Rescheduled Matches - 18th December 1999

Crusaders v. Kai Tak at KCC
Result: Match abandoned due to rain (both team awarded 6 points)

Saracens v. CCC at Mission Road
Result: Match abandoned due to rain (both team awarded 6 points)

Round 10 - 11th December 1999

Saracens v. Crusaders at KCC
Result: Saracens won by 17 runs

In the first local derby of the 1999-2000 Saturday League campaign, a near full strength Saracens took on an injury hit Crusaders on 11th December 1999. The day was a pearler, with fine clear conditions overhead.

Saracens batted first with the in-form Sujanani opening with Trupty against the fabulous Baker boy. Crusaders got the early breakthrough when Ravi lifted an on-drive wide to a diving Jardine. Crusaders joy however soon turned to dismay when Jardine came up clutching his hand with a fractured and dislocated finger. No sooner had Graeme left the field when Adrian pulled up lame with an over-stretched hamstring muscle…. the injury worries for the Crusaders/Infidels squad took another turn for the worse. As Green took up the reigns of captaincy, Rahul and Trupty set about consolidating the innings and compiling a competitive total. Whilst neither batsman totally dominated the bowling, the runs kept flowing at a steady pace. Trupty gave a chance early in his innings when he top edged a skier from Lethbridge to the keeper. Inexplicably Brewster put it down - 'Oscar' strikes again! Sharma was the next to fall when, with his score on 54, he mistimed a Green full toss, hitting it straight to Anuraag on the mid wicket boundary. Pereira and Cresswell came and went after a few lusty blows, adding to those from a now more confident Trupty. Yarman came to the crease and began swinging agriculturally at just about everything. He wasn't too effective until the final over when he hammered a huge six to mid wicket. However he fell to a spectacular catch from Green, who parried a powerful hit forward and dived full length to catch it inches off the ground. With Trupty on 89 not out, Saracens finished on 213 for 5, with Green claiming three wickets.

Crusaders opened with Green and Pittman and the two got off to a steady if unspectacular start. Green was unusually circumspect and he fell LBW to Cresswell, not offering a shot with his score on 19. Brewster came to the crease and was lucky to survive a confident LBW appeal from his first ball. Pittman and Brewster hit a few nice boundaries but they struggled to get on top and fell behind the required run-rate against some tight bowling from Sharma and Vachha. Pittman eventually holed out in the deep for 42 and the injured Baker (with Green as runner) was called in to do some pinch hitting in an effort to lift the score. This he did quite effectively until he was run-out, taking on Shiroy in the deep. When Brewster fell with his score on 32, Green's brother-in-law Dave Woolley joined the fray and demonstrated perhaps the best batsmanship of the day to bring Crusaders back into contention with some deft cutting and pulling. Unfortunately his partners kept disappearing - as was the light and the number of overs. In the end, Crusaders run chase came up seventeen runs short with Woolley 42 not out.

At KCC: Saracens 213-5 (T Nimkar 88, R Sharma 54; D Green 3-65) beat Crusaders 196-8 (R Brewster 35, T Pittman 42, D Woolley 42*; Y Vachha 3-64) by 17 runs

Tartars v. Islanders at DBS
Result: Tartars lost by 102 runs

At MR: Islanders beat Tartars (details not available)

Rescheduled Match - 19th December 1999

Templars v. LSW at Mission Road
Result: Templars lost by 6 wickets

At Mission Road: LSWCC 141-4 (A Illahi 38) beat Templars 137 (A Bhatnagar 36; M Zubair 5-26) by 6 wkts

Round 10 - 12th December 1999

Infidels v. LSW at DBS
Result: Infidels lost by seven wickets

Infidels Scrape the Bottom of the Barrel

A desperately depleted Infidels outfit took on a confident LSW at DBS on Sunday, 12th December. With no less than nine of the regular team unfit or unavailable to play, it was not too surprising that the game lasted a considerably shorter time than it had taken to scrape the team together - and even then only 10 men could be found.

To cut a short story short, the whole game lasted the total sum of 24 overs. Infidels were dismissed for 82 with Zubair claiming 5 wickets for 9 runs from 9 overs and Shakeel 3 wickets for 7 runs from 3 overs. Chasing maximum batting points, LSW reached their target in 9 overs for the loss of three wickets (it should be noted that LSW faced no less than seven different bowlers in their nine overs!).

At DBS: LSWCC 86-3 beat Infidels 82 (M Zubair 5-9, M Shakeel 3-7) by 7 wkts

KCC Colts v. Optimists at KCC
Result: Colts lost by 170 runs

At KCC: Optimists 284-6 (S Brew 109, D Qureshi 4-71) beat KCC Colts 114 (A Lethbridge 32; G Smith 6-29) by 170 runs