The Kendall Cup, 2000 season
Renewed calls for changes in the rules which apply to the annual Kendall Cup fixture were voiced once again after yet another year's match fizzled out into a predictable draw. Proponents of change justify their stance on the grounds that cricket as played in today's conditions and by today's players is of a very different standard to that which existed when the Kendall Cup was first contested and indeed up until the early 1970's when changes were last made. Since that time the rule has applied that in the event of a draw, the current holders of the cup retain possession.
It was certainly woefully apparent that the two teams who took part in last weekend's match were both too powerful and evenly balanced for there ever to have been a realistic hope of a positive result. The lightening fast outfield at the St Julian's School ground in Carcavelos was admittedly a contributing factor to the awesome statistic of 863 runs scored in 11 hours of cricket over the 2 days but for the two sets of bowlers who toiled manfully through 169 overs in searing heat, the gross wicket haul of 25 was scant compensation. The ultimate fact that neither side could celebrate victory at the end of the proceedings was indeed a pity after such stalwart effort.
The bare bones of the match (the 113th between sides from Lisbon & Oporto) were that Lisbon, under the leadership of John Simonson, won the toss and elected to bat first. Their innings was declared closed at tea-time on Saturday with a score of 331-9 made up as follows:
LISBON FIRST INNINGS:
T. Rankine caught & bowled E. Chambers 2
A. Saiyad (wk) caught & bowled M. Rajani 77
H. Cheema caught Goodfellow bowled R. Perkins 26
N. Butt caught Daniele bowled R. Perkins 17
D. Bevan caught Rogerson bowled P. Rajani 44
D. Baverstock bowled E. Chambers 85
H. Shahzad caught Perkins bowled M. Rajani 8
N. Ferreira bowled E. Chambers 46
C. Ramchande caught Goodfellow bowled P. Rajani 10
J. Simonson* Not out 0
B. Khan did not bat
Extras 16
Total: 331 for 9
OPORTO:
A. Gouveia caught Bevan bowled H. Shahzad 7
S. Rogerson (wk) run out 30
R. Perkins bowled B. Khan 132
B. Goodfellow caught Saiyad bowled N. Butt 50
E. Chambers caught Saiyad bowled B. Khan 0
J. Graham * bolwed B. Khan 15
P. Gallie caught Cheema bowled C. Ramchande 13
M. Rajani caught Saiyad bowled C. Ramchande 23
P. Rajani LBW bowled C. Ramchande 6
A. Daniele Not out 6
N. Rajani bowled H. Shahzad 9
Extras 70
Total: 359 all out
LISBON SECOND INNINGS:
N. Butt caught Gallie bowled B. Goodfellow 49
T. Rankine caught Graham bowled E. Chambers 51
H. Cheema caught Rogerson bowled B. Goodfellow 5
H. Shahzad stumped Rogerson bowled B. Goodfellow 5
D. Bevan bowled B. Goodfellow 13
A. Saiyad caught & bowled E. Chambers 8
N. Ferreira Not out 16
C. Ramchande Not out 7
Extras 19
Total: 173 for 6
Without a doubt the highlight of the match was the splendid 132 scored by Robert Perkins. Surprisingly, it was the young man's first ever century in any type of cricket but one can easily predict that unless his passion for golf overtakes his cricket completely this will not be the last time that his name features prominently on local cricketing scorecards. It was a chanceless innings containing 29 boundaries and the full gambit of perfectly executed cricketing shots taken straight from the best coaching text book. His partnership with Brian Goodfellow (50) for Oporto's 3rd wicket added 206 runs and had the pundits scratching through the archives for earlier comparisons of other such magnitudinous dual contributions.Other noteworthy batting achievements were made by Akbar Saiyad who notched up 77 in 139 minutes for Lisbon and David Baverstock who scored 85 off 87 deliveries whilst Torben Rankine's graceful 51 in Lisbon's second innings appeared somewhat forlorn in the final event. With the ball, Ed Chambers emerged with a creditable 3 for 43 in Lisbon's first innings whilst his opening partner Brian Goodfellow made up for a nil return in the first innings with figures of 4 for 62 in the second innings. The pick of the Lisbon bowlers were Barbar Khan with 3 for 61 and Camlesh Ramchande with 3 for 32.
There were numerous examples of fine fielding over the course of the 2 days as is evidenced by the 15 catches recorded on both sides. Special mention in that regard must go to Ed Chambers who appeared to have mastered the classic one-handed return catch off his own bowling which he displayed on 2 occasions to dismiss Torben Rankine & Akbar Saiyad. The most spectacular catch went to Hussein Cheema who dived full length at short mid-off to scoop up a catch offered by Piers Gallie. Special tribute should also be made to the wicketkeeping of Steve Rogerson who conceded only 9 byes out of 532 runs (compared to a much less impressive 38 out of 359 by his Lisbon counterpart Akbar Saiyad) and who performed an excellent stumping to dismiss Humayun Shahzad in the second innings off Brian Goodfellow's medium pace bowling.
Speaking after the match, President of the Associação de Cricket de Portugal, Mr Robin Rankine commented that one of the problems surrounding the rules for the Kendall Cup was that the fixture has been in existance long before any formal authoritative cricketing body in Portugal came into being and the "rules", such as there are, have been a matter of informal gentlemens' agreement. Perhaps now, with the impending formation of the Federacão Portuguesa de Cricket which will take over the official and formal responsibility for the governance of all cricketing matters in Portugal, the time may be right for this traditional and long-standing fixture to be converted into 21st Century conditions.