Denmark: Surprise as title race comes alive
Peter Power - 2 September 2000
The battle for the Danish Championship was turned completely around after
last weekend's matches with just one round to go.
Herning as you have read earlier have been breathing down leaders Svanholm’s
neck but in their first match of two in Copenhagen there was plenty of
excitement in Herning’s match against Glostrup who are fighting to stay in
the Premier League.
Herning scored 189 for 7 in their 50 overs but Glostrup had only 48 overs to
bat in due to a slow over-rate. Glostrup fought their way back thanks to
Anders Rasmussen with 77 and in the final over with two balls to spare they
passed Herning’s total.
Practically everyone believed the Championship was over and Svanholm would
win yet again but this turned out not to be the case.
Herning went to Svanholm on the Sunday to play on a pitch which in Danish
eyes was lively and perhaps dangerous.
The bowlers dominated and Herning were swinging by their necks at 95 for 8,
but Danish under-17 player Michael Termansen and Thomas Thøgersen stuck it
out and Herning in their 50 overs ended on 143 for 9.
This shouldn’t have been too much trouble for Svanholm, but they couldn’t
bat on this pitch either and lost both opening batsmen with 3 on the board.
Vestergaard and Henriksen took Svanholm into the nineties but Herning’s
captain Carsten Pedersen was quite shrewd with his bowling changes getting
wickets every time. Termansen took a wicket and a brilliant catch to
finalize his day when Svanholm were dismissed for 120.
Herning and Svanholm are neck and neck with one round to go. If both sides
should win then, for the first time in many years, a third 'sudden death'
match will be played on a neutral ground on Sept. 9/10.
Skanderborg the dark horse ended their run with a surprise defeat to Esbjerg
and will have to stick with the bronze medals which are secured.
The other big surprise was bottom side Chang who also were in Copenhagen for
two matches.
Firstly they bowled out Nørrebro cheaply enough so that Chang could pass
their score with 5 wickets to spare. On the Sunday fellow bottom side KB
again were bowled out cheaply for 125, but this time Chang only managed to
scrape past with their nails as the last pair scored the winning runs. KB
dropped two important catches. Both teams are neck and neck before the final
round. KB have the advantage of a better scoring rate.
Husum form North Germany return to the Premier League next year, as they are
still undefeated with three matches to play. Ishøj have booked a place for
the play-off match against the second last side in the Premier League and
are, according to the locals, more likely of success this year. Kerteminde
and Ringsted are now relegated to the Second Division, while it is most
likely that Køge and Aarhus will play against the two divisions’ winners
Kolding and Glostrup seconds.
Premier L. Runs Runs
Match For W Against W Points Avg
Svanholm I 13 2256 77 1753 123 20 1.54
Herning I 13 1911 76 1960 96 20 1.54
Skanderborg I 13 2220 111 2172 110 18 1.38
Esbjerg I 13 2592 98 2636 100 14 1.08
Nørrebro 13 2038 112 1858 92 10 0.77
Glostrup I 13 1630 98 1996 86 10 0.77
KB I 13 2438 104 2564 88 6 0.46
Chang I 13 1612 115 1948 96 6 0.46
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