Round 5: Another match, another chase, another win
VRA Orange – VCC Red 209/4 – 213/6
Another match, another chase, another win. I wished it was as simple as that. But in reality the team had to work very hard for this win. Again we lost the toss, again we had to start fielding. Without our wicket keeper Josh v M we had to bring the game to a good end. Ger and Rory proved to be good stand-ins for Josh. Our fielding was good as well, but our bowling was not too good. We gave too many extras away. Almost every alternate ball was a wide or a no ball. Almost half of the VRA score was the result of extras. A target of 210 was quite sharp. Frankly spoken the team manager lost his believe in a good result already. But the team spirit is very good and again the team proved to be very resilient. Although we lost our openers relatively early the motor block in the middle order did do his job, with today Philip being the main driver. With his 43 runs he kept us on target. But when he got out the tension was back; 5 overs to go 32 runs to make. On paper we still could lose a wicket, but as Audrey was too injured to bat, Josh S and Rory couldn’t make any mistake. But they both remained calm. For the second week in a row Josh S. showed pressure does not hamper him. Peacefully he added his runs to the score board and with 28 runs in 21 balls he did lead the team to victory.
We are half-way the competition and faced all teams now. The differences between the teams are small, with Kampong being the clear favorite for the number one position. But who will become number two and as such will as well qualify for the final is still open.
1. Kampong 5 played 5 won
2. Punjab 5 played 3 won
3. VCC Red 5 played 3 won
4. VRA Blue 5 played 2 won
5. VRA Orange 5 played 1 won
6. VOC 5 played 1 won
Round 6: The plan worked
VCC Red – VRA Blue 227/5 – 208/3
Today was the start of the second competition half. A chance to take revenge on VRA Blue against we lost the first match of the season. To stay in the run for the Finals we could not afford to lose this match. Like always we lost the toss, but fortunately we were allowed today to bat first. Our match plan was simple: try to overwhelm our opponent with our batting power and set an unbeatable target. The plan was perfectly executed by the team. Even two player got retired this time: Rory and Connor. With support coming over from South-Africa, and his grandfather even at the pitch to ump it was a very special day for Connor. With in total 24 boundaries and even a six we set a target of 228. Normally this would do, but previous matches showed our bowling is not too solid to be sure.
VRA started to chase full energy, but our starting bowlers did not give too much away. Comparted to last match we reduced the number of extras significantly. So half way the inning it was clear that VRA would not beat the target. But in cricket you are never sure. Suddenly our accuracy in bowling disappeared, the number of extras increased and VRA managed to find the boundaries more and more. Some fielding mistakes bring them even closer to the target. Fortunately there were not enough balls left to really hurt us. Next week we can make a big step towards the Finals when we play against Punjab. We currently share the second place in our group.
Special thanks this week to the Nota family who prepared a delicious lunch for all players and as well all parents!! A really great initiative, which is really appreciated. In addition thanks as well to grandfather of Connor who did come over from South Africa to help us out with umping. Besides he helped the players with some good cricket tips.
