Optimists Cricket Club

In the end, the Walferdange Optimists CC eased to victory over the Duck and Ferrets CC in the Luxembourg league final, but the result should have been closer. Batting first on a beautiful autumn day, the Duck’s innings was built around a 98 run effort by opener/captain Brad Mole but none in his team was able to give more than temporary support. This was down to some testing bowling from the WOCC team, who never allowed the Ducks to cut loose. Nevertheless, a target of 213 off 40 overs was always going to be testing; the quick outfield notwithstanding.

WOCC’s made a steady start to their reply so that at drinks they were nearly half way to their target with three wickets down. However, after the break both Paul Monico and Joost Mees were given lives, with some regulation catches put down. It was on these errors that the game turned as the pair then went on to score more than 70 runs each as they saw WOCC home with seven wickets and three overs to spare.


Picture: Joost Mees steers the ball through the covers