ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 14 May 2011
VRA Zami 1 - Quick Haag
Zami 1 wint ook...
by Michael Blockland
Quick Haag zami 237-8 (35 overs). VRA zami 1 238-8 (34.1 overs)
You might think the symbols above are just a lot of jibberish. In fact the symbols represent
an ancient naval communication-method known as “morse-code”. Each letter contains a different sequence of dots and lines. The three dots represent the S and three lines represent an O. A ship in distress would signal “save-our-souls” to nearby ships hoping that they could be rescued in time. The same could also apply to the cricket-match played on Saturday May 14th. Not knowing how the pitch on astroturf would bounce, captain Willem van Mierlo very wisely decided to field first. VRA rotated the bowlers quickly (2 overs each) to keep the Quick batsmen guessing. A tactic that yielded a very early wicket, Phil Yisrael catching an edge off Nick Fowler’s bowling. Unfortunately for VRA this tactic didn’t quite remain as efficient as one would’ve thought. Several bowlers were hit for six when Captain van Mierlo used his first SOS-distress signal. Jeroen “SOS” Mulder appeared out of nowhere and bowled some very tight overs. The run rate of Quick Haag dropped slightly, but still a breakthrough couldn’t be made. The breakthrough came when Theo Lindeman had the opportunity to throw the ball at the stumps 3 meters away from him. Theo decided that this was too easy and threw the ball into the stumps at the bowler’s end (which was about 23 meters away from him). Direct hit and the Quick batsman was dismissed after having scored 49 runs. This proved to be a decisive breakthrough as more wickets were starting to fall. Paul McPhillimy had a very good day, taking three wickets in seven overs. Theo Lindeman took another two catches and Jeroen “SOS” Mulder ended with two wickets. In the final few overs Quick Haag slogged their way to a final score of 237 for 8. A target of 238 seemed to be a difficult chase for VRA. Mike George and Phil Yisrael opened the batting, but very soon Mike (2) fell trying to heave a ball over covers. Captain van Mierlo sent in Sanne Salomons at numer three who batted quite sensibly (17 runs) with Phil (25), but couldn’t stay in very long. The VRA ship appeared to be sinking a bit further when Paul McPhillimy (4) and Captain van Mierlo (golden duck) were dismissed and the score was 55 for 5. The lifeboats were prepared and the second SOS-signal of the day was telegraphed. Jeroen “SOS” Mulder heard the cry of his captain and stepped up together with Louis Collignon. At first it seemed that he had some trouble reading the Quick Haag bowlers, who (despite their name) only used slow bowlers. Jeroen and Louis first batted carefully but eventually found their “mojo”. SOS started hitting fours and sixes with considerable ease. Since VRA still needed about 180 runs Quick Haag was not panicking yet. This changed when SOS kept scoring 20-odd runs per over. Soon SOS and Louis shared a 100-run partnership and hope grew back in the minds of VRA. Louis (15 runs) departed at 176 and the dismissal of Nick Fowler (golden duck) ensured that the game wasn’t won yet. SOS was joined by Mijndert van der Spek and they kept hitting the Quick bowlers for a torrent of boundaries. At this point the Quick-captain was sending out his SOS-signal but no-one responded. The Quick-ship was taking a beating by SOS and Spek. Unfortunately, SOS fell when the score was 231 so he couldn’t finish the job in style. The winning runs were hit by Mijndert.
To no surprise SOS was named Man of the Match and rescuer of his captain, having scored 134 runs (10 sixes, 12 fours )!!! § Page
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