Saracens v.
St George's 

Plate Semi-Finals 

Saracens v. DBS 

Tartars v. 
St George's

Saracens v. St George's at KCC 
Result: Saracens won by 22 runs 

Spice Girls - The Cricket Match

Stopping off at the KCC on their round the world tour the delectable pop phenomenons took some time off to play a game of cricket for the KCC against St. George's. Sporting some new members in the group the new look seemed to take a radical departure from their previous incarnation. There was Loud Spice, Give me the Cash Spice, Jammy Spice, Shaky Wide Boy Spice, and  Irish Spice. Making a comeback from their headlining days the crowd were delighted to see those two Vets PC Spice  and  Lobbin Spice back together again after an age.  Tall Boy Spice and  Angry Spice made up the numbers and on lead vocals for the last time I'm the Captain Spice. Making a guest appearance for the group was "The Cricketer Usually Known as Grumpy" (TCUKAG). On the opposition team was the Liam Gallagher of Hong Kong Cricket Bad Boy Gohel. Unfortunately due to a prior illness he was not able to take much of an active part in the game and looked sicker as the game progressed. A bad case of the Chicken Flu for the CoC. The bouncers and security for the concert were provided by that well known firm of Middleton and Jowarsha or as they are better known as Old and even Older Spice. The concert gear of stretch white shirts spreading tantalizingly over some substantial guts were sponsored by Huggsy Hurrell of Paris and San Po Kong.

The Spice Girls opened their set with the usual strong performance by TCUKAG and taking advantage of her status, and not for the first time this season, Captain Spice. A storming range of hits and the Spice Girls well placed at
half way through at 100 for 1 with Captain Spice showing a range that we did not know she had. TCUKAG went on his way with his usual slow build up and despite a slight off key note on 65 finished with a big climax playing all his greatest hits. Loud Spice provided good back up vocals and the two vets finished it off at 245. Unfortunately the Bad  Boy skulked under the trees for most of the innings. 

Vet 1 opened up the attack for the girls from one end and Jammy Spice from the other. A tight set from both ends with Vet 1 showing hints from her days of glory. St. George's struggling to stay on the stage but then with the introduction of TCUKAG and  Lobbin Spice the St. George's broke free and brought out their own selection of hits. These included The Balls in the Tennis Courts Again, Lets Hit it into Jordan Path and Fetch it from the Park. The Rock and Rollin Whamma Lama was in particular good voice. Lobbin managed to bowl a straight one though and he went but the hits kept coming.

Then at last Wide Boy Spice was brought in to do her special medley of deliveries and was devastating. The ball kept hitting the stumps and St. George's succumbed at last. The Spice Girls partied long into the night with champagne and the popping of no end of Brufin tablets. They will next be appearing in Macau doing what they do best. Not playing cricket.

I TELL YOU WHAT! WE WON! WE REALLY REALLY WON!

At KCC: Saracens 245-4 (R Sharma 133, R Gill 44) beat St George's 223-9 (S Lama 69, P Wilson 65; M Shakil 3-22) by 22 runs. 

Saracens v. DBS at KCC 
Result: Saracens won by seven wickets 

So, it is left to the Saracens to carry the KCC flag into the final stages of this year's HKCA Cup competitions. A traditional Saracens performance saw them through to the Saturday Plate Final. Winning the toss, inserting the opposition - DBS, dropping the opening btsmen twice in the first three overs, having to replace an opening bowler after 2 overs who failed to bowl anywhere near straight, and fielding with 10 men for the first 5 overs was a normal start. 

Gradually, the team settled down and some fine spin bowling from Yarman (2-41 off 10) and Rahul (4-18 off 6) swung the game our way. Burji also bowled 5 balls and so frightened were the batsmen that two of them attempted suicidal runs to get away from his bowling and were run out. DBS were all out for 132 in 28 overs. 

In reply, Rahul and Burji quickly put together an opening partnership of 112, with Rahul scoring 74 and Burji remaining undefeated on 34. Grahame Hurrell and Paul Cresswell batting at 3 and 4 put in welcome reappearances and together scored 1 run. Clearly, they have over the years become so accustomed to seeing Saracens self-destruct that they thought it only right to try to maintain the tradition. 

The final against St George's (the COC and other club members) will be held on 18 April at KCC and it would be good to have some support from the section.  

At KCC: Saracens 136-3 (R Sharma 74, B Shroff 34*) beat DBS 132 (P Fernando 39; R Sharma 4-18) by seven wickets. 

Tartars v. St George's at Mission Road 
Result: Tartars failed to show. 

Barbarians v. 
Indian CC

Barbarians v. Indian CC at KCC 
Result: Barbarians lost by 28 runs 

Cockroaches Exterminated 

Skip received a phone call at about 10:00 that one of his players was injured with a twisted knee. Fortunately, after a lot of negotiation, Andy Atkinson was  able to play so we started with a full team. 

After losing the toss, we found ourselves in the field. Good  early bowling reduced the ICC to 164 for 8 at one stage, but unfortunately, with the lack of bowling depth, they managed to reach 235. Don and Shakil again bowled very well taking 3 wickets each. Tony and Laurie got one wicket each and Skip got 2. 

Although we batted moderately well, chasing a target of 236 proved too difficult in the end. Sammy again did well scoring 30, and Ijaz scored 21. David Arthur and Laurie Taylor also put together a useful partnership when we looked to be out of it. Laurie was eventually caught on the boundary for 19. Don and David continued the onslaught, until eventually David was bowled for a useful 28 and poor Don was stranded on 26 not out. We finished up with 203 all out. 

I'd like to congratulate the team for playing well for although we had no superstars, we had players who were committed to do their best and not to rely on anyone. Everyone somewhere put in a useful contribution. 

At KCC: Indian CC 230 (M Jhaveri 45, J Patel 41) beat KCC Barbarians 202 (S Chim-Smith 30; P Butani 3-39) by 28 runs.