Match report for OCC-2 away game vs Brussels Warriors CC at Wemmel written by
Gopi Vallari
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OCC 2nd XI had a tough outing last Sunday with the league toppers Brussels Warriors Cricket Club.
In Glacis, Luxembourg, it all started with history being made (at 7:34am) by the entire team assembling nearly on time. The team stopped at the usual breakfast spot (Wanlin) on the way to Wemmel. After the warmup session led by Sree, Club legend Phillip Burleigh presented the OCC cap to Ansh Trivedi.
Skipper Mohit did well to win the toss and elected to bat first. Shiv and Vijay opened the innings for the OCC 2nd XI and Vijay edged one to the point for 3 in the 3rd over. Girish came in number 3 and had a 21 ball partnership with Shiv. Having scored 6 off 30 balls, Shiv was bowled out on a most unlucky fashion. By coming in number 4, Gopi fell for a duck by missing a straight delivery. By the end of 10 overs OCC 2nd XI scored 22/3.
After Gopi’s dismissal, Pankaj was in at number 5 and nicked one to the slip cordon after facing couple of overs. While Girish comfortably blocking one end, Sree stepped in at number 6 and faced nine deliveries before getting out LBW. Having come in at number 7, Reinhardt completely changed the dynamics of the game by scoring two back-to-back boundaries. After 20 overs, OCC 2nd XI scored 52/5.
After a 8 over partnership, Reinhardt and Girish scored 36 runs. As Girish was shifting gears in the 25th over, he unfortunately found the fielder at the boundary line. After a matured outing in the middle, Girish also scored 4 boundaries and a 6 to total 29 off 72 delivers. Skipper Mohit came in no. 8 and partnered with Reinhardt. By the end of 30 overs OCC 2nd XI scored 88/6
Though the skipper was looking confident, he unfortunately gloved one to the keeper in the 31st over. At no. 9, Vishwajeet smashed some boundaries together with Reinhardt until a misunderstanding led to his runout. Reinhardt was bowled out soon after by a yorker delivery. He ended up scoring 36 off 56 deliveries to finish as the top scorer of the lineup. In the end, Raju and and Ansh came in added 7 runs to the total. As a result of loosing wickets at regular intervals to a quality bowling side, OOC 2nd XI were only able to score 127/10 in 42 overs.
Lunch/innings break was followed by a full-sized sandwich provided by the hosts. Bowling attack in the 2nd innings was lead by Raju and Ansh. Having missed several opportunities and couple of unfavourable decisions, Raju got his first breakthrough when Sree took a superb diving catch behind the wickets. Despite of loosing a wicket, BWCC already scored 48/1 in 7 overs.
As skipper Mohit came into attack, he took a wicket in his first over, later followed by a caught and bowled by Raju. In the 13th over, Pankaj came into the attack and bowled some tight spells along with the skipper. In the very next over, skipper added another wicket to his tally. After 15 overs, BWCC scored 78/4. Later, BWCC's no. 5 and 6 suddenly increased their scoring rate to chase down the total in 21 overs.
In spite of the low target setup, OCC 2nd IX put up a decent fight against a quality opponent. The team started the trip back to Luxemburg with some positives and plenty of learnings in all the departments. As always, the team will bounce back stronger.