VCC 3 vs Concordia 2
Date: 2nd July 2023
Venue: Concordia
Team: Rohit(c/wk), Amrit, Jacobus, Haris, Tanveer (wk), Ahsen, Sarath, Mohsen, Rajan, Jenagan, Naman.
The summer weather took a turn, and we had a windy Sunday morning when VCC 3 took on Concordia 2.
VCC won the toss and elected to field first. It was a fortunate toss to win as we had plan to wrap up the opposition for as low a score as possible and chase to boost our run rate.
Concordia got off to a good start by hitting some boundaries in the first 5 overs. This riled the calm demeanor of Sarath who wanted to get the better-off the opener and he did!
In the seventh over the well-deserved breakthrough came, Sarath bowled the ball full on the midstump.
Ahsen at the other end, created some chances that were not taken which unfortunately will not reflect in stats. He bowled a beautiful slow ball to get the other opener bowled out.
The number 3 came in from Concordia and immediately started to bat more aggressively. We dropped a few catches at cover and midwicket. As a result, Concordia seemed to continue building a partnership. After some quiet overs, Concordia seemed to excel.
Amrit was bowling well which paid off with a wicket, he bowled the ball outside off and the batter hit it straight to long off for an easy catch. The pressure remained on Concordia which again paid off with wickets through Rajan’s tight bowling he rewarded himself with two wickets in the over, the first was hit to point where Haris caught the ball awkwardly but successfully. The second wicket was clean bowled, what a beauty! Concordia were struggling to score runs due to precise bowling and great fielding from VCC 3.
Spinners came into the action, Haris struggled to find a length in his first two overs, so he gave up a couple of 4s, ouch. On the other hand, Jenagan bowled very economically by varying his pace well. In his third over he also had a wicket to catch as a result, the first few balls came slowly, he surprised the batsman by bowling a faster one. Haris started to get more into his rhythm which resulted in a few run outs. Sharp fielding by Naman and Amrit allowed these to be exploited.
The last wicket finally fell in the 35th over. Concordia were bowled out to 146 by VCC 3. Ahsen, Sarath and Amrit picked up a wicket each. Rajan with 2/19 (5 overs )and Jenagan 2/14 (6 overs) were most successful with 2 wickets each.
After the lunch break, Tanveer and Mohsen opened the innings. We aimed to chase within 20overs, but the young chaps were up to mischief in the middle, they re-calibrated to chase within 15overs.
From the pavilion, we saw a game-within-game being played between our openers about hitting most sixes, longest six, fastest fifty.
Many shots were hit straight down the ground by both. Tanveer hit every ball further back into the woods than his first. Mohsen had wonderful shot over cover, a few flicks far towards midwicket his timing was on point today.
After six overs we were already at 62 and it just kept going and both reached their half century. Tanveer 60 runs (4×4 and 5×6) unfortunately went out after a great inning. Jacobus came in as No. 3 and decided to finish off businesslike by giving the strike to Mohsen . Mohsen 88 not out (3×4 and 11×6) rounded it off by hitting three big sixes
VCC 3 reached the target in 13.3 overs. VCC 3 can be proud again with a big win. We as a team enjoyed each other in both innings. Especially the explosive batting of our openers.