Each year Captain Dolf opts out in the matches supposedly against the strongest opponent. Last year Amsterdam's Ghandi C.C. saw nothing of him. This year PW could only try to remember what he is like. Or was, if it's up to PW. PW are out of competition for the league title and accordingly came to enjoy themselves. They did with the ball, though not with the bat. The Arnhem batting side struggled through their innings as batsmen and fielders went on and off the field, with scattered showers all turning up at our ground. Jeroen, on his captain's duty now, supported Badar who scored another two sixes. The tailenders stuck with Aftab (24*) and with their contributions, the seemingly humble total of 124 was reached.
After lunch, Daoud started his spell and kept the scoring rate low, whereas Badar and Aftab were getting the prizes. With the exception of Siddique, the entire PW batting side failed. At 48 we could have closed the game but the weather was improving. I tried to get Aftab into doing overthrows at one stage. This young, 20 inches tall, kid was on the pitch and had started to bat Aftab's. I wasn't prepared for this, never considered diving at this 8 year old's slogs and suggested to Aftab to throw the ball over the boundary, so the kid would get six for this. OK, a bit off the track perhaps.
Instead, Aftab got captain Remesar first ball. At 71 the fun was over for PW. Two more points to Arnhem but it would only matter when some other team started to beat Union. If we only played like this at the start of the season.
Maarten Schiethart