On Sunday April, 27, the Optimists Cricket Club started their campaign for promotion in the Belgian Cricket League. Optimists 1st XI are currently in Division 2 and there are high expectations to get promoted to Division 1 where the Optimists have become more accustomed to in the past. The opposition, Hasselt Cricket, were a little late to arrive and it was a great start to the season for skipper, Joost Mees who won the coin toss and elected to bowl first.
Following the presentation of the club cap to debutant Stuart May from the skipper, the Optimists took to the field full of enthusiasm.
Opening the bowling was Nisith Gandhi and Richard Neale. Both bowled well, but Gandhi’s consistency gave him just reward with three quick wickets, dismissing all of the top order. After 10 overs, Hasselt were 34-3 and looked to be struggling a little. However, the middle order was made of sterner stuff and quickly looked to capitalise on any wayward bowling from the Optimists.
Wickets fell during the course of the innings but the runs were also flowing with more and more ease until Anand Pattabiraman managed to dismiss danger man, Singh who ended on 59, caught behind by William Cope, one of his four for the day.
Joost Mees asked Tony Whiteman to bowl and after a small warm-up in the first over, Whiteman used just two more overs to take the final three wickets for just 13 runs. Hasselt had therefore set the Optimists a target of 200 which was probably slightly more than they would have liked following what was a gutsy bowling and fielding performance.
Following a sumptuous tea, Timothy Barker and Tony Whiteman opened the batting for the Optimists.
Unfortunately, every batsman's nightmare came true for Barker, who was bowled first ball of the innings to Hasselt’s fast bowler, Shah.
Whiteman battled through the early overs with a steady patience and gritty determination. His hard work was later rewarded as he grew in confidence and started to play some fine shots all around the ground, including a magnificent straight six.
Stuart May, William Heath , Ben Embleton and youngster William Cope all supported Whiteman and all looked to get a good start but unfortunately could not get going and eventually fell to some good and tidy bowling from Hasselt.
When Whiteman was finally dismissed for a very classy 62, Taral Desai took up the charge with some lofty blows to accelerate the scoring. Richard Neale joined Desai and they soon were close to the finishing line with Neale scoring pretty much only in boundaries.
In the 41st over, Neale secured victory for the Optimists with a cover drive for four runs and therefore maximum points to give the Optimists the best start to the season possible. Skipper, Joost Mees commented afterwards: “It was a great effort from all the team. We bowled and fielded well, but having such a strong batting line up really paid dividends.”
Man of the match was Tony Whiteman with his three wickets and 62.
The next game for the Optimists 1st XI is on Sunday, May 11, at the Cricket Ground in Walferdange.