What a glorious weekend...

It was the fabulous weekend of July 20th & 21st 2002. The four eastern JRR semi-finalists were set to play in Waterloo. On Saturday, Centurion CC played against Quebec's best Gujarat CC at Laurel Creek ground, while Sunrise (SOCA Champions) played against Brantford CC of Hamilton League at Waterloo Park. Centurian and Sunrise won their games convincingly. However, Sunrise CC senior players were unhappy with their batting effort. Although Hamilton bowling was ordinary, Sunrise Openers could not not stay their for long and gave away wickets putting uneccessary pressure on the middle order. Sunrise made the necessary 166 to win after good knocks by Jaspal Rana and captain Dharmesh Krishnammagaru. So after the game the captain, vice captain Bahadur Singh Mangat (injured did not play JRR), J. Rana and Raghu (Manager) did not celebrate the victoy but had a real "friendly" (if you know what I mean) talk about focus and application.

Next day Sunrise CC went to Laurel Creek ground to face coveted Centurion CC who was waiting to thrash Sunrise. Sunrise players arrived with a real different attitude. After loosing the toss, Sunrise manager told the guys in the huddle to play for the honour of their president Art Browne who is ailing with brain cancer. Meanwhile, the captain was refreshingly radical, he told the boys, "we have made it to JRR finals, no one can take that away from us, so relax and have fun, not to worry about anything." On the whole the mood was set, the boys looked different. Centurion elected to bat. For Sunrise Sarabjit Minhas (Left Arm medium pace) and Sadaqat Shiekh (Right arm medium pace) had the the batsman in trouble from the get go. They were unable to settle down and had quickly lost three wickets just for 19 runs. However Centurion team still looking confident, they were smiling and saying our batting starts now. It was true, as Arvind Luxman the number 4 batsman showed discipline, the fall of wickets were halted but runs were not coming freely. Even on a fast outfield and a total batting wicket, runs were coming at below 4 runs an over. The reason was simple, the bowling was high class while the fielding was of a higher class; perhaps the best in Canada as per CCA umpire who was in the middle. Some of these great fielders were Kuldeep Dhaliwal; Neeraj Bharadwaj; Saqib Shiekh; Nizar Moosa (wicket keeper); and Sadaqat Shiekh. On the bowling department, each and every bowler did his job brilliantly, they were Parveen Sharma (Off spinner); Jaspal Rana (Tricky medium pace), Sukhjinder Rana (National Player); Dharmesh (medium pace) and of course the two opening bowlers as mentioned above.Centurion managed 210 all out in 48 overs. Arvind Luxman made a stylish and disciplined 125.

When Sunrise went to bat, the captain once again told the guys go out there and have fun. And boy! what fun they had. Runs started coming freely. Sunrise was 28 in just 4 overs but then quickly lost three wickets. Sunrise's star batsman Harpal Minhas as in there at the loss of the second wicket who was making it look easy. All the local Guyanese who came to see the game were simply awe struck. Harpal was hitting with the elegence of a test player, the drives were classic, through the gaps with 4 runs written all over from the moment the ball left the bat. Supporting him was Sukhjinder playing the anchor role. They had crossed the 150 mark in just 20 overs. Harpal made 69 in 63 balls and was out to a very doubtful decision. Jaspal Rana replaced Harpal and joined his younger brother Sukhjinder in the middle. Every team in SOCA. is familiar with J Rana's merciless hitting. He has the reputation to be the hardest hitter in Southern Ontario. In the tri-city area of Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge, people who follow cricket are Jaspal Rana fans, they come to watch just him. Most fans go home as soon as he is out. However, Jaspal Rana knew he had to finish the job. The discussions in the middle between the brothers is almost comical. S. Rana would say "Baji, since I am already going good, let me do the damage, while you get your eyes set!" J Rana would nod his head but while going back into his crease, he would again summon his brother to the middle and say, "I will do the damage, you stay, because you are good at staying." Jaspal Rana artilery was on, the sixes were coming like singles. After two consecutive sixes from J Rana, a Centurion fielder (originally from Sri Lanka) who has also played county cricket in England asked the Sunrise crowd, "who is this guy?" Parveen Sharma from Sunrise tells him: "He is Lankesh, the butcher of SOCA !!". Meanwhile, both brothers feasted on the Centurion bowling while at the same time trying to calm each in the middle. Man, it was comical! J Rana was caught on a miss hit when the score was tied. Sukhjinder Rana made 58 not out. He batted with a almost a hidden determination to make a century. On the other end Saqib Shiekh just played a wide ball and the job was complete.

Sunrise thrashed Centurion in just 32 overs. The scoring was done at a brisk 6.5 runs an over. Sunrise team celebrated with a lot of emotion. The Captain gave the man of the match title to Sukhjinder Rana. CCA Umpire (forgot his name) who is senior member with CCA and has seen a lot of cricket commented, "I am highly impressed with Sunrise, it was refreshing to see such abundance of talent in one team, their fielding is perhaps the best I have since in this country. I wish everyone club in TND division had a chance to see what I saw". Sunrise Cricket Club was formed in 1998. The team has been to SOCA playoffs since their first year. They won the league Championship last year.

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