Big guns fall by the wayside in early Cup action

Anthony Barnet's hundred couldn't save Infidels from elimination in the Sunday Cup © HKCA

League champions SubCont were an early casualty in the opening round of the Saturday Cup competition that also saw Gap Ramblers, Witherers, Kai Tak, Lamma and Mainlanders fall by the wayside. In Sunday Cup action, SCC Vagabonds made good on their qualifying round reprieve as they booked their place in the semi-final round of the competition.

The first round proper of the Saturday Cup got underway in overcast conditions on 11th March 2006.

Top billing of the day was the match-up at Hong Kong Cricket Club between Saracens and Gap Ramblers, who finished second and fourth respectively in the 2005-06 Saturday League. And the match lived up to the hype as Saracens came out on top in a high scoring thriller.

Gap Ramblers batted first with Jeremy Collard (95) and Mark Kratzmann (87) continuing their impressive league form as they carted the Saracens bowlers around the HKCC oval and with Hamish Suart pitching in with an unbeaten 43, Gap Ramblers finished their 35 overs with an imposing 275 runs on the board for the loss of four wickets. Saracens proved throughout the league competition that chasing big totals was not a problem and today was no exception as Dyutesh Chaudhuri (38), Ravi Sujanani (43), Rohan Boghani (37) and Amjad Mehmood (62) all made valuable contributions before Yogesh Mahtani brought them home with an unbeaten 67.

There was a big upset at the Police Training College where Police, who had to play a qualifying match, knocked out the 2005-06 Saturday League champions SubCont by 62 runs. Police took first use of the wicket and they posted 210-7 from their 35 overs with Nasir Hameed (62) and Ankur Sharma (55) posting half centuries, while Ankur Sharma claimed three wickets for SubCont. Rahul Sambhus hit 40 and Ankur Sharma 32 as SubCont were restricted to 148-9 in reply. Khalid Khan and Vicky Hussain claimed four wickets apiece as Police pulled off a shock result.

HKU ensured that they stayed in the reckoning for some silverware as they hammered Kai Tak by eight wickets at Sandy Bay. Batting first, Chris Williams top scored as Kai Tak were dismissed for only 154 with Bruce Abernathy and Tahir Khan claiming three wickets each. HKU had little trouble knocking off the runs for the loss of only two wickets with Butt Hussain smacking an unbeaten 119.

KCC's Tartars also enjoyed the sweet taste of victory as they beat Lamma by 51 runs in a match played at Mission Road. Shkawat Ali top-scored for Tartars with a well struck 67 while Afzaal Haider (49) and Farooq Saeed (40) also made valuable contributions to their score. Darryl Bending claimed four wickets for Lamma. Toby White (44) and Tauseef Bukhari (33) were the best of the Lamma batsmen as Lamma were restricted to 187-9 in reply, with Afzaal Haider claiming three wickets for Tartars.

LSW Warriors thrashed Witherers by eights wickets in match a played at Po Kong Village Road number 1 ground. Munir Dar claimed four wickets as Witherers could only muster 137-9 from their 35 overs, with Nick Gavin-Brown (64) the only batsman to offer any resistance. Munir Dar then smote 82 runs as LSW Warriors eased to victory for the loss of only two wickets.

The last match of the day was the final qualifying match of the competition which saw the two bottom placed teams of the Saturday League - CCC and Mainlanders - pitted against each other on the Po Kong Village Road number 2 ground. CCC batted first and posted a total of 202-6 from their 35 overs with John Bachelor (56), Lee Hill (40) and Mukhtar Ahmed (47) all making significant contributions to their cause, whilst Najeeb Amar claimed five wickets for Mainlanders. CCC finally registered their first win of the season as they dismissed Mainlanders for exactly 200 to secure a nail-biting victory by just two runs. For Mainlanders, Sunny Mirchandani and Nazabat scored 32 runs each.

Conditions were once again cool and damp as Infidels faced SCC Vagabonds at Mission Road in the only match to be played in the Sunday Cup competition on 12th March.

SCC Vagabonds posted an excellent 312-4 from their 50 overs with Ankur Sharma (90), Rahul Sambhus (55), P Chandra (33), Tauseef Bukhari (49*) and R Nanda (33*) all making significant contributions. Infidels reply was led by centurion Anthony Barnet (102) and Ravi Sujanani (40) but Mark Burns and Ian Beck grabbed three wickets each as SCC Vagabonds secured victory by 92 runs.

The two HKCC women's teams faced each other for the second time this season and the result was pretty much the same as their first encounter. Natasha Miles led with both bat and ball as the Willow Wielders eased to victory by nine wickets. Cavalier's Angela Kwan top scored with 40 runs in their total of 148-9 from 35 overs, while Natasha Miles claimed five wickets for the Willow Wielders. The Willow Wielders had little trouble knocking off the runs with Natasha Miles hitting an unbeaten 81 while Betty Chan scored 51.