Saturday Cup Final - 5th April 2003
Crusaders
vs. Mainlanders at Kowloon Cricket Club
Result: Crusaders lost by
1 wicket
Not too sure if it was the excesses of the
Rugby Sevens or just a bad case of the runs (or not as the
case may be), but Crusaders batsmen failed to deliver in
their most important match of the season and despite a valiant
fight back by the bowlers, the team came up agonisingly short
of a famous victory.
The match didn’t get off to the best
of starts as Crusaders lost the toss and found themselves
batting. Mainlanders sprung a surprise by opening with spin
bowler Munir Dar, one of this season’s most successful
wicket-takers. He was immediately on top of the Crusaders
batting, claiming the early scalps of Kelleher and Barnett.
Manoj was showing some credible resistance and he struck
a fistful of boundaries before succumbing to an injudicious
shot to be caught in the deep for 28. The Crusaders batsmen
were unerringly hitting the ball in the air and the Mainlanders
accepted every chance offered, with a number of excellent
catches taken. Some middle order resistance from Jardine
(24), helped to lift the total towards three figures but
a flurry of wickets at the end saw the team dismissed for
a very disappointing total of 94. Munir was the best of the
bowlers claiming 4-17 from his ten overs, with good support
from Ali who claimed 3-23.
A stirring pep talk from 'Doc' over the
innings break saw the Crusaders taking the field all fired
up. Baker opened the bowling with pace and accuracy but he
was unrewarded in the early stages as the Mainlanders batsmen
raced to 20 off the first 3 overs, with a few good shots
and more than a little bit of luck. But the luck soon ran
out as Baker sent both openers packing. Mainlanders policy
of batting their young batsmen first soon back-fired as the
loss of wickets put pressure on the incoming batsmen. After
some sensational wicket-keeping from Brewster, claiming three
stumpings off the medium pace bowling of Johnsen, Crusaders
looked to be gaining the upper hand. Mainlanders’ batsmen
were self-destructing with a series of poor shots and it
looked like Crusaders might score an unlikely victory. Six,
seven and then eight wickets fell as the crowd on the balcony
began working itself into a frenzy. But the runs kept coming
and the target got closer. The ninth wicket fell with eight
runs still required. The atmosphere was on a knife-edge as
both sides sensed victory. But the ball was not going to
hand and the batsmen scampered for every single run. When
the Mainlanders batsmen ran for a suicidal second run and
the wickets were broken it seemed that the game had ended
in a sensational tie. Confusion reigned as both sides celebrated
but the scorers identified that the scoreboard was showing
one run short and Mainlanders were declared the winners by
one wicket.
It was an extremely exciting end to the
game, though tainted with disappointment for Crusaders. In
the end, a poor batting performance cost them dearly when
only another 20 or so runs may have made all the difference.
For Crusaders, it was a great effort in the field to put
up such a brave fight defending so small a total. Best of
the bowlers were Baker with 3-26 and Johnsen 3-40 whilst
Brewster showed he is still a class act behind the stumps
with four dismissals.
Alas, the trophy cabinet remains bare for
another season…
Check
out photos from the game.
At Kowloon Cricket Club: Mainlanders 95-9
beat Crusaders 94 by 1 wkt (details later)
Saturday League - 5th April 2003 (rescheduled
match)
Tartars
v. CCC at Mission Road
Result: Tartars lost by 7
wkts
No report received.
At Mission Road: CC 240-3 (N McDonald 87*,
Nasir 83) beat Tartars 236-5 (F Saeed 129*, Anoop 35*) by
7 wkts