HAVERFORD, Pa. - Haverford suffered a difficult loss in their final match of the Fall season on Sunday, falling to a visiting Staten Island Cricket Club side by four runs.
Haverford looked to bounce back from two defeats during the previous weekend. With a fully fit squad, Haverford named the same team that defeated the USA Women's Development Squad on the opening day of the Fall season.
Staten Island won the toss and elected to bat. Junior Raghav Bali opened the bowling for Haverford. Bali found success after just two delivers, cleanly bowling Staten Island's opening batsmen in a perfect start for Haverford.
The next wicket fell soon after. First-year Drish Israni pitched the ball short to the other Staten Island opener. The ball flew off the top of the bat and was caught by sophomore wicketkeeper Charlie Lynn, who jumped to take a difficult catch. Though the second wicket was Israni's only wicket on the day, it capped off strong debut season for the first-year who took ten wickets with an economy rate of 4.63 this fall.
Fellow first-year Keshav Kalani would get the third wicket after ten overs. After 12 of the 25 overs had been completed, Staten Island would sit at just 43-3. Staten Island were right to be concerned with the run rate and throughout the rest of the inning, they would steadily increase it, but not without ample opportunities for Haverford to claim further wickets.
Miscommunications, key mistakes in the field, and multiple dropped catches allowed Staten Island to further accelerate to a more comfortable total. Kalani would claim another wicket, while senior David White and sophomore Andrew Cornell would both add to Haverford's bowling performance. Despite the issues in the field, Haverford were able to bowl Staten Island out for 148 runs in 24.4 overs.
After the break, Cornell and first-year Mattias Lundberg opened the batting for Haverford. Cornell, who had batted strongly this fall with an average of 54, and Lundberg looked to chip away at the total. Cornell started quickly and scored 26 runs off 30 delivers, but it would be Lundberg who would be the first to go after five overs. Bali, who partnered so well with Cornell in both the first and second matches of the season, entered next. However, he was bowled after four balls for just one run. White came to the crease with Haverford struggling at 29-2 after 7.7 overs. Cornell would go four overs later, but it was White's batting which put Haverford back into the contest.
White's work to increase the run rate was much needed for Haverford. During an exceptional performance he hit seven fours and one six. Throughout his inning, White's batting partner was inconsistent. Kalani was gone for two, Israni for 12 and Junior Alex Bitterman for just three. White scored 62 runs and looked set to complete the match before being caught at mid-off.
With five overs left, Haverford were looking for around 25 runs when White departed. Senior Chris Hadad did his part scoring 10 runs, but after he was run-out, Haverford's task looked challenging. Looking for extra runs, first-year Ethan Flicker slipped and was unlucky to be run out. First-year Jake Kutchins would enter as the final batsmen with just an over left. In the final over, Haverford needed five runs to win the match, Kutchins hit the first ball of the over for a single. However Lynn, who struggled consistently to find his batting form during the Fall, was once more unable to get off the mark and was bowled with three ball remainings, leaving Haverford agonizingly short of the necessary runs and a third victory.
Haverford ended the Fall season with two wins and three losses. The significant victory over the USA Women's Development Squad and the massive effort to chase down BOCC for the second win, will give the Fords much to look back on from the Fall season. Yet, they will rue the missed opportunities to win in the final three matches of the season. Haverford Cricket will begin training indoors soon in preparation for what is expected to be a busy set of Spring fixtures.