Match day: Sunday 16.05.2022
Match time: 12:00 hrs. CET
Ground: Bout-du-Monde, Geneva
League: CSPL – opening match for ZLCC
Toss time: Geneva CC won the toss and elected to bat first.
On a bright sunny Sunday in Geneva – for the CSPL opener : Geneva CC won the toss and elected to bat first. Given the dimensions of the ground it was no brainer that it’s going to be a high scoring match. Geneva CC is known to have upper hand in their home ground given they know the pitch and ground the most. Pitch was expected to be very fast and dimensions of grounds are very small.
Match begins:
Zurich lions are in huddle and they started with Sonu from Far end. Pitch had true bounce and good pace and openers Idrees and Roshan from GCC were watchful to being, however the most rued fact of the missed catch of Idrees in the first over at covers, things would’ve been different. Kanishk from other end created misses. Luck favors when all that favors you. Some close shaves, some close lbw calls and openers of GCC survived. Bowling changes in middle over were good in line and length however all the edges, flicks,pushes everything were flying to boundaries and GCC were going well. After 10 overs 77/0. Many close lbw calls saved GCC and they cruised to 20 overs 145/0. The first wicket only came in 23 over when Mayur bowled Idrees for 81. Mayur bowled out Anser in 32nd over it read 233/2. Roshan Perera made a well complied century of 107 runs before getting stumped out in Sara’s bowling. It was 34th over 252/3. Ali got a streaky luck when many catches just flew over, few didn’t stick and few close calls saved him from lbw. Last 6 overs GCC took full toll on ZLCC bowling and made 98 runs especially last over going for 26 runs. Sara, Mayur got 2 wickets each while Sonu & Kanishk took 1 each. With heat taking a toll on ZLCC players they were tired both physically and mentally. A huge chase of 340 runs was required to win the game. ZLCC had bowled well but it was a bit harsh on bowlers given the dimension of the ground and were extremally patch in few overs. Overall disappointing finish in the first half.
Time for a break – 15 mins. Second innings to start.
ZLCC openers Kanishk and Ankush started off cautiously however with fast paced pitch and a lot of bounce they were forced to see off few overs. However pressure got on to the openers as runs were not coming by and GCC bowlers knowing the ground very well, knew which length to bowl and Ankush got caught out trying to score quickly. Kanishk got out cheaply as well and run rate was climbing high. Mayank too fell to a soaring bouncer made sorry looking scorecard at end of 7 overs 19/3. It got into mind of ZLCC batsmen as the bouncers, swinging deliveries were making it difficult to hit. Sheshu,Senthil played some shots but both got out with the hope of ZLCC going nothing but over. 13 overs 43/5. Sara joined Mayur trying to salvage some pride but found it hard to score runs. Being caught here not rotating strike and scorecard not moving Sara and Sarfaraz both followed back to pavilion when score was 57/7. ZLCC is not even able to give a fightback. Heartbreaks, losses doesn’t hurt, what hurt is not being able to fight back, give something to save the pride. Mayur got unlucky as he got caught in boundary, Amit too was bowled soon and all was over 69/9. Imagine being not even able to score 1/3 runs of the whole total as Sonu was last batsmen to get out with the absolute mockery looking scorecard of 76/10 in 27 overs.
Briefs:
Geneva CC – 40 overs 340/6 (Roshan 107, Idrees 81, Ali 64*, Mayur -2/67, Sara 2/53, Sonu 1/31, Kanishk 1/72)
Zurich Lions CC – 27.3 overs 76 all out (Senthil 13, Amit 10, Mayur 09, Uddika 3/0, Vikrant 2/19,Sirisenage 1/3)
Highlight
Geneva Cricket Club, 340-6 (Roshan Perera † 107 st Amit Kumar † b Sara Subramani) Zurich Lions Cricket Club, ZLCC 76-10 (CSPL)
Hope we can forget this nightmare but do not forget the lessons.
Take care and stay safe.
Ciao #TeamZLCC
Snehil