• The End of Season Meeting will take place at the Ramada Plaza in Antwerp on Thursday December 13th at 19:00. (open to 2 representatives per club)

Address:

Ramada Plaza Antwerp

Desguinlei 94, Anvers, BE 2018

Tél: 0032-3-2448211

To get there you can click on the link: http://www.ramadaplaza-antwerp.com/intl/fr/location.php

Japan won the toss and elected to bat against Belgium in the 3^rd/4^th ranking match and quickly regretted their decision as they slumped to 5-39.

Two wickets each from Faisal Khaliq and Abdul Rehman set up the strong start from the European side determined to reverse their result against Japan from the group stage.

However a brilliant century from Alex Patmore helped his side reach a total of all out for 180 and a match that appeared lost for the Japanese was back in the balance.

Faisal Khaliq was instrumental throughout the innings for Belgium to finish with figures of five for 20. 

Belgium was cruising early in the chase thanks to a 56 run opening partnership between Nirvam Shah and Sheraz Sheikh Muhammad. However the pair were dismissed in consecutive overs bringing Japan right back into the match.

From that moment on 16-year-old Japanese leg spinner decided it was his opportunity to announce himself to international cricket world taking a match winning 5-55 as Belgium fell agonizingly short by just 10 runs.

The win secured Japan a respectable third place at the event while Belgium settled for fourth.

Belgium will have to learn from this tournament if they want to compete again in WLC in the future.

Vanuatu won the toss and elected to bat on Garden Oval 2 against Belgium and despite a solid first few overs quickly found themselves in trouble.

Belgium had the perfect start to their Pepsi World Cricket League Division 8 (WCL Div 8) campaign with a commanding victory over Bhutan in day one at the Garden Ovals in Samoa.

On Garden Oval 1, Bhutan won the toss and elected to bat against Belgium and it wasn’t long before they found themselves under pressure thanks to some accurate bowling from Abdul Rehman and Shahid Muhammad who each took two early wickets.

Sonam Tobgay was the only top order batsman to pose any sort of early resistance before he was bowled by Rehman for 16.

After the removal of Tobgay, Belgium continued the "tight bowling" display through their skipper Andre Wagener.

Wagener’s height and bounce troubled the Bhutan batsman who faced a significant uphill battle when they fell to 4-40 off the first 15 overs.

The wickets continued to fall at regular intervals throughout the innings for Bhutan as they eventually slumped to all out for 79 off 35.3 overs.

Let's note that 30% of Bhutan's score has to be credited to the Belgian bowlers who helped Bhutan on their way by bowling some 20 wides.

A late cameo from "Unplayable" Amir Iqbal saw him claim the best bowling figures of the innings with 3 wickets for 4 from 6 overs 

With rain threatening quick runs were going to be important for the Belgium side.

Bhutan openers Lobzang Yobten and Tobgay had a different idea though bowling economical spells to leave Belgium stranded on 1-31 off 14.2 when rain delayed the match by 25 minutes.

Upon returning to the pitch the Belgian combination of Nirvam Shah and Shahid Muhammad wasted no time in lifting the run rate cruising to victory in 25.1 overs with nine wickets in hand.

Shah finished 34 not out and Muhammad 30 not out.

Shahid Mohammad was elected man of the match taking 3 wickets in 8 overs (4 maidens) for 16 runs and scoring 30 runs no.

“To have our first win in World Cricket League feels great,” said Belgian captain Andre Wagener. “We put the screws on early on then let it slip a little in the middle, but fought back with some good patience and it paid off.”

The competition can be followed on ESPN: http://www.espncricinfo.com/wcldiv8-2012/content/series/579227.html

Or on the International Cricket Council website: http://www.icc-europe.org/the-icc/icc_members/europe/news/newsdetails.php?newsId=21447_1347687000

Finally the sun decided to grace the glorious cricket field of RBCC, much to the bewilderment of the players who'd got somewhat used to seeing rain on match day. With a fresh motivation and desire to grab this T20 Cup Finals by the scruff of the neck the 4 teams involved started fighting in what would turn out to be one of the most cricket thrilling days of the season.

The first semi final opposed Crescent CC and PCCB. With the blazing sun already out, Crescent’s captain Nadeem Khan decided to bat first. Their top 4 batsmen did the job by scoring 115 (Tahir Mohammed 30, Sohail Kalim 45, Amir Rashid 10, Nadeem Khan 30) and led their team to score 157/7. Thus the task was tough for PCCB but far from impossible in Ohain where we’ve seen scores above 200 in this type of competition. However this was counting without some good bowling from Crescent who knocked out the PCCB openers in the first few overs. Wickets kept falling on a regular basis and it was not long before Crescent’s bowling attack finished the job, dismissing PCCB for 95 (Faheem Mohammed 3/13 in 4 overs)

In the second semi final, Arcadians would face Optimists. Optimists decided to bat first and although the first wicket went down in the 2^nd over, Richard Neale batting at #3 scored an incredible ton (107) to put Optimists on top of the game 183/6.  Arcadians were ready for the fight in the person of André Wagener captain of the Belgian National Team. Scoring a fast 58 with 5 fours and 4 sixes, the loss of his wicket could have been the end of the game. Not so. Trying to keep on top of the run rate, Arcadians could not prevent losing wickets on a regular basis and ended short of the required total (157/8)

So the final would be Crescent CC vs Optimists. The scorching sun had been out all day and players had to dig deep to find the energy to play. Optimists batting first took a solid start scoring 36 runs without loss in the first 4 overs. When their opener got run out nobody would have thought that it was the beginning of a run out contest. Accurate fielding from Crescent and some hazardous running from Optimists led the latter to lose 3 of their top 5 batsmen. Wickets kept falling, preventing Optimist from taking full control of the game. But when Taral Desai scored a wonderful 66 not out (9 fours and 1 six) the game turned back to Optimists’s advantage (165/7). Needing 166 to win and looking at how exhausted most of the players were already, one was not far from thinking that Optimists would be in the driver’s seat. And when opener Sohail Kalim was out for a duck in the 2^nd over (8/2) the game didn’t look easy from Crescent’s point of view. At 91/4 after 11 overs the competition was on. Nadeem Khan and Faheem Mohammed played solid innings, both scoring 40+ at a very good SR. The game was turning around. But it was not long before Nadeem Khan was on his way back to the pavilion caught at long on. And pressure was once again on Crescent needing 61 from the last 6 overs. Faheem was out in the penultimate over, leaving 12 to be scored from the last over. A couple of wides made the task easier and Crescent had their win on the penultimate ball of the innings (hit for 6).

Crescent CC is the proud 2012 T20 Cup Champion. It was a great day for cricket in Belgium thanks to the umpires and thanks to players who played with good spirit, mindset and aggression too. It was time for everyone to have a few drinks and close this wonderful day of cricket by giving to Crescent CC their well deserved trophy.

Belgium is through to the World Cricket league Division 8. And although we won all 3 matches, the competition was much closer than it may seem. No game was easy and nervous tension was always there for the Belgian supporters.

Having opened commandingly by bowling France out for 135, Charles Wright producing the bowling performance of the tournament with 5 for 24, we found ourselves in some trouble against France’s spinners when they replied, and it took some serious hitting from Abdul Rehman to see us over the line.

This was only a hint, however, of what Rehman could do, for the following day he demolished a tired Austrian attack with a magnificent 48-ball 102 not out, enabling Belgium  to recover from a shaky 136 for 6. Having reached 265, the Belgian bowlers did the job and took out the opposition for 158.

Before the last match, Net Run Rate calculations gave Belgium a decent mattress but Belgium wanted a clean win in what ended to be a very competitive tournament.

And although the bowlers again did well against Gibraltar in the final game, Amir Iqbal claiming four for 12 with his left-arm spin, Belgium had to fight all the way to preserve their unbeaten record, a fine 62 from Jamie Farmiloe proving the decisive factor as they won by a single wicket.

Meanwhile France did what they had to do against Austria to keep their chances alive. Keeping Austria down to 198, France then proceeded to a quick start with 62-0. However the wickets started tumbling and France had to realistically try to win the game rather than jeopardize their chances by chasing a high NRR.

Gibraltar fought hard to defend a modest total of 135 against Belgium, almost pulling off what would have been a memorable victory, and in Ross Harkins they had one of the outstanding seamers of the competition. But the batting struggled to make enough runs, and although Ian Farrell made an accomplished half-century in his one opportunity, it wasn’t a good enough performance to win the competition.

One extremely positive aspect of the Belgian success is the presence in the squad of six players who have come through their youth system, three of whom – Farmiloe, Nirvam Shah and Shaival Mehta – having been in the squad which won the 2009 European Under-19 Division 2 title.

This, then, was a competition which confirmed the value of a sustained youth policy for the growth of Associate and Affiliate cricket, but which also indicated the importance of attending to the particular demands of the one-day form of the game.

More: http://www.cricketeurope4.net/CRICKETEUROPE/DATABASE/2012/TOURNAMENTS/EUROWCL8/index.shtml