Danish Cricket Yearbook 2018

n Af Jeremy Bray Going into World Cricket League Division 4 in Malaysia saw a vastly different looking side compared to previous years. We had a new captain in Hamid Shah and no fewer than seven players under the age of 24. One could say a very inexperienced and young side. However, we had players such as Freddie Klokker, Basit Ja- ved, Anders Bülow, Hamid Shah, Bashir Shah and Rizwan Mahmood that have been part of the Danish setup for a number of years. So a lot was resting on their shoulders to help the younger more inexperienced members of the side through what would be a very competitive tourna- ment. After a productive pre-tour to Johur Bahru on the Malay- sia/Singapore border, our first game of the tournament saw us pitted against Bermuda. Bermuda batted first and got off to a flying start with our opening bowlers struggling to find any consistent line or length. After 10 overs Bermuda were traveling at over 7 runs an over until some tight bowling from Mads Henriksen and Saif Ahmad eventually saw a breakthrough for the Danes whereby Saif dismissed the dangerous Bascome who had been hit- ting Denmark to all parts of the ground for 68 off 41 balls. The Danes put a stranglehold on the Bermudan middle order and restricted them to 209 all out with Bashir Shah the standout bowler 10 overs 3-17 runs. Denmark lost 2 wickets in an excellent chase with con- tributions from Zameer Khan 38, Hamid Shah 48 not out and a fantastic century from Freddie Klokker 108 not out. Special mention must go to Freddie as he had to keep wicket for nearly 50 overs in extreme heat and humidity which was to be the same throughout the tournament, then bat right through the innings. Denmark’s second game was against Jersey. Jersey batted first and plodded along at a very slow rate in what was fantastic batting conditions where a par score was 280 +. After 50 overs jersey lost only 6 wickets for 238 runs, with Saif Ahmad being the best bowler with figures of 2-36 off 10 overs. Denmark got off to a great start again with Zameer Khan and Freddie Klokker putting on a stand of over 50 before heavy rain came unfortunately and reduced the game to a 23 over affair with Denmark needing to get 114. A very nervous chase saw Denmark lose 3 wickets but cap- tain Hamid Shah and Rizwan Mahmood safely saw the side over the line with 7 balls to spare. The third game was against Malaysia on what was to be a very spinner friendly pitch. Denmark won the toss, batted first and battled their way to a very competitive total of 179. There were good contributions from Zameer Khan 44, Hamid Shah 37 and an excellent cameo from Mads Malaysia Division 4 2018 Afrejse til Malaysia I 18 I DANSK CRICKET ÅRSSKRIFT 20 18