Match Score Line:
Haverford College: 110/5 (20/20 overs)
Australians: 94/6 (20/20 overs)
Haverford College wins by 16 Runs
HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College cricket team bounced back from the defeat to Colorado Cricket Club to trounce a highly experienced Australians side by 16 runs in its final game of the Philadelphia International Cricket Festival. In a respite from the damp conditions of the previous days, the game started without issue, with the Australians winning the toss and sending in Haverford's batsmen to the crease.
Playing against the most experienced bowling attack this team has ever faced, Haverford's batsmen proved more than able to the task. Both openers saw off the new ball before being dismissed, leaving the innings precariously balanced as sophomore Raghav Bali and senior Ty Joplin were brought to the middle. The duo produced a breathtaking, match-winning partnership. Bali anchored the innings with a composed, 46-ball innings for 36 runs, his highest personal score of the season.
Bali was elegant and watchful at the crease, displaying precision timing against accurate bowling. Bali exploited gaps in the field and employed good running to find his runs. Bali did open his arms up to unleash a crunching sweep that sent the ball rocketing to the square leg boundary, but it was an innings worthy of any test match and featured some of Haverford's finest batting of the year.
Playing in his final game for Haverford College, captain Ty Joplin produced a defining performance. Playing counterpart to Bali's anchored innings, Joplin blitzed himself to a 28-ball 38 runs, showcasing the best hitting Haverford has displayed in years. Joplin produced the first six to be hit in a game all season, with a brutal pull shot sending the ball sailing through midwicket. Not content with a lone six, Joplin launched another leg side ball into the heavens with a hook shot, sending the ball sailing away over the fine leg boundary for another monstrous 6.
The awesome display of power continued with back-to-back fours, with Joplin hitting a glamorous cover drive that shot the ball away through the covers for four before ransacking another ball through long-on for four. Bali and Joplin both found themselves out near the end of the innings, with good catches ending both of their stays at the crease.
Junior David White produced a display of death-overs hitting in his 15-ball innings for 18 runs. White swung powerfully against the old ball, climaxing with a well-clubbed four through midwicket. Haverford's batsman set a competitive 111 run target for the Australians batting line-up.
Haverford's bowling produced a disciplined performance to seal the win. Fresh from his batting high, Joplin returned with a violent display of fast bowling that brought him figures of 2-16. Joplin bowled with incredible pace which he combined with pinpoint accuracy. Sophomore Richard Phillips backed Joplin in the field twice at midwicket, where Phillips clung on to two difficult catches on separate occasions. Both Raghav Bali and senior Ruben Aguilar also picked up wickets in their spells, with both creating pressure via dot balls that led to chances in the field which were held onto.
As desperation took hold in the Australian order late in its innings, Haverford's fielders capitalized to produce three run outs. In an awesome display of athleticism, freshman Nathaniel Rolfe seized a hard cut ball at point and delivered a bullet throw that directly hit the stumps to run the batsman out. The Australians found themselves 16 runs short at the end of their innings.
This was the final game of the year for Haverford College cricket. Haverford finishes a year of rebuilding and change following the loss of an experienced senior class last year with three wins, a remarkable feat considering that the team featured four freshmen who played in nearly every single game of the year. The team, which showed promise in the fall, made due on the promise with wins in the spring, featuring even more freshmen than the fall did.
The year has displayed the new look of the Haverford Cricket team, featuring nearly all American players in contrast to past years which featured a heavy contingent of players with prior experience. New training techniques were also put into place following the results of the 2014-15 season, with many of them showing great success, especially the use of Haverford's indoor athletic facilities during the winter time.
Haverford cricket looks forward to the fall of 2016 where hopefully the winning ways of the team shall continue. Haverford will return a core of 13 players from this season in the fall, including five freshmen. Freshmen Alissa Valentine and Paige Powell will depart the team in the fall for their field hockey season (in which Haverford cricket wishes them the best of luck!), but shall return for the spring cricket season of 2017. Willa Gutfreund will also be welcomed back to the team following a semester abroad in Cuba for her senior year.
We bid farewell to the senior class of Daniel "Weeble' Waranch, Ruben Aguilar, and captain Ty Joplin. For them this match was the final one of their Haverford careers, which the win allows them to finish in style. They shall carry cricket into their futures, and we hope to see their return in the future as part of Alumni matches and Alumni festival teams.