Dutch Lions U12 win Minor Counties Cricket Festival in UK!

Match 1 vs Middlesex Schools

Dutch Lions U12 played their first match at the Royal Hospital School Cricket Festival against a strong Middlesex Schools team. Tight bowling and fielding restricted them to 182 off their 45 overs. Four wickets for Shanay Sanhrajka and two for Shreeansh Kulkarni. 

To win we needed to score one more run then they did, to lose they needed to take our ten wickets. And to draw we needed to make sure they didn’t get all our wickets.

Shanay and Janilsinh Chavada gave us a great start. Unfortunately we lost three quick wickets in a row. The score was around 60. Recovery came, but we kept losing wickets. Around 140 three in a row. Needing 44 runs to win in 10 with only two wickets in hand. Unfortunately we didn’t last and a caught and bowled meant defeat after some very good cricket.

Match 2 vs Cleveland

On the second hot day in a row we played Cleveland, a small county from the north. The Orange boys did not start very convincingly… 25 runs and 5 wickets down. However, captain Rory Davis was not going to give up. At lunch he was 50 not out. After lunch he went on to make 112, with two good partnerships with Ahan and Arrush. We made 196. Our bowling and fielding was sharp. We kept pressure on throughout the innings and in the end bowled Cleveland out for 152. Good figures for all bowlers and great catches from Janilsinh, wicketkeeper Dylan, and Heinrich, to name but a few!

Match 3 vs Bedfordshire

In our third game against Bedfordshire we batted first. Palash got a swinging yorker but Shanay (38) and Yousaf (17) got us off to a good start. Shreeantsh (82) and Janailsinh (36) had a 100 partnership.

Heinrich (16*) and Aarush (7*) got us to 220-5 off our 45 overs. 

From the very first overs our bowlers put pressure on the batters. Aarush (1) and Siddesh got a quick wicket. When Shriyans was introduced into the attack the match changed! With serious pace and accuracy he picked up 5 wickets for 6 runs. Yousaf picked up the last wicket and a great run out from Siddesh. In the meantime great catches from Rory, Dylan (2) and a stumping. Very good win!

Match 4 vs Huntingdonshire

Our fourth match, again played in glorious sunshine, was against Huntingdonshire. After winning the toss we decided to bat. Pity Yousaf got a good ball early on but Siddesh (80) and Dylan (78 with 13x4) both batted beautifully! Getting singles of good balls and twos, threes and fours of the not so good balls. This resulted in a 159 partnership, unreal. To finish our innings off Ahan made 18* and Pranay Gupta 61* off 27 (!) balls with 13x4. Captain Rory declared with 256 on the board.

To get 30 points for a win we needed to bowl them all out. We did so in 33 overs with wickets for Shriyans (1), Heinrich (2), Shreeyans (4), Pranay (1) and Nikkilesh (2). Catches were taken by Dylan, Rory, Shanay and Palash. Another great win!

Match 5 vs Guernsey

After een rainy night the pitches were a little wet so we ended up playing a match reduced to 37 overs a side. A lost toss meant we were put in to bat. A win would mean we would win the tournament! The boys planned on taking on the Guernsey attack but 45 minutes later we had lost 6 wickets for only 56. Luckily we bat down to 11! Nikkilesh 38* did play sensibly and showed patience needed on this track. With help of batsman number 10 Siddesh we managed 112 all out.

Not a great total but with our attack, the size of the ground and the state of the wicket we were in with a chance.

Aarrush and Jainil gave us a great start - three wickets in the first eight overs! Shriyans struck in his first over, four down! A quiet period followed. No wickets, lots of missed hits and some sloppy fielding. Leon Hill batted really well, every result was still possible! 

Ahan picked up two wickets. We were back in the game! Guernsey didn’t score many but did not lose any wickets either. Last waterbreak of the tournament. 

Shriyan’s back and he strikes twice in one over! Aarrush from the other end with a perfect yorker to finish the Guernsey resistence. Not our best match, but we are WINNERS of the MCCF for the first time. Well done, boys!