Yorkers beat Jaguars by six wickets for first win

SUBMITTED BY THOM BARKER
The Yorkton Yorkers won their first game in the Saskatchewan Cricket League (SCL) One Day Provincial (ODP) competition May 25.

Following a close call against the Jaguars in the shorter format T-20 competition the previous week, the Yorkers were full of confidence heading to Regina Saturday for a rematch.

The Jaguars won the coin toss and chose to bat first. Taking the field, the Yorkers made short work of the first three Jaguars’ batsmen taking their wickets within the first five overs for only 13 runs.

The home team fought back establishing a partnership between Yasir Ali and Fasih Fawad who ultimately accounted for 79 runs between them. At the mid-innings break (20 overs) the Jaguars were at 103 runs for only four wickets lost.

After the break, Ali’s wicket fell quickly with the Jaguars on 109 runs and the Yorkers rapidly took wicket after wicket until the Regina team was all out for 151 runs after 33 overs and 3 balls (33.3 overs) out of 40 overs.

During lunch, team captain Faisal Anwar cautioned Yorkers batsmen to remain patient and the 152 runs they needed to win would come.

The Jaguars also got off to a good start with their turn at bowling, retiring the first three Yorkers batsmen for just 14 runs. That brought up Tinku Sharma, Yorkton’s man of the match from the previous outing against the Jaguars, and Mandeep Singh.

Both men defended their wickets well and the runs started to come for Singh. Unfortunately for Sharma, he would not repeat his half century (50 runs) performance from the week previous. After facing 28 balls, the star striker had managed only six runs and gave up his wicket on a ticked ball caught by the Jaguar’s skip.

Replacing Sharma at the crease, Anwar would be the last batsman the Yorkers needed. Singh continued to pile up runs smashing a total of 10 boundaries (four runs) alternating with the precision of the captain, who wound up with five boundaries of his own plus one maximum (six runs).

After 29 overs, with 11 to play, the Yorkers were just four runs away from chasing down and surpassing the Jaguars’ total to secure the match. Anwar needed just one ball to put it away. The Jaguars bowler, Fawad, delivered the ball and the captain precisely directed it to the boundary in the gap between backward point and cover for the win by six wickets and 10.5 overs.

Between them, Singh (57) and Anwar (45) accounted for 102 of the Yorkers 152 total, as well as, five Jaguars wickets (Anwar three and Singh two) making the man of the match call a draw.

The Yorkers next game is Sunday, June 2 against the Cavaliers in Regina.