Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Bengal United
Saturday 24 September 2011
By our Irish correspondent Samuel Mulligan

After a week of flooding, Bengal United made the best of the humid conditions, a sticky wicket and a plague of mosquitoes to overcome Pirates of the St Lawrence by 7 wickets at The Candy Fields. The visitors delivered a fine display to seal a comfortable victory with 15 overs to spare.

It was the third time Pirates of the St Lawrence have played host to Bengal United this season. With a certain Bengal victory ruined by the rain last time, this match was an opportunity for the Men in Black to tie the series.

Winning the toss, Pirates’ skipper Angus Bell decided to bat. After a week of Biblical downpours, the pitch had swollen and crumbled, offering bounce varying between dramatic and daisy-cutter. Things were made all the more difficult by the fact that the Bengals had brought a premier-grade attack featuring three Canadian international players. Immediately the new ball pair of Issdahk and Topu found swing in the humid conditions.

To their credit, the Pirates’ opening pair of Bell and Wisden managed to withstand the initial onslaught from the seamers. Bell, peppered with bouncers and devilish bounce, was struck on the body nine times. Together, the batsmen they set about laying solid foundations for the rest of the home side’s innings.

Given the difficult conditions, the opening pair struggled to find the boundary in the early overs. Nevertheless, they did manage to keep the scoreboard ticking over with ones, twos, and massive amounts of wides down the leg side. Wisden’s defense was faultless throughout his innings. The opener registered his best score when he made an superb 25, which included two blistering square cuts to the fence.

The openers had made a patient 77 when the partnership was broken by leg spinner Manpreet, who, with dazzling flight and spin, ripped one between Wisden’s bat and pad. The dismissal brought Roche to the middle. Looking to pick up the scoring rate, he attempted to hit over the top. Unfortunately for the Pirates, he smashed it straight into the hands of Shafin, who, after initially over-running the catch from long-on, pouched a sizzling one-handed chance.

The fall of the second wicket brought Kiwi keeper Richards to the crease. Playing in his first game of the season, he took no time to find his form, smiting a huge six over squareleg. But the quick-fire innings was cut short when Shafin trapped him LBW for 7 from 9 balls.

While wickets fell around him, Bell played a vital stonewall innings. Together with Bullivant, Bell put on a crucial 47 for the fourth wicket. The pair were denied a 50 partnership when, looking to accelerate, Manpreet, back for his second spell, bowled Bell for 33.

Together with Bertram and Middleton, Bullivant saw out the remainder of the Pirates’ innings, ensuring the home side posted a competitive total. The Australian right-hander was in fine form and delivered a fluent innings of 34 not out. Exhibiting a range of shots, he pierced the field to notch up 6 fours during his 49-ball knock.

Set 149 to win, the Bengal batsmen executed an almost flawless run chase. While the Pirates’ batsmen had found it tough going, the visitors managed to find the boundary with alarming regularity.

Despite making an early breakthrough – opener Pardeep skied to Blechynden at cover second ball off the bowling of Roche – the Pirates’ bowlers struggled to make regular inroads into the opposition’s batting line up.

United’s top order all made significant contributions and combined to make two decisive partnerships. The first was a stand of 74 between Sajib (30 from 39 balls) and Deepak (33 off 28). Fortunately for the Pirates, both batsmen were removed in quick succession by Sakrani. Along with Roche, Sakrani was the pick of the bowlers for the home team, finishing with figures of 2 for 30 from his five overs.

Any notion of a dramatic come-from-behind victory was dispelled by a match-winning fourth wicket stand between United captain, Maninder, and the impressive Manpreet. Untroubled by anything the Pirates threw at them, they put on an unbeaten partnership of 74 in quicktime.

With just seven runs needed for victory, the ridiculous situation of both batsmen refusing to run until the final ball of the over or take risks came about, as both Manpreet and Maninder sought to hit the winning runs and finish the season not out. Singles to long-on and fine leg were turned down, resulting in cries of uproar from the marquee.

Finally, with 15 overs to spare, bitten to shreds by mosquitoes, the Bengal batsmen saw their side home to register their first victory over the Pirates.

Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Bengal United
Saturday 24 September 2011
The Candy Fields, Mont-Saint-Hilaire
Match type: 40 overs per side
Weather conditions: Extraordinarily sweaty – perfect for breeding mosquitoes
Toss won by: Pirates of the St Lawrence
Result: Bengal United won by 7 wickets

Pirates of the St Lawrence Innings

Tom Wisden b Manpreet 25 (4×4, 67 balls)
Angus Bell (c) b Manpreet 33 (2×4, 97 balls)
Phil Roche ct Shafin b Manpreet 1 (6 balls)
Ian Richards (wk) lbw Shafin 7 (1×6, 9 balls)
Darren Bullivant not out 34 (6×4, 49 balls)
Aaron Bertram b Sajib 0 (8 balls)
Roy Middleton not out 0 (2 balls)
Aneeq Sakrani DNB
David Blechynden DNB
Andrew Granville DNB
Samuel Mulligan DNB

Extras 48 (Byes 12, Leg Byes 6, No Balls 5, Wides 25)
Total 148 for 5 in 40 overs

FoW (1-77, 2-81, 3-92, 4-139, 5-145)

Bowling

Issdahk 3 overs, 1 maiden, 0 wickets, 6 runs
Topu 2 overs, 0 wickets, 5 runs
Rakib 2 overs, 0 wickets, 16 runs
Deepak 8 overs, 1 maiden, 0 wickets, 29 runs
Shafin 5 overs, 1 maiden, 1 wicket, 21 runs
Mahfuz 7 overs, 1 maiden, 0 wickets, 30 runs
Manpreet 7 overs, 2 maidens, 3 wickets, 15 runs
Preet 3 overs, 0 wickets, 14 runs
Pardeep 2 overs, 0 wickets, 4 runs
Sajib 1 over, 1 wicket, 6 runs

Bengal United Innings

Pardeep ct Blechynden b Roche 0 (2 balls)
Sajib lbw Sakrani 30 (2×4, 39 balls)
Deepak ct Wisden b Sakrani 33 (4×4, 1×6, 28 balls)
Maninder (c/wk) not out 40 (2×4, 3×6, 47 balls)
Manpreet not out 26 (3×4, 32 balls)

Extras 20 (Byes 6, Leg Byes 3, No Balls 1, Wides 10)
Total 149 for 3 in 25 overs

FoW (1-0, 2-74, 3-75)

Bowling

Phil Roche 5 overs, 1 wicket, 18 runs
Andrew Granville 3 overs, 0 wickets, 26 runs
Aneeq Sakrani 5 overs, 2 wickets, 30 runs
Aaron Bertram 3 overs, 0 wickets, 9 runs
Samuel Mulligan 2 overs, 0 wickets, 21 runs
Angus Bell 3 overs, 0 wickets, 21 runs
David Blechynden 3 overs, 0 wickets, 18 runs
Roy Middleton 1 overs, 1 maiden, 0 wickets, 0 runs