Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Brossard Warriors
Saturday 28 August 2025
The Candy Fields, Mont-Saint-Hilaire
Result: Warriors won by 172 runs
by Phil Me-In

Balmy temperatures, glorious sunshine, and the promise of a delicious biriyani courtesy of Brossard Warriors and Mme Sukhdeo: such promise in the air! Would the runs flow? Wickets tumble? Catches stick?

With a new tractor boy joining the CDG crew without breaking anything, Candy Fields soon looked at its glorious best. Last onto the field and slotting into a comfortable position in the covers, your new tractor boy (and this very correspondent) looked more startled than a deer in the headlights when Arlindo’s first ball was gently lobbed into his direction by the opening bat, only to burst through his fingers to run away for four.

The tone was set for a crack at a long-standing Pirate record, and when the old tractor boy Bradley promptly dropped the opener again in the first over, we were well on our way: only 13 more drops needed to break the record! To preempt the obvious question: we didn’t quite manage it, stranded on 14 drops with Surya behind the stumps, and Bradley in the deep holding on to balls that would have been record breakers late in the innings.

The Royals enjoyed themselves, motoring at over 10 an over to an ominous looking total of 280, with two of their bats passing 60 and useful contributions throughout the order. Wickets were shared around – a total of 6. Add the 14 drops and we almost had them out twice over! Spirits never seemed to flag completely: a credit to all, perhaps helped by the impending promise of match teas!

Although Angus would never admit it, we took to our batting innings with a win/lose/draw mindset: if we could keep the opposition in the field for their full allocation of overs, some pride would definitely be salvaged. This we achieved, avoiding the ignominy of loosing by over 200 runs, and finally breaking some records in the process: Gabriel’s slog-sweep-with-tumble-turn for four the undisputed shot of the innings, and with 20 priceless runs to his name he set a new personal high score. Maxime’s glorious Lara-esque lofted on-drive saw him score his first actual run in cricket, many more will follow soon enough! Harman played nicely for his 22, chopping on from 2 feet leg side in quite bizarre fashion. Surya fell to the hattrick ball of a wider / wide / pinpoint yorker combo just as he looked to bed in. Bradley, all controlled aggression and smiles, was sent back at the non-strikers end as he tried to pinch a single, while Arlindo swept himself off his feet with the heavier bat once too many and was out stumped. If fell to skipper Angus (30) and Gabriel to blunt the Warriors attack and take us to the brink of saving the draw. When Gabriel fell with 7 overs remaining, Maxime and Surya padded up again for a second crack at the cherry – we’d lost two teammates to a QCF league match during the tea break. Maxime was indeed required to for the last few balls, and was greeted by possibly the ball of the innings: rapid, accurate, with deviation off the pitch, stumps splattered behind him, this ball would have gotten many a better bat! But survive we did, pride intact, fun had, and beers consumed.