We were set for a busy weekend with our debut in the 2024 Northeastern League, with four matches spread equally over the Saturday and Sunday.
Pak Barcelona We started with a game against Pak Barcelona at 9am. Shriram Bhosale lost the toss and we were put in the field. Only Shriram himself in his one over could really stem the flow of runs, with the best figures going to Vrishab Kandral (2/34), with the other wicket taken by Burhan Ejaz (1/41). Pak Barcelona finished with 219/3 after an unbeaten 135-run fourth wicket partnership. Starting our innings with something of an uphill task, we made a reasonable start and were in with a shout before a typical BICC collapse took us from 86/2 to 119/8, including the retirement of top-scorer Umer Razi (32). The ninth wicket put on another 13 to take us to a chastening 75-run loss. Catalunya Coalesce After an extended lunch break, we were back for our second game of the day at 5pm. This time we won the toss but again we fielded first. Things weren’t going too badly when we got them 87/3 (albeit with a good runrate), but just like the morning the fourth-wicket partnership took the game away, this time combining for 158 runs before it finally ended off the last ball of the innings as Vishesh Gajjar claimed his third wicket (3/48), having already dismissed both openers. Tom Coulthard got the other wicket (1/39) to end with the only figures going at under 10 an over. They finished on a hefty 245/4. Starting our innings with something of an uphill task (I feel like I’ve written that before!), we started well with a 57-run partnership between Maroof Shaikh and Vrishab. There was another 50+ run partnership between Vrishab and Tom before the collapse came, and we went from 114/2 to 115/5 in the blink of an eye. “Scoreboard pressure” and all that, but we’d got ourselves into a reasonable position. A quick 50 for Suraj Jha wasn’t enough to save the innings, but we finished on a very respectable 215/6. Men in Blue Sunday morning’s game saw us play Men in Blue, with us desperate to avenge the recent trend of defeats against them. They won the toss and put us into bat. Again, there was a decent enough start thanks again to Maroof, this time accompanied by Ujjwal Anand. They got some runs on the board but, Ujjwal especially, were both struggling to get the ball away. I wish I was getting paid every time I write the word “collapse”, because there are two more to come. 51/1 became 70/5. A cameo from the captain (17) saw something of a partnership form before he was caught. 92/5 became 112 all out off the penultimate ball. The lowest score of the four games so far, and not one likely to be defended. And so it was. We took two of them with us, with a wicket apiece for Shriram and Vishesh, but they chased it down in just the twelfth over. Still, it meant a bit of a breather before our next game… Magic Badalona Our fourth and final game was against Magic. The shortened first game had allowed a break and time for a dance in the dressing room (it’s how all top teams relax after three defeats in a row). We lost the toss and were put in the field. The top order got them off to a good start but the game changed on the wicket of their number 3 Shakeel, caught by Shriram off the bowling of Maxi Hoeck. With the middle and lower order less able to hit out, the runrate fell and wickets fell consistently. They were eventually all out off the last ball for 195. Burhan finished with the best figures of 3/45, Vishesh 2/39 and Wills Camfield 2/22, with a wicket each for Maxi and Anton. We envisioned the unsuccessful chase against Coalesce from the evening before, when we had scored more than this batting second. Maroof opened again, this time with Anton. Disaster struck first ball though, as Anton was run out backing up. Vrishab came in at 3 and scored a valuable (and quick) 19 in a 58-run partnership. When he was caught it brought Maxi to the crease alongside Maroof, and the two of them batted brilliantly bringing the runs required down along with the runrate. 90 runs later and Maroof was finally dismissed for 67 but the fear of another collapse was also dismissed by Suraj (confusingly listed as Caspar on the live scorecard!). Suraj (30*) and Maxi (56*) saw us home with four balls to spare and we finally had our first win of this long and hot weekend! A great win, and we hope for more in our next league game on the 19th August against Catalunya Jaguars. Sam Phillipps
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Barcelona’s loss is certainly Andorra’s gain. Long-serving member Anish Shindore, now based in Andorra, has recently started proceedings to start his own club in the principality. Cricket Club Andorra has been officially born, and a home in Encamp sourced. We were set to play a triangular tournament with our French friends Nimes (who we visited last year, but were unable to play due to the weather), but sadly Anish wasn’t quite able to raise an Andorran team yet - that will certainly come in the near future.
First game scorecard We arranged to play three games over the weekend, although the plans were always quite loose. After reintroducing ourselves, sharing a breakfast put on by our host and even talking with the local press, we started a 30-over game, knowing that there was potentially disruptive weather coming in the afternoon to follow the storm of Friday night. Stand-in captain Maroof Shaikh won the toss and chose to bat with Khyzer Nawaz and Anton Kritzinger opening. Anton decided to become the first man to be run out on Andorran TV (see video below) and Khyzer (23) edged behind moments after being hit on the toe and facing the possibility of never being able to walk ever again. Maroof made a smart 19 before playing a very loose shot, but none of the middle order got going and we went from 54/1 to 70/5 very quickly. Maxi Hoeck (37) was at least playing some big shots and was ably supported by Zeeshan Dildar (23). Their 50-run partnership got us up to 150/8 before both were dismissed with us on that score just 23.1 overs into the innings. Nimes coach Rolf had promised some big hitting before the game, and he wasn’t lying… After a lengthy lunch/ rain delay, we finally got underway with more rain definitely on the way. Jones Paulson and Maxi started us off with the openers clearly keen to get the game won quickly - helped by our overpitched bowling. After an expensive first over, Jones dismissed their opener with the best slip catch that Andorra had ever seen (must be a good cricketer who took that). Sadly for us, the second wicket partnership, despite a few short rain delays, put on a rapid 88 runs together, with the ball consistently sailing over the long-on to cow corner boundary. Their captain Sharoz was finally dismissed for 62 by Umer Razi, who in turn became BICC’s “all-time” leading wicket taker. Spin-twin Anton followed suit, claiming two wickets in his two overs for just four runs as they collapsed from 105/1 to 107/4. Despite that amazing slip fielder getting a wicket of his own, it was too little too late and Nimes sauntered to victory five wickets down in the 17th over as the rain really started to hammer down. First spoils to the French, as we all ran for cover. Second game scorecard After a bit of a wait, we decided to try and fill the remaining time of the afternoon with a T10 match. This time Nimes won the toss and chose to bat. Umer picked up his second wicket of the day but the innings would only last four overs til we were off for rain again, and this time for good. We agreed to finish the match in the morning, when the forecast was much better. Sunday morning arrived, along with the promised sunshine. With latecomers forcing a couple of changes to our lineup, we hit the field for the remaining six overs. Having taken just one wicket the day before, fresh legs and a change of conditions saw us rattle through a slightly mixed up batting order. Anton finished with 2/9 and Vishesh with 2/11, with cheap wickets for Maxi and Jones too. Nimes finished on 80 all out, losing the last wicket to a run out on the last ball. Home hero Anish opened with Anton and got us a solid base. Burhan made an impressive cameo (16 off 6) and Maxi (26* off 14) saw us home for a five wicket victory with an over to spare. Third game scorecard After the completion of the two-day T10, we started our scheduled Sunday games. The first game was a T20 where we again won the toss and chose to bat. With a bit of a reverse batting order, our top order struggled a bit and we were quickly 30/3. Umer and Zeeshan (24) put on a better partnership for the 4th wicket before we lost two wickets in two balls. Maxi (33*), in at 8, had another good cameo with the bat and got us up to 123 before the batters at the other end let him down. Nimes made rather easy work of the chase, taking just 11.3 overs to win the game. They did this just two wickets down, both taken by Sam when the game was gone. Nimes captain Sharoz finished on 85* and clearly felt frustrated at missing out on a ton… Fourth game scorecard Our final game of the weekend was scheduled to be another T20, but was cut short to 15-overs aside due to time constraints. We allowed Nimes to bat first in this game, as they requested. They got off to a flier, that never really slowed down despite the occasional wicket (particularly from Wills with 3/26). After 12 overs, Rolf, the Nimes coach, pulled his team off ending the innings early due to those same time constraints. It’s far to say that captain Sharoz (83*) was less than pleased! It was agreed that we’d bat 10 overs with an unlikely target of 155 set. Despite some lusty blows from Zeeshan (28 off 16) opening up, none of the rest of the top order really got going until Maroof (21 off 9) and Burhan (19* off 10) came in after the game was gone. Nimes won by 56 runs as finished on 98/7. Despite an overall imbalance in the two teams, it was a great weekend played in good spirits. As they had shown in France last year, they are a friendly bunch and the brief conversations after the game already turned to our next game together. We’re looking forward to it! Thanks to Anish and his fledgling Cricket Club Andorra for hosting, we hope to play against an Andorran side next time! Sam Phillipps Scorecard (or as close to it as possible!)
After a lengthy spell without an organised game, we finally managed to get a midweek afternoon friendly against Badalona CC. They suffered some last minute drop outs and ended up only with 8 players but it was agreed that two of their players could bat twice in order to balance things out, after we ended up on 10 after a late drop out of our own. Badalona won the toss and chose to bat (probably wise, with a couple of their players also running late!) Jones Paulson and Maxi Hoeck got us underway and started well. We were showing a bit of err...match rustiness in the field and with conceding extras but Quinn van Oordt (on debut) showed us how to confidently take a high catch. Wickets fell consistently throughout the innings and we got more into it. Jones and Suraj Jha picked up deserved 3fers, and there were 2 wickets apiece for Vishesh Gajjar and Wills Camfield. Quinn's bowling was too good for the batters to even get an edge on it and he harshly ended his debut innings wicketless. Badalona were bowled out for 180/9. As well as two Badalona batters batting twice, we had agreed to give them a couple of sub fielders to get them to 10 players. Dev Kumar and Shane Lightley opened the batting for us but both fell with the score on 10. Suraj joined Quinn in the middle after the second wicket and the pair put on a rapid 78-run partnership, mostly thanks to some big hitting from Suraj (he was 19 off 4 balls). BICC captain Shriram Bhosale, on as one of the aforementioned sub fielders, volunteered himself for a bowl and was granted it by the Badalona captain to a chorus of boos from the onwatching BICC players. He thought he had Suraj caught behind two balls into his spell and eventually had him dismissed that way a couple of balls later with him four runs short of a debut BICC 50. Quinn was also dismissed with the score on 88 and we suddenly went from well in control to having a bit of a wobble. The middle order of Maxi, Vishesh and Wills smartly played the ball into the gaps, picking up easy singles but when the three of them were out, we were definitely behind. Shriram, now deciding that he wants to play for us again, hit a quick cameo but left a tall task of 40 runs from 5 overs to the final pair of Jones and Sam Phillipps. The crowd starting filing out in order to beat the traffic, the drinks kiosks closed up and the rest of the BICC team started packing up their belongings with the game dead and buried... What fools they were! The pair gave themselves a chance with 12 required off the last over, but could only manage eight runs and the win went to Badalona. It was all a good warm up for our first tour to Andorra this weekend, where we will meet our French friends from Nimes CC at the new home of Cricket Club Andorra. Thanks to Omar and Badalona for a great game played in great spirits (and great weather!). Sam Phillipps |
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