Crusaders v.
Islanders

Tartars v.
Mainlanders

Saracens v.
DBS

Round 11

Tartars v Kai Tak

Saracens v
Merchants

Crusaders had a bye

Round 10

Crusaders v
Nomads

Saracens had a bye

Tartars had a bye

Round 9

Crusaders v DBS

Tartars v
Gap Ramblers

Saracens v
Kai Tak

Round 12 -28th November 1998

Crusaders v. Islanders at KCC
Result: match cancelled due to water-logged ground.

Tartars v. Mainlanders at Mission Road
Result: Tartars won by ten wickets

The Shak Attacks and Malcolm Gets His Leggies Over While Makhija Pads Up

Picture the scene. Low clouds and rain in the air. 12 points to be won. Young boys practicing with a tennis ball and a plastic cricket bat, some of whom have some idea which way to hold it. Grizzled old vets strapping on the knee guards and applying the liniment while mainlining Brufin and rubbing in the Tiger Balm and Deap Heat. Is there some rule of the HKCA that Salim Malik has to come and watch all our games? The skipper outlining his strategy and philosophy on man management. We're all here to play cricket - even Shiraz the good looking intelligent twin (yes this is a comment on the other one) turns up as twelfth man. No scorebook but fortunately scraps of paper and a pencil stub. The skipper gives an inspirational team talk all about returning his calls or he won't pick you.
The new ball is tossed to the Finesmaster who is chanting the mantra "I'm not playing DBS at DBS, I'm not playing DBS at DBS." Whingeing in the Rain. Not this year as often times past.

A steady start by Lama and the FM with spectators and fielders in danger of falling asleep. The ball hit to all parts of the square. Then a double breakthrough by the FM and both openers seen off. Enough of this rubbish thinks the skip, let's see if the Giant Shak is awake. A double change. Classic combination of speed and leg spin. Shak after a few overs gets taken to one side by the FM who tells him that he probably doesn't realize it but he is allowed to hit the three bits of wood at the other end. He then does this four times in rapid succession while Malcolm from the other end wheedles them out with flight and guile and the occasional full toss. All out 66. Four for, for both.

Garic and the Boy Cox open and Rajiv puts on his pads and waits for another week. And waits and then takes them off after the runs have been scored. Coxy getting quite used to being at the other end of classic batting. Gul last week and Garic this. Similarity striking. All over at 3:45. Garic a roustering 47* and young Cox smashes a six. There's a wait for the tea and finally hot samosas and drinks arrive but nearly everyone has left.

A good win for us but not really a contest. The lads in the Mainlanders are keen and some of them might make decent cricketers with some cohesion and leadership. Doesn't look as if they are getting it any time soon. Roll on the Witherers on the 19th.

At MR: Tartars 70-0 (G Howles 46*) beat Mainlanders 69 (M Shakil 4-18, M Leong 4-24) by ten wickets.

Saracens v. DBS at KGV
Result: Saracens won 70 runs

"SARACENS ATTACKED BY WILD BUSHMAN"

The scene was set. Mist shrouded the eerie plains of the Serengeti (DBS), as the stand in Chief of the Saracens tribe won the toss and had to ask three times to get his $5.00 coin back from the Head Masai of the DBS tribe. As only nine of his trusty tribesmen had turned up on time, he decided to defend his village (bat first) from the attacks mounted by the fearsome warriors of "shamen shoulders" the mighty hunter with the brains of a bird and wise and wily fighter Tabarak Dar.

The pre-match shots had already been fired when "I am not the Chief" (Rob Gill) reluctantly offered his prized weapons (wicket keeping gloves) to the opposing keeper, but only after a long spiel about how badly organised DBS were for failing to provide match balls and now not having their own wicket keeping gloves. The opposing keeper promptly rejected this begrudging token of peace and after mumbling something about not needing a long lecture from "a wise old man" or something to that effect, ran off to stir up a war dance among his tribesmen.
The pre-war rumblings prompted an explosive start to the campaign, when the front line infantry were soon licking their wounds after being hit by hand grenades from the brainless one, (Both Silver Arrow Sharma and Bigfoot Burji were ambushed by tricky slingshots (fulltosses) from "shoulders."

This disastrous start to the campaign was rectified by the heavy artillery when "heap big running bear" Shiroy and " Apache Indian" aka the Ravalator joined the battle. The Ravalator repelled the onslaught in typical fashion while "heap big running bear" decided he had been two matches without pulling a hamstring so now was the time, and he called for re-enforcements (a runner).

It was about this time that the heat of the battle became too much for the brainless warrior "shoulders". After being smashed straight over his head for six he decided to take a sling shot at the Ravalator for no apparent reason. Luckily for both, his shot was deflected away by Ravi's shield and no further injury was sustained. This incident was soon followed by an even more bizarre sight. "Shoulders" became extremely agitated by the sight of a "wild beast" prowling the outfield (a stray dog). Obviously frustrated by his failure to inflict further injury to the opposition, he decided to take revenge on the poor beast. He extracted the middle stump and then chased the animal around the outfield eventually attempting to spear it. Luckily for the dog, his aim with the stump was not as good as with the ball. After this interlude, the Saracens seemed to lose concentration and warriors began to fall at regular intervals, eventually going for 168 kills, with Ravi making 71 and "heap big running bear " third top scorer with 12, behind extras at 44.

Entering the second phase of the campaign, the Saracens Chief decided to fight fire with fire and opened the attack with our own wild warrior Jamshaid Khan. Unfortunately his aim with the ball was similar to his namesake's efforts with the spear. This left the Chief with no alternative but to bring back the wise old campaigners who have served the tribe so well in the past. Silver arrow Sharma and white feather Cresswell destroyed the remnants of the DBS cavalry with a devastating display of accuracy and power. Backed up by some good catching and grazing, Saracens eventually killed off the onslaught for 98 and went off to regroup for other battles to come.

At DBS: Saracens 168-9 (R Sujanani 71; N Launghani 4-45) beat DBS 98 (P Cresswell 5-24, R Sharma 4-35) by 70 runs.

Round 11 -21st November 1998

Tartars v. Kai Tak at Mission Road
Result: Tartars won by nine wickets

HURRICANE ãGULä LASHES KAI TAK·
And Rajiv Makhija makes a comeback·

In a game where the COC screwed up and thought it was Kai Takâs home game - the Tartars played magnificently to win comprehensively against previously unbeaten Kai Tak. Thanks to Ah Kong and KCC support staff disaster, was averted with a quick phone call and tea was arranged to arrive at 4 oâclock and only then did the players agree to take the field.

Losing the toss and being put to field was something we were unaccustomed to, having batted first irrespective of the toss so far this season. Lama and Shakil started off steadily and at the end of the second over Kai Tak had scored one run. A good sign indeed· or not. In the third over, Lama removed the dangerous Patidar but then our opening attack went to pieces. The next 5 overs conceded 53 runs and at the end of 8 overs it was 61/1.

Don "the Magician", from the COCâs "Bowl Shit Get Wickets" school, was bought on and the first ball looked as if it bounced 3 times before it reached Richard Nuttall who in trying to send it to the other end of the runway only succeeded in top edging it for COC to take the catch.Spacestation Mir was bought on to hold up one end (i.e. to bowl straight) but he thought he was Waquar and started to bowl short. He was promptly relieved after 2 overs at a cost of 18 runs. Don proceeded to bowl a magnificent spell and took 4-29 in his 10 overs, including the wickets of Barrington, Hodgson and Norris - all prolific scorers for Kai Tak. COC kept it tight on the other end scalping 2-37 in his 10 over spell. New comer Malcolm Leong bowled 3 and a bit overs of tidy legspin, to get 2-17 - an impressive debut and even the other new comer Kamran bowled the last over well.

The Tartars fielding was superb to a point that no one could be faulted with Lama taking two brilliant catches in the outfield, Simon Cox running the last man out with some attacking fielding. The ground fielding was fantastic and even Spacestation tried to look as if he was somehow involved·. somewhere!! Kai Tak all out for 161 in 35.1 overs.

As per the team policy of keeping everyone involved Simon Cox was promoted to open with Gul Khan· and the pair put on 127 for first wicket. Simon after early jitters proceeded to hit the ball quite cleanly and showed glimpses of hope as a top order bat. Meanwhile at the other end Hurricane was winding up to full steam and was severe on anything short or full and some enormous 6âs were hit. One extra cover drive prompted Rajiv to say "My God·that's Class".

Once Simon got out at 127 and Spacestation went in, Gul decided that it was best to finish the game off in order to keep Ijazâs confidence high. Alan Burge's second over resulted in 28 runs scored with 4 consecutive 6âs to finish off the game in just under 20 overs.

Hurricane scored his maiden 100 for KCC· for Tartars, and in the words of Rajiv·a century of Sheer Class. Keep up the good work Tartars.

At MR: Tartars 165-1 (G Khan 132*) beat Kai Tak 161 (D Mohammed 4-29) by nine wickets.

Saracens v. Merchants at KCC
Result: Saracens lost by 9 runs

When Yarman e-mailed Ed. his match report, it came out like this (66 pages of it!):

Éâ°–?ä§ÂêÔâ§ãâÅ–?ä«ÂãÉàæàê?ä«ÂãÉãæàáÔ䧖?ä«ÂãÉêÉçæ (I needn't go on!).

That was probably what he felt like saying, but after a bit of fiddling, I finally managed to make some sense out of it (I hope!):

"So close but yet so far as the saying goes... We really needed a victory to keep our hopes of winning the league alive but fell short by only 9 runs in the end.

With PCâs knees in for an oil change this week, the opening attack consisted of Ravi (bowling fast off breaks - about as quick as my loopy s..t!!) and vicious out swing of the captain of vice - Ben. With an attacking field of deep mid-wicket and long on and long off, the MCC didnât know what had hit them. Sada tried to slog Ravi into Coxâs Road from the third ball of the first over but was beaten by (the lack of) pace, edging it on to his sticks. A couple of overs later Rav's struck again by getting Jawad Iqbal to nick one which went about 300 feet up in the air and Gillie took a sharp catch at extra cover. It was a truly amazing opening burst that surely must have put the wind up Zubair watching from the sidelines as his Colony (sorry SAR) place must be in jeopardy. The spinners came on and did their bit and Jammy got smashed as usual but some fine fielding particularly from the old vet Atko contained them to 159 all out in the last over.

So now for the second team talk of the game. After the inept batting against Kai Tak, the skipper gathered his men and tried to fire the batsmen up but alas it was not to be, as the three stars failed. Atko was first to go, smashing a long hop to cover, Grumpy batted cautiously for 12 off 45 balls but then was caught on the deep square leg boundary by a man who had not caught anything all season (not even a cold) and Ravi fell to an outstanding diving catch at point. Enter the Limboo Pereira and the Skip, who so often have saved the team this year with the bat. The Skip used his pads more than his bat and was out eventually out to a fluke catch at short mid-wicket. Shiroy came and went, bowled by a half-volley as usual. Score: 65 for 5.

We desperately needed a partnership and we at last got one. Limboo (40) and Gillie (33) batted well together and the running and calling was amazing! We later discovered that Gillie had told Limboo that he was the senior pro (not the captain) and would do all the calling. Thank God!! Their partnership of 60 odd gave us an outside chance of victory but it was not to be and we ended at 150 for 9. Nine runs short!

A good fight back but unfortunately a little too late. Ah well the pressure is now off. Maybe Ravi will get more than 30 and Burji and Shiroy will get a bowl. The skip may get a spell of more than 4 overs. No, Gillie. For the last time, you cannot bowl leg spin - just keep the pads on."

At KCC: Merchants 159 (R Sharma 4-26) beat Saracens 150-9 (E Pereira 40, R Gill 33; J Iqbal 3-17) by 9 runs.

Round 10 -14th November 1998

Crusaders v. Nomads at KCC
Result: Crusaders won by 91 runs

Richie is prevented from returning to Oz to cover the forthcoming Ashes series after running into Geoffrey Boycott in Wan Chai. Instead, he reports on Crusaders' game against Nomads.

Tasmanian Runs Riot

One day I'll be able to turn to my grandchildren and tell them that I was there. That I was there on the day that Crusaders won two consecutive cricket matches. Having overturned the Diosheshan schoolboys last week, Middleton's men took on the thinly disguised Antipodean Eleven from the Gap, Nomads. And far too strong indeed did they prove for the fellows with the poncy striped hats.

Crusaders took first use of an easy paced pitch that had been beautifully prepared by Asia's first female curator, Law Ng Mo Er, even if she had rather overdone it with the rye seed on the bare patches on the outfield. As a result fielders were obliged to spend the whole day attempting to dodge South China's entire population of sparrows on the swimming pool side of the ground and migrating flocks of pigeons on the Cox's Road side. One dove that won't be feasting at KCC again is the mottled brown and off-white fellow who disappeared in a cloud of feathers after getting in the way of a spanking sweep shot from Damian (The Omen) Green. Pretty ominous indeed for the pigeon, although every cloud has a silver lining, as the scoreboard attendant's wife will testify, Glazed Pigeon in Szechuan Sauce providing the centrepiece of husband Cho Kem Up's birthday banquet.

After veteran opener Brian Catatonic had been put out of his agony by the slow left-armer after being hypnotised by schoolboy Winkles' out-swingers, the afore-mentioned Green joined Mark Eames in what proved to be a match winning partnership. Green flayed the bowling to all parts in a display reminiscent in no way whatsoever of his hapless effort the previous week. At the start of the Nomads' reply Green's catch to dismiss the visitors' skipper had some members of his team comparing Green to a leaping salmon. Not quite true, as any Tasmanian will tell you. Although these strange islanders frequently crossbreed, it is generally with marsupials, and so it was the wallaby in Green that enabled him to leap eight feet in the air from a standing start. Unfortunately, old habits die hard, and the game had to be held up for five minutes while a replacement ball of similar wear (just four deliveries) was found, after Green had safely pouched the ball and refused to give it back.

After Green's dismissal for 66, Eames picked up the pace with some mighty blows onto Cox's Path, finishing with 98* out of a total of 229-5. Nomads, looking a pale shadow of the all-conquering side of the late 80s, were never in the hunt after fine opening spells from Steward and Middleton, managing just three runs per over off the first twenty. Middleton, with unwonted generosity, then tossed the ball to Hyphen to give him the chance to bring his average down into double figures, which he duly managed with 4-34 from his eight overs, his simple strategy, one straight ball per over, proving too much for the middle and lower order. He had the perfect foil at the other end in the Rabbi, who, racing in like a latter-day Judas Maccabeus in a whirl of headband, industrial goggles and eyebrows, finished with an analysis that all Benauds dream about: seven overs tuuuuuu for twenty tuuuuu.

(You could say Nomads were 'Hyphen-ated' - Ed.)

At KCC: Crusaders 229-5 (M Eames 98*, D Green 66) beat Nomads 138-9 (H Tyrwhitt-Drake 4-34) by 91 runs.

Round 9 - 7th November 1998

Crusaders v. DBS at Mission Road
Result: Crusaders won by 12 runs

A very warm welcome this week to old friend Richie Benaud ...

Nice Day - Shame about the Tea

On the day when Shane Warne made his return to competitive cricket, there was only one place to be for the man known to millions as the voice of cricket with the permanently half-closed left eye. The MCeeGee. So I was pretty disgruntled indeed to discover that my first assignment for my new employers was to check out the progress of my adopted Hong Kong side, the Crusaders from KCCeee.

If this was Channel 4's idea of a joke, then it was in pretty poor taste. Almost as poor as those pastry things filled with shome short of gelatinous substance that were served up as tea together with three packets of Calbee's crisps (BBQ flavour), two swiss rolls and half a dozen egg tarts. Forget two consecutive quarters of negative growth and your other official measurements of recession, you know times are bad in these regions when the alumni of Hong Kong's top boys' school are reduced to cashing in their Maxim cake coupons to make ends meet.

Crusaders took first use of a perfect batting track and struggled a little early on with Waters falling cheaply and Green struggling to find his timing. However, the stage was set for a marvellous little cameo from the man who has single-handedly kept the Australian sunblock industry afloat for the past three decades, Raymond Brewster. His 44 from just 34 balls included my shot of the day, a sweetly timed hook from middle stump that went sailing over long leg. Unfortunately, though, no one had told new Crusader Graham Jardine that Ray's idea of a short single is an early Beatles number, which made Ray's run out as predictable as one of Nury Vittachi's "Only in Hong Kong" columns.

No match in which the doughty Aussie keeper is playing is complete without an injury, and this duly came as Brewster loped towards the danger end with about as much urgency as a Hong Kong footballer attempting to win an international match. Ray spent the rest of the day horizontal on a table, although someone looking very much like him took a brilliant catch off his boot laces at mid wicket to dismiss danger man Butt in the DBS reply.

One curiosity about Crusaders' innings is that out of a total of 224 for 5, no player managed to score fifty, Green, Jardine and an unbeaten Trayford all coming close after Brewster departed. "Tricky" batted particularly well at the end, ably supported by Rabbi Nissim, who is nonetheless facing disciplinary proceedings on two fronts after this game. First, he is in trouble with his synagogue for labouring on the sabbath. And if anyone cares to dispute the charge, then they should take a look at the video of his bowling: two overs for 33 runs is about as laboured as it gets.

The Rabbi is also in trouble with skipper Middleton for insubordination. Ignoring instructions to hoik every ball to cow corner, Nissim played a delicate late cut to his very first delivery. Video evidence here, though, may get him off the hook, as every other delivery did indeed find its way to mid wicket. And late news is just in that Nissim has also been charged with corruption and sodomy by Dr Madasahatta. When asked whether he had evidence of the alleged offences, His Excellency the Tonka Trucka replied: "We have never relied on evidence in the past and we see no reason to set a legal precedent in this case."

After the brutal assault on Nissim with Adnan Butt's long handle, DBS's run chase was stymied by some decent bowling from Crusaders, despite the best efforts of their fielders who managed half a dozen dropped catches. The pick of the bunch was Tyrwhitt-Drake's effort at extra cover. A disciplinary committee has already fined him half his match fee (a packet of Hamlets) and is poised to take further action for impersonating his captain. "If Hyphen can't do better than rehash tired old routines like my moth round a light bulb, then I can see no future for him in this team," an angry Middleton warned. "I bet he wouldn't take the piss if he knew how much I had personally invested in this team - twenty thousand dollars ... U.S.!"

Still, Middleton had the last laugh, bringing himself back on to bowl twenty minutes after sunset in place of the spinners, Green and the admirable Waters, to finish with another three wicket haul and improve his average after his annual mauling at the hands of Merchants. Meanwhile, Tyrwhitt-Drake went wicketless again to send his average soaring towards the 150 mark. Still, as they would say in the public enclosure at the MCG: "Tough titties!"

At MR: Crusaders 224-5 (D Green 41, M Trayford 38*, G Jardine 35) beat DBS 212-7 (A Butt 64, K Raza 43; J Middleton 3-43) by 12 runs.

Tartars v. Gap Ramblers at HKCC
Result: Tartars won by 30 runs

Hurricane Gul Lays Waste up the Gap

The poor unsuspecting cricketers of the Hong Kong Cricket Club were going about their business in their usual fashion. Members from the exotic locales of the Peak and Mid Levels were having their afternoon luncheon expecting to see their boys give Johnny Foreigner from over the water a damn good thrashing. Little did they expect that this rag bag collection of cricketers, speaking four or five different languages were about to ravage their bowlers. Unknown to them their leader, the only one who could speak in many tongues, the legendary King Cock, had a cunning strategy up his sleeve. This was to make sure that all his players turned up, took part and won. A plan devastating in its simplicity but not so easy to execute. Particularly the first part.

The nervousness of the opposition was apparent when their opening bowler started with five wides. In the second Gul began his savage attack on the poor Ramblers. From then on ball after ball was dispatched to and over the boundary ropes. Seldom had such a savage display of hitting been seen at the HKCC. Poor Keith got the one almost straight one in the over and departed. This brought in the statuesque figure of the giant Malhotra wearing the scars of battle proudly on his ravaged face. He too tore into the bowlers and after 13 overs Tartars were 130 for 1. Then Gul perished to a rank long hop and the rest of the Tarts chipped in but with 7 overs still remaining they were 210 for 9.

It was up to the Finesmaster and the Don to put things right. In a thrilling last wicket stand at better than a run a ball they carved an additional 26 runs. So terrified were the opposition that Smith bowled overs 32, 33, 34 and 35 all at once with the Finesmaster looking serenely on while the ball kept going over his head and off the carpet. Unfortunately Don was out on the last ball and though officially 32 overs had been bowled the Tarts would have to bowl 35.

The Tarts attack was managed with the usual degree of nonchalance from the skip given that he has so many options. As the equation got tougher wave upon wave of Tartars assaulted the Ramblers. Don with an excellent Four for and even the space cadet Mir chipped in with a couple. Some super catching in the deep from Don and Garic and young Simon rounded off proceedings with a couple of overs and wickets at the end. The Skipper held himself back this week. So in truth an easy win even though the margin makes this looks like a close game it wasn't. We just wanted to raise the hopes of the opposition and provide a good finish for the spectators. All set up by that battering from Gul at the start.

At HKCC: Tartars 236 (G Khan 81) beat Gap Ramblers 206 (J Foster 56) by 30 runs.

Saracens v. Kai Tak at KCC
Result: Saracens lost by 93 runs

At KCC: Kai Tak 212-5 (M Brown 49, J Doubleday 41) beat Saracens 119 (K Reynolds 5-21) by 93 runs.

Infidels v.
Dragons

Templars had a bye

Round 11

Infidels v Pakistan
Association

Templars had a bye

Dragons had a bye

Round 10

Templars v
Scorpions

Infidels v
Indian CC

Dragons v
Vagabonds
(Rescheduled)

Round 9

Infidels v
Optimists

Dragons v
LSW

Templars v
Indian CC

Sunday League - 29th November 1998

Infidels v. Dragons at KCC
Result: Infidels won by 66 runs

Dragons' gets first use of the page·

Having won the toss (first time this season), the Infidels were asked to take first hit on an overcast day. It seemed to be the right decision as the infidels were 30 odd for two. This brought Mark to the crease at four and with Damian they set about putting the innings together with a solid partnership. Damian finally out for 57 trying to push the score along, giving leg spinner Malcom Leong his first wicket of the Sunday League. As usual the Dragons let it slip in the last 10 overs. Infidels got too many with Ijaz "Spacestation" Mir clubbing a quickfire 64 and with Mark getting out on 93 trying to force the pace, Infidels ended on 263 runs for 8. The pick of the bowlers being Steve Speak, guest player on his way through the Territory, getting 5-76 off 14 overs.

Quite a big total for the limited batting of the Dragons but having chased almost 276 runs against Sai Wan there was some hope that we could get the runs. Making his first appearance on Sunday, "Super cut" Sammy got us off to a good start with Louis Chan who was looking very good in his new role as opener. Only Ravi stayed to play an innings as the others came and went too frequently. Lama with 27 was the only other player to make over 20 runs. Once Ravi got out with the score at 160 off 27 overs, the game was all but over as we did not have many wickets to see us to the end. The innings finished on 197 all out in 39 overs.

One day we will get it all right and probably cause an upset in the league. There is no game next week due to Tuanku Jaffar, so the next game is against Vagabonds at DBS.

Infidels' reply·

Is it a coincidence that since Lethbridge has been in the team the alcohol intake has gone considerably upwards? Each of his 3 appearances has resulted in huge Monday morning problems for most of the team. This may explain why Ijaz doesn't receive much coverage for his efforts.

But it was Ijaz's efforts that took an average team innings and a tight Dragons bowling display and re-wrote the script for the match. During the Dragons Innings Ijaz was even seen to run in, pick up the ball and throw it directly over the stumps! This continued through the innings leading to the Spaceman getting his first bowl of the season. More of Ijaz's efforts coming up.

Dragons captain won the toss and sent Infidels into bat on what on the face of it looked to be a quick artificial wicket, but did not seem to come onto the bat as it used to. The first wicket to fall was that of Catton, caught behind down the leg side from the bowling of Steve Speak, a visiting pom now living in LA and selling a machine that puts on condoms and bat rubbers in quick time. Chicken Tiku followed first ball, playing on to his stumps before Eames joined Green for a profitable stand. Green returned to form with a well worked 57 and Eames chugged along comfortably and was eventually joined by Ijaz after a brief inspection of the wicket by Steward.

Ijaz was in for 40 minutes, faced 36 balls, hit 3 6's and 6 4's in his innings of 64. And to Dragons' Captain's dismay was dropped a least 3 times. A case of having the wrong men in the right places as far as Ijaz was concerned! At the same time the Infidels bowlers sat in the pavilion assuring themselves that they could each dispatch Ijaz with a well placed Yorker first ball! Mir eventually fell to a sharp catch c&b by the visiting Speak. Eames continued the chugging and eventually fell 7 short of what would have been a well-deserved century.

A final cameo by Flyboy Williams that included a memorable straight six, concluded the innings at 263 for 6. Speak ended his debut in Asia with 5-76, with the leg spinner Malcolm Leong the only other wicket taker. Meanwhile, Optimists were being reduced to 36 all out by Scorpions at the gap. Even Infidels would find that hard to beat with a full batting line-up!

Encouraged to be mean for the rest of the season, Shaq loosened up with a bouncer that only bounced once between the keeper and the boundary. He then took two good early wickets, bowling Chim-Smith and having Chan caught behind for the first of six catches by Eames behind the sticks. Speak fell for 0 driving at a Steward out-swinger, leaving Ravi as the main hope for the Dragons run chase. Ravi's innings almost came to an abrupt end when he too nicked an out-swinger from his opposing skipper only for the umpire to call "no ball!" From there on Ravi played a brilliant innings, almost smashing Williams from the attack in his first two overs. But Williams was rescued by a drinks break and came back out to find his line and length and start to bowl the kind of mid-innings spells that Infidels will need for the rest of the season. COC disappeared caught behind slashing at a wide one from Steward and Williams picked up the wicket of Lowcock for 12. Lama then gave Ravi some much needed support until Green had him LBW for 27. Green's loopy stuff then accounted for Cox while Ravi was tempted once too often by Williams, who bowled him for a well batted 60. Williams had Malik caught behind and Steward took the last wicket of Leong LBW to wrap up the innings for 197.

If some of the boys could learn some patience the run chases would get easier for the Dragons. With some better catching and resistant batting Dragons could well have been closer to the Infidels as they have been in the past.

Infidels move on to DBS next week as none or us expect a Colony call-up! It is rumored Scanners is returning to face the mighty ICC. Watch this space.

At KCC: Infidels 263-8 (M Eames 93, I Mir 64, D Green 57; S Speak 5-76) beat Dragons 197 (A Steward 3-25, C Williams 3-58) by 66 runs.

Round 11 - 22nd November 1998

Infidels v. Pakistan Association at Mission Road
Result: Infidels lost by 105 runs

In a devastating loss of form costing 20 off 3 shots, Infidels' captain Andy Steward threw away certain victory as the Infidels Batsmen crushed the Infidels Bowlers in the KCC Snooker room late on Sunday light. The team of Steward, Baker and Lethbridge looked to be well in control thanks to some good early strikes from Baker. But then as the Mexican larger started to take its toll, Steward decided it was time to show his full range of shots. Unfortunately this did not involve the white ball connecting with any ball of any colour, and three times in a row Pittman and Green were let in to convert easy pots and finally won the frame on the pink scoring a 9 shot victory. Eames earlier retreated to the bar after failing to get off the mark in his dozen or so turns at the table!

Previously in the day the Infidels had played the mighty Pakistan Association at Mission Road. Still struggling with availability and injury, matters were made worse at 9.45am with the discovery that new boy Zammen had gone camping on Lantau without telling the skip. Adding this to Scanlon in Brisbane, Waters at the Macau Grand-prix and Brewster still recovering from a bad back Infidels were 4 vital players missing for their hardest game of the year to date. Luckily, there is always one man who can be called upon at such late notice, but when he could not be tracked down the skipper turned to Tony Lethbridge. The hero of the victory against Vagabonds (7-61) has been know to sleep in his whites on Saturday nights waiting for just a call as he received from Andy Steward at 10.15am on Sunday. Valiantly he raced across town to rescue the Infidels from their plight which was so bad at one point they only had 8 men on the field due to over zealous parking attendants and Space Station Mir having to do one more orbit!

Once the game was under way the new new ball pair of Williams & Steward immediately took a wicket each and Infidels looked to be on top. This continued to be the case with some good tight bowling from both of the seamers, and Williams could have had Malik caught by "Chicken" Tiku for 30 b what would have been the catch of the year but wasn't! Things were going well until Don Mohammed challenged Malik that he could not hit him out of the game. This was all done in Urdu and before the rest of the team realised what had happened, Dons figures were made to look like a Sumo's birthday party - large and unhealthy. And with the Fab Boy being loose at the other end things were starting to slip away from the Infs. Tiku and "Monica" Green brought the run-rate down again until Patidar had Malik caught at point. Unfortunately Malik had already reached his ton with one of the best innings the Infidels have witnessed in recent years. Luckily from then on wickets started to fall with great regularity. After a long talk with his senior batsmen, the skip decided to wait for the fall of Malik before letting Lethbridge at the Pakistan batsmen. Bowling in tandem with Steward, the last 6 wickets fell for 24 runs thanks to some good catches from Williams (x2), Baker and Mohammed. Later, a number of the team admitted to having not watched the last catch of the innings by Don at deep mid-wicket!

Tony ending with 3 for 11 to add to his 7 for 61 will now surely be an automatic choice and can go back to sleeping in his usual Pajamas! Steward finished with 4 for 53, Williams 1 for 39 and Tiku 2 for 45.

The batting started and ended as a parade. With only Eames (45) and Steward (41) offering any resistance to the Pakistan attack. The only other batsmen in double figures were Williams (11) and Tiku 13. With 19 overs remaining and 105 runs remaing, Zubair had cleaned up the last 5 wickets in quick time, taking 7 for 37. Threatening Lethbridge's lead at the top of the averages table!

A couple of Infidel disciplinary hearings are scheduled for this coming week before the Dragons come face to face with the mighty Lethers at the KCC next week.

At MR: Pakistan Association 252 (S Malik 109, N Hameed 40, H Ali 37; A Steward 4-53, A Lethbridge 3-11) beat Infidels 147 (M Eames 44, A Steward 41; M Zubair 7-37) by 105 runs.

Round 10 - 15th November 1998

Templars v. Scorpions at HKCC
Result: Templars lost by nine wickets

A day which brought the very strong Templars batting line-up tumbling to the ground.

The wicket looked tailor made for batting, and in the skip's opinion was not going to change its character throughout the game. This prompted the skipper telling his side that they were going to bat if he won the toss. And bat he did in spite of losing the toss. The plan was the same, get a score in the region of 300 and put the pressure on. How very wrong it proved to be.

Old firm of Trupti Nimkar and the skip opened the batting. In light of some accurate seam bowling by the young Watermeyer, who has donned national colours while representing the Under 19 team, the Templars got off to a cautious start. 42 runs came off 11 overs, before "Desperate" Nimkar got a shooter from Gaza and was trapped plumb in front. This saw the much-talked about Mr. Gul Khan come to the crease. Gul's stay was rather short lived as young Watermeyer accounted for him, getting one to squeeze through his defences. Graeme Jardine walked out looking confident, and walked backed looking dejected, having been bowled by Gaza not having troubled the scorers, despite spending some 7 overs with the skip. At 60 for 3 it did not look too bad with "Scarface" Malhotra who was very determined to prove his capability with the bat, Rob "I am the captain" Gill, Jamshaid "Jr." Khan, Erle Pereira etc. etc. etc. still to come in. The opposing captain took an educated gamble and brought on his gentle off spinner Ganesh from the hillside end. Mouth watering and adrenaline pumping, the skip decided to go after the offy, only to be stumped some 15 runs later with his personal score at 46. The gamble had paid off. Despite a neat 31 by "Scarface" and a dogged 30 by "I am the captain" Gill the remaining 5 batsmen could not muster 20 runs between them.

Defending 154 on a batting wicket was always going to be a very tall order. And Tim Smart and David Mallinson saw to it that the Templars bowlers were made to toll hard. Toll hard they did, but without any luck. While the bowlers stuck to their individual tasks very well, the ground fielding left a lot to be desired. Smart finished unbeaten on a well-made 96 while Mallinson remained not out on 39. The Scorpions got their well-deserved revenge and won the game with 9 wickets to spare. It was a rather one-sided result in the end.

Come on fellas, we are capable of a better showing than this.

At HKCC: Scorpions 155-1 (T Smart 96*, D Mallinson 39*) beat Templars 154 (R Sharma 46, J Malhotra 36; A Watermeyer 3-38, G Erasmus 3-21, G Lanchandani 3-16) by nine wickets.

Infidels v Indian CC
Result: Match was postponed due to unavailability of DBS ground.

Dragons v Vagabonds at KCC (Rescheduled)
Result: Dragons lost by 124 runs

Vags, having won the toss, decided to bat first on what seemed to be a good wicket which would offer some assistance to the bowlers early. Having taken the field with 9 players, Vagabonds got off to a somewhat shaky start, being 19 for 2. But then some good partnerships developed between the Vagabonds batsmen and a composed knock of 90 from Helsby allowed them to reach 241 for 7 off their 50 overs. Useful contributions also came from Glenwright and Whitcombe of 35* and 33 respectively. The wickets were shared by all but Bharat again was the leading bowler with 3 wickets for 45 runs.

Glynn Davis, playing with one leg after suffering an injury playing hockey for the 'Old and Bold', was asked to open the batting and he quickly raced to 29 runs to give the Dragons a good start. But the wheels fell off once he got out and no other player except for Bharat (26) and Ravi (16) reached double figures. Ex County Pro Lindsay Wood bowled his left arm leg spin well to capture 5-23 as Dragons was dismissed for 117 runs.

At KCC: Vagabonds 241-7 (T Helsby 90, R Whitcombe 33, P Glenwright 35*; B Gohel 3-45) beat Dragons 117 (L Wood 5-23) by 124 runs.

Round 9 - 8th November 1998

Infidels v. Optimists at HKCC
Result: Infidels lost by eight wickets

INFIDELS will never be accused of being bad losers, especially when it's on the HKCC chit! Starting with a good Louis Latour Chardonnay Messrs. Steward, Baker, Williams, Patidar, Green, Waters, Catton and the First Lady relished the early finish on Sunday at the Gap. Quite an okay pallet with light strawberry aromours, it went down well with the delicate strawberry and avocado sandwiches. The complimentary HKCC San Miguel went well with the spicy chicken satay.

As the evening wore on and the temperature dropped the lads had overcome their disappointment and integrated with the Optimists out on the bowling lawn. After trying to diagnose the injury that kept Ashman off the field for most of the game the conversation soon turned to the Ashes and Pommie bashing. Too many $100 bets were made under the influence of Mr. San Miguel, that the KCC Pommies only course of action was to get the Optimists hammered in the vague hope that alcohol would cloud their memories!

Singing was always inevitable once we had sought the warmer climate of the bar and the Scorpions returned from their victory over Vags. Not to be outdone in this department Steward and Green carried out an almost word-perfect rendition of Khe San by Cold Chisel (Aussie Rock from when they really knew how to write songs). Greens rendition of Working Class Man will stick in the mind. We also learned what uses Handcuffs and standard issue police pistol can be put too.

Having batted through the innings and spent every ball of the game on the park, Green continued his good form into the bar representing the Infidels against Ashman and Winstanley well into the early hour of the morning. With his first lesson of the week only 8 hours away, Green sung us all the wrong versions of Tie Me Kangaroo Down that he intended to teach form 4d later in the morning. (Sorry Mrs. Cheng).

The score at 10pm when skip had to carry the first lady home was Infidels 4 Optimists 3 (Steward, Williams, Green and Waters v Ashman, Winstanley and Brew). Well done boys.

The boys will now spend the next week rehearsing their best curry songs in readiness for Indian CC at DBS. A fixture guaranteed to induce more midweek injuries than any other.

As for the cricket, Infidels were well beaten, as the batsmen were all incapable of staying with Damian for any length of time. Waters was beaten an Ashman half volley early on. Mir was the victim of a wonder catch by Stewart Brew. Zamman mistook the 11th over for the last and was out slogging. Patidar likewise to an ill chosen shot. Catton showed some of his skill & patience for a while but then succumbed to the same bad shot syndrome. Andy Steward did a very good Torvil & Dean impersonation half way down the wicket once sent back by Green. Baker missed another straight one, Williams showed much promise with the shot of the day off Brew but fell trying to hit one 4 too many and Don and Shaq were just Don & Shaq! Infidels 158 all out, with Green scoring 73. With the batting capable of 300+ on a placid wicket it was very disappointing.

The bowling was not much to right home about except to point out Waters good line & length that was rewarded with 2 wickets, the arrival of Umar Zammanâs off-spin and the captains recovery from his back problems. Other than that Infidels bowling suited Optimists batting and they raced to victory in 26 overs.

At HKCC: Optimists 159-2 (S Brew 76, J Collard 51) beat Infidels 158 (D Green 73; S Brew 4-51) by eight wickets.

Dragons v. LSW at KCC
Result: Dragons lost by 3 runs

For this match report I'll give the readers a choice of headlines they can apply to the report after they read it. They are:

1. First match under lights in Hong Kong recorded at Kowloon Cricket Club
2. Dragons "Mankaded" in last over to deny them first victory of Season.
3. Umpire records one ball less in last over to deny victory to Dragons
4. LSW use delay tactics to win
5. Superb century by Ravi Sujanani fails to grab victory for Dragons....

and on and on I could go.

On a track purely made for batting Dragons lost the toss and LSW took first strike of the wicket. The bowling opened by Lama and Neeraj was of little consequence although Neeraj did bowl some good balls that deviated a lot off the seam. The early introduction of spin through Bharat did little good and saw his first three overs despatched for 30, although both openers were dropped on two consecutive balls. Relatively easy chances but not taken. Meanwhile at the other end Ali too was unlucky having a dolly catch dropped at mid wicket.

Ravi then came on and bowled off a short run-up of some dibbly dobbly stuff. Bharat switched ends after the drinks break and the second session began to make a difference. First Ali took a brilliant running catch off Tommy Yau's bowling to dismiss Adnan Butt and thereafter Priyantha Fernando, who refused to walk after knicking one to the keeper, was caught brilliantly by Tommy at point. Fernando had the audacity to admit to the umpire that he was there to do his job. More about him later.

Thereafter a slash by Mohanna again off Bharat was brilliantly taken by Tommy again at point and at this stage the game started to come back our way. A couple of wickets more and the run rate had slipped to under 5 an over after being over 9 at one stage. The fielding too in the second and third stages of the game began to pick up and even debutant Simon Cox was making brilliant stops inside the circle.

The completion of Bharat's 15 overs at the 43 over mark with 4/60 bought Lama on with the total just over 210 and in the last 8 overs LSW managed to get the total to 276 all out in the 49th over just at 1.40pm. Tommy capped off a brilliant fielding performance with another catch at long off, sprinting 15 yards to take his third catch of the match. It should be added here that despite some enormous time wasting by LSW batsmen, the Dragons managed to almost complete their overs.

Being all out gave Dragons 50 overs in order to chase the total of 276 which on a batting track would give them some chance, but the opening pair of Lowcock and To were back in the pavilion with only 7 on the board. Neeraj Savlani and Ravi then had a partnership of 59 before Neeraj departed for a well compile 27 and that bought in Bharat.

Ravi and Bharat started rebuilding the damage with a 98 run partnership with Ravi instructed to anchor right till the end. When Bharat was dismissed for 48 after the 35th over, Dragons needed 110 of the last 15 overs to win the game. Lama did not last long but when Vijay Nainani joined Ravi, the two batsmen did some brilliant running between the wickets, which brought us ever closer to the total.

As Ravi got his century he had a twinge in his hamstring and Neeraj was sent out as runner. Again Vijay and Neeraj ran some brilliant singles, turning one's into two's, until one chance too many saw Ravi/Neeraj run out. By this time Ravi had compiled a magnificent 141, mostly run with hardly a big hit - and no 6's- which shows how many singles were taken.

At this stage the Templars and Infidels had returned to the club, the bar which was full at about 5.15pm suddenly emptied into the balcony for what was becoming a very exciting game. The spectators were not denied the drama that unfolded thereafter for the next half-hour.

As the last over was about to be bowled - Dragons needed 12 to win in the dark at 6.07pm. The lights above the practise nets were already turned on and our friend Priyantha Fernando was bowling. A couple of singles were taken from the first two balls and then a boundary from the third. Then on the fourth ball, without any warning, the bails were removed at the bowling end to run out Vijay, who had done so well for his team. In the dark for Ali who had just gone in it was difficult and the umpire ruled over one ball short thinking the "Mankaded" ball was counted as a delivery. We ended at 273 for 8, a boundary short of victory, thanks to a brilliant effort from all the middle order batsmen.

For LSW - their time delaying tactics and their poor attitude gave them a victory that in all case should have been Dragons. But Dragons can take heart that for the first time they chased a huge total and almost got there. Ravi's innings - and enough praise can't be given - was a brilliant one and it only shows what application can do for a player. The Dragons will overcome this loss and sooner or later victory will come our way, especially if we continue to play this way.

The umpire's decision in no way reflected any incompetence on his part but the pressure of standing 100 overs at both ends, together with the antics of LSW, probably resulted in this one slight misjudgement. But LSW have to be blamed for going almost one hour over the scheduled time of finish. Unfortunately the rules of the HKCA do not advise what can be done in this case although an official complaint about the game has been made.

At the end of the day a magnificent performance and as for the headlines... I'll leave you to give one.

At KCC: LSW 276 (A Butt 63, P Fernando 55, K Raza 44, M Jamshaid 34; B Gohel 4-60, S Lama 3-73) beat Dragons 273 (R Sujanani 141, B Gohel 48) by 3 runs.

Templars v. Indian CC at Mission Road
Result: Templars won by 73 runs

Templars were up against Indian Cricket Club at Mission Road. The skip was again up at 7:00 am (along with the Chief Whip) trying hard to ensure there were 11 on the ground at 10:30. Come 10:30 there were 10. The 11th man turned up at 11:00 am.

The toss was won and the skip elected to bat first. "Desperate" Nimkar and the skip opened as usual. Some wayward bowling and some enterprising batting by "Desperate" saw the total advance rapidly to 100 for no loss. "Desperate" then let loose a barrage of fours and sixes and the total was reached 180 for no loss after 29 overs. He got out trying once too often to put little Jaiwad Iqbal out of the park. At the other end the skip was accumulating runs in his usual "quiet" fashion. Dismissal of "Desperate" saw the arrival of Gul Khan, who went about thrashing the bowling to all corners of the ground. The skip got out after scoring his second consecutive Sunday League century (reportedly his 46th in Hong Kong cricket). Graeme Jardine kept Gul company till the end, which saw Templars score 290 for 2 in 45 overs. Gul ended with 68 n.o. from only 40 balls.

After an excellent curry lunch and the asking rate of over 6 an over, the Templars walked out rather confident of making short work of the opposition..... short work it was.... but of the Templars new ball pair.... Gohar Ali made Jamshaid Khan and Tony Correa look like spinners,despatching them to all parts of the ground. 70 came of 8 overs. The skip brought himself on with the hope of stemming the flow.... he went for 28 off his first three overs. Once Gohar Ali left the crease... out to the skip caught by "Scarface" Malhotra, in came Aftab Ahmed who too went about destroying the bowling. The skipper brought back Jamshaid Khan who struck two vital blows almost immediately and put the remaining Indian Club batsmen on their back foot. The skipper again bowled his usual quota of overs, again took his usual quota of wickets, and went for his usual quota of runs... final analysis 4 for 64 of 15 overs. Jamshaid picked up three wickets, "Chief Whip" Pereira two (who got Jaiwad Iqbal out with a ripper) and Graham Jardine one. The opposition were dismissed for 212 runs in the 39th over.

Another good victory under the belt. Keep up the good work lads.

At MR: Templars 290-2 (R Sharma 107, T Nimkar 85, G Khan 68*) beat Indian CC 217 (G Ali 73, A Ahmed 35; R Sharma 4-67, J Khan 3-75) by 73 runs.

Round 8 - 1st November 1998

All matches abandoned.