Den Helder – Kampong 3

After what seemed like a 4-hour drive, most of which was spent catching up on the previous night’s sleep, we arrived in Den Helder to be greeted by some people setting up a dog show. After the usual greeting with the opposition we went to have a look at the freshly laid out green matting. It was a beautiful pitch and the ground was quite picturesque. Before the toss, Den Helder quickly used some human feet as measuring tape and chalk as paint to map out the crease and stumps.

Den Helder won the toss and chose to field, obvious decision as no one had a clue what the pitch would do. In went Paul and Nick to face the music. We got off to a decent start making 20 odd runs before Paul was caught for 14. Not long after Nick was stuck in front for 4. In came Poort and yours truly to steady the ship. Renier and Bhavvik batted well for a 42-run partnership with some good running and adjusting to the pitch which kept on the lower side. Just as he looked like kicking on, Poort too was caught out. Mahender came and went relatively quickly just not adjusting to the pace of the wicket and smashed a full bunger down the leg side to the 45 who took a spectacular catch.

Bhavvik seemed to adjust quite nicely to the pitch after a slowish start and started finding the boundary with ease. Captain fantastic Dirk (what can’t this man do) Bernade also found wonderful form smashing quite a few balls through the off side. Unfortunately, Bhavvik swung across the line one too many times and was bowled for 61. The middle stump going for a tumble, but because we played with plastic wickets all three stumps were on the ground.

The skipper batted beautifully and was finally out caught for a well-played 77. A real captains knock there from Dirk who would have been a bit disappointed not to push through to the three figure mark. After some lower order singles, Kampong scored a smart 276 on a low slow pitch. Much help was given with the 55 wides bowled by Den Helder.

After lunch it was Kampongs turn with the ball and and Varun had an immediate impact with the ball sending their first batsman out for a quack quack. After a few wides of our own to help Den Helder get going, our 1st change bowler Mr. Adurty decided that it was time to finish the game off quickly so Bhavvik could attend the prestigious Tee Dansant at the Kampong Hockey club. And finish off he did, as he proceeded to make the ball talk and achieve 6 wickets. 4 bowled, 1 caught and 1 lbw. Twice he was on a hattrick. That certainly is crate avoidance. (extra crate avoidance as he already must buy 2). After the inswing masterclass from Abhi, David Mann wrapped up the tail with some mean leg breaks. All in all, a good bowling performance from Kampong and we managed to bowl out Den Helder for 199.

A good day out for the third team and we drove back to Kampong and enjoyed a winning beer. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Bhavvik did not end up at the TD but instead chose to have an early night, to the dismay of a few. But we won and that’s all that matters. A big thank you to Claire T for scoring and a big thanks to our biggest supporters Ethan and Dylan.

Bhav,