Young Malton win Ontario Cricket Association Championship

Young Malton (Etobicoke & District League champions) beat Canterbury CC (Ottawa Valley champions) by 135 runs on Sunday October 1 in the final of the OCA Championship. The match was played at Maple Leaf CC, King City.

The Young Malton side got off to a flying start, making 97 before losing their first wicket. Enos McDonald was top scorer with 90 (6x6; 8x4) and his opening partner, Belaji Rao made 44 (3x6, 3x4). Canterbury missed several catches and probably paid dearly as the opening barrage may have ended before the score reached 30.

Azeemul Haniff (32) and Nadim Khan (33) helped keep the innings flowing. Akber Hussain took the last four Young Malton wickets; the innings ending on 255 all out in the 49th over of a possible 50.

Young Malton bowled tidily and took two early wickets but no one really dominated for Canterbury. There was a promising stand of 49 runs for their fifth wicket but the innings quickly folded after Akber Hussain was out for 25 with the score on 112.

Six runs later they lost Tauseef Shamid for 30 and the innings crumbled to 120 all out. Puvendran Ravishankar was brought on to bowl the 34th over and closed the proceedings with a hat-trick. He had Khurshad leg-before, then a brilliant left-handed catch and a stumping from wicketkeeper Pubbudu Dassanayake completed the 1-2-3.

Play-offs before the final
The championship involved the winning teams from each of the five cricket associations affiliated to the OCA taking place in a series of play-off matches.. To reach the final, Young Malton beat Yorkshire CC (Toronto & District Champions) by five wickets at Centennial Park, Etobicoke on Saturday (Sept 30). Yorkshire batted first and were all out for 163, Asif Mulla top scoring with 55. Young Malton scored 164 for 5, with Idris Gangatt making 43.

Canterbury CC beat Crescent CC (Hamilton & District Champions) and Sunrise Browne CC (Southern Ontario Champions) to reach the final in matches played in the Kitchener-Waterloo area on the previous weekend.