Munich, 21st May 2023
After a tiring but fun filled day of cricket on Saturday, MCC’s 2 nd Team was back on the field with
renewed vigor and will to overcome any challenges that may come their way. And as the day
progressed, we did witness some outstanding performances and nail-biting moments.
In absence of Dave, Joy was tasked with leading the team and with the return of some regular
members, everyone was charged to go.
After winning the toss, Landshut Zalmi-II invited us to bat. Joy and Amol went to open the innings
and before they could settle, we lost Joy in 1 st over and Amol in the 4 th . Next batsman Rahul also
failed to stabilize the scoreboard and was gone on an absolute screamer of a catch taken by
Hanifullah. At his point with a score of 3/28 in 5 overs, MCC-II seemed to be struggling.
In comes Ritwik and with Priyansh who was already at the crease, what followed will be remembered
for a long time. As Ritwik stabilized the fall of wickets from one end and started the scoreboard
tickling by rotating the strike, Priyansh took the charge from other end and started hammering down
the Zalmi’s bowlers out of the park. Together they built a much-needed partnership of 73 runs and
before Ritwik departed in the 15 th over, score was at 4-101. He has done his job and did it brilliantly.
But, Priyansh was still there, and he continued the onslaught of Zalmi’s bowlers till the end.
Unfortunately, his inning stopped 8 runs short of a century, but 92 out 66 balls with 13 boundaries
and 1 six, he made sure that the team had a good total of 134 runs to defend.
Charged up by the amazing performance by Priyansh, MCC-II went on the field and were confident
enough to defend the score easily. But that was not the intention of the visitors. They came with a
clear intent of not giving up easily and started slogging from the very 1 st over. With the usual support
of the (27) extras by our bowlers and slogging by their openers they were already at 0/50 in 5 overs,
when Irfan had to get retired hurt. This sparked a sliver of hope in MCC-II and they grabbed it by both
hands.
With Joy and Amol coming in as change, they bowled well and kept the Zalmi’s Batsmen on tight
leash. And it wasn’t too late when they felt it too and started throwing their wickets. From 0/50 in 5
overs, they were now at 7/87 in 13. At this point MCC-II were seemed like favorites for an easy
victory. However, Zalmi hasn’t given up yet. For the 8 th wicket partnership Asif and Zeshan made a
good 32 runs which inched them closer to victory. Zalmi was at 8/123 in 18 th over and match could
have gone either way. With 7 needed of 6 balls in last over, Alex came to bowl, and he did not
disappoint. Keeping the line and length tidy, he gave them no quarter. They needed now 5 of 2 balls,
and as a last ditched attempt their batsman slogged for a six but a brilliant catch by Joy brought an
end to their hopes.
A match with such highs and lows and to witness it in person was such a joy.
However, the story does not end here. There was another match to go and after being in the field for
20 overs on a sunny warm day, MCC-II lost the toss and were asked to field again. An already
exhausted squad went in the field with couple of changes as Vishal & Rahul made space for Dan &
Sandeep.
This time even though exhausted, the opening bowlers Ritwik & Amol with Ruan & Jagjit coming in as
1 st change kept Zalmi on a tight leash. With them reeling at 5/53 in 13 over, it seemed as this will be
an easy match for MCC-II. But Zalmi’s batsmen had something else in mind. A couple of bad overs by
Dan & Sandeep, gave them the chance to open their hands and they started slogging hard.
In the last 5 overs Joy, Priyansh and Ritwik tried their best to do damage control but it was already
too late. Zalmi scored 93 runs for the 6 th wicket partnership of which 90 came in last 7 overs and
ended their inning with a massive score of 5/143. At that point it was clear that it’s not going to be an
easy task to chase that down at Hirschanger.
Joy and Amol once again took the charge of opening MCC-II’s inning, but this time Zalmi’s bowlers
gave MCC-II no quarter. With wickets falling at a regular interval, MCC-II never saw a stabilizing
partnership, except of 22 between Abhishek and Dan for 5 th wicket. With more than 80 required of
40-50 oddballs, Alex tried to infuse some hope, but it was already too late. MCC-II was bowled out
10/86 in 18 th over and that concluded the day.
With well-deserved victory, out of the park performance by Priyansh, some awesome bowling spells
by Joy (4/9) & Jagi (2/7) and as always support by our Simi bhai, it was a good day of cricket and
some well-deserved Beers.
Rahul S.
