Two ton Rizwan heads individual honours that includes a seven wicket haul and a hat-trick

Rizwan Sattar scored two centuries to lead the list of individual honours in week 18 of the 2006-07 cricket season that also saw centuries scored by Irfan Ahmed, Butt Hussain, Toby Brown and Imran Idrees. Neel claimed the bowling honours with a seven-wick

Hong Kong Cricket Association

05-Feb-2007

Rizwan Sattar hit centuries for Lamma CC and Millennium CC © HKCA

2006-07 HKCA Saturday League

Another weekend of fine and warm conditions greeted players for round 18 of the Saturday League, played on 3rd February 2007.

The feature game of the round was played at Kowloon Cricket Club where the two top placed teams in the competition faced off in a pivotal match. And the two teams didn't disappoint as the match went down to the wire.

Crusaders batted first and they got off to an electric start with Manoj Cheruarambil hitting a brisk half-century. But his departure saw the run-rate stall and Crusaders lost wickets at regular intervals as they tried to up the ante. Rob Taylor (58) was the only other batsman to get on top of the Warriors bowling attack, which was lead by Yasir Rana who claimed three wickets. Set an even 200 for victory, Jawaid Iqbal (35) got the Warriors reply off to a solid start after the early loss of Azhar Illahi. But it was Ilyas Gul who provided the backbone of the Warriors' batting effort as he hit a well-struck 75 that took Warriors to the brink of victory. Needing 9 runs from the last over, Gul struck a six off the first ball, just clearing the fielder on the long-on boundary. But his dismissal from the next ball gave Crusaders a sniff at victory. A dot ball and a suicidal two, with the subsequent run-out, left the last pair at the crease with still two runs needed for victory. A leg-bye and a scampered single saw LSW sneak a one wicket victory from the penultimate ball of the match in a nail-biting finish.

The Warriors' victory sees them retain their unbeaten record this season and lifts them back to the top of the Points Table.

Across at Hong Kong Cricket Club, Lamma beat hosts Gap Ramblers by seven wickets. Batting first, Gap Ramblers posted an impressive 253 all out with Barry Pearce top scoring with 86, while Butt Hussain grabbed four wickets and Jonathan Seifman claimed three wickets for Lamma. In reply, Rizwan Sattar and Butt Hussain both hit centuries as Lamma made the big total look insignificant as they eased to victory for the loss of just three wickets.

Irfan Ahmed (144) smashed the second highest score of the Saturday League this season as the Hong Kong Under-19's posted a formidable 272-5 against St George's at Po Kong Village Road Number 1 ground. Courtney Kruger also joined the run-fest with a half-century of his own while Nilantha claimed four wickets for St George's. The St George's response never threatened to challenge the total and they were dismissed for just 135 with R Rahaman scoring 49 and Zuaid Khan claiming three wickets for the Hong Kong Under-19 team.

On the other ground at Po Kong Village Road, Kai Tak scored a hard fought three-wickets victory over SCC Vampires. Prashanth top scored with 58 as the Vampires were dismissed for 162, with Dave Ellis claiming four wickets and Tiku Patidar picking three. N Keating scored an unbeaten 54 as Kai Tak reached 164-7 in reply, with Satish Kumar claiming three wickets.

A similar winning margin was enjoyed by Laguna Gully over Police at the Police Training College. Police posted an excellent 238-6 from their 35 overs with Ijaz Mir hitting 59 and Nasir Hameed scoring 62, while Prashant Mehta grabbed three wickets. Mukul Mauk led the Laguna Gully response with a solid 69 while Parakash Charavarti and Abhishek Desai also made useful contributions. Laguna secured a three-wicket victory as they reached 240-7.

There was another high-scoring match at Sandy Bay, where Nomads scored a 56-run victory over HKU. Batting first, Nomads scored a 270-5 from their 35 overs with Toby Brown smashing 105 and Travis Smithson 70 while Richard Young finished unbeaten on 36. Bruce Abernathy scored 74 for HKU in reply, but their total of 214-8 was well short of their target.

At Mission Road, Saracens batting woes reached a new low for the season as they were dismissed for just 85 against Centaurs with Neel claiming the league's best figures with 7-38 from his ten overs. Centaurs had little trouble with the run chase, although they lost three wickets along the way.

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2006-07 HKCA Sunday League

Another key match-up provided the highlight of round 18 of the Sunday League, played in fine conditions on 4th February 2007.

Optimists and LSW played each other in a key match in the Sunday League played at Po Kong Village Road. Optimists batted first and were dismissed for 228 in the 48th over with Ben Hart top scoring with 57 while Mark Eames, Mark Fuzes and Mark Holland all hit thirties. For LSW, Nadeem Ahmed claimed four wickets and Jawaid Iqbal grabbed up three wickets. LSW's challenge never materialised as they were dismissed for 137 in just 24 overs with Chris Williams and Mal Costain both picking up four wickets.

Third place Wanderers strengthened their place on the table with a stunning 200-run victory over Sri Lanka Club at Mission Road. On a wicket that has seen many low scores this season, the Wanderers batsmen had a field-day, creaming a massive 382-5 from their 50 overs against the hapless Sri Lanka Club bowlers. The scoring was led by Imran Idrees who hit an even 100 while Tood Hoare (51), Steve Snell (54) and Aaron Stewart 76*) all made impressive contributions. Sri Lanka Club managed 182 in 36.2 overs in reply, with Gazari (44), Supun (37) and Neel (31) scoring the bulk of the runs, while Hugo Davison did the most damage with the ball, claiming three wickets.

Rizwan Sattar scord his second century of the weekend as Millennium CC played Infidels at Kowloon Cricket Club. Infidels batted first and they posted an impressive 294-8 from their 50 overs. Ravi Sujanani led the way with an unbeaten 97 not out while Anthony Barnet scored 75. Masood was the best of the Millennium bowlers, claiming three wickets. Rizwan's excellent 113 threatened to take Millennium to victory but in the end they fell 24 runs short of their target. Khalid Qureshi also scored 55 runs for Millennium while Manoj Cheruparambil and Ravi Sujanani claimed three wickets each for Infidels.

There was another thrilling match at Hong Kong Cricket Club where Scorpions chased down a huge total to beat Templars by six wickets. Templars batted first and posted 292-8 from their 50 over with Rahul Sharma (64), Mohammad Azam (45), Afzaal Haider (34) and Shkawat Ali (30) making notable contributions. But Scorpions made a calculated run chase that saw them ease to victory in the penultimate over for the loss of just four wickets. Mark Kratzmann topped the Scorpions batting with 82, while Phil Pemberton (57), Toby Brown (56) and Mark Edwards (46*) also shone with the bat.