Super League (Div 1) Match 3 vs Sandefjord
When: 22nd May
Where: Sandefjord
Sandefjord A Ck – 192/10 (38.2 overs)
Aliens CK – 196/4 (34.1 overs)
Aliens won by 6 wickets.
On 22nd May, Aliens started their journey early afternoon taking a long drive to Sandefjord for the first 40 overs game of the season. Aliens lost the toss and were asked to bowl first, Damon and Dennis gave a good bowling start, which was further cemented by Benan and Dave at first change. Keeping the run-count within control by good bowling and enthusiastic fielding attack, Aliens seemed in a good position even when Sandefjord didn’t lose any wicket.
Eyeing for a wicket, Arif got Aliens the first breakthrough on the last ball before drinks, where the left-handed opener from Sandefjord was trying to score a boundary but was caught at square leg by Anshul. At drinks, Sandefjord were 100/1 after 20 overs.
The wicket kept Aliens’ motivation up to get more and Damon, Dave and Marcus bowled some tight overs right after drinks, and soon after, Dave got their number 3 LBW and sent him off. Pressure was clearly starting to build on the batters as while searching for runs, one got run out and few overs after, Benan followed up with an impressive LBW and Dennis took a couple of wickets, one of which was a total ripper, batsman seemed totally frozen and one of the bails split into two, making it the perfect souvenir for this game for Aliens.
Matt got a bullet of a ball right into his neck while keeping, but it didn’t keep him from ‘advising’ the batters on various occasions :)
In the 38th over, the heat was further increased by Damon, who got their set batsman bowled out on a stunner and prevented him from scoring a century(95). 2 balls later, Damon got another LBW, followed by a bowled out, wickets were pouring, and Damon was on a hattrick! But unfortunately, it didn’t culminate. In all, a great over with 3 wickets!
Benan, off from a catch by Dennis, finished Sandefjord’s innings in the 39th over at 191.
Marcus and Anshul started the Aliens’ innings, but Anshul departed early on in the 3rd over. Damien came in at number 3 and along with Marcus upped the run rate with good running and some beautiful boundaries before Marcus got stumped out in the 9th over.
Dennis came in after, and it was a Damien-Dennis show for some time, both scored delightful boundaries and kept the runs flowing with good running between the wickets, building a good partnership, which then came to an end in the 15th over, when Damien stepped out of the crease but missed and was bowled out.
As Damon came in next, and started cementing his innings, Dennis departed, as he got caught off at fine leg after a good innings. At drinks, Aliens were 100/4, after which, Damon and Milton started annoying the opposition a lot, stealing 2s and punishing the ball as and when needed, with atleast one boundary in each over until the 25th after which Aliens needed 54 runs in 90 balls. Keeping their cool, Damon and Milton, built an impressive partnership and with the pressure on the opposition, wides and byes weren’t unwelcome at all. With lots of 2s and singles, Damon finished off in style with a 4 on the first ball of 35th over and gave Aliens a well-deserved win.