2025 Season
September 26th 2025 – Nightwatchmen CC vs Toronto CC
Match Report
Score Game 1: NCC 60/8 off 20 overs, TCC 61/2 off 11.5 overs . Result: NCC lose by 8 wickets. NCC Man of the Match: None due to a terrible performance.
Scorecard: https://cricclubs.com/TCSCC/viewScorecard.do?matchId=1200&clubId=23026
Game 2 started on a much brighter note for the NCC
Score Game 2: TPCC 127 off 16 overs, NCC 122/7 off 16 overs. Result: NCC lose by 5 runs. NCC Man of the Match: Dhairya Patel for 54 runs off 41 balls.
Scorecard: https://cricclubs.com/TCSCC/viewScorecard.do?matchId=1201&clubId=23026
September 20th 2025 – Nightwatchmen CC vs Toronto Police CC
Match Report
Score: TPCC 225/6 off 30 overs, NCC 219/7 off 30 overs. Result: NCC lose by 6 runs. NCC Man of the Match: Jake for a career high score of 77 runs!
August 10th 2025 – Nightwatchmen CC vs Toronto Police CC
Match Report
Score: NCC 272/8 off 30 overs, TPCC 180 all out. Result: NCC win by 92 runs. NCC Man of the Match: ?.
August 1st 2025 – Nightwatchmen CC vs Toronto CC
Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club invited the NCC back on the most glorious of summer’s day. After a brief pitch issue the toss was won by TCSCC who decided to have a bat. NCC’s captain, returning from a brief jaunt in the Arctic to reclaim his position of disrespected leader of the group, seemed happy to have lost the toss and was overhead as saying: “It was a good toss to lose” and “Bazball never bats first anyway”.
After probably the longest pre-match fielding practice completed in club history (15 minutes?) the players took to the field and walked towards their favourite fielding positions. TCSCC started calmly and positively with a fine 57 run opening partnership – both batters playing well. The pitch offered some assistance and it was a return to bowling for NCC’s ex-opening-bowler-turned-opening-batter Viraj. Viraj bowled some beautiful inswingers with one ball taking the edge of the bat to the safe hands of NCC’s part-time wicketkeeper. More accurate bowling by Viraj captured a second wicket this time bowled through the gate. Two further wickets reduced TCSCC to 70-4 with Sam persevering in a seven over spell to take one wicket and catch one with a solid take on the deep midwicket boundary off of Jake’s bowling.
At the drinks break NCC were fully lulled into a false sense of security as they discussed keeping the home team to under 200. This changed quickly. A dropped catch of number 5 batter on zero was followed by 72 runs conceded over the next 5 overs. Jake continued his tight spell one over too many and conceded 24 off his fourth over. Mehedi, not wanting to feel left out, showed his empathy for Jake by making a significant contribution to a combined total of 15 wides off just three consecutive overs.
By the time NCC’s opening bowlers returned TCSCC’s number 5 had scored a century off 70 balls and 5th wicket partnership of 159 came to an end with two retirements. Lovepreet bowled some excellent overs of spin to keep the score down and miraculously finished his 8 overs with an economy of 3. Ozzy and Sadman held their nerve to bowl some fine death overs with Ozzy picking up a consolation wicket that may be important at the end of the season when NCC;s most unique award trophy is up for grabs again.
TCSCC finished on 273/7.
After a most refreshing lunch – NCC entered the pitch with one clear instruction from the captain: “Do not get run out!”. Note: this may be come relevant later. Esteemed elite level NCC opener Viraj opened up with Tom – their main strategy was to play 5 runs at a time.
The strategy failed. NCC quickly lost wicket after wicket with their captain Martin arriving at the crease at 22-3. The captain then also failed to implement his own strategy as he sat rock solid at the safe end during two identical run outs with balls struck directly at TCSCC’s top fielder. Martin missed a straight one as NCC slipped to 38-6.
Sam and Sadman knocked together a handy 21 run partnership including a beautiful straight drive by Sadman. Sadman then decided to offer up a dolly to mid-wicket from an absolute pie of a delivery.
Sam scored 30 classically played runs and had another good partnership of 28 runs with Jake (well, you can count 0 runs of that asJake’s contribution). Lovepreet smashed a huge six over to deep long-on to ensure NCC didn’t experience the ignominy of their team’s worst ever defeat. Mehedi and Ozzy provided brief diversion form the inevitable – their only achievement being ruining Mehedi’s season batting strike rate.
Congratulations to TCSCC on a huge win of 171 runs.
Post-match patio beer analysis revolved around: yearnings for a return to the Ani(s) reign of captaincy; highly questionable bowling decisions; 5 penalty runs by Martin’s inexplicably large hat; was Sadman bowled?; terrible run outs; and golden arm’s love life. Despite all those highly village moments the most village goes to golden arm’s not so golden boot.
Score: TCSCC 273/7 off 40 overs, NCC 102 all out. Result: NCC lose by 171 runs. NCC Man of the Match: Sam Walker for 30 runs and bowling a seven over spell 7-0-29-1.
Scorecard: https://cricclubs.com/TCSCC/viewScorecard.do?matchId=1180&clubId=23026
July 26th 2025 – Nightwatchmen CC vs York CC
Match Report incoming
Score: Nightwatchmen 167/5, York 203/11. Result: NCC win on DLS. NCC Man of the Match: Raman Pawera for 74* and bowling figures of 8-1-38-2.
Scorecard: https://cricclubs.com/YorkCricketClubYCC/viewScorecard.do?matchId=987&clubId=1001384
July 13th 2025 – Nightwatchmen CC vs Pickering CC
Match Report Incoming
Score: Nightwatchmen 177/7, Pickering 156/8. Result: NCC won by 21 runs NCC Man of the Match:
June 27th 2025 – Nightwatchmen CC vs Toronto Police CC
Match Report Incoming
Score: Toronto Police CC 247/6, Nightwatchmen 218/7. Result: NCC lost by 29 runs NCC Man of the Match: ?
June 1st 2025 – Nightwatchmen CC vs York CC
Nightwatchmen CC officially opened up the 2025 season with a win over York CC on a day filled with mixed weather. Winning the toss, stand in captain Anis Gandhi made the wildly unpopular call of bowling first. He validated his decision by saying that he has never batted first playing for NCC and therefore, he thought that bowling first was the only option.
NCC bowlers Viraj and Manoj opened the innings with tidy 4 over spells each, where NCC was able to restrict the flow of runs, giving away ONLY 7 extras and securing the 1st wicket (c&b Viraj) prior to the bowling change. The same could not be said about Rahul Ghugari’s 1st over where the newly appointed bowler gave away 3 sixes and a boundary. Experts suggest that it was due to changing gale force winds that helped the batters clear the boundaries. Thanks to some much needed motivation from veterans Raman and Anis, Rahul was able to recover in his subsequent overs to finish his 4 over spell for 29 runs and 1 wicket. Ketan, Raman and Yash bowled superbly between them, scalping 8 wickets in their 13 overs. Overall, due to decent bowling and fielding performances, NCC was able to restrict York to a total of 190 after 35 overs. Special mention to Golden Arm (Mehdi) who bowled 1 over for 6 runs (all wides).
Most importantly, extras were not the highest scorer during the York innings (51 in extras vs Harry Shivs scoring a quick 56 with the bat).
In a completely uncharacteristic phenomenon for Sunday cricket, opening bowler Viraj was sent into open the batting with veteran opener Ian Dunlop. A good opening partnership was formed at the top of the order, until Ian was bowled out for 2. After this viewers were treated to some comedic running between wickets between Ketan and Viraj, who despite speaking 2 common languages, could not seem to communicate with each other. End result was Viraj being run out for 20 after a valiant first effort opening. Ketan took over from there and hit some big sixes to get himself to 50 and finish at 65 (64) and setting NCC on target for their first win. Raman and Yash took the mantle from there and finished the chase with 5 overs to spare. End result was a 6 wicket victory for NCC and a fantastic start to the season!
Score: York CC 190/11, Nightwatchmen 196/5. Result: NCC won by 5 wickets NCC Man of the Match: Ketan Rana for 65 runs, 2 wickets for 12 runs off 5 overs and catches. A true allrounders performance.
Scorecard: https://cricclubs.com/YorkCricketClubYCC/fullScorecard.do?matchId=972&clubId=1001384
2024 Season
Due to a potent cocktail of incompetence and laziness there were no match reports written for the 2024 season.
A few digital scorecards are available for you to speculate on the village nature of dismissals and shake your head at the inordinate number of extras conceded. Surely we didn’t give away 66 extras in the first game after doing nets practise all winter…..!
- June 23 – York CC – Nightwatchmen lost by 54 runs – Scorecard
- August 16 – Toronto Cricket Club – Nightwatchmen lost by 2 wickets – Scorecard
- August 25 – York CC – Nightwatchmen lost by 92 runs – Scorecard
- September 13 – Toronto Cricket Club – Nightwatchmen won by 6 wickets – Scorecard
2023 Season
August 27th 2023 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v Pickering CC
Pickering CC over 55s team kindly invited the Nightwatchmen for a Sunday afternoon game at their home ground in Alex Robertson Park in Pickering. The field had a buzzing atmosphere – partly from the cricket but predominantly from the nuclear power station only a few hundred metres behind it.
The indecisive Nightwatchmen captain Martin decided to bowl after choosing to bat and being persuaded out of it by Pickering CC players. The pitch had been drying out after heavy overnight rain and the matting was installed at the very last moment. Pickering’s openers started slow but steady with 23 off the first 8 overs. Early wickets for Dhairya Patel changed the game and swung it in favour of Nightwatchmen. By the drinks break Pickering had recovered to 47-2 off 15 overs.
A quick wicket after the drinks break brought the attacking batter Wong to the crease. He hit the ball very cleanly and pushed Pickering along with a fine partnership of 64 aided by the middle order. The game looked to be slipping away from Nightwatchmen but their tactic of keeping Wong off strike was successful. This slowed the run rate and increased the pressure on the form batter. Wong, looking to move the game along, smashed Dhairya out to the deep square leg, a certain boundary on any other day but today Ian Dunlop hopped and skipped along the turf to take an incredible one handed catch low to his right.
The wicket changed the innings and Nightwatchmen managed to restrict Pickering to 133/8 off 30 overs. The standout bowler was Dhairya Patel who returned figures of 6-0-30-5. Only the second 5 wicket haul in Nightwatchmen history and all in the space of 2 weeks.
The run chase went fairly comfortably for the Nightwatchmen openers. Sajjad Din and Martin Sykes, still hot on their form from South Africa, reunited for a partnership of 59 runs before Sykes hoiked one too many out to deep mid-wicket. Sajjad continued onwards and was retired not out after stroking 50 runs off 37 balls. He seems in excellent form for his next big game – the over 40s World Cup in Pakistan.
Pickering veteran and former St Vincentian cricketer Zepton Greaves (82 years old!) bowled a lovely spell of 4.4-0-25-1. However, another good partnership by Farhan (28 off 23) and Rana (20 off 24) sealed the victory for Nightwatchmen with 9.2 overs to spare.
Nightwatchmen enjoyed Caribbean food and drinks in the hospitable comfort of the Pickering CC clubhouse after the game. Many thanks to Pickering for a wonderful game.
Score: Pickering 133/8, Nightwatchmen 134/3. Result: NCC won by 7 wickets NCC Man of the Match: Dhairya Patel for 5 wickets and an excellent spell of 6-0-30-5.
August 19th 2023 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v Pirates of the St Lawrence CC
The Nightwatchmen CC embarked on their annual tour to Montreal to take on the Pirates of the St Lawrence Cricket Club looking to defend their two-year winning streak.
On a dreary morning, the Nightwatchmen won the toss and elected to bat first in the 8-ball per over, 27-over match. The start was delayed due to heavy rain the night before and some last minute field preparation. Martin and Sam opened the batting getting off to a quick start, reaching 16 after 2 overs. Sam fell for 4 (14) soon after to a smart caught and bowled by Qazi. Josh, promoted to one-down, had a 28-run partnership with Martin, before being bowled by Andy for 7 (14). Martin followed with a quick fire 38 (40) also falling to a caught and bowled by Abid. Himanshu and Mahi then put on 58-run partnership, taking the score to 124/3. Himanshu played an excellent innings retiring at 50* (44) including four sixes. Wickets fell regularly afterwards, with Raman contributing 32 (37), before the Nightwatchmen ended on 193/8. Of note was Babbi and Mahi’s comical runout, and Ozzy’s career high 6 (9). All the Pirates bowlers contributed, with Andy Tolson taking 2 wickets, and both Logan and Calan had tidy spells.
The Nightwatchmen CC started well in defending their total with tidy spells from Ozzy, and Pranav. Having not bowled for a few matches, Vivek created some entertaining scenes during his spell seemingly not able to release the ball from his hand. The Pirates chugged along, reaching 40 after 11-overs after which the real fireworks started. Josh, coming off an indifferent batting display, put in a man-of-the-match performance to take the team’s first-ever fifer from his four overs. Despite some late resistance from Angus, the match seemed to be done-and-duster after Josh’s spell, and the Pirates ended on 103 all out. The teams shared some drinks under increasingly heavy rain after the match.
Score: NCC 192/8, Pirates 103 all out Result: NCC won by 89 runs NCC Man of the Match: Josh Andrews for a Nightwatchmen CC first five wicket haul of 4-0-17-5
July 22nd 2023 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v Toronto CCSC
Match report incoming….
Result: NCC lost by 51 runs NCC Man of the Match: XX
Scorecard: https://cricclubs.com/tcscc/viewScorecard.do?matchId=1001&clubId=23026
July 8th 2023 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v Cambridge CC
Match report incoming….
Result: NCC lost by 2 wickets NCC Man of the Match: Manoj Kumar for 38 runs and 4-0-25-3
July 2nd 2023 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v York CC
What an outing for the Nightwatchmen playing 6-7 hours under constant light rain and overcast conditions. It felt like a real English village cricket game, especially being surrounded in nature at the Glendon College ground.
NCC won the toss and decided to bat first (with the goal of batting 40 full overs, tiring the opposition, or heading home early in case there was a collapse).
There was a great start by the openers, who were hitting 4’s and 6’s against a strong York CC opening attack. A “golden arm” controversial moment by Viraj Parekh got York CC their first wicket as initially a caught behind, then changed to LBW. Top order wickets came in quickly thereafter but the upper middle order was steady, with a handy partnership by Kuldeep and Dhairya Patel. Once Kuldeep was out, Gordon really supported Dhariya, and hung around for crucial overs under pressure through to drinks. Himanshu Khare and Dhairya then had a 60 run partnership which really helped get NCC to a defendable total. A nice cameo by Viraj towards the end and some great shots/sixes/fours by the boys to add to the Canada Day fireworks
Fantastic outing as a bowling unit also! Unbelievably tight start by Himanshu and Viraj. Both took a wicket each in the first 2 overs to get NCC to a 11-2 start. York CC batsmen then took some calculated risks which worked in their favour. After a bit of struggle, Shekhar came in with a tight over of spin, which changed the momentum in NCC’s favour. Next over Dhairya took a wicket caught and bowled after changing his bowling to spin from medium pace, in an over in which all 6 balls were full tosses. After another tight Shekhar over, Kuldeep was brought on who immediately took the bails off in his first over. Shekhar and Kuldeep then continued a very tight spell for another 8-9 overs collectively. This was a very interesting phase of the match where all fielders were fully engaged because York CC could not get the spin away. Every run was hard to get.
NCC’s body language and chatter on the field was strong. It was after drinks where both the spinners were then hit substantially, requiring a change. Himanshu came back in with a tight spell again, followed by Momin who changed things up with leg spin. These were very pressured overs for NCC with only 30-40 more runs to get for York CC. Ozzy was then brought on with a statement “if there’s anyone who can make a difference here, its you”, and boy did Ozzy bowl a spell of the summer. Under pressure, with the first ball going wide, Ozzy backed himself with the next 5 being very tight and one missed catch in his over. When brought on again, Ozzy delivered with another catch in the second over going to the same fielder, this time being caught, and resulting in a big breakthrough. Momin backed this up with a clean bowled with his magical spin, and another opportunity the very next delivery which resulted in a dropped catch.
Special mentions to Farhan for keeping full 40 overs without much keeping experience. Vivek’s energy, body language and commitment on the field was amazing to see. Gordon, well done in your first game after a while and welcome to NCC!
Result: NCC lost by 4 wickets NCC Man of the Match: Dhairya Patel for 46 runs and 3-0-20-1
Scorecard: https://crichq.com/matches/1103017/1st_innings
June 9th 2023 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v Toronto CCSC
The Nightwatchmen were greeted by torrential rain in the morning of their game against the prestigious Toronto Cricket Club. By 11am a game a looked unlikely but thanks to some great work by the ground staff and a team effort dragging the main cover off the match was able to start at 12:30pm with a reduced 25 overs per side. The game also saw the debut of two new players – Will Upton and Sam Walker.
Nightwatchmen CC bowling was immediately on the mark with Viraj picking up two early wickets with some accurate swing bowling. At the other end Manoj kept the pressure on TCC with a fine spell of bowling. The opening bowlers were backed up by Ani, Raman and Sam who kept the run rate below 5 per over. Josh picked up his first wicket of the season getting Rafaan caught at mid-on by Manoj. The stand-in wicketkeeper dropped only 3 catches but questions remain over his position in the team and selection debates roll on.
The TCC innings was anchored by an excellent knock of 52 by veteran batter Graham Castanheiro. He helped guide TCC to a reasonable but perhaps subpar score of 111/9. One of the highlights of the innings was seeing club favourite Ozzy bat for TCC. Sadly, wafting his bat wildly he didn’t score any runs but did continue his not out streak for another innings.
The Nightwatchmen CC innings was fairly straightforward thanks to a blistering opening knock by Ketan (40*) backed up ably by Will (13) and Raman (41*). A stoic innings by Ian (0 off 10 balls) punctuated the run scoring but didn’t stop the NCC from winnings by 7 wickets in the 22nd over. The pick of the TCC bowlers being non-other than Nightwatchmen CC bowler Ozzy who threw down 26 dot balls in a spell of (5-2-8-1). The only disappointment was not seeing serial duck hunter Manoj avenge his demons and score some runs.
Result: NCC won by 7 wickets NCC Man of the Match: Ketan Rana for an opening knock of 40 retired not out
Scorecard: https://cricclubs.com/tcscc/viewScorecard.do?matchId=978&clubId=23026
June 3rd 2023 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v Cambridge CC
The Nightwatchmen played their second match of the 2023 season against Cambridge CC in Cambridge, Ontario. On a perfect morning for cricket, and after a late start, The Nightwatchmen were put into field by Cambridge having lost the toss. The Nightwatchmen bowlers started the innings well, restricting Cambridge to 16 runs after 5 overs, and 50 after 10. Azhar and Fahad, playing for Cambridge, put on a long partnership for the second wicket, with Azhar retiring after scoring an important 51, and Fahad bowled by Jas scoring 36. The Nighwatchmen, helped by some tidy bowling by Jas, Sunny, Mehedi, and Ozzy, restricted Cambridge to 104 after 20 overs, taking wickets regularly. However, Cambridge accelerated in the last 10 overs, ending up on 178/5 after 30 overs, helped by 17 wides.
The Nightwatchmen had a shaky start, losing early wickets after 6 (Rohan out for 3) and 10 (Ian out for 1) runs after 4 overs. However, Farhan and Yash put on an excellent 109 run partnership for the third wicket, taking the team to 119/3 at the end of 21 overs. With 60 runs needed off the last 9 overs, it seemed like a straightforward first victory of the season was on the cards. Nevertheless, the captain Sykes managed to run out the star batter and after a series of quick wickets for Cambridge followed (Yash, Josh, and Dilpreet were out cheaply), the equation looked a bit more difficult. However, Sunny, coming in at number eight as the finisher, expertly hit two sixes and a four, to comfortably guide The Nightwatchmen to a 4-wicket win.
After the game, both teams enjoyed some excellent tea generously provided by Cambridge CC.
Result: NCC won by 4 wickets NCC Man of the Match: Farhan for an incredible, match-winning knock of 88 runs on debut the highest score by a Nighwatchman for many years.
May 27th 2023 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v York CC
The first game of the cricket season in 2023 saw Nightwatchmen play with the wonderful York CC club down in the leafy ravine of Glendon College. A beautiful day for cricket, the captain lost the toss, again and York CC chose to bat first.
York started slowly with accurate bowling by Viraj and Himanshu ensuring York CC were 4 wickets down within the first 10 overs. The only resistance was by a very solid knock by Pradap (47*). Pradap’s patience allowed some of the lower order to form a rearguard action where Rafi (14) and Pratha (29) helped York reach a very respectable 170 for 9 off their 40 overs. Highlights bowling-wise for NCC were 2 wickets for ‘Golden Arm’ Mehedi and the lowlights were conceding 60 extras (including 37 wides) and dropping 7 catches (even Raman and Himanshu had butter fingers).
In response Nightwatchmen had the worst possible start slipping to 30-4 within the first 8 overs. The ship was steadied by Jas (42) and Raman (30) in a 60 run partnership before Himanshu (31) brought the team to within 20 runs of victory. Sadly, a flurry of wickets cut the run chase short and NCC ended up 150 all out off 29 overs. Ozzy cementing his place at number 11 with a classic 0 not out.
Result: NCC lost by 21 runs NCC Man of the Match: Himanshu for a good knock of 31 and taking 3 wickets.
2022 Season
September 11th 2022 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v York CC
Nightwatchmen CC were invited back to Glendon College Campus grounds after their previous 10 wicket drubbing at the hands of York CC. Losing the toss this time York CC went into bat and were greeted with some fast and accurate bowling by Manoj (8-1-22-1) at one end and Raman at the other (8-1-30-4). The first change bowlers of Viraj (6-0-18-2) and Himanshu, bowling left arm spin (7-0-29-0) also provided pressure to York CC. Vinay (33) and Roy (18) were the only batters to provide some resistance with some nice shots and pushed York onto a decent score. Vinay was caught expertly on the deep midwicket boundary by Sajjad after a strategic fielding change!
With York CC having slipped to 79-6 the NCC decided to turn to golden arm – Mehedi Hassan. With his first ball Mehedi tempted the batter into whacking a long-hop down square legs throat. Manoj, on taking a very good catch, shook his head in admiration at Mehedi’s tactics after experiencing little reward from an excellent spell from the other end. Mehedi wasn’t finished, however, and tempted another batter with the third ball of his first over with a wide ball outside off – the batter duly obliged spooning it to mid-on where Dunlop managed to make an easy catch look difficult. Magical Mehedi ended his first over with 2 wickets for 3 runs. Jas joined Mehedi with a tight spell (3.2-1-12-1) to round off the innings and along with late wickets by Raman the NCC had restricted York to 134 all out.
NCC started off their innings with their favoured opening partnership of 1970s swashbuckling classical style of Sajjad (33) and the obstinate 1990s gritty determination of Ian (13). Together they combined to set NCC up with a 55 run partnership before Sohail’s pace and over the top celebration of Sajjad’s wicket prompted a collapse that saw both openers and number 3 out in the space of two overs.
Martin (33) and Josh (11) combined and managed to put mourning for the Queen’s death out of their minds long enough to forge a crucial 53 run partnership to shore up the game at 108-3. However, another mini-collapse saw 3 quick wickets fall in 2 overs and threatened the result. Nevertheless the ever reliable Raman (15*) and Viraj (0*) steered the Nightwatchmen home to their fourth victory on the trot.
Compliments to the bowling of Vinay, Sohail, Chris and Dinesh who kept the game tight and to captain Jay for inviting us for another lovely match with York CC.
Result: NCC won by 4 wickets NCC Man of the Match: Raman for taking 4 wickets and getting us over the line with the bat
August 27th 2022 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v Peterborough Phoenix CC
Nightwatchmen CC followed their voyage up the St Lawrence to Montreal with a lift up the Trent-Severn waterway to play Peterborough Phoenix CC for the first time since a tri-series match in Markham in 2017(?). The ground sits in a public park with the wicket located between two soccer fields. The astroturf is in excellent condition and with the Nightwatchmen winning the toss they decided to bat first. The initial batting was tough going with the team quickly reaching 9-2. Martin and Gandhi settled things down with a stalwart test-match like innings from Martin (15 off 44 balls) and a scratchy but persistent innings by Gandhi (28 off 28 balls) which ended with a huge 6 over mid-wicket.
Boundaries were hard to come by given the field dimensions were measured to international standards and the outfield cut longer to soccer pitch standards. Nevertheless, Harsimran was the stand out batter, playing himself in before hitting several fine boundary shots at the end of his innings of 51. After Harsimran fell it precipitated somewhat of a collapse with Peterborough bowler, Shankar, picking up a hat-trick, including two golden ducks, and ending on impressive figures of 5-1-16-4. Peterborough’s bowlers all kept a tight line and Raman (18) and Virender (7) chipped in at the end to bring the Nightwatchmen up to a respectable but not intimidating 133/8. Even Stevens at the halfway mark.
Nightwatchmen started strongly bowling straight lines and swinging the ball around corners. Patel managed an excellent direct hit run out from short third man. Raman (5-0-18-2) and Himanshu (4-1-9-1) opened up keeping the score to 25-3 before Peterborough’s middle order dug in to build some partnerships. With Shankar (36) and Sukhi (9) set at the drinks break the Nightwatchmen were scratching their chins wondering how to make a breakthrough. The breakthrough came through the inspired fielding of the team’s captain, Martin, who from the position of wicketkeeper chased a ball to short fine leg and ran out with a fine direct hit.
After that Virender (4.4-1-18-2) and Satyen (5-0-22-2) both bowled excellent spells to keep Peterborough locked into their run deficit. Backed up by Patel (3-0-19-1) and Harsimran (3-0-12-0) the score was too much for the home side and Peterborough ended the game on 106 all out. Many thanks to the Peterborough captain Pradeep for inviting us to this beautiful ground and for playing the match in great spirit.
Result: NCC won by 27 runs NCC Man of the Match: Harsimran for an excellent half century
August 20th 2022 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v Pirates of the St Lawrence CC
Nightwatchmen CC returned for their second voyage down the St Lawrence River to play another swashbuckling encounter against the Pirates CC. On a blazing hot day, the two teams faced up at the beautiful Candy Fields for a 27-over (8-ball overs!) match. The Pirates captain, Angus, after first absconding to feed his pet turtle, generously allowed the Nightwatchmen to bat first.
The Nightwatchmen openers gave the team a very solid start with both scoring at a-run-a-ball against the tight bowling of Parag and Bradley. Sajjad (24) played some lovely drives and Ani (50 retired out) hitting some big shots. Ani, somewhat tiring in the heat, entered a mode of hit out or get out. The hosts were overly generous with their hospitality, however, dropping the flagging batter on 5 different occasions. The main culprit, Andre, promptly made up for the drops with a fast and furious bowling spell of 5-1-14-1. This also spawned the rivalry between the two big shots on the teams (Andre from the Pirates and Himanshu from Nightwatchmen).
Himanshu (34), batting surprisingly high in the order, managed to see the Nightwatchmen through the middle overs with the support of an out of form Raman (20) and single-machine Josh (18). Pirates’s bowlers kept it tight during the middle overs before a end of innings burst by Nightwatchmen captain Martin (34 off 20 balls) who inexplicably hit two 6s in one innings. Martin was eventually out slogging the ball to Steve at cow corner who took a solid catch on the second attempt. The first attempt being tipped over the bar for 6. Manoj ended his run of ducks with a quick fire 4 runs off 4 balls – increasing his NCC average this season to a lofty 1.67 runs.
Nightwatchmen ended the innings on 198/7.
In reply Rohan opened the bowling and swung the ball around corners for the first few overs (5-1-33-1). Yash ably opened from the other end and was followed by mystery pace bowler Mehedi. Mehedi’s first ball took a long and bouncy route to the wicket – a cunning and mischievous delivery which lulled the batter into a false sense of security. The second ball coming as such a surprise it took the wicket of the Pirates #3. Mehedi (3-0-22-2) and Manoj kept the early overs tight reducing Pirates to 44-4. Vivek, also contributed with a wicket with the sole delivery of his 10-ball over which landed on the wicket!
At the drinks break the Nightwatchmen adopted a complacent attitude to fielding and didn’t anticipate the incredible fightback from the Pirates in the second half of the game. Andre (37) blasted some excellent shots around the park ably supported by Lal (30*) and E.X.Tras (39). The match-up of the day between Himanshu (5-0-29-2 bowling off-spin) and Andre continued with a frustrated Himanshu throwing down a quick yorker to end Andre’s innings. The send-off by the bowler (“That’s why I don’t bowl pace”) particularly not appreciated by the batter.
The comeback by Lal and Angus (35 off 20 balls) continued with the captain hitting the boundary inbetween fielders seemingly at will. With two overs to go the score required was 12 runs off 16 balls….. It took a brilliant double-wicket in the penultimate over from Raman (2-0-15-2) and a final-over wicket by Manoj (5-1-20-2) to wrap-up the game for the Nightwatchmen with 5 runs and 4 balls remaining. Special mention should go to the excellent catching by Sajjad and the Olympic-standard diving conducted by Mehedi ‘The Salmon’ Hassan.
The post-match interview of fans of a loosely cricket-based podcast described the game as “absolute scenes” and “a bit spicy, that”.
Result: NCC won by 5 runs NCC Man of the Match: Himanshu Khare for a great all round performance
August 7th 2022 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v Whitby Dolphins
Nightwatchmen CC’s fourth match of the season was played on a swelteringly hot and sticky morning at the GO Green Cricket Field. With the grass lush and the dew thick the NCC lost the toss and were placed into bat first. Martin (5) started in a flighty fashion shamelessly refusing to walk on a blatant edge before offering a dolly to point out of guilt. Dhairya (24 – a number he contests with the scorer Ozzy) dug in and batted nicely with Ketan (21) for a partnership of 45. Ketan hit a huge 6 before being given out LBW by his teammate. A decision that was in dire need of DRS review – unfortunately, Ketan was also fined 50% of his match fee and given 3 points for his reaction to the dismissal.
NCC continued their innings with good fluency, Raman (59) the standout batter with his usual fluency, building a good partnership with Himanshu (21) before both fell in the last few overs. Manoj managed to break his run of ducks with a solid 1 run.
NCC set 184 to win and produced one of their best ever bowling performances against the Whitby Dolphins. Manoj took two early wickets to remove the openers before returning at the end of the game to knock over the tail to end with excellent figures 5-0-11-4. Dhairya and Ozzy went wicketless but kept the pressure on the dolphins whilst other bowlers took the glory. Rohan and Raman took 2 wickets apiece and Viraj and Himanshu 1 wicket each. Overall an excellent performance and a well earned victory.
Thanks to Faisal and the Whitby Dolphins who played in great spirit and made an interesting game of it.
Result: NCC won by 32 runs NCC Man of the Match: Manoj Kumar for taking 4 wickets
July 23rd 2022 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v York CC
Nightwatchmen CC’s third match of the season was played in the beautiful surroundings of the Glendon College Campus grounds against York CC. The beautifully lush grounds would inspire any cricketer to a swashbuckling innings and endless time at the crease.
Sadly, the NCC team batted in a completely uninspired fashion losing their first 4 wickets with barely twenty runs on the scoreboard. The standout innings came from Josh who scored a gritty yet fluent 28 runs. He was partnered ably by Yash who dug in for a crucial partnership to ensure the NCC were not all out for a record low score. The innings ended with Mr E.X.Tras top scoring on 32 and no-one but Josh getting into double figures. Bowling by Vinay (5-1-6-2) and Rafi (5-0-21-4) were the standout performers.
Oh well, you can never judge a pitch until both teams have batted, right?
Turns out the pitch was completely fine as York CC knocked off the 94 runs in record time with openers Shawn (27*) and Sahil (43) only requiring assistance from extras (26) to win the game.
Nevertheless an enjoyable game was had and the York CC played with great spirit and generosity. Many thanks to Jay and his team.
Result: NCC lost by 10 wickets NCC Man of the Match: Josh Andrews for scoring 28 runs and saving NCC from ignominy
July 9th 2022 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v Ottawa Reds and Whites
Nightwatchmen CC’s second match of the season was against a strong Ottawa Reds and Whites team in Kingston, Ontario. On a warm summers day NCC bowled first and were treated to an extravaganza of boundary hitting by the Ottawa opening pair. One of the openers raced away to 101* off 41 balls whilst the other opener also retired out at 50*. After the drinks break NCC managed to rein in the run rate a little as Ani Bizlawan took 3 wickets in an over including a couple of catches by Martin Sykes at short cover. The runs continued to flow afterwards, however, with Ottawa ending up on a mammoth score of 320 off 30 overs. Rana Jamal again kept well behind the stumps.
In response, Rana Jamal and Ian Dunlop opened the batting and started solidly. Ani Bizlawan followed them with a score of 17 and Martin Sykes with 40 runs before holing out to cover trying to keep up with the required run rate of 20 per over! A couple of lovely flourishing boundaries by Ash Chausalkar and Josh Andrews helped the NCC to a total of 145/6 after their 30 overs.
Result: NCC lost by 175 runs NCC Man of the Match: Ani Bizlawan for a good all round peformance
June 10th 2022 – Nightwatchmen Cricket Club v Toronto Cricket Club
The Nightwatchmen kicked off their first match of the 2022 season versus the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club on 10 June 2022 – a 20-over pink ball match. A perfect day for cricket, stand-in captain Ozzy Khan won the toss, and after a brief consultation with the team, elected to bowl first. NCC kept Toronto Cricket Club scoring in check for the first 8-overs, only conceding 47 runs after 8 overs, thanks to tidy bowling by Fenil and Patel. The first breakthrough came via a run out of Duncan in the 9th over, after which Toronto Cricket Club accelerated their scoring. Graham (Toronto Cricket Club) retired after scoring 42*, after which Cheema (Toronto Cricket Club) hit a blistering 40*, with wickets falling regularly each over. Ani played an important cameo – bowling at the death and picking up two wickets to restrict Toronto Cricket Club to 152 runs. Anis and Rana both kept wicket (10 overs each), with Rana taking three excellent catches behind the stumps to cement his place as the regular wicketkeeper of the team.
The NCC’s response started brightly – with Sajjad playing several excellent shots – reaching 66 for no loss after 8 overs. After Sajjad retired on 41*, wickets fell at regular intervals, including another duck for Manoj, but the run-rate kept apace with the required rate, at about 8 runs per over, helped by some 30 wides by Toronto Cricket Club. Coming in to bat at No. 9, Ani hit three quickfire boundaries to comfortably see the NCC over the line in the 19th over.
Result: NCC won by 3 wickets NCC Man of the Match: Ani Bizlawan for hitting the winnings runs and tight bowling
Nightwatchmen Cricket Club 