The Brampton Cricket League’s 50-over section playoffs begin this coming weekend (Sept 22-23). On Saturday there is a playoff game to decide which of Division 1, Conference 1 teams Premier (placed third in division) or GTCC (placed second) advances to meet Daredevils (Conference 1 regular season winners) on Sunday. Meanwhile on Sunday the top two in Division 1, Conference 2 go head to head as Mississauga Dolphins (second in Division) face Cornered Tigerz.
There has been no shortage of runs in some of the games in this season’s Brampton League games. In late May, Cornered Tigerz scored 242 for eight in 46.1 overs to beat a DS Stars XI total of 240 all out in 49.1 overs. Rahil Arora hit 102 for Cornered Tigerz.
On July 29th, Cornered Tigerz scored 289 for nine wickets in 50 overs against Daredevils in a game at FC Cricket Field in Brampton. But this total proved well short of defendable as the Daredevils raced to a four wicket win with eleven (11) overs to spare. Yes, the Daredevils rattled up 291 for six wickets in 39 overs and won with bags of overs unused.
But cornered animals can be dangerous. Next outing, on August 6th at Huron Heights in Mississauga, Cornered Tigers rattled up 423 for eight in 50 overs and beat Sterling, 166 all out, by some 257 runs. Siddharth Mookerjee scored an individual 207 for the Tigerz in this game. Another 400-run haul was registered on September 1st as Cornered Tigerz reached 404 for eight in 50 overs against GTCC, headed by 100 from opening bat Choudry Fahad. GTCC was then bundled out for 158 in 31 overs, leaving the Tigerz as winners by 246 runs.
Daredevils bats were busy at work in the middle to lower-middle order on Labour Day, September 3rd. Haider Usman, batting at number six, hit 107 from 72 balls. Number seven Awais Hamid hit 70 from 51 balls and number eight Fahad Rao struck 68 from 45 balls as the Daredevils reached 450 for nine from 50 overs. Wides also edged along to 51, byes added a further 23 so extras added 76 to the total. Mississauga Dolhins went for the runs, opener Khalid Umair hit 50, number five Syed Arfan Abbas made 60 and extras, headed by 40 wides, reached a round 50. A total of 266 all out in 31.2 overs by the Dolphins left gave the Daredevils a win by 184 runs. But the Daredevils failed to submit the completed scorecard in time so did not take the full ten points for victory as two points deducted for the administrative mishap.
The Brampton Cricket League also has three divisions devoted to 20 overs a side cricket, and that has produced some high scores during 2012, especially in Division 3. The Beavers prop up Division 3, suffering badly as the bats of Brampton Stallions hit 239 all out in 20 overs in a match on May 26th and a higher tally of 316 for five wickets (20 overs) on August 6th.
Brampton Stallions opening bat Muhammad Kalair was run out for 61 (41 balls) and extras contributed 58 runs of the 239 all out in the first game. Beavers were overwhelmed by the run chase, falling to 69 all out in 10.3 overs. Opener Khawer Azad struck 100 runs from 32 balls (14×4’s, 5×6’s), number five bat Haider Ali hit 67 from 19 balls and number six Zeeshan Maqsood made 77 not out (22 balls) when the Stallions posted that 316 for five total in early August. The Beavers appear to have been two players short on the day, but reached 164 in 19 overs. An improved performance with the bat, compared to the earlier defeat by the Brampton Stallions when the Beavers had a full complement of eleven players.
In fairness, the scores in the two higher divisions indicate a number of competitive games and scores do not reach such heights. A few teams have passed the 200 mark, but not too often. There are a few regular season matches in the 20-overs schedule in the Brampton Cricket League that are due to be played this coming weekend.
Eddie Norfolk