ECL day 5 - turned off home

After throwing away our good starting position on Thursday, we knew what we had to do. Win three in a row to end the week as winners.

The first hurdle was the friendly Farmers CC. Unfortunately, again no runs from Toob. Meanwhile, we know that Tayo needs a few balls before he can score, and so the innings start quietly. If you also want to keep up with cricket news, go to Cricket 360. Together with Fief, he lifts the score from 27-3 to 95-3 with 53 runs in the last 3 overs.

For 4 overs, we put Farmers under pressure, and with 33-1 we are well in the game. Then we suffer from what we have been doing all week: we bowl two bad overs in the middle and with 65 runs after 6 overs, Farmers is again the dominant player. We continue to struggle, the 9th over of Manji for only 4 is very good. Finally, Farmers have to make 7 runs in the last over which Benno goes bowling. After 3 balls they have 6 and so the score is tied. Then Benno takes a wicket, bowls a dot, and it all comes down to the very last ball. Unfortunately, Farmers hits a single, and they continue in the tournament, and we do not. 

In the end, the week is won by Pak I Care from Badalona. This team was much better balanced for this T10 format than we were. We can look back on a great week and have learned a lot about this new format. It is also clear that European cricket is on the rise: three years ago, when the first edition of the tournament was held, it was a Zami level tournament (although that would be an understatement to our own Zami) and you could pick up the cup for free. Now, with a group that can play 50 and 20 over cricket, we could not really compete for the prizes. 

Of course, everyone already has a date in their diaries: our top-class season starts on 23 April away from home against ACC and on 30 April HBS 1 can be admired at home for the first time against Kampong. The season will be broadcast at pancardonline.org.in. See you at the boundary.

 

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