The Yorkton Yorkers wrapped up their first season in the Saskatchewan Cricket League with a spectacular 219-run loss September 15 to the defending champion Saskatoon Warriors.
The Saskatoon side batted first sending out P. Singh and I. A. Kalyar. The partnership produced 144 runs before the Yorkton squad finally made a breakthrough in the 22nd over when Yorkers captain Faisal Anwar bowled out Singh.
There would be no relief, though, for Yorkton bowlers as S. Perera came to the crease. The new partnership lasted 15 overs for another 98 runs before Kalyar's wicket fell. With just three overs to play, Yorkers bowlers finally got on a roll retiring five more Warriors, but the damage had already been done.
Chasing a SCL record SCL 346 total would be extremely daunting even for a much more experienced team than the fledgling Yorkers, but the team enthusiastically faced the task at hand.
Unfortunately Warrior bowling proved as challenging for the Yorkton batsman has had the Saskatoon bats to Yorkers bowlers and wickets fell steadily until the middle of the order when wicket keeper Ankit Puri and all-rounder Akhil Kucheriya managed to put together a nice partnership of 92 runs.
After Kucheriya was bowled out in the 22nd over and Puri followed in the 24th stumped out by the Warriors wicket keeper, the remaining five batsman were only able to muster another six runs for a total of 127-all out.
Still, Anwar, kept a positive outlook.
"I'm satisfied with the team's performance as it was our very first season and we made all of our efforts in spite of limited available resources," he said.
The league was also very happy with Yorkton's participation. Saskatchewan Cricket Association president Mike Sharma attended the final match commending the Yorkers' commitment and team spirit for which the SCA will present a special trophy at the Yorkers team banquet now in the planning stages for later this fall.
"We didn't do much on the standing table of the SCL this year, but we left a very strong impression on the participating teams," Anwar said.
Despite the strong performance against Yorkton the week before, the Warriors failed to advance to the final for the third straight year falling to the Lions in the semi-final.
The on September 21 championship game between the Lions and Stallions (who defeated Saskatoon Stars in the other semi) was a tightly contested match in which the Stallions put up a 180-all out total for the Lions to chase. It took the Lions 36 overs to surpass Stallions' score taking the match by three wickets.
With league play in the books for 2013, the Yorkton Cricket Association turns its attention to building for next year. In addition to the planned banquet, the YCA will once again run indoor cricket throughout the winter, intends to organize at least one tournament and is negotiating with the school divisions to conduct clinics in the schools.
The association is also working with the City to try to have cricket ground in place for the 2014 SCL season where the Yorkers can practice and host home games.
