The Toronto District Cricket Associations (TDCA) annual Elite playoffs have finished in controversy, with Brampton Masters claiming the title by 3 runs on the Duckworth Lewis system, after players were forced from the field due to bad light. Incredibly, there were still 17 overs remaining in the day’s play that couldn’t be bowled, prompting outrage from the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club (TCSCC) players. After batting first and scoring 198, the game was in the balance with Masters 130 for 5 when play was halted. Former Canadian national player and TCSCC club member Zubin Surkari was particularly unhappy with the decision.
“We had that game. I mean they were 5 down, the wicket was turning square, we cleaned them up for 85 two weeks ago,” he said.
“It’s tough to start a game at 11:00, play 50 overs and finish by six at this time of year. But they called off the game with seventeen overs remaining. It’s just kind of crazy.”
The result comes on the heels of a similar match at the Harare Sports Club on October 3, where Zimbabwe were handed a 5 run Duckworth Lewis victory over Pakistan. On that occasion rain intervened, pushing back the finish time of the match, and when the rain clouds cleared it was too dark to continue, with Pakistan stranded needing 21 from 12 deliveries with two wickets in hand. While the exact odds for rain delay’s and D/L may fluctuate with various bookmakers, keep updated on all the latest International Cricket bonuses, promotions, enhancements with Bonus Canada news.
TDCA competition President Mohammed Shaikh defended the decision at King City, saying, “I have spoken to many people, and I was told that the umpire couldn’t see the lines when trying to call wides. And from what I’ve heard the umpires did the right thing by offering the light, and not forcing the players to play. So most were in agreement that the umpires had no choice.”
At 130 for 3, Masters opening batsman Ruvindu Gunasekera was in and batting well having scored a patient half century, but despite this claimed to umpires he was having trouble seeing the ball from one end. Zubin feels that wasn’t adequate enough reason for umpires to consider leaving the field of play.
“That was the same as we were having problems with, even in the day time, because the sight screen is further back and there’s a bit of a glare. So tough to pick up the ball.”
Brampton then lost two quick wickets, prompting Gunasekera to step up his protests to the officials, suggesting now he felt he couldn’t continue batting because it was too dangerous, leading to a lengthy delay in the game. “The umpires are supposed to make the decision. If Ruvindu can’t see the ball, and they deem it to be safe or still light out then he needs to go off and get another batsman in. But they can’t just sit there and argue, I mean the captain came on, the umpires liaison was on the field arguing with the umpires.”
The delay took 20 minutes, before finally time was called and victory was handed to Brampton by just 3 runs. Despite obvious disappointment with the result, Surkari was more displeased with the fact that the match took place in October with a start time of 11:00am, a decision that Shaikh feels was unavoidable given the circumstances.
“The reason why we played this late is the ICC had their combine held, and on request of Ingleton Liburd from Cricket Canada, there was a request to postpone the final by a week. Which we agreed to, because you want your top level playing with all your top players. But unfortunately in quarter finals it rained, causing an extra delay.”
The result caps off another strong year for the competitions most successful club of the last decade, though according to Shaikh it was even sweeter this year than previous campaigns.
“The club’s been around for a while (est. 1996). But the feeling is that while there’s been many champions, no-one has been able to go back to back. They also feel that with the super 6 coming in, they’re the last of the champions of the full top division.”
Next year will see the top half of this year’s Elite teams break off and play off in a new competition called the Super 6, in an attempt to give the competitions best players an extra avenue to the national team. That competition gets underway in late May of 2016.