Guyanese Gunners Wounded in Fall Frenzy
October 10th, 2011 | Published in 2011, Scorecards and Match Reports | 1 Comment
Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Sukhdeo’s Select: A Guyanese XI
Saturday 8 October 2011
On Monday afternoon it was possible to land a large seaplane on the field. Cap’n Bell, after discovering his bag had been left open to the elements throughout the wet weekend by Steady Palmer, spent the best part of two days pumping 2,000 litres off the wicket (and out of his pads) while drying the jute mat on palettes. Unseasonably warm weather aided the drainage, and by Saturday, with a forecast of 24 degrees, The Candy Fields was restored to full fall glory.
Sukhdeo’s Select appeared to have wandered off apple picking in the morning, arriving almost an hour late and thus forfeiting the power of negotiation at the toss. ”I think either we should bat… or you should bat. One of the teams,” suggested Sato Panday. The Pirates, bolstered by the return of Bullivant and Mridha, decided to break with tradition and bat.
With the mat stretching and the saturated gravel loosening by the ball, multiple re-pegging and duct-taping was required. Hari Sukhdeo did for Wisden with an in-swinger that hit the top of off stump fourth ball, causing further delay. It was almost midday by the completion of the first over.
After a bruising encounter versus the Bengals two weeks prior, here was a premier grade attack almost on a par, on a surface far crumblier. Mridha and Bell battled against a ball that swung, seamed, and bounced bewilderingly, adding 11, when the former gloved a hook shot into the hands of short backward squareleg, moved there five seconds prior.
Zayid-al-Baghdadi arrived at the crease on debut and was given a peppering by the bowlers. Even as he fell for a fourth ball duck, oblivious to what a ball crashing into the stumps meant, he was still Iraq’s greatest ever cricketer. For a further minute he stood his ground until the umpire fingered him back to the tent.
At 3 for 12 with no sign of the bowlers letting up, there was a danger the match would descend into a Twenty20. But Bullivant and Bell survived, as they had done the previous game, against a barrage of pace; first negating Sunny, then former Bangladeshi pro Kafe, who nearly killed the captain with a ball to the heart, and then the rest of the Guyanese big guns. Barely a loose ball was offered.
”Can someone get my black cap from my bag, please?” asked Bullivant, reflecting the seriousness of the situation. Never before had an Australian uttered those words.
Bell and Bullivant added 57 when Bell, after snapping his sodden and swollen bat, switched to Bullivant’s Kookaburra and was gobbled in the gulley next ball.
Roche tried to get the score moving and was caught, for the third time in succession, off a lofted drive that threatened to break fingers.
Legault, whose game and six-pack have matured tremendously this year, displayed Canadian grit in a stand worth 43, taking the Pirates over the hundred mark. Like a trusted caddie, he advised Bullivant to try the nine-iron, which, despite the Free Montreal Doctor ripping across the park, resulted in two large sixes landing over long-on near the power grid.
Bullivant’s fifty – his second for the club and a remarkable achievement after barely any cricket in two years – came off 75 balls. He was unlucky to be run out two balls later, scrambling back to the non-striker’s end when a dangerous second run was turned down. The innings, in conjunction with his 34 not out last match, carried his average to 86 for the season.
Indoor cricket rules resumed for the last three overs, as Ludhani, Rashid, Sakrani and Awan scampered like mice, somehow running threes with the ball in the bowler’s hand. The innings closed on 132 – a score that looked 50 short against a Premier-grade line-up.
Spurred on by the thought of six months’ inaction, the Pirate openers – Roche and Legault – hared in, beating the bat repeatedly. The breakthrough came with the score on 16, when Legault rattled Raj Sukhdeo’s off stump with an in-swinger.
Another quick wicket and the batsmen on the boundary would have had to put down their vodkas. Roche looked to have struck the gloves on the way to the keeper on two occasions, but without the UDRS in this series, the batsmen survived. A partnership of 64 ensued, which all but took the game away from the home side.
Rashid and Bhawalkar maintained pressure at each end, as the Pirates sensed a wicket and a West Indies-style collapse. Bhawalkar was rewarded for his steepling bounce and accuracy, when Khan mowed one to Legault at point.
With the score on a Nelson, Bell had Vijay stumped in his first over, four short of 50. In partnership with off-spinner Sakrani – the Laval Liberator – the squeeze was put on the Sukhdeos.
The dangerous Hari Sukhdeo was bowled by Sakrani, and then 113 for 4 became 114 for 5 when Panday suffered the same fate at the other end.
With only 17 chips left to gamble, further wounds were inflicted. First, Ludhani plucked a blinder out of the sun at point, behind his head, to remove Ramkissoon. And then Awan, sliding around the field all afternoon like a penguin possessed after its stolen egg, clung on to a towering top-edge off Sunny at 45 degrees behind square. Giddy scenes were witnessed as the Pirates skipped across the square to cuddle him.
But after scoring 132, the result was a foregone conclusion. The ship was broken, but not beyond repair.
Cometh 2012, the Pirate fleet will be bigger and better prepared to plunder booty aplenty.
Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Sukhdeo’s Select: A Guyanese XI
Saturday 8 October 2011
The Candy Fields, Mont-Saint-Hilaire
Match type: 37 overs per side
Weather conditions: More August than October
Result: Sukhdeo’s Select won by 4 wickets
Pirates of the St Lawrence Innings
Tom Wisden b H Sukhdeo 0 (4 balls)
Angus Bell (c) ct H Sukhdeo b M Ramkissoon 30 (2×4, 55 balls)
Manoj Mridha (wk) ct N Ramkissoon b Singh 7 (21 balls)
Zayid Al-Baghdadi b Randy 0 (4 balls)
Darren Bullivant run out (R Sukhdeo) 52 (5×4, 2×6, 77 balls)
Phil Roche ct N Ramkissoon b M Ramkissoon 1 (2 balls)
Matthew Legault lbw Rubel 10 (24 balls)
Ahmad Rashid ct Ramgulam b N Ramkissoon 2 (6 balls)
Naresh Ludhani not out 6 (3 balls)
Aneeq Sakrani ct M Ramkissoon b Rubel 2 (3 balls)
Faheem Awan not out 0 (0 balls)
Prashant Bhawalkar DNB
Extras 17 (Byes 5, Leg Byes 2, No Balls 3, Wides 7)
Total 132 for 9 in 37 overs
FoW (1-0, 2-11, 3-12, 4-69, 5-78, 6-121, 7-123, 8-126, 9-129)
Bowling
Hari Sukhdeo 5 overs, 1 maiden, 1 wicket, 11 runs
Sunny Singh 7 overs, 2 maidens, 1 wicket, 14 runs
Randy 2 overs, 1 wicket, 13 runs
Raj Sukhdeo 5 overs, 0 wickets, 16 runs
Kafe Khan 4 overs, 1 maiden, 0 wickets, 9 runs
Mahesh Ramkissoon 6 overs, 2 wickets, 24 runs
Bhajooram Sukhdeo 5 overs, 0 wickets, 20 runs
Naresh Ramkissoon 2 overs, 1 wicket, 8 runs
Rubel 1 over, 2 wickets, 4 runs
Sukhdeo’s Select Innings
R Sukhdeo b Legault 8 (2×4)
K Khan ct Legault b Bhawalkar 28 (2×4)
Vijay (wk) st Mridha b Bell 46 (7×4)
H Sukhdeo b Sakrani 11 (1×4)
M Ramkissoon ct Ludhani b Sakrani 10 (1×4)
S Panday b Bell 1
S Singh ct Awan b Sakrani 4
B Sukhdeo (c) not out 5 (1×4)
N Ramkissoon not out 0
Rubel DNB
Randy DNB
R Nowrang DNB
Extras 24 (Byes 5, Leg Byes 4, No Balls 0, Wides 15)
Total 135 for 7 in 26.3 overs
FoW (1-16, 2-80, 3-111, 4-113, 5-114, 6-121, 7-131)
Bowling
Phil Roche 4 overs, 1 maiden, 0 wickets, 15 runs
Matthew Legault 4 overs, 1 maiden, 1 wicket, 17 runs
Naresh Ludhani 2 overs, 0 wickets, 18 runs
Ahmad Rashid 5 overs, 0 wickets, 18 runs
Prashant Bhawalkar 4 overs, 1 wicket, 24 runs
Aneeq Sakrani 4 overs, 3 wickets, 19 runs
Angus Bell 3 overs, 2 wickets, 9 runs
Faheem Awan 0.3 overs, 0 wickets, 4 runs