Saturday, 19th September 2015
Four matches were played in the Saturday Championship withHong Kong Cricket Club Nomads and Kowloon Cricket Club Saracens making bold statements of intent in Division One with strong early performances while USRC/MCC and Kai Tak also enjoyed victories in Division Two.
Saturday Championship Division 1
At Hong Kong Cricket Club, defending champions HKCC Nomads got their title defence off to a winning start with a strong performance against Pakistan Association. Electing to bowl after winning the toss, Nomads dismissed PACC for 194 in the 34th over, with Ravi Mulchandani picking up 3/39 from his 7 over spell. For PACC, Zamir Ali top scored with 55 while Mehtab Ali scored 40.
A 50-run opening partnership saw Nomads away to a positive start with skipper Kym Graham hitting 30 and from there the HKCC batsmen were seldom troubled. A 97-run third wicket partnership between Kabir Sodhi (41) and A Shephard (84*) lifted Nomads to the brink and victory was eventually achieved in 30.1 overs.
At HKCC: Pakistan Association 194 from 33.2 overs lost HKCC Nomads 4/198 from 30.1 overs runs
At Kowloon Cricket Club, a new-look KCC Saracens unit achieved a bonus point victory over Centaurs thanks to a dominant batting performance. Saracens notched up an impressive 5/233 from their 35 overs after electing to bat first. Chris Cater (85) and Ninad Shah (78) shared a 138-run third wicket partnership while Simandeep Singh (61) and Carter added another 76 for the fourth wicket.
In reply, Centaurs made a good start with the openers putting on 57. Four of the top five batsmen scored over 20 but none reached 30 and Centaurs slumped from 3/103 to 135 all out. Ansh Lulla mopped up the tail with 4/29 from five overs.
At KCC: KCC Saracens 5/233 from 35 overs beat Centaurs 135 from 34.5 overs by 98 runs.
Saturday Championship Division 2
Kai Tak bounced back from their loss to SCC Lancers to beat CCC Hung See by 90 runs at Police Training College. Batting first after winning the toss, Kai Tak scored 6/189 from their 35 overs with Ali Williams top scoring with 93. In reply, CCC Hung See were dismissed for 99 with Kai Tak skipper Mohsin Naqvi claiming 3/6 off seven overs.
At PTC: Kai Tak 6/189 from 35 overs beat CCC Hung See 99 from 34.3 overs by 90 runs.
At PKVR Park, USRC/MCC and HKU fought out a close game with USRC/MCC prevailing by 29 runs. USRC/MCC batted first and they scored 213 off 34.3 overs with Umar Mohammad hitting an impressive 72 while Sikandar Zafar scored 45. Ashwin Dokania led HKU’s reply with 41, but his was a lone hand as six other HKU batsmen posted double figure scores but none could go past 17. HKU were eventually dismissed for 184.
At PKVR Park: USRC/MCC 213 from 34.3 overs beat HKU 184 from 33.5 overs by 29 runs.
Sunday, 20th September 2015
One-Day Premier League
A thrilling One-Day Premier League match was played at Hong Kong Cricket Club with defending champions HKCC prevailing in the end by the narrowest of margins.
The Independents batted first after winning the toss but they got off to the worst possible start, losing three wickets with just one run on the board. A 108-run fourth wicket partnership between Jonathan Foo and Akbar Khan lifted the Independents’ score to 109 before Khan was dismissed for 23. The 25-year-old Foo, who represented Guyana in the 2010 and 2013 Caribbean T20 competitions, went on to score a brilliant 109 with the score on 180. Foo received useful support from Awais Mohammad who finished unbeaten on 38 as Independents reached 8/217 from their 50 overs. Tim Cutler and Daljeet Singh picked up two wickets each for HKCC.
In reply, HKCC also lost an early wicket and they were reduced to 4/61 before a 50-run partnership between Nizakat Khan and Matt Twomey lifted them over the 100 mark. A flurry of wickets then saw the hosts slip to 7/113 but Nizakat Khan engineered a rear-guard battle with the tail-enders to get HKCC back into the match. Nizakat was eventually dismissed for 106 but his wicket soon saw the last wicket pair at the crease with still 16 runs needed. In a tense finish, Giacomo Lamplough (17*) and Anton Bunton (9*) secured the final few runs needed for a one-wicket victory. Jonathan Foo and Mudassar Hussain were the best of the Independents’ bowlers, with two wickets apiece.
At HKCC: Independents 8/217 from 50 overs lost to HKCC 9/221 from 42.1 overs by 1 wicket.