Start with a win(d)

See scorecard here

It was very windy up in Montjuic, which caused several interruptions as the pitch kept blowing away (yes, you read that correctly). Sid Tewari lost his first toss as captain and we were asked to bowl first.
BICC opened with Rez Hassan and Anish Shindore. Both kept the runs down well for the first four overs but couldn’t quite make the breakthrough, with a surprising and rare drop from Stu Boyd at long off. Badalona opener Omar then got his eye in and punished Rez’s third over, hitting three successive fours. Sam Phillipps and skipper Sid replaced the openers in the sixth and seventh overs respectively. Leo Viñola had a run out chance in Sid’s first over but, with the strike batsman stranded in the middle of the wicket, unfortunately threw to the wrong end! In the next over, after a couple of loose balls rightly put away for six, Sam finally made the first breakthrough in the eighth over, as Rez caught Omar with a simple chance at mid-on. Rez was in the action again in the very next over, as he ran out the other opener Salim. Soon after there was another run out, this time Sid with the throw following further confusion with the running. Meanwhile, Umer Razi replaced Sam (1/21) and the two slow bowlers really brought the run-rate down with some tight bowling. Sid replaced himself with Stu (2/20), who kept the trend with a tidy first over. In his next two overs, he would get two wickets caught and bowled: one a more simple looping catch, and the other that was hit hard straight at his face (a good thing he got his hands in the way!). At the “other” end Leo replaced Umer and managed to bamboozle the opposition batsmen with his first few balls with some impressive flight. Sid brought himself back on for the penultimate over and claimed the wicket of the fast-scoring Injamal LBW to finish with figures of 1/23 from his four overs. Rez came back for the final over, conceding just six runs. The over ended with two more run outs in two balls (with the out batsman from the penultimate ball staying in the middle as runner, he was effectively dismissed twice in two balls!) as Badalona pushed for a few extra runs. They finished on a respectable 162/8 from their 20 overs.
The regular opening partnership of Sid and wicketkeeper Hamza Baig went out to bat and were immediately up with the rate required in the first few overs. Amazingly, Hamza managed not to edge it over the fence behind him throughout his entire innings. The two of them pushed up through the gears and were well ahead of the required run rate by the end of the six-over powerplay. The two gave no chances to the opposition bowling, with the only “reprieve” when Hamza was caught on a free-hit. They were helped by some erratic bowling by the Badalona bowlers, who sent down ten wides in the opening overs. Once the powerplay had finished, Sid and Hamza continued to push on, with three consecutive overs in double figures before eventually Hamza fell for a rapid 46 off 26 balls, caught attempting to hit another boundary. The opening partnership had put on 97 in just 9.2 overs and had really put Badalona on the back foot. Sid then offered up a chance but was fortunately dropped. Umer had came in at 3 and steadied the ship as the bowling got more accurate before he fell for nine in the fourteenth over. Nathan came in to bat, with just 32 runs needed from the remaining six overs. He played some elegant shots, most of which went straight to a fielder. Sid passed 50 to complete silence, because the scorer can’t count. He was bowled soon after for 54, bringing debutant Kevin Kitchin to the crease. After Nathan perfectly picked out mid-wicket, Damien McMullen came to the crease and he and Kevin saw off the last few runs to take BICC over the line for their first victory of this second edition of Slog Fest with nine balls to spare!
So BICC start this league the same way they ended the last one, with a victory. Everyone managed to contribute (some more than others!) and it was a good game played in good spirits.

Sam Phillipps