Incogs Vs Metchosin – MCG June 19th
After the previous weekends thrilling win over the Islanders CC, the Cougars were looking forward to keeping the momentum going. The sun was shinning, and much of the team was on time to the ground. The club has long been lucky to have such members as Peter Machin and Mike Smith, with the latter preparing the outfield at 7am after riding his bike to the ground.
The toss was won by the home side and the Cougars were ready to field. The Incogs openers started well and began to find their rhythm with the pacey opening spell from Izak & Tanzil. As the opening pair began to push the run rate driving both through the covers and the slips, the pace attack would retreat for a later return. The trio of Rob, Will and Dilip would begin to takeover. As Dilip kept up to the stumps for the uncompromising line and length shown by the bowling pair, the batsmen no longer looked so assured. The wind was doing its Metchosin best at swirling towards the coast to cause additional difficulties for the homeside, yet this would not stop the catches by the Cougar fielders. Izak would be first to the list scoping out a high ball of Rob, shortly followed by a top notch catch by Dilip from the bottom of the bat off a poorly placed cut shot. Mike would do his best green ninja impression looking steady and keeping his feet just within the line on the long boundary, incredibly impressive for someone who had already been at the ground for over 6 hours that day. Will jumped into the wickets as he found the secret pitch spot which turns a good length ball into a fiery 80km/hr bouncer, which found the always impressive Jamison as its first victim of the day. Jon making a couple of quick catches look very simple inside the fifteen-yard circle to have the Incogs reeling at 6-89. The Cougars were hoping for a quick finish to the innings, however, young guns Cole & Harsh were in no mood to let the innings end, and the Cougars fielders were looking less and less sharp as the wind increased. Thankfully, the bowling continued to impress, yet the Incogs pair snuck through the gaps as the runs picked up.
Chewy then took matters into his own hands and scalped three batsmen in quick succession for the first hattrick in a coons age.
With nine wickets down, the last one seemed inevitable, that was until John Wenman rewound the years and dogged through while Harsh swung harder than the wind. The last pair would put on just shy of a fifty partnership to bring the Incogs total to 179 after 45.
After a nonexistent tea, the Cougars openers would stroll out to see off the openers and hope to take down the total. Harsh Saini would take the confidence from his first fifty to nullify the Cougar chase. The dream game would continue as KP decided to attempt the ill-advised lofted six in the third over only to find the safe mitts of Amrit. Cougars 1 down with 2 runs on the board. Mr. Cricket himself Rob White would settle things down as he and the skip rotated the strike well. The skip would not last much longer as Cole would join Harsh in the wickets. 2 wickets down, 31 runs on the board.
In steps the hattrick taker Himanshu, coming off a not out 45 in the previous match. Some testing bowling from Cole and Harsh would see some chances fall, but the Cougar pair would continue to push the runs.
As the fielders began to tire in the sun, the heads dropped, and the bowling began to loosen. Himanshu and Rob would accelerate the chase and in no time at all both batsmen would have fifties to their name and another win for the might Cougars in the books. 2 for 180 after 37.3 overs.
Another great performance by the bowling, fielding and Rob & Chewy to see Metchosin two wins from two. The next match is against the Alcos at Beacon Hill, Saturday June 24.
Scorecard can be found here: https://www2.cricketstatz.com/ss/runreport2.aspx?club=23365&mode=100&match=394738
