Oakville Cricket Club defends Elite Division Championship

Oakville Cricket Club, 2020 defending champion of HDCL Elite division recaptured the title by defeating emerging Royal Challengers Cricket Club in Elite Division final played on Sept 6, 2021 at Central Park, Burlington. Winning the toss and electing to field first, Oakville kept getting wickets at regular interval and restricted Royal Challengers to a modest total of 166 all out. Every bowler contributed with wickets for OCC however 4 wickets by off spinner Ayaaz Paracha and an economical spell of 8 overs for only 15 runs by Suresh Nair were the most notable performers for Oakville. Naman Mahajan was the lone batter for Royal Challengers who showed intent to stay at the wicket and ended with a score of 45 runs.

Oakville started the chase in an emphatic manner and at one point it looked liked the game would be over soon as OCC batters were in a mood to take the challenge back to Royal Challengers. However introduction of spin in form of Sandeep Kumar, not only broke the opening partnership but also slowed the run chase. Royal Challengers didn't let the pressure off and kept taking wickets. Ehsan Kharal and Usman Bokhari stabilized the inning and victory was within sight again for OCC. Match took yet another turn when Ehsan tried yet another big shot and was caught on the boundary. Now the match shifted in favor of Royal Challengers. A missed catch of Usman Bokhari turned out to be the difference as he contributed 39 valuable runs and took Oakville to eventual victory by solitary one wicket. Well played Royal Challengers, It was one of  the most exciting finals in the  recent history of HDCL. Usman Bokhari was adjudged as the man of the match.