The British Columbia Mainland Cricket League’s Pre-Season T20 championship began last Saturday (March 19, 2016) as scheduled but rain prevented most of the scheduled games last Sunday.
The four Division One games on Saturday resulted in wins for West Vancouver I, Centurions I, Abbotsford I and Windies I. Newton Surrey beat Meraloma I on Sunday morning but the two after games were washed out.
Richmond I reached 110/7 from 20 overs headed by 38 runs from Gurpreet Gill and 36 from Gurinder Virk. Sajjid Itaz clipped 66 for Centurions I who, presumably, racked up 111/2 (13 overs) to win by 8 wickets. R. Singh provided 31 runs in the victory march, although Centurions total does add to the posted 110/2 on the scorecard.
West Vancouver I scored 148/3 from 20 overs then bowled out Surrey Hawks I for 89 (19.3 overs) to win by 59 runs. Ali Haq topped West Vancouver’s scoring with 54, Jas Dhaliwal chipped in a useful 42 and Dimuth Waraptipia struck 32. K. Khattra took 3 wickets for just 7 runs from 3 overs and S Vander took 3/20 as the Hawks tumbled to 89 all out.
Abbotsford I topped Saturday’s team scores with 181/2 then restricted Pakcan I to 145/5 to win by 35 runs. Abbotsford opener Sukhpal Bajwa struck 67 and Canadian international Jimmy Hansra pumped 74* from 42 balls. Opener Taimur Tariq hit 31 for Pakcan who had useful contributions later in the innings by Hasan Malik (36 from 34 balls) and Rashid Masood (25 from 15 balls).
Gagandeep Singh took 3/8 and Sandy Singh 3/20 as Meraloma I stumbled to 56/9 from 16 overs on what seemed, if I recall correctly, to have been a rainy morning in downtown Vancouver. Newtown Surrey reached a winning 63/2 from 9 overs with Parmanepal Malhi making 25*. Some may notice Newton Surrey’s total is 7 more than Meraloma’s 56, so perhaps Malhi’s winning six came after the game had been won?
My memories of rain last Sunday in Vancouver are consistent with no play in the other two scheduled Pre-Season T20 Division 1 matches that are recorded as “rain out” games. So no play in Cosmos I v Surrey United I or Salim Akbar v Bengal Tigers, both games were scheduled for the afternoon.
Beyond noticing a couple of scoring oddments, a touch of tiredness after a busy week or two brings a touch of inconsistency in sorting out all the players’ names. At least some will become aware that a few outdoor games of cricket – beyond the specialized world of snow cricket – have been played in Canada to kickstart the 2016 season.
Eddie Norfolk