OCC 2nd XI v Antwerp Indians 2nd XI - 26 June 2021 - Match Report
Written by Ed Packard
After coaxing Raju out of his jeans and into some playing kit, Ady led the boys on a revamped warm-up in front of the arriving AIs. Naughty boy fielding practice was top of the agenda after last week’s lackluster display, and things looked promising as most practice catches were held.
Mohit won the toss and elected to bat under blue skies. Amit wisely opted to pat back the first ball he received this week but then quickly began to punish the barrage of loose deliveries served up by AI as they struggled to shake off their journey south. Meanwhile, zen-master Ady settled serenely in for another long stay at the crease.
Amit timed the ball sweetly and scored runs freely all around the ground in his run a ball 73, as he and Ady put on a classy 117 for the first wicket in 22 overs. Debutant Oscar Whiteman then began to utilize his long levers to punch the ball down the ground before timing one a bit too nicely to mid-on. Ed and Ady chose to regroup, rekindling their bromance from last week as they put on 52 for the third wicket. When Ed fell in the 38th over, OCC were well placed at 190-3 with Ady looking completely at ease at the crease. The remainder of the OCC batting lineup knew they had the license to get stuck into the bowling and run hard between the wickets. They did their duty manfully, whilst Ady moved ever unflustered to an outstanding hundred in 117 balls. He was eventually out for 112 in the 49th over and was once again the reason OCC were able to post a big total. Special thanks too to his mother-in-law who provided some delightful home made snacks for us during the break.
Ed and Raju had the ball swinging early but with a little less accuracy than the week before. It was Raju that struck first when Amit Shah was caught behind in classic fashion, as AI looked to chase down OCC’s lofty 284 first innings score. Ed managed to induce a few edges but it soon became clear that our 15 minutes of catching practice had only papered over some cracks. Shameek took over from Raju and bowled a tidy spell without much luck, and Aki (who by his own admission dropped everything in the warm-up) showed us all how to do it as he held on to a catch at mid-off from Ed’s bowling. Despite a great deal of generosity and support from OCC, the AI reply never really gathered momentum, and they found themselves 64 for 3 when Mohit produced a pearler to clean up MS Shah.
We were then treated to our second masterclass of the day as Taha bowled his leggies with a combination of pace and bounce that the AI batsmen had no answer to. He rather sensibly took other players out of the equation when he claimed a sharp caught and bowled to remove SA Jain, and then ripped through AI’s middle order to earn figures of 5 for 24. He was supported by a tight spell from Pankaj at the other end, who claimed 1 for 27 from his 7 overs. Pankaj was another bowler who could have had more wickets if we’d held on to our catches.
AI’s last pair kindly contrived to produce a run-out to draw proceedings to a conclusion, allowing the OCC boys to have a cold drink in the shade. After we celebrated Ady, Taha, and Amit’s performances, the general consensus amongst the lads was that we dropped more simple catches this week than last, so there is probably no need to include fielding practice in our warm-up ever again.
Many thanks to Vishi for his excellent umpiring, Mick for his scoring efforts, and all those that look after the PWCG, which was in fantastic shape.