Allsvenskan T20 Interim Report

Confidence was high after our unbeaten tour of Malmö and Gothenburg. Could we keep it going?

Västerås vs DIF, 13th of July, Away

First up was a trip to Västerås. We knew that we have usually had the better of them in the past, but they are a competitive team, and we were not taking them lightly. They won the toss and decided to bat first, which made a change from the southern tour, where we had been successful bowling second. But a wicket for Anvesh in the first over was a good start – especially when he followed it up with two more in his second! He bowled excellent lines, beating the bat many times, and ended with figures of 3-13 from 4.

Shaz kept the pressure up from the other end and picked up their number 3 LBW. Pierre and Serge came into the attack and kept up the pressure (even though Serge has barely bowled all year) as they both picked up wickets, Serge going for just 3 runs in his 2 overs.

Shaurav “Golden Arm” Sarkar then brought himself on and picked up two wickets from his first two balls, and it was quickly becoming a procession. He took a another the next over and ended with 3-8 from 2 as Västerås were bowled out for just 65.

The captain’s orders to his openers were to please score the runs without getting out, and that is exactly what they did. Raz (33 from 22) and Aritra (23 from 22) looked supremely untroubled as they knocked off the runs in just 7.2 overs.

DIF vs Göteborg, 21st of July, Home

Next up was the big one: Gothenburg. We were both unbeaten so far, so we knew that if we won this one, we would stand an excellent chance of qualifying for the national semi-finals. There was also some personal pride on the line, as Rahul and Shravan had previously played for Gothenburg.

We won the toss and as usual decided to bat first. Their bowlers managed to keep things tight initially, but Raz (26 from 23) and Aritra (29 from 23) got us off to a solid start and Aritra fell just as he had begun to kick on, with the score at 58 from 7.1 overs. Raz soon followed, and wickets fell in a tumble as their offspinner took four more in quick succession to leave us 79 for 5. Shaurav (21 from 17) helped us recover to a degree, but when he too fell, things were beginning to look a bit bleak. Shaz however had other ideas, as (unperturbed by the continuing procession of wickets at the other end) he stroked a well-made 36 off 23, bringing our total to a somewhat respectable 137.

We were confident we had the bowling line up to defend this, but things were not looking great for a while. Although Prash clean bowled one of the danger men in his first over, their other opener and their number 3 stuck around and had reached 72-1 from 11. Still, they had not gotten ahead of the run rate, so we knew that we stood a good chance if only we could find a way to take wickets. Finally, Shravan found the breakthrough, as their batter struck him powerfully down the ground but was caught above his head on the boundary by Pierre. Three balls later, he had dismissed their other set batter. Pierre then took a wicket off the first ball of his next two overs (both well caught by Aritra behind the stumps), and suddenly the equation was 34 from 30 with 5 wickets left: game on.

Ankit came into the attack and bagged two wickets (one of them a fine catch on the boundary by Shravan), but just as it looked like it might be our game, two powerful sixes were struck, bringing it back to 12 from 2. Shaz bowled an excellent 19th over to leave 7 required from the last. Shaurav, the captain, stepped up to take responsibility. First ball went for one: 6 from 5. Sensing the opportunity to end the game, their batter attempted to sweep him over deep square leg, but only managed to pick out Pierre in the deep, who took a fine catch low to his right. Their next batter tried the same and picked out Shravan at long on. This meant that they needed 6 from 3, with just one wicket left. A single was scored from the next delivery, before their batter tried once again to hit it out the park, this time towards midwicket. The ball flew high enough that it was probably a danger to passing airplanes, but it didn’t have the legs. Still, it took some catching, and Rahul safely pouched it a few paces inside the boundary to spark rampant celebrations.

DIF vs Umeå, 3rd of August, Home

Umeå had beaten us last year, a fate we were keen to avoid this time around. On the other hand, our team was looking stronger and stronger, as we welcomed Wynand back into the side. Once again, we won the toss and batted, and our openers got us off to a solid start. Aritra fell for 31 (off 28) after a 77-run partnership off 8.4 overs.
This seemed like decent going, but Wynand decided to up the tempo and started going for his shots. Ras too was well set and eventually fell for 59 from 33, but this merely started the Wynand and Rahul show. They batted together for just 4.4 overs and scored a whopping 77 runs. Rahul was particularly harsh on their spinner, whom he struck for two fours and a six in one over, whereas Wynand hit just about everyone for sixes over long on and midwicket. One even landed in the football pitches, making it a probably 110-meter hit.

Rahul was dismissed for 29 from 13, with the score at 196/3 off 17. By this point, Wynand had 60 from 29 and he started inquiring as to how far he was from 100. “Too many” came the response, but he had other ideas, as he took three enormous sixes off the next over. Shaz was happy to settle for a run a ball 2 and give him the strike as he carried on smoking them to all parts: four more sixes off the last over gave him his hundred, and he ended with 118 from 45 balls.

This gave the bowlers a remarkable 258 runs to defend. Prash gave us a good start and trapped their opener LBW in the first over, and Anvesh bowled through his four to end with excellent figures of 4-16 (including a searing inswinger to uproot the stumps of their left-handed number 4). Everyone else chipped in with wickets, no one went for very many runs, and soon Umeå were bowled out for just 56 – giving us a victory margin of 201 runs!

These results mean that we are currently top of the table with 6 wins from 6, with 4 matches remaining. However, we are not yet guaranteed a semi-final spot, and we know that now is not the time to take our foot off the gas – especially since we won 9 of 10 last year and then lost the semi-final. Stay tuned to find out if we can go two better this year!

Pierre Du Plessis Sekreterare