The competition will comprise 3 teams, to be organised/managed as follows:

• Under 21's - Jiggy Tailor/Sean Brierly
• Under 31's - Andy Steward/Ravi Sujanani
• Under 41's - Rahul Sharma

The schedule for the Dhabher Cup is as follows:

• Match Day One: U21's v. U31's - Monday, 6th April 1998
• Match Day Two: U31's v. U41's - Saturday, 25th April 1998
• Match Day Three: U31's v U21's - Saturday, 9th May 1998
• Match Day Four: U21's v U41's - Saturday, 16th May 1998
• Match Day Five: U41's v U31's - Sunday, 24th May 1998 - Rescheduled to 13th June 1998
• Match Day Six: U41's v U21's - Saturday, 30th May 1998 - Cancelled

Match Day One - Under 21's v. Under 31's

U21's Skipper Sean Brierly wrote:

On Monday the KCC U21's against KCC U31's was held at the Kowloon Cricket Club. The match proved to be very successful and displayed some outstanding levels of team cricket.

The U21 side, captained by Sean Brierly, was sent in to bat first. The openers for the U21's appeared to have settled in but were put to a halt when Manoj was caught attempting to hook over square leg. The wickets continued to fall. Overall it was a disappointing batting performance by the U21's as they only managed to compile 135 runs. Only leg spinner Jignesh Tailor offered any resistance as he batted superbly to get 36 to his name, which was their only saving grace. He came in when the wickets were tumbling at regular intervals and stood firm to the U31's bowling attack. The U21's innings ended when he was caught at square leg.

The total seemed easily assailable for the U31 side but a superb opening bowling by Anil Harjani saw the U31's reduced to 22 for 4. The U31's settled in when Lama and Andy played well to get the score climbing towards the target. Their partnership seemed to be going steadily until Andy spooned a return catch to Manoj and the pressure was on again. Following this, Paul Hutchinson and Lama steadied the ship further until Lama fell victim to a carefully planned trap by the U21's which gave Anil his 5th wicket. With only 20 runs required for victory, Paul swept 2 sixes over mid-wicket to narrow the chase down to a few runs. But Anil struck back with 2 more wickets to end up with dazzling figures of 7 for 21 in his 7 overs.

The match came down to the wire with the U21's needing 2 wickets for victory and the U31's needing just 2 more runs. Shakil replaced Anil and quickly bowled Don to reduce the U31's to 134 for 9. A single to Bharat leveled the scores but Shakil struck again, clean bowling Chris Williams to end the match in a thrilling tie.

The match was extremely exciting and was an excellent day of cricket.

U31's Skipper Andy Steward wrote:

Points Shared in Opening Thriller!

With all KCC teams being knocked out of this year's Cup competitions, a new tournament was established with the intention of providing competitive cricket for a few more months and to possibly unearth new stars for the KCC.

And just as COC had hoped, a young man stepped forward to fit the bill by bowling the Under 21's back into the game when it seemed their batsmen had let them down. And another surprise hero who saved the game when it looked like the U31's had rescued themselves after their earlier collapse.

The toss was won by the U31's captain Andy Steward and he inserted the youngsters onto what looked like, and turned out to be, the best cricket wicket produced by the KCC ground staff all season. Chris Williams took to the new ball like Adrian Baker takes to Fosters at the Sevens, and immediately removed the guest opener Cheruparambil for 2. The brief inclusion of Lama into the attack brought the immediate wicket of Chaudhuri for 8. Wickets continued to fall until the U21's found themselves floundering on 58 for 5 with Chris Williams bowling his mandatory 7 overs picking up 3 wickets for just 24, in a class spell of out-swing bowling. With Don picking up his regular brace for 24 runs and Steward doing likewise for 21 runs, the U21's innings was closed all out for 135. Thanks must be given to Jiggy Tailor with a spirited 36 showing some good stokes off his legs. His was not to be the highest score of the day though as extras easily outscored him. With wides counting as two runs the U31's bowled more than was healthy and, by the close of the innings, 47 extras had been added to the total.

The U31 opening partnership of Kelly and Sujanani tried to exploit the tight fielding restrictions of the first 10 overs but after a few early blows over the infield both fell to the lively bowling of Anil Harjani. Bowling a good mixture of swing and seam on the helpful wicket the Harjani took the first 4 wickets to fall as the U31's spiralled to 24 for 4. Lama and Steward then staged a recovery before the latter was caught and bowled by Cheruparambil's first ball. Paul Hutchinson joined Lama and the two started to hit out at the bowling, especially that of Jiggy Tailor. But the reintroduction of Harjani brought two more quick wickets to leave the U31's tantalisingly close to their target but with only two wickets remaining on 134 for 8. Harjani finished the best bowling spell of the match with an excellent 7 for 21, bowling straighter than any of his seniors earlier in the day.

After a long conference in the middle between the entire U21 team, the ball was given to Shakil. Surely victory would now come to the U31's as the errant bowler would deliver a wide and two runs would make the game safe. Bets were placed, the crowd warmed to the challenge and COC, standing in for Adrian Baker who was still suffering from his Fosters at the Sevens, took a single but refused what was surly an easy two to the boundary. (That is purely the view of the U31 players and not that of the COC). This left Don Mohammed to face Shakil. More tension, more crowd involvement and now even a few bets on the bowler. (Don's batting prowess not encouraging much support from the neutrals). And to the joy of the youngsters, Don's bails were seen flying to the boundary. Scores level, 9 wickets down.

Chris Williams, suffering dehydration from his earlier efforts in the field, was resuscitated and dragged onto the field, refusing a swig of Kilkenny beer from the adjacent Dean Kelly on his way. The Old Wags in the pavilion noticed this and knowing the revitalizing qualities of the brew at a time like this placed more bets on the bowler. No one will ever be sure if Chris saw the ball that bowled him as his reaction was engulfed by 11 overjoyed players swamping the bowler in the centre of the pitch.

So the first Dhabher Cup match ended in a thrilling tie with each team collecting 3 points. If the rest of the series produces as many close finishes as this then the new tournament will continue to go from strength to strength.

Under 21's 135 (J Tailor 36, Extras 47; C Williams 3-24) tied with Under 31's (S Lama 45, P Hutchinson 35; A Harjani 7-21).

Each team scores 3 points.

Each team gets 1 point.

Under 31's get 6 points, Under 21's 0 points.

Under 41's skipper Rahul Sharma writes....

"The toss was to have been won by the Under 41's-irrespective. This was duly won, if not the Under 21's would have been ordered to field (one might have even used the good offices of the President to enforce this on a rather hot and humid afternoon).

Bharat insisted that the skipper open the innings to give have a good chance to get a ton. The skip opened with Mark "Stead" Eames at one end and himself at the other. The pair put on 100 for the first wicket in under 15 overs with the skip doing the bulk of the scoring. Mark after getting a usual steady 50 was claimed by Sir David Brettel, trying really hard to get himself out, and finally succeeding. In came the small, trim form of Shiroy Vachha. Contrary to skippper's instructions of "going for it" he started emulating a batsman. The result - 8 runs in 20 odd balls.

Meanwhile, the skip after being particularly harsh on Sir David and young Tommy which saw the ball continuously sail into the tennis court and the managers residence, duly completed his 100 and retired. In came Gill "am I the skipper???" and played an entertaining innings, missing his 50 by a run. Nazeem "Paratha" Paracha and Bharat "I am King Cock" Gohel were not in their elements, especially the COC, whose excuse for getting out was that he thought the ball would bounce higher and miss the wicket – result he was clean bowled. Laurie Taylor played a "little beauty" and the Under 41's declared at 278 in 35 overs. Sir David finished with three wickets in his seven overs.

After a thoroughly encouraging team talk by the skip the Under 41's took the field. The skip opened with Eddie Tse and Charles "I am the President" O'Brain.[sic]. Eddie bowled with fire and hostility, well supported by the "President" who in turn was well supported by the spectators who provided the vital "champagne" lifeline on the thirdman boundary. The opening bowlers reduced the Under 21's to 40 for 4, aided by some smart catching by Laurie and the skipper, and it was only on account of a well compiled 50 by Sir David that saw them past 100. Jim Cannel and Bharat bowled very tidy spells and it was left to the skip, the trim Vachha and some brilliant "one-handed" out cricket by Nazeem "Paratha" Paracha to wrap up the game. Under 21's all out 132."

Under 41's get 6 points, Under 21's 0 points.

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Winning Draw	Losing Draw	Tie	N/R	Points
Under 41's	4	2*	-	-	-	-	2	14
Under 31's	4	1*	-	-	-	1	2	11
Under 21's	4	-	3#	-	-	1	-	3

*Includes 1 walk-over.
# Includes 2 walk-overs.

1. Games to be 75 overs maximum. Team batting first is allowed to bat up to 40 overs.

2. Side batting first has to bat minimum 25 overs - but may declare anytime after that and the side batting second gets the balance overs to bat.

3. Points will be awaded as follows:

6 points for Win - Other side totally dismissed
4 points for Winning Draw - 2 points for the Losing Draw
3 points for each team in the event of a tie.
1 point for each team rained off or cancelled game.

Walk-over will mean 6 points.

4. For the first 10 overs a minumum of 7 players in the circle - for the rest of the game a minimum of 3 players in the circle.

5. Bowlers - Maximum 7 overs per bowler. Batsmen - must retire upon reaching 70
runs or, if before the 25th over, may continue to bat in order to achieve his century, but must then retire at the end of 25th over mark or upon reaching his century.

6. Bouncers and waist-high deliveries not permitted - they will cost 2 runs. Wides and No Balls - 2 Runs.

7. One new ball will be used for each innings. A yellow 2 pc ball will be used.

Other rules as per Saturday League....

In event of dispute KCC Cricket Committee rules...