Div 2 Round 7: Aliens vs Søndre Norstrand
Aliens Cricket Club 137/2 (25.1 ov); Søndre Nordstrand Cricket Klubb 136/10 (29.5 ov)
Aliens Cricket Club - Won by 8 wickets
When: 24 June
Where: Ekeberg 2
In a rematch of the first game of the season Aliens lined up against Søndre Nordstrand at Ekeberg 2.
Ekeberg 2 in typical fashion had rather long boundaries and long grass.
Sondre Nordstrand won the toss and again chose to bat first. In an unusual move for Aliens Dennis opted to open with Chris Hinchcliffe bowling leggies. This tactic brought immediate dividends with Chris getting a plumb LBW when the batsmen tried to sweep. A Great start for Aliens got even better in the 3rd over with Damon removing the other opener after he skied an attempted pullshot right to the safe hands of Simon Gaz behind the stumps. Sondre Nordstrand 6 runs for 2 wickets.
Sondre recovered somewhat in the middle overs. In the first match against them this season they had recovered very well to post 190 so Aliens were determined to keep the score down.
Shantha chimed in with his first wicket for Aliens. Along with Dennis (3/25) and David (2/32) taking valuable wickets in the 2nd half as Sondre looked to boost their run rate. Chris H also took 2/19 off 5 in a good allround team effort to dismiss Sondre for 136 in the last over.
This was certainly a gettable score but with the long grass scoring quickly on Ekeberg 2 can get tough.
Opening pair David and Simon started in positive fashion but in a rather unfortunate decision Dave was again dismissed LBW much to his displeasure. New Batsmen Dennis and Simon then put on 89 runs for the second wicket to put Aliens in a commanding position. Simon batting particularly well to post his first league 50 for Aliens. The adulation and excitement in the stadium proved to be too much though and was dismissed for 54 soon after. Aliens were though in great position 2-106, needing 30 in 10 overs.
Dennis and Damon played safely and scored the required runs with 5 overs to spare. Dennis’ sefless knock of 49* seeing Aliens home, even declining the opportunity to hog the strike in order to get his first 50 of the season.
Well played Aliens, 4 wins and 2 loses gives us a much better start to the season that this time last year!
