The 2021 Canadian National Men’s Championships’ September 15, third and final day’s matches were all affected by rain. Some mid-morning King City area showers having forced a reduction in the actual overs bowled.
The Stallions with its allocated overs reduced from 20 to 16, compiled 123/7 after taking first strike against Fire. Wicket-keeper Shreyas Movva’s 33 (28) was the top score while opening bat Junnaid Siddiqui chipped in with an aggressive 13 ball 22. Meet Patel 4/37-4 was the Fire’s most outstanding bowler.
Chasing 124 for victory off 16 overs at a 7.75 required run rate, Fire only managed to get to 114/9 before running out of available overs. Skipper Saad Bin Zafar compiled yet another aggressive half-century, his fifty coming in just 27 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes. Unfortunately for the Fire, Zafar’s efforts were not sufficiently supported by the remaining batsmen. Rizwan Cheema (25) and Sukhdeep Brar (22) were the only two other Fire batsmen to actually reach double figures.
Uday Bhagwan Singh, with 3/21 off of four overs, was the most successful of the seven bowlers used by the Stallions. Trevor Manoosingh 2/15-1 and Rommel Shazad 2/20-3 provided Singh with sufficient support to allow the Stallions to claim victory by just nine runs.
SUMMARIZED SCORES:
STALLIONS 123/7 (16 Ovrs) S Movva 33 (28), J Siddiqui 22 (13);M Patel 4/37-4.
FIRE 114/9 (16 Ovrs) S Zafar 50 (27), R Cheema 25 (16), S Brar 22 (15); U Singh 3/20-4, T Manoosingh 2/15-1, J Siddiqui 1/27-3.
Stallions won by 9 runs.
The Championship’s final day second match was ever further reduced than the first. The Fury and Shields both had their respective innings reduced to only 12 overs. Batting first Shields was piloted to 85/5 on the back of Yasir Abbasi’s 40 ball 51 not out. Nauman Zafar was again admirably impressive with his medium-paced seamers, capturing 2/8 from just 2 overs.
Chasing 86 to win in 12 overs, Fury overcame the early losses of openers Rodrigo Thomas (6) and Ruvindu Gunasekera (7), at 7 and 18 respectively, to actually exceed its target in reaching 89/4 with one ball to spare. Hamza Tariq 27 (21) and Kaleem Sana Ur Rehman 23 (8) featured in an unbeaten fifth-wicket partnership of 31 to lead the Stallions to victory by 6 wickets.
SUMMARIZED SCORES:
SHIELDS 85/5 (12 Ovrs). Y Abbasi 51* (40); N Zafar 2/6-2
FURY 89/4 (11.5 Ovrs) H Tariq (27), K Rehman 23 (8). H Thaker 2/10-2. J Matharu 2/19 -3.
Fury won by 6 wickets!
The Fire versus Shields, fifteen overs per side, return encounter proved to be the most exciting match of the entire Championship with the end result being a most fitting tie. Both teams scored exactly 100 off their 15 allocated overs.
Batting first Fire’s eventual 15 over total of 100 was largely due to Kavian Naress’ 43 ball 51 which included 1 four and 5 towering sixes. Bowling for the Shields Jatinder Matharu had the best figures of 4/25-4.
Shields’ scores level response of 100/6 off its 15 overs was largely due to Jatinder Matharu, who followed up on his outstanding bowling with a top score of 38 made off of 32 balls. Amrinder Dhillon captured 2/2-1 to emerge as the Fire’s best bowler.
SUMMARIZED SCORES:
FIRE 100/7 (15 Ovrs) K Naress 51 943); J Matharu 4/25-4.
SHIELDS 100/6 (15 Ovrs) J Matharu 38 (32); A Dhillon 2/2-1.
Match Tied!
The Championships’ final match played between the Fury and Stallions was a one-sided low scoring affair. Set 79 to win in 15 available overs after having dismissed the Stallions for 78 in 14.5 overs, Fury achieved its target in total comfort, requiring only 9 overs to score 81 for the loss of just 2 wickets.
Jeet Mehta’s 30 ball 36 was the Stallions’ top score as they faltered to the bowling of Darshil Patel who claimed 4/10 in 3 overs. Nikhil Dutta, in a somewhat unaccustomed role as an opening bat, then struck an unbeaten 36 off just 30 balls to give the Fury’s innings the impetus it needed from the start and until the victory target was achieved. Dutta was well supported by Parth Chaudhari who chipped in with an aggressive 11 ball 23 runs cameo.
SUMMARIZED SCORES:
STALLIONS 78/10 (14,5 Ovrs) J Mehta 36 (30); D Patel 4/10-3
FURY 81/2 (9.0 Ovrs) N Dutta 36 (30), P Chaudhari 23 (11)
Fury won by 8 wickets.