Despite McMahon’s century for the Optimists, Shaffi’s Vagabonds took the lead in Hong Kong cricket’s Sunday League last weekend when they beat HKCC, but they have played an extra game than their nearest rivals.
Hong Kong Cricket Club (HKCC) Optimists hosted Shaffi’s Vagabonds Cricket Club at the HKCC Ground last Sunday Oct 14.
The match was an exciting, high scoring affair. The Optimists, losing the toss, but batting first, were all out for a total of 283 off 49.2 overs. All of the first five batsmen made useful contributions, but it was T.J. McMahon who scored 120 before being caught out that really set the innings alight. C.R. Williams took three wickets for 56 runs off his 10 overs.
In reply, the Vagabonds scored 286 for seven wickets to win the match with two overs to spare.
KCC vs LSW
It was both Kowloon Cricket Club (KCC) Infidels and Little Sai Wan (LSW) Knights first match of the season when they met at the Kowloon Cricket Club last Sunday.
The Knights batted first and struggled early on, losing four wickets for 66 runs, but from that point, Waqas Khan batting at No.5, held the innings together and his seventh wicket partnership of 80 runs with Furqan Tahir set the visitors on their way to a respectable total. Khan made an unbeaten 64, with the team score ending at 212 for nine wickets off 49 overs. There were three run-outs and the other wickets were shared among all of the bowlers, but the best performance was by Ankur Sharma who took two wickets for 40 runs.
LSW’s 14-year-old up-and-coming, left-handed opening batsman, Niraj Patwari, who studies at the Delia Broadway School, Mei Fu, Hong Kong, discussed his cricket with The Epoch Times. Unluckily, he was caught out without scoring.
“I have played for the club for three years and have scored seven 50s,” said Niraj.
“It [the ball] was swinging away. I went to drive, but it hit the outside edge and I was caught out,” he explained.
The Infedels put up a poor batting performance in reply and could only reach 78 runs off 32 overs before being bowled out. The Knights winning the match by 134 runs. The only bright spot of the batting was 18 runs scored by Brendan Smallbone. There were good bowling performances by Niaz Ali (three wickets for 26 runs), Mohammed Gazanfar (two for four) and Waqas Khan (two for six).
Niaz Ali, captain of the LSW team, was pleased with the result.
“Good win, good teamwork,” Ali commented to The Epoch Times.
“It’s a young team and really good work. All of the middle order did well, especially Waqas [Khan] who played really well and the guys in the lower order all chipped in, that was the main thing,” he explained. “The bowlers were on target, we had a plan worked out, we stuck to our plan and definitely it came good for us.”
League Standings:
Vagabonds, having played two matches now, heads the Hong Kong Cricket Association Karp Sunday Championship League ladder with nine points, while LSW Knights, KCC and USRC/Millennium are all equal on five points after one match.
Next week:
HKCC Scorpions host LSW JKN at HKCG and USRC/Millennium play Pakistan Association AMSUA at Mission Road on Oct 21.
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.
