Pirates of the St Lawrence versus West Island Tigers
Saturday 1 August 2015
The Candy Fields, Mont-Saint-Hilaire
Match type: 45 overs per side (11 wickets)
Result: Pirates won by 8 wickets

In a match of some big hitting and aggressive play, a patient partnership eventually won the day.

Tigers, batting first, had an innings of three parts. In the first, they tried to force runs in the face of accurate bowling from the openers, enabling Coetzee to force enough errors to put Pirates into a strong position as wickets fell. In the second, their batters reversed the fortunes as they accelerated the scoring with some bold hitting. But bathos took over in the third period as comical wickets fell with Bell’s tally of four coming mostly from mis-hit full tosses, and Lal improbably breaking a stump with a perfectly-executed but not-especially-fast clean bowled.

In any event, it left a total that Pirates could attack. And attacking, indeed, was Pirates’ opening posture. Coetzee, coming in at 3, set about Tigers’ bowling with a risky but productive approach based on front-footed leg-side shots, generating an impressive run rate until he fell to a length ball that got through his stroke. Murphy then joined Joshi for what would become a long partnership.

Now, it would be nice to say that it all went in an orderly fashion from that point. In fact, Joshi’s innings was a roller-coaster, ranging from some intemperate swipes that brought gasps of horror from team-mates to periods of successive dot balls as the partnership calmed down. But after some excitement, at drinks Pirates were just short of the run rate and well poised to gain the advantage. Joshi and Murphy went on to provide the continuity needed with an excellent measured approach to take the partnership to 142. Julius’ all-boundaries 16 at the end of the afternoon had the air of a cameo, making the victory look easier than it was.

West Island Tigers Innings

Extras 7 (Byes 1, Leg Byes 0, No Balls 2, Wides 4)
Total 219 all out in 42.3 overs

FoW: 1-10, 2-32, 3-49, 4-152, 5-189, 6-202, 7-202, 8-208, 9-208, 10-211, 11-219

Pirates of the Saint Lawrence Innings

Extras 30 (Byes 6, Leg Byes 2, No Balls 3, Wides 19)
Total 221-3 in 42.2 overs

FoW: 1-2, 2-53, 3-195