Another century led the Zami to victory at Kampong, in a game where the fielding proved to be as decisive as the batting for both sides. The 223-4 away win against the Utrecht side marked the second consecutive season that Harold has scored a century against Kampong. And it overturned a slow start to the batting for VCC, chasing the 219 that our hosts had set for us in the Spring sunshine.
We fielded first, and it didn’t take long for Prem to get the first scalp, bowling their opener out on the third ball. But getting the second wicket proved to be a bit of a grind, not falling until the 20th over when the cat-like reactions of wicket keeper Kaushal stumped their third man on a ball from Jatin.
The Cat then neatly took a catch on a ball from Mohammad, and then followed it up with a second stumping two balls later, giving Mo two wickets from the over. John stuck with tradition by dropping a catch at square leg, the ball once again doing the Dance of Death on his outstretched hands before falling on the floor.
A few mishaps and overthrows also caused a few avoidable fours, and they put 18 boundaries and four sixes over our heads. But our bowling and fielding was generally pretty solid. As the innings drew to a close, Nick took a great catch on a ball from Suro, and the final wicket was taken on the very last ball when a mix-up between the batsmen caused an easy run out.
(Our thanks, by the way, to Kampong’s women’s team for lending us fielder Noor van Rietschoten to cover for Dinesh for the first hour)
A sluggish start
After a delicious lunch, we knew we would need to bat well to better their run rate of just over one per ball. So, reliable openers Harry and captain Dave took to the field. Alas, It was a painfully slow beginning, scoring just three runs in the first three overs, two of which were wides. And when we did make some great strikes, they went unrewarded, as Kampong’s fielding was as tight as a Dutchman’s wallet, stopping even singles from taking place.
But then Harry got into the swing of things and started hitting the boundaries we needed. Dave also managed several fours before he was bowled on 22 runs, to be replaced by Sudip, who managed eight before falling to an LBW. This brought in Kaushal, who produced a batting performance to mirror his earlier excellent wicket keeping, also hitting a steady stream of boundaries.
Kaushal’s partnership with Harry reached 100 in the 26th over, and it became apparent that after the sluggish start, we could now win this. Haroldinho breezed through his own century to rapturous applause, and then gamely retired on 111 after thumping a six. His final tally of 15 fours and 5 sixes accounted for 90 of the 111, and meant victory was now just 21 runs away.
The player slayer
On came John, who managed two singles before a comedy moment when Kaushal hit the ball straight at him. John instinctively ducked before toppling over backwards onto his backside, and was then horrified to see Kaushal running toward him, fearing that he was supposed to be running as well. In fact, Kaushal had hit an easy four, notching up his half-century in the process, and so the only loss was to John’s dignity.
And finally, the game ended early in the 28th over when another boundary from Kaushal took us over the line. Kampong’s captain told us at the drinks that he thought his fielders had “fallen asleep” after the water break, but was gracious in defeat. Harry celebrated his latest century by buying a couple of pitchers, and we congratulated ourselves on winning the first game of the season against a strong side. Onwards to the title!
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