Scorecard

Optimists Cricket Club Optimists (Club side) v 12 Stars Cricket Club on Sun 09 Apr 2017 at 13:00
Optimists Cricket Club Won By 37 runs

Match report The Optimists CC started their season incredibly early, but who would have thought having the first game on 9th April would feel like it should have been 9th August weather-wise. Thanks to the hard work and efforts of various members of the club, the ground was looking in pristine condition and fitting that we, as Belgian Cricket Federation Division 2 winners would be playing the BCF Division 1 Winners of 2015 and Runners up of last year – 12 Stars CC.

Newly appointed skipper, Richard Neale got off to a positive start by winning the toss and electing to bat first.
Under blue skies at the Pierre Werner Ground, James Barker and Joost Mees opened the batting. Barker looked in good form and was playing very positively, defending when needed but looking to take the attack to the opposition with some powerful drives when given the opportunity. Unfortunately, Mees received a good ball early on and was well caught at slip. Girish replaced him and soon began to build a strong partnership with Barker which saw the run rate climb to 8 in the first 8 overs. However, as we know, all good things must come to an end and it did so when Barker was eventually caught. Girish soon departed after having been cautious and looking to build but was well bowled. The curse of any batsman at the beginning of the season – a good ball! Vice-captain, Saransh came to crease but uncharacteristically he was looking to hit the ball to parts from his first ball. He too was caught and the Optimists were starting to wobble on 83-4. Debutant Ankit Parate was next in and was joined by Aanand Pandey who steadied the ship. Both played some excellent shots to take the team to 112 off 23 overs before Aanand departed. Phil Burleigh decided to take pity for scorer, Roger Barker and felt it was in the spirit not to trouble him too much, so after three balls he decided to glide one to slip and a very sharp catch was taken. Atif however, had different ideas and set about going after the 12 Stars bowling attack. Ankit was run out but with Marcus Cope in support, Atif played some excellent sweep shots against their menacing spin attack and some powerful drives and cut shots. He was eventually bowled for 37, and Richard Neale came in at the end to give a bit of a push in the final overs supported by Graham Cope. The Optimists finished the innings with 218. A good score, but with a lightening outfield and we knew 12 Stars CC had a strong batting line-up, would it be enough?

Atif Kemal and Aanand Pandey were given responsibility for the new ball and both bowled with controlled aggression. Atif particularly bowled well, constantly beating the outside edge and causing difficulty for the top order. His first spell finished at 4 overs 1-6 – very impressive. Aanand Pandey toiled away at the other end bowling a nagging line and length and 12 Stars were finding it hard to score and the pressure started to build. With an excellent run-out by James Barker and a good catch from Wicket Keeper Cope (G) off the bowling of Atif, 12 Stars were 52-2 off 13 overs. The double bouncer strategy worked for Girish in his first over where the first one was blasted for 4, the second took the batsman by surprise and gently lobbed up to James Barker at Square Leg and thus dismissed what looked to be their best batsman for 34. Marcus Cope came on at the Fitzgerald Bridge end and was finding good turn and bounce. In fact, James Barker was the brave soul to volunteer to be Silly Point. Cope had a few chances put down and bowled with excellent control to further restrict the 12 Stars batsman. We might have already seen the catch of season – outstanding catch from Joost Mees at mid-wicket. Neale bowled a ball that was clipped hard through the mid-wicket area before all 6 foot 4inches of Mees flew through the air to snaffle the ball one handed – a true Collingwood/Strauss style catch! Neale took a second wicket before Burleigh joined the party and trapped one for lbw and suddenly we were into the tail. However, 12 Stars still had Ayyappan at the crease who was batting well. He was trying to take strike and punished any bad balls. The next two wickets to fall were both due to excellent fielding from Aanand Pandey. He sprinted round the outfield all afternoon saving copious amounts of runs and his deadly throw was his secret weapon that resulted in two wickets. With 6 overs to go, 12 Stars were 170-8 with 48 to win. Tough, but achievable until that is Atif Kemal came back into the attack and soon made light work of Ayyappan, clean bowling him to give the Optimists the win!
It was an excellent match to the season where everyone contributed to the successful outcome of the game. Lets hope this is the sign of good things to come now for the 2017 season – watch this space to find out!

Optimists Cricket Club Optimists (Club side) Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
218		        
James Barker Caught  27 1
Phillip Burleigh Caught  0
Graham Cope Not Out  2 1
Marcus Cope Bowled  9
Joost Mees Caught  0 1
Aanand Pandey Caught  20
Atif Kamal Bowled  37
Saransh Kulshrestha Caught  9
Richard Neale Bowled  27
Girish Venkateswaran Bowled  13
A.N. Other Run out  34

12 Stars Cricket Club Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

12 Stars Cricket Club Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
181 (36.1 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Optimists Cricket Club Optimists (Club side) Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Atif Kamal5.121025.001.94
Aanand Pandey7.003800.005.43
A.N. Other3.002400.008.00
Marcus Cope8.012800.003.50
Girish Venkateswaran4.0031131.007.75
Richard Neale6.0026213.004.33
Phillip Burleigh3.0022122.007.33

  • Umpire :
    Madhu Ramachandran & David Crowther
  • Scorer :