Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Concordia University
Saturday 10 September 2011

Prologue – Saturday, 10.30 am
”Bikram? It’s Angus. Are you close?”
”Actually, we will be twenty-five minutes late. We’re on our way to Dorval Airport to rent a car…”

At 12.20 pm, with just four Concordes and a spectator to muster as an opposition, Pirates of the St Lawrence took to the field in the surrealist game of the season. Lost on the wrong side of the Champlain Bridge – itself down to one lane – with no clue of the roads to take thereafter, and facing heavy apple-picking traffic in the Montérégie – it looked unlikely that the remainder of the students would ever arrive.

Melaram started the revolving door of wickets, inducing an edge to gulley and then a caught and bowled to leave the opposition with just guest umpire Sato to bat. 17 for 2 quickly became 19 for 3, as the ever-improving Bousfield claimed his first scalp for the Pirates or anyone, caught by Bell diving at short midwicket.

Recalled to the crease, the dangerous Umar swiped two fours and a flat six over cover before succumbing to Llewellyn-ap-Daffyd – back in the side after an 23-month hiatus – when he mistakenly rocked onto back foot to the fourth U-boat of the over.

With the scorer padding up for the third time, it looked to be a wasted afternoon for all.

But then, at a quarter past one, the rest of Concordia gang arrived by hire car and suddenly the score was 86 for 4 after 11 overs. Game on.

Uncle Sukhdeo – with just two balls and two wickets to his name this season – began with a third wicket first ball. His average and strike rate will take some beating.

Super Sub Sato slapped the leather admirably, taking the Concordes past the hundred mark with a towering straight six off his Guyanese counterpart. But just as a nervy second innings chase on a crumbling surface looked on the cards, the Pirate spinners picked up the last 7 wickets for just 21 runs, dismissing their guests for 107 in a shade over 25 overs.

Normally a menace on a track with cut, the Concordian bowling attack looked as though they were lost at Mirabel, en route to Ottawa, as debutant Mridha and Rashid flayed them to the forest. Mridha preferred playing square of the wicket on the off side, Rashid hooked compulsively. When the latter fell caught and bowled, Horne entered in a hurry and upped the run rate.

The big New Zealander retired on 39 not out in the 14th over after 29-ball bonanza. Mridha, the consummate professional, and Katia-Kid Julius, playing his final game for the Pirates, cake-walked the home side to a 9 wicket win in just 16.3 overs, Mridha finishing on 49 not out.

The entire game had taken less then the journey to and from the airport.

Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Concordia University
Sunday 11 September 2011
The Candy Fields, Mont-Saint-Hilaire
Match type: Farcical, 37 overs per side
Weather conditions: Bloody oath, mate
Result: Pirates of the St Lawrence won by 9 wickets

Concordia University

Umar ct Rashid b Melaram 7 (1×4)
Bilal c&b Melaram 6
Ashfaq ct Bell b Bousfield 1
Shahid lbw Sukhdeo 15 (1×4)
Umar b Llewellyn-ap-Dafydd 18 (2×4, 1×6)
Sato b Sukhdeo 22 (3×4, 1×6)
Salman lbw Bell 5
Zeeshan b Bell 0
Haroon ct Sukhdeo b Bell 2
Bikram (c) b Julius 7 (1×4)
Shaun not out 1
Salman run out (Bell) 1

Extras 22 (Byes 3, Leg Byes 2, No Balls 0, Wides 17)
Total 107 for 11 in 25.3 overs

FoW (1-11, 2-17, 3-19, 4-45, 5-86, 6-86, 7-92, 8-94, 9-96, 10-106, 11-107)

Bowling

Brahma Melaram 4 overs, 1 maiden, 2 wickets, 10 runs
René Bousfield 4 overs, 1 maiden, 1 wicket, 13 runs
Brian Llewellyn-ap-Dafydd 2 overs, 1 wicket, 28 runs
Roy Middleton 3 overs, 0 wickets, 26 runs
Aneeq Sakrani 4 overs, 1 maiden, 0 wickets, 15 runs
Bhajooram Sukhdeo 3 overs, 1 maiden, 2 wickets, 2 runs
Angus Bell 3 overs, 3 wickets, 5 runs
Matthew Julius 2.3 overs, 1 wicket, 8 runs

Pirates of the St Lawrence Innings

Manoj Mridha (wk) not out 49 (6×4, 51 balls)
Ahmad Rashid c&b Salman 9 (2×4, 11 balls)
Richard Horne retired not out 39 (5×4, 1×6, 29 balls)
Matthew Julius not out 10 (2×4, 9 balls)
Aneeq Sakrani DNB
Brian Llewellyn-ap-Dafydd DNB
Roy Middleton DNB
Bhajooram Sukhdeo DNB
René Bousfield DNB
Brahma Melaram DNB
Angus Bell (c) DNB

Extras 1 (Byes 1, Leg Byes 0, No Balls 0, Wides 0)
Total 108-1 in 16.3 overs

FoW (1-18)

Bowling

Bikram 3 overs, 0 wickets, 16 runs
Salman 5 overs, 1 wicket, 20 runs
Ashfaq 5.3 overs, 0 wickets, 33 runs
Umar 1 over, 0 wickets, 18 runs
Haroon 2 overs, 0 wickets, 19 runs