Pirates of the St Lawrence: Northern Hemisphere versus Southern Hemisphere
Sunday 16 May 2010

On the day England beat Australia to win the Twenty20 World Cup, the Northern Hemisphere inflicted a heavy defeat over their Southern counterparts in a slightly more significant encounter.

After 447 runs, 19 wickets and 75 overs, the chiseled men and children of the North claimed their second successive victory, walloping the Southern Softies by 8 wickets amid jubilant scenes at The Candy Fields.

Batting first, Cap’n Bullivant and Seaman St-Jean were given a testing working over by the pace and anti-pace of Messrs Roche and Wisden respectively. Roche broke St-Jean’s bat, but Wisden was first to strike, spraying two wides before inducing St-Jean into a false pullstroke. The batsman only succeeded in spooning the ball to Bell at short mid-wicket on 5.

Herr Schmidt, after a winter netting Down Under, came out in blazing fashion, cutting and driving like a man possessed. The experience of Professor Granville soon did for him, though, as the hungover Schmidt was bowled going for a hoy too far.

Richard Horne joined Bullivant at the crease and immediately offered advice about running between the wickets. Not trusting his partner, Bullivant decided to lash boundaries to all parts, while Horne fell into his groove of hitting the fielders for singles.

The introduction of Bell produced some fine pies, some looking like they’d never come down in the gale. But Bullivant tried to help himself to too large a slice, smashing the third delivery back at the legspinner, who raised his left arm high above his head to cling onto a bruiser.

Greg Brander’s eyes widened at the tasty offerings floating his way. Richard Horne, too, grew greedy. He lifted his first ball from Bell out to Phil MacLeod at backward squareleg, the former Fielder of the Year making no mistake.

Mercinary Thiery Milot arrived – his first game since tearing his AC ligament – and middled several drives to extra cover. But Bell snouted out his weakness, sliding one towards his gammy knee only for the ball to crash into middle stump.

Sundar Krishnan then pulled off some brilliant footwork at short mid-wicket to deceive Brander. The pair raced for the non-striker’s end, Krishnan running into the stumps to run Brander out.

Fawcett, MacLeod and 9-year-old debutant Rahul Patel pegged back the South in the final overs, as Savage and local boy Mitchell took the South to 121 for 6 in 20 overs.

Tom Schmidt and Greg Brander looked like Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson as they shared the new ball for the South. Brander was particularly miserly, only conceding 7 runs from his 4 overs. He had neighbour Paddy Mahon gunned out lbw on 6, only for the batsman to be recalled rightfully after confessing an inside edge. The South had difficulties hearing edges all day in the wind.

Bell began tentatively, but every time the bowlers dropped short he swivelled and pulled for two. Mahon pulled several muscles, too, before being brilliantly caught down the legside by Horne off Doc Savage’s wobbly balls.

Phil Roche, dressed in white for the first time in his Pirate career, played some crunching drives and well-timed clips off his legs. The run rate began to mount. Bell found the middle of the bat, and punished any filth from the slow bowlers, hitting them behind square and straight.

Roy Middleton produced a pearler to deceive Roche on 30, rapping him on the back leg with a quicker one that cut back. It was the last Northern wicket to fall, as Bell and Krishnan launched a 48-run assault in the final 4 overs. Not even spin twins St-Jean and Milot could stymie the flow. Debutant Muhan Patel, cousin of Rahul and only 11, was the most economical bowler, conceding just 5 runs. At the halfway stage, the North had achieved a telling 38-run lead.

Savage and Mitchell continued where they left off from the first innings, swatting boundaries in an effort to reduce the deficit quickly. South African Mitchell claimed it was his first game in 28 years, but the North had doubts as he smote them either side of Saint-Hilaire. Only Erfan Chowdhury, shedding the wicketkeeping pads, threatened them with his Bengali pace.

Professor Granville outdid the Doctor in the 6th over, trapping Savage dead in front for 12. Anti-Pace Wisden again produced a beamer, a wide and two wickets in his solitary over, as ball magnet MacLeod plucked his second catch, backpedalling from extra-cover, and Roy Middleton played over a full ball that kept low.

Muhan Patel and Martin Leprohon, both picking up a bat for the first time in a match, began rebuilding the innings, mounting a solid 36-run partnership. Leprohon slapped lucratively over mid-on and Patel cut and pulled singles.

Rahul Patel showed tremendous control with his leg breaks, putting his seniors to shame, and claimed his first wicket when Muhan slapped one at Bell at short mid-wicket.

It was all-Quebecois action next, as MacLeod bowled to Leprohon, with St-Jean at the non-striker’s. Leprohon miscued one high to Finkelberg at cover, who claimed the catch. St-Jean then took strike and scythed his first ball to Finkelberg, who gobbled it up again. Those two balls saw more Canadian cricket participation than the rest of the country combined this season.

MacLeod was in the thick of it again, pouching his third and most difficult swirling catch running backwards from mid-on. The dismissal of Schmidt for a blob was all the more extraordinary as Phil Roche beat him with his first slow-left-arm.

Brander survived the final two balls, despite 6 slips, to take the South to 94 for 7 – a lead of only 56.

Tim Fawcett, despite a delayed first Pirate innings, showed no intention of joining the famed Duck on Debut club. Together with Finkelberg, he flayed the ragged Southern attack, whacking three fours.

Savage found his length and bowled Finkelberg for 4. Rahul Patel, the littlest Pirate, strode out to the middle to finish the game. He blunted the experienced trio of Savage, Milot and St-Jean, milking them either side of the wicket expertly.

Fawcett fell lbw for the first time in his career, after a cameo 25, and Andrew Granville bashed two boundaries to take the North through the victory ribbon by 8 wickets.

Play continued. Muhan Patel wreaked revenge on cousin Rahul, sounding the death clunk with an inswinging yorker. Erfan Chowdhury lapped the spinners to add insult, until Middleton snaffled his second scalp of the match.

Pirates of the St Lawrence: Northern Hemisphere versus Southern Hemisphere
Sunday 16 May 2010
The Candy Fields, Mont-Saint Hilaire
Match type: Two innings of 20 overs per side
Weather conditions: First day of summer
Toss won by: South
Result: North won by 8 wickets (and 17 runs)

Southern Hemisphere 1st Innings

Darren Bullivant (c) c&b Bell 34 (5×4)
Hugue St-Jean ct Bell b Wisden 5
Tom Schmidt b Granville 7
Richard Horne (wk) ct MacLeod b Bell 22 (1×4, 1×6)
Greg Brander run out (Krishnan) 11 (2×4)
Thiery Milot b Bell 1
Robert Savage not out 6
David Mitchell not out 13 (2×4)
Martin Leprohon DNB
Roy Middleton DNB
Muhan Patel DNB

Extras 22 (Byes 0, Leg Byes 3, No Balls 1, Wides 18)
Total 121 for 6 in 20 overs

FoW (1-21, 2-46, 3-74, 4-90, 5-100, 6-100)

Bowling

Phil Roche 4 overs, 0 wickets, 24 runs
Tom Wisden 4 overs, 1 wicket, 22 runs
Andrew Granville 2 overs, 1 wickets, 9 runs
Tim Fawcett 4 overs, 0 wickets, 30 runs
Angus Bell 4 overs, 3 wickets, 28 runs
Philippe MacLeod 1 overs, 0 wickets, 5 runs
Rahul Patel 1 over, 0 wickets, 4 runs

Northern Hemisphere 1st Innings

Paddy Mahon (wk) ct Horne b Savage 13 (2×4)
Angus Bell (c) not out 81 (9×4, 2×6)
Phil Roche lbw Middleton 30 (3×4)
Sundar Krishnan not out 7
Ben Finkelberg DNB
Philippe MacLeod DNB
Erfan Chowdhury (wk) DNB
Andrew Granville DNB
Tim Fawcett DNB
Rahul Patel DNB
Tom Wisden DNB

Extras 28 (Byes 2, Leg Byes 1, No Balls 3, Wides 22)
Total 159 for 2 in 20 overs

FoW (1-45, 2-111)

Bowling

Tom Schmidt 4 overs, 0 wickets, 29 runs
Greg Brander 4 overs, 1 maiden, 0 wickets, 7 runs
Rob Savage 2 overs, 1 wicket, 17 runs
Hugue St-Jean 1 over, 0 wickets, 5 runs
Thiery Milot 1 overs, 0 wickets, 7 runs
Roy Middleton 3 overs, 1 wicket, 33 runs
Darren Bullivant 2 overs, 0 wickets, 25 runs
Muhan Patel 1 over, 0 wicketa, 5 runs
David Mitchell 1 over, 0 wickets, 14 runs
Martin Leprohon 1 over, 0 wickets, 18 runs

Southern Hemisphere 2nd Innings

David Mitchell ct MacLeod b Wisden 23 (2×4)
Robert Savage lbw Granville 12 (1×4)
Martin Leprohon ct Finkelberg b MacLeod 18
Roy Middleton b Wisden 0
Muhan Patel ct Bell b R Patel 7
Hugue St-Jean ct Finkelberg b MacLeod 0
Greg Brander not out 3
Tom Schmidt ct MacLeod b Roche 0
Richard Horne (wk) not out 0
Thiery Milot DNB
Darren Bullivant (c) DNB

Extras 31 (Byes 0, Leg Byes 0, No Balls 4, Wides 27)
Total 94 for 7 in 20 overs

FoW (1-24, 2-50, 3-51, 4-87, 5-87, 6-90, 7-93)

Bowling

Erfan Chowdhury 4 overs, 0 wickets, 19 runs
Andrew Granville 3 overs, 1 wicket, 17 runs
Philippe MacLeod 3 overs, 2 wickets, 13 runs
Tom Wisden 1 over, 2 wickets, 8 runs
Rahul Patel 4 overs, 1 wicket, 24 runs
Ben Finkelberg 3 overs, 0 wickets, 11 runs
Tim Fawcett 1 over, 0 wickets, 5 runs
Phil Roche 1 overs, 1 wicket, 3 runs

Northern Hemisphere 2nd Innings

Tim Fawcett lbw St-Jean 25 (3×4)
Ben Finkelberg b Savage 4
Rahul Patel b M Patel 5
Andrew Granville not out 10 (2×4)
Erfan Chowdhury (wk) b Middleton 9
Tom Wisden DNB
Philippe MacLeod DNB
Sundar Krishnan DNB
Paddy Mahon (wk) DNB
Phil Roche DNB
Angus Bell (c) DNB

Extras 20 (Byes 2, Leg Byes 2, No Balls 6, Wides 10)
Total 73 for 4 in 15.4 overs

FoW (1-37, 2-48, 3-63, 4-73)

Bowling

Darren Bullivant 2 overs, 0 wickets, 16 runs
Thiery Milot 4 overs, 0 wickets, 16 runs
Robert Savage 2 overs, 1 wicket, 6 runs
Hugue St-Jean 2 overs, 1 wicket, 11 runs
Muhan Patel 2 overs, 1 wicket, 10 runs
Steven Savelle 2 overs, 0 wickets, 4 runs
Roy Middleton 1.5 overs, 1 wicket, 5 runs