ICCB won the toss and batted first, RBCC bowled pretty well and got wickets at regular intervals. The home team fielded well with Abir and Ben taking smart catches on the boundary. Royal Brussels Cricket Club managed to restrict them to only 98 in 20 overs. The chase wasnât easy, but Ben top-scored with a brilliant 46 and debutant Anas hit a six in the last over to seal the victory against a strong ICCB team.
Genk won the toss and batted first, a strange decision that played right into our hands. With the pitch being wet our opening bowlers Ricky and Fida made use of the early moisture and ran through the opposition; after 8 overs we had reduced Genk to 17/5 and there was simply no way back for them. Man of the Match Fida bowled a brilliant spell of 10-2-44-6, Ricky took three wickets and Salim wrapped up the innings by taking a wicket with his first and only delivery.
Chasing a small total of only 73 we got off to a decent start with skipper Muneeb and Abdulwahed hitting a couple of sweet boundaries. We lost a few wickets but Jawad could not be moved and saw us home to a comfortable victory.
Onwards and upwards, we are all looking forward to our next match.
RBCCâs first XI travelled to Wemmel in a confident mood following their win against AICC. With Muneeb on national team duty (congratulations to the Cricket Belgium team by the way, for their excellent performance against Guernsey) Ricky stepped forward to take over as captain.
Ricky duly won the toss and we batted first. Mustafa and Abdulwahed gave us the solid start that we needed. Jawad came in at first wicket down and was dropped off his second ball playing an uncharacteristic lofted shot; ICCB would rue this miss as he proceeded to top score with a serene 48. Abdulwahed continued his fine form from the Paris trip, making 43, while Afzal added 33 before being bowled with our score on 200. A flurry of late wickets saw RBCC all out for 224 from 47 overs; not the biggest total but we thought this was a good score on a tricky pitch with some variable bounce.
We came out all guns blazing in the field, with Salim taking the first wicket and Ricky joining in the next over thanks to a brilliant catch by Abdulwahed. Our fielding was good all day, we didnât drop a single chance given to us. Ali joined the wicket-taking fun from the other end, bowling an absolute peach to clean up one of their batsman. As usual, Channi applied the finishing touches (fast becoming his trademark!) but the last wicket was a piece of art by Salim, a direct throw from midwicket to run the batsman out. The star performer though was undoubtedly Ricky, leading from the front and finishing with figures of 10-3-31-5.Â
ICCB were all out for 118 in 28 overs, RBCC winning by 106 runs.
Well played lads, letâs keep this run going!
The conclusion of this season was marked by the Women’s Day, a special event held unusually at the end of September. It saw the enthusiastic participation of more than 25 women from across Belgium, spanning a range of skill levels. The day commenced with a brief initiation session, enabling newcomers to grasp the basics of the game, from wielding a bat to mastering the art of bowling. Subsequently, we engaged in some exhilarating matches, only pausing to indulge in a fantastic barbecue generously provided by dedicated volunteers who contributed to the day’s resounding success.
Throughout this season, the RBCC women’s team actively competed in the Belgian League alongside five other teams hailing from Belgium and France. Our matches took us to various locations, including Antwerp, Wemmel, and Kortrijk, where we managed to secure victories in all formats of the game.
Notably, several of our team members had the honour of representing both the France and Belgium National teams at various tournaments in 2022 and 2023, thus significantly enhancing the visibility of cricket in associate countries. Also, members of the Royal Brussels CC took part in trainings for the Belgian National Women’s Team.
With great anticipation, we look forward to the upcoming 2023-2024 season, aiming to defend our title at the upcoming soft box cricket tournament scheduled for this November.
Our U17s took on our friends at Antwerp CC in a T20 doubleheader.
First match: Having lost the toss we were put in to bat; the sodden pitch couldnât slow our batters as both opener Ben and captain Afzal retired on 51. Atharva added 27 as we scored an impressive 174 for the loss of only 2 wickets.
ACC started slowly but accelerated in the middle overs and required only 9 to win from the last over, bowled by Dominic. He held his nerve and took wickets in successive balls (both stumped by Afzal) to lessen the pressure; a hat-trick went begging as a catch was dropped but it was a highly impressive example of death bowling. ACC finished short on 170/7.
Antwerp in October!
Second match: In line with our development philosophy Atharva took over as captain and we rejigged the batting line-up. ACC bowled well but Ben made another unbeaten 50 and Max B scored 21 as we posted 147/6. Again it looked as though ACC would run us close but Max R clean bowled their best batter and that took the steam out of their chase. A tight closing spell from Atharva (3 wickets in total) saw ACC subside to 133/8.
Special thanks go to Hossein for his work as the 12th man, to Antwerp CC for making us so welcome and especially to Manoj and Mike for umpiring.
All smiles at Antwerp
This was another good day out for our U17s, leaving us 3rd in the division, although we still need to work on our game management and our fielding. This squad has played some excellent cricket this year but a combination of factors, some within our control, others not, mean that we just missed out on the play-offs. Nonetheless, it has been a good season with the development of a number of new players and an excellent team spirit. Congratulations to Ben for finishing top of the league batting averages with Atharva and Dom not far behind.
Well played U17s!
The players would like to thank their parents for their support and to Alan for managing the team. See you next season!
A good crowd gathered at RBCC for the final match of the season. This was a crucial game against ICCB, had results not gone our way then we could have been facing relegation.
There was a fair amount of tension in the air as the match started; this was only exacerbated when our captain, Muneeb, fell to the first ball of the second over and Sudhanshu went with the score on 15. Mishi and Jawad steadied the ship, putting on 150 for the third wicket before Jawad was given out LBW on 48. Mishi went on to score 126 off only 124 deliveries, a fantastic effort made all the more special because he was using Sairabâs bat, the one given to him by our late coach Farrukh. The big man must have sent us his blessing!
The other innings of note was a brisk 31 scored by young Afzal. Agonisingly he was the last man out with only 2 deliveries remaining; this meant that we had missed the opportunity to score valuable batting bonus points and meant that our score, 274 off 49.4 overs, might not be enough to keep us up. The pressure was now on our bowling attackâŠ
Our lads went hard at the opposition and wickets fell regularly. Muneeb rotated his bowlers and was rewarded as 7 different players took wickets, the skipper leading the way by taking 2 for 13 off his 6 overs.
ICCB realised that they were unlikely to match Royalâs score but knew that a batting bonus point would keep them above us in the table; however, if we could bowl them out within 40 overs then the situation would be reversed. In a tense finish, Afzal took a catch off Sudhanshu that saw us dismiss ICCB for 162 with only 3 balls of the 40th over to come. This was a fantastic victory and the joy on the playersâ faces was great to see. This was a hard-fought victory and needs to be the template for all our teams next season. As Muneeb said afterwards âA perfect example of our team spirit is that last inning when we all fielded together. We played as one team and for each other. That is how I want us to play going forward!â
A special mention for Afzal who, following the disappointment of getting out in the last over, took 3 smart catches and pulled off a stunning piece of fielding that will live long in the memory. He caught a certain 6 in mid-air and before his feet touched the floor threw the ball back in to play so that Mishi could take the catch. Well played!
Congratulations also to Dom, making his first team debut, big thanks to Channi as 12th man and also to Chris & Max for scoring.
And the crowd went wildâŠ
It has been an eventful season; we have won trophies, suffered relegation and organised a successful tour. Through it all the players and supporters have stuck together in true RBCC fashion. See you all at the Club Dinner in a couple of weeks!
