Author: Ajit Thomas

On Friday, August 6th, 2010, the 6th edition of the Rawle Williams Memorial Game was played at the stately Rideau Hall cricket ground in Ottawa.  The event was blessed with briliant sunshine and cool weather perfectly conducive to play a cricket match.  The game was played in traditional whites with a red cricket ball, things that are sadly no longer the norm these days.  The format was 20 overs per side with 4 overs per bowler.

 

The Neville Trotman XI was co-captained by Orville and Emerson Trotman in honour of their brother.  The Birchmore Mayers XI was captained by Ajit Thomas.  The teams were quite evenly balanced with a slight edge going to the Trotman XI with the presence of a few formidable current NECC members in their lineup to make up the numbers.  The Trotman XI won the toss and opted to bat, another unquestioned Burghs tradition that seems to have also fallen out of favour in recent times :-)

 

The Trotman XI sent out Charlie Brady and Paul Mayers to open the innings and were facing Dom who was swinging the 2 piece ball prodigiously that was testing the nerves of the batsmen and Oakley Brereton who was keeping wickets.  The score ticked on steadily for around ten overs with the bowlers (Dom, Terry, Ravi, Sutha, Sylvan and Ajit) failing to break a partnership that was starting to look fairly ominous.  An inspired move by the captain of the Mayers XI saw the introduction of the wily septuagenarian Clydie Lawrence at the GG's end.  To see Clydie playing well into his dotage must be an inspiration for all cricketers, young and old to not give up on the great game and may be what inspires this writer to finally make a proper return to cricket for the 2011 season.  After being denied in his first over, Clydie struck by getting Charlie to hole out to mid-off where I held a low catch after almost bobbling it at first.

 

This may have broken the partnership but brought the dangerous Nimeesh to the crease who laid into the bowling with a lusty display of hitting.  Paul Mayers, playing the role of the sheet anchor at the other end continued to threaten with the bat, smiting me for a mighty six and posting a score of 28 before eventually retiring.  Young Shrichand, inspired by the sight of his contemporary at the other end banged in the ball at a rapid clip, giving the aforementioned Oakley further difficulties behind the wicket.  Lloyd Stanford arrived at the wicket next and announced his intentions early by smashing everything in the region between midwicket and square leg.  Skipper Orville soon joined him and took exactly one ball to play himself in and to get his eye accustomed to the conditions.  After that, Orville resorted to a form of batsmanship, vaguely reminiscent of Trumper from a bygone era and was eventually held safely at long on by me after hitting the ball into the stratosphere.  Next man in - the young skipper of the Burghs, the dangerous Dravya, and the crowd buzzed in nervous anticipation at what was sure to be an exposition of batsmanship   Alas, Dravya was gone in one ball, trying to hit an innocuous delivery from Terry down Dom's throat at long-off.  The Trotman XI ended its innings on 104 in 20 overs and a good match was in the cards.

 

During the half time presentation, Dom, doubling up as MC, welcomed the guests and explained the history of the event and welcomed important guests, including local M.P.P. the Hon. Yasir Naqvi and Ms. McKinley from the School Breakfast Program.  Mr. Naqvi was introduced to the teams and then both of the dignitaries gave a short speech to thank NECC for putting on the event and for participating in helping the community.  A bowl-out was organized by Harpreet and was keenly contested by Jawad, Terry, Ravi and Lloyd before Terry emerged victorious having hit the wicket 3 times.  An unnamed competitor was overheard stating that he would have won the bowl out had he not been unfairly sledged by another competitor (who will also remain nameless) with deleterious effects on his bowling accuracy.

 

On to the Mayers XI innings - faced with chasing a score of 104 in 20 overs and facing a potentially hostile Stanford and Emerson, the task did not look trivial at first glance.  However, the experienced opening pair of Dom and Sutha steadily negotiated the new ball and kept the scoreboard ticking along until Sutha lost his wicket.  That brought Arun to the wicket and between this pair of batsmen, the score crept up to 30 odd after 8 overs at which point Dom retired to give the others a chance.  I then arrived at the wicket and started off shakily, giving Orville the utmost in respect until the bowler dropped one short on the off side which received the traditional slash over cover for my first boundary of the day.  Showing some nerves due to the presence of critics (my kids) that I was keen to impress, I used every bit of luck available to survive the first over or two, including playing an absurdly comical french cut through my feet to Dravya's gentle off spinners.  After settling in, I started to play more confidently and played some nice shots including a sweetly timed six off my toes into the big tree at long on off Sylvan who happened to play and bowl on both teams.  I retired with my score around 40 leaving 6 to win which Terry and Ken made short work off.  The Mayers XI might have won this match but the Trotman XI certainly gave a good account of themselves.

 

In the post match session, MC Dom again doing an admirable job called up the President of NECC to make a speech on behalf of the club.  Pankaj thanked everyone for coming and higlighted the team effort of NECC that had made the evening such a success.  Both the captains then made a brief speech.  Captain Orville remarked on the special relationship he had shared with Rawle and his gratitude to the club in keeping these traditions alive and for honouring Neville in such a respectful fashion.  Similar comments were echoed by the Mayers XI captain on behalf of Birchmore Mayers and his family.  Paul Mayers was selected MOM for his cavalier efforts with both bat and ball and took home a bottle of Mount Gay Rum.  Raffle ticket winners were announced with my sister in law June winning a lovely coffee maker from Rogers. Another bottle of Mount Gay Rum was won by Anshul Singh.  The kids gorged themselves on donuts and hot chocolate, graciously provided by Rogers with many thanks to Shahid for organizing.

 

Dinner which had been served from 6:30 turned out to be a great success and all the credit for this goes to Shahid, Waji, Harpreet, Shailesh, Shanee and the rest of the intrepid Burghs who manned the kitchen and the WAG's who served the delicious food.  There was an air of festivity and joy throughout and as the dark night closed in, a certain reluctance on the part of those present to leave.  The players and guests lingered late into the night, talking about the old days and sharing war stories with no one wanting the evening to come to an end.  The cleanup was finished, monies were collected and everyone was unanimous in their view that this might have been the best Memorial Game yet, in terms of the cricket and the fun that was had after.  Congratulations to the Burghs and to the executive of the club for making the Rawle Wiliams Memorial Game of 2010 a truly memorable affair and one for the ages.