THCC 204 186 Göttingen
3rd Jul 2016 - 11:00
THCC-Ground
Bundesliga

THCC 204 (Bipin 67*, Kamal 33, Murugan 3/28) beat Göttingen 186 (A. Mustafa 42, Daub 41, Asad 3/33, Bipin 3/34)

Back in April, in the first game of the season, when THCC beat Göttingen, the match report included this prescient line: “Göttingen is a team showing a lot of promise, especially Z. Jamali, the young left-arm bowler, and Mahel Daub.”

Göttingen recently beat HICC, and pushed both MTV and SG Findorff to the brink, only to lose by close margins. So it was just right that this young, up-and-coming team, well led by Raja Murugan, would provide such a challenge for THCC. It was a very strong challenge, in what turned out to be a fantastic game of cricket.

THCC skipper Cam won the toss and decided to bat. Jamali removed Asad early. Keith and Guru built a small partnership, before Keith was well stumped by Sangari, standing up to Murugan. From 1/38, THCC crashed to 5/62 and then 8/104, before Bipin and Kamal swung the momentum THCC’s way with an impressive hundred run partnership. Bipin’s 67 not-out saved the innings for THCC, and gave the bowlers something to defend.

Home to Gött_1

Bipin smashes another ball to the boundary during his match-winning 67 not-out

That defense started well, with Bipin and Kamal following up their great batting effort with an early wicket each to leave Göttingen at 2/6. But Daub and A. Mustafi fought back, putting on 66 for the third wicket before Cam broke the partnership, Kamal taking the catch. Daub then teamed up with Sangari to bat Göttingen into a winning position. At 3/113 in the 26th over, the match was theirs to win.

Enter Bipin, swung around to the other end and taking two important wickets, including Sangari for 18, and Daub for a finely crafted 41, with keeper Steve nabbing both catches. Marvin chimed in to take the sixth wicket, but G. Mustafi and Marimuthu fought back to take the game away from THCC, with G. Mustafi hitting a solid 38. It took an exceptional piece of individual brilliance to remove him and put THCC on course for an exciting win.

Khalil, playing his first Bundesliga match, swooped from square leg to run-out G. Mustafi with a direct hit. It all happened very fast, and the players surrounded Khalil to congratulate him for his effort.

But the match wasn’t over. Göttingen needed 27 runs and still had three wickets in hand. It was tight, and heading for a close finish. Asad took one wicket, with Silva holding on to a ball that went very high in the air. And then he took another, bowling Marimuthu, and finished the job trapping Jamali LBW.

The match was played in a great spirit, and was well umpired by Sami and Tavseef. THCC won by just 18 runs. But make no mistake: something is happening in Göttingen, with this young group of players improving with every game and set to provide some very stiff competition for the rest of the league.

Many thanks to scorer Moritz (and also for the fantastic pre-match gardening work). Thanks also to all the supporters and club members who came to the ground and lent their support.

And well done to the THCC Regionalliga team, getting their first win of the season against HSV Tigers.