Nearly! (but not quite)
Gahanga Stadium, Kigali, 2/24/2020
Rwanda Emerging Side won by 9 runs
Rwanda Emerging Side: 152-8 [M.Mubarak 50, J.Rahman 6-12]
Strongroom: 143
View the Scorecard
Day two. We rocked up in our tour bus to the Gahanga stadium, and David P lost the toss on the firm ‘grass’ surface. The oppo skipper elected to bat first in this 50 over contest. However, heavy rain swept in after just five overs, and after an hour or so in the pavilion it was agreed to move to the adjacent artificial surface and settle for a 35-overs game (including these initial five overs).
After an opening stand of 20, Joe Rahman prized out the first wicket, and wickets fell fairly steadily thereafter. Joe again bowled with impressive control, and fully deserved 6-12 off his 7 overs. The batsmen struggled with his relentless accuracy, with two clean bowled, three lbw and one caught behind by Strongroom keeper Jimmy Hall. However, Emerging Side still managed to push the score along, and Mubarak in particular showed good shot selection as well as some aggression in his excellent 50. Pacers Tim Moore and Mohmed Godhi both bowled well, and provided Jimmy with two more catches behind the timbers. Pat had his first trundle of the tour, and bowled nicely. A final total of 152-8 was more than we had wanted, but was still theoretically chaseable.
Another quality lunch. Today the Chef cooked up a fine chicken stew.
Openers Jon G and Mitch strode out to bat with positive intent, but after 12 overs we were 30-5 and our innings was in tatters. The Emerging Side opening bowlers had bowled fast and straight and made deep inroads. However, if ever there was a tailor-made scenario for that veteran, dogged due of Davids, this was surely it. David Gower (27) and David Proctor (25) both dug deep and showed some gumption. David G in particular demonstrated the value of letting the ball come to you and playing it late, whereas David P simply manifested a bloody-minded determination to not get out, and scamper singles where possible. When David G was finally run out by an outrageous, direct hit from the boundary, there was a sense we would falter again. However, Tim Moore (34) continued the demonstration of gumption, and took us to the brink of victory. Finally, 10 were required off the last 2 balls, but Tim was run out scampering for a single, and that was that. Whilst this was a disappointing result, we had at least shown some fight and resilience in taking the game to such a nail-biting conclusion.
Written By: J.Gower
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