Scorecard

Optimists Cricket Club Optimists (Club side) v Captains vs Chairmans on Sun 21 Apr 2013 at 13:30
Optimists Cricket Club Won by 5 runs

Match report Finally, after a winter that seemed to never end, the classic season starter between the Captain's XI against the Chairman's XI commenced at a beautiful Walfer pitch, under an overcast sky. Perfect swing conditions. Coach Ben Embleton was asked to choose the teams. Then the toss was done using an imaginary coin, and won by the Chairman. He decided to field first.

Burleigh and Ojha opened for the Captain's XI, facing Gandhi and Ramsden. After seeing a couple of overs off, Ojha fell to Ramsden caught behind. Enter skipper Mees. What a day it would be for him. He started well enough and kept the score rate going. Together with Burleigh they were adding runs nicely, but Burleigh was eventually caught at slip by Whiteman off a delivery of Murad. In came Codd. Again this partnership had a promising start, only to be prematurely ended by a good delivery from Murad. Then, the partnership the Walfer community was waiting for: double dutch. Van der Knoop together with Mees. It must have been August 2006 Vd Knoop last held a bat. This was not visible whatsoever. Shakily seeing off a couple of deliveries from Murad, Vd Knoop survived Whiteman's over. Then however, disaster struck. The magic ball from Murad skidded underneath the heave from Vd Knoop, ruining his neatly arranged timberwork. Mees was even less impressed.

Fortunately for the Captain's side, the captain himself was leading by example, even pulling some shots. Murad was eventually taken out of the attack, only to be replaced by the left-handed genius Smith. Nandal fell after a six slid through the butter fingers of Gandhi, to a catch by Ramsden. Trivedi saw the only duck of the game. A slow Smith delivery ended up in the hands of Whiteman. Ojha returned, only to be caught in the web of deviousness of Smith, caught by Ramsden. Mees, still in there and keeping it all together and raking in a ton, finally fell to a ball from West, caught in the covers. His side settled on 195.

A generous tea was served, with some very nice curry dishes to boot. Gianchandani kept things creepy, mentioning he lost part of his index finger while cutting some bread for the dish he brought. Hmmm.

The bell rang and the gents in white took to the field again. Andrews and Gandhi opened for the Chairman's side. Gandhi fell quickly, run out. Seems to happen often that. Whiteman entered, initially more style than substance. Only partly due to the tight bowling by Nandal and Trivedi. A couple of good shots really got him settled in, but then, Codd, who knew that he had that in him? Coming from round the wicket, he delivered something so special, on a length, homing in on off-stump, but then, nipping back into the batsman, rattling the stumps. It looked as if the bowler could not believe he just produced that. He was not alone. In came Murad, joining Andrews, who was still there and playing fine indeed. Together they added a fair amount of runs to the scoreboard. Murad finally fell to good delivery of Nandal, caught by Ojha. West entered, trying to steady the ship with his experience, while Andrews hammered away freely. He unfortunately fell 7 runs short of a half century. In came the Chairman to bring a bit of order.

Together with West he was unable to up the run rate, and both fell in quick succession. Ramsden, young and motivated, was absolutely up for the task. Cover chipping, sweeping, driving, he showed a whole arsenal of shots this author can only dream of. The target came into view and within reach. The grand stand was even getting remotely excited. This is saying something. Together with first Pandey, then Smith, then Gandhi redux, and the Smith again, the Chairman's side came within 5 runs. Eventually the skipper ended the drama by catching Smith of a delivery of Codd, with 1 over and 1 ball to go.

Good game allround, with some promising cricket by a few, and room for improvement for most. I wonder who the lucky person is who happened to have found the tip of the finger of Gianchandani...

Optimists Cricket Club Optimists (Club side) Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
195		        
Phillip Burleigh Caught  15 34 1 44.12
Naresh Ojha Caught  1 6 16.67 1
Joost Mees Caught  114 100 13 114.00 1
Wayne Codd Bowled  11 18 61.11
Jeroen Van der Knoop Bowled  7 13 53.85
Arjun Nandal Caught  8 6 133.33 1
Deepak Gianchandani Run out  5 5 100
Niraj Trivedi Caught  0 1 0
Steven Clarke Run out  7 7 100
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  

Captains vs Chairmans Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Captains vs Chairmans Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
190 (33.5 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Optimists Cricket Club Optimists (Club side) Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Arjun Nandal6.0118118.003.00
Niraj Trivedi6.002800.004.67
Wayne Codd5.5037218.506.34
Steven Clarke4.0043143.0010.75
Phillip Burleigh6.0033133.005.50
Deepak Gianchandani3.001500.005.00
Naresh Ojha3.001025.003.33

  • Umpire :
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  • Scorer :
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