Halifax Cricket League (Nova Scotia) 40-over Final (October 14th, 2012):
Halifax Gold 229 for 7 wkts (40.0 overs) beat Halifax Red 142 all out (27.2 ov) by 87 runs.
Playing on a slow and wet outfield on Sunday (October 14th), Halifax Gold dealt well with the conditions and set an imposing target of 230 from 40 overs for Halifax Red. Halifax Gold’s total of 229 for seven wickets came thanks to a great opening partnership from Amit Joshi (45 runs) and Mohan Pal (40 runs), followed by some explosive but very tidy batting from Matt Webb (66 runs). These important contributions really set Gold en route towards a big score. A 40-over innings of 229 for seven wickets seemed impressive, given the conditions, and so it proved.
Halifax Red then lost three early wickets, but recovered and soon picked up the pace with a great partnership between Anuraj Gupta and Dinesh Gaddam. This lifted hopes for a Halifax Red victory, but it was not to be. In the end Halifax Gold proved too good on the day and sealed the win, by 87 runs, and the 2012 Halifax Cricket League 40-over championship.

In the Halifax Gold innings, Red’s Shailesh Kharol took two wickets for 43 runs, and Muneeb Ahmedami took two wickets for 44 runs.
Anuraj Gupta (65 runs) and Dinesh Gaddam (33 runs) certain did their best to set the Red on a recovery trail to victory. However, the overall reckoning for the team’s innings shows these two scored 98 runs from an all out total of 142, made from 27.2 overs. Daksh Talwar took two wickets for seven runs, and Matt Webb added a couple of wickets at a personal cost of 41 runs to his earlier contribution of 66 runs. Not surprisingly, Matt Webb was named Man-of-the-Match.
Halifax Gold’s 40-overs on Sunday followed the disappointment of losing to the local league’s other team, Halifax Blue, in Saturday’s T20 Championship game.
It will be interesting to monitor the growth of cricket in Halifax, or even on a broader scale across Nova Scotia. Perhaps a fourth team might emerge for the local league in Halifax, and at some stage perhaps the league might expand to the seven colours of the rainbow, plus Gold.
Thanks to Matt Webb of the Nova Scotia Cricket Association for providing same-day news of both championship games. In order to gain more publicity, cricket in Canada needs to push out the scores of important games on a same-day basis, regularly and reliably, to media outlets, where possible before whatever deadlines exist for print or electronic-based forms of media. In order to achieve this, a need exists for internet access, a person willing and able to pull the scoring information together, possibly access to a printer and a power supply, plus some space in which to think and work. Of course, if you do not have the names of the players, or even access to the scorebook or some gadget to allow copying of electronic scores from a non-internet linked device to a different device then there can be a bit of a challenge in distributing timely information.
But the rewards for the development and growth of cricket, in either a local area, province – not forgetting the scope for “a territory” – or more broadly across Canada will only come by taking up these challenges. You may only be able to start with simple scores being published – don’t forget that the editor of the media outlet decides what to include and there is competition with other sports – or a paragraph or two. Then the little acorn of cricket publicity might become some kind of sapling, then a little tree, but a tall oak tree does not grow in one day, or even one year. If the seed is not planted, fed and watered then it might not develop at all. The National Hockey League is currently gaining tons more publicity than Canadian content cricket coverage, although the recent ICC T20 championship, as well as ongoing 50-over, T20, some test matches and Indian Premier League cricket games do gain a certain amount of print media space as well as radio and TV air time.

HALIFAX CRICKET LEAGUE – 40-over League, 2012 Championship Final
Played: October 14th, 2012 at Halifax Commons
Halifax Gold 229 for seven wickets
(40.0 overs; Matt Webb 66, Amit Joshi 45, Mohan Pal 40, Shailesh Kharol 2 wkts for 43, Muneeb Ahmedani 2 wkts for 44)
Halifax Red 142 all out (27.2 overs; Anuraj Gupta 65, Dinesh Gaddam 33, Daksh Talwar 2 wkts for 7, Matt Webb 2 wkts for 41)
Result: Halifax Gold won by 87 runs
Man of the Match: Matt Webb (Halifax Gold)

Eddie Norfolk, October 15th, 2012.