Waq attack KO's Cossonay
WCC stretched their unbeaten run to five games in a row with
an impressive victory over host team Cossonay on Sunday morning. Several players performed
well in this match after getting their early morning alarm call for the long
drive to the Romandie. Star of the show was team
quiet man Muhammed Waqar ,
who let his actions do the talking hitting a quickfire
fifty and then taking a hat trick with the ball as WCC won an exciting match,
although with hindsight, one less dramatic than the second match of the
afternoon.
Batting first, WCC lost Sanjeev
and Prafall early on against the new ball as the Cossonay opening bowlers got the new ball in the right
areas. The sun glasses clad ex WCC dibbly dobbly opening bowler Vaidhav
Singh was particularly hard to get away as he varied his pace well between slow
and quite slow. Waqar joined Pip in the middle and
saw off the opening pair before gaining more confidence in the mid morning sun.
Pip continued his form from the previous week, finding the boundary and turning
the strike over to Waqar who started cut loose on the
change bowlers. Whilst they say that fortune favours
the brave, Waqar can be lucky that Cossonay new boy, and former WCC dibbly
dobbly pacemen, Vaibhav Singh had exported some WCC catching drills into
the Cossonay team, with Waqar
being dropped twice before he reached double figures, leading a one wag on the
boundary to comment that Cossonay's fielders had
"done a Hasta".
As Waqar got into his
stride, it was clear that the ground was not big enough as three consecutive
square cuts were flashed away for six over cover point. Waq
eventually skied a catch in the middle overs but his
brutal 59 off 27 balls including 7 sixes and 3 fours and had put WCC in a great
position.
As the final overs
approached, Pip holed out at long off for 36 to bring together Raj Singh and Nasir who continued to find the boundary to the end, Raj
hitting 23 off 16 balls and Nasir 19 off 12 to leave
WCC with a strong total of 156-6 after 20 overs.
In response, Nasir set
the rone in the field with an aggressive first over
which had a chance put down at slip second ball and which finished by comprehensively
yorking the Cossonay opener
for 1. A few tight overs from Nasir
and Sanjeev followed which put the required run rate
up into double figures meant the home team had to go for their shots more than
usual.
Several balls went in the air as the batsman
took risks and WCC held onto their chances bringing wickets to Nasir, Ashgar and Pip with
catches from Raghu, Raj and a great one handed diving
grab by Prafall behind the stumps backing up the
bowlers.
The final word went to Waqar
in the 18th over, where a clean bowled and a first ball slogged to long on
where Nasir took a well judged running catch set up
the chance of a hat trick. Turning down his bowler's plea for three slips, two
gullies and a short leg, skipper Raj held his nerve and kept the same field. A
short ball from Waqar was top edged towards backward
point where Raj had placed himself.
As the ball came out of the sun, Raj shielded
his eyes, ran around in a circle, circus style, almost fell over but
importantly stuck out a hand at the right moment into which the ball stuck as
he swallow dived to the grass. Hardly prima ballerina stuff and probably 3.5
for artistic impression from the pitch side jury but in any case Waqar had his hat trick.
Cossonay's innings ended at 115 for 9 after 20 overs to leave WCC winners by 41 runs. Both sides
contributed to an exciting and sporting contest played in a good atmosphere
with all agreed that quiet man Waqar's performance
shouted loudest on the day.
Reporter: Pip