HAVERFORD, Pa. - Haverford struggled in two matches away from home last weekend, losing by 35 runs to Philadelphia Cricket Club and by 22 to Merion Cricket Club.
A Saturday trip to PCC was played on a difficult wicket. Wet morning weather meant by the time Haverford came into bat, the pitch had been substantially torn up.
Haverford fielded first. Wickets came with relative frequency. Junior Raghav Bali and first-year Keshav Kalani, who returned to the team, both bowled well despite the conditions. Haverford's work in the field and bowling performances restricted PCC to 140 runs in 25 overs.
Sophomore Andrew Cornell and first-year Mattias Lundeberg opened the batting. Cornell batted well, scoring 39 runs not out, providing some much need stability to Haverford's batting. Kalani added 31 more to the chase, but Haverford struggled as the wicket continued to deteriorate. Israni was unlucky to be caught out from a low shot straight at the bowler. Haverford's batting then collapsed quickly as they were bowled out for 105 runs.
On Sunday, Haverford traveled to nearby Merion Cricket Club. The Fords once again fielded first. Despite taking no wickets in the first twelve overs, excellent bowling and strong fielding saw Haverford restrict Merion to just 43 runs. As Merion's batsmen opened up, wickets began to fall.
The opening for Haverford came after 14 overs. Cornell trapped Merion's opening batsmen LBW for the initial breakthrough. Confusion among the Merion batsmen, saw first-year Jake Kutchins move quickly from mid-off to throw the ball to Cornell who moved it quickly back to sophomore wicket-keeper Charlie Lynn to complete the run out.
Bali clean bowled the third Merion batsmen and two sharp catches from senior David White off Israni's bowling added two more. Although, Merion greatly increased the run rate in the second half of the inning, Haverford would have been pleased to restrict Merion to just 130 runs in 25 overs.
Problems with the chase came early. Cornell, coming off three strong performances, was unlucky to be bowled early on. Fellow opener senior Chris Hadad started well hitting 12 runs off 21 balls, but was soon gone as well. Bali added 20 runs and Kalani hit 19 before being bowled. David White was bowled by a Merion spinner who consistently troubled the Fords on Sunday.
Junior Alex Bitterman found success once again lower in the older, adding 17 runs to the Ford's chase. However, a further collapse from the Ford's batting saw them bowled out for just 108 runs in 22.5 overs.
Haverford returns to Cope Field this Saturday at noon for the final match of the fall season against visiting Malgudi Cricket Club.