All players and teams were beaming with excitement and in anticipation of playing on the new concrete pitch constructed by Cricket NL.The good news is that it is living up to expectations and all team members got a chance to play their authentic game without worrying about a low or bad bounce. The lawn tractor has also turned out to be a welcome addition to our equipment upgrades and now it should take half a day to mow the field instead of a few days with a couple of lawn mowers. Preparation of the match began yesterday evening with some landscaping and sod work done by volunteers. Big thanks to Saad, Rakesh, Bharat, Harman, Shahzad, Saravana, Abrar, Waqas & Gurman.
Due to the weather forecast, the match between NL Avengers and Newfoundland Super kings started early in the morning at 7.30. NL Avengers won the toss and chose to bat on the previously untested pitch. The opening partnership started well with a couple of 4s hit by Praveen. However, Rahul Roy and Praveen got out after a promising start at 11 and 17 respectively. Rahul Vashishtha came out to bat after the loss of Roy and steadied the ship. Scoring freely on all parts of the ground, he ended up scoring his 2nd century in consecutive matches, another first for Newfoundland. He scored 100 from 49 balls and retired hurt. Everyone in NL is hoping for his form to continue for the Eastern T20 interprovincial tournament. Gurman set up a terrific partnership with Rahul and built his innings intelligently scoring 63 not out off 41 balls. Rakesh was the only player from NSK that didn’t feel the wrath of Avengers by bowling 4 overs for 15 runs with one wicket. Avengers ended with 215/4 and set up a challenging task for NSK. NSK sent out Sajawal and Talha as openers. Sajawal continued from where he left in the previous game. Striking the ball cleanly and fearlessly, he scored 47 from 40 balls the highest scorer from NSK. NSK was bowled out for 121, with some great opening bowling from Shami 3 overs for 13 runs with one wicket. Sarvana was the highest wicket taker with 4 wickets in 4 overs. He is en route to being one of the highest wicket-takers in the summer league once again.
Scorecard
The 2nd match was played between BD Tigers and NL Eagles with the weather condition deteriorating, but not enough to cancel the game. The drizzle was on and off frustrating the players and making it slippery conditions for the fielding side. BD Tigers won the toss and chose to bat first. The openers got out cheaply after getting a start for 13 runs each. Lincoln and Hummam built a much-needed partnership for BD in the middle overs. Lincoln batted patiently and built his innings after assessing the pitch bounce. He was the highest scorer with 55 not out. Hummam made 22. Shikon upped the scoring rate by playing some excellent shots in the end with 29 in 17 balls and 2 sixes. Osama was the pick of the bowlers with 4 overs, only 12 runs and one wicket. In reply, Eagles innings were lacking batting partnerships and none seemed too comfortable on the crease. Hamza put a brave fight by scoring 18 runs and was the highest scorer. In the end, Eagles were all out for 90 runs, 58 runs short of the target.
Overall, we had some really good games today and the highlights were the pitch and of course Rahul’s century. If Cricket Canada selectors are reading this they should really have a serious look at a player from the far East end of Canada!!
