Match Report - 19/May/2018 -OCC vs Basel CC
Clear
Skies and a lightning fast outfield welcomed Basel CC against OCC
Second XI on the 19th. Basel CC choose to bowl first in this 45 over
duel. Optimists opened
with Praveen and debutant Vijay. The openers got off to a flying start
making 30 of the first 3 overs. Unfortunately, Praveen got out against
the run of play and Girish joined Vijay in the 4th over. Both the
batsmen kept out the good balls and punished the
bad ones. Scoring at almost run a ball, they put on 50+ partnership. In
the 14th over, Vijay miscued a lofted drive and was caught at long-off.
OCC entered the 15 over mark at 94-2. Another wicket fell right after
break and OCC recognized the need to build
big partnerships with Girish still going strong. Romil joined Girish and
slowly started rebuilding. They put together another 50+ partnership of
the next 10 overs before Romil got out for 25. OCC score read 174-4 at
the end of 30 overs. Pankaj joined Girish
and scored a quick 30 before he was out in the 34th over. OCC reached
200 in the 34th over and were all set for the big final push in the last
10 overs with six wickets in hand and a lightning fast outfield.
Despite OCC losing wickets at regular intervals,
Basel CC were sent on a leather hunt in the last 10 overs courtesy of
some brilliant hitting and smart running by Suhail (who scored 36) and
Prasad, who hit some mighty sixes. OCC finished at 291-8 of their 45
overs.
Chasing
a stiff target, Basel CC were kept under check by excellent swing
bowling by Suhail and Mohit. Basel CC were 31 for 2 at the end of 12
overs with both the
opening batsmen back in the hut. Pankaj, Prasad, Akhilesh and Mike West
kept the lid on the scoring rate after the opening bowlers got through
an excellent spell of swing bowling. At the end of 15 overs, Basel CC
were 75 for 4 at the end of 20 overs. No game
is ever done before the last wicket is taken. Basel CC fought back in
the next 10 overs with a fifth wicket partnership of 70+ before Akhilesh
struck again. At the end of 30 overs, Basel CC were 147 for 5 with the
game in balance as they had some big hitters
to follow. In the next 5 overs, Basel CC counter-attacked and scored 35
runs. Basel CC needed almost 110 runs in the last 10 overs, not
impossible given the lightning fast outfield, set batsmen and the T20
effect. Pankaj and Suhail were brought back into the
attack and they struck immediately getting 2 wickets. A brilliant
fielding effort by Anand resulted in reducing Basel CC to 230 for 8 at
the end of 40. Basel CC scored another 19 runs before being bowled out
for 249 at the end of 44th over. Top scorers for
Basel were Narendra (64) and Anil (47). A hard fought and well earned
victory for OCC Second XI before they begin their campaign in the
Belgian League on the 17th of June. Do join us at the ground for the
home game and put in your availability on the OCC website
for the game.