Annual social game
Young Adults vs Young at Heart
Organised by
The Instant Cricketers
For
TheYAYAH Challenge Shield
(Written by – Jon K)
Many years ago, 28 to be precise, a young man in Homebush in his early thirties in conjunction with a few other like minded souls, decided to organise a ‘friendly’ cricket match between a number of Sri Lankans, who loved the sport but could not commit to the rigours of playing every week-end. .
Out of this endeavour was born the ‘Instant Cricketers’.
He, who is also one of the “face less” men behind the NSW & ACT Royal OBA hierarchy, then decided to dedicate the rest of his lifetime in pursuit of organising cricket matches between all and sundry.
Office work became an unnecessary hindrance to his main calling and vocation.
Luckily for him over the years all his bosses have tolerated his lack of work ethic 🙂
But his strong work ethics in organising the cricket matches with much devotion, dedication and single mindedness is something which is much admired by the ‘Instant Cricketers’
Many of those who were involved during those early days had young kids – sons in particular and this individualwith great vision and foresight saw the possibility of one day having a ‘Fathers vs Sons’ game. But he had to wait patiently and finally many years later, early in the 21st century, his dream was realised.
A motley group of men nearing or in their fifties (and in some cases almost touching sixties), challenged a young sprightly team of colts in their late teens and early twenties.
That first game saw a close match, which was alas the only time the ‘seniors’ put up a fight. Ever since, it has been quite catastrophic.
And so with much trepidation, this year’s eagerly anticipated encounter was played out at Guildford West Sports Grounds on Sunday 10/01/16 for theinaugural “YAYAHchallenge shield
Young At Heart (YAH) team
Old boys of S Thomas
JeyanJeevaratnam (Captain), Jerome Gasperson,
Stanley Jayanthakumar, EksathPerera, Raj Sabanayagam
Old Boys of St. Johns Jaffna
Anton Jaysingham, , Paki Rajakone,
Dr.RajanVaratharajan, Lal Samuel
Old Boy of Royal, Colombo
RajkumarKarunairatnam
Old Boy of Wesley
ShanthaKulasingham
Young Adults – played with only 10 players- team
KrishKularajah (Captain), SanjeeveKarunairatnam,
Sanjay Atputharajah, Jonathan Jayanthakumar
Naveen Vijeyakumar, Dilan Ratnarajah, Amrit Joseph
ShehanCanagasingham, Daniel Jesuthasan, ErashPerera
In order to try and mitigate the lack of talent & fitness in the senior’s team, and to enhance the chance of seniors giving a reasonable challenge to the youngsters, special rules were introduced in addition to normal cricket rules. Like………
Shortened run-ups for only the colts, can’t get out first ballonly for the seniors,
No batsman able to score more than 30 (designed to keep the scoreboard respectable)
No bouncers over the shoulder allowed.
And it worked, even though there were some notable features observed
Seniors;
– Converting easy two’s into laboured singles & sure singles into run outs.
– Signalling to fielders on the legside to chase the ball, when in fact the ball comes to them on the off side.
– Discovering muscles they thought they never had due to cramps and pain.
– Bowling the ball to first slip and commenting – ‘didn’t know I could swing it that much, at this age’
– Avoiding where ever possible going for catches or chasing the ball to the boundary.
Colts:
– Finding gentle pushes for one, becoming gifted twos or threes
– Catches dropped / not attempted because it happened to be their Dad or nephew.
Detailed scores are shown below. Photos attached as well..
“Young Adults” won the toss and requested “Young At Heart” to bat first
In the allocated 32 overs, YAH scored 147 runs for the loss of 8wkts
Main scorers
. Lal Samuel 30 (retired) in 8 balls including four sixes
. Stanley Jayanthakumar 21
. Raj Sabanayagam 20
. Dr.RajanVaratharajan 15 (not out)
. Raj Karunairatnam 12
Main Wicket takers
. Naveen Vijeyakumar 1 for 07 in 5 overs
. KrishKularajah 1 for 13 in 5 overs
. ShehanCanagasingham 1 for 19 in 5 overs
. Jonathan Jayanthakumar 2 for 32 in 4 overs
. Dilan Ratnarajah 1 for 37 in 4 overs
In response the Young Adults scored only 132 runs for the loss of 7 wkts
Main scorers
. Sanjay Atputharajah 32 (retired) in 37 balls
. Including one six &a four
. Amrit Joseph 31 (retired) in 42 balls including 4 fours
. Naveen Vijayakumar 24 in 24 balls
. Daniel Jesuthasan 13
Main wicket takers
. Anton Jeyasingham 3 for 10 in 5 overs
. Dr RajanVaratharajan 1 for 14 in 3 overs
. Raj Sabanayagam 1 for 20 in 4 overs
. StanelyJayathakumar 1 for 24 in 4 overs
YAYAH Challenge shield was handed over to the winning team captain
JeyanJeevaratnam by the “Sydney Tamil Christian Fellowship” president
Mr. Reginald Jeganathan
Eventhough no individual awards were handed out at the end of the game,
it was deemed that the………….
Best fielder was: Amrit Joseph from YA team
Best bowler was: Anton Jeyasingham from YAH team
Best batsman was: Lal Samuel from YAH team
Best all round player was: Naveen Vijeyakumar from YA team
The two umpires officiating at this game were
Main umpire: PalithaRanatunge
Leg umpire: Clement Christi-David
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