**From Thom Barker
The Yorkton Yorkers finished their first season in the Saskatchewan
Cricket League T-20 season on a high note on Saskatchewan Day.
After a dismal performance in a morning match against the Super Kings,
Yorkton bounced back in their afternoon match defeating the Cavaliers by five
wickets.
“The Cavaliers are one of the pioneering teams in Saskatchewan
cricket, so this gives us a lot of confidence going forward,” said Faisal
Anwar, Yorkers captain.
Yorkton batted first putting up a total of 148 runs for 5 wickets
lost. Despite losing two opening batsmen in just the second over, Harman Grewal
steadied the ship, defending his wicket valiantly allowing wicket keeper Ankit
Puri to put up his second half-century of the season.
After the fall of Puri’s wicket in the 12th over for 52 runs on just 25 balls, Grewal
continued to support the strike as Anwar came to the crease. The captain put up
22 runs on 20 balls.
Grewal, who went 13.1 overs was the third top scorer with 19 runs on
31 balls.
With a strong total of 148 runs to defend, Yorkers bowlers made short
work of the Cavaliers’ opening batsmen taking their wickets in the second and
fourth overs respectively.
The Cavs appeared they might make a game of it as a developing
partnership between T.J. Singh and A. Gill yielded 50 runs. The big
breakthrough for the Yorkers came in the 13th over when leg-spin
bowler Mandeep Singh got T.J. Singh to hit a fly ball that was caught by
Yorkton fielder Balwant Singh.
With T.J. Singh gone, Yorkton finished off the Cavaliers with wickets
in the 15th and 16th overs and two wickets in each of the
17th and 18th overs.
Great performances for the Yorkers included Mandeep Singh and Harman
Grewal, who, in addition to scoring 13 and 19 runs respectively, both took
three wickets on the bowling side.
Man-of-the-match honours, however, went to Ankit Puri for his four
stumpings as wicket keeper and half century in the crease.
Anwar, who took two wickets, attributed the win to cohesiveness.
“We played as a team and performed well in all areas including
batting, bowling and fielding, especially no dropped catches,” the captain
said.
The earlier game could not have gone in a more opposite direction. The
Super Kings, who batted first, put up a monster total of 170 runs for seven
wickets. Chasing 171, the Yorkers never got the bats scoring just 62 runs. They
did, however, manage to nearly complete their innings going all out with only
one ball left to play in the last over, which Anwar took as a positive.
The other encouraging thing, he said, was how they rallied back in the
field with the Regina team on pace to score 240-plus early in the game.
“The Super Kings scored 84 by seven overs, but we held them to 170,”
Anwar said. “Unfortunately, our batting broke down again.”
With the T-20 season done, the Yorkers turn their attention to the
longer format One Day Provincial (ODP) league. With one win and two draws and
five games remaining, Yorkton remains in the playoff hunt just four points out
of first place.
