HAVERFORD, Pa. - Haverford College Cricket opened their Spring season with a resounding eight-wicket victory over the University of Pennsylvania this past Saturday. Haverford College was led with the bat by Junior Opener Nathaniel Rolfe, who made his maiden half-century in this game, and Junior Captain Andrew Cornell. With this victory, Haverford's overall record against the University of Pennsylvania for the year is improved to 2-1.
On a balmy and sunlit day ideal for batting, Haverford College lost the toss and was sent into the field first by Penn. Penn made full use of the favorable conditions and pressed their advantage home in the face of a disciplined bowling performance by the new-ball pair of Junior Rolfe and Senior Captain Raghav Bali. Bali maintained a tight line just outside the off-stump while Rolfe used his pace to target the opener's body with brutal, chest-high bouncers. In the face of this, Penn's openers played smartly, exploiting gaps in the field while also turning Rolfe and Bali's pace against them as they timed balls to the boundary. Unable to find a breakthrough with the pace bowlers, Haverford turned to the off-spin of Cornell and leg-break Sophomore Ethan Flicker. The change in pace did nothing to deter the batsmen; they employed the pull shot to good effect multiple times against the bowlers to find the boundary.
Flicker especially persevered through the onslaught and found his just rewards. Flicker sent in a quicker, flatter ball straight towards middle stump in follow-up to his well-flighted stock ball. The batsman was caught unaware as the ball raced through the gap between bat and pad and uprooted middle stump. While Flicker finally got Haverford the breakthrough, Penn had still scored 74 runs for the loss of just one wicket through their first 10 overs. With the pressure mounting to stem the run rate and take more wickets, Haverford turned to the bowling debut of Sophomore Daniel Van Beveren in the 11th over. It was a stroke of genius as Van Beveren cut the fuel line of Penn's batting engine. Van Beveren bowled with a hustling pace that he combined with a low action that kept the ball skidding off the deck. Van Beveren found his line early; ball after ball was bowled at a full length just outside the off-stump.
It was an unplayable line, as Penn's batsmen failed to connect bat to ball for the entire over. Van Beveren's 2nd over derailed Penn; the first ball of the over was a violent, inswinging Yorker which made a mess of the stumps. Van Beveren followed this up with a disciplined maintenance of line and length, once again not giving up any runs. With the pressure mounting, Haverford introduced another bowling change with Jake Kutchins entering the attack with his pacey right-arm bowling. The move was an instant success. Kutchins maintained a full length right on middle stump that the batsmen could only block. When Kutchins sent in a quicker delivery on the line of off-stump, the batsmen watched in horror as the ball kissed the outside edge and went straight into the gloves of Junior wicketkeeper Charlie Lynn.
With the rapid loss of wickets, Penn's batting stalled and failed to score at the same pace as they had earlier in the innings. With Van Beveren and Kutchins having tightened the screws, Haverford smelled blood in the waters and went for the jugular, reintroducing the new-ball pair of Bali and Rolfe. Now bowling with a worn ball, Bali found prodigious movement through the air in his final over. As Penn's batsmen flailed at the ball in desperation, Bali induced an expansive cover drive which rocketed the ball straight to Rolfe, who successfully took the catch in spite of the force with which the ball was struck. Kutchins returned to bowl the very last ball of the innings, which he completed in a tidy fashion. A desperate run attempt off the final ball was ended by a piece of sharp fielding from the covers by Van Beveren, who made an accurate return throw to Kutchins who then completed the run out. With the dust settled and the innings complete, Penn had managed to put up 124 runs for the loss of five wickets.
In the chase, Haverford opened with Rolfe and Kutchins both returning from an excellent fall season of opening together. Rolfe, taking first strike, settled in immediately, finding the middle of the bat and taking quick runs through the gaps in the field. Kutchins started more cautiously, but was the first one to score a boundary, unfurling his long levers and slamming a slog sweeping a four through long-on. Shortly after, though, Kutchins failed to time a cut shot, sending a high ball to third man where he was caught out. This compounded when new batsman Senior Captain Bali edged out to a lightning quick out-swinger on off-stump. Having suffered two quick wickets, Rolfe and Junior Captain Cornell faced the task of stabilizing the ship and taking Haverford to a safer position. With Cornell digging deep into the crease, Rolfe took on the experienced Penn bowlers to add to the scorecard. Rolfe's batting prowess was on full display, particularly his complete mastery of the off-side.
Any ball that was even marginally off-line was slugged to a far part of the ground by Rolfe. Having settled in, Rolfe opened his boundary account with a ferocious cover drive that left the fielders with no chance of stopping the ball. The next ball was deposited over the point boundary with a violent square drive. Cornell kept the scoreboard ticking, employing deft paddle sweeps and well-timed drives to maneuver the ball through gaps. Cornell found his first boundary with a perfect straight drive that drilled the ball past the bowler and bisected both long-on and long-off fielders. At the other end, Rolfe was only gaining steam, as he continued to punch balls away as he pleased.
A lofted straight drive deposited the ball for another boundary past long-off. With bowlers rattled by the prodigious display of batting talent, Penn turned to their slower bowlers to try to stem the tide. Shook by the sheer might of Rolfe and Cornell, they struggled to find their line as ball after ball was sent wide by the batsmen. With the scorecard moving ever closer in Haverford's favor thanks to these extras, Rolfe punished the balls that were not wide. A muscular cut shot sent the ball screaming by backwards point for four while a savage on-drive delivered the ball to the midwicket boundary. Rolfe was merciless in his pursuit of runs, which crucially was allowed by Cornell being able to ease any scoreboard pressure with his excellent timing. In the latter half of his 39-ball innings, Cornell only experienced 9 dot balls, with all other balls being pushed for runs. Rolfe passed the 50 mark with a delectable drive through extra cover which creamed the ball to the boundary for his maiden half-century in his career at Haverford College. After being bounced by Penn's quickest bowler, Rolfe gained his revenge the next ball with an off-drive that spanked the ball for four and the game. Rolfe finished on an unbeaten score of 59 from only 46 balls, with Cornell finishing on an unbeaten 24 runs from 39 balls. Haverford completed the chase with over 3 overs to spare, a savagely efficient run chase, winning by a massive margin of eight wickets.
In the morning game Temple defeated Penn by seven wickets. Penn opened well in that game but was consistently undone by tight bowling from Temple's bowlers. They finished with a total score of 132 runs, Temple's batsmen had no issues completing this chase, achieving the target in the final over with 7 wickets to spare. With this opening round of games in the Philadelphia Intercollegiate Cricket Tournament, Haverford and Temple top the table with a win each, while Penn has suffered two losses. Villanova is yet to play a match. Haverford returns to action next Saturday with the annual Alumni game, scheduled to start at 10 a.m. on Cope Field.