Sunday the 9th of August, VCC 2 had to travel to the capital city of the Netherlands to play against Groen & Wit. Arriving around 10 in the morning, the sun was already shining, and it seemed like a very nice cricket day with bags full of runs and wickets.
Unfortunately, the umpires forgot to bring their bags with their watch and hearing aid. However, we were happy they were there, with or without their hangover!
Losing the toss and starting a little late, VCC took the ball and initiated bowling on the quick artificial grass field. With two early wickets in the first four overs from openings bowlers Iftikhar and Sajjad we thought this was going to be a piece of cake. But soon enough Groen & Wit pulled themselves together and it started to become “another cookie”, in a steady partnership of 73. However, when they lost their 3rd and 4th wicket by Ariff, who bowled very well (2-34-10) and Stijn, the run rate started to drop again (not the temperature…). Wickets got tumbling and the fielding was outstanding. But then.. one of the players of Groen & Wit played a nice cover drive and Lau started running towards the ball. Just before the boundary he tried to keep it into the playing field and with that jump, he destroyed his knee and had to sit out the rest of the match (and the season, get well soon Lau!!). The 10 other guys did not give up and Groen & Wit ended up 191 all out, which did not seem that much on this quick artificial ground.
The batting line up had to change because the legend Lau could not open the batting because of his knee and the skip had Remco and Iftikhar open the batting. Sad to see that it did not work out with the power man Ifti upfront, both opening batsmen lost their wicket in the first 3 overs. Harry had some very nice shots (and the top score of 32…) but was given LBW. The skip, often one of the batters in bringing back the confidence, also lost his wicket very soon and we started to worry… Wicket after wicket fell until Sajjad & Stijn (nr 10 & 11) tried to save the match by playing some very mature shots. Unlucky that Stijn lost his patience and got caught ending at 137 AO.
In conclusion, a very unfortunate loss. We bowled and fielded well overall, but the batting did not work out well and losing Lau did not help either. This week we will recover from the loss and get ready for the next (winning) match at home with three fanatic supporters; Lau with the demolished knee, Flo with the broken finger (and the ball that did not carry), and last but not least, Ben the most loyal supporter.
