Sander won the toss, and threw the opposition in, sensing the climactic conditions were in our favour. It certainly spooked Groen-Geel, who found themselves going nowhere quickly. In truth, the swing of Floris (0-6) and the steady line of Stefan (1-12) restricted their freedoms in a manner not seen since Brexit. The first three wickets fell as the batters, sensing the scoreboard pressure, went for ungainly swipes, two edging behind to Graham, and another holing out to Harold at mid off.
As the middle order came to the crease, the bowling did not let up. Chris (2-16) bowled a few wides, but hit the spot enough times to remain dangerous. Kaushal bowled his full quota, swinging the ball with wild abandon, picking up 3-26 in the process. The pressure of the bowling was mostly supported in the field, despite a few lapses. The fourth wicket of the day was a run out courtesy of Harold’s bullet arm from the long off boundary.
Even as Groen-Geel languished at 44-6, VCC knew the job was not done. We’ve all been involved in games with unlikely lower order partnerships. The ball was getting older, the weather warmer, the bowlers tiring. Sander, quick to protect his players from burning out (like Mark Wood, Stefan is limited to 3 or 4 over spells), made changes, and brought Yves on. His change was vindicated, and the manner of the change raised eyebrows. By now, Frits had arrived fashionably late, and had set up what would turn out to be an early lunch. As he wandered onto the field to take his customary square leg position, he was moved to midwicket, allowing Floris the freedom of behind square on the leg side. Floris, we know, is what baseballers would call a ‘clutch’ player. And, as Yves (2-16) bowled to the Groen-Geel captain, Bas, the whole team watched as the ball flew for what was certainly going to be a four through the vacant square leg position. Enter the flying Floris, diving with two hands, grasping the ball before falling with (a thud/grace*) and rolling once, twice, three times. (*delete as appropriate)
Yet the job was still not done. The rumour was that Groen-Geel’s best batters were hiding down the order. So, we threw the ball to Dave and asked him to get out the wonderfully monikered ‘A Panicker’ who had up to this point been playing ‘dot, dot, hit’ to some effect. Dave (1-1) kept his head as Panicker lost his (naturally) and bowled him.
VCC bowled 21 overs at Groen-Geel, conceded only five boundaries, and gave up 78 runs. An outstanding bowling and fielding performance. We went to lunch very happy, and were even happier when Sander and Gijs were due to open the batting. Surely they would take some time to assess the conditions, and knock the ball about for the 2.3 runs per over we needed?
Sander (23*) seemed to agree, taking no runs off the first three balls of the innings, before some useful overthrows gave us the five runs we needed to ensure we could safely bat out a maiden the next over. Gijs came on strike, facing the bowling from an end that had occasionally kept low. First ball, four runs. Still, that was fine, because it meant we were so far ahead of the required rate, we could take it easy for another two overs at least after that. Gijs took it easy the next ball, and batted it back to the bowler.
Knowing how far ahead of the run rate we were, Sander knocked the first ball of the second over for a single, understanding that slow and steady would win this race. The rest of the over went for 11, as Gijs hit two boundaries and, somehow, a three. From then on, it was carnage at one end, and discretion at the other. Gijs raised his bat after reaching his 52 of just 19 balls. 44 of his runs came in boundaries. For the record, there are only two scores of 52 ever scored at a higher strike rate in international cricket – one of which was scored against Mongolia. Gijs’ 52 was scored more quickly than the 52s of Cameron Green, Shadab Khan, MS Dhoni, Rishabh Pant, Aaron Finch and Jos Buttler. Kindly, Gijs retired not out, and allowed Auke (5*) and Sander to finish the job before the end of the 9th over.
Ultimately, beneath the headline heroics, this was a true team performance. Everyone took a wicket, a catch, or scored some runs. Apart from Frits, who made a perfect lunch, and gracefully vacated square leg to allow Floris his moment in the sun.
