Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Adastrians B
Saturday 8 August 2009

The Pirates were dealt one of their most convincing defeats with a 103-run loss at the hands of Adastrians B, who sit second in the QCF B Division.

Bowling first, the Pirates began with an awesome opening spell of pace from Roche and Davis. Keeper Horne was loving it behind the stumps, and kept the captain amused at slip with his, “That was a jaffa!” comments.

After 17 overs, the pressure had taken its toll on the visitors, who were reeling at 56 for 4; Roche, Herr Schmidt and ‘The Saint’ St-Jean sharing the wickets. Dangermen Naveed and Qasim started to cut loose, cashing in on a quick outfield.

Cap’n Daz brought himself on and had Qasim caught by Bell on the deep mid wicket boundary. Unfortunately, the ball was traveling too fast and it pushed the terrier-like Scot over the rope for a very unorthodox six. Bullivant was again unlucky with Qasim spooning another easy chance back down the wicket, but Bullivant ran into the non striker with no way around.

After Naved and Qasim had added 79, Captn Daz tossed the ball back to his opening bowlers to stymie the run flow. Roche and ‘Strike-Rate’ Davis again bowled economically (Roche 1 for 21, Davis 1 for 23), removing Qasim for 78, caught by Horne off Davis. It was the Guyanese quick’s first scalp for the Pirates and no doubt there will be more to follow.

Dr Savage was then handed the ball and immediately enticed Adil to try and hit him into the power station. Bell, who by this time was struggling to keep away from the ball, took the catch at deep square leg. In his very next over, the Good Dr bowled Sohib. The Adastrians tailenders saw out the final few overs to reach 182 for 10.

Only 22 extras were conceded by the Pirates, and except for the partnership between Qasim and Naveed that should have been ended earlier, the Pirates were well on top the entire innings – even without our strike wicket taker (‘The Antipace’ Wisden) missing through back injury. Cap’n Daz was stoked by the effort.

The run chase didn’t start well, when top run-scorer Bell got a flick on the gloves and walked after being caught behind for 5. Rich Horne then had to retire with another commitment. In his brief 14, he looked the most solid of the Pirate batsman in the opening overs. The Adastrians bowled good lines, moving the ball into and away from the batsmen, and extracted considerable bounce with their high actions. The middle order also crumbled, with Milot, 6 runs, Davis, 10, and Bullivant, 8, falling in quick succession.

Phil Roche was the only batsman to show resistance, striking some well timed shots to all parts of the ground before being bowled by Tayyab for 16. St-Jean and Herr Schmidt perished in the same manner and the Pirates were staring down the barrel of an England-like collapse.

Adastrians, having seized the moment, decided to sink the knife deeper, bringing back opening bowler Sunny, and Gohar, who wrapped up the final 5 wickets, and kept the Pirates to 79 for 11 in 24.4 overs.

Pirates of the St Lawrence versus Adastrians B
Saturday 8 August 2009
The Candy Fields, Mont-Saint-Hilaire
Match type: 40 overs per side
Weather conditions: Sizzlin’ hawt
Result: Adastrians B won by 103 runs

Adastrians B Innings

Ravi ct Bullivant b St-Jean 18
Ishtiaq run out (Bullivant) 7
Sunny ct Horne b Roche 6
Tayyab b Schmidt 1
Naveed c&b Bullivant 29
Qasim (wk) ct Horne b Davis 78
Aman ct Bell b Bullivant 2
Adil ct Bell b Savage 1
Gohar (c) run out (St-Jean) 1
Sohib b Savage 2
Jain not out 6
Usman not out 9

Extras 22
Total 182 for 10 in 40 overs

Bowling

Phil Roche 8 overs, 1 maiden, 1 wicket, 21 runs
Robert Davis 8 overs, 1 maiden, 1 wicket, 23 runs
Angus Bell 8 overs, 1 maiden, 0 wickets, 24 runs
Tom Schmidt 3 overs, 1 wicket, 22 runs
Hugue St-Jean 3 overs, 1 wicket, 29 runs
Darren Bullivant 6 overs, 1 maiden, 2 wickets, 46 runs
Robert Savage 2 overs, 2 wickets, 12 runs
Thiery Milot 1 over, 0 wickets, 9 runs

Pirates of the St Lawrence Innings

Richard Horne (wk) retired (not out) 14
Angus Bell ct Qasim b Sunny 5
Thiery Milot b Sunny 6
Robert Davis ct Adil b Sunny 10
Darren Bullivant (c) ct Tayyab b Adil 8
Phil Roche b Tayyab 16
Hugue St-Jean b Tayyab 1
Tom Schmidt b Tayyab 3
Brian Llewellyn-ap-Dafydd b Gohar 0
Robert Savage ct Ravi b Gohar 0
Erfan Chowdhury b Sunny 2
Thiery Milot not out 0
Robert Davis b Sunny 2

Extras 14
Total 79 for 11 in 24.4 overs

Bowling

Sunny 7.4 overs, 5 wickets, 25 runs
Soheb 6 overs, 0 wickets, 26 runs
Tayyab 5 overs, 2 maidens, 3 wickets, 10 runs
Adil 3 overs, 1 wicket, 12 runs
Gohar 3 overs, 2 wickets, 5 runs