Scorecard

Optimists Cricket Club Optimists (Club side) v Captains vs Chairmans on Sat 22 Apr 2017 at 13:00
Optimists Cricket Club Won by 3 wickets

Match report The traditional Optimists Cricket Club season opener – Captains vs Chairmans took place on Saturday. However, with Chairman Will Heath still hobbling around on crutches and his deputy away, it was left to the Club Secretary, Wayne Codd to lead the Chairmans XI.

On a typical, cold (very cold!) and cloudy afternoon, the Captains XI decided to bat first in a 30 a side match.

The innings got off to a fantastic start, thanks to opening batsman Praveen and Pranjul who looked in excellent touch. The outfield was in excellent in condition and the opening batsman took full advantage with a wonderful array of strokes all around the ground. It was not until the club pro, Phil Burleigh took the ball and dismissed Pranjul in his first over. Pranjul was bowled for 31 and this left the Captains XI on 60-1 off 13 overs.

With a taste for wickets, Burleigh promptly dismissed Hendri for 9, Mike West was run out for 2 and Jan was lbw by Akshay for 1 – the middle order collapse was in full flow with Praveen still batting brilliantly but only able to watch as the wickets fell around him. Niraj Trivedi was next to go, again, lbw to Akshay who was bowling a good line and length, but this brought in Pankaj to the crease who set about rebuilding the innings with Praveen.
Praveen was eventually dismissed, caught by Voran off the bowling of Mohit for an excellent knock of 72.
Pankaj continued to bat well and was unlucky to be 49 not out at the end of the final overs (or was it jug avoidance?!)

The Captains XI scored 185 off their 30 overs.

The Game took quite a pause at the halfway stage as the Chairmans XI warmed up with cups of tea and consumption of the extremely tasty curry from New Delhi in Gasperich was enjoyed.

As the Captains XI took to the field, the first signs of the sun were starting to appear from the grey clouds as Niraj and Akhilesh took the new ball.
However, opening batsman, James Barker and Varun were both looking in good form and set about giving their side a solid start. Barker batted extremely well, punishing the bad ball and did not give away a chance whist Varun complimented him brilliantly with his aggressive and attacking batting. Niraj finally got the breakthrough by getting one to dart away which took the edge of Varuns bat and was well caught by wicket-keeper Hendri. Niraj quickly followed up by trapping Tony Whiteman lbw for 2 and when Pankaj came on, he too took two wickets with Bobbi and Aksay both being bowled. The Chairmans innings was very much mirroring the Captains innings – solid starts and middle order collapses.

James Barker was very eventually out for 66 off the bowling of Pranjul and a good catch by Jan. Mike West got his wickets tally off the mark by finding the edge of Ananths bat and when Mohit came into bat to join Vishy, the Captains XI were looking well on top.

It was then like watching the highlights reel as Mohit batted as he only worked in boundaries. Hitting fours and sixes to all parts and ruined what were before some perfectly respectable bowling figures.

However, Shiva came on and bowled a tight line and length, frustrating Mohit who was eventually bowled. Mohit had done his job though and with 2 overs to the Chairmans XI needed 6 runs to win. Captain, Wayne Codd joined Vishy and both found the ball difficult to get away as the death bowling was extremely tight.

The final over and still 4 runs were needed. A couple of singles were taken and eventually on the final ball of the game, all was tied with 1 run needed for the Chairmans XI to be victorious. Codd was on strike, would the captain finish the game by hitting the winning runs.. well, sort of!

The final ball was bowled, a whirlwind swing of the bat from Codd – missed and straight into the keepers gloves. However, Vishy was backing up well and called for the quick single. Vishy sprinting to the danger end, Keeper Praveen decided to throw at the bowlers end but Codd was too quick and the bye was taken giving a well-earned victory to the Chairmans XI.

It was an exciting and close finish befitting such a match.

Captains vs Chairmans Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
8w 1b 3lb 
for 6 wickets
12
185 (30.0 overs)		     
Pranjul Shah b  Phil Burleigh 31
Praveen Kuruvalli ct  Mohit Dixit 72
Hendri Bruwer st  Phil Burleigh 9
Jan Stembord lbw  Akshay Sharma 1
Mike West Run out  2
Niraj Trivedi lbw  Akshay Sharma 0
Pankaj Malav Not Out  49
Akhilesh Kumar Not Out  3
Shiva Arunachalam  
Richard Neale  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Optimists Cricket Club Optimists (Club side) Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
A.N. Other5.011800.003.60
Mohit Dixit6.0022122.003.67
Bobby Jonker4.001600.004.00
Vishwajeet Deshpande3.003000.0010.00
Phillip Burleigh4.001125.502.75
Akshay Sharma3.0014114.004.67
Wayne Codd3.003900.0013.00
Tony Whiteman2.001200.006.00

Optimists Cricket Club Optimists (Club side) Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 8w  
for 7 wickets
9
186		        
James Barker ct  Pranjul Shah 66
A.N. Other ct  Niraj Trivedi 24 1
Tony Whiteman lbw  Niraj Trivedi 2
Akshay Sharma b  Pankaj Malav 11
Bobby Jonker b  Pankaj Malav 2
Ananth Srisailapathy ct  Mike West 13
Vishwajeet Deshpande Not Out  9
Mohit Dixit b  Shiva Arunachalam 44
Wayne Codd Not Out  3
Phillip Burleigh  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  

Captains vs Chairmans Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Niraj Trivedi5.0032216.006.40
Akhilesh Kumar7.004000.005.71
Shiva Arunachalam6.0029129.004.83
Pankaj Malav4.001929.504.75
Pranjul Shah4.0027127.006.75
Mike West4.0043143.0010.75