It all started like a normal sunny Sunday morning for ACC 2, we left 15 minutes late, only 3 of the 4 cars ended up in the right location. Although to be fair, Nieuwegein do have a new ground. It was the age-old story that the local hockey team expanded and that meant the Gemeente had to rehouse the cricket club. So after Stephan had taken the trip down memory lane at the picturesque old ground, he still arrived in plenty of time at the new headquarters of Cricket Club Nieuwegein, which they share with Nieuwegein rugby club. To be honest, the outfield hadn’t really recovered from the rugby season, but other than one great reflex effort from Rehmat, that saved him stopping a cut shot with his teeth it played ok. It was the wicket that provided the biggest talking point. CCN advised us that it was their first ever match at the ground, so understandably invited us to bat, further inspection of the wicket showed there were some big dips in the pitch which could be felt through the mat.

Definitely a good day to have league umpires, so Marvin invited the umpires and the skipper of CCN out to inspect the pitch. A strange game ensued where the umpires wanted to see what happened if a ball landed on one of these, Marv took a few balls to get his line but finally got one to land on an edge of a rut and the ball shot off like one of Rehan’s leggies. The umpires insisted on seeing what was under the mat and once it was off, we all saw how bad the problem was. There were grooves running the length of the pitch that were so straight, they looked like they’d been ploughed by a tractor. The next ½ hour was spent with the CCN guys searching for the roller, dragging it across the car park and trying to flatten the pitch. One of the CCN spectators rather animatedly explained that it was the gemeente’s job and that they had done such a bad job that the CCN guys had improved the wicket by rolling it the day before... with a car!

So after a 40 minute delay, we set about building a score. A good, watchful (and straight) partnership from Rehmat and Doekhie saw us to 38 in 14 overs, but after that the wickets steadily fell. Doekhie with 27 and Rehan with 23 were the only two to get going. Good credit to Wajdan who, along with Irfan and Maninder took us up to 119. After the huge scores of previous weeks, it was very different to be defending a “normal” total. However, we remained confident as we have a good attack, the pitch was still suspect and the skipper had identified 120 as a winning score before the match started.

With late start and rain on the way, umpires insisted on ½ hour for lunch, CCN’s captain obviously fancied his sides chances and was very eager to ensure the match wasn’t abandoned.

With Olly and Wajdan running in from each end on that pitch we fancied ourselves to get in amongst them early and with 3 good catches, they were 3 down for 20 and all of a sudden CCN were doing their rain-dances and tried to claim the drizzle was a monsoon. The umpires kept us on and just like the ACC innings, wickets kept falling. A 10 over stand of 17 for the 7th wicket was ended by Maninder. A couple of hitters came and went, our spinners taking us to the brink, having CCN 89 for 9 but the last wicket pair went back to the slow watchful approach and with the end of Rehan’s 10 overs, Marvin took over for his 2nd spell, and with 2 balls left in his spell got one to nip back – whether it was from the pitch or the out-of shape ball, who knows but the last wicket was plumb in front and the umpire did the rest.

11 ecstatic Amsterdamers converged on the pitch showing how much this meant to them. It was a strange game by any standard, but it turned into a great finish. The CCN guys were a great bunch and very generous in defeat.  We stayed for a while, chatting about the crazy day before heading back to ACC.

Wajdan 3 for 18 in 7
Rehan 3 for 24 in 10
Marvin 2 for 10 in 9.4
Olly 1 for 23 in 5
Maninder 1 for 25 in 8