Looking for few good men...

Arrival of Spring, replenish individuals with fresh energy to make the most of available outdoor activities after a brutal winter. As the summer fades, we regret that we let the opportunity go and vowing that we won't repeat the same mistake again next year. Looking at closely, it resembles the rollercoaster emotions of Sunrise team and yet we make the same mistake again year after year. Is this year going to be any different?

Let's give due credit to this team. Looking at the achievements for the last 4 years, any team in this league would love to be in our shoes. This team has won every trophy it has participated in. Having given the credit and being the integral part of the team, I feel this team hasn't even been close in reaching its peak potential. That's the optimism that brings in the fresh energy at the start of the season. As the season winds down, we realize again that we didn't play to our potential and comfort ourselves for the deficiency.

After looking at the schedule and their particpants, only six teams have the fire power to contend for playoffs. They are Sunrise, Kaiteur(We play them twice), Cavaliers Sr, Windsor, RoseCity and the Champions Detroit. Hope other teams prove me wrong. Can Sunrise make it to the playoffs again? As a faithful and loyal member, I say yes. In reality it is going to be very difficult. We play 4 out of 6 teams on the road. It is not easy to win on the road consistently. Chest beating and pumping won't be enough. It needs thorough planning on the opponents weakness and strength not to mention the pitch, the ground and the unpredictable umpires. We have to be mentally ready. Emotion helps but mental toughness will get you through in dire situations. We need to win atleast two on the road. Out of 16 regular season games, we need to win 12 games to ensure playoff berth. Is that enough? Can we win the championship on the road? Only time we won the league championship as well as the knock out championship, we had the home ground advantage. Winning 14 out 16 games might guarantee that advantage. Is it realistic? Do we have the fire power? These are the things need to be addressed and be prepared for and also needed to kept in the burner so that everyone will feel the heat. Are we ready for the season?

Let's look at the team for the 2003 season. Parveen Sharma has taken over the captaincy from me. He is a good thinker and he is capable of leading the team to bring back the champioship. The team won the championship under his leadership. Harpal Minhas will be his deputy replacing Bahadur Singh. Batting has been bolstered by the addition of Ahmed and Amarsinghe. Ahmed will provide strength at the top order and Amarsinghe in the middle order. Youngsters Kuldeep Dhaliwal and Neeraj Bharadwaj showing lots of promise. The old stalwarts Japsal Rana and I will again bear the brunt along with Harpal Minhas. The big question is Sakib Sheikh, Nizar Moosa and Bahadur Singh. Can they come back? Nobody questions their talent. Talent should be translated into runs. They are the key ingredients along with newcomers in winning the championship in batting point of view. Hope to see few of the batsman stand and be counted.

On the bowling front, Bahadur Singh and Captain Parveen Sharma will spearhead and ably supported by me and Jaspal Rana. Sadaqat Sheikh showing lots of promise but is he reliable? Swami and Sarabjit are our new ball options. Swami is still bothered by his ankle and he is not showing his full potential. Sarabjit show his brilliance in flashes and consistently inconsistent. Amarsinghe will be an addition to medium pace department and Ahmed will add variety to spin. Bowling looks all set but will the regaular bowlers will be allowed to bowl their quota? Experimentation is key to keep everybody fit when playoffs approaches.

Fielding is Sunrise strength with exceptions like me. Hope we can continue from last year.

As I signoff, we know the regular contributors of this team but we need few men to play to their potential to push this team to win the championship which we didn't bring it back home last year. Hoping to go in hibernation with fond memories.

Please provide feedback at

Dharmesh

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