A mixed bag on this Canada Day long weekend for the Cannons, with 2 convincing wins and 2 losses.
We started our weekend on Canada Day with our first 40 over game of the season against Avengers. Batting first on a warm sunny day, we stumbled to 3/34. From here, Antony Roche was the star, putting on partnerships of 70 with Anton Kruger (26), and 98 with Daksh Talwar (36). Antony fell for a superb 98 off 93 balls in the search for quick runs, an innings that would have been a century on any other outfield (and if he didn't get called for short runs twice!). Zeeshan Ansari finished the innings with a trademark cameo of 26 not out off 11 balls, to take us to 7/250 off our 40.
Avengers came out swinging, reaching 67 in the 7th over before Shadab Ahmed took the first wicket. Daksh then had their other opener stumped in the 13th over with the score on 100, and we needed a period of tight bowling to build some pressure. Priyank Trivedi and Sagar Mandan did this superbly, conceding only 51 runs from their combined 16 overs through the middle. Priyank took 1 wicket, while Sagar finished with 5/27 off his 8, only the second 5 wicket call to date for the Cannons. Shadab put the finishing touches on a 62 run win, clean bowling their last wicket in the 35th over. Scorecard
In the weekend's T20 action, our Div 2 team led the way with a 58 run win over East Coast CC that moves us to the top of the standings. Batting first, our top order gave their wickets away cheaply and we fell to 4/28 after 4. Nisarg Patel (19) and Nihar Shah (32) started the rebuild putting on 36 before we lost 2 more quick wickets. Nihar then joined forces with fellow spinner Hiren Patel (25) in a 35 run partnership, and the innings finished in a fine style with Jaideep Singh (17* off 8) and Kanwaljeet Singh putting on an unbroken 25 for the last wicket. We were also the beneficiaries of some East Coast generosity as they gave us 36 extras and 10 penalty runs for a slow over rate, allowing us to post 9/169 off our 20.
Jaideep accounted for their main bat in the first over, and Jawad Naimat then struck twice in a good spell. Skipper Dhruv Mohta then turned it over to our spin trio, and they again delivered, combining for 5 wickets for 55 runs off their 12 overs to ensure East Coast never got close. Kevin Tuvar got the rewards with 3/20, while Nihar was again great with the ball, but only picked up one wicket due to some sloppy catching that we will work hard to improve on. Kanwal came on and took the last wicket to wrap up a comfortable win, but one that leaves lots of room for improvement. Scorecard
Div 1 played straight after Div 2, up against the same Avengers outfit we beat in 40 overs on Friday. Avengers batted first and again came out attacking, before Tushar Sehgal (2/6) took both openers in successive balls with the score on 42. We then managed regular wickets for the remainder of the innings, restricting them to 7/138 off their 20, Priyank again playing a key role in the middle with 2/23 off his 4. Sagar was good again, taking 1/22 of his 4, while Anton bowled well at the death conceding only 24 from his 4 overs with a wicket.
Rudy Audikesavalu (22) and Arslan Khan (18) got us off to a good start, and the Antony Roche (38) continued his good form as our chase looked in good control. Unfortunately the middle and lower order were not able to get anything going, with our last 8 wickets falling for 40 runs in the space of 39 balls, falling 26 runs short. A game we should have won, but we will learn from it. Scorecard
Div 3 were our first team in T20 action, playing Saturday against East Coast. Batting first, Grant Whitcombe (31 off 23), Matt Lee (12) and Gurpreet Singh (15) all made promising starts in the top order but were unable to go on with it. Wickets kept falling regularly and we were 8/97 with 5 overs still remaining. Good sensible batting from skipper Souvik Mitra (21) and Hassan Hafeez (15) ensured we would bat the full 20 and make 124, something to defend.
Unfortunately our bowlers were unable to do it this time, with East Coast passing us with 6 wickets and 34 balls to spare. Souvik and Gurpreet took 2 wickets each, but ultimately we needed to be better with both bat and ball in this game. Still early season and lots of time left for improvement for a team with many guys coming back to cricket after a few years. Scorecard
Thanks to all our sponsors for helping us achieve these results in 2022. 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.
