Date: 22 May 2022
Place: Kikkers cricket club
Match: VCC3 vs CC De Kikkers 1
VCC team: Darryn, Rohit, Naman, Jenagan, Tanveer, Sono, Gaurav, Pranav, Vishal, Sarath, Sajjad
Coming off a loss the previous week (breaking their unbeaten streak), VCC were eager to make amends and get back to winning ways. The week leading up to the game went well with the team having a great practice session in the middle with some of the guys finding the middle of the bat and bowlers getting stuck in. Most notably, last season’s captain, Rohit, miraculously defied all odds and passed a late fitness assessment to make himself available for his first game of the season.
As both teams arrived at the field, on a bright sunny day (perfect day for cricket in the Netherlands), excitement could be felt as both sides were looking to bounce back from last week’s loss. De Kikkers, having lost their first two games, were eager to get their campaign off to winning ways. After inspecting the field and the unique dimensions (converted rectangular football field), De Kikkers won the toss and sent VCC into bat first.
VCC’s opening pair of Darryn and Rohit got them off to a brisk start with Rohit scoring freely and finding the boundary with ease. After seeing off the opening pair, the first wicket to fall was Darryn with the score on 60 off 8 overs. The next batsman in was Naman, where both he and Rohit carried on where the first partnership left off. With the score on 99 after 14.4 overs, VCC were looking good as both batsmen at the crease looked comfortable and set for big scores. Unfortunately, VCC succumbed to their second wicket with Rohit falling for a quick 74 off 50 balls having hit 4 sixes and 10 fours. Jenagan, who was also playing his first game of the season, stepped up to the crease and started showing his class with some lovely shots all around the ground.
VCC still looked set to post a big total but De Kikkers had other plans in mind as they managed to string a couple of wickets and slowed down the run rate. That left VCC on 147 for 5 after 27 overs and with a lot of work if they wanted to get to that 250 par score total. Gaurav and Vishal, showing their wisdom and experience, strung together a good partnership with both scoring at more than a run-a-ball to help push the total past 200 and Sajjad finishing the innings with a few lusty blows to propel VCC to 227 all out in 37.4 overs.
After the lunch break, it was De Kikkers turn to bat and start their run chase for their elusive first win. VCC had other ideas in mind and opened the bowling with Sajjad, who previously took 5 wickets in his previous game against De Kikkers at the very same ground. Having a better understanding and knowledge of the small dimensions of the field, De Kikkers batsman utilised it to great effect and found the boundaries with ease. Not long though, VCC applied enough pressure for their first breakthrough after Sarath caught one off his own bowling – 57 for 1. With a slight change in tactic, VCC took the pace off where Pranav bowled a couple of tight overs and also took a wicket.
Unfortunately, that would be the last bit of success for VCC in the field as De Kikkers batters looked like they were playing on a completely different pitch, making batting look easy and scoring freely all around the park. They comfortably chased down the target and finished on 223/2 in 28.2 overs.
Suffering the second loss in as many weeks, it was a disappointing game for VCC as the team had high expectations going into the game after the build-up in the week. Lessons were learnt and it was back to the drawing board to work on a few things and improve before the next game, which turned out to be super exciting with all kinds of drama… but more on that in the next report.
