Darjeeling Cricket Club 50th Anniversary Golf Day March 2019

As part of the 50^th Anniversary celebrations the club hosted a golf day on 14^th March at Dubai Hills Golf Club.

With 58 participants it promised to be a great day of drinking and eating with a bit of golf in between.

Players started arriving from 11 am to sign in and collect their goodies which included, golf shirt, shoe bag, drinks bottle, golf balls and other assorted giveaways. The shirts almost didn’t make an appearance but with Jerome collecting them at 4:30 am from the manufacturers all was good in the end.

After people arrived there was a clear divide between the golfers and the non-golfers. Golfers hit the range for last minute swing tweaks and a bit of putting practice. The non-golfers hit the bar to sample the many different beverages available to them, all in the aid of loosening up.

Come 1:30pm, slightly delayed due to the morning fog, Nick Harvey spotted a microphone and couldn’t resist and continued to bark instructions to the whole range, 120 players, of which only 60 odd were DCC Golf Day players. The group photo was taken much to the confusion of the travelling Australian Golf Society, but then again it doesn’t take much to confuse them.

I can’t speak for everyone but our fourball had a great time, but I must admit that by the 13^th the golfing quality fell away quite dramatically. Especially when we decided strawpeddos were the name of the game. Thankfully this was washed down by more drinks lovingly supplied by Nick and Stannis wives, who did a grand job of ensuring all players were fully hydrated. The golfing quality was obviously not hampered in some groups by looking at the results it clear to see that a steward’s enquiry into handicaps for next year may be required.

Golf over and now time for more hydration and quite possibly one of the greatest roast dinners you can get in Dubai. Drinks were flowing, raffle tickets being purchased, and second helpings were on the menu, then suddenly Nick Harvey spotted a microphone again! Time for the prizes, during the day there were 9 on course competitions and 3 team prizes up for grabs.

First the team event of Texas Scramble.

1^st Place with a Net 53.5 – Andrew Mitchell, Clinton Arrot, Mark Stannard, & Conal Bunnett

Prize = Jabra Wireless Headphones

2^nd Place with Net 57 – Paul Bourdillon, Fida Hussain, Blikkies Blignaut & Anthony Marziban

Prize = Fourball at Dubai Hills Golf Club

3^rd Place with Net 57.5 – Marco Carstanjen, Graeme Sneddon, Steve Pettigrew, Craig Miller

Prize = Dozen Golf Balls and Portable Speakers

Now to the on-course prizes. Special mention must go to Ben Jones who apparently managed to place in all competitions while using a 4 iron, even on the 130-yard par 3.

There were 5 nearest the pins and 4 longest drives and the winners were:

Nearest the Pin – Hole 2: Nick Harvey

Nearest the Pin – Hole 13: Amber Waite

Nearest the Pin in 2 – Hole 7: Blikkies Blignaut

Nearest the Pin in 2 – Hole 10: Craig Miller

Nearest the Pin in 3 – Hole 15: Jerome Schokman

Longest Drive – Hole 5: Tom Kimber

Longest Drive – Hole 8: Elliot Spencer

Longest Drive – Hole 14: Marcos Kairinos

Longest Drive – Hole 18: Marcos Kairinos

Overall a great day had by all and I believe the last men standing were going strong well into the morning.

Look out for the 2020 Darjeeling Golf Day!

Abu Dhabi Gentlemen vs DCC (DSL Knock Out) 23 March 2019

Eight overs in, Ben Jones had just taken the 3^rd wicket. Hasnain and Kev have both bagged a wicket with their opening spells. DCC goes a bit defensive though, protecting the leeward side of the field, because there is a strong wind blowing across the cricket field. The Gents batsman start playing a series of late cuts trying to use the pace to graft twos or boundaries.

The dust is starting to grate in fielders mouths and has got on the inside of sunglasses! Drinks break.

DCC think we are ahead, controlling the game. The Abu Dhabi Gents batting pair are now trying to play bigger, more expansive shots looking to lift the run rate. The numerous hooks to cow corner are comfortably fielded by Shugie. Eventually the batsman manages to steer one squarer and collected a boundary. Shugie is brought on to bowl. Bowling a bit slower and diving to try to stop the batsman from hitting it past him for singles. Eventually the batsman goes for a big hoik and Ben Jones runs round straighter to long on and takes a good catch.

Pressure brings it’s rewards.

The Gents clap off their player but it’s muted silence that follows. A new batsman in. The AD Gents supporters are biting their fingernails non-stop. The pressure is on to get a move-on, but the batsman need time at the crease to work out how to play this pace of wicket.

Rohan comes on for Jules and immediately has a caught and bowled chance. Rohan sprays one down leg, with no fine leg the batsman assume it’s going for a boundary but …Hasnain….Runs around and stops it with his hand just in time! Even the Gents supporters comment ” …. that was a good save.” Another tight over from Shugie doing a lot of his own fielding.

Rohan runs around on the boundary and cuts the potential 2 down to a single, including a strong throw that indicates to the batsman that they won’t be making many 2’s there. They will have to push into other areas of the field. Good stop by Skillsy to another Rohan legside ball. He is finding Rohan’s ball, better than Rohan is finding the pitch. Another shot to legside, but now the batsman aren’t even considering the 2, despite a DCC misfield. A sweep shot for 4 off Shugie gets them a boundary. But it’s high risk.

The Gents supporter’s comment: ” …. we need 160 at least.”

Rohan still chucking it down the leg side. Then its wide on the off side. He is struggling. The batsman sense an opportunity and launch a ball, but it lands short of Jonno running in hard to attack the ball. The Gents Batsman is looking more confident now and steps down the track early at Rohan’s next ball. But Rohan adjusts and it’s a Yorker dug out for a single to vacant mid-on area. Next over and it’s a strong appeal from Shugie, and he has his man LBW! The batsman tried a reverse sweep. Leave it to the pro’s, son. It’s another tight over from Shugie.

118-5 – off 21 overs.

Rohan bowls, punches to mid-on. Batsman push for a silly 2, non-striker not interested and sends him back. Sells him down the river and he is out by a meter. Good one-handed take by Skillsy to whip the bails off. Kev back onto bowl, into the area of uncertainty for the batsman. Simon Charles is next out, caught at mid-on. Kimbo did not have to a move an inch at mid-off, to take this simple chance.

125-7 off 23

Rohan clean bowls the next batsman. Missed a straight Yorker. Good ball. Gents supporter claim the ball dipped suddenly 🙂 Rohan attacks the next batsman with another yorker, but it’s fended out to square leg. The batsman chips to long on and they gamble on a 2, but it’s a wide throw by Jonno and it’s safe. Another 2 to long off. Kimbo does his best and the DCC is relaxed about these runs. No boundaries is the goal. Kev onto bowl. Another 2 to long on then the batsman steps down the wicket for a big drive, but it’s high in the air, and a simple catch for Kimbo at mid -off. It went high, but not very far.

The Gents keeper next on to bat and he is seething. Threatening to not play next week, for his own team. Gents were desperate to win today and they have cracked. Can they regain their composure in the half-time team talk. DCC players appear relaxed as they slowly come together for the halftime break. Claps for each other.

The Gents team start a training session with full bowling and keeping on the outfield .They transition into a long huddle.

Taverner and Hellyeah walk out slowly. Taverner’s got his bat raised already. Is that an ominous sign? The DCC players are asking me what I think. Par score etc. Are the nerves creeping in for some of us? Keep it simple. The mood lightens. Tav’s takes the first ball. Delivered by Nav from the Gents. It’s a leg side wide. Rohan-esque

The next one is a lot better. Scorcher in fact. Rises over the top of the forward defensive offered to be taken clean by the Keeper with out touching anything! Next ball same again, but lower bounce. This up and down difference will be tricky. Next ball fended to point. Next ball a solid Yorker is dug out hard, past a diving mid-on for 4. The gents have an attacking field here with many players backward of square. 3 slips. They are searching for the edge from the batsman.

5-0 after 1 over.

Sujith on to bowl seam. Digs it in short. Hellyeah goes for the big pull but gets it on the splice!? Luckily it drops short of mid-on by 2 metres. The 3rd ball whizzes past the bat in similar fashion to Navs bowling, our batsman stick to their technique. A loose one appears but Hellyeah can’t dispatch it past point. Nav onto bowl. It’s a snorter. Squares up Tav, catches the edge and it’s taken chest-high at 2^nd slip.

Skillsy in. Takes his time with his guard. Back of a length at his hip and he fends it off. Yorker attempt but it’s an easy single for Skillsy. Full ball to Hellyeah and he chips it towards mid-off! Is it going over his head though? It is… but he has caught it behind his head, running backwards!! Gents have a US Olympic style high five session: “3-2-1 yes”

The DCC skipper Kimbo is in. The first ball is down the leg side. Keeper stops it. The next is another snorter. Defensive push forward and the Keeper takes it….the Gents scream! But it has missed the edge. Sujith back on and bowling wide outside off. Cut shots from Skills but they are not beating point. He is playing with soft hands, checking for variable bounce and pace. 3^rd one is dispatched though. He’s found the pace of this pitch. Next ball is legside, and its flicked nonchalantly for 4. No fielder out there. Another leg side ball. A quick 2 . The DCC supporters shouting: “Making them pay.”

17-2 off 4 overs

Nav on. Full toss. It’s so quick though Skills is just fighting to get some bat on it and it chips just over the bowler and thankfully just before mid-off. Loose wide from Nav and it’s stroked past the 3-slip-corden, for 2, before third man can bring it back in. Next ball is even more comfortably worked. Nav screams in frustration at his fielders. Skillsy looks to have the upper hand now.

Sujith bowls a sitter, Skillsy moves comfortably back and across and pulls. There are no leg side fielders out there… but it’s kept lower than he thought! He chops it down onto his leg and onto the stumps! Gents give it 3-2-1 yeah and Skillsy trudges off to throw his bat down. Just when he had got ontop of this bowling.

Jonno is in. He is driving straight. Gents have set the field deeper now and singles are around. Kimbo drives straight for 4. The Gents fielder doesn’t move to try to stop it. It’s gone. The next ball is a beauty. Kimbo holds his forward defensive pose, but it’s beaten him. Thankfully, no edge. The next ball is a sitter, like the nut that undid Skillsy. But it’s stays high. And Kimbo swivel-pulls it, clean for 4!

29-3 off 6 overs.

Nav on and he digs it in directly at Kimbo, who looks awful as he ducks and pulls at the same time. But its a single to fine leg. Jonno cover drives for a single. Kimbo digs out a Yorker and then another, but more comfortably. Another over survived for Darjeeling. Jonno and Kimbo chat in the middle. Are we going to see off Nav? What’s the new bowler like?

Wayne from the Gents. A big Kiwi. Not as big as our Kiwi, Ben Jones, though. 2 wides. Then Kimbo drives the 3^rd ball straight to cover. Out caught! Our Ben Jones is on now. Kiwi on Kiwi. Both men take their time, sensing the personal pride at stake. Its loose from Wayne though. A 2, followed by a strong off-drive for a single. Then Jonno creams it past cover, and it’s a boundary. More wides from Wayne.

47- 4 off 8 overs

New bowler, Aerospace -Shaun. Also wide and Jonno slaps it for 2.

Are the Gents running out of bowling now?It’s mixed bowling. Jonno gets singles and 2’s. Rebuilding or milking? I will let you decide.

Jonno delivers a cover drive for a boundary. Then Jonesy hits a skier and the wind carries it over the fielders. DCC players give a cheer. But now Jonno appears to be limping as he pulled up on a fast single. He’s tweaked his hammy. Then Jonno hits it and runs. Jonesy wasn’t ready. The fielder dives and collects and runs a diving Jonesy out by a meter at least. Jonesy is unhappy about the call after the mid-over chat was all about: “no quick singles.”

(Emoji of the monkey covering his eyes)

Shugies is in to bat. The DCC supporters take comfort that Jonno is looking good and Shugie is a good bat. Aerospace is bowling tighter to the stumps than his first over. Dots and singles. Then a loose wide one. Jonno s flashes a cut shot, but he has nicked it straight to 2^nd slip. Extra bounce on that ball.

Gents: 3-2-1 yeah

DCC players and supporters are not saying a word, but just exchanging glances. 59-6 off 11 overs. Target run rate is still only 5 an over. The wind and sand has eased off a bit now. New bowler, and now the ball keeps low. Kev’s working the singles. We are getting singles. But not quite 5 and over.

66-6 off 13 (unlucky?)

Aerospace delivered some shorter pitched stuff and eventually Shugie gets a strong pull to the boundary. DCC players: “ if we just bat the overs, we can make this score.” Then another lovely pull sweep off the slow bowler for four. And a square flick for 4. Then a wild miss. DCC: “don’t do that Shugie, you’ve just banged 2 boundaries.” Then the ball bounces through Kev’s gate, over the stumps and over the keeper. Overspin from this spin bowler?

88-6 off 16 overs

Shugie steps down the wicket and drives straight over the bowler, but long on cuts it off. Then keV slashes a wide one for 2. DCC searching for boundaries. Just like gents were at this stage. Have we got deeper batting?

93 -6 off 18 overs and Shugie take a drink of water to assess. Can we find the boundaries or do we target singles?

Sujith back on from the other end. He looks a bit village and Kev hooks his first ball round the corner for 4. But then Kev spoons a ball to mid-wicket for an easy catch. Rohan in, and he glides a single to 3^rd man, and strokes a lofted cover drive for a single to the fielder out there. He could bring this home for us, easy.

101-7 off 19 overs.

40 runs required in 36 balls. Spin bowler. Shugies pivots clean to pull a boundary. Then hits the next one straight back to towards the bowler who misses the chance. Knife edge stuff

106-7 off 20. 35 off 30

Sujith hits the top of off stump! Rohan walks off while the ball is still coming down. Where did that come from? Good ball. Jules in. Solid block on the first ball. Then cuts hard. The ball goes down and up. The point fielder collects and throws down the stumps. Jules thought it was going over the fielder. And even then he only had 1 stump to aim at. He walks off, no complaints. Sujith targets our Number 11 with the full ball and gets Hasnain immediately.

DCC are down for the day & knocked out of the DSL.

Gents:3-2-1 yeah

Match Report by Matt Peet.

Darjeeling CC vs Cool Boys By Oliver Van Der Broek

On a particularly early Saturday morning in Dubai, Darjeeling CC members arrived in dribs and drabs to the Ocean Fair Ground in DIP. Of particular note, Julius Mooney, Baron Mooney of Springs (VC, MBE, KStJ, DL, FRSA), strolled into the ground akin to a panda bear whilst regaling the troupe with his exploits from the night before, inevitably ending up being ‘kennelled’ by his wife for the rest of the weekend…hats off, sir!

Skipper Gramilla kept to his tried and tested method of losing the toss and being asked to bat under a blue, sunny sky, on what transpired to be a slow-ish track, which although yellowish and hard in hue, it was thought would require batsmen to work hard for their runs….oh what a mockery both sides made of that!! Ollie “Page Boy” Page, arriving fresh to Dubai from the frosty, northern climes of England, and “Derriere” Arsalan opened the Darjeeling inning with watchful intent and looked solid from the start, safely negotiating Cool Boys’ opening salvos by the oddly effective pairing of their left and right medium paced bowlers, mixing it with full tosses and half-trackers. Derriere warmed up with the innings with a beautifully timed wristy slog sweep for six but, in general, scoring was relatively slow going. Page Boy, after nurdling a couple of singles, decided it was “Delivery Time” and went for a huge swipe to cow corner but unfortunately missed, being bowled middle stump. Andy “Captain” Kirk strolled in at 3 with his usual Aussie no-nonsense attitude, generally impressing on the opposition how sub-standard they all were. Captain, unfortunately, couldn’t quite live up to his own billing and was back in the hutch LBW with a solid 1 to his name. Derriere, on the other hand, became increasingly confident and began to pick off Cool Boys’ bowling with numerous 1s and 2s, keeping the run rate at a steady 3-4 an over.

A particular highlight during the Darjeeling’s batting innings was actually of a non-cricketing nature with the odd courtship between the heavyweight pairing of His Lordship and Captain and the Pakistani Bugsy Malone look-a-like on the sidelines. Bugsy, clearly being a veteran Pick-Up Artist in DIP, began his mating ritual by lying right next to the pair whilst utilising the tried-and-tested combination of toe twiddling, nail clipping and ball juggling. Unfortunately for Bugsy, he could not quite impress the lads enough, with him leaving the ground in a sulk having not wooed any plus-sized cricketers that weekend. (NB: fortunately for Bugsy, Captain slipped Jono’s number into Bugsy’s pocket so his luck will undoubtedly change in the very near future…)

Whilst this action was on-going, Grant “Gramilla” Miller joined Derriere in the middle and together, they rotated the strike beautifully, mixing 1s and 2s with the odd boundary. Derriere eventually being rear-ended with an extremely well made 76 and Gramilla run-out on an equally fine 60. “Ginger Ninja” then entered the fray and achieved what must be termed as the ultimate “Sod’s Law”. Ninja had earlier in the day argued that the use of helmets in friendly cricket was only meant for ‘cricket girly men’…he then, of course, promptly top edged the second ball of Cool Boys’ wily spinner and sliced open his chin. After being patched up with a couple of spare plasters found in his bag, Ninja struck some handy boundaries ending with 26 not out and increasing the scoring rate to end the Darjeeling innings on a very competitive 210 off 25 overs. More than enough…one would think!!!

His Lordship opened the bowling for Darjeeling and, it must be said, bowled with great aristocracy to which the opening batsmen had no answer, taking 2 wickets in his second and third overs. Unfortunately for Darjeeling, no other bowler could match the lofty standards of His Lordship with everyone else going for plenty. Derriere did take a fantastic catch at square leg to give the Darjeeling boys hope but the band of buffet bowling brothers, including “Sideshow” Roscoe; Chris “Telly Tebby”; Gramilla; Page Boy and Ninja all got plenty of tap…Van Den upgraded the buffet into a full “Entertainer Brunch” by trying his best to reincarnate his fellow countryman, Daan van Bunge’s, efforts against Herschelle Gibbs in the 2007 World Cup (https://youtu.be/Hsv99LxwrYw). Indeed, Rizwan took a special liking to his bowling in the penultimate over to finish the game off a little quicker than hoped for by the Darjeeling team (sorry boys…mea culpa!). A shout out must, however, go to Captain Kirk’s manful efforts of marshaling his 10 men around the field, giving everyone a good game, but unfortunately, the lack of bowling control, allied with the hard-hitting style of Cool Boys, not to mention one less fielder, hurt the Darjeeling team in the end. Indeed His Lordship, in his usual inimitable way, summarised the Darjeeling bowling efforts succinctly with the words ‘utter shite’…I think no man would dare challenge those noble words!

So, despite the loss, a thoroughly enjoyable game was had by all, with high scores on both sides, skillful batting, and everyone getting a good go. On to next week!

Van Den’s MoM: Derriere…for his excellent 76 and feline like catch at square leg. Bravo monsieur!

Darjeeling CC Intraclub Game 9th March 2019

Northern Hemisphere vs Southern Hemisphere.

After much hype and anticipation and many a pre-game beverage beforehand at Kickers, The DCC gathered to play their interclub game at the ICC on yet another perfect day in the UAE.

No idea who won the toss however the Northern hemisphere went into bat.

Greg and Kev helped the innings get off to a flyer with some top bowling, which saw the lads from the North 2 down quite quickly with our George and Adrian back in the hut. Rather annoyingly Kimbo hung around and scored some decent runs (38).

Matts impressive spell and use of the wicket bagged him the all-important wicket of Kimbo in a spell which saw him actually only SPIN 1 ball on the heavenly track prepared at the ICC. Despite switching from medium pace to off spin our Graeme managed to bag the all-important wicket of Watto.

In walked Jerome and shortly after Arsalan, who both batted superbly scoring 55 and 51 not out respectfully. Although helped most definitely by some awful bowling from yours truly, and by Butterfingers Blikkies. Bliks decided to not only not catch the ball, but also caught himself a bruise in the stomach and allow them to run 3 in the process.

Despite the fielding and use of the pitch, the DCC Southern Hemisphere managed to restrict the Northern Hemisphere to a very impressive to 212/4 off the 25 overs.

Kirky and Paul B opened the Southern Hemisphere innings. In a spell of fielding where the 3 of; Butterfingers Ollie, Ash and Stu, all contrived to drop 3 of the easiest catches I’ve seen and allow Kirky to remain at the crease.

Seeing that the only way one could get Kirky out, Kimbo continued his great work with the bat with an impressive run out of Kirky to leave the Southern Hemisphere 1 down. This was shortly followed by the shocking LBW of Graeme. Paul B proceeded to steady the innings with a belligerent 24 of 40 balls including an impressive spell of 5 consecutive dot balls before he too was run out.

It seemed as though the game was slipping away from the Southern Hemisphere… Thankfully Blikkies, Stanni and Greg had other ideas, and the 14 an over required in the end turned out to be a doddle. Greg batted excellently with a fiery 31 together with yours truly (Stanni) to get the Southern Hemisphere on track to win yet another great victory for the South. We finished chasing down the 212 with 8 balls to spare.

Many a drink followed after the game and all in all a good days cricket with a good bunch of lads and families.

Thanks to all who participated and Umer for his contribution towards the BBQ and to all those who took valuable time to organise this day.

Darjeeling vs Loose Cannons February 2019

Start time: 10:30 if my memory hasn’t already started getting worse

Darjeeling CC started off in the field, fresh out of a meeting discussing what was going to happen in the 2019 season and it being our 50^th Anniversary.

The Gents were dripping in the new 2019 season kit and it was all guns blazing in the field. The first over of the game going for a mere 3 runs off the bowling of Greg. The amazing start was short lived as Brent was next in to bowl…feeling a little worn from the night before he championed as best he could, but got sent packing to all parts of the ground going for 22 in his first and only over of the day. In what appears to be true to DCC sport, the third over provided some action. A catch was dropped off Greg’s bowling. Sadly this wasn’t the only, as a few more were to come in the days play. Greg finishing off his 4 overs for 19, which was very impressive after the dropped attempts.

The first breakthrough of the day came in the 6^th over, this coming shortly after a second catch was dropped by Roscoe the over before of Greg’s bowling yet again. DCC then went on to drop a 3^rd catch in the 8^th over of the day… it was evident that we gave the cannons too many chances, chances which they ended up using to the fullest.

Umer was next in to bowl as the second change option. With Captain Grant opting for spin against the wind to entice the batsman to hit it long and risk their wicket. Sadly the Cannons played smart and knocked him around the ground with 12, 6 and 8 in his 3 over spell. Oh Captain my Captain Grant came in bowling at number 5. Taking a wicket in his first over, bowling cross seam as the wind had started to move across the wicket. Grant had a short spell lasting only 2 overs, but ended up with figures of 1-19…this wicket breaking an all-important partnership of 41 runs

Ash came in to bowl at number 6 in the 14^th over, just after a wicket had fallen the over before… Ash started with a spread field… for the first few balls, and then the mastery and mind games took over. The field was brought in as the new batsman was very tentative and was reaching for the ball, the pressure in going over the top paid off as Ash got his man… bowled. Ash finishing off with figures of 1-49, which wasn’t helped by Roscoe as he over ran a catching opportunity in the last over of Ash’s spell.

Jonno came in bowling in the number 7 slot took a wicket in his first over. It was a well-judged catch in the deep by Brent… opting to stand his ground and wait for the ball to come to him. This was sadly where the wickets stopped, and the runs started to pile on thick and fast for the Cannons. Scoring just 77 in the last 5 overs, this was a day for the batsmen. Cannons no3 Wake came in and dominated with the bat against the DCC bowlers. Wake played some decent cricket shots before ending his not-out-innings in true T20 style scoring 83 runs.

The Cannons posting a massive target of 194 for Darjeeling to chase down.

An honourable mention to all those of DCC who came down to watch the gents play, even though the new kit was what you were truly after… the support had not gone unnoticed.

Darjeeling batsmen needing to get off to a flying start if we were to get the W over the Cannons.

In steps our openers for the day with RK and Rohan taking to the crease. RK and Rohan looking really good and playing some positive attacking shots to get DCC of the mark with a 36 run partnership with RK scoring 20 before getting bowled.

Next in was Jerome who walked up to the crease looking confident. After a few no-balls by the Cannons bowler, Jerome fell to a brilliant catch by the keeper taking a low diving catch to his right. The shot was an uncharacteristic push to a wider pitched delivery. Jerome had fallen after only scoring 1. Rohan was the next batsman to fall for 12 . being trapped in front by the bowler. This left DCC at 47 for 3 and in real trouble needing another 147 off only 12 overs. Charles our wicket-keeper batsman walked in at number 4 but did not last very long, as he had only managed to score 2 before being caught. This leaving DCC in even deeper strife, at 51 for 4.

At the crease we now had the experienced pair of Jonno and Brent. The pair started off nice and easy by first getting used to the pace of the wicket, when all of a sudden we saw Brent start to unleash. Brent having to make up for his bowling decided to take the bowling attack on, with massive success. Ending on an unbeaten 89, which included 7 x 6’s and 7 x 4’s, with the odd single here and there to keep him honest. This was an innings unlike any other seen from the supporters of DCC. A whirlwind performance with the bat, smearing the bowlers to all corners of the ground with some amazing power and stroke play from the man hailing from South Africa.

Jonno standing in amazement at the non-strikers end watching as Brent is owning this moment and owning the bowler. He had them in his back pocket. Jonno playing the supporting role of the day and himself scoring a well-paced 50 which included 7 x 4’s before being caught. Jonno at time looked to turn the screws with his running between the wickets as he wanted to get Brent on strike more often than not. Brent almost running himself out, and at the end fell to the ground trying to catch his breath, but Rasta rose to his feet and championed on.

Brent and Jonno turned the almost unthinkable into reality with a stand of about 130 runs. A well-paced and well composed innings from both men to steer Darjeeling into the home straight to winning the game. Jonno almost ending the innings with a not out next to his name. Unfortunately he fell agonizingly short with the end of the game in sight. In stepped Greg to add a single run, before Brent scored the winning runs in good fashion with a 4.

This had been a hard fought win by the men of Darjeeling CC. An epic run chase to say the least, and getting the first win under the belt with new swissglobal kit made it even more special. This has to go down as one of the greatest knocks by Brent.

The DCC gents thanked the Cannons before making their way into the cloak room where Grant handed a very well deserved man of the match performance to Brent by handing over the match ball. The celebration that followed was one that was well deserved

Cannons: 193/4 after 20

Darjeeling CC: 196/5 after

Stand out performers: Greg 0/19 after 4 overs
Brent 89*

Jonno 50