Friday
40 Overs vs Hfx-Titans CC - Missing 3 regulars on provincial team duty, Cannons batted first under overcast skies. A shower after one over reduced the game to 35 overs, while also making the outfield even slower than usual. Stand-in skipper Arslan Khan led the way with 67 off 92 balls. Only three others would reach double figures, and we couldn't develop the big partnership needed in this format, eventually being dismissed in the last over for 157.
Shadab Ahmed struck early as he does so often, but this would be our last success for quite a while as Titans 2nd wicket pair put on 111. Two late consolation wickets, including another to Shadab who would finish with 2/23 off 7, provided minor solace as Titans passed our score with 7 wickets and 51 balls to spare. Scorecard
Saturday
Division 1 vs East Coast CC - with both teams missing a bunch of players on NS duty, new look teams took the field. Arslan won the toss and decided to bat, but scoring proved tough. Priyank Shah (17 off 22) and Antony Roche (28 off 38) battled hard to set up our innings, before Karanbir Singh (25 off 15) gave us some acceleration in the middle order. All out in the 20th for 109.
In a game that would follow a similar trajectory to the season opener, Shadab ripped through their top order in a superb opening spell of 3/7 off 4. Daksh Talwar picked up one at his end, and a run out would reduce East Coast to 5/20 after 7. From here, they never looked likely, with Karan capping off a good all round game taking 2/7 off two overs. Arif Hussen would strike with the first ball of the 18th to wrap up a 26 run win. Scorecard
Division 2 vs Hfx-Titans CC - confusion around the start time saw us scrambling to have enough players for the toss, which we would lose and be asked to bowl first. Our bowlers settled us down immediately though, with left arm spinner Hiren Patel striking in the first over, and then seamer Revant Sharan taking two in the second over. The next wicket would take 9 overs, but crucially only 31 runs were added as all our bowlers maintained fantastic accuracy. Arif and Kevin Tuvar didn't take a wicket but conceded only 26 runs from thier combined 8 overs. Jarnail Singh (2/7) broke the resistance with two quick wickets, and then Hiren returned to take the next two and finish with 3/17 off 4. Revant conceded a couple of sixes in the last over, but rebounded to take two more wickets to end with 4/26 off his 4. Once again, Saravana Kumar Chandran was great behind the stumps with two catches and a stumping. Titans all out 87 off the full 20.
With some previous chases starting poorly, skipper Andrew Irving and Priyank Shah (25 off 32) settled any nerves by adding 50 for the first wicket. We would lose a second, but Andrew (37 n.o. off 47) guided us to the target with 8 wickets and 30 balls to spare. A great team effort that will hopefully stand as the turning point for the season. Scorecard
Sunday
Division 3 vs Scotia Strikers CC - Anbarasu Vijayan backed up his skipper's decision to bowl first, taking three early wickets after Tanmay Rajput struck first. Further tight spells from Kevin, Jawad Naimat and Paul Chan Chow reduced Strikers to 7/69 in the 16th. We did let them get away a bit at the end as they hit their way to 121, Anby ending the innings with a ball to spare with his 4th wicket for the day (4/19 off 3.5).
Our run chase started well but quickly fell into disaster losing 3 wickets in the 5th over. Nobody could build the partnership needed to turn the chase around, with Kevin top scoring with 18 from number 9 as we only managed to reach 87, falling short by 34 runs. Scorecard
Division 4 vs Scotia Strikers CC - up against a strong 1st placed Strikers team, Mohammed Junaid Hussain started well with two early wickets. Abdullah Khan (2/16 off 2) struck twice in the middle of the innings to leave the game well balanced at 4/71 after 11. Strikers were able to really kick on from here, our only further success being a 3rd wicket to Junaid (3/16 off 4) who produced his best bowling performance so far. Strikers ending at 5/157 off their 20.
We then batted. For 9.4 overs. All out 34. Enough said. Scorecard
Top Performers
- Arslan Khan 67 off 92 (40 overs)
- Andrew Irving 37* off 47 (Div 2)
- Anbarusu Vijayan 4/19 off 3.5 (Div 3)
- Revant Sharan 4/26 off 4 (Div 2)
- Shadab Ahmed 3/7 off 4 (Div 1)
- Mohammed Junaid Hussain 3/16 off 4 (Div 4)
- Hiren Patel 3/17 off 4 (Div 2)
Milestones Reached
- Arslan Khan 1,000 runs