HAVERFORD, Pa. - Sunday saw Haverford Cricket's final game of their fall season versus George Washington University (GWU). The Fords were without captain and top run-getter Gulesh Shukla, who was sidelined due to injury. This paved the way for sophomores Samuel Ross and Jason Wild to make their debuts for Haverford. Despite a 290-7 to 133-10 loss, the Fords will hope to bring the valuable experience gained this season into their spring season.
Fielding first once again, first year Sidd Phatak replaced Shukla, sharing the new ball with fellow first year Mohanish Bajaj. Bajaj's ever-deceptive leg spin proved simply unreadable. He bowled his first over for a maiden and found the Fords first breakthrough in his second over, trapping the batsman LBW. Not to be outdone, Phatak would follow shortly thereafter, beating the bat to clean bowl the batsman. Sophomore Eugene Yang would join in the fun, inducing an outside edge which was safely caught by wicketkeeper Rebecca Stern.
GWU recovered well, producing a 111 run partnership for their fourth wicket. Yang would be the bowler to break the partnership, inducing another edge to be caught by Stern. These two important wickets would give Yang career best bowling figures of 88-2.
The Fords had struggled to dismiss GWU's opening batsman, who had previously been selected for the US Collegiate All-Star Team. Bajaj would be brought back into the attack in the 24th over with the hopes Haverford's leading wicket taker would provide another breakthrough. He did so, although not off his bowling. Attempting to run for two, Yang sent the ball to Bajaj, who successfully ranout GWUs opener for 145 runs, preventing him from doing any further damage. Bajaj would trap another batsman LBW and a sharp direct hit by captain Samuel Monks would cause a second run out. However, GWU had posted a difficult-to-chase total of 290 at this point.
Haverford would turn to Monks once again to open the batting. Monks would be joined at the other end of the crease by Stern, whose appearance at the top of the order made her the first batswoman to open for Haverford College.
A quick wicket would bring Bajaj to the crease. Bajaj would again feature for Haverford's batting. He would fall one run short of making his second half century for the college, scoring 49 off 55 deliveries. He received useful support from Phatak, who contributed 15 off 27 and sophomore Samanyu Kurra who contributed 10 off 20. Unfortunately, the 'Fords would be bowled out for 133, 157 runs short of a winning total.
Despite failing to win a match this fall, Haverford will be looking forward to a successful spring season. Due to COVID-19 interruptions, the team faced unique challenges—10 of the 14 players who saw game time were playing in their first formal cricket matches this season. Additionally, of the three upperclassmen who had played for Haverford, two had played in just one fall season.
The Fords have one of the deeper batting lineups of recent years and now have much needed experience in live matches. Haverford Cricket is confident that off season work will produce tighter bowling lines and more consistent fielding, so that they can look forward to many wins in the coming seasons.