Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Québec Masters
Monday 1 September 2025
The Candy Fields, Mont-Saint-Hilaire
Result: Pirates won by 6 wickets
by Phil Me-In

Saturday was earmarked for a stern test: facing the Quebec Masters, a team comprised of Canada Over 50s internationals and the crème de la crème of QCF cricket. But Saturday was also earmarked for torrid weather, and in his infinite wisdom, Skipper Angus rearranged the game for Labour Day. Glorious sunshine, temperatures in their late 20s, and Mr Sukh’s splendid biriyanis lay in wait for the eager cricketers who hastily rescheduled their lives to be available.

The pre-game team talk earned a round of applause, for the 14 dropped catches from last week were, in fact, a Pirate record. With the history books set right, we took to the field and surprised none more than ourselves by bowling tightly, fielding with intent, and holding onto our catches! Our bowling attack was significantly bolstered by Mr Sukh’s himself, prising out one opener to a sharp catch behind the stumps by Surya. 24-1 after 6 overs was perhaps not fireworks but a decent enough foundation.

Alas the masters soon slumped to 31-4, with Roger’s reworked action befuddling one bat after the other, perhaps surprised to see the ball come down with snow on it despite the glorious weather, pitching on a perfect length, inviting them multiple times over to make a mistake. Fresh from his batting heroics from last week, Gabriel joined in the fun with two quick wickets to leave the Masters reeling at 45-6. The champagne moment of the day was provided by Surya, racing into the covers, diving at full stretch to take a blinder of a catch, only to nonchalantly chuck the ball up in the air as if he did this every day. But then he’s not yet 25: perhaps he does!

From here, the Masters dug in, running smartly between wickets and punishing anything short or leg side. Philipp was helped to a wicket as Hari Sukh held onto a blinder in the deep, but as the #8 bat started to free his arms, the score ballooned and Kazi’s late intervention wasn’t enough to prevent Rajesh from reaching a fine 80, and a steepish target of 164 being set for a first Pirates victory of the season.

But we had a secret weapon, an unfair advantage, strolling out to bat at 3, the phlegmatic Mohamed Umar does what only the phlegmatic Mohamed Umar can do: walking singles, turning down any runs that would require actual running, yet blazing his way to an effortless 76 punctuated by 5 maximums, and making sure we kept up with the run rate at all times. When Kazi fell for a patient (and somewhat lucky, let’s be honest!) 13 with the score on 71 in the 12th over, Mo had already bludgeoned 55. When Mo finally fell to a fine catch on the mid-off boundary, 60-odd runs were still required in 11 overs.

A clatter of wickets later and 103-3 had become 108-5. The required rate soon crept up to over a run a ball as Hari and Philipp sought to re-establish some calm. Beyond the boundary, Angus was rumoured to be padding up in haste, ready to promote himself up the order if required. A majestic 6 from Hari followed by a sweetly timed straight drive by Philipp soon reduced the target to single digits, duly knocked off by another boundary from Hari, who finished an excellent chase in style on 39*.

A fine performance all-round, only enhanced by Caribbean rhythms blaring from the tent and a wonderfully joyful atmosphere created by the travelling supporters. Up the Pirates!