On Aug. 26, 2023, both the VCC women and men played the 40-over and 50-over finals, respectively. So as captain, I, Annemijn van Beuge, was very nervous before the game against Quick. Indeed, it would be a shame if the men won and the women didn’t (or vice versa) because either way there would be a festive atmosphere at VCC with all the spectators.
Due to rain, we started over an hour later than planned which resulted in playing 37 overs instead of 40. For a change, VCC did win the toss for once and started batting first. We put down a total that I almost dare not mention, it was that low. Fortunately, we could partly hide behind the fact that HCC’s field didn’t roll at all. Never have I seen such a slow field. But then again, we could have hit the ball through the air and we didn’t. So the blame really does lie on our side as well. Point of improvement for next season! Runs by Babette de Leede (27), Iris Zwilling (19), Annemijn van Beuge (17), Rosalie Lawrence (6), Marloes Braat (1) and Donna Polet (1) brought us to a total of 87 runs.
We looked bleak but Quick also just had to manage to make runs on this field. So we entered the field in good spirits to take as many and as fast wickets as possible. And we did! Among other things, an early wicket by Eva Lynch and a beautiful catch by Carlijn van Koolwijk gave us hope again. It was a race against the overs because if Quick batted it out they would win anyway. We really needed to take wickets. Eva and Sarah understood the messages and together grabbed 8 wickets (5 for Eva, 3 for Sarah). The joy at every wicket everyone could hear and feel. At the end, it was very exciting. VCC had to take the last wicket for Quick to be all out, but Quick still had enough balls left to make the winning runs. So it was an honor to take the last wicket ourselves, giving us the 40-over final win over Quick!
In the end, I was very happy that the match was so exciting because it made it feel extra good that we had won. It was a true “teameffort. We fielded like animals and never gave up hope. Now the celebrations could begin at VCC, as we heard that the men would win as well!
Now on to the T20 final.
