Saturday Championship Division 1

With the champion and relegated teams determined last week, there were only two more matches remaining in the Division 1 season.

At Hong Kong Cricket Club, Nomads needed a bonus point win and a good run-rate to overtake KCC Saracens to claim second place in the competition. That they achieved with a dominant performance over Pakistan Association.

Despite rain threatening throughout the day, Pakistan Association elected to bat first after winning the toss. However, their top-order struggled on the slow deck and they were reduced to 5/45 with Harry Ledger claiming three wickets. Some gainful batting by the Pakistan Association’s middle and lower-order allowed them to reach a final score of 155 in 33.4 overs. Imran was their top-scorer with 33 not out while Toby Brown claimed 4/38 for Nomads and Ledger finished with 3/12 off his seven overs.

The Nomads batsmen came out with positive intentions but they lost wickets before any partnership could make any significant impact. With Nomads’ score on 4/80 nearing the halfway stage of their innings, the match was evenly balanced but an explosive partnership between Toby Brown and Andrew Swann swung things in the host’s favour. The pair thrashed 72 runs in barely seven overs to seal the win for Nomads. With four runs needed for victory, Brown was out for 46 but shortly afterwards, Swann brought up the winning runs with a maximum over long on to finish unbeaten on 31.

The result saw HKCC Nomads finish second place on the ladder (on the same points as KCC Saracens but with a superior net run-rate) while Pakistan Association finished the season in fourth place.

At HKCC: Pakistan Association 155 from 33.4 overs lost to HKCC Nomads 5/160 from 25 overs by five wickets.

A rain-affected match at Kowloon Cricket Club between KCC Tartars and Centaurs CC saw the match reduced to a 24-over affair.

Centaurs won the toss and inserted Tartars. None of the Tartars’ batsmen could build a decent innings and wickets fell regularly. A second rain break saw players leave the field with Tartars on 7/103 after 24.2 overs. Tartars could not resume their innings and Centaurs were left to chase 103 in 24 overs. That they did with ease as Nasir Hameed (34*) and Aniket Gocoldas (40*) took them to victory in 12.2 overs.

At KCC: KCC Tartars 7/103 from 24.3 overs lost to Centaurs CC 1/105 from 12.2 overs by nine wickets.

Saturday Championship Division 2

With Mission Road out of action for a couple of weeks, there was only one Division 2 played at PKVR Park.

Rain intervened to reduce the match to 33 overs per side. SCC Lancers batted first and they reached 169 in 30.2 overs with Uday Shetty hitting 61. For Kai Tak, Saurav Biswas claimed 3/42 from his seven over spell.

The Kai Tak got off to a solid start and they looked well place at 2/98 with Mats Parkinson (54) and Dave Belcastro sharing a 66-run partnership for the third wicket. Liam Murphy contributed an unbeaten 39 but three quick wickets at the very end saw Kai Tak stumble and fall agonizingly short of their victory target.

At PKVR Park: SCC Lancers 169 from 30.2 overs beat Kai Tak CC 6/167 from 33 overs by two runs.

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