In the journey of umpiring, it was another small step. This Thursday, i.e. May 13, 2010, I was appointed to umpire the game between Belgium and Germany. This was the first international game of my umpiring journey. Though this was just a friendly game and did not have an official status, the teams competing were the national sides of the respective countries. In fact were not allowed to call this a Belgium v Germany game. So it was called Belgium XI v German Selection. This was my first opportunity to umpire at this level. I never ever imagined in my wildest dream that I would ever umpire a game between national sides so soon (I have started umpiring only in 2008). Though I have umpired only one season (2008) in Belgium (I missed completely 2009 in Belgium though I did 4 games in India), I am happy that my efforts had been recognized and I had been given this opportunity. This is indeed no way close to what I have to achieve as an umpire, but this small step would definitely go down as a highlight of my umpiring journey (Note, I am still not calling it a career).
May 13 was a holiday in Belgium, so that made it is easy for me. I did not have to convince my manager for a leave. I decided the night before that I will have a good sleep, so that I wake up fresh. When I was going to my bed, I knew deep in my heart if something that could spoil my chance of making an international debut, it was the Belgian weather. True to its reputation, the weather did not disappoint me. Indeed when I woke up the next day, it was raining, though not heavily (which again is typical of Belgium). It was too early in the day (7 am), I knew it could change anytime in the coming hours. It could get better or even worse. Since that was not in my control, I did not bother about it much. I finished my daily chores. Then I went through the regulation of the game once again.
The game was supposed to start at 12:30 pm. It was 50 overs game. Scotty was giving me a ride today to Rumst (where the game was to be played). We decided to meet at our usual meeting point, i.e. the airport at 11:00 am. I left my house at 10:00 am. It was still drizzling. We reached the ground at 11:30 am. Still it was drizzling. Peter, my colleague for the day was already there. BCF officials were also there. Some Belgian players were already busy with their warm ups. German team had not arrived yet.
I helped Marc Vandereviere (official scorer of Belgium) and Sheel Shukla (Manager, Belgium Team) in marking the inner circles. During this time, I observed that the ground was still very wet. I was still not sure if we would be able to start the game on time. Deep in my heart I did not want a truncated game. First international game being a truncated game would not suit the bill.
By 11:45 am, we saw that the German team also arrived clad in red tracks. Soon they took to the field starting their drills. Very similar to the Belgian team, the German team also had majority of people from Indian and Pakistani origin. The only difference was that the Belgian team had more number of Pakistani origins and German team had more number of Indian origin people.
Since the start of the game was 12:30 pm, the toss should happen between 12:00 no0n and 12:15 pm. We were still not sure if we would be able to start at 12:30, considering the drizzling that was still in progress. Very typical of Belgian weather, the drizzling stopped, and we diced to go for the toss at 12:15 pm. Belgium XI won the toss and elected to bat first. This was a very practical decision considering that the ground was wet. No captain would like to field under this conditions.
As an umpire we had to asses the fitness of the ground to play the game. Though the ground was wet, it was still not dangerous not to play. Moreover we did not want to waste any time that we got in between the rain. So we started the game at 12:30 pm as scheduled. My first game at this level and I had goofed up. I forgot to take the match ball to the field and that created a bit of confusion to begin with. Since the ground was wet, German captain James suggested that he would prefer to change the ball after 25 overs. The ball would be replaced by a dry old ball. Belgian captain Javed agreed.
The bowlers were finding it really hard to grip the surface and as a result, they leaked to many extras. This helped the Belgian openers to settle down without taking much risk. The score went to 42 in just 6 overs when German had their first breakthrough. After this fall of wicket, the scoring slowed and by end if 17th over, Belgians were 86/4. We thought that there was an early finish on the cards. I was very un happy as, being my first international, I wanted a full 100 overs game. At this point of time, the captain Javed Iqbal joined Shahid Ahmed and began the consolidation. It was very evident from their batting that they wanted to stay their as long as they could. This resulted in severla maiden overs in between and scoring rate fell drastically. The bowlers (especially Tarun and Kashif) were bowling in good lines, but were not able to break this partnership. This was resulting in some sort of frustration among them. The sledging was in full flow. It was not agrressive but continuous. Moreover it was in Hindi and I could understand everything that was going on. It was really amusing. The partnership had streched from 18th over till 38th over without taking any risk. First sign of agression came when Tarun was hit outside the park on the last ball of 39th over. From then on, the scoring rate galloped. Every bowler bleeded runs. Captain was tempted to make a bowling changes and introduce Rishi in 41st over. Even his last ball went for a six. In the meantime both Javed and Shahid had reached their half centuries and the partnership had grown to 131. In 43rd over, Rishi produced the ball, that each German was waiting for. Shahid was finally out caught but the damage was already done. Belgium XI were 217 for 6 now. Soon Javed also departed and Belgian Team finally were bowled out in the last over and the target set to German Selection was 256. Rishi ended up with 4 wickets in as many overs. German captain must be wondering, why he did not make him bowl in the beginning.
After a break of 45 mins, the German selection started their chase of 256, which by no means was a small target. Moreover, the rain had stopped and it would be far more easier for the bowlers to bowl. Germans began their chase slowly and they were definitely not helped by the disciplined bowling from Shar Khan and Shalin. In the 6th over Shalin gave them a double jolt and they were 26/2. Germans were in no mood to surrender after this double jolt, so they put their heads down and looked for a partnershipscoring in singles, doubles and occasional boundaries. Belgian bowling also did not give them many chances to score freely. Then finally the defence of Germans were broken and the third wicket fell in 21st over. The score was 82. At this stage, Germans were still in the chase. But soon Belgian captain shuffeled with their bowlers and that gave results. The scoring rate dropped and Germans started losing wickets in regular intervals. In spite of the regular fall of wickets, their innings lasted till 42nd over when their 9th wicket fell at a score of 155. At this point of time, the German Selection decided to call it off as their last batsman was injured and they declared the innings over. The game ended in a very unusual way. My first international game was over. It was a releif. It was almost a complete game. Rain luckily did not play a spoil sport, at least in terms of interupting the game. To be very honest, I was very disappointed by the quality of the game. Germany is in a division higher than Belgium, but the way the game progressed (apart from the first 20 overs), it looked the other way round. The level of game was very much comparable to the division 1 games in Belgian League. So there was nothing special.
At least for the name sake I had done an international game. The level in no way is near to the normal ODI games. I am waiting to see how far I progress in this path. It is a tough ask and lot of perseverance is needed. Hope I am able to put all the hard work required and keep myself motivated.
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