Neisha Pratt, Mark Eames and Mark Kratzmann score centuries while Adrian Lee claims five wickets i nthe latest round of matches

Less fancied teams belied their league form to knock out their opponents in the latest round of the Saturday Cup compeition whilst Scorpions and Templars scored victories in the Sunday Cup.

There was a cracking game played at Hong Kong Cricket Club where Centaurs upset hosts Nomads by five wickets. Batting first in warm and sunny conditions, Nomads posted a challenging total of 258-7 from their 35 overs with Travis Smithson (61), Toby Brown (66); Andrew Swann (36) and Robert Tucker (42*) all making valuable contributions, while Steve Brammar claimed three for Centaurs. Shane Sibraa scored an unbeaten century in reply as Centaurs reached their taget for the loss of five wickets with Nick Lord also scoring 36 and Iftikhar Ahmed unbeaten at the end on 40.

The other two matches played ended in lop-sided affairs.

At Po Kong Village Road, the Hong Kong Under-19's put up an excellent all-round performance to whip Crusaders by 129 runs. The Hong Kong Under-19's operners posted a century partnership, with Sajjid Mahmood hitting 45 while Jamie Atkinson went on to top score with 82. Courtney Kruger and Gary Brierly both hit scores in the thirties as the Hong Kong juniors reached 246-4 from their 35 overs. Crusaders' batting faltered in the face of some fiery and inspired bowling from the Ahmed brothers, Irfan and Nadeem, who both claimed four wickets as Crusaders were skittled for 118. Crusaders' skipper Anthony Barnet (31) was the only batsman to post any innings of substance.

There was a similar result at Mission Road where CCC proved their victory over Mainlanders the previous week was no fluke by thumping MCC St George's by 127 runs. CCC scored 218-5 from their 35 overs with Mark Eames hitting 110. His efforts alone would be have been enough as MCC St George's were dismissed for 91 with Adrian Lee claiming his best return of the season with five wickets for twenty-five runs.

Saturday Plate quater-final action, Lamma were gifted a place in the semi-final round as Gap Ramblers were unable to raise a side. The remaining Saturday Cup/Plate quarter-final match-ups are as follows:

Saturday Cup

Saturday Plate

The Sunday Cup Semi-finals were played in mild but gusty conditions on 19th March 2006. League champions Scorpions were looking to cement their place in the Sunday Cup final as they faced SCC Vagabonds at Mission Road whilst Templars played Optimists at Hong Kong Cricket Club.

Mark Kratzmann hit his fourth Sunday century and sixth in all HKCA competitions this season as Scorpions beat SCC Vagabonds by 34 runs at Mission Road. Batting first, Scorpions piled on 283-9 from their 50 overs with Kratzmann hitting 125 while Toby Brown and Chris O'Sullivan contributed 53 and 31 runs respectively. In reply, Vagabonds made a bold chase, with Chandra hitting 82 and Ankur Sharma 60 but Kratzmann grabbed three wickets as Vagabonds crashed to 249 all out.

Templars beat Optimists in the other semi-final but details from that match were unavailable at the time of writing.

Scorpions and Templars will square off in the Sunday Cup final to be played at Hong Kong Cricket Club on 26th March 2006.

Lamma confirmed their status as the best Women's team in Hong Kong as they beat the KCC Maidens in their last outing in the league for 2005-06. Neisha Pratt, who will lead the Hong Kong Women's Cricket team as they attempt to qualify for the next Women's World Cup, scored yet another century (her fourth of the league) as Lamma posted 185-4 from their 35 overs. An unbeaten half century from Sarah Eames and another unbeaten 45 from Renee Montgomery, who will take up the Hong Kong Women's vice captaincy, saw KCC come close to pulling off an upset but Lamma prevailed in the end by a margin of eight runs.