Saturday, 2 September 2023

Saturday saw Valenciennes visit Meudon, arriving at the ground after a 3-hour journey from near to the Belgium border. Having won the toss and deciding to field first, Standard posted 235 runs off their 35 overs with Henry (30 runs), Haji (38 runs) and Naseeb (74 runs) all contributing. In return, the visitors chased down victory with 2 overs to spare despite a superb 4-fer from opening bowler Shakeel.

The result – a 3-wicket victory for Valenciennes CC

Sunday, 3 September 2023

Off the back of Saturday’s defeat, the Standard players were looking to bounce back with a victory over Lisses CC in Sunday’s fixture. With the sun beating down, the home team were put in to bat first and produced a consummate display, despite the hot conditions, finishing on 228 for the loss of 8 wickets. With all batters contributing in some way without a standout innings, partnerships were key to amounting a healthy first innings total.

In response, Lisses began well and did not lose their first wicket until the 15th over. With 90 on the scoreboard, however, the runs dried up after some tight bowling and SAC slowly began to get a grip on proceedings. The slow scoring forced the opposition players into playing some risky shots and as wickets began to fall, the visitors knew that they had to dig deep. After some stoic resistance from Adel, helped by some ‘friendly’ umpiring, Lisses CC managed to chase down victory with only 2 overs to spare.

The result – a 2-wicket victory for Lisses CC