3 dominant wins, two agonizing last ball losses, and some outstanding individual performances with both bat and ball are the final outcome of this September long weekend.
On Friday, our 40 over team played their last league game needing a big win to qualify for the Final on Net Run Rate. Batting first, things didn't go to plan as we collapsed to 4/18 in no time. Antony Roche, as has become custom in the longer format, rebuilt the innings, mostly with the help of Daksh Talwar who looked in fine form hitting 63 off 55 balls in a 103 run partnership. Antony, with scores of 98 and 96 in the 40 over league in 2022, looked like he would finally crack the ton, but this time he would run out of balls, stranded on 98 not out as he lost the strike in the last over. Still, a great knock which took us to 233, and we needed to keep Titans to 180 or less to advance. Titans chased steadily, reaching 2/155 off 31 overs. We managed some regular wickets from here, the 8th wicket falling with 24 needed from 15, our finals hopes gone but still a game to win. Marshal Bhatti with 3/32 off 6 the best of our bowlers. A couple of missed chances in the final overs left them needing 2 off 1, which they managed to do. Scorecard
Saturday saw our Div 2 team back on the field after a couple of weekends without a game. Batting first, a solid top order effort from the experienced trio of Andrew Irving (36), Rudesh Audikesavalu (34) and Dhruv Mohta (30*) allowed us to reach 4/138 off our 20. Our bowlers never really looked in danger of conceding this target, led by our skipper Tushar Sehgal who took 2 wickets with the new ball and another two later on to finish with his best figures as a Cannon (4/29 off 4). The remaining wickets were shared with East Coast finishing at 8/116, 22 run short. Scorecard
Next up were our Div 3 team. Fielding first, we conceded 159 off the 20 overs while picking up 6 wickets. Stand in skipper Gaganpreet Singh was the pick of the bowlers with 2/24 from 4. Far more than we had ever successfully chased in Div 3, Nisarg Patel and Ashwin Chander (23) put on 78 for the opening wicket in only 10 overs, to have us right on target. Ashwin's wicket would be the start of losing 8/42, nobody giving Nisarg any support. He had reached his maiden HCL fifty in style with a six, and just needed someone to stick with him. Revant Sharan would be that guy, his unbeaten 17 from 12 balls, a pivotal knock, highlighted by his first six for us, a majestic lofted straight drive. Meanwhile, Nisarg was quickly approaching the magical ton, but the victory target would be reached at the end of the 19th over with him unbeaten on 95 from only 55 balls, including 8 sixes! A memorable knock that would give the boys a much needed win. Scorecard
Sunday would see Div 2 in action again, many of the squad playing their 3rd game in 3 days. A clinical team bowling performance kept Avengers to 103 all out in the 18th over, which they did well to get to after we had them 8/65. Mohammed Tanweer had the ball hooping to strike twice in the first over, on his way to 3/17 off 3. Hiren Patel would take 3 of his own, with Nihar Shah taking 2/12. We lost an early wicket, but Andrew (42) and Rudy (44*) carried on from the prior day, putting on 77, before Rudy finished the game off with 8 wickets and 20 balls to spare. A comprehensive win over a team we may meet again in the post season. Scorecard
Div 3 would wrap up the weekend this morning on the holiday Monday with a rematch over Saturday's opposition Halifax Titans. Again we fielded first, keeping Titans to 8/139 off 20, Maryo John the standout with 4/14 off 4 overs. Short of frontline bowlers, Ahsan Hafeez stepped up with his medium pacers and did a great job taking 2/21 off 3. Our chase started slow and steady in the face of some tight bowling, but Kazi Rahman turned the momentum with a rapid 25 off 12 including 3 sixes. Upon his downfall, Jaideep Singh took over, smashing an unbeaten 37 from only 20 balls putting on 47 with Tommy Upton. Needing 12 off the last over to win, Jaideep gave it everything, but unfortunately could only manage 10 to fall 2 runs short of victory. Div 3 are going through a run of very close matches, and are showing a lot of improvement with the bat which is a good sign for coming games. 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.
