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Bails
"Version lucky 13_ 2015”
1/8 – Intro
Massive congratulations first up to Riaz Hussien for his sensational, game-defining 108 from just 99
balls in the First XI’s important league fixture last weekend vs SCA. Be sure to check out 60 Seconds with
this week (featuring Riaz), and also the Firxt XI match report to get more details on this inspirational
dig, in furnace like conditions and with the team
Jaguars vs Wanderers CC 2
‘under the pump’ to begin with.. inspirational
Cougars vs Marina
Sat 16th May, Dempsey, 12.45pm
Sun 17th May, Dempsey, 12.30pm
stuff, and well done on the victory to all !
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Tom Corrie
Ritesh
Dustin Yates (c)
Jack Ledger
Sukanti Sen
George Williams
Garth ‘Brooks’
Parminder
Chris Thomson
Roarke
Nikhil
In other news, the undefeated Jaguars, as well as
the Cougars, are back in League season action
this weekend (teams and fixtures details left and
right, respectively).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Nick Dorney (c)
Dene ‘Hipster’ Border
Arit Dutta
Duncan Bond
Matt Ward
Lawrence Gregory (+)
Quentin Sear
Phil Simmonds
Ameen Bhadelia
Brad Paterson
Iishaan Shekhar
Be sure to read on further this week for another
full-on edition including an interesting piece on a
certain possible “trend setter” in our section
(below), a big wad of mid-season stats kindly provided by Deno, some further lessons* from ‘Tsavo
Man-Eater’, and the Saturday XI report; penned by the ‘comeback kid’ himself, Hugh ‘Huge’ Darwell !
2/8 – Do Hipsters really have beards?
Perhaps as Grandma used to say “it’s good to learn something new every day”. Reading a highly
intellectual* article in The Tele earlier in the week, all of us here at Bails were certainly excited to learn
that our fearless Dear Leader, Dene Border, might well be a “hipster” !! Onya Eye of Mordor/ Stalin !
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/11501340/Science-explains-why-hipsters-grow-beards.html
3/8 – 60 Seconds With … Riaz !
1. Riaz, first-up, congratulations on your brilliant century last weekend for the
first XI in the league fixture vs SCA at Dempsey …. scored in very hot conditions
and when your team was in a bit of strife when you came out to bat … can you tell
us a bit about the innings, and how you managed to get to 3 figures? Had you
been working on anything specific at training?


Thank you for the wishes. I went out to bat with 4 wickets down but we had a
healthy run rate, so it gave me a little bit of time to play out some overs and
just build a strong partnership with James Muruthi and have some wickets in
hand to go big in the last 10 overs and that’s where Praveen came in smashed
it. I just played around those guys and that’s what helped me get through to 3
figures.
Ricky has been working with me to try and rotate the strike better and also to figure which zones I
should try and target to find boundaries. It also helps when the team is behind you and allows you to
play your game freely. [Plenty more where that came from eh! For more details on this tremendous
innings (especially perhaps for Cougars top-order reading?? Grr), please see the First XI match summary
in a few pages time. Well done once again Riaz !! Ed.)
2. Year joined SCC?

I joined SCC as a JSM in 2005.
3. Favorite Cricketer internationally?

Mark Waugh / Ricky Ponting (2 Aussies?!!! Ed)
4. Can you run us through your cricket career at a high level? Any particular highlights that you could
tell us about?

I guess it would be playing in three days games for Singapore. That was the only time we had
anything close to test match cricket. I was on a hat-trick twice in my first over in 2 separate games for
Singapore during these three day games. Both against Malaysia.
5. Best bowling figures ?

If I recall correctly I think it was 2 years ago against SRC at SRC playing for SCC. My figures were 4 for
21 in 7 overs. (I was 4 for 8 in 6 overs, to get fifer someone dropped a catch and I got hit for 15 runs
in the 7th over)
6. Funniest or Strangest Moment Playing on a Cricket Field?

Was a while back, when I was playing for Kallang Colts (Yeek, what was going on playing there !! Ed).
My teammate who was fielding at point took a cut short off a spinner right in the forehead and the
ball ricocheted back to the bowler for a caught a bowl … the guy at point was fine, but perhaps fair to
say that he had a thick skull  (err wow! Ed).
7. The First XI seem to be building some very good momentum in recent times… any particular
reason(s) you think for this? How do you see the rest of the season playing out? (Any chat just yet
about a potential premiership?)

Don’t really want to jinx it so fingers crossed. But to be honest this
momentum has come from a few seasons ago. Our previous skipper (Rob
Hands, right. Ed) did a wonderful job in trying to put a strong system in
place when it came to training, matches and team culture. So from there
we have just improved and made that system better with the inclusion of
a club coach that has introduced a structured training program,
alongside with the new management has just made it possible for the
team to get into a good momentum. I think the Lions will give it their
best for the rest of the season and take one game at a time.
8. The First XI seem to be made up of some very interesting characters. Without breaking ‘team
protocol’, would it be possible to give us Bails readers any insights into some of the characters within
our premier team?

Without saying names, we have all of the above that’s what makes the team so interesting and fun to
be around. – I am sure most Bails readers already know which individuals are matched with which
attributes above. - Boring answer but team comes first. (I think we’ll let you off just this once! Maybe
one of our much-loved* Bails columnists could provide further comment in weeks to come? Sorry* I
forgot* to ask you a question this week Chesty! Ed)
9. Can you tell us a little about your occupation, and what you like to get
up to when not playing cricket?
 I am a Trader / Market Analyst in a commodities trading house, RCMA
Commodity Group. If not busy with work, I enjoy a night of poker here
and there.
10. If you were down to your last $10 how would you spend it?

Visit Japan Home – everything there is $2. Would be able pick at least 5
things I needed if I were in that state.
4/8– 1st XI League Match Report
SCC First XI vs SCA, at Dempsey
by stand-in Captain, Michael “Mont” Burns
The Lions arrived at Dempsey for their first fixture at the ground for a number of years and 3 losses in row to
SCA to rectify.
At 53-4 at the end of 11 overs, the Lions stand in captain was questioning his decision to bat first on a damp
Dempsey outfield. He need not have worried as James Muruthi (54 off 88 balls) set about resurrecting the
innings with Riaz Hussein. When Muruthi finally went 20
overs later to end an 84 run partnership, the two batsmen
had built a solid foundation for the Lions to set a sizeable
total. Matt Sazenis (19 off 39) came in to partner Hussein
and the two put on a further 47 runs in another good
partnership. Now with the platform set Praveen Vijay
came to the crease and took the SCA attack apart with an
impressive combination of hitting and superb timing to
make 51 off 24 balls and dominate the partnership of 92
although Hussien was also beginning to accelerate. Riaz
was batting beautifully and his innings featured a number
of classical drives over and through cover for four or six,
combined with deft clips through and over square leg.
When Hussien finally departed for a brilliant 108 off
99 balls (right) in the 49th over the Lions looked on track
for a score close to 300. Which is close to where the Lions
ended up, walking off at 296-9 at the end of 50 overs.
Any chance the SCA had of chasing the imposing total were immediately made harder when Arun Vijayan
had a wicket with the first ball of the innings, Archit Goenka LBW. It was another impressive opening spell
from Arun (7.4- 1- 29 – 3) who has found good rhythm of late. He was ably supported by good work from the
whole fielding unit throughout the inning, highlighted with 2 direct hit run outs, firstly from James Muruthi
and followed by Brigu Iyer. Iyer also continued his good form with the ball taking 2 crucial wickets (6- 0- 262). Praveen Vijay followed up his performance with the bat with a miserly display of left arm slow allowing
only 4 runs to be scored off 6 tight overs (6- 2- 4- 1), giving the seamers opportunity to attack at the other
end. When Michael Burns (6- 0- 17- 2) removed the annoying Nishant the score was 71 for 9. Only a niggly
29 run last wicket partnership allowed SCA to reach 100 before Vijayan was bought back to wrap up the
innings.
An excellent team performance, with a stand out performance from Riaz Hussien, showed a glimpse of what
this team could be capable of in a complete performance. 3 games remain in the season and the Lions look to
be building nicely as a unit.
5/8 – League Milestones – Part 1 of 2
RANK
PLAYER
BEST AV. (min 100 runs)
BEST S/R (min 100 runs)
MOST RUNS SCORED
RUNS
RANK
PLAYER
S/R
RANK
PLAYER
AV.
1
Kilbee, J
298
1
Russell, C
139.33
1
Hussein, R
68.25
2
Hussein, R
273
2
Duffy, P
126.19
2
Kilbee, J
59.60
3
Watson, J
230
3
Goldsmith, A
120.61
3
Watson, J
57.50
4
King, B
211
4
Corrie, T
112.65
4
Duffy, P
53.00
5
Muruthi, J
198
5
Kilbee, J
106.43
5
Muruthi, J
49.50
MOST WICKETS TAKEN
RANK
PLAYER
WKTS
1
Iyer, B
15
2
Vijay, P
13
3
Kalpathy, S
11
4
Murray, P
9
5
Vijayan, A
9
BEST E/R (min 120 balls)
RANK
PLAYER
BEST S/R (min 6 wkts)
RANK
PLAYER
S/R
1
Murray, P
8.22
2
Stones, H
11.00
3
Thomson, C
12.00
4
Kalpathy, S
13.27
5
Janik, C
15.00
BEST AV. (min 6 wkts)
E/R
RANK
PLAYER
AV.
1
Vijay, P
3.95
1
Murray, P
3.89
2
Immanuel, P
4.08
2
Stones, H
9.83
3
Hussein, R
4.31
3
Thomson, C
10.33
4
Prasad, K
4.58
4
Kalpathy, S
11.91
5
Windscheffel, J
4.59
5
Vijay, P
13.31
6/8– “Yay” or “Nay” to the Box-Skull moving into the future ??
By The Great* Tsavo Man-Eater & ‘AGENCIES’
Singapore, May 15th
The Tsavo Man Eater (TME) was perturbed to hear recently that the timehonoured custom of drinking from an abdominal protector (or box), to celebrate
a debut match, has come under threat.
Word on the street suggested there was the risk of passing on germs or,
according to some, the development of a hair lip.
This is, of course, politically correct nonsense. Cricketers of all three sexes have
honored this pleasantly-amusing convention since the invention of over-arm
bowling and the consequent need for increased genital fortification. See *(i)
Drinking from the new equipment can safely be assumed to have first occurred
at more or less the same time.
There is considerable history here. Long-serving England captain Baroness
Heyhoe-Flint (below left), a regular visitor to the SCC and whose son Ben plays
for the club when he’s not doing his hair, was once asked if women wear protective boxes and the answer was:
“Oh yes. We call them manhole-covers.”
It is not the habit of the TME to differentiate between the sexes, except in late night situations, but let’s stay with
the distaff side for a moment. Former Saturday captain John Morgan’s wife to be, Alison, gleefully drank from a
box while 12th man on a tour of Kuala Lumpur more than a decade ago, while current Saturday leggie, Anne-Marie
Tanke, has also taken part in this ritual.
If three such resolute characters -- presumably well aware of the
potential for germs to be transmitted -- saw fit to participate then what
does it say that some of the more macho male members of the club are
reluctant?
Some commentators have refused to take sides in this debate, but sitting
on fences can potentially cause far more serious health problems than
drinking from boxes.
We tinker with tradition at our peril. Finally, the last word on the everevolving story of the abdominal protector comes from the BBC. *(ii) For the record, the TME does not recommend
mixing beer from a box with a combination of hemp and plant-based resin. (hahah dear me! Ed.)
*(i) https://alexbritten.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/changing-cricket-fashion-the-box/
*(ii) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/6194467.stm
7/8– Sat XI Report
Sat XI Lose A Close One
by Sat XI Captain, Hugh “Huge” Darwell
With the skipper back in the saddle after a 2 week sabbatical, the Saturday XI took on Spirits at Dempsey
on Sunday morning. After winning the toss, the opposition were asked to bat, which paid immediate
dividends with Streets (3-22 off 6) taking 2 wickets in his first 2 overs with some excellent in-swing
bowling to have Spirits at 2-15 after 5 overs. Spirits then mounted a comeback to be 2-80 after 15 overs,
before steadily losing wickets in the last 15 overs to be all out for 170. Birdy (3-32 off 6) and Bala (2-33
off 6) were the other main contributors with the ball.
In response, the Sat XI got off to a slow start, with only 44 runs being
scored off the first 10 overs. After Vijay went, Galaxy (left with JB) in his
2015 debut, accelerated the scoring to retire at 50 off 48 balls. Huge (26
off 27 balls) then continued the acceleration of the run rate till he was
(again) run out by a direct hit (more sprint training needed?). Sat XI then
proceeded at a run a ball for the next 5 overs until the game came down to
the wire with 4 required off the last ball for a win. Saltie (18 n.o. off 15
balls) blocked away the last yorking delivery for a single for Sat XI to lose
the game by 2 runs, finishing at 8-168. A far better performance than the
previous week giving the team something to build on in future games,
starting in Manila this coming weekend.
8/8 – Out !
Thanks to all who have made it to the end of this 13th edition of Bails for
2015, as well as those who contributed this week – in particular Riaz,
Burnsy, Nathan Tinkler, Tsavo Man Eater and Huge.
Whilst Kevin Pieterson (right, or is that Matt Streeton??), may not have
much to do this coming weekend after the big decision by the ECB
earlier this week, there’s certainly some action happening within our
SCC Cricket Section; with both the Cougars and Jaguars right in the mix
of things early in their league seasons.
So, hope to see you all at Dempsey at some stage this weekend, and till
we meet again, play on !
Bails