NWCL Selection Process

1. NWCL Selection Process Presented by Vijay Beniwal

2. NWCL Selection Criteria Please note selection is not limited to just one of the following • Talent • Potential • Fitness • Commitment towards tournament and beyond • Consistent performance for years • Qualities of being Team Player • Statistics • Role in the team and team’s need of that role • Cricketing experience outside NWCL • Financial commitment • Ability to scale at higher level of cricket

3. NWCL Selection Guidelines • Equal opportunity • Fair process • Transparent process • Promote players for round the year participation rather than being their for local games and not there for away games • Promote willing rather than unwilling & not communicating players • League growth • Accommodate out of station committed league players • Select different teams for different formats of game

4. NWCL Selection Process • President announce selectors & Coach at the season start • Selectors select ‘X’ no of players as “probables” and “reserves” as backups • Select potential players from each club • Divide them based on primary role • Announce list to all clubs reps • seeking availability • laying down requirements to be selected • Asking clubs for any additional recommendations • Conduct practice sessions (include players outside the list too for exposure) • Select final 14, (3 players out of best playing 11 are informed about possibility of not getting any game)

5. Probable Sample • 2010 Probables (30) • Microsoft(16), Seattle(5), KingCounty(2),RCC(3), LWCC (1), Southside(1), Spokane(1),Rainier(1) • 2009 Probables (33) • Microsoft(16), Seattle(3), KingCounty(3),ARCC(3), Southside(3), LWCC(2), Redmond(1), Rainier(1), Spokane (1)

6. Some examples of this year • Players such as Anjum, Hrishikesh missed out due to bulk of medium pacers • Ketan & other keepers are over shadowed by performances of Pradeep and Sandeep (Best fielders award winners at regional level) • Amit, Rehman, Shahzad, Harish, Mahesh are still invited to practices for wider participation • Omair, Adnan, Viraj, Nitin, Sanjeev are invited for practice games for wider participation

7. Success in the process • 2 US Players and 1 US Team probable in the NWCL team • Winning the Inter-League twice in a row after disappointing results prior to only these 2 years (success after 8 years of hardwork) • Multifold increase in Regional team by NWCL players (from 2-3 to 6 players) • We don’t have to beg for collecting 11 players to go as compared to past even when bulk is paid by player (NWCL pays < 0-20% of a trip cost) • Healthy competition among the Probables reflected by number of quality practice sessions with attendance • More & more wants to participate in process i.e. as a player, selectors, manager and coach. Huge success for the process. • NWCL is “Team to beat” putting us on cricket map of region and US • NWCL Team is an exemplary Team at regional level. Multiple leagues have asked us for our process and guidelines • Mark Demos being asked to Coach various level of teams i.e. regional and US-19 • Every year we have 2-4 new players joining the team. A very healthy rate of new players coming in

8. How “Process” can get better • Involvement of league reps /BOD to understand the process, selection criteria & guidelines. • Importantly provide feedback to improve. • Suggest/Discuss any player selection if not in list • Make the process transparent by communicating to teams • Bring forward any complaints to selectors for clarification • Understand that each player pays more $500 per trip, so contribution of NWCL is <20% which is appreciated but still most of it paid by players. It is our investment in our talent and future. • Help in logistics i.e. players availability, financial issues with players, trip co-ordination, organizing practice sessions etc • Updated NWCL website as means of communication to keep everyone updated in league i.e. publish process and steps in process (email only goes to league reps) • Will set up email alias for selectors for communication and feedback • Understand that time involved in this process is huge. We can wish it to be perfect and important part is we are improving with time. • Evolve process to create NWCL Team 2, constraints are the lack of opportunity to participate and effort required to manage

9. Feedback from Probables • I have found the process to be pretty clear .. calling for participation from all the Probables. I have seen that all the Probables have been given fair amount of chance to display their game so far. • Speaking of early experiences, I have found the process to be pretty close to what I have seen when I was playing professional cricket in Pakistan around year 2000. The process is pretty similar to what I saw in Canada as well, when I played for Richmond and played Premier Division with them. • Overall, I am pretty satisfied with how things are going so far... giving attention to all the aspects of the game including physical fitness, fielding, batting and bowling.

10. Thanks for the email, I would say the top 8 players are chosen  rightfully so on there outstanding performances in the NWCL. The other 5-6 players selected are  extremely hard to seperate . First and foremost fielding should be the tie breaker IMOA. Examples of my thoughts Naveen Kumar vs Hitesh patel for example .....you would have to say Hitesh is a liability in the field. I think Hitesh is a better batAnjum LWCC  vsNaseerJamali ....   you would have to go with Naseer because Angum is a liability in the field. I think Angum is a better new ball bowler Batting technic is very important. playing straight is crucial at a higher level. Nikel Patel vs Me for instants . Nikel made boat loads of easy runs against average bowling in NWCL  but against good bowlers he struggles because of tecnich. Me i play the same straight bat at both levels so the step up is easy.BowlingThey must be able to move the ball of the seam or swing it as a opening bowler. Change bowlers need to be  All rounders able to bat and fieldFieldingIf you can't move or throw you don't make the team. No place to hide you over 3 days of 50 over cricketBased on what i saw last season i'd pick my 14. I hate to pick 10-11 MSCC but it is what it isVijay MSCCSrini MSCCSrikath MSCCPuneet MSCCNaseer SeattleAnas - Seattle - Bats with a very straight batNaveen MSCCParab MSCCVerma MSCCSamath MSCCArun MSCCKamesh MSCCShehryar Butt - Rainer IMOA best opener in the LeagueLast spot is difficultK Nazir or Shital Mehta or a fit Sanjay Rama or fit Sanjay NaikSorry theres no room for myself ...!!!

11. Good parts: • Definitely the most open and fair selection process I have seen, in India and here in USA. Comparable with USA national team selection, which was surprisingly very open and fair (even though I was not selected J). Far better than regional team selection here in USA (even though I was selected J) or City/other representative selections in India. • Usually the emphasis on showing up every practice session in winter, emphasis on fitness/fielding, on percentage cricket is excellent. It separates those who are really committed, and who want to play percentage cricket to win, rather than showing off their individual skills to the top players in the league. This year this emphasis is little bit less. • Improvements: • I think it is better to involve coach/statistician in the decisions. That way all the burden doesn’t come on the captain. We did this better last year with Mark/Vishwa being more involved. Also frees up the captain to work individually with players. • We need players who have succeeded in the past to come again and again (Naveen Kumar, Sandeep Parab, Sanjay Rama, Pradeep, coach Mark). We need to build a *dynasty*, not win 1-2 years. Great players/teams win 5 times/10 times like Federer. Taking whole bunch of new players who have no experience of conditions is not good… since conditions are totally new for them. New players should be taken 2-3 per tour. Somehow need to find motivation or incentive for the proven players. • I think we emphasized fitness/fielding more last year. Need the 1.5 miles + short sprints + pushups workout.

12. We also emphasized the difference in conditions more last year. The fielding is better in Calif. The outfields are better. The wickets are faster. 250 is a par score. The batsman have to play a *totally* different game compared with Marymoor, where emphasis is on lofted shots, and 150 is a good score. A bad ball in Marymoor is 2 runs, in Calif it is 4 runs. Especially with new players, we need to emphasize this. We need *long* innings full of ground shots for singles. (Like State played in final last year, or Sanjay played against BACA.) • Last year we played on fast wickets indoors, and we had Vishwa do “accountant” work with every bad ball, every bad shot… Even what is a good ball in Marymoor, he would mark as a bad ball in Calif, which was *really* helpful. Maybe due to resources the indoors part is not possible, but certainly, we need to find a way to relate our conditions to Calif conditions. • Need some motivation from seniors like Mark/Vijay/Saurabh on what is at stake here. It is not weekend cricket like league match. If you do well in Calif. (meaning just 1 50+ score like Srini last year or 1 good bowling spell like me), you have chance to play for Regional team, in front of national selector. If you score 1 50+ score there (like Nauman) or 2 3-wicket hauls (like me), you have chance to play in national trials! Basically you are 2 50s away or 3 good bowling spells away from national trials!!! Unfortunately, you cannot think like this when you go to play a match. You have to think about the match situation. But certainly in practice you can keep in your mind 2 big scores or 3 good spells, it will help you concentrate.