Having won another coin toss, Crusaders captain Saumil Shah chose to bat first on the slow turf wicket at Mission Road. The innings started off poorly with an early wicket lost in the first over but the upper order consolidated through steady batting against the disciplined medium pace LSW bowlers. Anthony Barnet the outstanding batsman for the Crusaders scored 55 runs finally being dismissed caught behind. Damian Kelleher contributed a quick fire 31 not out to control the remainder of the innings whilst a flurry of middle order wickets came and went. Crusaders finished out the full 35 overs at 6/132. 


Karan ‘Mitchell’ Shah was thrown the new ball and open the innings with his display of left arm medium pace swing bowling. The opportunity was repaid with two early wickets of both LSW openers. The LSW middle order recovered to progress their total with minimum loss of wickets placing the match in the balance. The turning point arrived when Saumil Shah commenced his eight over spell yielding 4 middle order wickets for 24 runs. Nick Brennan bowled in tandem to support the opposing end with 2/28 including two maidens. Regardless of the attainable 2 run per over rate required to win, the final 10 overs saw LSW capitulate under accurate bowling and tight fielding. The final wicket was taken by Viransh Mehta with LSW dismissed with for 125 in 33.3 overs.

Congratulations to the Crusaders on a memorable win defending a limited score, particular credit to the positive and energetic contribution of the four juniors – Pranav Makharia, Dhruv Sharma, Hrithik Mehta, Nikhil Parwani, selected to represent KCC for this Saturday league match. 


By Dylan Dearing