Sunday July 21st we played VOC on their grounds, and luckily the grass court was ours. Still mowing, best weather for cricket a man can wish for and a friendly welcome. VCC started batting with Rutger and Rob. Ok bowling, mainly Yorkers from one side which cracked Rut’s toe, and took Robs wicket (LBW) the next over, 37 for 1 in 6. Rutger continued with Bart, some fine groundstrokes, an easy drop on Rut, next ball cb and out for 37, total 69 for 2 in 10. Lailesh played on on his first ball. Bart missed cb but LBW on the next ball, and now the worrying started, 71 for 4. It was a period of furious bowling, mainly from Mr P. Brous, very friendly after the game, during not as much. Good speed off-cutters, bad memories out of the past when we had to face Tim in the nets. They clearly had us by the balls and filled with confidence, they started throwing spinners. It didn’t take long for them to find out they took the wrong turn. Charu and Rohit attacked them with power, smashing out 4’s and 6’s. On a field like this it seemed rather lazy sometimes, but why waist energy when the boundary looks far but is so close.
They fought us back into te game, when Charu was caught on 40, total 138 in 20 with a very important partnership of 67. Guus came in but swiftly cb on 12, 160 in 23. But it wasn’t over yet. Dinesh and Rohit started a period of very sensibel batting with lots of singles and low risk facing the speedy bowlers again, where they reached the 200 in 29. Dinesh was bowled on 28 with a second partnership from Rohit of 57. Shortly after, Rohit was beautifully caught on the boundary for 57 runs, great performance and really trying to play himself into the team. The tale with Lennart, Mike and Rene couldn’t add much to the total, so 221 end score and a solid total to defend. A great performance by various batsman
After lunch the we started with Charu and Bart, where Bart took their opening batsman clean bowled in his first over, a perfect start. VOC picked it up and played well, good strokes with 4’s and the only 6 in the game, when Rohit deliberately missed the ball, picked up, turned and ended the drea
ms of batsman number 2 with a direct hit wicket, 47 for 2. A beauty caught and bowled from Dinesh, good catch Guus on Mike, but in the mean time Mr Brous was hitting hard and kept up the run-rate.
To get his scalp we needed another plan, so Guus shut down the boundaries and directed Rob to exactly the right place, so no need to move for the old cripple to catch their danger man in the outfield. A huge blow for VOC, who kept fighting but with a run rate running up it was a too hard nut to crack. An outstanding caught and bowled from Mike, followed by a rather remarkable moment from Charu. I’ve seen people catch balls like he did, but that was in a clinic for people suffering from hemiplegia, he did it deliberately in the midfield on Dinesh. The true art of cricket and the unbelief in the eyes of the batsman was unforgettable. With no chance on winning anymore VOC decided to enjoy the good weather and tried to use all their overs, but after 30 with a good catch from Rutger on Lailesh and two clean wickets from Rohit (yes him again) VOC ended on 142.
An absolute great team performance, hardly any misfields, fair umpiring and good sport from both sides, this is how cricket should be played and why it’s such a nice game.
Thanks for the cheering by Mike’s girls and mom and dad Beekhof, thanks to Bart for helping us out and of course Man of the Match Rohit.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
