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Scorpions virtually sew up Sunday League title

Five more centurions and two bowlers added their names to the 2005-06 Honours Board on a weekend that saw Scorpions virtually wrap up the 2005-06 HKCA Sunday League title.

Hong Kong Cricket Association
Saturday League action from Mission Road - Crusaders v. Gap Ramblers © HKCA
Five more centurions and two bowlers added their names to the 2005-06 Honours Board on a weekend that saw Scorpions virtually wrap up the 2005-06 HKCA Sunday League title.

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2005-06 HKCA Saturday League

SubCont and Saracens ensured that the fight for the HKCA Saturday League title will go down to the final round of matches as both teams notched impressive victories over the weekend, with matches played in fine but hazy conditions.

SubCont overtook HKU at the top of the 2005-06 HKCA Saturday League points table after recording a six wicket victory over the Hong Kong Under-19s at Po Kong Village Road No. 1 ground. The Hong Kong Under-19s could only muster a score of 175 with Asad (67) the chief contributor, while Neeraj Chopra and Ankur Sharma claimed three wickets apiece for SubCont. Another unbeaten century by Rahul Sambhus, his third of the season, ensured that SubCont cruised to victory for the loss of only four wickets.

In the match played at Kowloon Cricket Club, home team Saracens racked up a massive 315-3 after being sent in to bat by Kai Tak, with Naeem Ashraf smashing an unbeaten 155 off only 94 balls and Dyutesh Chaudhuri hitting 91. Ashraf's blistering assault included 13 sixes and 12 fours. Needing to score at a rate of over 9 runs per over, the Kai Tak batsmen were up against it from the start. Wickets fell at regualr intervals but some good middle order hitting by David Belcastro (51) helped Kai Tak reach a very respectable 244-7 off their 35 overs, though still a whopping 72 runs short of their victory target.

In another high scoring match, the Gap Ramblers opening pair of Jeremy Collard and Mark Kratzmann enjoyed their second century partnership in eight days as they monstored the Crusaders bowling at Mission Road. The pair put together a stand of 168 with Collard hitting a series of sumptuous straight drives in his score of 90 while Kratzmann carried his bat for 131 not out as Gap Ramblers totalled 265-4 from their 35 overs. Crusaders made a good fist of their reply with Damian Keller hitting 87 and Anthony Barnet 83 not out but they ultimately fell 18 runs short as the tail failed to wag in the final overs.

Lamma finished their league campaign on a high note as they walloped MCC St George's by 103 runs at Po Kong Village Road No. 2 ground. Mark Burns (48) top scored in Lamma's total of 208-7 whilst Harvidar claimed three wickets for Centaurs. Terry Pontikos claimed his second five wicket haul of the season as MCC St George's were dismissed for 105 in reply. Masood was the only batsman to offer any resistance with an unbeaten 46. Lamma's wicket-keeper, Brad Tarr, enjoyed a great day behind the stumps, claiming six catches and one stumping for a total of seven dismissals.

At the Hong Kong Cricket Club, Nomads completed an eight wicket victory over Centaurs. Batting first, Centaurs could only muster a total of 150 with Neil Frith and Chandrin Dissanayake making the major contributions. For Nomads, Toby Brown claimed four wickets and Luke Rewega claimed three. Toby Brown enjoyed a good double as he scored an unbeaten 74 with the bat as Nomads eased to victory with eight wickets to spare.

Witherers ensured another clean sheet for HKCC as they completed a four wicket victory over Police at the Police Training College in Aberdeen. Jeremy Glaros and David Hardy both took four wickets as Police were dismissed for 172, with Nasir Hameed once again providing the bulk of the Police runs. Witherers lost six wickets as they chased down the total, with Bob Bettridge scoring a half century and Kamran Khan claiming four wickets for Police.

Gap Ramblers victory moves them up to fourth place on the points table and they face SubCont next week at PKVR1 in a mouth-watering contest that will determine the final outcome of the competition. Second placed Saracens take on sixth place Nomads at Mission Road in what promises to be another hotly contested encounter.

2005-06 HKCA Sunday League

Phil DeFreitas grabbed five wickets as HKCC Scorpions virtually wrapped up the 2005-06 Sunday League title with a 38-run victory over Little Sai Wan in a winner-takes-all match at Hong Kong Cricket Club. Conditions were again fine but hazy as the two teams battled for championship honours.

LSW would have been delighted to dismiss Scorpions for only 196 in the 49th over with Irfan Ahmed (3-46) and Jawaid Iqbal (4-56) claiming the spoils. Ian Duncombe (57) and Ryan Eagleson (35) provided the major contributions in the Scorpions innings. But the LSW batsmen weren't able to handle the bowling of the former England international as they slumped to 158 all out in the 43rd over. Mohsin Naqvi (34) and Shabbir Ahmed (37) were the only innings of substance for LSW.

The victory leaves Scorpions 19 points clear at the top of the table with one round to play and only a shocking result next weekend could deprive them of the 2005-06 Sunday League title.

In other matches, Pakistan Association walloped Templars by nine wickets at Mission whilst Infidels beat Pakistan Association Green by six wickets at Kowloon Cricket Club.

Batting first, Templars scored 241-8 from their 50 overs with Graeme Jardine (62) and Afzaal Haider (58) both hitting half centuries whilst Amjid Mehmood chipped in with 40. Najeeb Amar claimed three wickets for Pakistan Association. But Butt Hussain (130*) and Nasir Hameed (65*) made short work of chasing down that total in only 34 overs for the loss of one wicket.

KCC's Infidels ensured the two clubs shared the weekend's honours as they beat Pakistan Association Green by six wickets at Kowloon Cricket Club. Batting first, Pakistan Association Green were dismissed for 165 in 37 overs with Roy Lamsam claiming three wickets. For the Pakistan team, Jamshed Khan scored 51, Ankur Sharma 37 and Prakash 33. Infidels had little trouble knocking off the runs in only 25 overs with Anthony Barnet hitting 64 and Manoj Cheruparambil scoring 48.

2005-06 HKCA Women's League

The 2005-06 HKCA Women's League returned to action this weekend as Lamma took on KCC at Po Kong Village Road in what was expected to be a close encounter. What materialised was exactly the opposite as Neisha Pratt (141*) smashed her second century of the competition as Lamma raced to 285-7 from their 35 overs. Kaori Iida also contributed 33. Renee Montgomery scored a valiant half century in reply but KCC could only register a score of 142-6 in their 35 overs.

Lamma's victory sees them take a commanding lead at the head of the Points Table with only a handful of games remaining and they now look strong candidates to retain their league title.

Related Links

2005-06 HKCA Saturday League

2005-06 HKCA Sunday League

2005-06 HKCA Women's League

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Report submitted by Travis Pittman