Hornets vs. Scorpions at Hong Kong Cricket Club
Result: Hornets lost by 29 runs

In cricket you can breakdown the game to 3 aspects i.e. batting, bowling and fielding. You need to do all 3 aspects well to win a game of cricket. Unfortunately, we only did 2 out of 3 jobs well on Sunday and therefore lost the game.

On a overcast morning at HKCC on a green wicket hornets won the toss and decided to field hoping to take early wickets and restrict the scorpions to a low total. The bowling was very good at the start with jammy and Zubair giving a quality display of fast seam bowling. There was good support from Roy Lamsam and Sher Lama to keep the pressure on the scorpions batting and restrict free scoring. We were also doing a good job in the field and all the players were keen and focused. It was Tauseef that benefited from all the hard work of the seam bowling picking up 4 wickets and restricting the Scorpions to 211 for 9 of 50 overs. We had done 2/3 of the job i.e. bowled and fielded very well and would have taken that score at the start of the match.

It was the batting 1/3 where we did not concentrate with none of the batsmen taking responsibility on themselves to stay there and build a partnership and win the game for the us. In this respect the skipper has to take responsibility as he was out to a soft dismissal of the 1st ball he faced. We kept losing wickets at regular intervals and eventually were all out for 182 - quite disappointing given the depth in our batting line-up.

I would like to thank Scanners for playing and can only imagine how difficult it must have been to play having just flown in from Amsterdam. I’d also like to thank the youngsters Zaran Vachha and Courtney Kruger for their support and efforts on and off the field.

At Hong Kong Cricket Club: Scorpions 211-9 (T Smart 58, R Eagleson 49; T Bukhari 4-30) beat KCC Hornets 182 (G Jardine 30; R Eagleson 3-22, A Smith 3-44) by 29 runs

[Top]

Wasps vs. Pakistan Association at Kowloon Cricket Club
Result: Wasps lost by heaps (over 300 runs!)

You'll have to excuse me if some of the numbers mentioned in this report are somewhat inaccurate as the official result for the game has never been published. Hence, I am relying on my (fading) memory in order to write this report...

Winning the toss, Wasps stand-in captain Burji Shroff (skipper designate Anthony Correa was a little late to the ground) decided to insert the opposition batsmen. It seems that playing on grass (if you could call it that for there was barely a blade on the dry, dusty wicket) had swayed the mind of COC, but his decision was greeted with almost universal disbelief from the rest of the team. Wasps, the KCC factory seconds, were not a particularly strong outfit, devoid of any recognised match winners and no wicket-keeper, so their best chance to win was to post a total and hope the opposition would falter in their pursuit. We'll have to save that hypothesis for another occasion...

Wasps did taste some early success with Damian Kelleher (?) picking up a couple of wickets. Things were looking good for Wasps with Pakistan Association on 54-3 but the danger man, Hussain Butt, was still at the crease. The absence of a proper keeper was to tell as Travis Pittman grassed a difficult leg-side catch when Butt was on 7. Little did everyone know how expensive that miss would be. Anyway, to cut a short story even shorter, Butt was dropped again on exactly 100 and went on to an undefeated 220-odd. His partner for most of the innings, Nasir Hameed also scored a century and the two slugged Pakistan Association to a total of 449-3 off their 50 overs. Needless to say, there was plenty of big hitting. The pair combined for an undefeated partnership of 394 - surely a record in Hong Kong cricket.

Facing a target which required a run-rate of exactly 9 runs per over, Wasps' modest batting line-up was on a hiding to nothing. It was decided to take the innings in stages with each stage being a milestone - the first being not to lose by 400 runs. This they achieved for the lose of about 4 wickets. 350 was the next target. Achieved. Unfortunately the third objective was not achieved and Wasps were dismissed for about 130.

There's not too much else to say really... (at least we all got to watch some decent crciekt on the big screen).

At Kowloon Cricket Club: Pakistan Association 449-3 beat Wasps 120+ (details not available)

[Top]

First Round - 9th February 2003

Hornets vs. Vagabonds at Kowloon Cricket Club
Result: Hornets won by 330 runs

A professional approach won the Hornets their opening Sunday Cup game at the KCC against Vagabonds. Professional from the moment Roy’s mum produce his early morning jam and ham sandwich (crusts cut off for the wee lamb) to when the last week fell at 3:30 pm.

In recent encounters for the Cup, KCC sides have tended towards the point of not realising that they have the potential to win against any side if the spirit is willing and the courage and conviction comes through. This game showed that this season the club has a chance at winning a long overdue Sunday Cup.

Having inspected the pitch, prior to the ritual breakfast trough and analyzing Mojo’s latest film contract, the Captain (rightly as it turned out) elected to play on plastic rather than the ex-raspberry ripple grass strip that was dry and hard but had less bounce than one of the CoC’s leg breaks!!

That was not the only thing that the skipper did right - successfully bamboozing Third Degree Burns with the coin toss meant that we had the options and Ravi had no hesitation in choosing to bat. The batting order was filled with potential \ stroke players but quickly the plans of ‘mice and men’ for a good first 15 overs were shredded with the loss of Mojo (media star) who was trapped LBW in the second over. Anoop playing with his 42nd bat for the season (for the record a Vampire) didn’t trouble the scorers or the bat, only lasting a short time. At 9 for 2 things had appeared to come off the rails and the fifth batting option discussed was invoked with Temogen, strained back and all, coming in at number 4.

Reaching ten overs at 35 for 2 with a few scares (the Captain still in 15 over mode), the pair built from a slow start to a prosperous partnership with both men in fine form. Having a sore back didn’t seem to worry Timo too much as he swatted sixes over covers with no problems, and even inflicted a finger dislocation on Third Degree, who left the ground and the game for a long wait at the QEB A&E department. By this time also Ravi’s brain was back in gear and at drinks the score had moved on nicely to 140. Shortly after, a possible ‘mickey fin’ that had been slipped to him from mum in the shape of one of Roy’s pocari’s (obviously wanting to see the results of her son’s early morning jam and ham infusion), Timo was caught tamely for extremely well played 47. Jards strode to the wicket, claiming sore shoulders and sore pride.

What followed can only be described as pure carnage as Ravi and Jards preceded to severley maul the Vags bowling to the point that the RSPCA were rumored to have been called. Ravi pulled a fetlock (stewards inquiry to follow) but with the help of Mojo (in between telephone calls to his agent) reached a well played century (50 in 72 balls, 100 in 97 balls, with 2 sixes and 16 fours). He eventually fell (after a few attempts to get himself out) for 117 with the score on 282 in the 38th over (that’s a partnership of 142 in 12 overs at a rate of 11.833 recurring).

Following recent excellent form with the bat, Zub’s was elevated to No. 6 and after a first ball six and a few other hefty singles, holed out to be replaced but his other partner in crime, Jamshaid. At the other end yours truly was still finding the bowling to his liking and eventually reached his maiden Hong Kong hundred - which I can tell you is a relief to all of him. Jammy, playing the numbers game and certain air shots, and Jards, smashing most things that were served up, added 56 in no time before Jards was caught at long on for 139 (50 in 33 balls, 100 in 56 balls, with 4 sixes and 19 fours) with a score at 371. This left 3 and a bit overs to get to the magic 400 mark which was achieved mainly due to Jammy's eight irons sailing ‘out of bounds’ into the Gun Club and Jordan Path. Eventually the festivities came to an end with the Hornets amassing 418 with still more batsman waiting to come in. Unfortunately this scribe did not record any of the bowling figures but one can imagine the scorers pens got their money’s worth.

Chasing such a massive total was never going to be easy, especially with the Hornets' bowling available. Young Courtney Kruger, still learning his trade behind the timbers, was finding it hard to pick the line of Jammy's opening few overs and the slips were also getting worried as a few times they had to take the balls. Jammy found his feet hurting after only two overs - we must summize that he had practiced too much before the game. Much to the displeasure of his Captain, he hobbled off and was took no further part in the game. No matter as Roy (the ‘jam sandwich’) and Zub’s did their best to bring the game to an end quickly. Zub bowled particularly well and, with reports of Third Degree’s problems from the hospital, wickets tumbled and fielders muscles were pulled.

One notable incident I ‘m afraid to report to all was Jards' hamstring tweeked chasing a ball down to the boundary which was followed the next over, when he had been moved to first slip, with a shin bruising from full pace ball from Zub’s that the unfortunate Courtney dived over. Smiles and laughter prevailed from all except Jards who was heard to offer the young man a piece of advice suggesting that the use of his gloves would be most appreciated if he wanted to finish his O-Levels and the rest of his life.

Thank heavens the end came relatively quickly although the Vag’s 8th wicket put on 37 to prolong matters. With the timed out retired and very hurt Burnsy lost somewhere in Casualty Ward the game ended with the Hornets winning by a colossal 330 runs in the 22nd over.

Confidence, belief and team spirit is all that you need to win and lets hope what was shown will be built on in the next round. Well done to all - and don’t worry, Courtney will be gracing the corridors of KGV on Monday morning (one hopes without that silly ear ring which was obviously affecting his balance).

At Kowloon Cricket Club: KCC Hornets 418-7 (Ravi Sujanani 117, Graeme Jardine 139, Temogen Heild 47, Mohammed Jamshaid 56*) beat Vagabonds 89 (Mohammed Zubair 3-16)

[Top]