Sunday Cup: Final Round - Sunday, 29th February 2004

Hornets v. Pakistan Association at Kowloon Cricket Club
Result: Hornets won by 76 runs

What can one say but terrific and totally deserved.  What a pleasure for all of us to be part of the winning side and hopefully for the Club members and our supporters.  As ever the game was won by a sound team performance and once again I cannot emphasis how important team spirit, self belief and down right "ticker" (heart) shown is.

Winning the toss was important as posting a score against the Pakistan Association is the way teams beat them.  Mojo unfortunately failed with the bat, victim to an off-cutter from Khalid in the first over of the game.  Not a good start, however as I explained to Mo, after leaving him alone for 20 minutes, he still was going to figure in the game with the ball and fielding. Once again Ravi and Rahul repaired the damage magnificently with Ravi the more aggressive of the pair. It was obvious to all of us watching that Rahul had set his sights on staying at the crease for the entire innings and while Ravi played some glorious flowing shots he was happy to place the ball expertly.  Khalid tried to play some chin music and was hooked by both batsman, he also bowled a lot of no balls and wides and was warned from running on the wicket.  Not what you want from one of your potential National opening bowlers.  We even saw a Ravi special, ie., scoop over the wicket keepers head which went for four.  Najeeb entered the attack and finally achieved the break through at 93 bowling Ravi with what was reported to have turned a considerable amount.  2 runs and 2 overs later the same bowler mirrored what the alleged comet/meterorite had some 63 million years ago (in the Jurassic epoch if anyone is interested) achieved by causing T Rex’s extinction out LBW. Damian returning to the side was nearly out first ball missed by Nassir off again Najeeb, but survived and drinks were taken. 

The General was in stern mood at drinks when I approached him determined to play his role in the game, and got a life the very first over after drinks being dropped by Khalid off Ilyas at long on.  There then followed the second good partnership of the innings with both Damian and Rahul mixing power with placement until Damian tried to hit the leg spinner once to often and was stumped at 169.  By this time Najeeb had call back Khaild into the account who was still bowling no-balls, but got the important wicket of Rahul and then the Captain. At 184 for 6 with 8 overs to go it was time again for the Zubby show this time ably supported by Roy Hamsandwinch.  Roy had returned form Australia to play in the game and showed that his batting form was returning. He took a distinct liking to Khalid and play some great pulls and inspired back foot drives which accelerated the scoring at the right time.  Zub’s was doing his normal biff and bash show with the same Vampire bat he has employed during the Cup and in the end was last out trying to hit one into the middle of next week, however the 250 mark was passed.

Lunch was a short affair due to the overrun of the first innings and so there was little time to carry out any last minute planning.  Imitaz came out firing and played two superb shots (one off the legs and a tracer bullet through point), until he was thought out by Rahul and the Captain and was nicely taken at fly gully by Willow, much to the delight of the General.  Nassir look solid enough after arriving at the crease but once again Zubair and Afzaal had done their job restricting the opposition to just over 3 and over for the first 10.  Willow and Roychee replaced them and one of Roy’s slower balls accounted for Nassir nicely taken by Ravi and mid-off.  In the same over Saikat fell also victim to another one of Roy’s repertoire (this time a leg-cutter) and was taken well by the Skipper diving at extra-cover and again pointing his toes, 47 for 3.  Iftikar joined Ilyas and came out firing smacking and lifting both Roy and Willow through and over mid-off and point, however with the introduction of Rahul he fell to another good catch by TR and extra-cover, much to the annoyance of Ilyas.  The last pair of recognised batsman were now at the crease needing exactly 170 runs in 27 overs.  Najeeb was nearly bowled first ball but stook around to put on 30 with Ilyas before being caught behind by the veteran off Mojo. Once again another tremendous display of keeping by Ray who like his wine cellar seems to get better with age.  I know Ray muses about the chance he missed to play for Queensland in his younger days, but I can say for all of Hong Kong it was certainly our good luck as he has been an outstanding keeper at local and international level for a number of years.

Mojo also accounted for Hussain, LBW to one of his very slow balls (128 for 6) and was replaced by Afzaal in the hope of mopping up the tail.  Distant hopes of a rival for the Pakistan Association came in the form of Ali and Ilyas who put on 38 for the 7th wicket but these were put out by Afzaal who claimed both of their wickets in quick succession. Afzaal in the end cleared up the last two wickets with Khalid taken by an excellent running catch by Mojo at long on at the start but long off at the finish. A sound win for a great team who caught everything and did what all winning sides do "the simple things well" in a great team spirit.

It has been my personal pleasure and honour to Captain this side, which I can say without any doubt has been the best I have been involved with in my short period at the Club. I would like to thank all the players for their support and their heart and spirit shown, it has been truly inspirational. To Jenny thank you so much for scoring, you are a part of this win, to our supporters thank you for coming to the games, and lastly to Burji whose smile and calm exterior were always evident during this season, thanks mate from us all.      

- Jards  

At Kowloon Cricket Club: KCC Hornets 258-9 (R Sharma 78, R Sujanani 48, Mohammad Zubair 38; Khalid Khan 10-1-69-4) beat Pakistan Association 182 (Ilyas Gul 52, Iftikhar Ahmed 32; Afzaal Haider 9-2-42-5) by 76 runs

Sunday Cup: Semi-Final Round - Sunday, 22nd February 2004

Hornets v. Scorpions at Hong Kong Cricket Club
Result: Hornets won by 5 wkts

Another game won by teamwork and doing the simple things well. Having lost the toss again I was surprised that JP elected to bat considering the green tinge to the wicket and the fact that they were perhaps a little short on bowling. My old cricket coach (not the present one who is neither old or English) in England always said if you fear that your bowling is weak you must bat second as it's difficult to defend a score. Jack (wherever you are, I fear he has passed away) once again you have been proved right.

Afzaal and Zubair were magnificent and bowled a great line at a considerable pace that had Ray and the slips licking their lips. Once again some of the balls were too good for anyone!! The fielding mostly matched and both bowlers were unfortunate not pick up any wickets in their first spell (Mojo spilling a speedy edge off Mallo's bat at second slip). Just to show how effective they were is shown by the fact that after the first 10 overs the Scorps had been restricted to just 22 runs with an extremely short boundary on one side of the wicket!!!   Unlike last week the first change bowlers didn't bowl four balls and in fact bowled simply and intelligently.   Roychee regained his rhythm and direction with the return of Mummsie (Kim) from Las Vegas, or possibly due to a motivational talk from his sisters ex-swimming coach (Bill "ate all the pies") &/or perhaps the fact that he was flying out to Sydney after the game to commence another 4 years for this eternal student and wanted to leave with some good thoughts on the National Selectors minds.   Willo was inspired and showed that the prolonged stretching and self belief work.   He picked up Mallo to a great catch by Roy at fly gully and after the demise of Brooks, runout by nearly a wicket, had Bomber Eagleson stumped by Ray standing up.   What can you say about a bloke that is 50+ (sorry Ray) and who is fitter and more agile than 90% of the players in Hong Kong.   The Veteran was simply awesome, not just with Ryan's stumping, but throughout the entire innings.   God knows if I or anyone else will be able to walk at Ray's age let alone play to his level!!!!!   At drinks (taken at 25 overs) Scorps from 53 for no wicket had struggled to 69 for 3.  

Roychee continued his great spell and Afzaal was introduced for 2 overs to try and blast out the annoying and effective Del.   It didn't work and Willo was reintroduced for his last two overs which proved to be utterly successful as he had Smarty caught well by Afzaal at mid-on for a patient 31 (off 31 overs and they used to call me slow!!!) and castled Del with a beauty. All the time at the other end Roychee was still bowling to the script and although he didn't get wickets in his spell (ten overs straight) he helped Willo get his at the other end by bowling very little that could be hit off the square.

Manoj and the General replaced the bowled out first changers and in the case of Manoj did the trick.   Having seen and faced Mojo at the nets for the last seven months I can report that the media and financial star has the off-cutter the leg-cutter and the golden touch (although reading the article he wrote for his boss in the SCMP Business section on Sunday you would think he was Hedging his bets!!!).   Mojo claimed 4 quick wickets which reduced the Scorps from 104 for 5 to 132 for 9 with eight overs to go.   To their credit Norrie and Jet played sensibly with Norrie favouring the smeer mostly and put on 32 for the last wicket, still we would have settled to be chasing 164 at the start.

During the lunch break Stillers told me that the lunch order changes depending on the game situation, therefore the Scorps must have been desperate serving Asian roast chicken presumably trying to invoke flu symptoms.   Initially the chicken seemingly had done the trick as after playing two masterful strokes off Bomber, Mojo played a bloody awful one to the Angry Pill bowler and was castled, Scanners (looking like a potato head – he wore a helmet) had his off stump removed by Ryan, and then Rahul was brilliantly caught by JP much to the delight of Angry Pill. 24 for 3 in the sixth over, but as ever this season we are made of sterner stuff and TR and Ravi dug in and built the much winning partnership.  

Some of you reading this epic may not know of Eagle's and Ravi's rivalry and TR's seemingly dislike of fast HKCC bowlers, so it will be no surprise to readers that a confrontation occurred with the a fore mentioned three players in one of Bombers overs.   Nine came off the over with no loss of a wicket and so I presumed that TR and Ravi won the argument.   TR (now nick named "Dino" after Alvin's tame "T Rex" line in Monday's SCMP) held in-check his aggressive side long enough to get back into the groove and took a liking especially to Leve's buffet (help yourself) bowling.   Ravi playing a good supporting role produced some trademark cuts before falling to the same shot off Toby Brown's "liquorice allsorts" – 115 for 4 in the 24 th over. The Captain strode to the wicket and was meet by Dino who looked that he had a dose of the flu as he was sweating buckets. Drinks was taken at 125 for 4 with 40 wanted. Toby Brown's allsorts continued first over after drinks and was treated with disdain by the Skipper who hit the three full bungers and the short wide long hop each for fours.   24 wanted off loads of overs and JP had no choice but reintroducing Bomber into the attack. Dino played a nice leg glance and safely negotiated the rest of the over and so 20 were required. Norrie was brought back replacing Tina's allsorts and was treated with the same disdain by the Skipper who hit him for another three fours. 7 wanted and Bombers last over, which unfortunately saw the demise of Dino to a match winning 65, but the over saw the end of the game as first there was 5 wides and then Roy nimbled one out for a single.   Game and job well done in the 29 th over.

What ever is said of us by various Clubs and individuals I can say that the success this year has been built on team performance and self belief.   Yes we have good players, but more importantly we have found spirit.   Once more next week into the breach we go to crown a Centenary year the way it should be done.     

  - Jards

At Hong Kong Cricket Club: KCC Hornets 165-5 (T R Kalyaraman 65, R Sujanani 31, G Jardine 35*) beat Scorpions 164-9 (T Smart 31, R Norris 48*; C Williams 10-2-31-4, Manoj Cheruparambil 6-1-27-4) by 5 wkts

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Sunday Cup: First Round - Sunday, 15th February 2004

Hornets v. Optimists at Kowloon Cricket Club
Result: Hornets won by 2 wkts

One "get out of jail" card comes every year and this was the day this season. It was a magnificent game of cricket made even better by the positive result for the KCC. As ever as has been this season, wearing the Templars hat for a moment (apologies to all Infidels), when some one failed others stepped into the breach both with the bowling, fielding and batting. The email lectures made by the skipper in the week leading up to he game were taken to heart somewhat, but who cares as actions speak louder than words as belief in personal and team abilities is what matters.

Having lost the toss, Watco decided to bat on a slow and mostly consistent end wicket. Both Steads and Roxy batted well against some excellent bowling backed up by some truly professional fielding. Only one chanced was offered by the opening pair when Eamesie middled one from Afzaal and the Captain pointed his toes while going horizontal but it didn't stick. Both Afzaal and Zub's bowled tight spells restricting the openers to 3.5 an over, over the first ten and were initially replaced by Ravi and Roy and then by Rahul and Devang. As has been the case for most of this season, Devang broke the partnership at drinks (taken at 108 for 1) as Eamesie couldn't resist the short boundary and was well taken by Manoj under the branches. From a position where a solid platform had been made by the openers the post drinks session went initially downhill for the Optimists losing three more wickets, all to Rahul, who once again bowled well with pressure inducing false shots. At 147 for 4 Dean Alex joined James Callow with work to do. This pair added 90 and played responsibility with good running and some intelligent batting that we could not do much about except stand and applaud. Afzaal and Zubair came back to finish off their overs with the former certainly bowling tight and achieving three wickets in three balls including one run-out the result of Zubair's excellent fielding. From 237 for 4 suddenly it was 242 for 8, however with Teddy Winstanley providing good support to James Callow (who was continuing to play well) a very respectable total over the 250 mark was posted. Probably 20 more than they should have got.

Whatever the situation this season, both the Infidels and Templars have not been short of batting. With 6 National Squad batters plus Damian, and the Veteran supported by those biffers of a ball Afzaal and Zubair, our line up went down to No. 10 with the certified Devang Shah at No.11 who has been known in his alta-ego to hit the odd six as well.  Thank goodness we did have a long batting line up as it proved to make the difference.

Rahul and Manoj opened and when Manoj eventually got to face he top edged a pull off Jamo. Not really the opening stand we needed when chasing, but things got worse when Ravi was out LBW again to Jamo with the score only 38 for 2. TR played steadily giving good support to Rahul whose balance and poise were again evident and a good example of how to play correctly and positively. Having hit three fours in the previous over TR got a low one and was LBW to Dean Alex who apparently suggested he should go and have a drink in the pavilion – hand bags at 12 o'clock. Damian joined Rahul and again gave good support until he was adjudged to be LBW. Roy whose body language was showing confidence also batted well until he picked out Jamo on the boundary much to the delight of Mal Costain.   Mal returning to the scene of his mauling by Jamie last year bowled well and affected a great caught and bowled to remove Rahul for a well batted 72, leaving us teettering at 127 for 7 with 20 overs to go.

The Captain was joined by Afzaal who both repaired some of the damage due in part to the fact that the opposition second and third string bowlers were in action. Missing a fourth and fifth bowler was in the end the Optimists downfall as the 19 overs made up by three bowlers of this ilk were taken for 150 runs!!! Afzaal was out yorked by Teddy at 185 with 10 overs to go, probably the result of trying to make up his mind what shot to play and where to hit him.  Zubair nearly ran to the wicket in his eagerness to get to the bowling and Teddy's last bowl of his first over sailed into the swimming pool!!!!   At the end of this over Zubair went to the Captain and requested him to read the label on Kambli's bat (borrowed from TR) – "Vampire" which he told the Skipper was what he was going to be. Perhaps another certificate case, but no, as his boasts were completely supported by his actions as he hit the next two balls he faced off Watco for six as well.

Through some awesome hitting, intelligent cricket and running and what can only be described as in parts second rate bowling the total was achieved with more than two overs to spare. Both the Skipper and Zub's played to the situation which was made even sweeter by the fact that most of Pakistani Association players were watching and must have taken note of the events and the mental toughness shown.  

A victory again achieved due to self belief and again another team performance.

Thank you for Jenny for scoring and of course to the Umpires Hugh and Glynn.           

Jards   

At Kowloon Cricket Club: KCC Hornets 272-8 (R Sharma 72, G Jardine 61*, M Zubair 48*) beat Optimists 269-9 (P Roxburgh 44, M Eames 51, J Callow 63, D Alex 37; R Sharma 10-0-51-3) by 2 wkts

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Wasps v. Pakistan Association at Mission Road
Result: Wasps lost by 302 runs

At Mission Road: Pakistan Association 366-3 (W Imtiaz 59, Jamshed Khan 52, Nasir Hameed 124*, Ilyas Gul 31, Najeeb Amar 67*) beat KCC Wasps 64-9 (M Ozair 10-2-24-4) by 302 runs

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Sunday League: Round 14 - Sunday, 1st February 2004

Templars v. Infidels at Kowloon Cricket Club
Result: Infidels won by 1 wkt

At Kowloon Cricket Club: Infidels 229-9 (C Manoj 31, A Ahmed 45*; R Sujanani 13-0-43-4) beat Templars 232-7 (G Jardine 49, R Sujanani 105; A Haider 9-1-47-4) by 1 wkt (Note: Templars penalised 9 runs for slow over rate)

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