A good Thanksgiving weekend for the Cannons, with two of our three teams winning their semi-final and advancing to the finals next weekend.
Div 1 had a re-match of last year's semi-final against Nova Scotia Avengers CC (our opposition in all three divisions). Bowling first, Shadab Ahmed struck in the first over, and we were never behind the game from this moment. Shadab was at his best with 3/11 off 4 overs, in addition to a catch and direct hit run out. Satnam Singh bowled well in the latter stages with 2/18 off 4, while skipper Sagar Mandhan, Daksh Talwar and Priyank Trivedi all took one each in a great team bowling display. Avengers 9/80 off 20. Danish (13) and Arslan Khan (24) came out on fire putting on 35 off 5 overs, upon which Daksh completely took the game away with 33 off 20 balls. A couple of wickets lost in the closing stages didn't dampen our dominance, as we won with 6 wickets and 55 balls to spare to book our spot in next weekend's Final Series against Halifax Titans CC. Scorecard
Div 2 batted first, and after losing a wicket second ball, built steadily with Andrew Irving combining for partnerships of 36 and 41 with Rudy Audikesavalu (23) and Dhruv Mohta (14) respectively. At 2/78 after 12, 150 was on the cards, but we kept losing steady wickets which didn't allow us to up the scoring rate as we would have liked. As the wickets fell, Andrew compiled 53 before falling in the last over, and we ended with 8/128. A little short of where we should have reached, but a total we were still confident of defending. Avengers started well putting on 32 in the first 5 overs before losing a wicket. The introduction of spin changed the game, Hiren Patel and Nihar Shah both striking early in their tight spells. As the required rate started to build, skipper Tushar Sehgal and left armer Sujaan Singh continued to keep the scoring rate well below the required rate while picking up 3 crucial wickets between them. Eventually, Avengers needed 17 off the last over, and Mohammed Tanweer would concede only 2, to wrap up a tense and hard fought 14 run win and earn the team a rematch of 2022's final with Titans next Saturday. Scorecard
Div 3 started well with a wicket maiden from Jawad Naimat first up. Unfortunately the boys didn't bring their catching hands, numerous chances going down that allowed their one down to hit an unbeaten 90. Ironically, the hardest chance of the day was one that was taken, Arun Thampi taking an amazing one handed catch well above his head, right up along the boundary line. Keeper Hassan Hafeex provided the other highlight with a direct hit from fine leg as the batsmen attempted a 2nd run from a leg glance. Gaganpreet Singh took 2 wickets, while Jawad and Kazi Rahman were the best of our bowlers with a wicket each. Avengers ending up at 5/152 off 20. We would need to be at our best with the bat to chase this down, and it just wasn't to be. Hassan's 14 would be top score, and we were all out for 70 off 15 overs. A disappointing finish to a promising season for the team, where we beat all three teams at least once, including two wins against eventual champs Titans. We witnessed significant improvement from some players individually which augers well for coming years. All in all, the club is immensely proud of the guy's efforts this year. Scorecard
Thanks to all our sponsors for helping us achieve these results in 2023. These weekly recaps are made possible by Steele Hyundai & Genesis Halifax. If you need a new or used vehicle, head into one of their dealerships or visit their website.
