Scorecard

Ostende v Optimists Cricket Club 1st XI on Sun 10 May 2009 at 12:30
Optimists Cricket Club Lost

Match report On Sunday the Optimists 1st XI ventured up to Ostend to play the first fixture of the season.
After watching the opposition take down a mini grandstand that was situated next to the track in record time, Optimists captain, Heath won the toss and decided to bat first.

Merkl and Burleigh lead the way and gave the Optimists a solid start before Merkl was out for 9. Neale and Heath chipped in with a few runs but it was Burleigh who was leading the attack in his usual enigmatic way. With only three runs needed until his fifty, Burleigh was run out but had set the platform for a good Optimists score.
Brad Mole was in equally good touch and played some great pull shots as he helped to increase the pace as well as anchor the innings together in the final stages. Unselfishly, Mole was eventually caught, going for a big shot for a well-played 40.
Ramachandran, Vishwanath and Narayanan all scored quickly towards the end which gave the Optimists a respectable 206 for the opposition to chase.

Ostend came out and attacked from the start. Unfortunately Ramachandran injured his knee in the sixth over and had to stop bowling. Some excellent batting and difficult bowling conditions meant that Ostend were 101-1 off only 15 overs.
The swing bowling of Desai and spin option of Merkl were introduced into the attack and they were able to quickly find the right length that was required and started to slow the run rate down.
Merkl was able to break the Ostend partnership with a brilliant ball that beat the batsman in flight and some quick glove work from Mole saw the opener, Yaseen back in the pavilion. Wickets started to fall on a fairly regular basis with a brilliant caught and bowled from Desai but it never really felt as though the game was going to swing towards the Optimists favour.
Neale and Fitzgerald then bowled to the close but with only 3 an over being required, Ostend sensibly just pushed for singles to ensure victory.
The game was played in good spirit and an encouraging start to many who were able to find form on the first outing…it can only bode well for the rest of the season!

Richard Neale

Optimists: 206 all out (44.5overs) Burleigh 47, Mole 40
Ostend: 208 – 7 (39.1overs) Neale 2-37, Merkl 2-47

Optimists Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
206		        
Piran Merkl ct Shafqat Mohammad 9
Phillip Burleigh Run out  47
William Heath b Abdul Rehman 18
Richard Neale ct Shafqat Mohammad 15 1
Taral Desai b Abdul Rehman 0 2
Bradley Mole ct Shiekh Adeel 40 1
Madhu Ramachandran ct Shafqat Mohammad 18
Roshan Vishwanath b Syed Toqueer Abbas 17 1
Saravanan Narayanan ct Hamid Rizwan 12
Johan Terblanche ct Shafqat Mohammad 1
Mark Fitzgerald Not Out  1

Ostende Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Ostende Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
208 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Optimists Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Roshan Vishwanath4.002700.006.75
Madhu Ramachandran2.40800.003.00
Saravanan Narayanan2.201800.007.71
Johan Terblanche3.002300.007.67
Taral Desai9.0122122.002.44
Piran Merkl6.0047223.507.83
Richard Neale6.1237218.506.00
Mark Fitzgerald5.0021121.004.20

  • Umpire :
    Provided by BCF League
  • Scorer :
    Mick Swithenbank