The team composition was slightly different from previous matches, as Pragnay, Pranav and Aryan were on sniffer training with the undermanned U15 team. Then we still had two more players than HCC, but that was solved by having HCC draw a name from an orange (cricket) sun hat. The “lucky one” was Branko, who thankfully took his fate sportingly and was also welcomed with interest by the HCC players (and questioned in vain about VCC’s plan of action). Because of this hat-trick ;-)) all VCC players got a chance to play and the team consisted of Rishabh, Aadriyan, Hridaan, Lucas, Reuben, Enrique, Zain, Samanth and Jayden.
The toss was won by HCC, who surprisingly chose to start batting. Indeed, that seemed a disadvantage because of the still damp grass and also the position of the sun at that time.
After a warm-up led by coach Sarah, Aadriyan and Jayden started their bowling spells with fine overs with a run rate of 3.5. Samanth and Enrique took over and Enrique’s third ball was a hit: first wicket bowled! With that, however, a very strong partnership was formed by HCC’s Felix and Jimmy. They stepped up the run rate to exactly 7 runs per over and that lasted for fourteen (and a half) overs (102 runs, including extras). The twentieth over brought the turning point. Samanth left no chance unused and made a beautiful caught and bowled at 20.1. The new batsman could only make one run and went bowled at 20.5! (These balls are in an incorrect order in the match center, but the result is correct).
Samanth and Enrique were still hungry and provided the fourth wicket in the 24th over, through a caught behind by Enrique on a ball from Samanth. After 25 overs, the score was 153/4, including 66 runs by extras. All players contributed to this and it should be mentioned that Rishabh bowled quite economically for four overs. Hridaan and Zayn also bowled not without merit.
In the second innings, VCC was able to work steadily to build the score. After 10 overs we were running at 58 runs, 8 runs ahead of HCC, with both losing a wicket. After losing three wickets in overs 11, 13 and 15, we fell behind for a while, but from the 19th over we started to slowly run out again. Regular in all those overs (from 3rd over) was Enrique, who created successful partnerships with Lucas and later with Samanth. However, in over 22, at a score of 138/4, he had to make way for Hridaan.
As the score ran up, so did the tension. Was VCC going to meet the target? At a score of 152/6, VCC entered the final over. A wide and a single ensured the win at 24.2, but due to a counting error that didn’t come to light after a veritable scorers’ change from HCC, a fourth and even a fifth ball was played that Hridaan converted into 4 runs to claim the win in style and undeniably with 154/6 (or 159/6 with the last balls included). 89 runs were caused by extras, so 1/3rd more than VCC. Top scorer was Lucas with 29 runs off 37 balls, which also gave him the highest run rate. Unfortunately, the only one who did not get to bat was Reuben (and Branko in HCC’s innings), next match he may be able to move a little higher in the batting order.
At the conclusion, lunch was shared in HCC’s clubhouse and the team could go into Sunday afternoon satisfied, dreaming of the next win (?).
Link to the match center: matchcentre.kncb.nl/match/134453-6588769/scorecard?period=1891243
