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Upsets aplenty in latest local cricket action

There was plenty of action in round nine of the Saturday and Sunday cricket leagues played in glorious conditions over the weekend of 4-5 November 2006.

Hong Kong Cricket Association

There was plenty of action in round nine of the Saturday and Sunday cricket leagues played in glorious conditions over the weekend of 4-5 November 2006. With a number of key players out of town on international duty, there were a few surprise results and these have allowed the competition leaders to steal a break at the top the table in each league.

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2006-07 HKCA Saturday League

A full round of seven matches were played in fine and warm conditions around Hong Kong on 4 November.

Saracens lean start to the season continued as Gap Ramblers beat them in a thrilling match played on the grass at Kowloon Cricket Club.

Gap Ramblers batted first and posted a formidable 247-7 from their 35 overs with Hong Kong Player of the Year Mark Kratzmann hitting 43 while Stuart scored 44 and Young finished unbeaten on 61 not out. For Saracens, Parwani grabbed three wickets. Saracens run chase was lead by Ravi Sujanani, who hit a fine 83, and Jonathan King, who scored 40. But their efforts were in vain as Saracens came up 6 runs short of their target. Kratzmann completed a fine day's work by claiming four wickets.

Over at Hong Kong Cricket Club, another battle between HKCC and KCC took place as Witherers hosted Crusaders. And once again it was the HKCC team that took the honours.

Crusaders batted first and effervescent veteran Ray Brewster top scored with 54 as they were dismissed for 185. For Witherers, Steve Snell claimed three wickets while Sean Robson grabbed four. Half-centuries from Nick Gavin-Brown and Aaron Stewart lifted Witherers to a four wicket victory, despite the efforts of Crusader's Perera who grabbed four wickets.

Nomads made it a clean-sweep for HKCC teams on the day when they beat SCC Vampires in another tight match played on the Po Kong Village Road Number 1 ground.

Nomads compiled an impressive total of 223-5 from their 35 overs with Toby Brown hitting 83 and Richard Young scored 44 while Sanjay grabbed four wickets for the Vampires. In reply, Vampires were dismissed for 211 with Ankur Sharma hitting 82 and Bijur Tanmay scoring 50. Toby Brown completed a fine all-round performance by picking up three wickets as Nomads won by 12 runs.

There was another close match played at the Po Kong Village Number 2 ground where Laguna Gully beat St George's.

Batting first, St George's posted a competitive total of 225-6 from their 35 overs with Iftikhar top scoring with 61 while Vaibhav and Rahman also made useful contributions. P Mehta claimed three wickets for Laguna Gully and then joint top-scored with R Desai in the second innings as Laguna Gully ran out winners by two wickets in a tight finish.

It was anything but close at Police Training College ground where previously unbeaten Lamma slumped to shock loss to Police, who recorded only their second victory of the season.

Police batted first and scored 215-8 from their 35 overs with Yasir Mumtaz top scoring with 52 while Malkit Singh and Shiraz Khan made useful contributions. Toby White picked up three wickets for Lamma. In reply, Lamma were routed for 109 with Shiraz Khan claiming four wickets while Don Mohammad picked up three.

Losses to the second and third placed teams on the table gave Little Sai Wan Warriors breathing room at the top of the HKCA Saturday League points table. But the Warriors were made to work hard for their victory against Centaurs in a low scoring match played at Mission Road.

Centaurs batted first but could only manage a total of 118 as Iftikhar Khan grabbed 4-11 for the Warriors. Imran Idrees (34) and Neel (44) provided the bulk of the runs for Centaurs but their total looked too low to cause any problems for the Warriors. But Rafaquat Ali had different ideas and his four-wicket burst gave Centaurs hopes of an upset victory. However a solid 45 from Shabbhir Ahmed and an unbeaten 37 from Munir Dar steered the Warriors to an important three-wicket victory.

In the final match of the day, HKU scored their second win of the season as they thumped the Hong Kong Under-19s by nine wickets at the Sandy Bay ground.

Sher Lama top scored with 54 runs for the Hong Kong Under-19s as they posted a modest 168-7 from their 35 overs. But that total was made to look inadequate on the small Sandy Bay ground as Khalid Qureshi (93 not out) and Bruce Abernathy (62 not out) steered HKU to an emphatic victory.

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2006-07 HKCA Sunday League

There were plenty of individual highlights and a couple of surprise results in the latest round the HKCA Sunday League played in fine and warm conditions on 5 November 2006.

Templars provided the fireworks at Kowloon Cricket Club where they took on last year's champions Scorpions. On current form, Scorpions would have been favoured to take this match, but an impressive all-round performance from a wily veteran turned the match in Templars favour.

Templars batted first and posted a formidable 291 before being dismissed in the 49th over. Anoop Nainani lead the Templars charge with a fine 121 while Rahul Sharma contributed 75 and Shkawat Ali 39. Martin Lever did his best to stem the flow of runs from the Templars' bats as he grabbed 5-47 in a 12 over spell.

Rahul Sharma completed an impressive all-round outing as he picked up 5-24 from nine overs to leave the Scorpions' batting in disarray. Only Phil Pemberton (57) and Toby Brown (30) provided any resistance as Scorpions were dismissed for 166 in just 35 overs.

Across the harbour at Hong Kong Cricket Club, Optimists took on their fellow club-mates Wanderers in a friendly derby match-up. And in another surprise result, Wanderers upstage their more illustrious opponents, despite an impressive bowling performance from Chris Williams.

Optimists' Chris Williams grabbed the season's second best figures with an impressive spell of 7-29 as Wanderers were dismissed for 205 from 41.3 overs in the first innings. Imran Idrees (54) and Steve Snell (60) provided the batting highlights for Wanderers.

On a day where the bowlers held the upper hand, Michael Jamieson grabbed 4-44 as Optimists were dismissed for 159 from 34.9 overs in reply. Only Steve Campbell (36) and Chris Gillard (41) provided any real resistance with the bat.

At Mission Road, Infidels enjoyed another success as they scored an impressive eight-wicket victory over Vagabonds.

Vagabonds batted first and were dismissed for 231 in the 48th over with Ankur Sharma hitting a brilliant 129. For Infidels, Manoj Cheruparambil claimed three wickets while S Perera picked up four.

In reply, Infidels had little trouble reaching their victory thanks to an unbeaten 108 from Damian Kelleher while R Taylor (58) and Anthony Barnet (38) provide excellent support. Infidels' eight-wicket victory was reached with the best part of five overs to spare.

Meanwhile, at Po Kong Village Road, Millennium CC enjoyed their second victory of the season as they beat the winless Sri Lanka Club by five wickets.

Batting first, the Sri Lanka Club was dismissed for 188 from 36.3 overs with Neel top scoring with 72. Mohammad Javed was the best of the Millennium bowlers, grabbing 4-20 from seven overs.

In typical fashion, Millennium CC made short work of their run-chase as they raced to a five-wicket victory target in just 30.1 overs, despite Chandrin Dissanayake grabbing all five wickets to fall.

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2006-07 HKCA Skitz Sports Bar Women's Cricket League

The women were in action again in the HKCA Skitz Sports Bar Women's Cricket League as Lamma took on the HKCC Cavaliers.

The HKCC women batted first but were restricted to a total of 115-6 from their 35 overs. In reply, Emma Phillips scored 54 as Lamma reached 116-3 and victory by seven wickets.

Lamma's victory extends their lead at the top of the points table to twelve points.

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