Optimists Cricket Club

Last weekend, the Under 15s team of the Optimists Juniors played two more games in the competitive Belgian cricket league and returned home with two more wins. This extends their record to four wins from four games and places them comfortably at the top of the league. But it was not all plain sailing.

The first game was against a very capable Antwerp Indians side, played in wet conditions. Having lost the toss, the Optimists Juniors were asked to bat. Despite regular rain breaks, Charlie Ramsden and James Barker created a good opening partnership but both fell with the score at 46. Skipper Timothy Barker (39 not out) then had to rebuild with the help of Girish Vyas and this partnership blossomed thanks to some strong hitting and smart running. Girish was run out near the end, but a total of 133 for 3 off the 20 overs was probably defendable. However, Antwerp had a long batting line up so the game was always in the balance.

An early breakthrough from some accurate bowling by Rahul Goel helped but Antwerp scored quite freely for a sustained period. As the score crept up, James Barker came on to bowl what proved to be a match-winning spell, picking up 5 for 26 from his 5 overs. With 3 overs to go, Antwerp needed 24 and a home victory was clearly still very possible. Tight bowling and some nerveless fielding held them at bay and they finished 8 runs short of their target.

The second game of the day was against a new team called Meise Wolverines. With the weather improving, Optimists Juniors elected to bat and set a strong total again. This time it was Sebastiaan Van Gilst who provided the fireworks with a quickfire 30, supported by 17 from Alexander Martin. Every batsmen contributed as the travelling Luxembourgers reached a total of 152, which was always going to be too much for the newcomers.

Meise tried hard throughout but accurate bowling from Zack Foley, picking up 4 wickets for 6 runs, and Puneet Vyas with 3 for 4 allowed Meise to reach only 42 all out. This meant the Optimists Juniors picked up 2 wins plus 3 extra bonus points for their excellent teamwork. With just one game to go, the journey home was filled with excited talk of lifting the league title at the very first attempt.