July 18, 2020
Match Report - July 18, 2020 - Metchosin vs Vikings (UVIC) Vikings (306-9) defeats the Cougars (114-10) The Cougars came into Saturday's matchup with considerable confidence after dispatching United the previous week. Instead of rain, there was ample sunshine and the pitch was looking as quick as ever. That said, with another toss won, the skip kept to the field first mentality (not since August 18, 2018 have the Cougars batted first), and the Viking openers had to feel the heat of Izak/Tanzil's opening spell. It took only a few overs before Tanzil had found his length and Amit showed us a new catching technique, first wicket down, one brings two? The second wicket was straight out of the highlight reel as the new batsmen edged a fine T delivery and Jon's catlike reflexes had him snatch the ball low in the slip cordon with the left hand, truly one of the best catches seen in a coons age. Izak then decided to join the party, however, he first made the Cougars watch as he hurled 10 runs of wides in two balls, showing just how quick the ground is! The first legal delivery after the wides found the pads and had the other opener walking back to the sheds. The Cougars were looking great and hoping for more with the Vikings sitting at 33-3. This was not to be though as the Viking middle order patiently began to rebuild. The next wicket came just before the hundred mark, with a fine catch from Mikey off of Rob's nagging bowling. This brought in the Viking's star of the match though, in the previous outing Sunil did the damage with the ball, but today was with the bat. Some dodgy captaincy decisions to try and remove the batsmen with some loopy full tosses only charged Sunil up more, as he began to see beach balls, and finding the gaps at will. His century was brought up in no time at all and a flurry of boundaries, late wickets and some sloppy bowling & fielding nearer the end had the Cougars facing a daunting 307 to win. The Aussie opening pair strolled on to bat for the Cougars to start things off. The Viking left arm orthodox bowler was just too juicy to resist for new cap Clancy, in his first Metchosin outing, was overcome with emotion as he attempted to find the long off boundary off of the first delivery of the innings. Unfortunately the ball found the safe hands at mid off. It was not the Cougars day. Several more wickets were to fall at a steady rate and at one point it looked as though the game might end within 10 overs. Thankfully Ross, Amit and Viquar managed to push the score past a hundred and give some much needed boundary entertainment, before Ross was well held in the slips to end the pain. The match was lost by many runs, but the spirits were high with both teams enjoying a socially distant beverage or two, and some delicious Lamb Biryani courtesy of Viquar. Scorecard can be found here: https://www2.cricketstatz.com/ss/runreport2.aspx?mode=100&match=259305
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