Another beautiful day after yet another beautiful day and a great
BBQ at the tennis pavillion, was host for the final clash between
Nijmegen and the Optimists. Nijmegen won the toss and elected to bat
first. They had reversed the batting order compared to saturday, so
that those who did not got to bat, were given a chance. Out came mr
Coster and mr Thannhauser, to face opening bowlers Pandian and
Vankatachalam. The opening batsmen held out bravely, but in over 7 mr
Coster got the inside edge and via his legguard he toppled his stumps
over. After that, mr Thannhauser saw fellow batsmen come and go, with
the spinners West and Gianchandani causing all sorts of trouble.
Between them, they divided 5 wickets. When mr Straten arrived at the
crease, those who witnessed the mayhem he could cause with bat, held
their breath. Luckily for those who did, his innings ended pretty
swiftly, after a couple of mighty heaves, with a good catch from
Gianchandani. It was up to the skipper Mohammed to settle things out
there in the middle. He bought calm and some good shots edged them
towards something that could be an acceptable total. He got some good
help from mr Dupont, who, unlike some of his fellow team members, held
the ball low to the ground, using the quick and hard outfield to his
advantage. Skipper Mohammed fell to a great catch from Pandian, whereas
mr Dupont got caught behind off a delivery from mr Van der Knoop, that
nipped back in. Thanks to tail enders mr Van Lennep and Van Lunszen,
the final score ended on 174 for 9.
Tea was all set, thanks to clever thinking by mr Baker, and with the help of all around. Everybody seemed to very much enjoy
the conconction of mrs Gianchandani. Thanks for that.
After
a well deserved pause, Optimists resumed the match by sending out the
youngsters of the side, mr Finch and Cope jr. They started off slowly,
keeping a mindful eye on the required run rate. Opening bowlers mr
Burki and skipper Mohammed kept the ball on the spot, not giving away
too many chances. The first to fall was mr Finch. A drive by mr Finch,
that could have been confused for a bump ball, was caught by bowler
Mohammed, and the umpire sent him packing. In came mr Trivedi, who made
no secret of why he was out in the middle. A couple of good whallops
saw the score jump. On the other end of the crease, Cope jr was unfazed
and kept his steady knock, well, steady. Trivedi departed shortly after
racing to 12, making room for Pandian. He too made no secret of what he
was about out there, and after a 6 and some 4's he was sent on his way
lbw. Enter Vankatachalam. While Cope jr kept on collecting 1's and 2's,
his partner decided that he would continue where his fellow south
asians had left off. He reached his 50 thanks to some exquisite shots
on the off side, favouring the cut. In the mean time, Cope jr inched
towards his 50, only to be caught and bowled on 48 by the excellent
bowling Mohammed. In came mr Pandey, who confidently saw, together with
mr Vankatachalam, Optimists to a comfortable 7 wicket win.
All
in all, it was an end to very enjoyable weekend. Most importantly, Mark
Fitzgerald found his way back to the ground and his iconic "mango"
reverberated around the ground once more.
I
would like take a moment to thank all the people who helped me make my
life as match manager for the weekend that much easier. Cheers.
Jeroen van der Knoop
Picture: William Cope looks back at the old guard