This was a victory that was truly hard-earned in many ways. Firstly, the match only happened thanks to the hard work put in during the week and last night to get the Walferdange pitch fit for cricket. Without that effort, there would have been no win. Then our team had to watch with due respect when RBCC’s best player Brighton Watambwa showed why he has played International cricket for Zimbabwe as he caressed 121 runs to all corners of the pitch. Our boys fought well to contain the visitors and finally got them all out for 225 in their final over. 3 wickets each for Nishith Gandhi and Mohit Dixit and some excellent fielding from Rakesh Sharma with 2 good catches and a direct hit run out.
Chasing 225 in 39 overs in wet conditions was always going be a tough challenge. Against good opposition with international class made it harder. Thankfully, our 1st XI bat’s all the way to no. 11 and we needed to. In a long battle against the run rate and the wet, there were key contributions from Rakesh Sharma (35), skipper Tony Whiteman (60) and Saransh (Mr Cool) Kulshretha (52 not out) and it went down to the final over with one wicket to spare. But we made it happen with 4 balls to spare through true team effort and this means 3 wins from 3 in the defence of the Division 2 title. Well done boys.