Jolly Rovers
Jolly Rovers is the cricket (season) ball team which participates in the Division II of the Midwest Cricket Conference. Jolly Rovers falls under the growing umbrella of CICA and many of the activities of JR go hand in hand with those of CICA. The players of Jolly Rovers (abbreviated as JR) are based out of Bloomington and the team has been participating in the Midwest Cricket Conference since 2003 thus making this the 6th year of participation. Only twice in the past 6 years has JR made it to the playoffs with this year being the 3rd in addition to achieving the same feat last year too, thus making this the 2nd consecutive year of us making the playoffs.
Coincidentally, the playoffs begin this weekend itself and by the time you grab a copy of this, we would have already played our first game in Washington Park, Chicago where all the remainder of the games are held. At the end of round 1 and on the verge of the knockout phase of the playoffs, we are proud to be placed at the 5th spot out of 19 teams participating and 12 of which qualify for the playoffs.
About JR, we have always been a greatly enthusiastic bunch of people very excited about playing cricket at a professional level but this year is the first time we have a very young team with majority of the players playing this league for the first time. A young bunch of bachelors raring to go on the field makes this team even more vibrant off the field.
JR boasts of 20+ players in our squad mostly based in Bloomington, with the exception of yours truly who moved out of Bloomington last year after graduating from ISU. Geographically, we have a very diverse bunch of people from all parts of India and additionally one player each from Australia and the West Indies. This is another striking aspect of our team which we hold as a matter of pride.
JR has had a very busy schedule with our home ground being in Peoria where we played 9 out of the 14 games and other games being in Chicago, St Louis and Champaign etc. Despite so much travel every weekend for 18 weeks thus far, our team has the following record:
Games Played | Won | Lost | Rained Out | Walkovers Received
14 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1
Along with being a young and enthusiastic team, one of the other biggest strengths of our team is the emphasis on team work and morale that we hold up very highly in all of our endeavors. From having regular Tues-Thurs practice sessions, occasional slumber parties, end of Round 1 party, car pools (they’re a lot of fun) to actual team work and motivation on the field, I hold every member of our squad in high respect. I am sure my JR teammates feel similarly proud.
One striking feature about this season has been that we have managed to defeat all teams we have lost to in the past despite being an away game for us. This feat has never been achieved in JR history.
About performances till date this year, we have our captain, Ravi Patel, leading the way with 308 runs and 20 wickets in 11 games played putting him the 2nd best all rounder in the league out of possibly 200+ players in the league. He has been leading by example and has been an amazing source of energy, enthusiasm, support. Any and all words fall short in describing what a big part of JR he really is. He is the one man army, self appointed really, in handling most of the off-the-field tasks that a team needs to accomplish to make sure the team is in the right place at the right time be it practice, the actual games or any other activity JR is involved in and trust me he is pretty darn good at it. His interest levels and enthusiasm levels are absolutely unfathomable and speak volumes about his commitment to the team and to the game of cricket in general. Other than him, our records this year boast of 2 players, Dinesh and Vishnu with 3 and 4 50s each in the 200+ runs tally and Saran and myself in the 150+ runs tally. Yours truly also has 2 50s and 11 wickets in 10 games played.
It’s been a long but very exciting season so far and we believe its far from over. Beginning of May, when we only had about 6 faces confirmed to play this year, JR was doubtful to even be able to register for season. But with committed players like the board member of CICA - Dr Chit Reddy and others like Ravi, Dinesh, Vishnu, Prashanth and new faces springing up, we boast of a 20+ member squad ready to play our first playoff’s game this weekend. Everyone is fighting for their spot in the XI and players on the bench are always pushing those in the XI to claim a spot in the upcoming games. The most and I really mean it, the MOST striking feature about JR this year, from my perspective, has been the performance based selection process. A players place in the XI is decided purely upon his performance in games/practice and their value to the team. With JR, it’s always a team effort and many faces contribute towards making it a victory for JR.
JR may not represent the best talent available in the Bloomington-Normal/ Central Illinois community but I can definitely say it is by far the most committed set of people breathing and living in the community. The reason I say so is that almost all the players from the JR squad do also participate in the CICA tournament and assume important roles in their respective teams. It’s a difficult task juggling every weekend between playing for JR on one day and playing for CICA on another, but we at JR feel cricket is our first and foremost priority on the weekends and thus we relish every moment we are involved in it.
As I usually put it, the weekdays are just a means of life and the weekends with cricket are the life that the weekdays lead up to. We look forward to getting through the week the best we can so we can enjoy the weekends the best way we want to.
If you would like to follow JR’s performances in the Midwest Cricket Conference,
Team’s statistics at: http://www.midwestcricket.org/asp/teamstats.asp?teamid=557
Team’s ranking this year at: http://www.midwestcricket.org/asp/pointsTable.asp
(PS: for current year make sure you select Division II 2008)
-- Kedar Gawande.
Finally, I would like to close with this scintillating piece I received from a friend about what the game of cricket really is:
“You live parallel lives, in parallel universes. One is all cricket. The other, everything but.
Once you step on to the crease nothing else matters. You're surrounded by eleven bullies who'd like nothing better than smashing you or the three stumps behind into pieces with a five-point-five ounce missile. Some smile, others glare... but they're all the same. They all want you out of there. You have no idea what pressure can do to you. It's the only place I know where three people standing ten feet away can make you claustrophobic - out in an open field under clear blue skies.
You hear the first ball hit the deck. It whispers to you as it flies past your head. "I'm coming for you" it says. It's the most deafening whisper in the world. Can't let that bother you. Can't let that bother you. Can't. let. that. bother. you.
Another one. As the ball smashes into your ribs, the pain is not what bothers you as much as the fact that you know you've been bettered - for now. Good morning - you're finally awake. The din inside your head grows a shade louder. You're in a rage and scared all at the same time. You can't curse, shout, cry or curl up in a ball on the ground.. for that means admitting defeat. You're not beaten till they know you are. You will grin and bear it and wake up tomorrow to admire the bruise.
He is running in again and you can't think straight yet. In fact, you can't think. You're no longer thinking about how heavy your bat feels or the morning dew. He jumps, you stiffen.
By the time it bounces in front of you your whole body is already halfway through the stroke. Later you will wonder when you got the time to decide what you're about to do. For a fleeting moment your sensory universe is compressed into a blurred red dot shooting towards you. A familiar half-tingle in the hand and a familiar "tock" of leather hitting willow tells you you did ok. That felt good. Maybe you're gonna be all right after all...
How can you not love the game?”
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