Sunday, April 22 saw the SCC Dragons in action for the first time in 2012 as well as all six Division 3 sides playing back-to-back-to-back games at SRFC. Darren Manning helped lead his side to victory in the Maroon vs Green SCC Dragons match with a century and the Bashers and Hot Dogs stayed undefeated in Division 3.

SCC Dragons

Maroon vs Green
Green won the toss and elected to bat, socring 305 for 7 from there 50 overs. Darren Manning reached a fantastic 104 and Sanjay Anugula hit a quick-fire 56*. Waqar Khattak was the pick of the Maroon bowler picking up 4 wickets. The Pudong pair of Ankit Kawatra and Eric Marcellin opened well with Kawatra in particular very unlucky not to pick up a wicket. Santosh Yadav also bowled economically and had the outstanding figures of 1 for 6 off 7 at one stage before Manning and Anugula ruined his figures in the latter overs. There were also handy contributions by Dinesh Pissurlenkar, Alistair Bourne and Ben Goodwin with the bat after the slow start by the Green top order.

A target of 306 was always going to be a tough chase and the early loss of Waqar Khattak, caught behind of Sanjay Anugula, set the Maroon’s back from the start. As with the Green innings, the Maroon top order started slowly facing swing of Darren Manning and pace of Anugula. The Maroon middle order picked up the pace quiet considerably; and with Mike Tsesmelis (53) and Jasim Baig at the crease, they began to reel in the target. A moment of miscommunication ended the promising partnership with Tsesmelis run out. Wickets tumbled regularly after that. Anugula picked up 4 wickets and John L’Epagniol added another 3. Maroon ended 40 odd runs short when they were finally dismissed in the 49th over.

Division 3

Pudong Dads & Lads vs Pudong Dream Team
The Dream Team won the toss and elected to bat. The Dads & Lads welcomed the support of Chirag Bhansali (4-0-21-0) to open the bowling. Back from a spell on the benches, he came in with a head of steam and gusto. The Dream Team, who two days before thought that the game was on the following weekend, opened the batting with Division 2 mainstays Kane Coleman (45) and Suresh Ramalingam (51*). To say the least, they took to the bowling of Joe Saliba who took the second over. The first wicket did not fall until Sandeep was brought in when Coleman was 45. The next to go from the Dream team was Andy Baggott for a duck. To be fair it was a brilliant piece of bowling by Hemav Manhata, caught at first slip by the lightning hands of Vince Ungvary. The bowling of Sebastian Ungvary and Jarryd Saliba held the juniors in the team with impressive spells of 6 for none and 20 for none from two overs each. The Dream Team reached 154 runs for 3 wickets off 20 overs.

It was over to the Dads and Lads to take on the batting and openers Jarryd Saliba and Shaqueel Taher opened the batting. Taher was out on the first ball; a sign of what was to come. The ball was moving a lot and within a couple of overs, the Dads and Lads were 6 runs for 2 wickets. The only one sticking around was Jarryd Saliba. It was a small score and a few lucky lives, but he faced up to the Dream Team only to be caught out in the fourth over. The might of James Kaunhoven 16) and Hemav Manhata (16) came to the crease and they knocked up some quick runs. Tim Bradfield (10) came of age with his career best. At the end, the Dads were all out for 74 off 17.3 overs. For the Dream Team, bowling from Division 1 medium pacer James Boot (2-1-4-2) and Division 2 mainstay Manojit Dhar (3-0-12-2) added to the Dream Team’s regular attack of Nigel Price (2.3-0-8-3) and Vashist Kommonworri (3-0-13-2) to keep the wickets falling.

Pudong Dream Team 154/3, Pudong Dads & Lads 79/10 – Pudong Dream Team won by 75 runs.

Daredevils CC vs DPR Hot Dogs
Having won the toss and deciding to bowl, the Devils felt their catching was good in practice and were confident of a good start. However they were not expecting two batsmen in such destructive form. Venki Eegapati dispatched the first ball of the match for 4, which proved to be a sign of things to come. In a batting display that could only be described as brutal, Eagapati set about dispatching ball after ball to the boundary. When he wasn’t able to get the ball away for 4 or 6, he and opening partner Peter Roy ran tirelessly, keeping the poor scorer incredibly busy. Eagapati soon retired after reaching his 50* and was joined back on the bench before long by Roy (52*), who retired on 50 for the second time in three matches. Once the openers had departed, the Devils started to get the rewards their bowling deserved. Andrew Sutherland and Rajan Mistry both took three wickets from four overs and Joe Lewis displayed quick-wittedness and agility taking two catches behind the stumps. After 20 overs, the Hot Dogs had reached the double century mark, recording a score of 204 for 4.

At the break the Devils knew they were faced with a Herculean task to win the match. Openers Joe Crozier-Durham and Andrew Sutherland started strongly, the former hitting 35 off just 27 balls, but some dangerous bowling from Andy McNeice and energetic Hot Dogs fielding kept the Devils from getting ahead of the run rate. The first wicket to fall was Sutherland, who was given out lbw. However during the celebration, Hot Dog Lachlan Wolfers said he had seen Sutherland get bat on ball and he was called back. Sportsmanship was displayed on both sides, when Daredevil Rahul Ahulwalia did not hesitate giving out a very close stumping call from square leg when it would have been far easier to keep quiet. Peter Roy starred with the ball taking four wickets for just 13 runs off four overs and was on a hat-trick ball for the second match in succession (again though, number three proved elusive). Chris Spackman excelled in the field and took three catches as the Hot Dogs bowling and fielding kept the Devils chase in check. Daredevils 137 for 9.

DPR Hot Dogs 204/4, Daredevils CC 137/9 – DPR Hot Dogs won by 67 runs.

Bashers CC vs Dulwich Knights
The Bashers won the toss and elected to bat. Denzyl Allwright retired on 51* and Adam Baker raked in 42*, more than doubling the 72-run scoreline at the 15 over mark. J. Perry took 1 for 11 from four overs and Bruce N.W. took 1 for 20 from three overs. Bashers 147 for 4 from 20 overs.

The Dulwich Knights made a valiant reply with James Perry repeating Allwrights batting heroics from the first innings and retiring on 51*. His four 6s took the prize for most shots over the boundary for the day. Bashers debutant Thisura Wijepala took 1 for 4 from four and was the pick of the Bashers bowlers, with Allwright chipping in with 1 for 20 from four. Dulwich fought through the tight bowling with batting from Bruce Neilson-Watts (10), Scott Andrews (16) and Toby Robinson (11*), but ultimately fell short of their goal, reaching only 129 runs in their 20 overs.

Bashers CC 147/4, Dulwich Knights 129/4 – Bashers CC won by 18 runs.