Royal Brussels Cricket Club – Hasselt CC (Home)

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An important game for the first team who were looking for a win after a defeat in the previous game. On a sunny, clear day, Hasselt won the toss and decided to bat first; no issues there for us as we wanted to bowl first anyway. Ricky and Waqas opened the bowling for RBCC and the Hasselt openers put up a steely stand. Maqsood broke the partnership right after drinks and soon after, picked up the other opener as too. It was still a hot day and fielding was not easy, but with Mishi bowling a good spell which got him 4 wickets, supported by Maqsood who gave away a measly 22 runs in his 9 overs, the stage was set for Khurram and Waqas to restrict them to a decent total. Khurram and Waqas bowled well in the end despite a couple of dropped catches and Hasselt ended up scoring 214 in 45 overs.

Ricky and Wasooq were unlucky to not get a wicket but they contributed in the field with a catch each. Waqas and Khurram produced a brilliant catch each to dismiss the dangerous batsmen of Hasselt. Maqsood, Jawad and Badri also held on to one catch each and it was a good day for Jawad behind the stumps with a run out to his name as well.

Chasing 215, it was clear that RBCC needed to establish a strong partnership and after Girish got out quite early, Mishi got out to a rash shot after playing some beautiful drives. With the score at 48-2, Waqas walked in to join Maqsood and together they played some wonderful shots, ran the opponents to the ground, hung in there in the middle , producing a solid 109 run partnership with both batsmen going past 50.

Waqas got out for 71 which included some big blows to the boundary. With less than 60 runs needed, Maqsood got out for 57. Khurram too soon made his way back after a couple of boundaries, but Ricky and Jawad stayed in the middle and ensured RBCC got home with 5 wickets and 4 overs to spare.
A great team effort for a very important win which puts RBCC in a good position to proceed to Div 1. Let’s keep the momentum and continue the winning ways.