Eddie Norfolk
Nova Scotia opened the 2012 Maritimes 40-over Championship with a win by ten wickets against Prince Edward Island on June 30th at the Commons, Halifax. Prince Edward Island was bowled out for 100 in 29.2 overs, then succumbed to the opening batting partnership of Amit Joshi (73 not out) and Arslan Khan (16 not out). Nova Scotia plundered a winning 102 for four wickets in 11.5 overs against the developing Prince Edward Island team.
The second game saw Nova Scotia visit Fredericton, New Brunswick on July 22nd. Nova Scotia won the toss, batted first, scored 179 for nine wickets in 40 overs then bowled out New Brunswick for 54 in 21.4 overs.
New Brunswick began well, taking three Nova Scotian wickets with just 9 runs on the board before a fourth wicket stand of 74 began to turn the tide. T Joyce made 42 from 103 balls and captain Hari Raghuraman made 35 runs from 36 balls. Amit Joshi scored 28 from 25 balls, batting at number seven. Daksh Talwar hit three fours and a six in his 27 not out from 16 balls as the overs ran out. New Brunswick captain J Pinto took three wickets for 22 runs in his eight overs. Dunu Eliaba bowled a tight four overs at the start where he took one wicket for just seven runs. Javed took three wickets for 29 runs in his eight overs.
Captain Hari Raghuraman was soon in the wickets when New Brunswick batted, taking the wickets of three of the first four batsmen, leaving the hosts on 22 for three wickets. Ten off these runs were made by Aditya Aggarwal. Tushar Sehgal took over to remove Pinto and then Eliaba, who made 15, to leave New Brunswick in trouble at 32 for five wickets. Sehgal then had Pavel caught for a duck, and his personal bowling figures ended as three wickets for 3 runs from four overs. Yash Gugle picked up the next two wickets and Daksh Talwar took the last two wickets, leaving New Brunswick all out for 54 and Nova Scotia as winners by 125 runs.
Cricket New Brunswick has recently announced Picaroons Traditional Ales as sponsors of the senior provincial team for this season.
In the Nova Scotia- Prince Edward Island match, only wicketkeeper Mack Duffy with 20 not out reached double figures with the bat for Prince Edward Island. Tushar Sehgal took three wickets for 15 runs and Shreyas Dhond took three wickets for 20 runs. Extras topped the scoring with 40 runs, including 34 wides. Amit Joshi hit five fours and six sixes in his innings of 73 not out from 40 balls for Nova Scotia.
The Maritimes T40 is a round-robin competition where the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward island play each other on a home-and-home basis (as it is known in North America, or home and away as it is known in Britain) with the top two meeting in a final on the ground of the top team in the standings. It is good to see the enterprise of these provinces trying to bolster development of cricket in the Canadian Maritimes with matches against each other, as well as providing opportunities for those unfamiliar with cricket to try out the sport.