The match had a family feel to it as we knew we would be facing Harold’s father Jaap, who has spent nearly half a century at Rood + Wit in a cricketing career that began in the 1950s before joining Kampong in 2002.
And the weather in Utrecht could not have been better for a Generations game in which we also achieved the highest score in our recent history. Captain Sander won the toss and brought us to bat. He opened with Dave, who hit the boundary with the second ball and scored half a century and retired with 50 not out. Sander was not so lucky and went out in the second over. Harry came in, facing his father in the third over. Our mouths fell open and we wondered what would happen. At first, the veteran cricketer, who turns 80 in August, managed to deceive his son, who was unable to hit the first four swing balls, much to his son’s amusement. But then the fear of offending father with a good strike disappeared and a boundary was scored. Senior bowled a full seven overs, while Junior had a partnership of 16 overs with Dave, who had survived his father’s onslaught, before being caught at 85 overs. Had Harry reached 100, he would have achieved the rare feat of scoring a century in both the away and home games against Kampong this season. But it was not to be. Stefan came in and scored a useful 43 before being caught, which meant that three VCC players had scored over 40 in the same match, while Kaushal added 25 and Chris 11. John came to bat sixth and was determined not to go out at third ball, as usual. Fortunately, it was the fourth ball instead, after he had scored one run. Wouter proved a more than worthy replacement with 21 not out, before the curtain fell on a stunning innings of 267/5, the highest Zami score in a long time.
Spring roll toll
After an excellent lunch that was a contender for the spread of the season – which made us wonder that with 268 to chase, stuffing our stomachs with delicious corn soup and spring rolls might have been part of Kampong’s plan – we took to the field.
Prem and Stefan opened the bowling and won the first scalp in the fourth over.
Kampong dug in and did not lose a batsman until the 11th over, but the run rate was dangerously low.
This was partly because our fielding remained generally solid, with few mishaps, apart from Prem auditioning for Strictly Come Dancing (which starts again in September) trying to pick up a ball and John letting a ball go straight through his legs to the boundary.
With catches, you win games
Kaushal took an amazing diving catch, at the cost of his elbow, followed by another beauty from Prem and two more from Graham behind the wicket.
But with 10 overs to go, Kampong needed 142 and a run rate of more than two per ball.
This did not seem to convince the batsmen to bat beyond our inner circle and we kept them mostly at singles.
It was becoming a bit of a grind, but we realized we had to get them out.
And then, from an overcast sky, a kind of lightning bolt from the gods descended.
Kaushal dismissed the 7th batsman on a catch by Graham, then clean bowled the 8th batsman.e at first ball, making a hat-trick.
“No pressure then mate, ha ha,” we all joked.
Clearly no pressure was felt, as the incoming ball was duly cleared thanks to a diving catch by Sander at slip.
A rare hat trick was a reality, Kaushal was showered with applause and we thought we had seen a piece of Zami history in the making.
But it didn’t stop there.
Prem came in and then bowled the penultimate batsman clean, producing four in a row and John asked the journalist, What is the term for this?
A quad-trick?
Few had ever seen this happen before.
Because the bowler changes, this is technically just a hat-trick plus a normal wicket.
Still, if only there was something normal about this game.
Jaap came in as 11th th man, and we were now three overs away from a clear victory.
Captain Sander switched bowling so Harry could bowl to his father, and the bowling was respectful, but Senior held on and no wicket came.
A conspiracy theory?
Possibly…
And then we had one of the joys of not only father-son dynamics, but of true sportsmanship.
A strike by Senior led to an attempted run, but a change of mind left both men on the same end.
A quick throw to the other end would have ended the game with a run out, but the throw was thrown suspiciously weak.
Conspiracy theorists who thought this was an attempt to get the grand old man to extend his innings to the end might be right.
However, in view of the margin of victory, we had to bring the match to an end and so Junior bowled to Senior in the last over, who nicked the ball to Graham for his fourth catch of the day.
And so Jaap was dismissed by his son, and he took it well, muttering that Harry would be sent to his bedroom and would get no pocket money for the next week.
What a great game!
The Zami won by 109 runs and we remain on top in our best season in years.
Harry is let out of his room at some point before the next game….
Highlights of the 2nd innings
VCC 267/5(35)
Kampong 158/10(34.2)
VCC won by 109 runs
Zami
26 Jul 2024
Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd
