Pirates of the St Lawrence versus New Edinburgh of Ottawa
Saturday 11 August 2012
By the Dublin Death Star
Photo by Brian Llewellyn-ap-Dafydd

Scorching sun made way for a downpour of biblical proportions during the Pirates’ encounter with New Edinburgh of Ottawa. The Black Caps performed admirably to restrict the visitors to 243, but the loss of quick wickets after a mid-innings deluge saw the home side fall 49 runs short of a revised total.

The Pirates welcomed New Edinburgh of Ottawa to The Candy Fields almost a year after their last encounter. The Black Caps prevailed on that occasion, winning by 3 wickets with just one ball to spare thanks to the Granville & Roche method. The foolproof formula was needed once again to decide the outcome of the closely fought game, after a dramatic thunderstorm halted proceedings during the afternoon.

Batting first, the New Edinburgh openers made a bright start, putting on 72 for the first wicket. The visitors’ steady progress in the opening overs was halted by Blechynden, who came on second change to remove Priyank for 36 and Amrinder for 30. Priyank was expertly caught by Llewellyn-ap-Dafydd at square leg, while Amrinder was clean bowled soon after.

With the visitors looking to score quickly, the Black Caps’ bowlers did well to both stem the flow of runs and pick up wickets. The Pirates’ captain, Bell, was the pick of the bowlers on the day, finishing with 3-29 from his eight overs. After bowling Navdeep for 20, Bell held onto a towering caught and bowled chance while leaping backwards to remove Nikhil for 2. The leg-spinner then combined with Simon Neequaye to remove Pankaj. Making his debut for the Pirates, Neequaye did well to snaffle a top edge to deep square leg.

The Pirates continued to take their chances in the field with Blechynden catching Dravya in the deep off the bowling of Hogg. Soon after, Kelly Morton had Anant caught over the shoulder at long-on by Mulligan for 16.

Despite some late-innings hitting from Rajan and Varun, the home side kept the New Edinburgh total below 250 thanks to some tight fielding in the deep. Varun went for 28 after skying a second to Mulligan at long-on, while Rajan finished on 25 not out.

Initially set 244 to win, the Pirates made an excellent start. Scoring at a brisk pace, Islam and Roche put on a quick-fire 98 for the first wicket. Islam’s bright innings came to an abrupt end when he was caught behind from a thin edge off the bowling of Shailesh. The effervescent all-rounder departed for a stylish 19 off 25 balls – including 3 fours.

At the other end, Roche raced to fifty, scoring at more than a run a ball. Taking the attack to the New Edinburgh bowlers, he notched up 8 fours and 3 massive sixes. As ominous clouds appeared on the horizon, Roche looked to score quickly before the inevitable rain delay. Together with Kelly Morton, Roche pushed the Pirates’ run rate over ten, but eventually fell to Pankaj for 59.

With peals of thunder heralding an imminent break in play, Kelly Morton and Bell negotiated some difficult overs to ensure the home side didn’t lose any more wickets before the rains came. And come they did. With the umpires watching for lightning, play was halted when the sound of rapidly approaching, pelting rain could be heard over the forest.

As the two teams did their best to cover the pitch, the heavens opened and a Montreal monsoon ensued. With the covers in place, and a topless Roche crying out for more sandbags in the middle, all and sundry made a beeline for the (limited) shelter of the tent.

Men, women, children, canines and kit bags battened down the hatches and attempted to ride out the tempest. With howling winds driving horizontal sheets of rain under the canopy, everyone was quickly drenched, unable to see beyond the walls of the tent. As the mini-hurricane threatened to launch the tent into the adjacent farm, the Pirates, swinging from the scaffolding, battled to anchor its frame. It looked as though this might be the end.

When the squall finally passed, both teams emerged bedraggled but unbowed. Bell and Singh wandered out to the middle with barrels and wheelie bins in what looked like a forlorn task. Slowly, the workforce in the middle swelled and belief in a resumption of play grew. The two teams used every conceivable container to bail water from the numerous holes being dug across the outfield.

After an hour of hard graft, with holes patched and scraps of carpet laid, the pitch was once again fit for play. With a significant amount of time lost, and light fading fast, the ever reliable Granville & Roche method was applied. Set a revised total of 206 in 34 overs (90 more runs in 15 overs with 7 wickets in hand), the Pirates made their way back to the middle.

With the saturated ball skidding on to the bat, the Pirates tumbled from 117-3 to 157 all out. Pankaj and Varun proved to be virtually unplayable on the sticky wicket, and finished with figures of 3-13 and 4-17 respectively. In doing so, they sealed a 49-run victory for the visitors – astonishingly, their first over the Pirates.

Pirates of the St Lawrence versus New Edinburgh of Ottawa
Saturday 11 August 2012
The Candy Fields, Mont-Saint-Hilaire
Match type: 40 overs per side
Weather conditions: Very surprising that we were playing at all, particularly after the deluge
Result: New Edinburgh won by 49 runs (Granville & Roche method)

New Edinburgh Innings

Extras 31 (Byes 2, Leg Byes 0, No Balls 5, Wides 25)
Total 243 for 8 in 40 overs
(Revised target: 206 in 34 overs)

FoW (1-72, 2-81, 3-105, 4-117, 5-140, 6-169, 7-171, 8-232)

Pirates of the St Lawrence Innings

Extras 22 (Byes 4, Leg Byes 1, No Balls 5, Wides 12)
Total 157 for 10 in 30.1 overs

FoW (1-98, 2-113, 3-117, 4-120, 5-135, 6-149, 7-150, 8-152, 9-154, 10-157)