Match Score Line:
British Officers Cricket Club: 70 all out (16/20 overs)
Haverford College: 71/6 (18.4/20 overs)
Haverford College wins by 4 wickets
HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College cricket team bounced back from the narrow defeat against Philadelphia Cricket Club last Sunday to defeat the British Officers Cricket Club by four wickets. In a rain-delayed game played in damp conditions, Haverford won the toss and elected to field first.
The decision proved to be a fruitful one as Haverford's bowling attack led an efficient demolition of the British Officers' batting order. Senior Ty Joplin took the new ball to produce a furious display of fast bowling that set the tone for the bowling innings. Joplin bowled a tight and fast first over which made full use of the steep bounce offered by the pitch. Junior David White shared the new ball with Joplin; the first wicket to fall fell in White's first over.
The wicket was affected by freshman Nathaniel Rolfe, who sent in a bullet throw from point to sophomore wicketkeeper Miguel Wise, who whipped the bails off the stump to run out the British Officers' opening batsman. White took full advantage of the seaming ball, taking the second British Officers' wicket in his second over by bowling the batsman out with a fast and furious Yorker on middle stump. Senior Ruben Aguilar tore through the British Officers' middle order, taking an incredible four wickets in his four over spell. Aguilar employed clever changes in pace and hard bounce off the surface to get his wickets. His first wicket came in his first over, with wicketkeeper Miguel Wise taking a sharp catch after Aguilar found the edge of the batsman's bat.
Sophomore Raghav Bali produced a great deal of pressure on the batman, giving away a miserly eight runs from his four over spell. Such pressure led to Bali bowling out a batsman with an accurate Yorker on leg stump. Senior Daniel Waranch mopped out the tail of British Officers' lineup, taking three wickets all in his final over to end the British Officers Cricket Club's innings a full four overs short of its allotted overs.
The British Officers Cricket Club was dismissed for a paltry 70 runs, which was much due to the outstanding level of fielding displayed by the Haverford team as the disciplined bowling effort. Senior Captain Ty Joplin set a tone for the level of fielding by taking a difficult, one-handed catch at long-on to dismiss a batsman. He took a near identical catch later on in the innings. Freshman Andrew Cornell affected a brilliant dismissal by running from mid-off to catch a ball that had been brutally drilled over bowler Ruben Aguilar's head. Cornell, running in at full spring, jumped and fully extended both arms to take the breathtaking catch.
The British Officers saw their innings ended by another piece of brilliance in the field, this time from freshman Nathaniel Rolfe, who earlier starred in the run out for the first wicket taken. Rolfe took a diving catch from backwards square leg on a ball that had been drilled hard off a sweep shot by the batsman. The ball had been struck with immense force but Rolfe somehow managed to cling on to seal the innings.
Haverford's batting, however, found itself in trouble early in the chase, as both openers fell victim to outstanding pieces of fielding in the very first over of the innings. Sophomore Raghav Bali and sophomore Isfar Munir, however, combined for a 23-run partnership that stabilized the innings. Munir played a stoic 30-ball innings for 11 runs against accurate bowling, employing the cut shot to good effect to punish the bad balls bowled. Munir found himself caught out at backwards point on a cut shot that failed to keep the ball on the ground. Bali played the anchor role in the innings, top-scoring with his 24 runs off 43 balls, which featured a fine mix of sensible blocks with powerful strokes through both the on and off side.
Some of the best hitting of the innings was displayed in Bali's partnership with Ty Joplin for another 25-odd runs; the duo deftly rotated the strike, and also showed off its power hitting abilities. Joplin scored a monstrous four on the long-on boundary of an on-drive while Bali pulled the ball over the midwicket boundary for another four. The partnership reignited the Haverford chase, but the British Officers removed both of them in rapid succession.
Senior Daniel Waranch and freshman Patrick Arace, however, sprinted to the finish line. Waranch blitzed 10 runs off 13 balls, a knock highlighted by a gorgeous, flowing cover drive which yielded three runs. The pick of Arace's innings was a cut shot which sent the ball well over the head of point for two runs. Arace struck the winning runs of the match with a drive over mid-on just after Waranch leveled the scores with a single through midwicket to complete the utter rout of the British Officers Cricket Club.
The victory brings Haverford cricket's spring record to 2-1. Haverford looks to continue these winnings ways on April 24 as the team takes on Amwell Valley during a home match.