Eddie Norfolk (August 20, 2020) : South Under-16s squeezed to a 1 wicket win against East Under-16s on Wednesday (August 19, 2020) to win the round-robin phase of this Cricket Ontario Regional Under-16 Championship. The two teams will meet again in the Under-16 Championship Final today (Thursday, August 20, 11 am start). This championship game is due to be live-streamed to Cricket Ontario’s YouTube.
It was the second South U16s win achieved by an 11th wicket partnership in the three group matches of this tournament. South U16s beat East U16s thanks to an 11th wicket partnership of 12 runs. This win to seal top place in the round-robin phase of the championship, followed an 8 run opening day win on Monday against North U16s when South’s 11th wicket duo added a vital 17 runs. Number 11 bat Keyur Padihar was last out for 25, bowled by Kabeer Haroon Butt who ended with 4 wickets for 46 runs from 7.2 overs. This 11th wicket stand carried South U16’s to 173/11 from 30.2 overs, leaving almost a quarter of the overs unused. Sid Nagpal picked up 4/38 to dent South’s progress in the middle of their innings.
North U16s reply began well with stands of 43 for the first wicket then 38 for the second before the lights began to dim as 2 wickets fell with 100 on the board. An eighth wicket stand of 24 left North U16s needing 13 runs from the last 11 balls of the innings; a task that proved too much. Opening bat and captain Tarandeep Singh lead with 43, supported quite well in the opening stand by Khush Negandhi 21.
On Tuesday, South U16s managed to bat out the 40 overs to post a more conventional total of 200/9 and beat West U16s by 37 runs. That win was based on an opening stand of 113 runs from 21 overs ended when Krishopher Karran was caught for 40 (57 balls). Opening partner Yuvraj Samra was bowled for 53 (82 balls) at the start of the 27th over. Kyle Karran made 21* batting at number 7. South U16’s total was aided by 36 wides and 2 no-balls but in reply South’s bowlers gifted 38 wides and 2 no-balls.
It has been a strange year for cricket with Ontario’s junior indoor high-performance programs curtailed by the Covid-19 Emergency and a late start to the season. A number of games in these Ontario Junior championships featured wides gifted at almost a run-per-over. The South U16s opening bats productive occupation of the crease for 21 overs contrasts with two innings that mostly seem to have creaked along to eventual victories that likely tested a few nerves.
East U16’s Ranodeep Dutta, batting at number five, scored 36, two lower order batters made double figures while 28 wides helped carry the East total to 128/11 – all out – from 40 overs on Wednesday. South U16 opener Harkaran Dhami scored 26 (53 balls) before being bowled to leave his team on 78/7 from 21.1 overs but Krishopher Karran, batting 11th of 12, notched an important 18* to carry South U16s to victory. East U16’s Miguel Nandu took 2 early wickets and ended with 3/18 from 6 overs.