Match Date: 28th May 2023
Format : Mens T20 (Division 1)
Venue: Västerås Cricket Club Ground
Score Card
Paper Score Card
Västerås captain Francis Crasta won the toss and decided to bat first with the hope of setting a good target to defend. Torsten Håkansson opened the bowling for Stockholm CC legends and with the first ball being sent to the boundary for a four, it was clear that Västerås were looking to play with positive intent. Torsten only needed 3 balls to get the measure of the opener for Västerås and managed to snag an LBW decision on the last ball of the first over.
The second over saw Srikanth Jeggari write his name in the wickets column - he enticed an edge out of the Västerås captain with wicketkeeper Jacob Ledbrook taking a smart catch - a good start for Stockholm CC Legends. At the end of the 6th over, Västerås were 41/2 with the pitch looking like it would reward attacking batting.
Prem Venkatesan made the next breakthrough when he got an edge out of Västerås danger
man Abobakir Danish, with Jacob Ledbrook taking another good catch behind the stumps. It
was not long until Prem was called back into the action with a sensational one-handed catch at long on to send Amit Dhut back to the changing rooms. After 10 overs Västerås were on 58/4 and the match was hanging in the balance, with both teams still in the hunt.
Stockholm CC legends then restricted the run rate in the middle overs well with tight bowling by Ayyappa Sanikommu and Mahesh Kumar, both creating chances and making the batsmen work for their runs. Västerås ended the 17th over on 92/5, with a run rate just under 5.5 an over. The bowlers at the death showed their experience with Srikanth Jeggarri picking up his 2nd and 3rd wickets in the same over. Torsten and Anil Porob rounded off a good bowling performance by the team, with runs hard to come by and extras under tight control.
The team had high spirits heading into the change, with a target of 109 runs needed for victory. Stockholm CC Legends opened with Tim Beghin and Vasanth Viswhanathan, who was coming off a half century in his previous match. The opening over was tight, but then the runs started to flow, with Västerås allowing extras to add up. Vasanth quickly moved to 15 runs off 13 balls before falling to the Västerås captain on 19. Stockholm CC Legends were 30/1 at the end of the 4th over, with the required run rate now just under 5. Enter PremVenkatesan, who send his first ball directly to the boundary, and showed he was here to play aggressively. The next 4 overs all went for over 10 runs an over, with the Stockholm CC Legends batsmen punishing anything short on a pitch that encouraged shot playing. Västerås pulled it back in the 9th over with Ashish P getting Prem out on 35 off just 18 balls that included 7 boundaries.
However, the damage was done and at the end of the 9th over, Stockholm CC Legends were on 98/2. With the pressure off, Tim Beghin and Sourav V were able to ease Stockholm CC Legends to victory in the 11th over, finishing with a run rate just north of 10 per over.
Man of the match was Tim Beghin with 42 runs off 23 balls with the bat and figures of 2 wickets for 5 runs in his 3 overs, but credit goes to the whole team who were energetic in the field, tight with the bowling and on form with the bat.
A special thanks to Västerås who produced a great pitch for cricket and a good game of cricket, a team that played in the spirit of the game and who showed a lot of potential.
