Cricket Verein Zug (CVZ) emerged victorious against the young and spirited Basel Cricket Club (BCC) Colts. BCC winning the toss opted to bowl first. Here’s the scorecard followed by a match summary below.
CVZ’s middle order building up the scorecard
The start was not as CVZ wished for as openers Beckett Tucker and Ankush Hasani, both fell victim to Aayush Mehrotra. But Jithesh Godi (33 runs) and Nitin Shah (23 runs) consolidated CVZ’s innings for 13 overs with a solid partnership of 61 runs. Both batsmen displayed patience and exquisite timing when unleashing a flurry of explosive shots. Just when CVZ looked settled, Bashir Stanikzai got Jithesh’s wicket in the 16th over, and young BCC tightened up the grip further to pick up 3 wickets in quick succession, leaving CVZ in a tricky situation - 99 for 6 in 21.3 overs.
Vaibhav Zirmite and Yogesh Gawande walked in with the intention to take CVZ’s innings till the end. Yogesh played an aggressive role in the partnership of 53 runs while Vaibhav played an anchoring role to make sure CVZ gets through till the end. This 7th wicket partnership together with formidable knocks from Jithesh, and Nitin at the top helped CVZ to put together a challenging total of 180 runs! Young bowlers from BCC showed a big heart in this match with standout performances from Aayush, Bashir, and Salim - claiming 2 wickets each.
Disciplined bowling Vs. Young Batsmen
Chasing a target of 181 runs, the Basel Cricket Club Colts began their innings with the intent to conquer. Lasse Acton and Omar Shinwari showed promising form at the start. But the CVZ bowlers, led by Ranjith Ramakrishnan (C) and Ankush Hasani (VC), kept the pressure on, claiming crucial wickets at regular intervals. Saurabh Verma and Jithesh Godi bowled impressive economical spells to hold back BCC batsmen and produced two wickets each. Nitin Shah came in as the 6th bowler change but bowled with tight accuracy and restricted BCC in slog overs. Milad Wahedi fought a lone battle with impressive innings of 39 runs, but the rest of the batting lineup struggled against the disciplined, experienced bowling attack of CVZ. BCC was eventually bowled out for 161 runs, falling short of the target by 19 runs.
CVZ claimed the victory - their batting brilliance and disciplined bowling proved to be the defining factors. Despite facing an experienced opponent, the BCC Colts displayed great character and held their nerves throughout the match. Their potential, determination, and maturity at such a young age deserve admiration and recognition.
