KCC Commodores in Shanghai

NOT QUITE ENOUGH MEAT ON THE STICK

[Reuters] In one of the largest, most enjoyable and star studded Asian 6’s Tournaments in recent times, the Kowloon Cricket Club was represented in fine fettle by the inaugural debut of the KCC Commodores.

It was a weekend of extremes, from wet to dry, cold to hot, beer to wine, burgers to burritos, and a veritable buffet of booze, bollocking, bruises and broken toes. One thing was for sure, there were more flying bats than a haunted house. But the chance to match it on the field with likes of Sir Viv Richards and Australian sporting icon Doug Walters MBE proved a big draw card for the event, co-sponsored by every big name in Asia from ANZ to Virgin Atlantic.

Ultimately bowing out in the Semi Finals to the host and eventual Cup Winner, the Shanghai KBB, the KCC Commodores played valiantly against some of Asia’s, and indeed the world’s, best cricketers of present day and yesteryear.

Headed up by the inimitable Ravi, the KCC Commodores were under a strong Captaincy, and needless to say, well supported throughout. KCC’s cosmetic Manager and perennial ring-in Arnold proved handy behind the stumps, but after a 2nd ball Peking duck whilst trying to hit the adjacent bell tower for the RMB$1,000 prize, he found a new talent in auditing the scorers who clearly left their abacus at home.

Traditional big guns Mojo and Barney indeed took command in the Commodore’s first two successive [victorious] matches by massacring Chesterton Petty’s and The Shanghai Dragon’s best efforts with little regard or respect. Mojo, surprisingly blocked out one over in immaculate fashion, and then refreshed, off he went again.

And in a game where big hitting, tight fielding, and bowling economy is paramount, in the second match the KCC Commodores found themselves in need of a new skill, night vision. If hurricane wind and sideways sleet wasn’t making things challenging enough, wrapping the second round win at 6.50pm in complete darkness was indeed glorious.

When the final ball was struck by the opposition, who needed an unlikely 7 to win, it went missing in the outfield with KCC players scouring the dark corners of the oval inch by inch as though Sir Viv had lost his diamond earring. Only through combined quick thinking by TR [who told the batsmen “you can only run 6!”] and Farooq [who found the ball teetering on the boundary and proclaiming “FOUR” saved the Commodores from an early exit! Sentimental KCC veteran and Commodore spokesman, BG, is best remembered over the weekend for his somewhat candid summation of the new ‘after-dark’ wide rule, “WHAT…? If they expect us to give away 4 runs for a wide with no re-bowling, then if I’m bowling the last over and they need 25 to win, God help them. There’ll be 6 wides and I’ll tell them to go F*** themselves!” Spoken like a true veteran of the game, with the heat and passion to inspire a team of young men to victory.

The Sunday finals received top billing, attracting the live cameras for CNN and ESPN, and even an excessively drunk commentator with a loud shirt, and even louder beer-gut, who simply didn’t know when to stop talking!

This was the business end of the tournament, and the Commodores went head to head with favourites, the Shanghai KBB for a grand final berth. In a close match bolstered by Barney slugging 32 off not very many, the Dragons were chasing a modest, but to be fiercely protected, 61 runs.

The Commodores kept Shanghai KBB pinned early but despite taking a few early wickets, the Cricketing Gods [two of which were under the Steinlager Tent seen either smoking spliffs, demolishing a keg in frothy fashion and puffing through a carton of cigarettes] smiled on the opposition as they found opportunities to nudge past the Commodores in the final over. Alas, the commodores went down to eventual champions the Shanghai KBB, who in the final beat Hong Kong’s hard hitting Lamma Island entourage in what proved to be a mild mannered finale with low scoring, incomplete overs and plenty of air shots. For all but the most combat fatigued competitors, the Shanghai 6’s tournament ran on a 24 hour clock, and no sooner had the daytime activities concluded, the nighttime activities commenced - often only separated by a quick shower and in BG’s case a slap of Vaseline through the hair and a splash of Old Spice! Sponsors benevolently saw to it that no-one paid a dime for Steinlager, and sampling of this fine brew was at an epidemic level amongst the more serious of the cricketers.

As the age old adage suggests, “The team that plays together stays together”, and the Commodores were a glowing role model for the younger generation in off-field conduct. Selecting dark alleys, unknown pubs away from the bright lights of the big streets and prying eyes of autograph collectors, the Commodores stayed out of the spotlight [and local papers], which is more than the HK Lamma team can say, who tested the might of Shanghai’s best bouncers at a local nightspot. From the swollen heads, bruises and stitches the next day, these were not the types of bouncers the HK Lamma crew were used to facing!

The welcome Chinese banquet dinner proved a fine Friday night feed, but the gala dinner at the Grand Hyatt Shanghai was a Saturday show stealer. Shaghai’s finest was served in no uncertain terms! Tales from the cricketing crypt from both Sir Viv and Mr Walters MBE kept the 200 strong dinner contingent well entertained.

All in all the Shanghai Sixes was a weekend to test the stamina of Asia’s cricketing elite, and it became apparent early that Doug Walters MBE was to be the yardstick by which one defined their upper limits of “lagerism”. So long as there was a cigarette in one of his hands and a beer in the other, then it was ok for oneself to keep pushing on. Needless to say, the event drew to a close and the brew flowed a lot thinner after seeing Australia’s cricketing legend retire before tea…

Download the full report (with pictures) - KCC Commodores in Shanghai [PDF 217KB]

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KCC LADIES CENTENNIAL CRICKET MATCH REPORT

KCC MAIDEN OVERS VS HKCC WILLOW WIELDERS, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12TH 2004

From the beginning, starting with the Maidens' pre-match coffee session, then to the Pimms sipped by both teams before the toss, the historic match was set to be played in a very convivial, relaxed atmosphere.

The Maidens, upon winning the toss, sent the Willows in to bat first. Their two openers, Betty Chan and Gianna Buonocore, started out in fine form, before Betty was caught and bowled by Neisha Pratt, and Rene Montgomery took the wicket of Gianna- bowled.

Natasha Miles then came to the crease, facing 101 balls for 49 runs. She and Eva Liu saw out the remainder of the 35 overs. At the end of the innings, the target for the Maidens was set at 159.

The bowlers for the Maidens were Neisha Pratt, whose figures were 10 overs for 31 runs and one wicket; Lisa Cameron, with an outstanding 2 maidens from her 8 overs and conceding only 26 runs; Sarah Eames with 8 overs for 44 runs; Kim Lamsam bowled 2 overs for 12, and Rene Montgomery showed her speed with 6 overs bowled for 31runs and one wicket.

Afternoon tea must be mentioned- Pike lets, strawberry jam and whipped cream graced the table, It was a lovely sight- a happy bunch of ladies sitting around in the beautiful weather watching cricket.

Kim Lamsam and Sarah Eames then strode out to the crease. It soon became evident that Kim was there to stay. Her amazing display of determination in the face of some tight bowling was wonderful to watch! She hit six fours; all timed and placed perfectly. Her superb fifty (Retired) was reached after only 61 balls faced, in 77 minutes at the crease. Just have to add that her running between the wickets was truly fantastic. Well done Kim!!

Out there with Kim, Sarah Eames also proved to be a trooper again. She hit 15 runs before being bowled by a 'loopy special' form the hand of Gianna Buonocore. Julie Atkinson then went in at no.3, followed by Neisha Pratt at No.4, who replaced Kim on her retirement at 50. Neisha took on the bowlers with great aplomb, striking four fours from just 12 balls. Her total of 21 not out and the 10 not out from KCC Skipper Julie Atkinson took the total to 159 and victory for the Maidens.

The Willows' bowling was spearheaded by Natasha Miles, Gianna Buonocore, Betty Chan and Anita Miles. Natasha's 6 overs for only 21 runs was a great effort. Gianna also performed in her 8 overs with 51 runs posted. Betty bowled 5 overs with 20 runs, and Anita, 7 overs and 63 runs.

The Post Match Celebration was held in the new function room, with champagne flowing and a fine dinner to follow. A presentation of a Centennial Plaque to commemorate the occasion was made to the Willow's captain, Natasha Miles, who also won the Player of the Match for the Willows. Kim Lamsam won the award for Player of the Match from both teams. The Maidens' captain, Julie Atkinson, presented all the players with Centennial Watches.

Thank you so much to all who participated in this celebratory match. Special thanks to Jenny Lethbridge for her flawless scoring, along with Olivia Boyd. Fahmy and Anoop Gidwani - thanks so much for umpiring. The Maidens thank Afzaal Haider, our Coach, who certainly made a difference to us and our confidence! Thank you also to Burji Shroff, KCC captain of cricket, who showed such interest and support.

All in all a very successful day for KCC and Women's Cricket in Hong Kong.

[Photos - HKCC Batting | KCC Batting]

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2004 Robbie Lee Trophy - KCC, 4th September 2004

Mr R.E. (Robbie) Lee was President of KCC and Captain of Cricket when he died while playing for Saracens against Recreio in at KCC in November 1962. He had also captained Craigengower Cricket Club. Each year the Robbie Lee Trophy is played for between KCC and CCC in honour of his memory.

This year the KCC CoC, 'Hi ho silver Shroff' tried to stack the team with wily players the likes of Vaccha, Gohel and Arthur, the types to spring a surprise on the cagey crew from CCC.  But various overseas commitments and aging joints put a stop to that. So the willing warriors of the Hong Kong squad's recent campaigns stepped to the crease, boasting Mojo &  'Captain' Chris Williams. Jards would have been present but was of on a spot of R&R on the family's private yacht somewhere near Sydney. Right in their shadow, and breathing down their necks for selection in the prestigious HK squad are Barnacle Bill, Temogen Heild and the competitive Killer. They with an assortment of others including The Gill, Pinky Pittman, Papu and Harry Kumar provided just the balance the ever crafty 'Hi ho' demands on such occasions. Come 1.15, the bell began to toll the settling of the Pimms in the bellies of the KCC competitors. And as Barnacle strolled to join the group and 'bags the anticipation was palpable as the eager crew awaited the motivational speech of Hi ho. "I hope it's number 18 again" the faithful campaigner The Gill was heard to mutter as he wiped a tear of allegiance from his moist eyes. It was not to be it was number 44, which leaves the clear, resounding message: win it boys, silver, silver, silver.

Apart from the scoreboard and the umpires providing the doyen of HK scorers, Jen Lethbridge some moments of anguish, not much happened after the game was lost by CCC when 'Willo the wisp' had CCC’s HK squad legend Eagle caught off an inside edge by the fine hands of Gilly. It was a delight to see Papu Butani weaving his wristy magic and of course when Hi ho bowls hearts are in mouths at the KCC. But despite a valiant 50 by Purser,Grocer's team was up against it, notwithstanding a superb bowling performance by Natasha Miles,Hi ho's team paced themselves easily to be 8 down to win the game in the last over, with a fine 50 by Mojo followed by The Gill sensationally smashing 20 not out to set up a win in the last over.

A fine tea was shared in remembrance of Robbie Lee in this, KCC’s Centenary year, in good spirit amongst some fine competitors, friends and stalwarts of HK cricket. Dressed in their finery: blazers, ties and club colours resplendent they celebrated long into the night. The game is never over a prophetic Hi ho was heard to mutter as he made his way home.

Scorecard | Photos

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Noble Group Sixes - KCC, 4-5 April 2004

The KCC’s Cricket Section sponsors, the Nobel Group, hosted a Sixes competition during Easter. Twelve teams participated, mostly from within the group’s vast network of companies, as well as one from KCC. With strict instructions from the Captain of Cricket "not to win", KCC team of Travis, Yogi, Bob, Paul, Neeraj and Rishi duly lost the first game of their group after making the lowest score of the tournament.

Travis sat out the second game as Papu came into the squad. Papu’s tight bowling and splendid batting by Yogi allowed the KCC team to win the match and progress to the Plate phase of the competition to be played the following day.

On the second day, Yogi was unable to play and Shiroy, who was officiating as an umpire for the tournament along with Fahmy, was brought into the team when Papu was persona non grata when the team list had to be submitted for the first game. KCC comfortably won the Plate semi-final match against the Noble Group Owners team (sorry Burji) and then faced the highly fancied Brokers team in the Plate final. The KCC team with Papu now back in the squad, put on it’s best performance to-date as all the bowlers kept a tight line whilst Rishi, Paul, Bob and Neeraj excelled with the bat. In the end, KCC won quite comfortably.

Photos: Noble Group Sixes

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KCC Centenary Interport - KCC, 19-21 March 2004

KCC hosted teams from The Singapore Cricket Club and The Royal Bangkok Sports Club for a cricket Interport series during 19-21 March 2004. Three matches were played on successive days and a brief synopsis of the games is as follows and photos from the competition can be viewed here:

Match 1 – Singapore CC vs. RBSC

SCC was expected to win this match quite comfortably and duly did so, but not without a struggle. The slow and low wicket did not make for attractive stroke play and a relatively low scoring match ensued. Batting first, RBSC were bowled out for 195 with Richard Bowater and Gary Chatfield contributing half-centuries. Star of the show was however Ravi Chandran who claimed 6-38 whilst Duncan Robinson claimed 3-32. In reply, Singapore struggled but finally reached their target for the loss of 7 wickets in the 50th over. Pradeep was the best of the RBSC bowlers, claiming 4-29 from his ten overs. Oddly, Duncan Robinson received the Man of the Match award.

At Kowloon Cricket (played 19.03.2004): RBSC 195 (R Bowater 54, G Chatfield 69; R Chandran 9.4-0-38-6, D Robinson 9-0-32-3) lost to SCC 196-7 (D Hayward 46, R Frere-Smith 33; Pradeep 4-29) by 3 wkts

Match 2 – Kowloon CC vs. Singapore CC

KCC was expected to win this match comfortably, but didn’t. The match followed pretty much the same sequence as the opening game, with runs hard to come by on the slow and low wicket (the same strip was used for all three matches). Singapore batted first and crawled to a score of only 35 off their first 16 overs. However, some sensible batting by Simson (53), Shankar (41) and Hayward (39) lifted the total to 208-9 from their 50 overs. For KCC, Manoj Cheruparambil claimed the impressive figures of 6-43 from his 10 overs.

The SCC total seemed inadequate against the KCC side packed with most of Hong Kong’s top batsmen. After losing Rahul early, Manoj and Graeme Jardine quickly took the total up to 70-1 after 11 overs. Unfortunately it all went wrong from then onwards as many of the KCC batsmen failed to come to grip with the wicket. KCC was eventually dismissed for a very disappointing 157 in only 37 overs with 8 of the batsmen either bowled or out LBW. Whereas KCC’s bowlers had tried to bowl fast at the Singaporeans, the SCC bowlers bowled slow and let the stodgy wicket do the rest. Suresh Shankar benefited most by claiming 3-6 and the Man of the Match honours. Surya also claimed 3-43. For KCC, Manoj top scored with 38.

The Interport Dinner was held at the poolside after the match with all three teams in attendance. Despite the disappointment of the day’s result, the evening was a great success. Many thanks to all those involved in arranging the event. And a big thank you to the two police officers who turned up at 11PM to close down the impromptu karaoke session that the Singaporeans had started up whilst the live band was taking a break.

At Kowloon Cricket (played 20.03.2004): SCC 208-9 (D Hayward 39, C Simson 53, S Shankar 41; M Cheruparambil 10-1-43-6) beat KCC 157 (M Cheruparambil 38; Surya 10-2-43-3, S Shankar 5-2-6-3) by 51 runs

[Photos]

Match 3 – Kowloon CC vs. RBSC

The third and final match of the series pitted RBSC against a second–string KCC outfit. RBSC batted first and their innings mirrored that of SCC the day before. A slow start saw the loss of a few early wickets but some gutsy middle-order resistance helped the total to a respectable 204-9 by the end of their 50 overs. RBSC have Sailesh to thank as he scored an impressive 102, exactly 50% of the runs. Manoj was again the pick of the KCC bowlers, claiming 3-20 from his ten overs.

Having seen the cream of KCC’s batting falter the day before, no one was betting on a KCC win in the early going. And when Manoj gifted his wicket after a breezy start and Burji was run-out by a direct hit from the field, there were a few anxious looks around the clubhouse. Fortunately the mature shoulders and broad bat of Temogen Hield were at the crease and his patient unbeaten 66 saw the home side safely home. His effort was a master class on how to bat in difficult circumstances – I hope many of the KCC’s first choice batsmen were taking notice. Temo was ably supported at the end by Rob Gill who finished on 31 not out, as KCC reached their target in the 43rd over for the loss of 4 wickets.

At Kowloon Cricket (played 21.03.2004): RBSC 204-9 (R Bowater 32, Sailesh 102; M Cheruparambil 10-2-20-3) lost to KCC 205-4 (M Cheruparambil 63, T Hield 66*, R Gill 31*) by 6 wkts

[Photos]