HAVERFORD, Pa. - Haverford Cricket ended their fall campaign over the weekend with matches on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's match saw the Fords face off against Columbia in their first 30 over match of the season with Sophomore Ken Lin making his debut for the college in the match. Faced with the challenge of navigating a new 30-over format, Columbia got the best of the match up, winning 225-7 to 136-9.
Saturday's match versus Columbia saw the Fords take the field first after losing the coin toss. Senior captain Gulesh Shukla and first year Mohanish Bajaj shared the new ball, but the pair was unable to make a breakthrough in the opening overs. Columbia built a solid innings, scoring 72 runs off their first 11 overs without losing a wicket. The Fords found their breakthrough the very next over when a direct hit by Shukla in the field sent the opening batsman back to the pavilion.
The Columbia side would successfully recover, lasting another six overs without the loss of a wicket. The introduction of Junior captain Samuel Monks would prove to reinvigorate the Haverford attack. In his first over, Monks found the edge of the bat, with keeper Rebecca Stern completing the catch. The Fords would make regular breakthroughs after this. Shukla followed his co-captain three overs later, finding a thick outside edge.This entry would send the ball flying to gully, where Lin made an impressive running catch, collecting the ball next to his ankle—making a difficult catch look easy in his debut match.
Monks would continue this momentum, taking a second wicket in the 27th and the third in the 29th, with both wickets coming off difficult high catches by first year Sidd Phatak fielding the deep. Not to be outdone, Phatak would take a wicket himself in the 28th over off another high catch made by Deep Patel. Monks's performance was the highlight of Haverford's attack, and produced his best bowling figures for the college, producing a spell of 43-3 off his six overs.
Chasing down the 225 runs posted by Columbia, the Fords would begin their chase with regular opener Monks, who was joined by Bajaj. This was Bajaj's first time opening for the college. A quick wicket would mean Bajaj needed to play conservatively. He built a solid foundation, scoring a steady five off his first 24 deliveries. However, he would recognize the need to accelerate, and scored better than a run a ball after that, ending with 60 off 78, his top score thus far for the college.
Bajaj would be supported at the other end by Phatak and Shukla. Phatak would help Bajaj stabilize the innings with a reliable 13 off 25, while Shukla would score a quick fire 25 off 21. Despite these contributions to Bajaj's 60 runs, the Fords still fell 90 runs short of a winning total.