Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Tri-City of Albany
Saturday 23 May 2009

Good weather greeted us as we arrived in Schenectady, NY, to play Tri-City at their home ground – an ex-landfill reserve stuck amongst houses. This was the first ever Pirates tour and we were confident we had a strong pillaging party for the cross border raid.

After losing the toss we were sent in to bat by the opposing captain. We didn’t start the tour well with the bat, losing Thiery Milot in the very first over at 3-1. The attack was good with some sharp seam bowling that exploited the conditions, keeping the ball well pitched up to protect the short square boundaries. Darren Bullivant (captain) joined Angus Bell at the crease and the two managed to put on 19 in 5 overs before Bullivant was clean bowled for 6 by a ball that didn’t bounce. At 22-2, the captain (totally pissed by his dismissal) feared the Pirates may not post a defendable score.

Raj Sukdeo joined Bell in the middle and the two went about steadying the ship, passing 50, before Raj was adjudged LBW for 8. Hari Sukhdeo joined Bell, who by this time was finding the middle of the bat with some glorious boundaries square of the wicket. Runs started to come with ease. The score passed 100, 150, and then 200. On 87 runs, I told all the guys on the sideline that “Oh no!” Angus had made 87, and that we needed to stand on one leg because this is the batsmen’s devil number (13 runs short of 100). And of course the very next ball, Bell trying to pull the leg spinner, was clean bowled. Top score by a Pirate and the largest partnership (100) were just two records to fall with that innings.

Next to the crease was Rob “Doc” Savage who had been padded up for a considerable time and had had a fair bit of practice. He joined Hari, who by this stage, with 5 overs remaining, had started to open up the shoulders. In the next 3 overs he hit some massive 6s and 4s before falling for a very well made 79 runs, and together with The Dr and the Colonel (Mark Sanders) we managed to post a very respectable 254-5 in 35 overs.

Tri-City’s turn to bat and they started with some urgency, dispatching the first 3 balls to the fence for 4. Our bowling was far too short and we played into their hands, with the team obviously picking to hit the ball square as much as possible. Some catches went down in the first couple of overs that could have changed the momentum but they didn’t quite go to hand and Tri-City made us pay big time.

As captain, I decided that pace was not the way to go on this ground and decided to employ spin, which rewarded us with our first wicket, thanks to the Suk’s stumping. Bell chimed in for a quick wicket and Nick Hoolahan was able to run out Kirin for a rapid 50. We were starting to get into the driver’s seat and the momentum swung our way.

Rain started to fall heavily during the innings and Tri-City wanted to abandon play, but some quick talking managed to keep them in the game. It also made our job all the more difficult, because the ball was like a bar of soap and refused to turn.

Any chance we had of saving the game came and went with the storm. The bowling had gone from some pretty good movement to nothing more than slow/medium arm balls. The loss of the 4th wicket brought a young lad to the crease that pounded his 2nd ball for one of the largest 6s of the day. It almost hit a house. This was the start of an innings where he hit some of the best balls all day over the fence on about 5 occasions. Anil destroyed our attack and with him at the crease it was going to be over quickly. We were able to dislodge him with a juggling catch by Raj on the mid wicket fence. But the damage had been done and with 40 to get of 8 overs, they managed to scrape home with a couple of well timed boundaries, and the Pirates searching for two wickets for victory.

Apart from a blatant caught behind that didn’t go our way, the visitors played the game in the right spirit. Due to our exceptional batting the game was there to take, but the conditions, and too many dropped catches, led to our demise. Tri-City are a class outfit with some big hitting West Indian batsmen and some solid seam bowling. We will need to be on our game when they visit The Candy Fields if we have any chance of beating them.

Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Tri-City of Albany
Saturday 23 May 2009
Schenectady, New York, USA
Match type: 35 overs per side
Toss won by: Tri-City
Weather conditions: Hot then stormy
Result: Tri-City won by 2 wickets

Pirates of the St Lawrence Innings

Thiery Milot b Samit 0
Angus Bell b Maurice 87 (16×4)
Darren Bullivant (c/wk) b Samir 6
Raja Sukhdeo lbw Anil 8 (1×4)
Hari Sukhdeo ct Weisse b Anil 79 (11×4, 2×6)
Robert Savage not out 17 (1×4)
Mark Sanders not out 10 (1×4)
Bhajooram Sukhdeo (wk) DNB
Amrit Sanger DNB
Nick Hoolahan DNB
Ray Nowrang DNB

Extras 47 (Byes 0, Leg Byes 4, No Balls 6, Wides 37)
Total 254 for 5 in 35 overs

Bowling

Samir 7 overs, 2 wickets, 36 runs, Econ. 5.14, SR 21.00
Sunny 6 overs, 2 maidens, 0 wickets, 28 runs, Econ. 4.67, SR –
Anil 7 overs, 2 maidens, 1 wicket, 28 runs, Econ. 4.00, SR 42.00
Anamesh 3 overs, 0 wickets, 28 runs, Econ. 9.33, SR –
Ray 7 overs, 0 wickets, 30 runs, Econ. 4.29, SR –
Mike 2 overs, 0 wickets, 24 runs, Econ. 12.00, SR –
Maurice 3 overs, 1 wicket, 31 runs, Econ. 10.33, SR 18.00

Tri-City Innings

Kirin run out (Hoolahan) 52 (5×4, 3×6)
Sham st B. Sukhdeo b R. Sukhdeo 30 (5×4)
Mike ct Hoolahan b Bell 11
Ray ct Nowrang b R. Sukhdeo 40 (6×4, 1×6)
Anil ct R. Sukhdeo b B. Sukhdeo 47 (2×4, 5×6)
Sameer ct Sanders b Bell 16 (2×4)
Anamesh ct H. Sukhdeo b Savage 24 (4×4, 1×6)
Sunny ct Milot b R. Sukhdeo 3
Ritchie not out 7 (1×6)
Maurice not out 0
Steve Weisse DNB

Extras 28 (Byes 0, Leg Byes 3, No Balls 6, Wides 19)
Total 258 for 8 in 31.4 overs

Bowling

Nick Hoolahan 3 overs, 0 wickets, 50 runs, Econ. 16.67, SR –
Hari Sukhdeo 5 overs, 0 wickets, 42 runs, Econ. 8.40, SR –
Amrit Sanger 2 overs, 0 wickets, 18 runs, Econ. 9.00, SR –
Raja Sukhdeo 7 overs, 3 wickets, 49 runs, Econ. 7.00, SR 14.00
Angus Bell 7 overs, 2 wickets, 50 runs, Econ. 7.14, SR 21.00
Bhajooram Sukhdeo, 7 overs, 1 wicket, 35 runs, Econ. 5.00, SR 42.00
Robert Savage 0.4 overs, 1 wicket, 13 runs, Econ. 19.50, SR 4.00