Eddie Norfolk
Canadian international Hiral Patel led Prairie Fire to 130 for five wickets in 20 overs on Wednesday with an individual innings of 76 not out against Pacific Edge. Opening bat Patel’s runs were scored from 68 balls and paved the way for his team’s 25 run win in an afternoon game in Cricket Canada’s T20 National Cricket League. The Pacific Fire now has three wins from three matches. The team is based on the Manitoba and Saskatchewan cricket development region but assigned some Canadian high performance players assigned to strengthen the competitiveness of this championship.
Five batsmen reached double figures batting for the Western Stallions, the Alberta development region, but none progressed beyond to play an innings to put the team in a position to win the game. Scoring runs against spin bowling featured as a challenge to various batsmen, as it had done in previous games in this national tournament. Hiral Patel showed his skills as a slow left-arm spinner in taking four wickets for 19 runs in his four overs to complete a fine individual performance, but, more importantly to keep the team in the hunt for the T20 championship final on Saturday, August 11th at Maple Leaf Cricket Club, King City Ontario.
Earlier in the day, Western Stallions rebounded from Tuesday’s T20 National Cricket League loss to the Prairie Fire with a 79 run win against Pacific Edge. Opening bat Hamza Tariq hit 40 runs from 33 balls and Usman Limbada took over as the individual scoring leader with a knock of 57 not out (39 balls) to carry Western Stallions to 153 runs for six wickets in 20 overs.
Opening bat Gaurav Singh made 30 runs from 28 balls for Pacific Edge, but only one other batsman reached double figures as three wickets fell in the first three overs and continued to fall until the Edge was all out for 74 at the end of 15 overs.
Central Shield, the Ontario-based team, scored 129 for nine wickets in 20 overs, then held Eastern Fury to 100 for eight wickets (20 overs) to register a win by 29 runs. Central Shield opening bat Sharhoze Shah scored 24 runs, but no other batsman in the top five for either team reached double figures. Varun Sehdev, batting seventh for Central Shield, top scored with 51 not out. He found some support from Dean Abzal, who made 17.
Eastern Fury’s number seven batsman Suresh Ramkisoon lead a batting recovery with Gayan Wijenthilake, after the Fury lost five wickets in reaching 12 runs. Ramkissoon hit 49 from 37 balls, Wijenthilake made 15 runs, but it proved too difficult to recover from such a poor start. The early wickets fell to Central Shield bowlers Ammar Khalid, who took three wickets for 18 runs in four overs, and Arsalan Qadir, who took two wickets for just eight runs in his four overs. Asad Zaidi picked up two wickets, including that of Wijenthilake, for 21 runs.
2. Summary of Results to date
Note : ** (double asterisk) – indicates game still in progress.
August 8th, 2012
11am Central Shield 129 for 6 wkts (20 ov) beat Eastern Edge 100 for 8 wkts (20 ov) by 29 runs ( pitch – tba)
Western Stallions 153 for 6 wkts (20 ov) beatr Pacific Edge 74 all out (15 ov) 79 runs (pitch – tba)
3pm ** Prairie Fire 136 all out (19.5 ov) beat Central Shield 128 for 8 wkts (20 ov) by 8 runs.
(North-east pitch)
August 7th, 2012
11am Eastern Fury 124 for 6 wkts (20 ov) beat Pacific Edge 105 for 6 wkts (20 ov) by 19 runs
(South-west pitch)
Western Stallions 126 for 8 wkts (20 ov) lost to Prairie Fire 130 for 4 wkts (19.5 ov) by six wickets
(North-east pitch)
3pm Prairie Fire 136 all out (19.5 ov) beat Central Shield 128 for 8 wkts (20 ov) by 8 runs.
(North-east pitch)
All matches played at Maple Leaf CC, King City. Specific pitch used for each game is noted in brackets after scoring summary.
Remaining Schedule
Thursday – August 9th, 2012
11 am Eastern Fury v Prairie Fire
Western Stallions v Central Shield
Friday – August 10th, 2012
11 am Pacific Edge v Central Shield
Eastern Fury v Western Stallions
Saturday – August 11th, 2012
11 am 1st in standings v 2nd in standings
3rd in standings v 4th in standings