As the new season begins, the Optimists Crick Club - which plays their home hgames in Walferdange - travelled to Antwerp Indians' newly improved club house and pitch under a cold but bright day at the week-end.
Having lost the toss, Ben Embleton and James Barker got Optimists off to a very solid start which saw the loss of no wickets at the first drinks break. On the fast outfield, the two ran quickly and hit through to gaps to record boundaries with regularity. The great start eventually was halted when Barker was caught for 31 with the score at 116 from 21 overs.
The next period of batting saw two small partnerships with Embleton still going along nicely, William Cope contributed to the total with a small cameo before falling just after the second drinks break. Poised at 164 for 3 off 31 overs with Embleton nearing his hundred, Optimists were in a fine position to kick on in the last 15. After Embleton secured his century with some fine hits but, unfortunately due to some good fielding and tight bowling, Optimists lost their last 5 wickets for just 16 runs. Due to this collapse, the Optimists total was slightly below par with 226 all out but, with a strong bowling unit, the away side were confident to put some immense pressure on the Antwerp batsmen.
Atif Kamal and William Cope opened the bowling with the swinging new ball; tight bowling saw little reward in wickets but kept the scoring to a minimum with only 38 off the first 10 over powerplay.
The first wicket was picked up from Suhail Sadiq in the 12th over with some swing bowling. With both Mohit Dixit and Sadiq bowling well, three wickets fell to reduce the hosts to 100 for 4 from 22 overs. This was thanks to catches from Embleton, Tony Whiteman and Girish Venkateswaran.
Then came the tandem bowling of Venkateswaran and skipper Richie Neale; Antwerp struggled for runs on an ever-drying fast outfield. Then, just after the second drinks break, Graham Cope took the catch of Antwerp’s opening batsmen off the bowling of Neale. This put the game in the balance with 15 overs left; the hosts required 70 with 4 wickets in hand.
Atif then returned into the attack to try and finish off the tail, with 30 runs off the last 30 balls. Thankfully it was shortly after that Atif cleaned up the tail which meant a 26-run victory for Optimists in their first game of the Belgian League season. A hard fought victory but well-deserved.
