==================================================== YEAR 2010 MATCH
REPORTS ========================================================
August 14th: NECC vs Capital United CC:
Author: Dominic Thomas
When an irresistible force meets an irremovable object something has to
happen. And this past Saturday, several things certainly happened. The
venue was the lovely cricket field at Lynda Lane II. The contest was
one between the gritty Burghs IX and the self-proclaimed team of
superstars from Capital United. Burghs, missing several of the regular
‘A’ players was definitely starting with a disadvantage. Nevertheless,
when young Shrichand flipped the coin, the cricket Gods smiled
favorably on us and allowed us the option to either bat or field first.
Never one for consensus decision making, Arun had elected to bat before
he picked up the winning coin from the Astroturf pitch (good on ya
mate!).
Things started off ominously for us when both Terry and Dom were warming
the bleachers within the first 3 overs. Pankaj and Shailesh,
essentially opened the batting at 3 and 4. A slow start would only be a
mere prelude to a tale which would unfold over the ensuing 45 overs.
They were still there, batting with focus and perseverance when Burghs
crossed 50 after about 15 overs. A mistimed shot from Pankaj had him
caught at deep midwicket for a respectable 22, ending a 70 run
partnership with Shailesh. If the cricket bookies from a bygone era
were casting their lots, the chances that we would cross 120 at this
point looked pretty slim….but that would mean that they had written off
the other man still at the crease. A certain Mr. Masih decided at this
point that this was his game. What followed was a batting clinic of
beautifully timed strokes - some which raced across the line; while
others flew high above the line. With his one man show and at times
solid support from several of his batting partners, he made the
opposition look like they were bowling at him with a tennis ball. If
this was a Bollywood movie, Shailesh would have played the roles of
hero, villain, love interest, mafia don, comic relief and maybe even the
leading lady. The rest of us were merely spectators in this one man
show. Burghs closed their innings with a decent 203 on the board of
which Shailesh’s contribution was a league leading 139. Way to go
Shailesh!!!
After a 30 minute break in the action, it was our turn to take the
field. The opening pair of Saunil and Arun started off strong by
finding the edge and causing a series of half chances that went
unrewarded. At this point, almost to put the cherry on top of his
chocolate sundae of a game, Arun tossed Shailesh the ball. We were all
rewarded when the opener Mustafa fell to a sneaky one from the golden
boy. The other opener – the danger man – was still at the crease with
lots of big hitters still to come. With some strong, disciplined
bowling and fielding, wickets started to fall at regular intervals.
Akhil bowled with particular effectiveness and was successful in getting
their star Afghani national player to leave a ball only to have his off
stump ignominiously uprooted. They were 120 for 5 at the halfway mark
and our only chance of winning was to bowl them out. When the danger
man Nasrat was put down on the line, a palpable sense of deflation from
the Burghs could be felt. But we rallied back and got him LBW in the
next over. The rest of the wickets came over the next hour or so but
not without some additional tense moments. All I can say is – what a
game!! Congrats again Shailesh!
August 7th: NECC vs Nepean Blue CC
Author: Virendra Dhavale
It was a
beautiful summer Saturday at Rideau Hall – a light breeze was blowing,
the birds were singing…and our umpires were late! Captain Arun (filling
in for the vacationing Akhil) and his counterpart Nanda from Nepean set
to work developing appropriate penalties to impose on our tardy
adjudicators when they finally did make their appearance. It was
ultimately decided that each umpire would buy a round of beer for the
players - we can dare to dream can’t we? Now back to
reality….unfortunately for New Edinburgh, we lost the toss and the boys
from Nepean elected to bat first.
After the trademark Burghs-style
comments about the sorry state of the pitch and "How I hate playing
on the RH 2 pitch" and about the “groove-less stumps which even the
bails were unable to rest on, yadda, yadda, yadda”, the umpires finally
arrived (did I mention they were 15 minutes late?) Their first order of
business was to request that the pitch be thoroughly swept, as though
that would make a difference, given that the mat on Rideau Hall 2 has a
remarkable Swiss cheese quality to it.
The game finally got underway.
Arun, in what is now becoming standard operating procedure for
him, started the proceedings from the Mackay St. end dismissed the
opening batsman in his very first delivery. What a corker! A perfectly
bowled outswinger, pitching a touch outside off and finding the edge of
the hapless batman’s willow, ultimately lodging safely in Gokul’s
greedy hands at 2nd slip.
Saunil started from the other
end and kept the pressure on grabbing a couple more. After about 15
overs, Nepean Blue was 3 down for around 30 and the Burghs were well on
their way. The introduction of Nash and Dravya put the opposition under
more pressure. Gokul took yet another stunner in the slips off a wicked
“doosra from Dravya”…hmm, that has a ring to it! At this point Nepean
were 60 for 6. Burghs’ walk in the park however, took a bit of a detour
when Koji found his form and started smacking some lusty blows off Viru
and kept the scoreboard ticking while building a decent partnership
with others. In an inspired bit of captaincy, Skippy brought back the
ever crafty Saunil and was rewarded with a breakthrough on the very
first ball of his spell. From there it was upto Ali and Jawad to clean
up the tail.
After a quick break, the Burgh’s
opening pair of Tim and Arun walked out to the middle. The game looked
well in hand when both batsmen returned not out at the tea interval.
Unfortunately, the Nepean bowlers capitalized on the break and were able
to dismiss both openers shortly after play resumed. Luckily for us,
the two new men at the crease – Nimeesh and Saunil – mounted a good
offence and piled on the runs at a lively and entertaining pace.
Nimeesh was the first to go with the score just past 90. In walked the
young “A” skipper looking supremely confident and ready to get going
against the mediocre bowling. After finding the boundary a couple of
times and pushing the aggregate past 100, Dravya fell to a tricky one
that he didn’t get a good read on.
At this point, Saunil, in an
inspired fit of artistic batsmanship, tried what was ultimately deemed a
“reverse glance scoop and ballet style pirouette” to have the furniture
behind him disturbed. Charlie, Jawad and I were soon to follow, all of
us out clean bowled. With the score at 122 for 8 and the tension rising
in the Burghs camp, one of the Nepean bowlers was quite generous to
bowl a wayward delivery well down the leg side that went past the keeper
and over the boundary at fine leg.
After
a solid bowling performance, confident batting from the top order and
then surviving a scare at the very end of our batting innings, Burghs
were finally home. The Burghs are now practicing hard, preparing for
the upcoming weekend to face this year's brand new, yet a very strong
Capital United CC for back to back matches. The Challenge Division
match is scheduled for Saturday and a Citizen Division match on Sunday.
Please come out and support the boys this weekend.
July-August Long Weekend:
August 2nd: NECC vs Capital United at Rideau Hall 1
Author: Arun Shrichand
NECC had
its first Challenge division clash with Capital United this past
Monday. The stakes were high, given the fact that the two teams are in
the same group fighting for top spot.
It was another warm humid day. The grass was drier than anything I've
ever seen since I started playing at Rideau Hall 5 years ago. El
Capitano Dravya won yet another toss and in what was a surprising
decision for our opposition (and perhaps for some within our team),
elected to field first (do not throw your Blackberry away in disgust Dom).
Once again, Dravya termed it an aggressive move, and wanted us to
“Kingston” (note that this has now become a verb in Burghs parlance) the
opposition before the forecasted showers in the afternoon. (See
scorecard to get the reference: http://www.cricketstar.net/ovcc/index.jsp?form=matchrev&r=matchrev&game_number=71&season_id=2010+50OVE)
The Shrichand brothers opened the bowling. The bowling was pretty
disciplined, however given the dry field, a few ground shots that did
make it to the boundary. Panky picked up the first couple of wickets,
including former Afghanistan U-19 player Ayub Ahmedzai with a short ball
which was duly edged to “Safe Hands” Masih at gully. Yours truly had a
frustrating game, bowling relatively well and inducing various close
calls.....but alas no luck. As “Safe-Hands” astutely pointed out, "You
guys put in too much effort"......and then proceeded to back up his
ridiculous point by bowling gentle “donkey drops” and bagging 3 wickets
in the process.
Shailesh, Terry, Dravya, Saunil, and Harpreet bowled some excellent
overs in the middle - not allowing the uber aggressive Capital United
play their game. Our resident keeper, Nimeesh also had a terrific game,
with a notable stumping of danger man Nasrat Rahimi. To their credit,
Capital United did establish a few partnerships from their lower middle
order, with captain Delawar scoring 40. With support from others,
Capital managed to reach 170. This was a terrific effort from NECC,
given Capital's strong batting lineup, the horrendous ball we play with,
and the field conditions.
Following some quick rain showers, Burghs began its chase with Shailesh
and Gokul opening. Unfortunately we were not off to the greatest of
starts, with Shailesh getting a tough decision - judged caught behind
off his pads. However, the jitters ended there with in-form batsman
Panky Shrichand coming in and having a fantastic partnership with
Gokul. It was a pleasure to watch these two at the crease.....both
making full use of the dry field, dissecting the field with some
beautiful ground strokes and running hard. There was some impressive
boundary hitting as well - once Pankaj began hitting his trademark cover
drives for six (one from off-spinner Delawar being the highlight of the
day), Burghs looked well on its way to victory. There was a minor
hiccup when Gokul got out within arm’s reach of his 50. However with
only a mere 35 runs required, Dravya and Terry provide good support for
Pankaj and chased the runs comfortably. Pankaj made 70 odd, and Burghs got a bonus point. As a result, NECC is now the top seed in its group!
August 1st: NECC vs Kingston at Lynda Lane 1
Author: Akhil Shah
It was a pleasantly warm day as the Burghs assembled at the grounds a player short. Kingston didn't have all their members present which provided me with the opportunity to claim the toss and bat first. Rehan
(the junior) opened the batting with Charlie and were both back in the
pavilion before the end of the second over. Saunil and Shailesh were the
next pair up and managed to get a few runs on the board. They made full use of the dry quick field before Shailesh skied one to the covers due to the slow so called "pitch". Pankaj batted at number 5 and along with Saunil built a strong partnership. Saunil and Pankaj kept their cool and the duo were able to take us past 100. Saunil
edged the ball to the keeper and was out for a well made 39. Yours
truly made his way to the pitch and with support from Pankaj, had a 96
run partnership. In the end, Burghs posted a total of 202 with Pankaj yet again, leading the scoring with 66. Other notable contributors were Akhil with 45, Saunil with 39 and Shailesh with 20 odd. It
should be noted that Pankaj was not due to play this game but with true
Burghs spirit, showed up on a moment’s notice to round out our 11.
It was now our turn to take the field and everyone was pumped up after posting a target of over 200. Sid and Saunil opened the bowling attack and were disciplined with their line and length. Saunil, with his deceptive “anti-pace” got Manhas Sr. to hole out to mid-off in the second delivery of his spell. Kingston had decided to come all guns blazing as was observed with their batsmen just swinging like crazy. They were able to get a few partnerships going and were looking to chip away at our total with ease. Introducing the ever crafty Waji into the mix changed the game completely. With his use of flight and guile, he got the batsmen to give him their wickets. He was the pick of the bowlers as he got his first 5 wicket haul of the season. Congrats Waji! In the end Kingston were wrapped up for 170 after giving us a scare when the last pair put on a 60 run partnership. Great performance overall in the field but there is still much room for improvement from our batsmen.
We play Nepean Blue next and a win against them will definitely help us in our pool. We
managed to get them out for 107 at our last meeting so let's try to
keep them under that tomorrow. All the best team and let's get a
winning streak going!!!
July 31st: NECC vs Nepean Red at Lynda Lane 2
Author: Sid Farid
Bright
sunny day…great day for cricket! Nine Burghs were at the field, Saunil
somewhere in Ottawa making his way to the ground and one burgh MIA.
Given the lack of regulars and players in general, some of us had to
adjust to new roles. Kaundai and Nash took the new ball and yours truly
was behind the stumps with the gloves. We started off really strong.
Nash and Kundai were making the ball dance. We missed a couple of
early chances that allowed the batsmen to get comfortable and keep the
scoreboard ticking.
We
were quite disciplined with the ball and did not give too many extras.
Kundai bowled well and consistently swung the ball in to the right
handed batsman. He eventually got the break through by taking Dushy
with a superb delivery. It pitched a foot outside off stump and cut
back sharply to knock it over. Nepean was 80 for 1 after 15 overs. The
bowlers bowled better than the stats suggest. There were lots of edges
and some poor fielding and playing one short did not help our situation.
After the water break Saunil and Sid were introduced and the nature of
the game changed completely. We really clamped down and slowed Nepean’s
scoring. In the next 10 overs we only conceded 35 odd runs and bagged a
couple of wickets.
Then
came the captain and we kept the pressure on. Wickets fell at regular
intervals primarily due to our aggression in the field. Among those
wickets was a brilliant catch by Waji at deep midwicket where he dove
for a ball which was moving away from him. After the second water break
the first ball from Akhil was edged by Kulan but was unfortunately put
down. Akhil, sounding a bit like Mel Gibson in Braveheart, yelled “play
on” to the team and turned to Kulan and said, “That is my wicket”.
True to his word, Akhil bowled him with his next delivery. It was a
great moment!
Nepean
was 160 or so for 8 after 34 overs when the wheels fell off the NECC
bus. Nepean went on the attack led by Ranjit and well supported by
Ranjeev who was their number 11 batsman. Ranjit, in a bout of unbridled
aggression, hit 14 fours in short order to reach the coveted century
mark. He was well supported by Ranjeev who ran hard to give him as much
strike as possible. It should be noted that we gave Ranjit 4 lives.
He was finally removed in the last over by Ali but the damage was done.
Nepean had reached a mammoth total of 258 which would prove
insurmountable for NECC’s batting on the day.
NECC
were skittled out for a paltry 48 runs in 22 overs. The only notable
batsmen for NECC were Kudai and Ali who tried to make a game of it.
Overall
a poor performance from us and one we would all like to forget.
Tomorrow is another day and another game and we have to bring our top
game and get a split. Keep your heads up and your bats straight chaps!
July 17 and 18th Weekend:
Author: Pankaj Shrichand
July 17th: NECC vs. Kingston (CHG) at Lynda Lane I
Cricket plans rarely work like a charm, but this one was couldn't have
come off better. With thundershowers forecasted and a moderate
opposition to play, Dravya "I don't give a toss about the toss" Sharma,
called right again and decided to put the opposition in. The game
plan: bowl the opposition out cheaply and try and knock off the runs
quickly, before the rain gods piss on our party. For the sake of some
cheap giggles, it's unfortunate that a certain Dominic "thou shalt bat
first" Thomas was not in the XI - the "wtf" look that would've
undoubtedly followed upon hearing that skippy had chosen to field first
on a hot day, would've quite frankly made my day. Ah well...
So starting proceedings for us were Arun and Naks, and opening for
Kingston were some Loblaws No Name brand opening batsmen -- it was a
horrible mismatch. I really should shut my trap about catches in the
slips having gone the way of the dodo. Since my rants at the start of
the year, we've had about 3-4 nicks and we've caught a resounding zero
percent of them. So was the case on Saturday, with Arun inducing edges
of successive balls - one put down by Shailesh and the second falling
about six inches short of yours truly, who was probably standing much
too deep. Not the ideal start and some of us were starting to think
that maybe this fielding first idea wasn't as brilliant as skippy had
made it out be.
Enter Nakul "grab the game by the inswinging balls" Nayyar. What
ensued should be considered a crime against humanity that may well be
reported to the International Criminal Court - seven overs on the trot,
under ten runs conceded, and seven, yes count em - seven - wickets in
the bag. Add another dropped catch or two, and Captain Nayyar may well
have had an eight or nine-fer. The greedy bastard will have to settle
for seven. Awesome stuff.
End result: Kinston stuffed for 22 in about 16 overs. Sundries
top-scoring with about 8, and No Name Opening Batsmen #1 being the
leading willow-wielder for the opposition with a dogged five runs to his
name. End result #2: Skippy, you're a bloody genius.
Following a brief rain interlude (the highlight of which was gorging on
some top-of-the-line egg and tuna sandwiches, courtesy Messrs Nanda and
Masih), the game resumed and we had the onerous task of chasing down
this mammoth total. There was some sadistic thought of making the No
Names field for 40-odd overs, but alas, kinder souls prevailed and we
knocked off the runs in 3 overs - Masih finishing the game with a six,
just to rub it in an intsy-bitsy bit more.
MoM: Take a wild guess.
Well played Burghs, and well played Nanda and Shrichand for contributing
magnanimously to Rideau Hall coffers over the next 7-odd hours. Some
chap called Zain made an 89 not out out there..wanker....
July 18th: NECC vs. Cathedral (CHG) at RH1
Round One of this contest had been won by the Burghs last weekend by a
measly one run, and the re-match promised to be another cracker. Our
very own 'thrilla in Manilla' (hard to rhyme with Ottawa).
Captain Courageous finally lost a toss and unsurprisingly the opposition
elected to bat. Nayyar and Shrichand (jnr) were again in stellar
form with the new ball (i wanted to say new "cherry", but i guess that
doesn't apply anymore, what with the white version of the sorry excuse
for a cricket ball that we now use...what's a suitable aphorism? "the
opening bowlers swung the new rosagulla beautifully"???). In next to
no time, the Cats were four wickets down with our dynamic duo taking a
couple each. No seven-fer for "Jujay" (dont ask me, ask Leens) today;
he'll have to settle for two.
At this point, while I was marking my extended run up and planning a 42
miles per hour bouncer right at Asif's throat, skippy-licious decides to
bring my ambitions crashing down to earth, and instead handed the ball
over to Saunil "I really shouldn't talk so much" Desai. With a mixture
of reverse-swinging straight balls, loop, dip, and seemingly vicious
turn, that extracted maximum out of the rough (rough in this case being
the entire f #@&-in
22 yards that we played on y'day), Mr. Desai took out five Cats in a
fine spell. 6 wickets in a B game, followed by another 5 in an A game
against the same opposition - game, set, and match to the man who put
the "bad" in Ahmedabad. Safe to say that Cathedral will be happy not
to see him for the rest of the season. Mr. Desai's first cousin is
currently doing duty for the Canadian team, and on current form and with
the help of some overt nepotism, he may well be on his way to national
honours as well.
87-8 and we thought that this was another short day in the office for
us. Meandering between overs from slip to slip, I was calmly
contemplating if I could beat my previous day's record of maximum beers
consumed by 2 PM. Alas, it was not to be, and my liver thanks the
Cat's tailenders (I was sorely tempted to say the "Cat's tail", but that
woulda been a miserable pun of Dravya-esque proportions). Mounting a
resounding fightback, the last three bats added 60 runs to take their
team's tally from embarrassing to semi-competitive. One of the
aforementioned tailenders even claimed that he had resisted the
temptation to hit into the stratosphere several "pappi" balls from our
pie chuckers. "Pappi" balls clearly being a Pakistani colloquialism that
has over the years replaced staple Trini/Guyanese pearls of wisdom such
as "puts some licks on his rass" - evidently, the Cats are undergoing a
demographic transition. Anyway, I digress into social
commentary. Good grit shown by Cathedral and we have a game on our
hands.
Something then happened to our playing strip over the interval, to make
it an even bigger piece of shyte. Maybe Shahid bhai (Afridi, not Khan)
having made up his mind that he's not cut out for this test cricket
thingy, decided to do some of his notorious "So you think you can dance"
pirouettes on our hallowed 22 yards. Maybe the cricketing gods, just
wanted to f @#*%
with us. Who knows...either way, Rideau Hall One yesterday did a
stellar impression of Ferozshah Kotla Day 5, post-tea (actually for the
Kotla, it may well have been day one).
So now that I've done that brilliant set up and laid the perfect
foundation for a load of excuses, I should let you know that Gokul,
Shailesh, et moi, were all back in the hut after having gritted it out
for all of five overs. Hit a stone, stayed low, swung in then swung
out and then stayed low....yada, yada, yada...
Skippy now had a job on his hands, and in the hallowed tradition of
Bradman, Sobers, Chappell, and Shrichand, he led from the front. With a
stroke-filled 33, including a blazing pull stroke off of his opposite
number, the momentum had been shifted. However, in true Burghs fashion,
we refused to capitalize, and what followed was a slew of dismissals,
aided and abetted in no small part by aforementioned piece of shyte
wicket. Dour resistance was offered by Messrs Kaushal and Nanda, the
latter being dismissed by what may well be the catch of the season by
Aneel in the slips.
95-8 and we were doing a fantastic job of replicating the first
innings. 50 runs to go and in to bat, Arun and Akhil. I could say
that I had full faith in our numbers 9 and 10 and mouth a few more
platitudes, but I'd be a lying sun-of-a-gun. Between our pathetic
scoresheet, the piece-of-you-know-what pitch, and the wily Cats bowlers
(Dennis, Asif, et al), I had all the faith of an agnostic. However, A
& A did exactly what the situation demanded - knocking of singles,
pushing the twos, gleefully welcoming the wides - and next thing you
know, we need 15 in the last four. Tense situation, further
compounded by our #11, Saunil Desai, being talkative as ever. Seemingly
intelligent, educated men falling for mad superstitions and not moving
an inch from their designated spots. I ran back in mid-piss between
overs, so that I could resume my exact spot on the RH stairs where my
posterior had been planted fore the duration of this partnership.
No divine intervention was however needed, and like seasoned pros, the
Rundy and the Thepla calmly brought the game home with a couple of overs
to spare. Two nail biting wins (just for you Ken) out of two for
Burghs against their esteemed Rideau Hall colleagues. Crucial
victories, given we're in the same pool and are competing for a Super
Sixes spot. These two results would've done our chances no harm.
So from 0-2, our A season has been salvaged to a respectable 4-2
record. We've won four straight but our next opponents are Capital
United. There is much room for improvement - not in the least, our
catching and our schizophrenic batting. However, for now, let's savour
one of our finest wins, brought home by your young guns, both with ball
and bat.
MoM: Monsieur Desai.
July 10 and 11th Weekend:
Author: Alti Siddiqui
Game 1 - NECC vs NCC (Citizen) - Won by 3 wickets
Game 2 - NECC vs Cathedral (Challenge) - Won by 1 run!!!!
Game 1 Summary:
It was an extremely hot day and the players needed every drop of water
to quench their thirst. It would have been a great day to watch cricket
from inside the pavilion but in the true spirit of Hollywood (and
Bollywood), the show had to go on!
The
Burghs lost the toss and took the field with only 10 players. Luckily,
Sanjay was kind enough to show up on very short notice to round out the
11. Nepean Blue elected to bat first but the Burgs team was pumped and
ready to play. Shanee and Saunil opened the bowling and started off
really well. Shanee was using the hardness of the wicket to get some
uncharacteristic bounce. The young Kiwi Saunil from the other end was
bowling a great line with Hadlee like discipline. Nepean Blue struggled
to score runs and each dot ball added to the pressure. Shanee struck
first with a beautiful example of reverse swing. Saunil from the other
end bowled with phenomenal economy ending his 8 over spell by giving
away a paltry 9 runs. The big bats from the Nepean team never really
got going and with some tight bowling from the skipper Akhil – 4 wickets
for 20 runs and Viru who got a wicket off his first ball, Nepean posted
a very makeable 107 runs in 35 overs.
The
Burghs batting struggled to get going, losing 2 quick wickets within
the first 5 overs. With a 100 runs to go at this juncture, it was
critical to have a good, solid partnership between the two men at the
crease. Nimeesh and Saunil showed good discipline and kept the score
ticking by running hard for their singles and doubles. They mounted a
terrific 70 run partnership with drives, hooks and pulls in plentiful.
The shot of the day was a textbook cover drive from Saunil that
dissected the field and slammed hard into the boards. It was not all
smooth sailing for Burghs however when a few quick wickets were lost in
the middle overs. Nakul and Akhil brought the game home to give the
Burghs B team a much needed win. This game saw young Sonny make his
debut for the Burghs and the lad distinguished himself by fielding well
and being at the crease to run the winning runs.
Game 2 Summary:
We
won the toss this time around and Captain did not listen to my request
to bowl first so that we could watch the world cup final when we
bat!!!....Shailesh and Dom opened the batting for us. We lost an early
wicket in the first over (ask Shailesh for his excuse....something about
the ball hitting a rock on the mat or something??..jk) Anyways, like the day before we needed a good partnership from our top batsmen. Pankaj and Dom delivered on cue, playing some extraordinary shots in every direction it was a treat to watch. Dom and
Pankaj put up a partnership of 81 runs before Dom departed after
scoring a great 40 runs. Dravya came into bat next and gave Burghs a
quick 27 runs before getting run out. Pankaj continued attacking the
bowling and ended up scoring a brilliant 77. Only Harpreet (21 runs of 9
balls!!) and Saunil (11 runs) scored in double figures after that and
we managed to score 230 runs before getting all out in 48.4 overs. A
decent score but maybe a few runs short against a team that was stronger
with the bat. Regardless, it was a much better performance by that bat
from Burghs and gave us some momentum going into to bowl.
Aneel
and Riad opened the batting for Cathedral and played extremely
defensive. They were scoring at a run rate of about 3/over and the tight
bowling from out opening bowler Arun and Dom kept them way behind.
first change to Pankaj and Saunil paid off with Pankaj striking first
and getting Aneel out and then 3 more quick wickets fell, 1 for Pankaj
and 2 for Saunil put pressure on Cathedral. However Cathedral fought
back with some strong hitting from their middle order Adil, David Sr.
and Asif, Cathedral were right back into the game, dropping a few
catches didnt help either. Pressure seemed to have shifted and Burghs
seemed to be struggling with the bowling. However a brilliant piece of
fielding from Akhil in the deep ran David Sr out and a great catch from
Shailesh off Dravya's bowling put us back in the game. Pankaj came back
to bowl and took a crucial wicket of Asif and with about 10 runs
required in the last 3 overs Dravya put the ball in the hands of Mr
Masih. Using his amazing looping technique he confused the batsmen and
restricted the runs to just a few. Last over and Masih to bowl again and
only 5 runs required, he picked up the wicked of Easton, stumped by
some great keeping by Nimeesh. Getting extremely tense Cathedral were 9
wickets down and required 4 runs of the last ball. Masih bowls a great
delivery on the off side and Cathedral only managed to run 2, falling
short by only 1 run.
Tense game and always good to be on the winning side of this one. Great game...crucial game as Cathedral are in our division.
June 26 and 27th Weekend
June 26th: T20 vs Barrhaven:
Author: Dominic Thomas
It started off as
a dreary day for cricket with a torrential downpour occurring while
many of the players were making their way to the Barrhaven cricket
ground. To our good fortune, the weather Gods smiled upon us and gave
us a break in the rain which allowed our match to commence. Barrhaven
won the toss and elected to bat. Nakul with the new ball started off
brilliantly with a perfect set up for Vernon. The first ball of the day
could have yielded a wicket but was unfortunately put down by yours
truly in gully. Luckily, Vernon was run out in the following over and
the mistake was not a costly one. Arun shared the new ball from the
other end and struggled early with his line. Shane along with support
from Asif, took some lusty swings at the Burgh’s bowling and cemented a
solid partnership. Pankaj was brought on to bowl around the 12th
over and got the breakthrough we needed. From that point on, the rest
of the BCC batsmen never really got going and ended their innings with a
respectable 99 on the board.
NECC needed a
good start from the opening pair of Shailesh and Dom. We started well
by running a few quick singles and caught several of the fielders in the
infield resting on their heels. Just when Shailesh looked like he was
ready to get going, an unfortunate attempted run on Shane had him back
to the pavilion for 15 odd. In at number 3 walked an extremely
confident Pankaj, ready to take a firm handle on the innings and right
the ship once again. With some carefully run singles and a few big
hits, NECC put 60 or so on the board in fewer than 10 overs. From
there, victory for us was virtually assured and when Pankaj mistimed a
lofted off drive, Dravya came in to take his place. The pair of Dravya
and Dom chipped away at the remaining runs and returned not out. All
in all, a convincing and much needed victory for the T20 team.
June 27th: Challenge vs Barrhaven
Author: Harpreet Nanda
Opponent -Moderately disorganized yet talented Barrhaven team.
Venue - Barrhaven ground.
Setup - Tense...Burghs needed a victory to open their season account after two hard losses in the A.
We lost the toss and were put in the field by Barrhaven skipper Shane.
As usual Arun gave us a good start and took 2 quick wickets to put
pressure on the BCC top order. The ball was swinging beautifully and
late for him. Anyhow Barrhaven skipper Shane, used his straight bat and
nitrus oxide powered personality to rebuild the innings...luckily he
had Kimbo Slice helping him in this process.
Barrhaven were slowly rebuilding and were looking to
solidify after the loss of those early wickets. NECC kept their cool
and with the help of some tight bowling from the Skipper, Akhil and
Panky kept plugging away with wickets and maidens. Our fielding was top
notch and Masih took the cake by pouching two brilliant catches to get
rid of the Russell brothers. He then proceeded to eat his cake by
taking three wickets by bowling deadly reverse swing at 43 mph to clean
up the BCC lower middle order. Saunil came for a one over spell and
used all his Ranji trophy experience to deceive the BCC tail with Shaun
Pollock style slow bouncers and got the final wicket. Verru took a
break from his persistent poetic sledging to take a well judged catch in
the deep. In the middle of all this was a calm run out of Kimbo Slice
executed by the recently domesticated Shanee and a nice pinky catch
taken in the deep by Pinky ..I mean Panky plus some great keeping from
Nimbu. Anyway Barrhaven set us a target of 135.
Our new opening partnership of Arun and Pankaj was looking solid and
added 25. At this point the Junior Shrichand fell to a tough LBW call.
Nimeesh went in and started to rebuild with Panky , but a
miscommunication amongst these best of friends lead to the unfortunate
run out of our wicket keeper. Panky then started rebuilding with the
skipper and took the score to 80 odd when the skip, who was looking
mighty comfortable was bowled by his rival number. At this precarious
situation arrived cake eater Masih and after a few tense moments settled
down. Panky and Masih took the score to relative safety of 115. Panky
had reached a well deserved 50, but unfortunately at this point lost
his concentration and nicked one to the keeper. Sanjay who was making
his A debut for the season was sent in at this tense moment. Having
already impressed the team by providing us with a nutritious lunch , he
proceeded to gain more brownie points by playing a calm knock with
Mr.Masih to bring the team home....to add to the joy we got a bonus
point as well.
All in all great work . We are on the board and let’s start a winning streak now.
June 19th and 20th Weekend
Author: Nimeesh Kaushal
NECC didn’t have a good start to their A division 2010 campaign. We lost both games unfortunately!
June 19th vs Canterbury: Dravya
won the toss and without any doubts elected to bat first. Shailesh and
Nimeesh opened the NECC innings. The opening stand only lasted for
about 12 odd runs. Top/Middle order gave way to some very disciplined
Canterbury bowling but Shailesh and Dom's 87 run partnership stabilized
the innings. Shailesh played his usual self and made a well-knocked 50
odd runs whereas Dom (in the line-up after last year's semi-final) made a
healthy contribution of 35 odd runs. NECC ended up with a total score
of 143 odd in 36 overs. The game had been shortened to 38 overs per side
due to nearly 2 hrs of rain stoppage.
A strong start right from ball # 1 was what NECC needed. Terry answered
the call by taking Vikram out for 17 odd runs with an excellent caught
and bowled. At the other end, Ejaz built on his innings and added 35
runs to Canterbury's total. Zain and Ejaz provided a stable partnership
in getting Canterbury closer to the target. NECC failed to capitalize
on the odd couple of chances given by both batsmen. With not much to
defend, Canterbury chased the runs with 4 wickets down!
June 20th vs Ottawa: Dravya
was lucky again with the toss and decided to put runs on the board.
The opening stand of Shailesh and Nimeesh fell after contributing 28 odd
runs on the board. The rest of the top and the middle order was taken
aback by Ottawa's energetic and tight bowling. With wickets at constant
intervals, the NECC innings failed to gain momentum and folded for a
mere 71 runs. Pankaj, Shailesh and Terry were the only double digit
scorers in this match.
The entire playing eleven hoped and believed in stopping the Ottawa
innings early. Arun Shrichand without any doubts answered the call
diligently taking out two wickets in two successive balls. Four balls
later Arun was in action again knocking out the danger man, Nana for a
mere one run, and thus denting Ottawa's hopes severely. Fahd on the
other end along with skipper Dhanushka played his role with ease. But
with Fahd gone due to a lovely delivery from Terry, Ottawa's line-up was
yet again exposed. Arun jumped into action yet again taking another
crucial wicket; that of a seemingly set Dhanushka. Now the game had
gotten interesting ... Ottawa needing 14 runs with 3 wickets in hand.
Harpreet who came in for another spell dented Ottawa further taking 2
quick wickets. Light at the other end of the tunnel seemed very close
for NECC.
But it was not to be, Ottawa's last wicket partnership of 8 runs proved
the decider and Ottawa won a close-close game! Extras for NECC (20 in
total) proved costly ... a definite area of concern! Nevertheless as it
was mentioned by the skipper at the end of the game, other than the
batting failure - the side bowled and fielded with a lot of grit,
determination and focus in bringing this game close (special mention to
Man of the Match Arun Shrichand on his first 5-wicket haul). A couple
of additional chances here and there in the field and it could have been
a different result altogether!
NECC now switches gears to Twenty20 mode this coming Tuesday and
Thursday. There are high hopes of extending the current 3 game winning
streak in order to gain some much needed momentum in the T20 division.
June 13th: Citizen Division Match
Author: Shanee Raizada
It
was the 2nd B-game scheduled to be played between Cathedral and NECC.
The day was bright and beautiful, just perfect to play the 50 over game.
Cathedral
won the toss, and quite obviously elected to bat. After a little bit
of delay due to the missing score-book (neither NECC nor Cathedral had
one, and the scorer had no option but to use his geometrical forte for
scoring by drawing batting/bowling tables on plain paper), the game
started. Arun and Shanee opened the bowling, and Arun got the first
break-through in his first over. Loss of an early wicket didn't put a
break on Cathedral scoring and they kept maintaining a healthy run-rate
of 5+ in the initial 10 overs. The game was looking to steer in one
direction until the introduction of Saunil. Saunil started brilliantly
by maintaining a tight off-stump line. He got his first reward when
Cathedral's opener Prashan hit a skier towards the deep mid-on. Akhil
ran like Usain Bolt from the long-off boundary and completed a wonderful
catch. The fall of this wicket, as well as bringing on Drav-bhajan
started a period of wicket/maiden overs. With Saunil and Dravya bowling
in tandem, Cathedral couldn't score runs freely and Saunil kept taking
wickets. His next wicket was an excellent reflex catch taken by Viru,
and carrying on the momentum he finished his spell with 6 wickets by
giving away a meager 22 runs. Then a period followed when Cathedral's
batsman David Sr. started middling the ball, and we started misjudging
the catches. Akhil broke their progress by clattering David's stumps,
and Arun ended their innings by getting the last two wickets. Cathedral
ended up making 162 runs in 43 overs, which was easily 25-30 runs more
than what they should have been at.
Sanjay
and Charlie started the NECC innings well with Sanjay playing
aggressively. He got out pulling a ball to mid-on. The ball was
keeping a bit low at one of the ends, and the next batsman Viru got out
lbw on one of the similar balls. Cathedral did the bowling change after
the 6th over, and brought Asif on. With his skiddy bowling and some
assistance from the pitch, he got quick wickets in his spell and started
a debacle for the NECC innings. Almost all of his wickets were batsmen
getting clean bowled. Only Dravya tried salvaging our image by
smashing the ball around, and he was the last wicket out. NECC got all
out for 50 runs in a span of 18 overs. Quite a huge loss!
A
disappointing game for sure, but still a few positives can be taken -
Saunil's 6 wickets in his first game; decent fielding/catching; lesser
number of extras; good keeping by Charlie. Negatives to work upon -
Batting, batting, batting.
June 9th: Twenty20 Match
Author: Dravya Sharma
It was a Wednesday afternoon, and people were walking to the ground,
suited-booted, straight from work, slightly late! It was threatening to
rain when Nimeesh went into toss. He won the toss (again) and sent
Ottawa into bat.
Our
opening bowlers did a commendable job upfront keeping the run-rate in
check. Nakul and Kundai (1st change) took the first couple of wickets.
For Kundai's wicket, Nimeesh made an inspired field change and brought
in a deepish extra cover. Next ball Salman was caught in that
position. Ottawa were around 45 for 2 in 9 overs. Again, Nimeesh put a
deep square and next ball, off Akhil, Saad-ul-huq hit it to deep square
when Kundai ran in and took a good low catch making it look easy. In
came Nana, and Akhil flighted a ball to him and he hit it straight down
long-on's throat. Ottawa never got going after that, with wickets
falling at regular intervals and with hardly any runs being conceded.
We were given a target of 83 in 20 overs. We had a clinical day on the
field, with no misfields and no drop catches. Only the 20 wides
tarnished a great bowling effort.
Shailesh
and Pankaj opened. They provided a solid opening stand of 28 in about 5
overs. Shailesh got caught behind trying to pull a short ball. He was
unlucky, since the shot was on. Next ball, Nakul got LBW. It really was
more Thigh Between Wicket (note there is 'high' in 'Thigh'... sorry for
that!)... Anyhow, in went Gokul and played second fiddle. He gave
Pankaj most of the strike, who was striking it brilliantly. Between the
extra cover drives and the walk down the pitch hits, the Ottawa bowlers
had no answer. One gorgeous shot was the square off-drive off Nana
that screamed to the boundary along the ground! Needing two runs to
win, Pankaj hit a six and reached his 50 as well. We won by 8 wickets
with over 4 overs left. Pankaj was MoM and Burghs played a very
professional game of cricket. Let's keep 'em coming!
Scores are posted here: http://www.cricketstar.net/ovcc/index.jsp?form=matchrev&r=matchrev&game_number=36&season_id=2010+T20
May 29th Weekend
Author: Akhil Shah
We
kicked off our B season last Saturday again Nepean Red on a cloudy
morning. It was not a bad toss to lose and the opposition opted to bat
first. Shanee and Nash shared the new ball and were able to extract
some swing. Nash struck first getting one of their openers to glove the
ball for a great catch by Charlie behind the sticks. Shanee soon
followed by uprooting the middle stump of the next batsman in. We
continued to get wickets at regular intervals and at one point Nepean
were 60 for 4 in less than 20 overs. Things started to change at this
stage as Nepean got a solid partnership going with Panch and Kulhan.
They played cautiously and were rotating the strike well, not going for
big shots at any time. The introduction of Kundai started to pull the
game back in our favor as he continued to chip away with the wickets.
He maintained his line and length and ended up getting 5 wickets!!!
Aamer M. also bowled well and ended up with 2 wickets. In the end
Nepean managed to end with 181 on the board, of which almost fifty were
gifted by us in wides.
Gokul and Charlie opened the innings for us and gave us a decent start,
stroking the ball around and getting the singles and doubles. Charlie
got out in the 6th over and Shanee was the new man in. Shanee and Gokul
got a partnership going and the chase was on. Gokul was finding the
gaps and running hard between the wickets reducing the target
consistently. Burghs lost 3 quick wickets soon after with Shanee and me
getting a knick to the keeper and Tanmay, after clearing the boundary a
few times, got caught at the long on boundary. Alti came in to bat
next and got a partnership going with Gokul, again, both men playing
with a calm head and running hard between the wickets. The game was
looking in favour of Burghs as the two guys continued to erase the
deficit. Unfortunately, going for a second run, Alti fell short of his
crease and was run out on 14. Kundai came in next and played sensibly
for his 13 runs before falling to a catch at covers. The tail was
exposed and Burghs fell 40 runs short of the target.
Gokul ended up making his first 50 in OVCC with a brilliant knock , not
getting support at the other end. Gokul and Kundai shared the MOM. The
team put in a great effort with commendable performances by Charlie
with the gloves, Kundai, Aamer M and Shanee with the ball, and Gokul
with the bat.
Overall, I thought Burghs played good cricket (barring the extras),
holding on to the catches and batting with a good temperament. Certain
areas need a lot of work and will be looked into at practice.
May 15th and 16th Weekend
Author: Arun Shrichand
Just to provide a quick update to all of our members on this past
weekend's results. Burghs was finally able to get wins on the board -
winning 2 out of the 3 games played.
May 15th vs Defence: Things
did not start off well. Our first game was against Defence and batting
first, we were only able to muster a paltry 79 runs. Pankaj was the
only player who seemed to have an idea on how to bat, scoring 31. The
next highest score came from wides (25 in total). In terms of bowling,
the team started off pretty well, and Defence was 18-4 at one point.
However, Karan and Rajiv batted sensibly and chased the runs
comfortably.
Following the Defence loss, we headed over to Lynda Lane to play against
Nepean. Once again, Burghs batted first and found themselves in a bit
of trouble. However heroics from Pankaj and Dravya saved the day - NECC
scored approx 80 runs in the last 10 overs taking our total score to
around 125 or so. Opening bowlers Nakul Nayyar and yours truly bowled
tight opening spells and then the spinners took over - getting lots of
spin and uneven bounce from the astroturf wicket. There were a few
scares, with Nepean's Panch Panchalingam hitting a few lusty blows;
however they fell around 20 runs short. Burghs finally got their first
win of the season......
May 16th vs Cathedral: On
a beautiful sunny Sunday, Burghs faced off against unbeaten Cathedral.
Burghs was once again batting first and after a blistering start by
Shailesh and Nimeesh, Nakul came in and played beautifully with Nimeesh,
setting up NECCs largest score this season. Nakul hit 41 and Nimeesh
hit 36, and there was some decent late hitting by Pankaj, Dravya and
Terry to take us to a total score of 145. Once again, NECC's opening
bowlers started off well and the pressure was on Cathedral to keep up
with the required run rate. In the middle overs, Burghs dropped a
number of catches in succession, and that allowed Cathedral to stay in
the hunt. Cathedral needed around 30 odd in the last two overs, with
one wicket in hand. Cathedral's newest addition, Adil, hit Terry for
two massive sixes to start the 19th over, which definitely heightened
the tension. However, Mr. Nandlal got him out next ball, with Waji
taking a superb "clutch" catch in the infield. Cathedral was all out
for 124.
So
all in all, a good weekend for Burghs. Moving ahead, we need to win
the majority of our 20/20 games to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot.
There will be a bit of a break from cricket for Burghs. However, we
need to maintain the intensity in our practices to ensure we continue on
the momentum built from this past weekend.
May 8th and 9th Weekend
Author: Shailesh Masih
May 8th vs Kingston: Match rained out
May 9th vs Kingston: NECC won
the toss and decided to field first on a cold and windy afternoon. NECC
players took the field with enthusiasm and about 4+ layers of clothing
on them. Arun and Shanee gave us a great start with the new ball. Even
with a few lives given to the batsmen, KCC could only muster under 5
runs an over in their first 10 overs. Pankaj and Harpreet kept the
batsmen quiet during the middle overs, but with some late hitting by
Lohit and Sanjay, KCC reached 125 in their allotted 20 overs.
NECC had a horrific start with their openers departing in quick
succession. Nimeesh and Arun steadied the ship and built a small
partnership. At this point NECC required well over 9 runs an over and
they needed some heavy hitting. Dravya (43) provided just that with
strong support from Arun (30). Dravya's score of 43 included 4 sixes
and one four and Arun's 30 had 2 fours and one six. In an attempt to
keep up with the required run rate, NECC lost wickets on regular bases
and fell 8 runs short of the required target.
May 1st and 2nd Weekend
Author: Nimeesh Kaushal
May 1st vs. Nepean: NECC lost the
toss and were put into bat on a cloudy day. Shailesh and Arun opened
the innings and contributed 15 odd each, giving NECC a decent start. As
the game progressed, rain interrupted play and the game had to be
reduced to 17 overs per innings. A wet outfield, slippery conditions
and low bounce on one end of the pitch made play a little difficult. But
poor shot selection along with very sharp fielding by Nepean meant an
end to NECC's innings at 70 all out!
With
not much to defend, NECC needed quick wickets. Arun knocked out the
first wicket off of his first ball. It was good to see much-needed
aggression from NECC bowlers during the middle overs. But with
controlled execution and some late hitting by Koji, Nepean chased down
the score in 13 overs.
May 2nd vs. Ottawa: NECC won the
toss this time and chose to field first. Nakul and Arun opened the
bowling attack for NECC. An early couple of breakthroughs by Arun got
the NECC innings off to a great start. In came Nana, Ottawa's latest
recruit from Kingston CC, who got off to a decent start in no time and
built on his innings. Dhanushka on the other end provided vital support
through the middle overs to Nana. Nakul and Terry applied the brakes
onto the scoring rate, with Nakul getting 2 quick wickets in 2 balls.
But Nana batted superbly throughout his innings, except for one tough
chance to Terry at deep mid-wicket. He went onto to make an unbeaten
114. Ottawa, in 20 overs, scored 196.
Looking
at around 10 runs an over to chase down the target, Burghs needed a
strong start. Ottawa provided good support with the very first over
yielding 16 runs (including 7 wides). Arun and Shailesh again provided a
strong opening stand taking Burghs to 40 odd in 5 overs. Nakul went
onto support Shailesh and made a quick-fire 17 runs, including a
towering six over long on off of Nana's bowling. A decent partnership
between Terry and Shailesh took NECC to nearly 70 odd in the first 10
overs. Shailesh contributed with a crucial 42 runs. Terry anchored the
innings during the middle overs with a fiesty 43 runs, which tooks us
closer to the target. But it just wasn’t enough -- NECC were wrapped up
at 166 for 9 in 20 overs.