From The Pavilion

after also losing the 3rd wicket cheaply, our bats got into their stride at last with a 100+ run 4th wicket partnership and par-ish score of 177/4:
J. Makunura (rfm) 4-0-34-0, C. Kaushal 64 (47b), B. Dinesh 2 (3b)
End of over 20 (9 runs) - Sri Lanka(177-4) RR 8.85

Something for the bowlers to defend.

Close wins in games 1 & 2 (game 2 off the last ball ) and now on to game 3 again on a flat pitch.

Good start batting first with 98 runs off the first 10 overs. With 2x finishers in the team the expectation is to go over 200 runs.

197/6, a little under 200 but not bad.
Canada had 2 old ball bowlers lying in wait to keep the innings in check.

They’ll need a good start to keep with the run rate.

paulc wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 14, 2021 6:32 am

197/6, a little under 200 but not bad.
Canada had 2 old ball bowlers lying in wait to keep the innings in check.

They’ll need a good start to keep with the run rate.

And our fielders have handed them just that - two dropped catches, 4 byes and 4 misfield runs in the first 3 overs alone.

Good acceleration (15 from 5b) from Mathews towards the end helped the narrow edge needed!

bura wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:09 am

Good acceleration (15 from 5b) from Mathews towards the end helped the narrow edge needed!

Yes he seems to always pitch in a few runs when we need them.
11ish runs each for the all rounders Bowen and Oshini today to put us over 120 runs against Scotland on a dry/cloudy.

Again a competitive total, needing that little bit of luck maybe.

paulc wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:33 am

Again a competitive total, needing that little bit of luck maybe.

And that luck came in the form of Scotland not playing any allrounders!

4 wins for 4 and promotion assured.
Tomorrow we play for World Cup qualification.

paulc wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:38 am

paulc wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:33 am

Again a competitive total, needing that little bit of luck maybe.

And that luck came in the form of Scotland not playing any allrounders!

4 wins for 4 and promotion assured.
Tomorrow we play for World Cup qualification.

Lesvosace has crunched the numbers and world cup qualification comes down to this:
(1) 16 Apr 2021 05:30 Nat Twenty20 3 Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe --> need a Sri Lanka victory
and
(2) 16 Apr 2021 05:00 Nat Twenty20 2 Pakistan v Kenya --> need a Pakistan victory

So even after 4 straight wins (7 straight if you include last SOD tour) its still not in our hands but there is a chance...

our world cup qualification went down to the ball as game 5 resulted in a tie.

It looks like despite 4 wins and a tie from 5 matches (and a total unbeaten run of 8 matches) we will fall just short of qualification.
Nonetheless another positive tour finishing top and 6 points clear of the competition.

big performances from:
the 4Ks: Tilan Kobbekaduwa, Rajavarothiam Kuruppuarachchi, Chandika Kaushal each managing over 100 runs and Hunais Kuruppu taking 6 wickets

the keepers Asanta Gajanayake (96 runs and 3 keeper catches) and Sanath Berugodaarachchi (42 runs, 5 keeper catches & a stumping)

the seam AR twins Angelo Mathews (30 runs and 4 wickets), Ranjit Bowen (17 runs and 4 wickets)

the spin twins Thomas El Toro and Aijereen with 4 wickets each and "spin baby" Oshi Oshini

some of our older players Frank Enstein ( runs, 2 wickets), Jagath Nishantha (9.75 runs/over), Silida Warnapura (48 runs) struggled.
Maybe a max age of 31yr 7wks might be the way to go.

Unlucky but well done team!

onto the final tour of the season, this time in Division 1, looking to extend the unbeaten run to 9 and beyond.
Again a couple of debutants on tour: Goondiwindi >> Vasudeva Sumanasekara, a 29yo finisher and blackcat >> Arawinda Pitigala, a 28yo lfm A/R.

Game1 vs Kenya on windy/dry: strong start with 53 runs for the first wicket and 46 for the second, mini-collapse and then recovery led by Pitigala (36 runs) and finshed by captain Aijereen (23*) to reach 236 a competitive score.

Kenya 91/4 off 21 overs in response.

First real hiccup of the season in division 1 with the "big boys".
We won game 1 handily against Kenya, really blew it tactically in game 2 against Zims and lost a close one in game 3 vs New Zealand.
So now its not about winning but avoiding relegation. Tune into games 4 and 5 to see if we make it.

big win in game 4 where the orders finally came right and now we're in 2nd place behind confirmed top dogs New Zealand.
Weirdly we could still be relegated if all 3 games go against us but stranger things have happened especially with fatigued teams in game 5.

Two wins, three losses. Survived in division 1.

Oshi Oshini topped our bowling charts with 8 wickets in 2 man-of-the-match performances
he was ably assisted by finger spin-twins Casie Chetty and El Toro on 7 wickets each, fellow wristies Luvis on 6 and Aijereen on 4.

Both keepers did fine with 2 catches each and some runs.

batsman had difficulties across the board with only 12 players from 6 teams managing a 50 - Kuruppuarachchi with an unbeaten 50 and Irfahan with 61 for Sri Lanka. Nandana gets an honorable mention for managing 91 runs from 4 matches with a top score of 28.
The seamers struggled and ended up as emergency batsmen much of the time.

overall a decent season - up to division 2 in T20 and division 1 in SOD

After an almost 2 month break, we're back in competitive action in SOD1.1.
Kenya first up on a slow pitch and a relatively straightforward win batting first on a slow pitch.
Bigger challenges to come...