Sunday 08-08-2021 Glostrup (GCC) vs APMcc Division Match (35 overs)

Weather conditions were cloudy with a few rain showers here and there, but nothing significant. There’s not much to say about today’s match. GCC was never in the game and were struggling from the get go. APMcc were the much better team who broke the 6-match win streak for GCC2. Swinging deliveries were on the menu from APMcc, and this proved to be the nemesis of GCC. Chances of advancement to the 2nd division are very tight to non-existent. Let’s see…

GCC won the toss and elected to bat first. GCC opened their batting with Bilal and Iftekhar. Both batsman were struggling with some beautiful in swinging deliveries from Rahul Rana and Ajit Shetty. APMcc already capitalized in the first over, when an in swinging delivery caught Bilal leg before wicket. GCC 0-1 after 1 over. It didn’t take long before the next wicket fell when Iftekhar tried to loft a good length delivery. Unfortunately, he missed and the ball went right through his gates. Iftekhar bowled and GCC were 5-2 after 3 overs. Next two batsmen at the crease were Abhishek and Fraz. Abhishek was having difficulty in playing APMcc’s opening bowlers, but Fraz managed to mitigate the swing bowling quite well. Yet again, APMcc were the ones to win the battle and managed to remove Abhishek short after. Assad and Sameer were the next batsmen to partner with Fraz, but didn’t succeed. APMcc struck again, both batsmen clean bowled. GCC 28-5 after 10 overs. Next batsman was AJ, who together with Fraz, played a responsible innings and managed to build a partnership of 32 runs. Sadly, this was the end of Fraz who was beaten by an edge and caught behind. He added 26 valuable runs to GCC’s total – great job! GCC 60-6 after 14 overs. In came Awais, who like his peers, was struggling and was caught after edging a delivery up in the sky. GCC 70-7 after 17 overs. Sheraz was next man on the crease, and it only took the next over for APMcc to capitalize, and Sheraz was bowled. GCC 71-8 after 18 overs. Next batsmen in was Hammad who at first was struggling with the swinging deliveries from APMcc. APMcc had brought back their two main bowlers Rahul Rana and Ajit Shetty. The plan was clear between Hammad and AJ – let’s try our best to play out the overs. A lot of singles, doubles and the occasional boundary shots were on offer. Both batsmen were looking comfortable and managed to build a partnership of 34 runs. Unfortunately, in the 26th over AJ had to walk back when he was caught leg before wicket. A very valuable and commendable 38 runs added to GCCs very shy total – well done! GC 105-9 after 26 overs. Wesal was next to take the crease with Hammad. The 27th over was the end station for GCC’s batting. Hammad edged a delivery straight into the hands of first slip. GCC all out for 108.

GCC opened their bowling with Sheraz and Awais. Sheraz was quick to strike and got a caught & bowled in his first over. APMcc 3-1 after 1 overs. Awais was struggling with his length and was replaced with Wesal. Wesal also struck in his first over when the APMcc batsman cut a shot towards gully. Sameer was quick on to the ball – cool head prevails, and he was quick to see that the non-striker had reached the other end without the support of the batsman on crease. The ball was thrown right into the hand of Wesal who ran out APMcc’s number 3 batsman. Kiran Pathram (no. 1) and Sudeep Desai (no. 4) proved to be the bigger challenge for GCC bowlers. GCC was shuffling a lot between their options, and introduced Sameer, Ajay, and Abhishek. A lot of short pitched deliveries were hit all over the park. Hammad was debuting with his bowling this season, and managed to strike in his first over by clean bowling Sudeep. Unfortunately, APMcc only needed 10 runs to win from here with 7 wickets in hand, and were cruising towards victory. A couple boundaries and a few singles later APMcc came out as the victorious team. A well deserved win.

Commiserations to GCC. Next match will be on Sunday 22 August 2021 against Copenhagen, at Copenhagen’s home ground.