Bt India Blogazine

Player of Week 3 (Season 16)

2010-05-23T15:53:00.000+05:30

The 28 year old Australian Right arm fast medium bowler, Gene Eldershaw is our player of the week. Eldershaw who represents India Rules has been awarded for his fantastic performance against ElevenWinners. In his 8.5 overs he returned with a bowling figure of 40 for 7!

A bowling performance that made a small score of 231 look like a mammoth one is indeed worthy of the award. He single-handedly won the match for India Rules by picking up 7 of the opposition batsmen including the dangerous looking Basham and Clark.

We salute this solo effort of Gene Eldershaw! Congratulations!

Player of Week 2 (Season 16)

2010-05-17T11:33:00.000+05:30

No surprises here.....Duncan Whittaker, our NT bowler showed his class bowling for his club, Something Special and won the first ever Player of the Week Award.

His consistent bowling in both the innings of the FC match against Mumbai XI saw him end up with bowling figures of 8 for 6 and 6 for 8! His 14 wickets for a miserly 14 runs left us with no option but to bow down to him!

We would like also make a special mention of Tom Fletcher, the opening bowler of batchamps...his figures of 50 for 7 did attract our attention! We wish this young lad well for his future performances.

WC Final: A Farce?

2010-05-07T18:22:00.009+05:30

After two long hard seasons from the NAT managers, it all came down to this, the final. Plankie and spit-fire had been waiting for this moment for a long time now and the time had finally come. The game scheduled on a slow pitch...

...or so we thought. At around 15:00BT time, the match suddenly changed locations, to Lords on a H&F pitch. Spit-fire, during his last login before his holiday decided to trust the match page and set orders for a H&F pitch, Plankie soon followed. After starting a bugs baord thread and recieving no reply from any higher powers which left some to wonder where they were.

In the lead-up, people were unsure what to expect, would it be H&F? why was it in England? there were many unanswered questions. 4:30 came and went and still no match, it looked like the same bug as the one that happened to Australian Friendlies last week. Why wasn't that fixed up? It turned out there were more farces to come. Eventually 3/4 through the match, we were able to see the score. The first thing most people would have noticed would have been the conditions. Slow and sunny, not H&F and PC&H as suggested just minutes before hand. England ammased a whopping 348 beating Australia by 40 odd. But a sour taste is left in the australian managers mouths. What would have happened if both sides had set orders for a slow pitch?

And once again, no higherp owers to confirn anything. Unless you include GM-Wombat who tried to answer many questions but just couldn't, manly because he had no idea. Where was Allan? He did in fact login just before 10:00BT time yet didn't post anything and was logged off straight away. Why didn't he say something or stop the match from being shown instead of letting The Australian and English boards turn into a verbal battlefield?

The Nation scene hasn't exactly been the most popular part of BT in recent times and this just turns it into the laughing stock of BT, a complete joke. obviously this is not the english managers fault as many australians stated in that battlefield we are normally calling the forums. Another question. thr match is currently still showing up as match in progress. Does that mean something is going to happen? If it does why hasn't Allan told us, even if nothing is going to happen he should be informing us, not leaving it to GM-Wombat to deal with along with the MOD's continually deleting posts on the boards.

So Allan...one question. Why has all this happened. I'm not expecting an answer too soon if today's farce is anything to go by. This is mostly my opinion, but i feel it's a valid one.

EDIT: Well BT-Jargon has replied eventually which does help a little bit i still think it's about 5 hours too late.

thanks for reading,

Bondi_Lions.

A Zone: What do we think of DR?

2010-05-05T16:35:00.006+05:30

We all know MOD-DRAGONZ_RULES is a highly respected part of the BT community.
well, what do you get if you ask managers to sum up DR in 5 words?

People who contributed: (in random order) Salanity, Serial_Thrilla, Plankie, Gumboot, Muzza, Bevo, Cordrazine, GM-Wombat

1. Pedantic, Pessemistic, Eager to please.
2. Very lucky to have Mel
3. Irritating, Pessimistic, Focussed, Determined, Non-Winner
4. good manager with childs alias
5. doesn't watch footy in september
6. Pessimistic, Enthusiastic, Committed, A-good-sort-apart-from-the-fact-he's,
Australian
7. Miserable, pessimestic unfortunate dragons supporter
8. Sport loving, uppercase overusing legend.

A Zone: World Cup Final

2010-05-04T12:07:00.004+05:30

A ZONE: The zone all about Australia

'Australia win by 5 runs'. The message that allowed all australian managers to let out a sigh of relief. But how did Australia reach the final?

After normal season games finished it was time for the group stages, Australia were placed in a group with New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Australia 10pts
Pakistan 8pts
New Zealand 4pts
Sri Lanka 2pts

Australia only really needed 1 win to get through and two to definately make it through. They started off pretty well against New Zealand chasing down NZ's total of just 135 pretty easily. Sri Lanka also beat Pakistan to put Australia well ahead. After this win, the only way they wouldn't make the semi's was if both Pakistan and Sri Lanka won their final 2 games each.

Well, in round 2, it looked a real possibility as Sri Lanka beat Australia by a fair margin whilst Pakistan scraped home on the last ball, destroying NZ's hopes of a WC semi.

Australia 14pts
Pakistan 12pts
Sri Lanka 10pts
New Zealand 2pts

With one round to play, there were three teams with a chance of making the semi's, but one of them would have to miss out.

After wild speculation by Plankie that New Zealand were throwing their match to deny pakistan a semi-final spot which would put huge pressure on Australia to win, the matches begun. Pakistan scored 250 odd in reasonable conditions.
After the top order of australia struggled, collapsing to 5/91, it was the All-rounders who provided the goods, and when it looked like australia were down for the count, Spiller produced a magnificent century along with Elsegood's knock of 47* which gave australia the win.

Pakistan then went on to play England for a spot in the finals and were bowled out 50 short of Englands 310. Australia took on the hosts, India and after yet another horroble start with the bat which included 3 wickets in an over. it was once again the tail that needed to wag and wag they did. Elsegood brought up his half-century along with Baird. Taits 80 runs up the top of the order saw them amble to 261.
It was always going to be a tough chase but india weren't going down without a fight. Gilberts 76 and Singhs 60 were key elements to the chase but it was Baird and Stanton who produced courageous speels when India only needed 7 an over with 6 to go. They kept the hosts boundaryless for the last 4 overs, only conceding 23 runs in that time which saw them home by 5 runs and into the WC final.

Australia play England in the Final, a very tough opposition, i had a word to Plankie about it yesterday.

Bondi: Hi Plankie! How're you going?

Plankie: A lot better than I was doing midway through the first innings yesterday.

Bondi: So Plankie, how does it feel after two long seasons to have reached the Final? And at what stage Did you think you had a reasonable chance of making it?

Plankie: It feels really good actually, after all, it's the reason you want the job in the first place. It's not as if it's a paying position, so you definitely want to do your best, so it doesn't waste your time. I feel that I've done my best, and I've made the final, so it all works out perfectly. I thought with the squad we had, and some additions that I made, that we had a good chance of making it. I didn't anticipate having to work so hard for it after we creamed NZ in the first match though, in the group stages.

Bondi: How would you describe your journey as the Aus NAT manager?

Plankie: I'd say it's been topsy turvy. I started out last season with a 2-0 series win over England which was great. Then there was a grey area in the middle where I couldn't take a trick. I got really frustrated. Then this season the same thing happened almost. We started well with a 1-1 series against England. But still, India smashed us 2-0 in both seasons. So I'm glad we beat them yesterday when it mattered, and I was confident we could.

Bondi: Would you consider running for the position again?

Plankie: If I don't win on Friday, I'm running again. If I win on Friday, I'll still run again. I have put a lot of work into finding players that are the next gen, so to speak, and I want to see them come to fruition. I'm also training a Nat player of my own, so I want to see him in the team.

Bondi: Why's that?

Plankie: Unfinished business.

Bondi: Obviously this final will be one of the biggest things in your BT career, would you be happy with second place or would you settle for nothing less than beating the English?

Plankie: I don't care that we're playing England, I'd take the same attitude if we were playing NZ, or Sth Africa, or West Indies. I'll never settle for second. I hate losing, as you can see from my public outbursts. I always play to win, especially with so many eyes on me. Who cares if they have behemoths, we have some big players too. Obviously not as big, but we can see that they can still do the job. I've beaten England in 75% of the matches we've played in the last two seasons. I'm not scared of them. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Bondi: Have their been any managers who have inspired you at all throughout your campaign or have helped you out a lot on the way?

Plankie: DR has been relentless with his effort that he's put into the U19s, so it's spurred me to try harder with what I put on the conferences. Obviously the interest is much higher, or the participated interest, in the U19s, and I have a lot of work to try and get as much interest generated for the Nats. Nothing would do that better than winning the WC. I appreciate the thoughts I've received on the offsite, mostly by DR and Bevo, as I like to have second opinions on my thought process. Sometimes I listen, sometimes I don;t, I generally go with my gut instincts, and it's worked mostly.

Bondi: This season, who, in your opinion has been the most successful Aus Nat player and why?

Plankie: It's hard to pick just one player, so I might go with a batsmen and a bowler or ARer. Slab has obviously been fantastic all season, and Blatherwick had too, up until the last few matches which is disappointing. Bailey has been a workhorse for us, he's nearly played 2 matches a week, all season! But his WC has been a little underdone, by getting slapped around. The ARs have saved us in the WC, and we wouldn't be in the final if it wasn't for them.

Bondi: Many managers have complained about Englands large userbase which allows them to farm so many amazing players. What is your opinion on this and what do you propose as a solution?

Plankie: I don't really have an opinion on this. Every country has farms for Nat players. We do as well. Obviously with a bigger userbase england can have a larger number of people doing this, but good on them, if they can get so many managers to run their teams into the ground. I don't have a solution for this, as it will always happen.

Bondi: What are your predicitions for the final? how well will Australia go?

Plankie: I'd be a fool to tip against England, because they're England and they're massive. I have a feeling it's not going to be a walk in the park for them, and I plan on doing everything I can to ensure that we have the best possible chance of getting close, if not over the line. But at the end of the day, I'll give it a red hot go. At worst I'll get a nice Silver medal on the home page.

Bondi:Finally, Which game this season has been your most memorable and why?

Plankie: I think the last two games have been fantastic, because they've been close. Forget the fact that I was so angry in both of them. Against Pakistan I was furious when we started batting. I couldn't understand what was happening. Then yesterday when we lost 3 wickets in an over and were 5 for stuff all, I was ready to throw my computer out the window. So the last few matches have been the best. Hopefully after Friday, I can say it was that one.

Bondi: Well thanks for chatting Plankie, and best of luck for the final!

Plankie: Cheers, and good luck to spit-fire.

Make sure your watching the Final this Friday at 4:30BT

Bondi_Lions

It’s Time For The Winners!!

2010-05-02T15:27:00.000+05:30

The Bt India Community's first ever prestigious Awards Ceremony - the "BT India Blogazine Seasonal Awards " had finished its voting process and the proud organisers- V3 and Athul are all set to announce the winners for the six assorted awards. So, everyone... hold your breath and wait as you watch the winners walk the red carpet....

The “Vallabh Chanderpaul” Medal

2010-05-02T15:26:00.005+05:30

The First award is the most prestigious award of the rest... the VC Medal for the manager for his Commitment, Enthusiasm and Spirit towards the Bt India community. And it goes to...

Winner:-

MOD_shailes

And the Runners-Up:-

Overall Most Successful Club

2010-05-02T15:26:00.004+05:30

This award goes to the most successful club of the season for the Top of the rest club managers. And the winners for the category are....

Winner:-

Neiklot

and the Runners-up:-

Baz

Best Newcomer Of The Season

2010-05-02T15:25:00.000+05:30

The following award is another prestigious one as it involves the new blood in the Bt India circulatory system... the Best Newcomer award to be presented to the one who has made quite an impact in his first season to Battrick. And looks like their is no competition to this one here as the award goes to...

Winner:-

Athul

Best Farm Team

2010-05-02T15:24:00.000+05:30

This award goes to the the individuals whose commitment to the BT India community means a lot to us as they lead to the success of the of our country at an International Level. This award is for the Best Farm Teams whose dedication has lead us to many a victories. And the award goes to...

Winner:-

Mod_shailes

and the Runners-Up:-

Alarikin

U19 Player of the Season

2010-05-02T15:23:00.000+05:30

Now the awards to be presented are to the players whose achievements on the field has lead India to numerous victories. The first one is for the young players in the category...the U19 Player Of The Season... and the award is tied between two fresh talents. And they are...

Joint Winners:-

Hemant Jabbar & Dhruv Moolchand

National Player of the Season

2010-05-02T15:22:00.000+05:30

The last... but not the least award... for the National Player of the Season, due to the players with impressive talent and who has led the country to victory countless times in their career and whose mere presence on the field has led us to carry our hopes high everytime.... the award goes to....

Winner:-

Rupesh Islam

and the Joint Runners-Up:-

Duncan Whittaker & Grady Madden

Congratulations!

2010-05-02T15:13:00.004+05:30

From behalf of the BT India Blogazine Team, I wish all the winners a hearty congratulations and also wish the other managers and players best of luck for the seasons to come.

We would also like to congratulate the organizers of the BT India Blogazine Seasonal Awards Ceremony, V3 and Athul for their unconditioned commitment to make this award ceremony a successful one. We were really thrilled to be a part of it and would like to extend our hand to this esteemed competition in the seasons to come.

Cheers.....

World Cup Update (Round 3 )

2010-05-01T01:10:00.000+05:30

Friday saw the final round of matches in the group stage of the World Cup, with much still to play for. In Group A, India and England went head to to decide who would top the table. Group B was even more hotly contested, with Sri Lanka knowing that a win against New Zealand would see them progress as runners-up, whilst a win for Pakistan against Australia would see them top group and eliminate their opponents.

We'll start with Group A and in particular, the top of the table clash between the hosts and the tournament favourites. England won the toss and put India into bat, hoping for another first wicket duck for their opponents. But there was to be no such luck, as Chanderpaul (94 runs from 106 balls) and Singh (51 runs from 53 balls) got India off to a great start, with an opening partnership of 136 runs. But then England's bowlers began to take over, led by Gilroy (7.1-0-26-4) and Stone (7-1-18-2) to bowl India out 225.

England began their innings inauspiciously, losing Willetts for just one run, but this acted only to bring star batsman Doyle to the crease, and he's been in red hot form this tournament, scoring 153 against West Indies and today he continued where he left off with another excellent better than run a ball century, he was finally dismissed for 112 (109 balls) and thanks to support from Maxfield (66 from 102 balls) England were able to recover from their early loss. And although Ahmed was able to dismiss Maxfield and Doyle in back to back overs, it wasn't enough as

England

were able to reach their target with overs to spare.

The other game in Group A saw South Africa and the West Indies go head to head, playing for nothing more than pride in avoiding losing all three games. It all started well for the West Indies, with the top order all making good contributions, Hooper scoring 70 runs (97 balls), Olivier adding 69 runs (64 balls). But it was the century by Julian that was their key innings, scoring eleven fours in his 112 runs (132 balls).

In what turned out to be a game dominated by batsmen, South Africa were able to go one better, with an opening partnership of 216, in which both batsmen scored centuries. Jenny finally being dismissed for exactly 100 (119 balls) and his partner Delap scoring 129 (138 balls). And although both were dismissed, they had broken the back of the chase and South Africa cruised home to lift themselves off the bottom of the table

The final Group A standings looked something like this;

Team Points NRR

England        22pts             3.384
India              14pts            -0.176
South Africa    8pts            -2.198
West Indies    4pts             -1.01

Which brings us onto Group B, and no better place to start than the top of the table clash between Australia and Pakistan. Pakistan were put into bat by Australia and quickly got on with scoring as many runs as possible, openers Akhlagullah and Afridi sharing a partnership of 177 before Afridi was dismissed for 75 runs (119 balls). Akhlagullah was able to carry his bat for 136* (152 balls) and thanks to a quick-fire 39 (29 balls) from Raheem, Pakistan were able to reach a total of 253-2. Would it be enough?

Australia

were quickly in trouble in their reply, losing both openers for single figures, Chaudhari the bowler in both instances, leaving

Australia

at 12-2. Australia were in further trouble at 45-3, and then again at 92-5, and unbelievably at 130-6. But through it all, WK Spiller was unmoved, and whilst others lost their wickets he went on to score 106 runs from only 95 balls, and thanks in no small part to Elsegood's 47* (53 balls) it gave Australia a chance of winning the game. Spiller was eventually dismissed leaving the score at 212-7, but it was another lower order batsman who was able to support Elsegood to lead Australia to top of the table, and leave Pakistan relying on New Zealand to defeat Sri Lanka.

The equation for Sri Lanka was simple, win and they would go through, anything else and they would be eliminated. Sri Lanka were batting first and were looking again to Ajith, to keep up his excellent form which had seen him averaging 111.5 so far, but his red hot form wasn't to continue, as he was caught behind for just one run, and when Polonowita edged the slips for the same score, things looked bleak for Sri Lanka at 20-2, but Sebamalai added to his unbeaten century against Australia by adding another one here, this time out for 108 runs (138 balls). He wasn't the only batsman to score runs, and thanks to 53 (82 balls) and 71* (67 balls) from Hettiarachchi and Tilakaratne respectively, Sri Lanka reached 243.

New Zealand

playing for nothing but pride in attempting to avoid losing to all their Group B opponents didn't have a brilliant start, as they were in a spot of bother at 67-3. But this just brought Gardiner to the crease, and it was his 94* (92 balls) that really gave New Zealand the stability in their reply to attempt to chase this down. And thanks to support from opener Henshaw (55 runs form 77 balls) and Shearer (50* runs from 60 balls), New Zealand were able to creep home, winning with just five balls remaining.

This defeat for Sri Lanka meant that Pakistan and Australia would both go through, and thanks to their victory it would be Australia who topped the group.

Team Points NRR

Australia

18pts 1.038

Pakistan

12pts 0.761

Sri Lanka

10pts 0.693

New Zealand 8pts -0.97

So, the next games were confirmed, with all four taking place on Sunday

SF1 – England v Pakistan
SF2 - India v Australia
5th/6th Play Off – South Africa v Sri Lanka
7th/8th Play Off – New Zealand v West Indies

Contributed by EdWeatherall

World Cup Update (Round 2)

2010-04-29T10:42:00.002+05:30

Today saw the second round of the group stages take place, and with only England assured of their place in the semi-finals, there was still much to play for.

We'll begin this round-up looking at Group A, and looking at the hosts. India were 2nd in the table and their opponents South Africa were bottom, behind by only 6 points though. So, the win was vital for both sides, for India to guarantee qualification to the semi-finals and for South Africa to keep their slim chances alive.

South Africa won the toss and chose to field, this didn't put off India, and thanks to their openers they raced to 181-0 from 33 overs, thanks to a century from Gilbert, who made up for his failure in the opening match. India lost their openers in successive overs, but they were able to recover well to post a daunting total of 282-6.

South Africa never really got going in their reply, and if it wasn't for Lampard's 84 runs from 81 balls batting from no.7, then South Africa wouldn't have got anywhere near the Indian target. Madden backing up is first match performance (4-56) to lead the Indian bowling again, this time 3-53.

The other game in Group A, saw competition favourites England face West Indies. It was West Indies who lost the toss and had to bat first. For the second time this WC, England removed an opposition opener for a first over duck, Ashmore the victim this time. However, Bian with a marvellous 95 (115 balls), albeit admirably supported by Anderson (43 runs) and Hooper (58 runs), West Indies were able to post a competitive total of 253-6.

Thanks to some excellent new ball bowling by Sweeney, England were reduced to 31-3, with Sweeney taking all three wickets., England were in further trouble at 66-4, but through all this, Doyle remained at the crease, and it was his superb innings of 153 (133 balls) that was the match-winning performance, and although he was dismissed leaving England needing a further 13 runs, their lower order was able to bring them home.

Thanks to these wins for England and India, they had guaranteed their places in the semi-finals, and all that remained was to decide who would top the group.

Team              Points                          NRR
England            18pts                         2.608
India                 14pts                        0.6
West Indies         4pts                      -0.628
South Africa       4pts                      -2.58

This brings us onto Group B and the first match within that saw Australia and Sri Lanka square off, with Australia knowing that a victory would seem them top the group. Australia won the toss and inserted Sri Lanka to bat. This didn't phase the Sri Lankan openers, as Ajith and Sebamalai both scored centuries, 137 (148 balls) and 119* (151 balls) respectively. This was Ajith's 2nd MOTM performance in two games, and he's rapidly becoming the star of the tournament, although he will be disappointed to have been bowled out with in the third last ball of the innings, bringing their 255 run partnership to an end. A partnership which was a record for an opening stand in matches involving these two nations

Thanks to the Sri Lankan openers, Australia needed 258 to win. And where Ajith left off, Priyantha and Jeithoon followed, as they took nine wickets between them to bowl out Australia for 240. And it could have been so much worse for Australia, but for opener Blatherwick, who anchored the Australian innings with 102 runs from 129 balls. But it was the 5-53 from Priyantha and the 4-44 from Jeithoon that enabled Sri Lanka to pick up the win they needed.

The second match in Group B saw New Zealand and Pakistan face each other, a win being imperative for both sides, for New Zealand to remain in with a shout of qualification for the semi-finals and for Pakistan to keep up their charge for qualification and maybe to even top the group.

For the 8th time this WC, the team that won the toss chose to field. So, New Zealand began their innings hoping to set a daunting total for Pakistan to chase, but things began terribly, Henshaw out lbw to Malik first ball, but thanks to 146* (145 balls) from Henshaw and 88* (116 balls) from Allot, New Zealand reached 277-2.

And although Pakistan were reduced to 19-1, they stabilised to reach 101 before losing the second wicket, due in the main to 65 runs from 98 balls by opener Sohail. Raheem and Faaiz were the other notable contributors to the Pakistan innings, scoring 70 and 64 runs respectively, and although Pakistan collapsed from 241-3 to 257-8, Faaiz and Habib were able to bring them home.

What with that shock defeat for Australia, Group B was opened up at the top of the table, but unfortunately NZ are playing only for pride in their last game, as they were confirmed in 4th place.

Team                Points                 NRR

Australia            14pts                0.713
Pakistan             12pts              -0.436
Sri Lanka           10pts                0.796
New Zealand        4pts              -1.073

This leaves the table finely poised as Pakistan and Australia fight it out to top the group, and Sri Lanka knowing that a win will see them qualify in 2nd place.

Contributed by EdWeatherall

sunrider After His Loss 2 The English Outfit!

2010-04-27T19:48:00.000+05:30

"We lost the match as expected. Just have a look at the salaries the two opening english batsmen earn and compare them to most of the south african NT. Anyway now India is on our plate or we on theirs and we'll have to try to win this match because a loss means the out during group stage. We will hopefully be able to get a good match against India with a slightly changed lineup compared to the monday match"

chaminda_00 After The Big Win Against Pakistan

2010-04-27T18:11:00.000+05:30

"It is nice to get a win up on the board in game one. But there is still a long way to go in this WC and that win over

Pakistan

wont mean much unless we can back it up over the next two matches. At present we are still taking it one game at a time and not putting too much pressure on pull off something special and win all three games to make it to the next round. I think tommorow match against

Australia

will show us where we are as group and where we need to improve to bridge the gap at NT level."

spit-fire After Defeating The South Africans!

2010-04-27T15:40:00.000+05:30

"Hi, It was a surprisingly comfortable margin of victory. With our good performance through the season, we have already qualified for the semi-finals.
This is important, as it allows me to rest some players and try to get the subsidy paid to all our fantastic player owners.
We're still going out to win all of our games though and keep morale high.

India

's win puts them in a great position to join us. How much will be riding on our match with

India

on Friday? It could be needed to confirm qualification."

Australia Vs New Zealand: Post Match Comments

2010-04-27T08:18:00.000+05:30

Australia

in their first WC match comprehensively deafeted

New Zealand

. Blogazine caught up with both the managers after the match and here are their exclusive post-match comments.

Plankie says,

“Very happy to all but secure a spot in the semi finals with a comprehensive win over our old nemesis NZ. To bowl them out on a slow pitch for 135 was fantastic, and it wasn't just one performer, all of our bowlers contributed, which was good to see.
We lost two wickets, but it was the Slab who steadied the ship and dug in, with the help of Peterose to steer the ship home.
I'm looking forward to the match against

Sri Lanka

, which could dash their hopes of a semi final spot.
Bring it on!”

And all a visibly angry snowy11 could say is “The Match Engine hates me.”

World Cup Update (Round 1)

2010-04-27T05:49:00.000+05:30

The 7th NT World Cup begun in earnest in

India

this morning. With the hosts facing the West Indies in a crucial game in Group A, as they only had a slender two point advantage over their first round opponents, so the winner could take a big step towards qualifiying for the semi-finals.

West Indies won the toss and chose to field, India didn't start brilliantly losing Gilbert for only six runs. However, India were able to recover brilliantly with Chanderpaul and Padayachie able to share a 2nd wicket partnership of 174 runs, with both scoring excellent centuries and ultimately helping India to reach 270-2 from their 50 overs.

West Indies made a positive start to their reply, with an opening partnership of 123 runs from 24.2 overs, beautifully anchored by captain, Julian, scoring 104 runs (141 balls). Alas, it wasn't enough for West Indies, as the pressure of requiring in excess of 9 runs/over proved too much and quick wickets fell and ultimately they could only reach 256-5, thanks in part to figures of 4-56 by Madden.

The second game in Group A saw England looking to virtually guarantee their place in the semi-finals, as they took on South Africa. South Africa won the toss, and chose to put England into bat in sunny conditions.

England

's openers took full advantage of the batting weather to race to 192, before losing their Maxfield for a fantastic 108 (85 balls). But this was just the start of another big partnership as Willets was finally dismissed for 137 (129 balls) with the score at 305-2. It was the groundwork laid by these two that allowed England to post a formidable score of 348-3.

South Africa

's reply didn't get off to the best of starts, with opener Bonner dismissed for a duck by Tuckett. South Africa were never really able to recover from this early blow, and although plenty of batsmen got starts, none of them were able to kick on and reach the century they so badly needed, Roach top scoring with 52 (74 balls). Regular wickets were the blight of South Africa's reply, preventing them from truly challenging England's score, in the end South Africa were bowled out for 235.

These results left the Group A table looking like this
England         14pts (Qualified)
India              10pts
West Indies     4pts
South Africa    4pts

The first match in Group B saw Pakistan square off against Sri Lanka, this was a hugely important game for Sri Lanka, as defeat (combined with Australian victory) would end their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals.

For the third time, the team who won the toss elected to put their opponents into bat, and in this match, it was

Sri Lanka

who won the toss. Sri Lanka bowled brilliantly to limit Pakistan to 211-4 from their 50 overs in sunny conditions! Pakistan's captain Afridi top scored in the match with 94* (150 balls), but a strike rate of only 62.6 showed how well Sri Lanka bowled to limit their score. The star of the show was perhaps Azher, who used his RH Spin to produce figures of 10-2-25-0.

So, Sri Lanka knew they only needed 212 to get the win they desperately needed, however their reply didn't start brilliantly, as Pakistan grabbed an early wicket to leave SL 20-1, and then began to look even more bleak for Sri Lanka as a double wicket over by Malik left Sri Lanka in trouble at 88-4. But remaining calm through all this was Ajith, who's 87 (96 balls) was crucial to Sri Lanka's innings, and although he was dismissed leaving the score at 202-6, there was still plenty of balls remainng for SL to ease home.

The second game in Group B saw Australia win the toss and field against rivals New Zealand, and it was a great start for Australia with their opening bowlers dismissing New Zealand's opening batsmen, leaving them at 21-2, and New Zealand were never able to recover, losing wickets regularly throughout their innings. Before being bowled out for only 135 runs, with WK Hopkins the only batsman to emerge with any credit, scoring 56 (66 balls).

A target of 136 was never really going to cause

Australia

any real problems, and this proved to be the case as they crusied to their total for the loss of just two wickets. Slabbert led them home with 69* (100) to top score in the match and see Australia comfortably reach 137-2.

After these two matches, the Group B table looks something like this

Australia

14pts

Pakistan

8pts

Sri Lanka

6pts

New Zealand

4pts

Contributed by EdWeatherall

Sunrider’s Pre World Cup Comments

2010-04-25T17:38:00.002+05:30

South Africa

’s WC preparations

"My preparations for the WC included mostly the planning of how to approach the three matches of the group stage. Which match will be the crucial one to win to have a chance of reaching the semi-finals. Furthermore, I have tried to keep an eye on player's fitness levels and it appears to me that we are not that fit in all areas but still we might get a decent lineup together. I think we are the weakest team in the group but I hope that we'll get lucky somehow."

India

India

is nearly as strong as the Australians and could soon become the No. 2 in BT. I believe that the squad is stronger (salaries/BTR) than all other teams with the exception of the English. However, strength and depth is not all that is important for a WC, but it certainly helps.

India

if everything goes according to strength should make it into the finals even if they lose against

England

; they are a better squad than

South Africa

or the West Indies."

The Caribbean Talks: chrisafi On His Team.

2010-04-25T15:59:00.004+05:30

“I'm happy. We've had a poor season but we've beaten

England

and

India

all ready this season. We were poor to be swept by SA when they only won 3 games all season, so I think we can turn that around too. As a result I think we can go through - we won all 3 WC group games last time around and I'm going to be looking to do the same again. Once you hit the semi's - it's anybody’s tournament really.”

National Player of the Season

2010-04-25T13:38:00.001+05:30

These are the men who represent our NT and make us proud. This season we have seen many new players taking up the responsibility and leading our country to glory. The NT World Cup is only a day away and there can be no bigger boost for the players than this award!

And the Nominees Are....

Gopan Haishen

Rajni Dangasela

Rupesh Islam

Grady Madden

Duncan Whittaker

U19 Player of the Season

2010-04-25T13:30:00.000+05:30

These are the young lads that have represented our country at the U19 level this season and we pick the very best among them for the award. A recognition not only for the young boys but also their managers. We hope this award will help them a long way in making it to the NT in the future!

And The Nominees Are...

Anand Sitha
Suvrajat Suji
Dhruv Moolchand
Shastwat Travers
Hemant Jabbar
Shalin Kuckreja

Best Farm Team

2010-04-25T13:25:00.000+05:30

This Award is to Recognise the efforts of those managers who have sacrificed their own club's success to a great extent so that they can train players for the country. Farm Teams are the pillars of a country's success at International level and there is no greater recognition for their efforts than this award.

And the Nominees Are...

Alarikin

Nffc-andy

Immortelisk

Vishnukumar

MOD_shailes

Best Newcomer

2010-04-25T13:20:00.000+05:30

Every season we have many new managers joining up the Bt India Community but only a handful make an impact. This award is to recognise the newest manager to have made the biggest impact.

And The Nominees are...

Athul
SVP
Dee_Wilson
Sunny_cric

Overall Most Successful Club

2010-04-25T13:16:00.000+05:30

This is the award to recognise the efforts of the manager with the most successful club season at the very top of the Indian leagues. The award for the for the very best among Indian managers.

And the Nominees are....

1.Neiklot
2.MuchMore
3.Ajituk
4.Baz

The “Vallabh Chanderpaul” Medal

2010-04-25T13:07:00.000+05:30

The VC Medal which is regarded as the most prestigious category in the “Bt India Blogazine Seasonal Awards” will be awarded to the manager for his Commitment, Enthusiasm and Spirit towards the Bt India community. An award to recognize the efforts of the most committed and enthusiastic managers in the Bt India Circuit.

And the nominees are....

1.Alarikin

2.MOD_shailes

3.Tigerbla

4.V3

Its Back... And Is Better

2010-04-24T14:40:00.003+05:30

Hello there...

So, Bt India Blogazine is back. After quite a few months of hibernation, we are here again with the new package of Blogazine.

After two serial monthly editions of Blogazine, we had been away for a while. And one reason for the absence being that both gs and me had been quite busy these days, and couldn’t find enough time for another edition for quite some time. Still its not that we stopped thinking about the big impact that had upon the bt-india community and wanted it to be back… with a bigger zeal. So, what better an occasion to be back than the World Cup? And this time, Blogazine is bigger and better. We have thought about it a lot and found that making a monthly magazine takes more time and is tiresome. Also, that meant a blank phase every month between two editions. So we converted Blogazine into a regular blog where the posts may come in everyday... and at anytime. Besides, this time Blogazine invites writers to the blog so that us being busy doesn’t stop the positive flow of Blogazine.

This time we are concentrating on covering two major events at this moment- The BT World Cup and the Bt-India Blogazine Seasonal Awards Ceremony. Also, we are this time including the interviews of the managers of the national teams pertaining to the World Cup.

We would like to thank V3 and Athul for their involvement so as to allow Blogazine to be a part of their award ceremony. And surely, thanks to all the NT managers for their valuable contribution to Blogazine.

Gs quoted: We would like Bt India Blogazine to be a integral part of the Battrick experience. We would like it to reach as many people as possible through this and we dream of the day when people will join Battrick because of Blogazine.

We would like to tell all Blogazine readers to be sure of the fact that Blogazine is now here to stay. There may be minute blank phases, but given the fact that multiple authors are now going to attend to Blogazine, it is not going to stop totally. And it’s going to be performing better in the days to come.

Cheers....

Special Announcement: Voting Registration Process

2010-04-23T08:20:00.000+05:30

The First Ever “Bt India Blogazine Seasonal Awards” Nomination process is coming to a close and before the voting process starts the Organizers have made a very interesting announcement.

There will now be a Voting Registration process where in order to cast your Vote you need to register in the official thread by posting “for registration”. On doing this you will be given an official Voter Id, which you can use to cast your valuable vote.

athul says, “This has been done to avoid any bogus votes or illegal voting. So the BT-INDIANS are kindly requested to get themselves registered. On registering the individual would receive a code which needs to be put up at the time of voting. Any violation or entering wrong code than provided will make the vote null/void. Here you are requested just to post this “for registration” and the code will be personally messaged to you by one of the organizers. ”

Hopefully most of you have already started with your registrations and those who haven’t do hurry up!

I’ve seen a sneak preview of the Voting Page and trust me you wouldn’t want to miss out on this!! Now just hope everything goes according to plan!

gs_sarathi

Snowy11's View On The World Cup!

2010-04-22T10:54:00.000+05:30

On The Kiwi Preparations:

Preperation is going as well as can be expected. PFLs are probably the best they have been all season, and naturally I’ve requested that managers rest their players this week. We’ll see how they turn out come Monday, but I’m fairly confident we can field a full strength team.

There was a bit of talk about how the group fixtures have been drawn, as

Australia

finished below

Pakistan

at the end of qualifying but go into the Group stage ahead of them. In the end, we are playing

Australia

who, on paper, have a stronger squad and are unbeaten against us across both seasons. It will be a very tough match as they essentially only need one win to make the semi-finals. Nevertheless, if we can win all three matches then we will qualify, and that’s surely what every manager is hoping to achieve.

On The WC Favourites:

It’s hard to see anybody overcoming

England

without lady luck on their side. They’ve lost only two games all season and are sitting on over the moon morale, far ahead of anybody else. Having said that, the Australian U19 team was in a similar position at last season’s World Cup and were upset in their first Group match against

South Africa

, who were conceding a huge morale advantage going into the game. But if you consider the differences between U19 squads and NAT squads, well just look at the numbers –

England

have 6 players over £1m wage, while the other 7 countries combined only have 2!

Now Chaminda_00 Talks About Srilanka and India

2010-04-21T16:04:00.000+05:30

On Srilanka's WC Preparation:

"Well

Sri Lanka

's results have shown it been a pretty tough season for us. We had a lot close matches where the results didn't go our way. But a lot of that comes down to developing squad. I think we have the youngest side in world at present.

India

and

Pakistan

something similar last WC, and are showing the benefits this WC term of rebuilding. Hopefully when the current lot hit the mid to late 20s, we will start to see them come into their own at NT level.

The side is looking quite good going into the WC, with some decent fitness levels and some handy pops in the last month. Most if not all the players are being rested at club level and had their nets tapered off. Hopefully we can get some wins. But we are not overly confident on making it past the group with point we have been given."

On India:

India

has looked good all season and really came out the block flying. They have dropped off a bit at the back end of the season. But the squad looks quite balance with some goog wages and experience levels. Would personally love to be in their group, not cus they are easy beats, but cus we would have more points. I would be very surprised if they don't make it past the semis. But

South Africa

sneaked under the radar last cup and will be looking to do the same here"

With Pushkar: A World Cup Chat!!

2010-04-20T21:02:00.001+05:30

GS: How is the WC preparations going?

Pushkar: The boys are being whipped daily till they do things perfectly. No really the boys are all relaxed and are determined to do well. They know that if they replicate last season's form, the cup is ours for the taking

GS: Sachin is currently going through one of the worst bowling forms. What is your take on this?

Pushkar: Yes. Really worried about Sachin going off the boil. A key player who may not be in action for the WC at all.

GS: There are rumours that Martant might be left out ahead of the World Cup. What do you have to say about it?

Pushkar: The decision isnt final yet but Marty just isnt good enough to play at the top level these days. He has played very few games for us recently and might be replaced by Junior Jumbo

GS: Are you happy with the World Cup group we have been placed in?

Pushkar: Honestly No. I would have been delighted to draw Aus, NZ and SA in our group. But given the way we played against Pak and SL, we probably deserved this!

GS: Considering that you have had a very successful managerial campaign will we see you for a second term?

Pushkar: No - irrespective of the result of the WC, this will be it for me.

GS: What do you think about Bt India blogazine being re-launched?

Pushkar: Its a very good initiative. But i would be happy it were not to remain a once every two months phenomenon :)

GS: What do you think about the Bt-India Blogazine Seasonal Awards?

Pushkar: Really good stuff by athul and V3. V3 has been one of the most active members on the U19 and Nat forums and its a laudable initiative from him

GS: Whittaker our leading bowler in the Qualifying campaign is also not in the best of forms. Should we be worried?

Pushkar: Duncan is a class act and will turn out well for us. His form while on the poor side isnt something to despair at just yet. The good news though is that Shevtank is back to prime form!

GS: Our pillar of strength over the years in the batting line-up, Vallabh Chandrepaul has been nowhere near his best….do you think his best days are over?

Pushkar: Vallabh is a star, he had a lean patch this season and like any other player is entitled to a low patch. He has worked really hard in the nets to get back to prime form and will play a key role in winning us the cup!

GS: Good luck 4 the Cup and ya...we will definitely try to take it beyond two months this time!

spit-fire Talks On England and India!

2010-04-20T11:55:00.001+05:30

On England's preparations:

“Well the season has gone pretty well and I am happy with our draw for the group stage.
We have asked for as many of our players as possible to be rested from matches now but have made no requests with regards dropping nets.

A couple of our owners have just gone bot and one player Graham, an important batsman has lost all form. He's likely to be involved further down the order than he's used to in matches as a result.”

On India:

“I think India had a very good season and it's worth noting that until their matches against England at the seasons end, they were 2nd in the table and flying high. I was surprised India didn't run us closer in those two matches as beating England is certainly not impossible.
It would be good for India to return to good form and make the semi-finals where anything can happen”

An Exclusive Interview With the Event Organisers!!

2010-04-20T09:51:00.001+05:30

Blogazine: This is the first time something of this sort is being arranged....so whose idea was it?

V3: It was actually originally athul's idea! He had the brilliant idea and I think he felt that being a relatively new user he needed to ask someone before he attempted it. I was lucky enough to be the one asked for advice, and I loved the idea and decided to help him out. MM was also responsible in giving us the 'okay', just in case we were delusional about the whole thing!

Blogazine: How do you think the pre-event activities have gone?

Athul: It’s been really wonderful. The works were at full swing and now we have decided upon the last details. We even have had a trial round and were happy with the condition of the things. Now it all depends on how the Bt Indians take it.

Blogazine: It’s a huge event so how are your preparations?

V3: It is a huge event, and as anyone that has been to the thread will be able to tell, has required a bit of organisation. But hey, I'm not complaining, we want it to be big!

Preparations are okay, athul is taking care of the external site that will be used, while I try and make sure everything runs smooth on-site!

Blogazine: How confident are you of pulling off this event successfully?

Athul: Now a lot confident. We had a successful time when we presented our ideas and have even worked upon some of the changes which were asked for from the Bt Indians . We are even happy that we have found a very reliable media partner. The works have been at full swing and we are pretty sure that we pull off!!

Blogazine: Just a day to go b4 the nomination starts are you guys nervous?

Athul: yup of course, it’s been a busy week for us. And there has been a lot of hard work and time put in. We are a bit nervous but then are happy that we have got a positive response. The next phase of nomination s is going to start tomorrow and we would be having the voting in the next week. The nervousness would be there but are keeping our fingers crossed

Blogazine: How did the deal with bt

india

blogazine happen?

V3: We needed the word to be spread, and in a slice of brilliance and luck, gs got in contact with us...and things started to roll from there. It was a good opportunity for the word to get out there, and for the blogazine to establish itself once again, so i think safe to say - happy faces on both parties

Blogazine: Thank you guys and good luck for the awards!!

'Bt-India Blogazine' Seasonal Awards Ceremony for Season 15

2010-04-17T18:35:00.001+05:30

We in Bt India Community are all set to witness the First Ever Seasonal Awards Ceremony and we at Bt India Blogazine are proud to announce that we are now the official media partners and chief sponsors of the Award Ceremony. So, for all the latest updates, results, news and interviews regarding the awards continue reading Bt India Blogazine!

The Seasonal Award Ceremony is the brainchild of two extremely active bt India managers, V3 and athul and with this latest event they plan to not only award the best in the Indian circuit but also honoring the managers who are active in the bt India community and are working towards taking the country forward in Battrick!

There will be 6 awards in total namely,

1. The 'Vallabh Chanderpaul' Medal for Commitment, Enthusiasm and Spirit,

2. Overall Most Successful Club Manager

3. Best Farm Team

4. Best Newcomer

5. U19 Player of the Season

6. National Player of the Season

Starting from tomorrow a period of one week has been allotted for the Bt India managers to nominate managers/players for the various awards followed by another week for the voting process.

This first of a kind democratic voting process will decide who come up trumps in the first ever 'Bt-India Blogazine' Seasonal Awards Ceremony.

gs_sarathi

R U Game??

2009-07-27T23:51:00.005+05:30

BT India Blogazine welcomes everyone to its July, 2009 Edition. After quite a successful month at the initial edition of Blogazine, we present before you its second edition. First of all, we would like to thank all of you who had been part of its success by putting their hands forward to warmly welcome this new venture of ours. Gs_sarathi and I had been really grateful to all of you who had been part of our first edition, especially Neiklot and Shailes. We also thank every single one of them who had posted their outlook for this blog on the Battrick forum. We welcome further suggestions and criticisms from all you people, helping us to present before you a better and brighter Blogazine. And for all of you who hadn’t yet written anything about Blogazine anywhere… please, come forward… we are eager to hear from you.

We would also like to thank the Battrick team for allowing Bt-India Blogazine to be a part of its Links page. This, we believe, can put a lot of greenhorns to come to know about Blogazine and we would be able to try helping them out in several ways. Also, this will help the members of BT India to know each other better and converge together. It may also help a lot of beginners to learn from the way their predecessors took to success. In total, this will altogether attempt to make Battrick a better experience for all of us.

We would like to heartily thank all of you guys who had been a part of this month’s edition of Battrick in writing a few columns for us.

It’s a privilege for us to announce that we had introduced a few new things in Blogazine this edition. One is a new facility which allows everyone to email any Blogazine post to his or her friends, family or anyone else from the page itself. It may come quite handy at times, we believe.

A brand new section called “Ask the Admin Team” had been added to the features of Blogazine to ensure that managers from all over India can directly talk to the BT admin team for any suggestions or problems related to Battrick. We believe that we all have something or the other to ask the admin team, but we usually fall back due to various reasons. Now we can easily come forward to asking them about our queries.

Altogether, we are still working hard to make this blog a pleasurable read for all of you… tending to make Blogazine a component of your everyday life. We invite everyone to be the part of this venture and allow BT India Blogazine to grow massively under the shadow of all of us.

Abhay Bokhle: The Boy Wonder

2009-07-27T23:49:00.011+05:30

In this edition of BT India Blogazine, let us turn our focus on the boy wonder of the Indian Battrick world - Abhay Bokhle. Bokhle was first promoted from his academy by Abaddon CC, but the scouting managers of other teams pointed him out fairly fast and soon there were managers all over the world pouring their money out over this green talent. At last the manager of Abaddon CC couldn’t resist a high paid bid put forward by Amodh, manager of the Record breakers and Bokhle was soon found travelling to Mumbai to play for his new team.

Abhay Bokhle is essentially a right handed attacking batsman. He had really shown his might in FC cricket scoring 1600 runs in 22 innings for his club till date. He also stands tall in the BT20 arena with 469 runs in 21 matches with an astounding strike rate of 160.07! But though Bokhle hadn’t got much chance to showcase his talent in the OD matches yet, he had always made his presence felt with the number of catches he took in those games. Here’s how he walked the path…

He made his OD debut against Alltimexi11 on 15th June, 2008. But he had to wait another month to play his first FC on 15th July where he confirmed his capability and the trust put on him by his manager by scoring his maiden half century.

Record Breakers’ manager, Amodh had recognized the talent in this boy very early indeed and earnestly wanted him to conquer new heights. That provoked him to provide this batsman extra attention and nets. Being an enthusiastic player as Abhay is, he had been seen by many in late Saturday afternoon sessions alone with his coach… practicing relentlessly, with his manager keeping a keen eye on his training. His tight schedules seldom allowed him to do anything else.

Bokhle’s hard work bore fruit at the end when at last he was chosen to be a member of the Indian U-19 squad under manager Megastar. He made his first OD debut against Sri Lanka U-19 team during the Season-12 U-19 World Cup. He came down when India had already lost an early wicket and didn’t take much time to show India and the world why Megastar had never been wrong to put such trust on him as he scored a sparkling 80 off 114 balls, creating partnerships as well, to lead the Indian team to a victory in their first match in the WC. His hunger for runs never took heed after that as he went on scoring runs for his team all through the World Cup… pushing India towards a historic spot ever experienced by them in Battrick… the U-19 Finals!!

Indian team could never pick themselves up after Bokhle got bowled out first ball in the finals. It was almost a shocker for them. It was as the Indian U-19 captain Amrit Kanojiya was quoted as saying during the final presentation ceremony- “Abhay always stood as an anchor on his spot… his wicket came as a real blow for us… maybe we never could recover from it anytime later…”

Though India lost the finals, it was indeed a great achievement for the Indian team and, of course, the man who led them towards that lofty dream. Bokhle was the leading run scorer of the series, ranging well over Carter-harris and Maynard of the New Zealand team. His 538 runs came in 7 matches, complete with 2 centuries and 3 half centuries… and a highest score of 157* against England.

His club manager, Amodh, is really jubilant about the way Abhay had responded to his faith. In the recent press release, he has mentioned that… (Quote) Record Breakers have been now officially included as a member of BT. This was a gr8 donation to the club because of the efforts of Abhay Bokhle. He's scored 586 runs in the world cup and helpy Team India reach the Grand Finale!!!!!!

Bokhle had reached 20 years of age in this recent season. We can no more see him rampaging the opposition bowling lineup in the U-19 WCs again. But he has still a long way to go in his life. And to justify this statement he had already scored a FC double century recently for his club team. If he continues to race like this… it may not be a faraway future to see him playing for the BT Indian National Team. It would really be a hopeful expectation for all of us Battrick Indians after experiencing the change his mere presence had brought to the U-19 squad.

Path To "ReDuX"ization!

2009-07-27T22:47:00.000+05:30

After focusing on India’s best club, it’s time now to have a look at the second best club in the country, ReDuX, previously known as RDX. Currently ranked #5 in the World, ReDuX are having a fine season, sitting at #3 in The Championship and occupying 2nd spot in the Ranji Trophy or OD league 1.1. They are also atop of BT20 divison II.2.

RDX’s journey to the top of the Indian divisons began way back in 24/04/2005 as they were taken over by hexogen. The club from Delhi did not take long to achieve their first trophy, as they won the Indian Cup in season 1. In the same season, they promoted from OD league III.14.Their success story continued next season, as they added Divison II.2 to their trophy cabinet too. The team received some more good news in Season 2, when hexogen was appointed as a MOD (Sledging Moderator) by BT-allanfc. That is why his username is MOD-hexogen.

After finishing 3rd in the Ranji Trophy in Season 3, they again won the Indian Cup in Season 4 while being runners-up in OD league 1.1. However, their brightest period was in Season 10, when they managed to grab a historic treble of the Indian Cup, OD league 1.1 and the First-Class Championship. All in all, ReDux has amassed 16 trophies in the 13 Seasons so far, including 6 Indian Cups, 5 OD league 1.1 championships, and one First-Class Championship trophy.

RDX CG is home to ReDuX, where some of the best players in the world practice, such as Indian NT player Uttam Singh Lali,(popularly known as USL), Kieran Yates, Richard Chadwick and many others. The ReDuX line-up also boasts of other world-class players such as Naveen Malik and Anand Padaychie. These are the players that have made ReDuX a champion-winning side.

We managed to ask Hex a few questions before his departure (nope nothing about past and present “affairs” as Hex is believed to date a new girl everyday…):
Why is your username Hex: ” The team was called RDX after the explosive Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine. Other names include, cyclonite, hexogen, and T4. Hence the username. In HT my fan club is called cyclonite. This season, we have changed the team name to ReDuX; which means to “bring back” - my desire to boast of my trophies again.” He knows enough chemistry to be my teacher for 2 more years.

Best Transfer – “Undoubtedly Uttam Singh lali. Bought at 3.5m, he has paid back many times more through his match winning innings. Another good buy was Richard Chadwick –
bought for around 0.35m. A consistent performer. As a policy now, I don’t buy players for more than 2 million. The most the club has paid is 4.5 million.”
Goal for this Season – “I am trying to build a 75% Indian team. 7 out of the 11 A team players are Indian players who have played for the Indian NT/U19 including, Sufiyan Rampaul (21), Uttam Singh lali (113) , Richard Chadwick (1), Nicky Lewis (8), Naveen Malik (U19-22)[Numbers in brackets indicate no. of matches played for country]. Apart
from that, win every trophy and boast about them to the Danish Junta and the Dutch Dummies.”

Any advice to newbie players? – “The most important thing is to have fun. Be patient and choose good trainees. Stick to a long-term training plan. e.g., For my team I know in 4 seasons time, what kind a player do I want to train. I know which seasons I will have a strong team and seasons when I will be struggling. There are ample opportunities to upset relatively stronger teams. Tactics plays an important role in BT.Communicate regularly on the sledging boards; there are a lot of helpful people around.”

Well, that was all we managed to get from Hex since he couldn’t wait for even a minute more as he had to reach the local pub to meet his new girlfriend(we’ll cover that next time!). A master tactician, a superb squad. No wonder that this squad is rated so highly not only in India, but throughout the BT world.

Contributed by Mad-coolfool

Interviewing an U-19: Aeroxys Speaks His Heart!

2009-07-27T22:37:00.002+05:30

gs: Hi Aero!

Aero: Hello gs!

gs: How has the first few days of your U-19 manager reign gone?

Aero: First few days have gone well. It was a warm welcome. Selecting the final 22 players was a tough job, though. It was time-consuming and the lack of good players this season made it even more difficult for me. But we've finalized the squad now and there wont be anymore changes. The first series sweep against Sri Lanka has given us a lot of confidence and and we're looking forward to the next series (vs NZ) as well. Also, I must say that the support I've received from the back-room staff and other members of the Indian community has been tremendous. They have helped me accomplish my tasks a lot quicker.

gs: In the last U-19 World Cup, India reached the finals….don’t you think there’s a lot of expectation from you to win the cup?

Aero: Well yes, I must admit there is a lot of pressure on me. Last WC, we got to the finals under the managership of Megastar who worked so hard to get us there. Hats off to him! Although it does put a lot of pressure on me, I'm just glad we got so far last season. My aim obviously will be to win the WC. But rather then thinking about that already, we will be taking each game as it comes and concentrate one game at a time. That will surely help me cope with the pressure. I will put in my best efforts to live up to the community's expectations.

gs: The NT World Cup will be held this season. Your Predictions?

Aero: I'm pretty confident that shailes will bring home the cup or at least make it to the finals. He is an excellent manager and has been doing his job very well. He always puts in his 100%. All he needs is a little more support from the community. Good luck shailes! :)

gs: Test Matches have been introduced. Your first reactions to this?

Aero: Ah! Just amazing! Although it's only an exhibition match, it's still a delight to watch! I wish even the U19s had Test matches but I think I can make do with VIP tickets for the Test match!

gs: During your Managerial campaign, certain sections expressed concern about your attitude and labeled you as arrogant. What do you have say about this?

Aero: I don't really think I was labeled as 'arrogant'. It was more about 'inexperience' rather. Besides, I don't think I have been rude to anyone after I've been sworn in ( Not that I was before, there could only have been a couple o' freak cases ). Now, lets leave it there.

gs: Also there were allegations about you leaking information. Your comments please.

Aero: I don't think 'leaking' info is the right word. It was more like telling someone the very obvious things, in self-defense. But that's past now, and it's gonna stay in the past.

gs: You have made an early exit from this year’s Cup. Disappointed?

Aero: LOL! Disappointed of course! :P
Really careless of me, underestimating a bot! But that was one of those freak cases where things just don't go your way. In the previous round, I fielded the same players and played a bot and won comfortably. Dunno what happened in the next round. I had better match ratings too! I blame it on the randomness of the Match Engine! :P

gs: Any specific aims for your club this season?

Aero: Umm, not really. Avoiding relegation will be my aim. Will try my best to promote in BT20 though. Promoting in OD or FC is out of question... :(

gs: So are you finding any difficulties in your dual managerial role?

Aero: Not at all. U19s will always take precedence. My club will be slightly in the back-seat for about 2 seasons. But yeah, it's all going pretty smoothly. :)

gs: This is the second edition of Blogazine. What do you think about it? And any changes or additions that you would like to see in the nest edition?

Aero: It's an amazing project! Really loving every bit of it and I'm looking forward to the next edition already. It's a great means of reaching out to the community at large and it contains a lot of interesting stuff. Can't really think of any suggestions at the moment, but I'll surely let you know whenever something strikes me. :)

gs: Thanks… Interviewing you…...has been a great experience!

Aero: Thanks lot gs, it's been a pleasure being interviewed by you. Keep up the good work you've been doing so far. And yeah, Kip Rokin!

Ajituk Dons The Xpert's Cap

2009-07-27T22:31:00.001+05:30

MOD-hexogen: "How do you select a captain? How much weight-age does one give to leadership and experience? "

Ajituk: It has always been debated whether a captain is any use in BT at all! Lately the captain seems to have become slightly relevant with the FC matches but the impact cannot be measured well enough.
Rules state that the two factors affecting captaincy is Leadership and Experience. Its anyones guess what the effect of each is. The rule of thumb I follow is 3x Leadership + 2x Experience. (You need to take leadership and experience on the same scale as leadership is till superb and exp till elite)

dbasu: "The new pfl settings is causing a lot of problems for me this season. What should I do?"

Ajituk: The PFL setting have affected all equally. So don't get too bothered. It will be difficult to keep all your players at Sublime like before, but not impossible.

There are various ways to manage it. Some have 2 full squads to tackle PFL. Some concentrate only on one/two forms of the game. Some train all their players’ stamina to superb (or i think they do).

What I do is try to build an all round squad so that not one or two of your players are heavily burdened. And have 2-3 stars who can win you a match.

Batsmen seem to cope better with PFL problems. So, 1 set of batsmen can manage pretty well. What a team needs is a buffer in Bowling - 6 to 7 bowlers rotated well can hold fort.

A relatively new team can't afford the luxury of extra first 11 players. They can pick up some old players (with good stam) who are dirt cheap on the market.

Some PFL Pointers for new teams:

1) Stam: Mediocre is a good level for beginners. A good team needs to have top 11 players with resp+ (with most on Strong/Superb)

2)Avoid playing players below invigorated PFL

3) GFIs in BT20 dont cost much PFL, so win those BT20 games with GFIs ;)

4) Bowlers need more stamina than Bats - the faster they bowl, the more stamina they need.suggested stamina (for new teams)
Spin: Atleast mediocre,
Medium: Atleast mediocre
FM : Atleast competent
F : Atleast Respectable

***The Xpert For Our August Edition Will Be Baz, the manager of The B Team.

Nightowl answers BT India Managers

2009-07-27T22:25:00.000+05:30

steel_hawk: " Are there any plans to let us change our strategies(orders) in between innings or during lunch and tea(FC)? This would help a lot."

Nightowl: There are currently no plans to allow this based on the way matches are calculated in advance. This restricts changes to only be made at the end of each day's play. It also may give too much advantage to those who can be online at all times over those who cannot do so and as such be an unfair advantage.

tamal100: "Is there any possibility of offering real prize money or other prizes, even if it’s in small amount? It will definitely draw a lot of interest and even spread the game further. Everyone would want to achieve that target then."

Nightowl: There are no plans to make offer real money as prizes for any competitions in Battrick. This would open up way more complications and difficulties with regards to people throwing matches, cheating in any other form and other problems that would not add any real benefit to the game.

The First BT Test Match

2009-07-27T22:15:00.000+05:30

For seasons now, one of the most awaited events in the Battrick world has been the arrival of Test Matches. Season 13 saw to it that this wait finally ended. Like all other nations India too played its first Test Match on 6th July, 2009 and to top it, we faced Pakistan on their home soil. The National Stadium presented a scene that the Indian fans are not quite accustomed to, Vallabh and his boys in whites!

Vallabh lost the toss but thanks to a good team effort on the field, Pakistan was bowled out for 266 runs in the first innings. Barring Ghandi all the other bowlers got among wickets. The Pakistan line-up had several batsmen who got off to a start but failed to convert it into a big score. Qambrani(59) and Shafiq(68) both chipped in with half centuries.

India’s top 3 of Vallabh(32), Praski(20) and Karthikeyan(6) weren’t able to make an impact but there departures brought together Haishen(105) and Rutujit Islam(138), who took India to a position of strength. Both the batsmen got centuries. The twin centuries was well supported by the twin half-centuries lower down the order from Rupesh Islam(55) and Ahmed(56). India’s 1st ever Test Innings ended at a comfortable score of 448 runs.

Pakistan’s 2nd innings again saw some great bowling from the Indians. Whittaker who was the pick of the bowlers took 4 wkts for just 53 runs. Despite some great batting from Raheem(89) and Shafiq(51), Pakistan failed to post a big score.

India came out for the 2nd time with a small target to get. India again lost their both openers cheaply but this time Karthikeyan stood his ground and with unbeaten knock of 43 guided the team to victory. So, India won its first ever Test match comfortably by 8 wkts.

In an exclusive post match interview to Blogazine Caliban, the Pakistani manager said that, “Going into the test match I had high hopes, on paper we were fielded the strongest batting lineup ever seen for Pakistan but the demands of test match batting seemed to be too much for many of the team. In both innings a lot of the batsmen made starts only to get out and without any big scores to build around we ended up with 2 sub par totals. We made a good start with the bowling in the first innings but then Haishen and Islam came together for a 234 run partnership that effectively won the match for India. From that moment onwards India were always in control.”

The NT manager, Shailes was unavailable for a comment as he was busy partying with the boys! However, he did send in a complimentry champagne..so lets all raise a toast to Indian NT!

Battrick - India U19 – A promise that promises much

2009-07-27T21:47:00.002+05:30

It wasn’t lost on the Indian followers on Battrick that the Indian U19 team had till recently followed the real life Indian exploits with doing well but doing so inconsistently. After all, having only one runner-up trophy after seasons of ambition is not what will make you thrilled.

Yet, one could see that a steady process was taking place. At the heart of such process was the season-12 India U19 staff. Made of separate managers for different age group :-
19 yr olds - Megastar
18 yr olds - pushkar
17 yr olds – Aeroxys.

One could just see that the effort had started to work. India U19 team was finally starting to deliver to its potential. On the back of a fairly good pool of aspiring young Indian U19 players, and the obvious and active hard work from managers, India U19 had, for the first time, come runners-up in the U19 BT-World Cup competition.

As a new season has now arrived, ambitions are the same, expectations have increased, and at the centre of all this is the newly appointed India U19 manager Aeroxys, and his rapid and proactive management team. A model from the last time has been followed. With the Head Manager (Aero) appointing separate managers to manage youth of different ages and scouting it from teams of different countries. The newly appointed managing team is:

Chief Scouts:

veni_vidi_vici
prashanth678
tigerbla
hitter1994

Managers:

17YOs:

Batsmen - Amodh
Bowlers - Mad-coolfool
ARs and WKers - Hitarth1987

18YOs:

Batsmen - MuchMore
Bowlers - Digibomb
ARs and WKers – koolguy

Overall Coordinators:

17YOs: ajituk
18YOs : samirkapur

A clearly well thought-out coordination between managers to dedicate a certain amount of time for the national team. However, one doesn’t stop here, as Aero-The Manager decided to move the new BT-India website.

This season, seems clearly to be the season of tough competition. With New Zealand U19 and Australia U19 lifting their levels and also trying to set up their own management system in a highly efficient way. India U19 this season are facing a tough competition.

Players:-

The India U19 team this season consists of a fairly balanced team. In the Batsmen, Dinesh Bamrah and Pranay Bagadi are leading the way as they have been fairly experienced and highest skilled players among the squad. Both are 19 years old, and should be permanent member of the line-up.

Wicket-Keeping pool has a total of three keepers with Buddhadev Vedati the most efficient of the three. The other two however, need improvement over their Wk skill and if they do, could battle with Vedati for the final spot.

Amol Muzawar (Right arm Medium), Trilochan Saney (Right arm Fast-Medium), Yogesh Sriraman (Left arm Spin) seem to be the leading contenders in the bowling department. Bowling department, seems to be loaded with Medium and Spin bowlers thus making India a vulnerable team on Hard and fast pitches. However, Dusty and Slow pitch should see the Indian bowling line-up putting up their best show.

All-Rounders often make or break the game. India has two such, however only Paritosh Ghani, for now seems to have the license to make the team, Deepankar Kamaraju should be in as a reserve all-rounder and as he is a Fast-Medium bowler, offers a bit of variety to a somewhat disappointingly one-dimensional Indian bowling attack. If it’s an uneven pitch, Kamaraju might just be seen jumping up and down in the team dressing room.

Squad Review:-

Good and skilled team. Batting is obviously the stronger point. Fairly balanced, but yet a bit one-dimensional when it comes to bowling. There are no obvious star players, which obviously is a blessing in disguise because the team manager doesn’t have to turn to one bloke time and again to win a cricket match, it might just prove to be a bit of a hindrance for India when it comes to turning a match with an inspiring performance.

Management:-

All done and dusted however, good teams often have been robbed by bad coaching and even worse management. This is one aspect though that India U19 will not be hurt by because the new manager Aeroxys seems to know exactly what amount of work and enthusiasm it takes and has taken no time in taking literally the whole Battrick India community with storm by means of communication and messages about the Indian U19 squad selection. Aero seems to know the importance of hard work that the job demands and looks certain to surpass his predecessor.

Performance:-

Somehow, Aero’s activeness has starting to rub off on the team, streaky to steady, forceful to fortunate, India U19’s have started their season in a dream way. First a win over Sri Lanka U19’s, then good performances against the strong line-ups of New Zealand U19’s, Australia U19’s, and West Indies U19’s. And just as this article was being prepared, a streaky win by 6-runs over Australia U19’s.

Future:-

For a bright future, the team has to constantly improve in skills and for that the managers who own the player also have the responsibility. Responsibility to stay in touch with the scouts, assistant managers and Aeroxys himself. If the steps are followed and followed with full seriousness, we might just see India U19 having their most successful season yet.

Jai Hind !!!

Contributed by Hitarth1987

Thorinus United: Path To The Top

2009-06-27T22:06:00.000+05:30

The first club that we are ‘focus’ing on is arguably one of India’s best clubs, Ranked#1 in India and #4 in the world… it is the Thorinus United. It has flourished under the manager of the team, Neiklot, this team came into being almost right from the establishment of Battrick, to be exact on 28-4-2005.
Neiklot, hailing from Denmark, a country that hardly plays cricket took up the challenge of managing this Mumbai based club. He started his career in Battrick and ascertained his potency early enough, standing top of the OD league III.3 right in the first season. His victory run continued strong in the second season, too, as he again topped the OD league II.3. Just as to finally confirm his superiority to one and all, he won the India OD championship next season. Thus Thorinus United stood as a strong power in the Battrick arena for India.
His victory lap continued as he struck gold in the FC league too, as soon as it came to being…winning the top spot in League III.5 in Season 8 and League II.3 in Season 9. He also won further India OD Championships in Season 9 and the very previous Season 12. The Knockout OD Cup for India couldn’t stay away for long, too… as he grabbed its shiny handles consecutively in season 8 and 9.
Che Guevara Memorial Ground is the home ground of Thorinus United. Players like Angelo Karthikeyan and Vallabh Dangasela who have previously represented the Indian U-19 team are a part of this team. Star players like Fred Hendro, and Roy Saayman also hail from his team.
Neiklot is one of the three Danish managers who manage clubs in India. The other two managers are Quper and goofy-deluxe. They together formed a group known as Danish Junta with the goal of ruling Bt- India!
This season too Thorinus United is making their presence felt!With an unbeaten run of 8 matches they are standing at #1in the FC Championship, at #5 in the One Day League I.1 and #3 in the Battrick Premier League. He’s has also reached the Round IV of the Indian Cup matches. At the end of season 13 we may very well see a few more trophies added to his Trophy Cabinet.
On being asked about his secret to success, he said,“If you want one word to explain my succes, here it is: Single-netting!”
Here’s wishing Neiklot and his club Thorinus United the very best for this and the upcoming seasons, and maybe we will soon have to see Battrick prepare a special separate trophy cabinet page for him!!

Vallabah Chanderpaul: Captain Marvellous

2009-06-26T22:42:00.001+05:30

Vallabah Chanderpaul was first spotted by garpen, manager of the Gujrat based club Leeds United in talent spotting event and he immediately promoted Vallabh to his squad. However this relationship between Vallabh and garpen was short-lived. Vallabh’s talent drew a lot of hostile bidding and finally was recruited by Sherwood CCC for a sum of £583,894.

It is in the grounds of Nottinghamshire that Vallabh truly matured as a player. What helped him most was the great relationship he shared with his club manager, nffc-andy which continues till date. The manager showed great faith in him and he responded as well as he possibly could!

Vallabh is a right hand batsman, who also bowls part-time medium deliveries. His talents spoke for him very soon when he was chosen to represent the Indian U-19 side. He went on to play 38 U-19 OD matches with an average of 51.96. But he didn’t just stop there he today captains the Indian NT and is undoubtedly one of the best bats in the Indian line-up. He has till date played 123 matches for the country in which he has scored 6306 runs at an average of 67.09.

Vallabh has also done his bit for Sherwood CCC. He has scored 11171 OD runs at an astonishing average of 174.55! And, if that was unbelievable what do you have to say about his bt20 performances where he has an average of 208.75? However, a regret that Vallabh must be having is that he has only played 3 FC matches till date!

Now, for some interesting facts on him…he has 7 OD wkts with a best bowling figure of 3-5! He also has 8 OD and 1 Bt20 stumpings!

We salute this great player, who we believe will lead India to many glories in the coming years. We also wish him good luck during the remaining of his playing days!

The Caribbean Challenge

2009-06-26T17:00:00.001+05:30

The NT’s season 13 kicks off with a home match against West Indies on the 28th of June and the very next day they again face-off with the Caribbean’s on their own backyard!
Things in the International Scenario have changed a bit in Battrick. From this season each country will be playing all the other countries in a two matches. One home and another away. Also of a manager’s tenure the 1st season will only count for the morale and it is only the 2nd season that will actually earn points. It is based on these points the countries will be ranked.

Like every other big event this year’s BT NT World Cup will be also played in South Africa. The eight teams will be divided into two groups and then two teams from each group will be making make it to the semis.

Our NT manager, Shailes in as exclusive interview to us has said that, “
I'm confident we'll make the SF at least... that's the aim!”

Now coming back to our Caribbean challenge…Shailes has confirmed that we will be playing as good a side as we can in the first match…however, the second match might see some of the players getting rested. Another big news is that Rajanikant just might be making his ODI debut. Tough everyone trusts him with the big gloves there are being doubts expressed over his batting skills. In case Rajnikant does get the nod, Gilly will be playing as specialist batsman.

Our best wishes to the NT team!

Neiklot Answers A Newbie

2009-06-26T15:56:00.002+05:30

regular_guy: Being a newbie in the battrick world its always gets real tough to play matches with teams whose player ranking are of gargantuan proportions ....so when u were just in the same condition such as me now.....how did u cope with such situations?

Neiklot: Hi regular_guy! Nice to hear from you. Well, as I started in the very beginning of BT, I have never really had to play much better teams than my own.When you start playing a new online game that has been around for a long time you will always be much worse than the best teams. It is impossible to become the best team over night, and comparing yourself to the best teams will only make you feel bad!
What you need to do is comparing yourself to the managers that started around the same time as you did. If you play well and run away from these you can start comparing yourself to the ones who have been playing a bit longer than you and so on. If you play the game real well you will get closer and closer to the top of the pop and as even top teams get tired of a game and go inactive once in a while it is possible to get near the top if you have the patience!
The best leagues in India still mostly have teams that started in the beginning of the game, but I am sure we will soon see younger teams there.There will be matches you cannot win, or at least matches that is highly unlikely for you to win. My advise is that you use these to rest your players and get ready for the close matches. Pick your fights wisely!

Up Close With Shailes" The NT Manager"

2009-06-26T11:34:00.000+05:30

gs: Hi
Shailes: Hey there..
gs: How has your first season as the NT team managaer gone for you?
Shailes: pretty well overall i'd say. i'm quite pleased with the 4-3 win-loss ratio over the course of the season, and cooperation from managers has been pretty good. slight regret that even using the sledging board i'm not able to get more input in the pre-game discussions going...

gs: The Indian u-19 side had reached the finals last season, as the nt manager how do you think the nt is gonna fare in this World Cup?
Shailes: i'm confident we'll make the SF at least... that's the aim!

gs: Aero has just won the u-19 manager elections for the 1st time in a landslide victory ...what is your first reaction on this?
Shailes: CONGRATULATIONS! :-)

gs: As a Nt Manager will you be guiding and helping him and how?
Shailes: always happy to provide support, but to be honest, aero seems to know exactly what he's doing!

gs: The Season 13 has started... what are your ambitions as a club manager?
Shailes: buy one more NT player and not go bust before the WC!

gs: Your club has two of India's best all rounders, Sachin Ahmed and Rupesh Islam....who do you think is better?
Shailes: sachin has the better stats, but rupesh the better skills, so it's a bit of a toss-up between the two... with his xp, probably sachin has his nose in front... only just though!

gs: Unlike other managers you have been advocating the use of sledge board as the place for strategy making...after using it for one season...how successful do you think your idea was?
Shailes: i'm enjoying it, and some of the input has been excellent. how do you think it's going?

gs: How difficult is it to manage both your club as well as the NT at the same time?
Shailes: well, i manage the NT, and use the club as a farm... so i've really given up on my club side in any competitive sense now.

gs: Do you plan to contest the Nt manager elections next season?
Shailes: most certainly not! i'm enjoying my time in charge, but there's plenty of excellent candidates out there that will be able to take the NT forward with fresh ideas - so it'll be over to them when the season's up!

gs: what do think of bt India blogazine as a concept?
Shailes: wonderful idea, i hope you guys can keep it up! many thanks for inviting me to participate for the first edition :-)
gs: Thanx!

An Introduction

2009-06-25T14:52:00.000+05:30

Battrick is one of the best online cricket management game and its absolutely free! Here one can manage cricket club against other human managers from all over the world. Battrick allows one to log in at any time of the day, or night, to check on your club, expand the ground, buy and sell players, set match orders and strategise for upcoming matches and much, much more. Each manager gets to compete in an OD league, a First Class league and a t20 league. Moreover there is also a National Knock-out Cup competition …. And there are friendly matches too. So, a lot of work you see…It’s a world where only the best of managers can survive!

That’s what Battrick is all about …

We entered the world of Battrick in its 11th season… right from the start of it. Since then the attraction for this world had been such that we truly had been “Battricised”…as we coined the phrase. We had been online to Battrick as long as possible these days… unraveling the secrets it has in store for us day after day… trying to understand the true nature of the game… aiming for the best. And this has been the target for all the players who had been in Battrick for these long years. Since then two seasons has passed, and the appeal hadn’t gone any less. We still feel the same pressure when we face sturdy opponents… still feel the ecstasy of winning tough games… still feel the angst of losing close ones. Overall, the sense of Battrick flow non-stop through our nerves.
The Blogazine had thus been the brainchild of our dedication towards Battrick. It was designed to make the Battrick users of India feel friendlier towards this game. We went through the various chapters in Battrick and found quite a few areas where we could make it further user-friendly. Thus we started on with our concept of Blogazine. We hope to find it helpful to all the newcomers of Battrick… and as well as to all others. We aim to take our relationship in the bt India Community one notch higher!
But the concept of Blogazine will never be a success without all of you participating to work it further towards being a rather good help… either by posting in your suggestions or by providing us with helpful tips along our way. Thus it is our ardent request to all of you to take part in this and help us in making Battrick a further attraction to newcomers and future managers.
And above all to make the experience of battrick an even more enjoyable one…

The U-19 Elections

2009-06-24T10:35:00.000+05:30

The U-19 elections had taken place a few days back. Truly speaking this time round the elections was a pretty one-sided one and lacked the excitement that an election generally brings along!

The Sledging Board saw just two candidates standing for the elections the greenhorn Aeroxys and the veteran Pakisthani Manager, Altamash.

From the day Aeroxys filed his nomination, he turned out to be the favourite. Though his attitude and experience were questioned in certain corners, his charisma drew more and more supporters every day. It almost went to a point when the country thought that we were gonna have a one horse race and believe me no one was complaining.

Indian U-19 elections hit the headlines towards the end, when the legendary Altamash filed his nominations. A two time Pakisthani U-19 manager who is infamous for his fondness towards Indian teams definitely spiced up things a bit or atleast it seemed so.

The elections also saw a bit of controversy when some managers claimed that Aeroxys was guilty of leaking information. But, thankfully Aeroxys came out clean.

On 15-06-2009 the election results were declared and to noone’s surprise Aeroxys won hands down. Aeroxys had 49 votes in his favour where Altamash could only manage 8!
Megastar, Neiklot and pushkar came 2nd, 4th and 5th respectively.

We in Bt India Blogazine would like to congratulate Aeroxys for his land-slide victory! We salute his dedication towards the Battrick India Community and specially the U-19 scenario. We believe the Indian U-19 team will reach the pinnacles of glory under his managerial reign and would like to extend our good wishes towards him and our U-19 team.