Summary score: OPL T20 July 18th, 2012
Toronto Towers 161 for eight wickets (20 overs)
Mississauga Marines 115 all out (18 overs)
Result: Toronto Towers won by 46 runs
Gurpreet Dhillon hit a quick 27 (19 balls) for the Toronto Towers to start the innings. Pervez and Dhaliwal each made a few quick runs, then Shahid Iqbal and Junaid Siddiqui hit boundaries and reasonable scores to help carry the Towers to 161 for eight wickets. Indeed, Siddiqui hit two fours and three sixes in a brief 22-ball knock producing 37 runs.
Dilshan Sudesh produced a breezy 17 runs from 7 balls at the start of the Mississauga Marines innings, but only Khushroo Wadia of the top order batsmen made much of a score. Canadian international J Siddiqui took three wickets for 19 runs in his four overs. The Marines middle and lower order failed slid down the slipway into oblivion as Muhammad Shakir picked up three wickets for 15 runs in three overs. Umer Arshad did score 21 runs at run-a-ball pace, before falling to a catch off Shakir’s bowling to leave the Marines on 111 for seven wickets. Siddiqui, who had taken Sudesh’s wicket to end two breezy overs for the Marines, returned to capture Shereyas Dhond’s wicket to conclude the innings and the game after 18 overs. Toronto Towers won by 46 runs.
One day, hopefully soon, it may be realized that Canadian cricketers would like to play in front of sizeable crowds in order to gain experience of the sense of playing in front of a sizeable crowd. It would also be nice, from a spectator’s perspective if those attending a match in Canada were provided with some kind of indication of what is going on during a particular match – without the need to bring an internet-connected device.
The gladiators entered the field to the Rocky theme of “Rising Up” for Wednesday night’s Ontario Premier League T20 game without any hint of an announcement about who was batting or bowling at the team or individual level. The silent movie approach, for those at the ground, continued while I was present. Overall, the game produced a result opposite to what one might expect if a large vessel with marines and powerful guns took on some high-rise towers.
During the game, different sound-bytes of music indicated different achievements, sometimes prompting the cheerleaders to dance.
It was not the first time I had seen dancing cheerleaders at a cricket match in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) as some were present at an annual Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) cricket gathering in 2009. The GTA version of the “Vatan News” was one newspaper that carried pictures from that event. Actually, Mr. Ranjit Saini and former Cricket Canada CEO Mr. Atul Ahuja were present for differing periods at the ICCC event. But perhaps Mr. Saini did not remember seeing the dancing girls that day.
It was good to see that the grass in the outfield had been cut to a low level, by Canadian standards, although the heat and dry weather in the Toronto area may have reduced the pace of grass growth.
Still, another small step has now been made and some standings have appeared on the OPL’s website, so I will not complain it does not include tonight’s result, as that is something I do control.
On Thursday evening, at 5.30 pm, the Ontario Trilliums meet the Brampton Kings at the Malton ground. So a cricket fan could visit the ground, follow the scores on the internet, or watch the video streaming over the internet.
Eddie Norfolk
Ontario Premier League (OPL) T20 2012 – Summary Scores from previous days
July 17th, 2012 Toronto Towers 119 for 8 wkts (20 ov, N. Dhaliwal 26, A. Hotak 3 wkts for 19)
Brampton Kings 120 for 1 wkt (9.1 ov, S. Khan 69, A. Yakub 38*)
Result: Brampton Kings won by 9 wickets
July 16th, 2012 Mississauga Marines 121 for 7 wkts (20 ov, A. Zaidi 44, R. Cheema 3 wkts for 26)
Ontario Trilliums 125 for 3 wkts (10.5 ov, R. Cheema 65)
Result: Ontario Trilliums won by 7 wickets
July 15th, 2012 Mississauga Marines 132 all out (19.4 ov, D. Sudesh 42, K. Wadia 34, N. Dutta 4 wkts for 5)
Brampton Kings 115 for 9 wkts (20 ov, A. Yakub 37, A. Raffic 36, A. Zaidi 4 wkts for 11)
Result: Mississauga Marines won by 17 runs
July 14th, 2012 Toronto Towers 130 all out (19.4 ov, N. Dhaliwal 39, G. Ahluwalia 38, R. Cheema 5 wkts for 30, V. Sharma 3 wkts for 13)
Ontario Trilliums 123 for 9 wkts (20 ov, S. Ahmandzai 32)
Result: Toronto Towers won by 7 runs