Match report: Entrecasteaux CC vs Beausoleil CC – Sunday 4th July, played at Entrecasteaux

Weather: wet and raining in the morning, clearing after lunch to be bright and sunny

Finally Gregory found his tossing fingers in order and he managed to win the call on the flip of the coin and so sent out Satpal Singh Randhava (91 n.o.) and Yannick Perera (19) to face the music on this rainy day. And they didn’t disappoint. Satpal had been promoted from last weeks number 8 position, where he scored 0, to open the batting with the younger Perera, in what is becoming his regular position.

And it was an inspired call by the captain as Satpal batted without fault, carrying his bat to the end of this 30 over friendly match, latching onto anything wayward, particularly to short deliveries which were dismissed with pulls or cuts to the respective boundaries, and claiming the cheeky singles whenever possible. Had there been just one or two overs more he would surely have reached a ton and it would have been thoroughly deserved for this was an innings of great maturity.

The openers made their 50 run partnership in the tenth over when Roshan (4-0-23-2), who had been the second change, and was bowling at the football ground end, bowled Yannick with a delivery that kept a bit low and skidded through to remove the bails. Yannick was replaced by his father Chaminda Perera (13) who was in good form, claiming the boundary with nonchalant ease, seemingly set to join Satpal in his onward march, only to play rather a casual shot to a shortish ball from Vijay (4-0-27-2) which fell kindly into the hands of a grateful gully.

This brought Prasanth Unnikrishnan (2) to the crease who seemingly became a little frustrated after occupying the same for about ten minutes and in trying to push the score along holed out to extra cover. There is no doubt that the runs will come, it is a matter of increasing the confidence level. Nawroz Mangal (0), hoping to build on his 40 odd runs the week before, and therefore full of confidence, had his stumps flattened on the first ball he received from Roshan and therefore had to return to the pavilion quack, quacking. What a cruel game this can be.

The welcome return of Sahan Hewa (9) to grace our hallowed turf saw a somewhat hesitant and untuned performance, hardly surprising as he has taken at least two years off, become a father, and grown his hair rather longer. However he provided valuable support to Satpal’s continued march but it was no great surprise when he was caught at mid-off from the bowling of Kalith Fernandez (6-0-36-1) in his second spell.

Kochieyan (1) again failed with the bat, being the first of Dinesh’s victims (4-0-17-2), and he was quickly followed by Emil Perera (1), who has all the markings of being able to follow in his father and elder brother’s footsteps, once he has learnt his trade. So enter our skipper to the fray and Gregory (24 n.o.) had the kind of impact you could only ever desire from a number 9 batsman striking 12 runs off the last over and so, with Satpal, they returned to the pavilion with a grand total of 181 runs.

Surely this would be a breeze in the park for the home side as they took to the field with the clouds dispersing and the sun starting to shine. And so it seemed as Gregory (5.4-1-19-1) again had Shalana Karunarathnage (1) bowled after removing his off stump and then Kochieyan (5-0-42-1) bowled Vijay (4) in the fourth over.

17 for 2, it would be a doddle but Entrecasteaux had not figured on Yoges (112 n.o.) and Fernandez (40) coming together to build a partnership of 103 runs, using all their guile and experience to leave an indellible and winning total on the score board. There was seemingly nothing that the bowlers could do. Kochieyan had bowled too much down the leg side which Yoges was happy to dismiss to the leg boundary. Hewa (6-0-40-0) out of practice reliably had a ball swatted to the boundary in each over. Chaminda Perera (5-0-24-0) brought some calm for the scorer but still Yoges and Fernandez piled on the runs and it was not until Yannick Perera (3-0-24-1) came on in the 23rd over that Fernandez advanced down the wicket and was smartly stumped by Satpal with the score at 120.

62 runs were still required, with only 7 overs remaining, so it was going to be a good finish, and so it proved to be, for the visitors. This was largely down to Yoges’ forceful batting and he made hay against all of the bowlers. Mangal (4-0-30-1) had Imran (3) clean bowled but he is the kind of bowler who will always offer the patient batsman a chance. Roshan (10 n.o) joined the run maker and togther they crossed the line with 8 balls still to be bowled. It had been a masterful and thoroughly deserved victory for Beausoleil who won by 6 wickets.

Thank goodness it was only a friendly, and thanks also to Maurice Mitchem for umpiring.

It should also be noted that neither Fife or Giddy had to take to the field as there were plenty of young and enthusiastic volunteers. Not only Emil Perera, for he was joined by Prasanth’s boy, I think he is called Christian, and by Satpal’s boy, who is called Sohan. These 3 lads, who must have a combined age of not much more than 33, are the future of our club and it was excellent to see them taking to the field.

Entrecasteaux XI: Clifford Gregory, Nawroz Mangal, Mohamed Kochieyan, Chaminda Perera, Yannick Perera, Adrian Gibby, Prasanth Unnikrishnan, Satpal Singh Randhava, Sahan Hewa, Emil Perera, Andy Fife. reserves: C. Unnikrishnan and S. Singh Randhava

19 juillet 2021Permalink