Fixing a world record, Indian school style

[mahbubH]

Fixing a world record, Indian school style Kuldip Lal (AFP)
New Delhi, January 19

When Anjuman Islam school ran up a monumental 1,121 for six against St John's in an inter-schools match in Mumbai last month, it supposedly broke one of the longest standing world records in cricket.

Not since Victoria piled up 1,107 runs against New South Wales in a Sheffield Shield match in Melbourne in 1926 had any team in first-class, club, university or schools cricket scored so many runs.

Anjuman school's mayhem came after St John's had been shot out for a paltry 46.

Too good to be true? Anjuman insist the game was played fair and square. Onlookers believe it was the biggest cricket farce of the new century.

Having bowled out their rivals for less than 50, Anjuman needed to score at least 850 to edge out main challengers Rizvi Springfield school from the tournament semi-finals on a superior run-rate.

They got home with plenty to spare. Anjuman ended up with 989/6 and another 132 runs were added as a penalty for slow over-rates by the hapless St John bowlers.

Ramesh Mamunkar, the coach of another school which was playing on the adjacent ground, was stunned at what was happening.

"We had a clear view of the scoreboad and I was surprised to see the score ticking by every over, from 200 to 240 in just two overs," Mamunkar remembers.

"I then stood up to see how it was done and found that the fielders were not even trying to stop the ball passing just metres away from them.

"I was also very surprised at the way St John's set the field. They had at least seven men around the bat even while defending 46. The bowlers bowled full tosses and still the close-in fielders were not removed.

"There was also a buzz around the ground that the scores were increased."

It emerged there was no official scorer for the match. Nor did St John's have theirs. The only scoresheet of the match belonged to Anjuman's!Anjuman coach Naushad Khan vehemently denied any wrongdoing and blamed Springfields for sparking a controversy.

"The whole thing has been planted by them, after all they have lost out," said Khan.

"We scored 570 runs against the same school earlier. My boys have scored 467 runs in 45 overs this season.

"If somebody says that a team cannot score so many runs, they should leave cricket."

St John's coach Sashi Naik also defended himself and his team.

"Look, we are a very weak team this season," he said. "Most of the boys are new and some of our main players were injured."

Naik also had a reason why his fielders were unable to prevent the run riot.

"On the first day, two of our players, including the wicket-keeper, got injured and we were left with only nine players.

"Of these, only two of them were close to the wicket, rest were all on the boundary."
The Mumbai School Sports Association, which organises the tournament, was unlikely to conduct an inquiry.

"Why give undue importance to something which is not good," the association's cricket secretary M D Paralkar was quoted as saying by a local newspaper.

He acknowledged the incident was an "eye-opener" but could not stop Anjuman from achieving their target — a place in the semi-finals.

Not surprisingly, Indian cricket board official Ratnakar Shetty, who is also the secretary of the Mumbai Cricket Association, dismissed any talk of a new world record.

"Without any official scorer, there is no question of there being a world record," said Shetty. "Let's not get too carried away."

Source

[AdLon]

I didn't get it - !!! what's the message of it for BD cricket

[mahbubH]

Originally posted by AdLon
I didn't get it - !!! what's the message of it for BD cricket

There is a forum at BC called "International cricket" ...

[AsifTheManRahman]

hahahahaha...i was laughing my butt off....this is too good...is it for real?

[Tintin]

>> It emerged there was no official scorer for the match. Nor did St John's have theirs. The only scoresheet of the match belonged to Anjuman's!

I don't know whether MCA or whoever organizes the tournament appoints official scorer for every match in this Harris sheild tournament, but I am not that surprised. This sort of thing often happens at the lower levels.

When our office team takes part in tournaments (which at best could only considered to be fifth or sixth division standard), hardly any teams bring scorers. It is someone from the batting team, who is sitting out at the moment, who does it. The organizers appoint the umpires, and the umpires are interested only in the brief scores and result.

No comments about the incident. Could well be sour grapes or genuine fraud.

[AsifTheManRahman]

wow...that's like playing a "parar match"...lol

[mahbubH]

Actually I read an article in BBC about this match (sorry cannot find that link now). Main part of this article was about breaking the record of most run scored in a innings. Even they tried to compare the records of SRT with one of the players played in this game!! I had different idea about Mumbai school cricket.

[Tintin]

From another match in a tournament involving two teams from the same set of schools :

Istabraque Shaikh, who was promoted up the order for Anjuman, dropped guard in the middle and frustrated Maratha bowlers by keeping a long vigil scoring 19 not out from 333 balls. He looked confident and resisted playing shots even on bad deliveries.

“Istabraque used to bat at number 10 for us, but in our last outing against Swami Vivekananda, he stayed at the crease for more than an hour. Since our openers were not clicking in the tournament, we decided to replace Bilal Khan with Istabraque to keep our wickets intact at the first day of this crucial match. It is a four-day match and we have plenty of batting to come that can hit the ball well,” said Anjuman coach Naushad Khan.

Suhail Shaikh, who joined Istabraque, after opener Hajivali Jeelani got out cheaply with only nine runs on the board, piled up a partnership of 94 runs in more than 95 overs. Suhail smashed 66 runs in 288 balls (284 minutes) with eight fours.

Anjuman ended the day at 108 for 2 in 101 overs.

http://web.mid-day.com/sports/local/...ary/103718.htm

[bourny3]

Thats poor they were obviously playing a bad team. This score shouldnt be compared to victorias of 1926 when they were playing an equal team to them.

[Tintin]

Shakih's incredible innings continues through the second day

Following his overnight score of 19 runs in 333 balls, Shaikh continued frustrating the Sharadasharam (Marathi) bowlers on the second day as well.

He stood like a wall and defied the bowlers to penetrate through his rock-solid defense. Even though wickets kept tumbling at the other end, he never succumbed to the pressure.

Shaikh is at the crease since two days and has piled
54 runs in 615 balls (648 minutes).

“I used to bat at number 10 for my team and rarely got any chance to score. This time my coach showed faith in me and thank God, I stood up to it,” said Shaikh.

“My coach advised me to stay on the wicket and play your natural game. It hurts to be not in three figures, after facing more than 600 balls. But, my coach is working hard on me since two years and in future I can be in the runs,” added Shaikh.

“Shaikh is not yet able to find the gaps. Otherwise he has an attacking stance and comes on the ball nicely and his timing is perfect.

“It was his first chance and he will certainly improve in future,” said Akram Shaikh, his sports teacher about Shaikh’s snail-like inning

http://web.mid-day.com/sports/local/...ary/103798.htm

[Tintin]

Only six views on this thread since I posted this yesterday. Too sad The match report in the last post is a classic in understatement.

Anyway, the great innings is finally over. The opponents still could not dismiss him, but the team got all out.

Earlier, Anjuman were all out for 309 runs in the first innings. Istabraque Shaikh carried the bat and scored 69 in 687 balls and 735 minutes with six hits to the fence.

http://ww1.mid-day.com/sports/local/...ary/103877.htm

[DJ Sahastra]

Tintin,

I was the one viewer out of that six!

Istabraque Shaikh seems to have accelerated a lot on the 3rd day of his batting. I mean, from 54 off 615 deliveries, he smacked his way and literally raced to 69 off 687.

Now, that is 15 runs added in 72 deliveries only!

From a run every 11 deliveries or more, he raced to run every 5 deliveries or less! He more than doubled his scoring rate on the third day.

This young lad seems to understand the imortance of accelerating steadily. His first 19 came off 333 deliveries or a run per almost 18 deliveries. His next 35 took only 282 deliveries or a run per 8 deliveries and his final 15 came at a rate of less than 5 deliveries for each run scored.

Perfect example of how to pace an inning!

Hope selectors take note of the batting exploits of this emerging talent

Another point to note is his 6 boundaries. His 24 runs took 6 deliveries and the remaining 45 took 681. Which means, when he was scoring a boundary, he was scoring at the rate of 60 times his normal scoring rate.

Now, that must be a world record!!!

Am i brilliant or what