The heat of the Shanghai summer was in the air as the SRFC played host to three Shanghai Cricket Club League matches last Sunday. Off-speed bowler John L’Epagniol added his name to the SCC Honour Boards yet again with a 5-wicket performance as all three divisions saw action. The Bashers met Pudong in Division 1, the DPR Hot Dogs faced off with the Digital Devils in Division 2, and the Dulwich Knights battled the Pudong Dream Team in Division 3.

Division 1
Bashers vs Pudong Power
The Bashers won the toss, and departing from recent club protocol, chose to bat first. Pudong’s bowlers bowled great lines and lengths with enough movement both ways to trouble the Bashers top order. Martin Donegan (4-0-27-2) picked up two early wickets with edges to Eric Marcellin at second slip. In the heat, Pudong rotated their bowlers in short spells and it was hard work for the Bashers batsmen to get acclimatised. Oliver Austin top scored with 33 and four other batsmen made 20s as the Bashers were dismissed for 192 in the 38th over. Santosh Yadav (8-1-31-2) was the pick of the Pudong bowling attack that featured six bowlers taking wickets along with two run outs.

Pudong Power’s innings started slowly. The Bashers missed their opportunity to get off to a good start with Nick Bangs putting down a regulation chance at square leg in the third over. However, in the following over Sameer Jolly (8-0-22-1) picked up a wicket and Pudong found themselves under pressure. One quickly became three and the score reached 23-3 after 7 overs. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as John L’Epagniol moved through the middle order batsmen on his way to a 5-wicket bag (8-0-40-5). At 88-7 in the 22nd over and well behind the run rate, it looked like the Bashers had their noses well in front. But at that moment, the tail began to wag. Amogh Kasyap and Santosh Yadav put on 57 run 8th wicket partnership – the highest partnership of the match – as Pudong battled back into the match. Yadav top scored with 34 but the total was just beyond Pudong as they were dismissed off the last ball of the innings for 172.

Bashers CC 192/10, Pudong Power 172/10 – Bashers won by 20 runs.

Division 2
DPR Hot Dogs vs Digital Devils
The DPR Hot Dogs entered Sunday’s game still in search of their first win. With the hot weather welcoming both teams to the SRFC Far Pitch, the Hot Dogs won the toss and elected to bat.

The Digital Devils bowlers showed the Hot Dogs batsmen that there was no escaping from the heat as the top five batsmen were sent back within a span of few overs. Peter Todorov (21) chipped in with few runs and the last pair of Garlen Fredericks (11) and Faisal Khan (17*) put on a good fight to reach a modest total of 134/10 in 27.5 overs. Sri Chaitnaya Vanapalli (5-1-18-3) and Aravind Arasu (6-1-20-3) were best Devils bowlers.

The Digitals started their chase with an aggressive opening partnership from L. Parthiban L (29) and Subramanian Thiagarajan (13). The Hot Dogs tried to get back in the game with few good spells but Avinash Mattoo (33*) made sure that there are no more hiccups and the target was reached in 20.5 overs. Garlen Fredericks (4-0-32-2)) was the best bowler from Hot Dogs.

DPR Hot Dogs 134/10, Digital Devils 138/5 – Digital Devils won by 5 wickets.

Division 3
Dulwich Knights vs Pudong Dream Team
Dulwich won the toss and elected to bowl. Richard Wall and N. Price opened the batting for Pudong and quickly N. Price was back to the pavilion after a smart catch at point by Susan Hobkinson off the bowling of Scott Andrews. Richard Wall went soon afterwards, cleaned bowled by James Perry (4-0-15-2) for 12 and C. Bhansali went cheaply for three. Manojit Dhar however kept his head and played himself in before starting to hit out retiring on 51*. On the first ball after drinks, James Hounsel (20) was caught behind of the bowling of Susan Hobkinson (4-0-34-3) and a collapse started seeing Pudong lose 5 wickets for 12 runs before Vashist Kommunuri (24*) and Vijay Manickavaasagam (15*) make a dogged 8th wicket partnership to get Pudong to a very respectable 151 for 8 from their 20 overs.

Dulwich started the chase and lost opening bat Bruce Nielson Watts early to an LBW decision. James Perry (19) was timing the ball well and striking it to all parts of the boundary before Harsh Chugh caught him with a good running catch at the boundary. Dulwich suffered a minor collapse with the next two batsmens being dismissed cheaply before Susan Hobkinson (24) and Toby Robinson (19) put on a partnership of over 50. When Toby Robinson nicked one through to the keeper, Stephen Jackson (14*) helped support Hobkinson and added some more runs to the board. Matt Robinson came in late at the end but it was a little too late for Dulwich who fell short by 40 runs after their 20 overs.

Pudong Dream Team 151/8, Dulwich Knights 111/6 – Pudong Dream Team won by 40 runs.

Upcoming Matches
Division 1: Bashers CC vs DPR Hot Dogs; Division 2: Digital Devils vs Bashers CC, DPR Hot Dogs vs Leopards CC; Division 3: Dulwich Knights vs Bashers CC