Bhan Deonarine presents the trophy to Quebec
Quebec took the Eastern T20 Championships beating Nova Scotia in the final. Nova Scotia topped the table on net run rate, with Quebec 2nd, both with 3-1 records Newfoundland 3rd on net run rate over New Brunswick (both 2-2) and PEI at 0-4. Malinga Wijethilaka of Quebec was named tournament MVP.
Hon. Lena M. Diab. Nova Scotia’s Minister of Immigration, Justice and Attorney General presents MVP trophy
Final: Nova Scotia batted first and two wickets from Bhatia had them on the back foot early. Preet Singh continued his good bowling form with two wickets, and Wijethilaka also took two as Nova Scotia were bowled out for 111. Arun Nag top-scored with 26.
This target looked on the low side as Umar Muhammad and Wijethilaka took 19 off the first over of the innings, then 23 off the second. They had a century opening partnership as Quebec recorded a 9 wicket win.
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Match 10: PEI batted first against New Brunswick and were bowled out for 104. Denny Paul top-scored with 28, and Jason Pinto and Shami Khalid each took three wickets. New Brunswick chased down the total in 11.2 overs, losing just 2 wickets in the process but losing out on net run rate to Newfoundland and Labrador for third place.
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Nova Scotia
Quebec
Match 9: Quebec needed to beat Nova Scotia to assure themselves of a place in the final, and put themselves in a strong position by bowling out Nova Scotia for 120. Preet Singh led the bowlers with 3/11 and Daksh Talwar top-scored for Nova Scotia with 45.
Quebec raced to 76 from the first 6 overs before losing a wicket, and passed the Nova Scotia total with 8 wickets and 8 overs in hand. The two teams will meet again in this evenings final.
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Match 8: It is rare for a team from Newfoundland and Labrador to beat Quebec at provincial level in any sport, so today’s victory by the provincial team is one for them to celebrate. It is hard to get statistics of the number of cricketers in Quebec, but the Montreal leagues feature over 30 teams in two divisions- it is likely that Quebec cricketers number in the thousands, while Newfoundland’s team was picked from 60 players active in their Summer League. Quebec won the toss and chose to bat in a game reduced to 18 overs. Rahul Vashist broke a promising opening partnership, then Rakesh Negi took two wickets, bowled and stumped. Rahul dismissed the dangerous Umar Muhammad, but not before he had made 55. A run out and a catch by Asim from Rahul’s last over had Quebec at 125/6 with 3 overs to go. Rahul finished with 3/30 as Quebec totalled 137/7.
Newfoundland and Labrador celebrate a win over Quebec.
Hummam Bin Saif and Rakesh Negi were both dismissed in the second over, but Rahul Vashisht and Umair Khan (27) put together a good partnership of 62, with some big hitting mixed with defence. After Umair was caught Gurman Khurana joined Rahul, and took the score to 104 before Rahul was caught- he had made exactly 50 from 43 balls with 5 sixes. This left 34 to win from 22 balls but Gurman (37*) and Barath Shetty fought off nerves to register a 6 wicket win- Gurman sealing victory with a six in the 17th over.
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Match 7: Quebec bowled first and restricted New Brunswick to 98/ 6 from their 20 overs. All the bowlers were economical, notably Malinga Wijethilaka (4-0-10-1) and Preet Singh (4-1-11-2). Wijethilaka led the way with the bat as well, opening the innings, and making 57 not out as Quebec won by 8 wickets.
Match 6 saw hosts Nova Scotia looking to keep their unbeaten record against Newfoundland and Labrador. NL batted first, and apart from Rakesh Negi (47) struggled against the NS bowling, led by Daksh Talwar with 3/6. They made 111/9 from their 20 overs.
Rahul Vashisht and Rakesh Negi gave Newfoundland and Labrador a chance with penetrative early bowling, and at the half-way mark, Nova Scotia were 5 down, needing 56 from the last ten overs. Opener Santosh Vema had made the majority of the runs, but he was caught off Ali Malik in the 13th over for 35. Ali Malik followed this up with a double wicket maiden, leaving Nova Scotia in trouble at 78/8. Daksh Talwar played an invaluable innings of 34, hitting five boundaries, and taking Nova Scotia to a two wicket win.
Match 5: The opening match saw PEI face Quebec. PEI were bowled out for 70, Shaiyan Ahmed leading the bowlers with 3 wickets for just 4 runs. Malinga Wijethilaka with 43 not out led Quebec to a 9 wicket win in only 7.2 overs.
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Day 1:
Match 4: the schedule has been revised due to forecast rain late on Saturday, so NL and NB played on Friday evening. NB beat NL by 65 runs.
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Rahul Vashisht
Match 3: Newfoundland Labrador made their debut in this year’s tournament playing PEI. PEI won the toss and put NL in to bat. Shergill had early success with the ball dismissing both NL openers with 13 on the board. NL captain Rahul Vashisht (last year’s tournament MVP) is in great form in the local leagues, and immediately showed he could reproduce it at provincial level. He and Gurman Khurana took 25 off the fourth over, and he hit 22 off his own bat in the 6th, reaching his fifty in only 20 balls. The partnership reached 85 before Gurman was caught, but the hundred came up in the 11th over. Vashisht was bowled for a brilliant 93, made out of 119 while he was at the wicket from 47 balls, 12 fours and four sixes. Umair Khan (31) and Bharat Shetty (19*) batted well in the closing overs to take Nl to 208/6 from their twenty overs.
PEI struggled against the pacy bowling of Asim Ramzan and Rahul Vashisht, taking three wickets each as they collapsed to 29/6. Verley Harrison made 50, but PEI were all out for 122, giving NL an 86 run victory. Rahul Vashisht finished with 4/26, Asim 3/12.
Match 2: Nova Scotia, playing back to back matches bowled first and four wickets from Vivek Reddy Peddamail had New Brunswick in trouble at 32/4. Jason P (21) let somewhat of a comeback but wickets continued to fall. The final total was 104/9 from the 20 overs, with Verma top scoring with 23. Peddamail’s wickets cost just 13 runs.
In reply, Nova Scotia got off to a flying start, with 18 coming off the first over, and yet again cruised to an easy win, this time in 10.2 overs, leaving them 2 and 0 with an excellent net run rate. Amit Joshi made 24, and Anuraj Gupta 22 in the 6 wicket win.
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Match 1: PEI batted first, and made 117/6 from their twenty overs, thanks to a half-century from Davinder Sandhu, well supported by Verley Harrison (32) in a partnership of 87. Sandhu made 54 from 44 balls with four sixes before being caught. Amit Joshi led the Nova Scotia reply with a stunning 90 from just 42 balls, 68 in in boundaries (9×4, 7×6), and they passed the target with 7 overs to spare and 9 wickets in hand.
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