Grace's extended their winning run to seven games with an excellent victory against Wandgas. I think this is the first time we've ever beaten them, so well done to everyone! We won the toss and batted first. After a solid start from Camberwell, Hardisty and Ross, Rishafi and Mendis moved the scoring rate along against a good quality attack. Rishafi went for 36 - run out attempting a quick single. Bielby was then out first ball allowing Shofiq to come in and join Mendis. This turned out excellently, as both batsmen expertly dismissed the Wandgas attack to all parts of the field, putting on 93 for the sixth wicket. Mendis finally went for 47 and Shofiq for 48 as Grace's notched up a decent total of 194 in our 40 overs.
Grace's opened with an all South African attack. Dekock bowled accurately, finding some late in-swing, and was extremely unlucky not to take a couple of wickets. Hoeksma also bowled a tidy spell and picked up two valuable wickets - one caught behind and one LBW. After the opening sixteen overs from the two South Africans, Wandgas had only managed to reach 58 and were behind the run-rate. Grace's fielding was good, with Mercuri looking especially lively - denying Wandgas quite a few runs. Rishafi came on to bowl and quickly removed Wandgas' other opener. With Wandgas' three Sri Lankans next at the crease, the game was going to hinge on how quickly we could get at least two of them out. Rishafi bowled excellently to the young star Colombage, turning the ball both ways so that neither the batsman nor the wicketkeeper could ever feel comfortable. He was desparately unlucky not to take the wicket of Colombage, who was threatening to win the game for Wandgas. But importantly, he did remove the other two Sri Lankans - Kumar LBW and Adams to a good catch by Camberwell at point. Shofiq was now into the attack and the pressure was on Colombage, now batting with the lower order. With Mendis keeping things tidy from one end and Shofiq taking wickets at the other, the pressure finally told on the young overseas star as he tried to clear long-on, but fell on the boundary to a catch by Rishafi. Wandgas could not recover from this dismissal and were eventually all out for 159. A top effort by Grace's defending a slightly below-par total against good quality opposition. Congratulations to the batsmen and fielders, but especially to the bowlers - Dekock and Hoeksma for putting Wandgas behind the run-rate early on, Rishafi for getting two of their best batsmen out and Shofiq, who finished with 5-18 off 7.2 overs.