The 2024 HCL season started on the weekend with 3 of the 4 Cannons teams in action, all on Sunday at the Halifax Common.
First up were our Div 4 team with 8 debutants playing in that league's first ever game, with the opposition being NS Avengers. Sent in to bat first, we got off to a less than ideal start losing 2 wickets before a run was on the board. Young gun Tommy Upton steadied the innings with 21, putting on stands of 22 with both skipper Steve Smith and Abdullah Khan. Our lower middle order couldn't get going, and all of a sudden we were 9/59 in the 15th. Fortunately , we had the experienced Raj Suhagiya at the crease, and along with Hussain Taimoor, they were able to get us through to the end of the 20th over and build our score to 89.
Tommy took our first wicket, and then Gurdeep Singh Boparai crashed through the rest of their top order with the next 3, the first a stunning one hand catch in the covers from Tommy and the second a sharp slip catch from Rohit Guglani. Tanmay Rajput, Raj and Tommy claimed the next three to keep faint hopes alive, but in the end Avengers sneaked past us with 3 wickets and 22 balls to spare. Conceding 32 extras compared to the 12 that Avengers allowed proved to be the difference, but the never say die attitude from the team bodes well for the upcoming games. Scorecard
Div 1 were up next against new boys in town Scotia Strikers. They won the toss and batted, and came out swinging, but the experience of Shadab Ahmed ensured the run rate stayed reasonable, and he was rewarded in his 3rd over with our first wicket. This also saw Shadab being the first to reach the milestone of 100 wickets for the Cannons! New VC Satnam Sing would then claim the other opener, a stunning one handed catch from first gamer Rakesh Tripathi behind the stumps. The spin of Daksh Talwar (1/13 off 4) and skipper Zeeshan Ansari (2/5 off 2) would prove challenging for Strikers, and our other debutant Ajay Kumar also showed promise and picked up a wicket in his first over. Strikers would end up at 7/122 off their 20.
After losing a wicket in the first over, Daksh got us off to a flyer in the chase with a quickfire 24 off 17. Following his dismissal, Antony Roche took over, navigating us through the regular loss of wickets, which included one spell of 4 wickets for 6 runs which left us needing 16 off 14 balls with only two wickets in hand. Antony was able to get us home from here picking his moments to hit a six and a four in the 19th, wrapping up the win with 2 wickets and 6 balls to spare. He ended up with an unbeaten 56 off 51 balls, with 2 fours and 1 six, a knock that showed the value of minimizing dot balls in tough scoring conditions. Scorecard
Last to play were Div 2, where skipper Tushar Sehgal became our 3rd captain of the day to lose the toss, Scotia Strikers electing to bat first. With the temperature dropping and the wind picking up, bowling and fielding would prove a challenge, but our guys stuck with it. Tushar would claim the first wicket in the 5th over after an early onslaught from their openers. We then had a chance to see new Cannons Parmveer Singh and Arshpreet Singh in action, and they didn't disappoint. Parm bowled with great pace while maintaining accuracy to finish with 2/16 off 4, and Arshpreet showed his skills as a left arm spinner challenging their middle order with flight and drift to take 2/14 off his 4. Our other wicket was taken by Kanwaljeet Singh, who also took a good boundary catch. With Strikers 6/132 off 18.3, the rain had got heavy enough for the umpires to take us off, and play wouldn't resume. Hopefully our boys will get a chance with the bat next weekend! Scorecard
