X-Cricketers crush rivals ESF Lions by 69 Runs, U17 Cheetahs and U13 Lions also post big wins
It was a good weekend for Diasqua Little Sai Wan Cricket Club, with all teams gaining points, although three of the games played this weekend were washed out due to the Typhoon. The other three games were big wins for the club
X-Cricketers
It was a hot and humid day on 23rd October following the departure of Typhoon Haima. X-Cricketer playing a game of cricket after 5 and half months were feeling a little rusty. However the team was motivated to do well against rivals ESF Lions, having played them twice previously the head to head is one win each.
The X-Cricketers were keen on batting first and the first task for Captain Vishal Mahtani was to win the toss and bat. Vishal lost the toss but was fortunate to be put in to bat by ESF Lion’s captain Vinay Sajnani.
The match was played at PTS and the outfield was as usual lush and makes the ball difficult to travel, scoring along the ground would be difficult and lots of singles were required to post a good score.
Opening the batting for X-cricketers were Josh Daswani and Parvesh Fabiani. Josh got out bowled in the second over to a slow full toss by Rajan. Parvesh followed in the 6th over giving an easy catch to the field off the bowling of Jayesh Dalani. Vikas Kakar and Nitesh Sancheti had a job of building a partnership and they did putting on 67 runs until Nitesh retired on 50 runs. Nitesh scored a quick 50 runs of 39 balls including four 4 and one sixer. Vikas played the anchor’s role to perfection supporting Nitesh and ensure wickets are held at one end.
Following the retirement of Nitesh and with the innings on 130/2 with 9 overs left, skipper Vishal decided to push pinch hitter Shezad Ghowns up the order and asked him to score some quick runs. Shezad rotated the strike scoring 31 runs of 30 balls including one massive six. Vikas got out with 26 runs with the score on 142 runs. Captain Mahtani got out soon after with a questionable LBW decision. Tathagata Sarkar also contributed with 15 runs and X-Cricketers ended their 30 overs with a good score of 210 / 6. ESF Lions also helped with the big total by gifting 73 runs in extras.
The X-Cricketers knew it would be difficult for ESF Lions to score these runs unless X-Cricketers helped them with extras and bad bowling, The strategy was simple, keep the bowling accurate and let the ESF batsman make the mistakes.
Vishal based on his gut feeling decided to open his bowling with spinners. Nitesh Sancheti and Josh Daswani opened the bowling and bowled tight spells. Josh got the ESF opener Dheeraj Mohnani caught behind in the 4th over. A partnership between Jayesh Dalani and Roshan Dalani was built however the run rate wasn’t really a threat. Jayesh Dalani (27) was run out by a brilliant throw from Shezada Gowns from the boundary. Josh came back in his second spell and got Roshan LBW in the 19th over with the score on 81 runs. Batter Yogesh Mahtani stuck around almost till the end scoring 42 runs however the target was too much for ESF lions who ended with 141/8 in their 30 runs. Josh Daswani picked up 3 wickets for 34 runs, while Shezada Gowns picked up 2 for 26 runs. Maqsood and Thatakar picked up one wicket each and all bowlers bowled a tight spell and kept extras to 22 runs. X-Cricketers keepers Parvesh Fabiani also had a good day picking up 2 catches and a stumping and giving one 1 run in byes. DLSW X-Cricketers won their match with a convincing 69 run victory.
Spartans
The Typhoon caused some damage to DLSW Games over the weekendt. The DLSW Spartans vs Subcont CC was called off due to the Mission Road grounds being unfit to play on. The drainage on Mission Road ground has been poor and we do hope Hong Kong Cricket Association and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department are able to get this are of the ground improved soon.
U17s
The U17 Cheetahs playing their second game of the season in the U17 Elite League against USRC at St Stephen’s College on 23rd October 2016. Bowling first, the Cheetahs opener Aryan bowled a hostile spell to take the wickets of the top three USRC batsman. Aryan took 4 wickets for 30 runs in his 5 over spell. Nikshay and Abhinit also took 2 wickets each and managed to get the USRC team all out for 102 runs in 21.3 overs
The Cheetahs top three all took starts and scored runs in contrasts to USRC batsmen. Shail scored 25 and Vishesh scored 35 runs opening the batting. Aryan added 20 runs, on top of his bowling performances, at number 3 position. Jainam and Vrushank ensured they remained not out and took the Cheetahs home with 7 wickets to spare. The Target was chased in 17.3 overs
U13s
The U13 Lions played KCC Buccaneers at KGV on Sunday 23rd October. The Lions won the toss and decided to bowl first. The KCC team could not stand against the Lions bowling and were all out for 33 runs. Opening bowler Ramzan Khan took 3 wickets for 3 runs in his 3 overs. Mohammed Kaif supported him by taking 2 wickets for 12 runs in 3 overs. The KCC team was all out in 11.2 overs.
The Lions chased the target in the 4th over. However the team lost both openers, Faizan Khan and Jagraj Singh and the score was 9/2 in 1.3 overs. Ramzan Khan then came on and finished his complete domination of the game by smashing 21 runs in 8 balls and winning the game. His innings included 5 fours.
The DLSW Lions won by 8 Wickets
U11s
Both the U11 League games were called off due to Typhoon, DLSW U11 Tigers and DLSW U11 Lions gained one point each from their abandoned games.
Next Weekend
As some members will be celebrating Diwali this coming weekend, DLSW has 8 games to celebrate Diwali. The DLSW Wasps have two games this weekend both against KCC. The first one is a Twenty20 Cup game on 29th and then the Wasps play their first 35 over league game of the season against KCC at KCC Oct 29th 2016
At 9:30am at PKVR Reservoir - U11 League - DLSW Kangaroos vs DB Smashers
At 11am at PKVR Reservior - U11 League - DLSW Cheethas vs Sky Warriors CC
At 11am at PKVR Reservoir - U11 League - DLSW Tigers vs United Jaguars
At 1pm at Mission Road - Championship League - DLSW Spartans vs Lamma CC
At 1pm at St Stephen's - U17 League - DLSW Littles vs HKCC Wanders
At 1:30pm at PKVR Reservoir - Women's T20 Cup - DLSW Wasps vs KCC
Oct 30th 2016
At 8:30am at PKVR Reservior - U13 League - DLSW Littles vs Lantau CC
At 1pm at KCC - Women's League - DLSW Wasps vs KCC
