On a beautiful summer’s day, Captain Bolton won the toss and elected to bat. Osborne and Chatoo opened the innings. Batting on a new GICC turf was made to look simple by Osborne and Chatoo hitting quick boundaries and sixes. Just when they looked like they were getting into a rhythm, Osborne mis-hit and was caught, bringing McNaught at the crease. The steady partnership for 30 runs was broken when Chatoo was caught by the wicket keeper for a quick fire 20. Captain Bolton was next. Bolton and McNaught then steadied the ship displaying good batting skills. After drinks McNaught reached his half century which included 6 fours and 2 sixes. Some good bowling by Suri got McNaught frustrated and eventually out for a good 57 runs. Bolton was next to go after a watchful 44 runs and a sore rib cage. Bolton’s departure gave way to the famous known-to-all CERN middle order collapse. The next 6 batsmen managed a mere 60 runs. CERN was all out in the 49th over for a total of 206 runs. The response from GICC was explosive with Kuldeep (GICC Captain) hitting a quick 42 runs before getting out to D’Mello’s bowling. Some fine swing bowling from D’Mello saw 2 quick wickets fall and bring GICC’s run rate within check. However GICC’s middle order batsmen Rajesh (58 runs) + Raghu (30 runs) along with CERN’s Ahmed ensured that there would be no repeat of the first innings. Partnership breaker Barrett was able to get 2 wickets in the single over that he bowled, however a little too late. This would have got Captain Bolton wondering if getting Barrett on some 6/8 overs earlier would have been a better choice. Nonetheless, GICC was able to complete the run chase in 32 overs.

Some highlights from the game: McNaught 57 runs and 3 catches; Bolton 44 runs.; D’Mello 8 overs, 3 maidens, 3 wickets for 23 runs.; Barrett 1.1 overs, 2 wickets for 9 runs; Ahmed 4 overs, 0 wickets for 61 runs.

Special thanks to Francis and Jonathan for keeping score.

 

 

On August 8th, the CERN team faced the Nestlé cricket team who travelled from Vevey for what turned out to be a very tense encounter. The CERN team batted first making 195/8 from their 35 overs - stand-in captain Osborne led the way with 66 from 44 balls (including 7 fours and 3 sixes), and five other players making double figure scores, with Chatoo finishing unbeaten on 26.  Vijay, Anil, and Shamir each picked up three wickets for the visitors. In reply the Nestlé team slumped to 90/7, despite 22 from Prashant.  A fine knock of 43 from Jitish, supported by Vijay, Rajat and a valuable contribution of 54 from wides, saw them fall agonisingly close to reaching their target, being bowled out for 190 in the 32nd over.   There were two wickets each for D’Mello, Crook, and Anand, with the latter also orchestrating a run out with a direct hit.

Many thanks to Zoe Crook for scoring and to all our enthusiastic supporters.

More detailed reports, as well as the forthcoming fixtures, can be found on the CERN Cricket Club web site:
http://cern.ch/Club-Cricket