Ben Cooper dominates first Pro Series week
Published at 14 August, 2020Exciting finishes in first three matches
National coach Ryam Campbell selected his teams well for the first week of the two-week Pro Series, involving a large squad of top players from The Netherlands. The Hurricanes and Seafarers played some exciting matches with nail biting finishes at VRA in Amsterdam, in very sunny, if not to say hot, three days of cricket.
In encounter no. 1 Seafarers batted first, completing the innings on 184 a.o. Top scorer was Hidde Overdijk (54), followed by a good and steady batting Sebastiaan Braat (41). The others didn't manage to get scores over 20. Ben Cooper held on to 3 catches, captain Bas de Leede claimed 4 scalps (4-20/4) and bowler Julian de Mey bowled very economically with 0-23/10.
Proper opening batting by Hurricanes set the team on its way to victory in the 44th over: 185/5. Quick Haag's Lucas del Bianco topscored with 41 and HCC's Clayton Floyd scored a brisk 38*. Philippe Boissevain grabbed a couple of wickets with 2-34/9, youngster Pierre Jacod, who turned 17 last week, bowled impressively and economically, reaching figures of 0-14/9.
The second 50-overs match on 12 August started in a spectacular way when De Mey had Musa Nadeem caught by Vikramjit Singh off the very first ball of the first over. Adam Wiffen was victim no. 2 in the second over, lbw to Viv Kingma, but from thereon Seafarers recuperated well. Saqib Zulfiqar (53) and Tobias Visée and Overdijk, both 25 runs, lifted the score, but especially towards the end of the innings, Braat (62*) and Jacod (29*) getting their eyes in quickly, the runs came rapidly in a partnership of 79 runs in just under 12 overs. Bowlers De Mey (2-43/10), Kingma (2-35/10, 4 maidens) and Clayton Floyd (2-33/9) shared the wickets.
A flourishing opening by Hurricanes saw some dominant batting by Singh (55) and Cooper (119, 12x4), sharing a well compiled partnership of 131 runs for the second wicket. Captain Bas de Leede's team looked on its way to a comfortable win, but some miserly bowling (economy rates Kertan Nana 3.25, Nadeem 3.33, Overdijk en Saqib Zulfiqar each 4.00) plus three wickets by Braat (3-40/8) made Hurricanes fall six runs short for victory: 244/6. A good performance by wicketkeeper Lucas del Bianco with 2 catches and 1 stumping added to Hurricanes misery.
The spectators at VRA on the third day expected, and observed, a spectacular Twenty20 from the edge of their seats. Seafarers, again batting first, reached 148 runs. Despite a good start, the top order (77 without wicket loss) was outwitted by Clayton Floyd, who was only used as the no. 7 bowler in the 10th over. Before Seafarers could say Jack Robinson, their top-4 batters were back in the pavilion, Floyd claiming 4-26/4. The rest of the batsmen could only muster 20 runs between them.
Hurricanes batting innings was then dominated by Ben Cooper, who finished on 64 unbeaten runs in 64 minutes, only needing 39 balls (4x4, 2x6). Partnerships with Tim de Kok (38) of 86 runs and with Aryan Dutt (24*) of 53 runs ensured a winning score of 149/3, which was reached on the third ball of the last over.
De Pro Series will be continued next week on 18, 19 en 20 augustus, with one 50-over match at VCC, a T20 at Excelsior'20 (17.00 u) and the last T20 at Kampong (14.00 u).
Scorecard 1e innings 11 augustus 2020
Scorecard 2e innings 11 augustus 2020
Scorecard 1e innings 12 augustus 2020
Scorecard 2e innings 12 augustus 2020
Scorecard 1e innings 13 augustus 2020
Scorecard 2e innings 13 augustus 2020
