Match Report: THCC1 v HICC, 05.07.2015
THCC 6/108 (Trived 30, Israfeel 18*, Kartar 2/31, Sanjay 2/33) beat HICC 106 (Updesh 23, Herry 20*, Cam 3/10, Jatin 2/9)
A cricket ball weighs about 160 grams. That doesn’t sound like much (it’s about the same as an apple), but the combination of cork, leather and stitching can certainly do some damage, especially when moving at speed. Just ask skipper Cam, who took a fully struck cover drive right in the bread basket (he dropped the catch, but managed to stay on his feet), and short leg Raman, who wore one on the left shoulder.
Make no mistake: the THCC players do everything they can to catch and stop the ball. There were some great catches held today, with Aman and Israfeel catching bullets, Jatin and Cam holding pop-flies for caught-and-bowled, Trived taking a good one in the gully and Steve nabbing a fine caught-behind off Jatin’s bowling. Then was the excellent ground fielding, exemplified by Bipin’s run-out of HICC captain Sanjay.
HICC, after winning the toss and electing to bat, made a promising start on a hot and sticky day, with the temperature well over 30 degrees. They moved quickly to 1/42 in eight overs, before Bipin removed the dangerous Kiran, with Cam taking the catch at short cover. From there, the steady stream of wickets meant HICC were all out for 106, with only Herry offering resistance to finish 20*.
Because of the heat, the bowlers were rotated regularly, with excellent spells from Sandeep (1/23 off 8), Kamal (1/8 off 4), Jatin (2/9 off 4) and Cam (3/10 off 4). With the bowlers being backed up by strong fielding, runs were very hard to get for HICC. The bowlers tied the batsmen down, while the fielders held their catches and put their bodies (including stomachs and shoulders) on the line to stop the ball.
And this is exactly the team that THCC has become during the course of the season: a team that is very hard to score runs against. Taking away the two losses, including the 6/350 that Hannover scored (on the batsman’s paradise mat), and the 5/116 scored by HSV in the “damp sponge game”, THCC has bowled out teams for 164, 84, 111, 105, 138, 132, 168 and 106. This is a very satisfying result, as the team set the goal at the start of the season to keep opposition teams under 150. Through 10 matches, THCC gave up 1475 runs in total, for an average of 147.5 runs per game, and took 91 wickets.
Israfeel and Safiullah batting THCC to victiory
The run chase was academic. Trived batted very well to make 30, but joined Cam in the “wrong LBW decision” support group, given out to a ball going way down leg-side, while Cam was given out with an inside edge and going down leg. Six wickets fell, but THCC got the runs easily in the end, with Sandeep (15), Aman (16), Extras (18) and Israfeel (18*) all chipping in to boost the score. Safiullah hit the winning runs, with a solid four through mid-wicket.
Many thanks to Sanjay and the HICC players for an enjoyable day of cricket. Big thanks to Tina for scoring once again, to 12th man Shane, and to Henrik for bringing lunch for everyone (what a great surprise!). Very much appreciate all your efforts.
This last game of the season was another great win, and in tough conditions. It means THCC won 8 matches out of 10, with the ladder position pending the result between Hannover and Findorff (THCC are behind Findorff on net run-rate, despite beating them twice). Regardless, it was a fantastic season and the THCC players shall be very proud of what they collectively achieved in the 2015 NDCV Bundesliga. Well done!