Great to be back in action over the weekend after a long mid season break, and with a mix of rustiness and good cricket, we ended with 2 wins and 2 losses.
Our Division 2 team got us started on Friday evening against Avengers, and skipper Tushar Sehgal got us off to a great start with 3 wickets in their powerplay. From there, dropped catches and loose bowling allowed Avengers to rebuild at a good pace. The rare introductions of Rudy Audikesavalu and Steve Smith into the bowling attack paid dividends, taking 1 and 2 wickets respectively in their sole overs. Avengers did manage to keep their scoring rate high after this, finishing strong to reach 7/168 off their 20.
We lost regular wickets in our run chase and never managed to get close to the required rate. Dhruv Mohta (24*) and Saravana Chandran (21*) put on 44 at the end to takes us into three figures, and Nisarg Patel battled hard with 28 at the start. All up, a 55 run loss which the guys would be keen to avenge in their Sunday rematch. Scorecard
Saturday afternoon saw our Div 1 team take the field, also against Avengers. Winning the toss and batting first, we lost our openers within the first 3 overs. Priyank Shah built partnerships of 38 with Antony Roche (23 off ) and 81 with Daksh Talwar (46 off 26), and batted to the end of the innings to end with an unbeaten 72 off 58 balls (5x4, 3x6). After a steady start, he exploded at the end of the innings to take us to 6/177 off 20, incidentally the same score we reached against Avengers in our most recent game.
Shadab Ahmed knocked the stumps out of the ground 2nd ball of their chase to give us a great start. Avengers kept looking to take the aerial route, and Cannons kept on catching them, the first 8 chances all taken in one of our best team fielding efforts. Daksh, Satnam Singh and Andrew Irving taking 2 each in the outfield. Through this period, it was Satnam (2/19) and Daksh (3/23) doing the bulk of the damage with the ball. Vikas Salaria came on to end the streak of catches and clean bowl their last man and wrap up a convincing 62 run win to keep the Cannons Div 1 team undefeated. Scorecard
Sunday morning our Div 2 team got their chance to turn the tables on Avengers after Friday's loss. Batting first this time, a team effort highlighted by a 63 run 4th wicket partnership between Dhruv (35 off 33) and Grant Whitcombe (33 off 32) led us to 7/145 off 20, after Rudy got us off to a good start with 27 off 18.
Jaideep Singh and Revant Sharan took the new ball and both bowled their 4 overs straight up, restricting Avengers to 45 off the first 8 overs, for the loss of 2 wickets from Revant who finished with great figures of 2/19. Spinners Hiren Patel and Nihar Shah continued the good work taking a wicket each through the middle, and then Tushar took 2 wickets during the closing stages. Avengers were still in with a sniff needing 14 off the last over, but Jawad Naimat, having already only conceded 10 off his first 2 overs, bowler a superb last over for only one run, finishing with great figures of 1/11 off 3 in the death stages of a run chase. We avenged our loss from Friday with a 12 runs win. Scorecard
Next up was our Div 3 team, finally getting their first action of the season after multiple washouts in June. With rookie skipper Gaganpreet Singh losing the toss, we batted first and just couldn't get going, all out for 80 in the 18th over with Raj Suhagiya top scoring with 15. The bowlers fought hard defending a low total, with Sujaan Singh taking an early wicket, followed by one for Gagan and a maiden wicket for debutant Marshal Bhatti. Titans passed our score in the 15th over wit h7 wickets in hand. Scorecard
Thanks to all our sponsors for helping us achieve these results in 2023. These weekly recaps are made possible by Steele Hyundai & Genesis Halifax. If you need a new or used vehicle, head into one of their dealerships or visit their website.
