Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Sukhdeo’s Select
Saturday 6 September 2025
The Candy Fields, Mont-Saint-Hilaire
Result: Sukhdeo’s Select won by 75 runs
by Phil Me-In

The Candy Fields is bathed in glorious late afternoon sunshine, Mont Saint Hilaire dominates the skyline on the off-side, through which Roger just laced a cover drive. Gabriel (17*) is in full flow – reverse scooping, slog sweeping, dancing down the wicket – driving opposition bowlers to distraction. Such was the scene at 4pm as the Pirates bravely batted for the draw, while Sukh’s Select XI erroneously thought they were winning this game by 75 runs. Little did they know that an unannounced rule change had been made by the Pirate hierarchy to reintroduce the draw!

For 5 wet and increasingly cold hours before this last act of another biriyani-inspired excuse for a game of cricket, we collectively braved rain ranging from damp air to heavy drizzle, without ever quite making it to full-on torrential downpour. The toss, a formality long since dispensed with at Candy Fields, resulted in the visitors padding up and Bradley’s mate Fabrice throwing on a cricket jumper to take to the field for his first ever outing. He was quickly in on the action, cutting off runs at fine leg and generally haring about with youthful exuberance not yet tainted by painful memories of dropped catches.

Fresh from a month away in old Blighty, Craig widened the corridor of uncertainty throughout his opening over, and deservedly accounted for the opener with Gabriel doing the catching honours. Pirate tails were up – what a start to the game! Despite wickets falling at regular intervals, the steady Robert (35 off 59), and the aggressive leftie Subodh (65 off 59 as well!) held the innings together to set a very competitive looking target of 187.

Eyebrows were raised when an electrician’s van showed up halfway through our fielding innings – but what emerged from it (or rather who!), set pulses racing. With a run-up half way to the boundary, Connor bowled with real pace and venom, and joined the wicket-taking fraternity alongside Craig (2), Arlindo, Gabriel, Roger, Bradley, and Philipp. A great effort in the field once again with only a fingertip half-chance going down, and a run-out at the bowlers end to boot!

As the rain intensified during the tea break, our skipper’s words rang in the the ears of opening batters Harman and Bradley: “we cannot soak up balls, at least 6 and over from the word go”. Alas, Hari is a wily bowler and when the scoreboard looked suspiciously like a triple Nelson at 11-1 after 5 overs, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. Connor’s innings is worth a mention: a six off a no-ball, a broken bat, and stumps splayed all over the ground. Harman kept at it, accumulating steadily, defending stoically, and only getting out just short of his half century as he looked to accelerate after the drinks break. Which brings us full circle to the last act: the rain stops. The sun comes out. Gabriel reverse scoops. Arlindo lights up the braai. Beers, laughter, good times. What a silly game. Up the Pirates!