Darjeeling v Abu Dhabi Gents by Matt Peet

The venue was the illustrious Sheikh Zayed Stadium, ordinarily a batting road for test match players, but the groundsman had seen fit to prepare a green top for the two English teams facing off, and a slightly longer format of 25 overs.

George Hellyeah was skipper and immediately told everyone it was his first match skippering, but after that, picked up his team speech and ended strongly. The general plan was to set an off side field and bowl outside off stump.

The Abu Dhabi openers were quite contrasting styles. Garth was a trying to nudge it around and the other chap, “Dasher” was swinging from the hip at everything. Matt Jacob was expensive for his first two overs whilst Shehan exerted lots of control. That being said by over 4 we had managed to work out Dashers penchant for the lofted drive, set the long on fielder accordingly, and he duly delivered it straight to the fielder.

However the skipper considered that to be a lucky wicket and so Matt was taken off and Krishna was brought on. Krishna bowled very well and got a decent amount of swing, finishing with 1 for 17 off his 4 over spell, snaring Gareth through sheer run pressure. Skip only taking them off in order to keep an over of each of them in reserve for the end

At the other end, Mike Phillips was brought on for Shehan. It was quickly apparent he was struggling for control as he consistently tossed 2-3 down the leg side every over. A quick word about bowling cross-seam fixed it for him, and he found more consistency. Couple of the shorter balls troubled the batsman, but Nav (the batsman) changed tack and played a variety of late cuts, together with the occasional drive. Mike finished with figures of 4 over for 39 but definitely learnt from his spell against a couple of quality middle order batsman.

The halfway drinks were had, and it was definitely even-stevens between the teams.

Badge was brought on, but the batsmen were well set and played him comfortably, with the second over going for 13, Skip swapped him for Matt Peet, who despite being hit for a six 2nd ball, then snared the wicket of Nick Gray, at long on, with a fine catch by Brendan. However Matt’s 2nd over was awful, with Nav taking a distinct liking to the filth and taking him for 16 runs, finishing with the reverse sweep over the top of short-third-man.

At the other end, replacing Mike Phillips, Jerome came on and bowled well, but was unfortunate not to take the wicket of Shiraz with a bad drop by Matt Peet at Cow Corner.

The skipper made a strong call and brought back Matt Jacob back to replace Mat Peet, for his second spell. MattyJ delivered excellent results, with a wicket each over.

This was aided by the catch of the match, by Brendan at wide long on, running a good 10 metres, round to straight long on and taking the catch on the run, without stepping over the boundary. I think this was the big wicket of Nav, who finished with a well earnt 60 odd.

From here, Darjeeling were able to put the breaks on Abu Dhabi Gents inning. With Sheehan and Krishna finishing their spells. Shehan recorded fine figures of 1 for 29 off his 5 overs and Krishna, the pick of the bowlers, at 1 for 23. The Gents finished with 206 and the general Darjeeling impression was positive that we were going to get these runs.

Nav opened the bowling for the Gents and despite Matt Peet warning the team that he was a good bowler, the gallery was not impressed by the pace. However Sam Jackson recognized the control that Nav bowled with, commenting that he bowled the first over of full away swing, followed by the 2nd and 3rd over, as back of a length seaming inwards, towards top of leg stump.

George eventually succumbed to a quality yorker by Nav, losing his middle pole. Jerome came in and looked assured, dishing up regular boundaries. Sam then joined him successfully against the 1st change bowlers, but then got carried away after just missing out on 1 four with a lofted on drive, he swung harder at a low full toss and missed it, losing his middle pole as well.

This brought in Shehan to join Jerome. The Sri Lankan pairing looked comfortable, and took us to the halfway mark, just a bit behind the rate at 78 off 13 overs. That being said, the batsman were well set and the gallery was confident, that with wickets in hand, we could find the next gear.

However the Gents upped their game, with their bowlers delivering a pinch spell from over 13-17 that saw just 25 runs added. Shehan got out trying to find a boundary, bringing in Brendan WJ. He looked very comfortable at the crease, and after setting himself, he set to the task of boundaries required, scoring a fluent 49 off 30 balls.

With a couple of notably strong heaves to cover corner that comfortably cleared the boundary despite a field set for just such a shot. However once Brendan got out the wheels came off the bus. James slapped his wide half volley straight to wide long off. A bit of wind behind it and might have carried over the boundary as it went really high. Matt Jacob was then clean bowled first ball. Krishan survived the hat-trick, but by only 2 balls before he was bowled, with Matt Peet then going back to his first ball and missing it entirely. Jerome then joined the procession, however he had made a very respectable 53 off 49 balls and anchored the innings.

But that meant the stage was now set for just playing for a bit of pride not to get bowled out. Badger duly delivered as 11 man, not just surviving but swatting a boundary for a strike rate of 200 off his 2 balls, to pick up the spirits of the players.

Darjeeling ended on 165 but he match had been an even contest until deep into the 2nd half. The Gents had bowled well, with just 9 extras in their 25 overs, and their 1 standout player, Nav, pushing the match in their favour.

There was no man of the match declared for Darjeeling, as there had been good performance by several players on the team: Shehan and Krishan bowling exceptionally well, Brendan WJ for some excellent fielding including 2 catches. Matt Jacob for finishing strongly at the death with the ball. Then Jerome and Brendan WJ both making good runs.

Overall we have something to build on for 2018, the match was played in excellent spirit by both teams, the weather was excellent and refreshing beverages were had after the match. P.S. if you are playing the next match in Abu Dhabi, pack your cooler bag.

DCC Colts v CSE at Ajman Oval – words by D Mariadason

After having been asked by CSE to be ready to play at 3:15pm Ajman Time, DCCc dads scrambled from all parts of Dubai and most made it to the ground in time only to find that the opposition were still on Sharjah time and arrived at 3:45. The boys have learned well from the seniors and invoked DCC Law #1 and padded up……

The openers Thomas and Yash made a steady start, until Yash was trapped in front for 8. Thomas was met by Rithik and took the score along to 38. Losing another quick wicket DCCc were looking shaky and 3/44 off 9. An excellent 95 run partnership between Yahya (59 off 43) and Rohan (46 off 40), steadied the side and gave us a glimmer of hope of posting a competitive score. With some good running, lusty hitting and unselfish batting by the tail Kai, Chris, Aryan and Ryan, DCCc finished at 8/172 from 25.

CSE got off to a flyer, with one of the openers smashing all bowlers to all parts, with some very impressive strokes. Having put on almost 40 before losing the first wicket CSE looked the goods. DCCc didn’t help matters by dropping 5 catches. Having broken the opening stand DCCc managed to pull scoring rate back and were able to build some pressure and pick up a few more wickets. Aryan and Yahya slowed thing down with some tidy off spin and Joe picked up a couple of wickets including a smart stumping by Kai. It was still anyone’s game with CSE needing 50 off 5. A couple of crucial run outs, very good catches by Ryan in the deep and tight bowling at the death ensured DCCc were able to enjoy a well-earned BBQ proudly sponsored by Dr Jaco’s Dental Studio.

Special thanks to Munish who broke all Thursday night land speed records to get from Sports City to Ajman by 4pm and walk straight on to Umpire for 50 overs. Jaco for finally getting off the phone in time to cook the snags and burgers….. Rob and Omar for supporting from the side lines, CSE for the game and all the parents who support the boys.

A good result for the colts.

DSL match 3: Darjeeling v Titans @ Dubai 7s – words by Mr. T. Kimber

I will start by saying, what a game of cricket this was!!

Jono again lost the toss and Titans decided they would have a bat. We didn’t start as we would have hoped with the ball and Titans built and impressive opening partnership of 127 off just 12.5 overs, latching onto anything short or wide off the seamers Viv (3-0-31-0) and Blikkies (3-022-0). Shuggie (5-0-57-0) was brought on to try and stem the flow of runs, but was met with some brutal striking, both openers managing to clear the ropes regularly and by some distance.

Viv was switched ends to try and break the partnership and duly nicked off Titans chunky opener, however the umpire somehow didn’t see or hear the nick and KFC’s favourite customer for the past 10 years, decided he was going nowhere and refused to walk. Poor form indeed. The onslaught of clean hitting continued and Titans found the boundary on a worryingly regular occasion. The more flighted bowling of Jono (5-0-44-0) and Rhys (4-0-38-1) seemed to slow the scoring rate slightly and eventually Rhys broke the opening partnership in the 13^th over, having the tiring KFC enthusiast caught nonchalantly one handed in the deep by Israr for 73 off just 40 balls. He wasn’t a fan of running but he certainly struck the ball cleanly.

Titans had set themselves a very good platform and with what looked like their best batsman coming out at 3, were in for an imposing total. Again they built another good partnership of 80+ rotating the strike well between left and right handers and seeming to find the boundary at will. The hitting was relentless and Mike (3-0-27-0) and Israr (2-0-28-0) did a decent job at the death when the batsman were looking to hit every ball for 6. Darjeeling stuck at it and managed to effect a couple of run outs to keep the scoring to as few as was possible. Titans eventually finishing on 248 for 4. The pitch was flat and the outfield was quick, but it would take a serious effort to chase down ten an over from ball one.

The Darjeeling innings began with openers Rhys and Blikkies, the Titans opening bowlers began with tight lines and both openers possibly looked to over hit the ball and struggled for timing, understandable given the imposing total they faced. Blikkies was out for 5 in the third over, which brought Tom to the crease with a licence to get on with it and utilise the power play. After some tight early bowling Tom was greeted with wide long hop first ball, which was duly dispatched to the extra cover boundary. That seemed to ignite the innings, with Tom and Rhys looking to make the most of the fielding restrictions in the first 8 overs, they punished pretty much everything, ending the power-play on 78.

Game on.

Still needing to score at 10 an over the partnership continued to grow, running well between the wicket and punishing anything loose. It was quickly realised that Titans had one real threat with the ball, the left arm spinner, it was important to milk him whilst trying to score heavily off what ever was dished up at the other end, which we did nicely. Rhys was eventually out for 40 off 32 in the 12^th over with the score on 107. Ben strode out at 4 and continued where Rhys left off, putting pressure on the fielders in the deep and turning ones into two regularly. When Tom finally departed, stumped for 65 off 37 with the score on 137 in the 16^th over there was still plenty to do.

Darjeeling continued to score at a decent rate with everyone coming in doing their job. Watto (5 off 5) and Ben (33 off 23) fell in quick succession in the search of quick runs. That lead to the arrival of Israr (37 off 17) and Shuggie (21 off 10) they built a brilliant partnership of over fifty in quick time, finding the boundary on a regular occasion. Israr taking the 20^th over for 21 was the turning point, suddenly we 48 off the last 5 overs. Darjeeling continued to plunder the bowling, even the loss of regular wickets could not slow the run rate, as every man who came in contributed. Following the run out of Olli Jennings it was left to the Viv and the skipper to see us home, needing just 3 off the final over. Jono flicked the 3rd ball of the over to the boundary and that was that. Darjeeling had chased down 249 to win.

What a ridiculous game of cricket, spare a thought for the Titans opener who carried his bat for 105 not out, never nice to score a hundred and your team lose. Not that we care too much, we won.

Link to the scorecard: https://www.crichq.com/#matches/439675/1st_innings

Darjeeling v Abu Dhabi Gentlemen – words by Thomas Mariadason

Darjeeling traveled to Emirates Palace to meet the Abu Dhabi Gents. The scenery was jaw dropping to the vast majority of players and it took a little time to let it sink in that we were playing a game of cricket in a palace next to the beach.

David was appointed captain and had a tough job on his hands having 3 leg spinners and 3 off spinners in the team. The leggies included Joe, George and Thomas and the off spinners included Umer, Aryan and Ollie.

Toss time came around ,after relaxing under the trees, and David lost it. Darjeeling were bowling first! David gave himself the first over and kept it tidy, only giving 3 runs away. Munish was given the second over and went for 11. David bowled 3 overs with figures of 0-11 and Munish was taken off after his second over went for 29. George came on and gave a left handed batsman nightmares after bowling consistent googlies in his overs and finished on figures of 1-38 after 5.

Shehan came on and was getting some surprising bounce and pace off the wicket after telling David that he bowled medium pace. Shehan rattled the batsmen with the shorter delivery and Kai took some very good catches going low to his right. Shehan ended up with figures of 2-23 off 5. Meanwhile in the field Jaco Smith ,who was due for surgery in a couple of weeks, was throwing himself around the ground and stopping every run he could, deserving the name Jonty. Joe then came on and bowled a good spell, picking up the wicket of Sheraz who was looking dangerous on 43. Joe finished his spell of 4 overs for 2-25. Thomas then came on and bowled a tidy spell of 2-16 off 3 and had Sheraz swinging his bat so hard that David was worried that the bat would go further than the ball. Aryan was given the ball and went the distance, ending up on figures of 0-38 off 2. Umer came on for the last over and was given some punishment,going for 14. The Abu Dhabi Gents ended up on a total of 202, setting Darjeeling 203 to win.

Umer and Jaco opened up for Darjeeling. Umer looked like he was ready to rumble having hit his first ball for 4, unfortunately Umer was only able to get 20 after being bowled. Jaco didn’t trouble the scorers after playing on a delivery.

Ollie came in at 3 and never really got going and only managing 9 before being bowled. Shehan was in at 4 and looked good, hitting three 4’s and a 6, however he could only manage 25. George was next in and played a very solid front foot defence first up but he held out playing a reverse sweep and being caught. for 2. Munish was next in and managed 10, hitting a lot of singles from miss-hits before being bowled. David came in and managed 4 not out. Thomas then came in and watchfully played his first ball for a dot, then he flicked a ball of his hip down to fine leg and it was quoted ‘the shot of the day’ from the keeper, however Thomas was stumped off the bowling of Etienne, expecting it to come a lot faster than it did. Aryan came in for the last 3 balls of the match and played a nice cut shot for 2. Darjeeling finished their innings off with 80.

The Abu Dhabi Gentlemen were definitely the better team on the day.

Wombats v Darjeeling, Dubai 7’s night game. Scribed by Sir Thomas Kimber

Darjeeling lost the toss and were asked to field, in what turned out to be tough catching conditions. Opening bowlers JP (5-0-27-0) and Brent (3-0-34-1) used the humid conditions to significantly swing the new ball.

JP bowling a tight opening spell, giving little away. At the other end Brent struggled to control the swing and subsequently bowled a lot of wides. However, in between the wides were some absolute beauties and was unlucky to have a nick behind put down before making the breakthrough. LBW.

From there on Wombats built a couple of decent partnerships, but never really got away from us, with Ash (4-0-31-0) and Krish (5-0-28-2) bowling tight lines, giving very little away. Krish in particular was excellent in changing pace which made it difficult for the batsman to get him away to the boundary.

Towards the end of the innings, when Wombats really looked to increase the scoring rate, they were halted by the taking of regular loss of wickets, Joe (5-0-44-3) and Dexy (3-0-32-1) held their nerve to ensure Wombats did not make it past the 200 mark, finishing on 198 for 5 off their 25 overs.

Darjeeling were assisted by some good fielding in the ring, Brent’s direct hit run out from point being the stand out moment in the field. The less said about some of the efforts in the deep the better and in all honesty there were a fair few of them, but as I mentioned at the beginning conditions were tough, it was dark for a start.

Tom (10) and JP (28 of 20) opened the batting for Darjeeling. Tom looked in sublime form, timing the ball nicely until recieving what can only be described as a tricky straight delivery, which he duly played all around to be bowled. Not ideal. Krish (6) came out to join JP at 3 and proceeded to deposit is second ball over the ropes for 6. However, in trying to do the same to his third delivery he was bowled.

Possibly a touch on the rash side. This brought Dexy to the crease, who unfortunately also got one of those tricky straight ones and was bowled for a duck. This brought Jaco (16) to the crease, again we were unable to build a partnership as JP was undone by a slower ball. Which brought skipper for the evening Pottie (8) to the wicket, who was undone by what looked like wombats best bowler and was bowled trying to up the scoring rate. Ash came to the crease and built our first meaningful partnership with Jaco, both playing some glorious strokes. Jaco was eventually out LBW for a well made 16.

Brent strode the wicket full of meaning and promise, something he certainly fulfilled, during an innings filled with cultured strokes and brutal striking, including a couple of big sixes. Again, he and Ash built a decent partnership, before Ash decided to protect his average and retire for a well compiled 23 off 32. Brent also decided he would protect his average and retired after making 28 off 24. Which allowed Chris (3), Kai (4 not out) and Joe (2 not out) to get some time in the middle. Darjeeling ended up on 143 from our 25 overs.

An enjoyable evening had by all, despite the loss, Wombats were simply too strong on the day.

DCC v Six Pistols – words by O. Higgens

On what was hopefully one of the few remaining sweltering days of the summer, DCC took on a pretty tame looking punk cover band, the Six Pistols (who then turned out to actually be covering the Dubai Exiles). Skipper Ash won the toss and DCC subsequently padded up; the boys looking forward to watching a few strokes from the shade.

Etienne and Rach got proceedings underway with Rach scoring 7 (8) before snicking off to a surprisingly good take from the ‘keeper. Colin joined Etienne and built a solid partnership against what seemed to be a decent opening bowling pair who bowled out the first 8 overs for 38-1.

Etienne then found the turbo as the 1st and 2nd change bowlers came on and proceeded to begin stroking boundaries at a rate of knots, finishing Caught and Bowled (to another one handed take) with 61 from 40 balls (3x4s, 5x6s). At this point, Higgens joined for a rusty 13 (16 including one boundary) as Colin was going through the gears (finishing on 57 being run out off the last ball of the innings (6x4s). Kirky chipped in with 6 off 4 as the innings closed on 157 for 4 down. 20 to 30 runs short of what was believed to be par in 20 overs.

As Darjeeling took to the field, Kirky’s overwhelmingly energetic Swans support had translated into some serious banter from mid on, however, unfortunately, DCC couldn’t replicate the energy with the ball and the Six Pistols moved quickly to 40-0 off 4 overs with good balls being produced by both Rohan (2-0-25-0) and Etienne (2-0-20-0) but the bad ones being taken full advantage of with the field up.

With the start of the innings highlighting that the Six Pistols seemed to only possess one batsman (Hassan aka Hussey-wanabe), the middle period showed a good combination from DCC of experience and youth with Ash (3-0-19-0), Thomas (4-0-21-1) and Aryan (3-0-33-0) compiling some decent pressure as the pace came off the ball (and the batsman’s wind up grew).

Unfortunately, a dramatic Darjeeling come back wasn’t to be and we were indeed shown to be 20-30 shy of a par target with Six Pistols (Dubai Exiles) winning by 9 wickets in the 19th.

Darjeeling v Dry Docks – words by Chris Dommett

Amid feverish anticipation and much mystery surrounding the identity of two “Guest” players for Darjeeling, Friday 7^th June dawned hot and humid with no sign of rain. Dry Docks World (DDW) have regularly beaten us over the last couple of years, and hopes were high that Nick had unearthed a couple of talented ringers (a la Dougie G) to again give us a better chance of revenge. Breath was baited as we waited to see who turned up.
First mystery Guest turned out to be prolific run accumulator and some time stumper, Brad Wissink, back in Dubai to complete a market moving property deal, thus finally ridding himself of the mortgage I did for him 5 years ago. We waited for the second guest, and waited, and waited. Nick finally admitted it was Grisdale J, back with special approval from the Chairman, but as he failed to appear his place was taken by David’s young son Rahan.
Nick finally lost the toss and we took the field with Greg Moses opening up from the water tank end. After his first ball castling of the chirpy but slow moving keeper last week, hopes were high for a repeat, but Greg’s loosener this time was smeared back past him for 4. 8 off the first over, but a pulled intercostal muscle meant Greg had to retire to slip, and proceeded to distract the keeper with a discussion on the rupturing of various internal organs.
Julius started off from the road end with a plumb LBW appeal turned down amid gasps of disbelief and howls of “I say old chap, that can’t be right”, or words to that effect. Julius calmly accepted the decision and got his revenge a couple of overs later by clean bowling the guy. Overall, an excellent spell of 3 overs 1 for 26, which might have been 1 for 20 if the batsman hadn’t taken Greg up on his challenge to prove he was strong enough to hit a straight 6.
Brian replaced Greg, and bowled a hostile and effective spell for figures of 4 overs, 1 for 29.
The turning point of the match came when Nick pulled the masterstroke of introducing the spin of Steve Brown, Ash B and Neil Colbeck. From a position of 79 for 1 after 10, and 100 after 12, Darjeeling managed to restrict DDW to a sub-par score of 144 for 7 after their 20 overs. Stevie finished with figures of 4 overs, 2 for 25, Ash 4 overs, 2 for 23, and Neil 3 overs, 2 for 20.
However, the real star for Darjeeling was the catching and fielding which was undoubtedly the best for many a year. Stevie took 3 catches, Brian 2, including a spectacular effort on the boundary, and even Julius swooped like a gazelle to take a fine running catch at deep mid-wicket. The other wicket was a stumping by yours truly.
Set 145 to win, Darjeeling opened with the returning Brad and Brian, and they weathered some fast and hostile bowling from the DDW openers. Brad smashed his way to a belligerent 7 off 18 balls before being well caught down the leg side, but Brian was in fine and fluent form and kept the run rate well under control.
Nick came and went for 4, bringing Stevie B to the crease. He kept Brian company until they paused for drinks mysteriously after only 8 overs. Returning refreshed, the pair milked and slashed the bowling to all parts until Brian was stumped by a couple of yards for an excellent 62 (42 balls). At that point only about 25 were needed from 4 overs, but the wheels started to come off. First I was bowled for 2, then Neil departed for a duck.
That placed to burden of winning the match squarely on Stevie’s shoulders, and he responded by hitting 18 off the 18^th over. So, 3 needed for victory with two overs left, Julius facing. A couple of dots and then the clatter of stumps as he was cleaned up off an inside edge. David strolled to the crease and swung and missed the next 3 deliveries. A very rare wicket maiden, and still 3 to win.
Two balls later the match was ours with Stevie ending up on a fine 45 not out from just 30 balls.
All in all, a great performance from Darjeeling, and special thanks to David’s two lads for filling in so well.
The after match pleasantries were completed, and so to bed. Or in my case an evening of White Collar Boxing. Bizarre concept!

Darjeeling CC v Choueiry Group Friday 15th March 2013 – penned by Badger

With a warm afternoon in prospect at the ICC Global Cricket Academy, Andrew Tideswell as Skipper won the first salvo of the day, the toss, and elected to bat.
Opening with Jonathan Houghton and Cameron Coles, it only took four balls for Jon to be netted and back in the hutch caught on 2. Cameron was the second to be snared for a three ball duck in the 2^nd over trapped LBW. Nick Lloyd and Greg Moses steadied the wobbling Darjeeling ship with a partnership of 87, with Nick cleaned out for 28. In strode James Grisdale looking full of purpose to blast a quick-fire broadside of 42 in 18 balls of his 60 partnership with Moses, Andy Tideswell still not having been dismissed at the ICC looked to add to his strong run. Greg was the next to get reeled in with Darjeeling on 175 in the 19^th over for 76 off 48 balls, Brian Scholtz followed the next ball for a Golden.
Tideswell & Nick Harvey put on a 14 partnership before Tideswell trudged back to the hutch for 20, Nick Harvey and Julius Mooney adding a further 14 partnership before Nick was cleaned out for 10, Julius hang on with Mohit (0) and Badger (1) adding little or no support with Julius finishing on 13 not out and Darjeeling floundering on a minnow of a score with 213 all out in 24 overs.
With the clock ticking down Choueiry had to turn round quickly to beat the tide of time that was against them. Baber and Bilal anchored themselves in the middle and resisted the lure of the Darjeeling bowlers Grisdale, Scholtz, Moses and Mooney coming up empty handed, putting on 92 before Bilal was hauled in from the first ball of Badgers first over with a sharp catch from Lloyd for 35. Baber managing to escape with a couple of huge appeals both for catches behind, Sameer got lured down the track on 17 by Badger to be snared, Hammad and Bilal saw the Choueiry boys home in the 23^rd over with Baber on 94 not out and Hammad 40 not out.
Darjeeling retired to the Pavilion to analyse their short comings and the power point presentations to follow by nets on Tuesday!!