Saturday Championship ─ Match Report (9th April 2016)
Saturday Championship Division 1

At Hong Kong Cricket Club, HKCC Nomads scored an easy victory over HKCC Witherers thanks to a dominant bowling performance.

Witherers elected to bat first after winning the toss and they made a solid start with the openers putting on 34 runs for the first wicket. Charlie Bright hit 30 but his was the third wicket to fall by the time the score reached 55 and Nomads dominated proceedings from there. Anshuman Rath grabbed three quick wickets as Witherers tumbled to 5/61 before a slight recovery got them to 91 with no further loss. However, a calamitous finish to the innings saw Witherers all out for 94. Rath was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/19 off seven overs.

Rath then struck an unbeaten 46 as Nomads cruised to victory in just 12.2 overs, despite the loss of three wickets. Jhatavedh Subramanyan grabbed all three wickets for Witherers to finish with figures of 3/55 although the 18 wides in conceded did not help his side’s cause.

At HKCC: HKCC Witherers 94 from 29.3 overs lost to HKCC Nomads 3/95 from 12.2 overs by seven wickets.

At Kowloon Cricket Club, KCC Saracens ensured the title race for the Division 1 crown will go down to the last match following a bonus point win over Pakistan Association.

Saracens batted first after being sent in by the Pakistan Association’s captain. The PACC’s bowlers made early inroads into the Saracens batting line-up and they reduced them to 3/53, of which Ninad Shah hit 33. However a 117-run fourth wicket stand between Simondeep Singh and Chris Carter got Saracens to a final total of 4/180 from their 35 overs. Simondeep hit 46 while Carter finished unbeaten on 74.

The Saracens bowlers made regular strikes as they reduced the Pakistan Association’s top order to 4/33. Sunny Bhimsaria then cleaned up the middle and lower order batsmen to finish with figures of 5/30. Aziz Butt was the only PACC batsman to offer any fight; his 25 not out ensuring they reached three figures after being 9/85 at one stage.

At KCC: KCC Saracens 4/180 from 35 overs beat Pakistan Association 118 from 26.1 overs by 62 runs.

At Mission Road, Centaurs CC surprised CCC Jing Sun to score their first win of the season.

CCC Jing Sun batted first after winning the toss and they made a great start with their openers putting on 86 for the first wicket. Giacomo Lamplough scored 44 while Matt Rafter hit 51. However, the CCC team’s scoring was slow against some tight Centaurs bowling and none of their remaining batsman could push on to make a big score. CCC Jing Sun’s final score was 6/152 from 35 overs.

The Centaurs reply also got off to a good start but two quick wickets set them back to 2/39. Nasir Hameed batted well for 44 and he received good support from Daniyal Butt who hit an unbeaten 63. Centaurs eased home in the 33^rd over for the loss of four wickets.

At Mission Road: CCC Jing Sun 6/152 from 35 overs lost to Centaurs CC 4/153 from 32.3 overs by six wickets.


Saturday Championship Division 2

Only one second division match was played this week and it saw SCC Lancers comfortably beat Pioneers CC at PKVR Park.

Pioneers batted first after winning the toss but they could only manage a total of 69 with no batsman reaching double figures. All the SCC Lancers’ bowlers enjoyed success and Shelton D’Cruz was their best with 3/20 from seven overs.

An unbeaten 34 from opener Soma Nair was enough to see SCC Lancers to their victory target in the 14^th over.

At PKVR Park: Pioneers CC 69 from 19.2 overs lost to SCC Lancers 2/70 from 13.2 overs by eight wickets.