Sujanani's hat-trick lights up the latest round of matches

Ravi Sujanani claimed a hat-trick in the latest round of Saturday League matches whilst Azhar Illahi hit a century. In Sunday League action, Phil DeFreitas' all-round talents took Scorpions to victory over Pakistan Association in a crucial encounter, whilst Templars got the better of Infidels in a derby match at KCC.

Round 13 of the 2005-06 HKCA Saturday League was played in perfect conditions on the first weekend of December.

At Kowloon Cricket Club, Saracens got the better of rivals Tartars in a close battle that went down to the wire. Rahul Sharma set Saracens up for a score of 226-6 off their 35 overs as he hit 81 at the top of the order whilst Ravi Sujanani and Naeem Ashraf also made good contributions. Tartars made a good fist of their run chase but struggled to keep up with the run-rate as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Ravi Sujanani made the most of the late innings scramble for runs as he claimed five wickets, including a hat-trick, as Saracens won by 20 runs in the fading light.

Saracens were hoping their KCC clubmates Crusaders would do them a big favour by knocking over competition leaders SubCont at Mission Road. Alas, SubCont were too strong as they powered to a 5 wicket victory. Ray Brewster's half century for Crusaders was matched by one from Ankur Sharma while Bruce Borges's four wickets proved a major difference between the two teams.

LSW Warriors maintained their second place position on the points table after thrashing bottom-placed Mainlanders by 143 runs at the Po Kong Village Road Number 1 ground. A century by Azhar Illahi and another half century from Jawaid Iqbal allowed the Warriors to build a mssive total of 273-8 off their 35 overs. The young Mainlanders team struggled to 130-7 in reply.

The Hong Kong Under-19's put up a spirited performance against MCC St George's at Po Kong Village Road Number 2 ground. Batting first, the Hong Kong boys accummulated a respectable 214-4 from their 35 overs, with Courtney Kruger hitting 77 not out and Irfan Ahmed 65. The early clatter of wickets did not deter the MCC St George's batsmen and an undefeated sixth wicket partnership between Narinder (72*) and Yasar (61*) took them to victory.

At Hong Kong Cricket Club, Alex Wade claimed five wickets for Gap Ramblers against fellow clubmates Witherers. Witherers were humbled for 105 with Wade and Clive Duddy claiming all but one of the wickets to fall. With the in-form Mark Kratzmann in the batting line-up, Gap Ramblers cruised to victory with 7 wickets to spare.

Police scored their fourth victory of the season as they thrashed Centaurs by 82 runs at the Police Training School in Aberdeen. Danny Ishtiaq top scored in the Police total of 198-8 and then claimed three wickets as Centaurs were dismissed for 116, with Neil Frith the only Centaurs batsman to offer much resistance. Saiket Sen also claimed four wickets for Police.

In Sunday League action, also played in perfect conditions, LSW, Scorpions, Optimists and Templars scored victories.

Match of the day was undoubtedly Scorpions versus Pakistan Association at Hong Kong Cricket Club. With the match reduced to 44 overs per side, Pakistan Association batted first and were restricted to 208-9 from their allotted overs with Nasir Hameed hitting a half-century and Phil DeFreitas claiming five wickets. DeFreitas displayed his all-round class has he hit a half-century, whilst other notable contributions came from Tim Smart and Ryan Eagleson. In a tight finish, Scorpions eased to victory with two wickets and 10 balls to spare.

Optimists inflicted further pain on the Pakistan Association as they thrashed Pakistan Association Green by seven wickets at Mission Road. Mal Costain claimed four wickets as four wickets as Pakistan Association Green were dismissed for 145 in the 39th over. Shane Sibraa hit an unbeaten 77 as Optimists raced to victory in only 25 overs.

A similar margin of victory was achieved by LSW as they beat Millennium at Po Kong Village Road. Batting first, Millennium were dismissed for 185 in the 42nd over with Waseem Imtiaz top scoring with 67. Shabiir Ahmed and Irfan Ahmed claimed four wickets apiece for LSW. In reply, Tabarak Dar and Suresh Pandey stroked half-centuries as LSW reached their victory target in the 39th over for the loss of only three wickets.

Templars put their late order collapse against Infidels behind them as they took on their clubmates in the re-match played at Kowloon Cricket Club. Playing on the grass wicket, Simon Scanlon hit the highest individual score of the day (87) and Damien Kelleher also hit a half-century as Infidels scored a modest 240-7 in their 50 overs. Half-centuries from Rohan Boghani and Graeme Jardine allowed Templars to erase the deficit, and a few bad memories, as they eased to victory in the 43rd over with four wickets to spare.

The latest match of the 2005-06 HKCA Women's League featured one of the strongest sides, HKCC Willow Wielders, against one of this season's new teams, LSW. It was a lop-sidded encounter from the start as Anastasia Yip claimed four wickets as LSW were routed for only 35 runs in their innings. The HKCC women had little trouble in knocking off the runs without losing a wicket.