Division 2 In a match played at PKVR Park on Labour Day, Laguna Gully CC beat Lamma CC by 97 runs.
Laguna Gully CC v Lamma CC
Laguna Gully opted to bat first after winning the toss and they got away to a good start with Rohit Garg (30) and Mangesh Mulgaonkar (30) putting on 58 runs for the first wicket. Both openers fell in quick succession in a flurry of wickets that saw Laguna Gully go from 0/58 to 4/81 as Tom Woods grabbed three wickets. Abhishek Desai held the innings together with his season’s best score of 75 and with Pranav Shah hitting 41, Laguna Gully reached a final total of 9/206 from their 35 overs. Woods added another wicket to his haul to finish with figures of 4/39 from seven overs.
The Lamma reply never got going as four of the top five batsmen fell for single digit scores. From 4/29 and then 6/48, there was no coming back for Lamma and their only highlight was 34 from Richard Abbott, batting at number 7. Lamma’s innings was wrapped up for 109 in the 28th over with Shubam Metha claiming 3/18 from five overs for Laguna Gully. At PKVR Park: Laguna Gully CC 9/206 from 35 overs beat Lamma CC 109 from 27.5 overs by 97 runs.
Division 2 As the season runs down to its conclusion, there are only a handful of fixtures remaining in the Saturday Championship Division 2. Matches scheduled at Mission Road over the past couple of weeks have been moved to PKVR Park.
SCC Lancers v HKU
There was only one match played on Saturday at PKVR Park where SCC Lancers beat HKU by six wickets in a tight finish.
HKU batted first after winning the toss and they made 9/178 from their 35 overs. The bulk of their runs were scored in a fourth wicket partnership of 88 runs between Ankit Suri who hit 42 and Chamila Panduwawala who top scored with 49. Best of the HKU bowlers was Rahul Tonapi who claimed 3/41 from seven overs.
The SCC Lancers reply got away to a good start with the openers putting on 39 runs for the first wicket however, three quick strikes by the HKU bowlers set SCC Lancers back to 3/57. A 94-run fourth wicket partnership between Uday Shetty (58) and Asif Ismail (56*) set up the win for SCC Lancers, who got over the line with eight balls to spare. At PKVR Park: HKUCC 9/178 from 35 overs lost to SCC Lancers 4/181 from 33.4 overs by six wickets.
There were two games in the Sunday Championship with KCC Templars moving themselves into a strong position to claim the 2015-16 title following a dominant win at home while Scorpions thumped Vagabonds at PKVR Park.
KCC Templars v Pakistan Association At Kowloon Cricket Club, KCC Templars stormed to a seven-wicket victory over leaders Pakistan Association to put themselves in the driving seat to win the 2015-16 title.
Pakistan Association opted to bat first after winning the toss but they lost wickets early and never recovered to post a challenging total. The Templars opening bowlers made inroads as Pakistan Association slipped to 3/34. Ahsan Abbasi steadied the Pakistan Association innings with a solid 45 while Manjinder Singh struck a few boundaries at the end to finish on 30 not out but they were dismissed for 171 in the 40th over. Imran Arif was the pick of the Templars’ bowlers with figures of 3/31 off nine overs.
The Templars’ reply got off to a disastrous start with their top three batsmen dismissed with only nine runs on the board. But from there it was one-way traffic as Chris Carter and Ryan Campbell reeled off the remaining runs in an unbroken third wicket partnership worth 166 runs. Carter finished unbeaten on 51 while Campbell struck 104 not out with victory achieved in 22.4 overs.
Templars victory means they will claim the 2015-16 title if they can beat Vagabonds in the last match of the season. Should Templars lose or if the match is abandoned then Pakistan Association will win the title. At KCC: Pakistan Association 171 from 39.5 overs lost to KCC Templars 3/175 from 22.4 overs by seven wickets.
HKCC Scorpions v Shaffi’s Vagabonds
At PKVR Park, HKCC Scorpions thumped Shaffi’s Vagabonds by 171 runs in a match reduced to 48 overs per side due to a late start.
Batting first after winning the toss, Scorpions scored 3/269 from their 48 overs with Rory Caines (32) and Raag Kapur (73) building a strong foundation to their innings. James Redmayne (62*) and Giacomo Lamplough (71*) continued the momentum for Scorpions with an unbroken fourth wicket partnership worth 120 runs.
While the Scorpions’ batsmen had thrived, their Vagabonds counterparts struggled. Mark Wright and Matt Rafter grabbed two wickets each as Vagabonds slumped to 3/4 and then 5/25. Three run-outs didn’t help their cause and Vagabonds were eventually dismissed for 98 in the 25th over with Adil Jahangir’s 30 the only batting score of note. At PKVR Park: HKCC Scorpions 3/269 from 48 overs beat Shaffi’s Vagabonds 98 from 24.2 overs by 171 runs.
Amateur sleuths, private investigators and champagne swilling guests joined the Red Sole Republic Police Department at Christian Louboutin in Central to attempt to solve the mystery of who killed Amazoula?
Click on any photo for the full gallery
The trial of the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) and it’s Chairman Pieter Schats on Criminal Defamation reached the plea stage at Eastern Magistrates Court on 22 April, 2016 with the charges in the private prosecution read out to the defendants:
The charges read out were:
Information has been laid THAT YOU, Hong Kong Rugby Union a limited company registered in Hong Kong did on the 25 September, 2015 in Hong Kong deliberately and maliciously published, in the form of the article annexed here, defamatory libel knowing it to be false and factually inaccurate in breach of Section 5 of the Defamation Ordinance, Cap 21 of the Laws of Hong Kong.
The article in the form of a letter written by the Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Union on the letterhead of the HK Rugby Union (HKRU) was published to “All of our friends at World and Asia Rugby, Hong Kong Rugby Union Past Chairmen and Vice Presidents, Board of Directors, Hong Kong Rugby Club Chairmen and the Hong Kong Rugby and Sporting Community. It was also published on the HKRU’s website www.hkrugby.com under the title “Note from HKRU Chairman Pieter Schats.”
On or before the 23 September, 2015 the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) – the organisation responsible for the running and management of the sport of Rugby Union in Hong Kong – did approve and implement a new rule imposing ethnic Chinese player quotas on teams playing rugby in Hong Kong.
The HKRU on the 23 September, 2015 published on it’s website and caused to be published in the SCMP a news release entitled “Significant changes made to Hong Kong Rugby Union Domestic League structure”. Part of the text of that news release was: The modified Championship Club structure sees that league now highly focused on serving as an entry point and breeding ground for Chinese players, with all teams required to include a minimum of 14 ethnic Chinese players in each match day squad.”
Simon Durrant, the editor and publisher of bc magazine for 21 years wrote an article about the introduction of active racial discrimination, via ethnic quotas, into HK Rugby. According to Chapter 602 The Racial Discrimination Ordinance this is illegal in Hong Kong. The article entitled Active Racial Discrimination in HK Men’s Rugby was published on www.bcmagazine.net on the 24 September, 2015.
The HKRU letter dated 25 September, 2015 in full and specifically but not limited to paragraphs 3,4,5 is defamatory, disparaging and factually untrue. It besmirches and stains the integrity and reputation of Simon Durrant as a journalist and the factual accuracy of his article and in doing so the reputation and integrity of bc magazine – where Simon Durrant often recognised in public as ‘Mr bc’ has been the Owner, Publisher and Editor of bc magazine for over 21 years. Contrary to Section 5 of the Defamation Ordinance, Chapter 21
The HKRU representative Mr Schats pleaded not guilty
Information has been laid THAT YOU, Pieter Lodewijk Schats as Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Union on the 25 September, 2015 in Hong Kong deliberately and maliciously published, in the form of the article annexed here, defamatory libel knowing it to be false and factually inaccurate in breach of Section 5 of the Defamation Ordinance, Cap 21 of the Laws of Hong Kong.
The article is in the form of a letter written by Pieter Schats, Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Union on the letterhead of the HK Rugby Union was published to “All of our friends at World and Asia Rugby, Hong Kong Rugby Union Past Chairmen and Vice Presidents, Board of Directors, Hong Kong Rugby Club Chairmen and the Hong Kong Rugby and Sporting Community. It was also published on the HKRU’s website www.hkrugby.com under the title “Note from HKRU Chairman Pieter Schats.”
On or before the 23 September, 2015 the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) – the organisation responsible for the running and management of the sport of Rugby Union in Hong Kong – did approve and implement a new rule imposing ethnic Chinese player quotas on teams playing rugby in Hong Kong.
The HKRU on the 23 September, 2015 published on it’s website and caused to be published in the SCMP a news release entitled “Significant changes made to Hong Kong Rugby Union Domestic League structure”. Part of the text of that news release was: The modified Championship Club structure sees that league now highly focused on serving as an entry point and breeding ground for Chinese players, with all teams required to include a minimum of 14 ethnic Chinese players in each match day squad.”
Simon Durrant, the editor and publisher of bc magazine for 21 years wrote an article about the introduction of active racial discrimination, via ethnic quotas, into HK Rugby. According to Chapter 602 The Racial Discrimination Ordinance this is illegal in Hong Kong. The article entitled Active Racial Discrimination in HK Men’s Rugby was published on www.bcmagazine.net on the 24 September, 2015.
Pieter Schats letter dated 25 September, 2015 in full and specifically but not limited to paragraphs 3,4,5 is defamatory, disparaging and factually untrue. It besmirches and stains the integrity and reputation of Simon Durrant as a journalist and the factual accuracy of his article and in doing so the reputation and integrity of bc magazine – where Simon Durrant often recognised in public as ‘Mr bc’ has been the Owner, Publisher and Editor of bc magazine for over 21 years. Contrary to Section 5 of the Defamation Ordinance, Chapter 21
Mr Pieter Lodewijk Schats pleaded not guilty.
SCMP article “Hong Kong rugby to revamp domestic leagues in effort to strengthen national team” with ethnic quota rule introduction highlighted.
The cases centre around the Hong Kong Rugby Union’s introduction of Ethnic Quotas to local rugby in September 2015 – as announced by the HKRU in a 23 September news release on their website and also published in the SCMP (linked here) on the 22 and 23 September.
The HKRU website version (linked here) was quickly amended after Simon Durrant’s article (linked here) that ethnic quotas and racial discrimination are illegal in Hong Kong was published on the 24 September.
A day later on the 25 September Mr Schats published a note to the global rugby community (linked here) which according to Mr Durrant is defamatory and factually inaccurate.
The four teams that will compete in the inaugural Hong Kong T20 Blitz have been revealed following a successful auctioning off of the franchises.
Rude Bar Island Warriors, Kowloon Cantons, Hung Hom JD Jaguars and Lantau GII Galaxy Riders were the names chosen by their respective owners to compete in the tournament run by the Hong Kong Cricket Association over the 28th and 29th of May.
The four teams will play each other once with the final to be held on the Sunday afternoon on the 29th of May.
The Island Warriors are run by the owners of a sports bar (Rude Bar Stock Exchange) in Wyndham St and placed the top bid in the silent auction that will earn the franchise first pick in the player draft.
“The format of cricket is tried and tested which always attracts a lot of people,” Warriors marketing manager Amanda Folcarelli said. “By starting this in Hong Kong it will put the region a step closer to the global cricket world and help the development of its young players. We as a business will also gain lots of untapped clients from the HK cricket fraternity which is good for us too.”
The Kowloon Cantons are made up of a syndicate of 10 owners and will wear the colour blue with their slogan “Cricket, Passion, Faith”. The Cantons will have a derby match with neighbours the Hung Hom JD Jaguars, who are owned by Jedi Dia a company with close family ties to Hong Kong national team player Kinchit Shah. The Jaguars will play in Pink and Black. And the fourth team will be the Lantau GII Galaxy Riders, who are owned by Indian businessman Suresh Khandewal. The team will play in Black and white.
Hong Kong Cricket Association Marketing and Commercial Director Max Abbott said the announcement of the teams was an exciting step for event organisers. “Now that we have the names, the tournament is really starting to take shape and we can start to promote these franchises. It will be up to the teams to build their fan base now and us as an Association to get Hong Kong excited about this tournament.” Abbott continued “It’s looking likely we will have some big name signings to announce as overseas players, which will prove that we want this to be a high quality cricket tournament. Our aim is to sell the ground out at Tin Kwong Rd Recreation ground for both days when tickets go on sale next month.”
The draft will be held on April 28, which include players being selected from the Hong Kong squad and the domestic Premier League.
T20 Blitz Date: 28-29 May, 2016 Venue: Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground Tickets: tbc
Saturday 16 April 2016 saw a gathering of players, supporters and friends, all wanting to pay their respects to, and celebrate the life of, this great man.
The Memorial started out with a video of tribute highlighting Seru’s rugby career which began in Fiji, and expanded across the globe. Playing in both the Sevens and 15s format, Seru ran on the pitch for his country Fiji, many times. He then went on to play in New Zealand for the Highlanders, in the UK for Leicester Tigers, in France for Stade Rochelais, as a player/coach in the USA for Lindenwood University and finally did service in Hong Kong for both Discovery Bay Pirates and Hong Kong Scottish.
Hong Kong Football Club pitch saw players from HK Scottish, HK Football Club, HK University, DB Pirates, Valley Fort, Typhoons and Kowloon join together to create teams to play in 3 Memorial games. The first game was a Social friendly; played by many who had “much experience over many years” (the two wingers had 116 years between them). Much heavy breathing and hands on hips was witnessed. This was followed by the Ladies 10s which was competitive, even though it was a first ever game for some.
Finally, a Performance game was played between DB Pirates/HK Scottish (“Pirate Islanders”) and a HK Barbarian team. Players gave their all, some crunching tackles and impressive line breaks. Seru would have been proud of both their performances and the camaraderie on the field. The only thing missing was the Big Man’s laughter coming from the pitch.
The HK Barbarians were victorious in the first two, close games but the Pirate Islanders managed to take a well-deserved win in the third.
A good turnout resulted in good sales of memorial shirts as well as playing shirts, with funds raised going towards the Seru Fund. Currently being administered by DB Pirates, monies donated will go towards projects close to Seru’s heart. The Fund will seek to support work going on in Seru’s home village in Fiji and help complete the building of a school. For more information about the fund please contact [email protected]
Some of the Fund is also planned to form part of a scholarship, to identify and bring a Fijian teenager to Hong Kong to school and play rugby, and hopefully give them a springboard to a brighter future.
In life, Seru was able to bring together people from all corners, to play the game he was so passionate about. Thus, it was most fitting that the same could be done after his passing.
