Games at Excelsior seem to produce close finishes and this match was no different. It was agreed that HCC would bat first as we were waiting for 2 players from the u14 match at Hermes in Schiedam (Olivier Lagas en Jan-Wieger Overdijk). The pitch, itself, had only been laid on the previous Monday and was far from flat and lacking any bounce ... and so it proved. Faizal Fayyaz and Sajjad Ali opened the batting. They progressed comfortably to 86 after 18 overs, despite the variability in bounce and direction. Faizal was caught top-edging a very wide one to probably the only Excelsior fielder who could have taken it (diving back to a ball that went over his head). Sajjad then increased the pace with some lovely controlled hitting, taking the score to 140 in the 28th over. 200+ looked feasible. Unfortunately he was bowled, playing his only loose shot, for 84. The HCC innings then stalled slightly until a late rally with some fine blows from Jan-Wieger Overdijk and Sam de Jong (8 in 2 balls). Total 167 for 8 in our 35 overs.

It was felt that this was a defendable total on a difficult pitch, as long as we bowled a decent line. However, we were unable to get sufficient consistency to pick up the wickets and stem the flow of runs. Excelsior passed 100 in 17 overs. Enough was enough and Faizal was brought on with Sajjad to support at the other end. Faizal quickly shattered the stumps of several of the Excelsior players. With Sajjad being equally mean at the other end and excellent fielding to get 2 run outs, Excelsior went from 109-1 to 149-8. So 4 overs left and 19 runs to get. Volkert Van der Gun and J-W bowled well but we were unable to prevent the runs coming with 4 balls to spare.

Faizal's figures were 7-0-18-4 and Sajjad's 7-0-22-1, with 2 run outs (J-W and Volkert) and Sam de Jong getting the other.

There is no doubt that we could have won this match comfortably with a more ruthless approach. But HCC-4 is also about developing players and allowing everyone to have a go and enjoy their cricket. It was very heartening to see the effort given by all the players and the determination to not give up until the very end.