 tournament is now postponed though due to the never-ending rain... The fact that the weather's perfectly fine on most of the weekdays makes it even more annoying...
 
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Played for an adult side (Cargill CC) against Cern CC on Sunday... Not too good with the ball, but I rocked with the bat (for my standards) lol top scoring for my team.

I thought I was bowling well, but still figures of 7-0-37-0 (Overs-maidens-runs-wickets) suggested otherwise. My economy rate, even though over 5 was one of the better ones from my team as Cern CC has amassed a total of 291-5 in their alloted 40 overs.

I was put to bat at number 7, about 2-3 number lower than where I bat for the Switzerland Under 17's, but I didn't really mind it seeing how the target was quite high and that it was an adult side. Our team was left stranded at 37-5 after 8 overs and that is when I stepped in. My brother was the other batsman out there and our first goal was to see to it that we didn't lose any other wicket before drinks (20 overs). That target was achieved as the score read 75-5 after 20 overs and my Swiss U17's coach, who had just arrived 15 minutes prior to the drinks break to watch the game, had a few words with me. Those were basically something along the lines of: "Look Ali, you know that a score of 291 is now well out of reach and you know that blocking out the 40 won't help. I know you like having a go at the bowlers in the nets, so just enjoy batting today, don't put any pressure on you at all. This is a good chance for you to make a high score and maybe even a 50".

Once back on the field, I did exactly that, I started playing my shots and at the start of the 28th over, lofted one over square leg, but the fielder managed to catch the ball one handed. I scored 30, my highest score for an adult side and for this season as well. (I had a pretty mediocre season with the bat) I think it was an important lesson after all because as I wasn't taking any pressure, I was able to bat to my potential. One of the reasons why I have struggled to score this season has been because when I get in the team needs me to score fast and if on top of that wickets start falling around me, I succumb to pressure as well. That is clearly one thing I need to work on. Until now I have been running away from my all-rounder role and after every failure with the bat this season I told myself "Whatever, you're a bowler, not an all-rounder, it doesn't matter what the coach thinks" but with a couple of good players (including our best batsman) will be too old to play next year, I think it's finally time to take some responsibility and to stop running away.
 
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Good for you Ali - I hope your new approach to batting pays off. Sounds like you had a good performance against a very competent side.
 
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Thank you. One final outdoor match on Saturday, this time playing for Cern CC. I think the opposition's name is Montbard CC and honestly I have never heard anything about them before. Rumours are though that they're a club from France so it should be fun and competitive.
 
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king_of_slaves;269155 said:
Thank you. One final outdoor match on Saturday, this time playing for Cern CC. I think the opposition's name is Montbard CC and honestly I have never heard anything about them before. Rumours are though that they're a club from France so it should be fun and competitive.
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Match cancelled due to bad weather on a perfectly sunny day... o_o... Now this... is disappointing. -_-
 
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Nah... nothing of the sort since the team was coming down somewhere from France and they had to travel quite a bit, and because there "might" have been a chance of rain as the weather forecast for the day suggested, the game was cancelled. Nothing annoys me more than a cricket match getting called off on a sunny day... I think it's back to indoor sessions in November then... After which I'll have a long break from cricket and probably do some winter sport like skiing, etc. My next assignement after the indoor practice sessions would be in March 2009, so yea...
 
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Haven't posted anything in a long while. Well the indoors have been underway since quite some time now, about two weeks. Apart from that, I've got a personal coach, who has just completed the level three course and well his aim is to prepare me for the National Swiss adult side until September next year, since the Swiss team will be participating in a tournament then. I'm really looking forward to how it turns out to be. Our first session would mainly consist of him taking videos of me bowling and batting. And then we'll see where we need to improve, I'll try to get those videos here as well for some advice if I can get my hands on 'em.
 
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Wow... it's been nearly two years since I last updated this.

Anyways a lot has changed in the last two years, I've gone from representing Switzerland in just the U17s to U19s and also have a solitary outing with the Swiss adult team to my name (which came against some touring side from England). All in all, I've improved loads as a cricketer I feel.

We just had the Under 17 European Championships in July which were held in the Isle of Man, personally it was a good tournament for me, (best batsman for Switzerland, 6th best batsman overall, 9th best player overall) and we finished the tournament in 5th place. Personally I think we had a team capable of going up to 3rd place but it was a close competition and the fact that we don't have any grass wickets in Switzerland cost us a little bit as some of our younger batsmen found it difficult to adjust from artificial to grass.

Here's the link to the tournament:
2010 ICC European Under 17 Championships, Division 2



Now then, I have a T20 tournament and a couple of friendly matches before the end of the season.

We have entered the tournament with the Swiss Under 19's team (Known as Geneva Region Youth Cricket Club officially in the tournament) and all the other 7 teams are adult teams.

We had our first match today, which we won. In addition to that, I won "Man of the Match" for scoring 44 not out from 27 balls and then taking 2 wickets for just 13 runs in 3.1 overs, so double the joy for me.

We posted a rather modest 135 batting first on a difficult pitch. It was a coconut matting pitch, hence the bounce was low and the ball stopped on the pitch, so the batsmen had to play their shots slightly later than one would on a normal pitch. It also helped the spinners a lot as the ball spun quite sharply off the surface. Given the conditions, I thought we ended up having a defendable total.

As it turned out, 135 was more than enough as we bowled the other team out for 90 in just 16.1 overs.

The victory was particularly sweet as some of the members of the opposition team were against our participation in the tournament labeling us as a "weak" team. Serves them right for underestimating the young players of Switzerland.

Here's the official website for the tournament:
Swiss T20 homepage

On a final note, following the recent U17 championships in the Isle of Man, I have my own cricinfo page!! It doesn't contain any statistics, but hey... it's still cool to be registered with one of the main cricket websites.

My cricinfo profile
 
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