By Intiaz Mohamed
As the preliminary rounds of the Eastern American Cricket Association’s seven match 40 overs competition nears its end. Hillside and Big Apple cricket clubs both with one loss each in Zone 2 of the 2012 season, battled last Sunday at Bay Park, NY.
Telston Johnson hit a quick 59 against Hillside. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
Big Apple won the toss and took first strike, posting a formidable total of 228 for the loss of eight wickets. They got off to a decent start, provided courtesy of their openers Rhett Ramotar and Mark Gomes. Both attacking batsmen took on Hillside’s bowlers posting a partnership of more than 50, with R. Ramotar falling lbw to Nedesh Basdeo for 39 including 2x4s and 2x6s, while M. Gomes struck 22, falling victim to the same bowler.
Big Apple’s middle-order crumbled with Clain Williams hitting 13, Narindra Balram 20, Brandon Datt 4, and Zaheer Saffie 1. It was the contribution of their bowlers that brought them to a decent total, contributing a combined total of 114 runs among the four of them.
Teltston Johnson, who struck 38 from 16 deliveries in a game the day before, continued with an in-form performance, hitting a blistering and undefeated 59, which included 3x4s and 6x6s. Shawn Thompson partnered with Johnson and Shiv Ragubar, as Thompson and Ragubar compiled 19 not out and 30 respectively.
Innings summary: Big Apple 228 for 8 off 40 overs: Rhett Ramotar 39, Mark Gomes 22, Narindra Balram 20, Shawn Thompson 19, Shiv Ragubar 30, and Telston Johnson 59 not out.
Awaz Hasildar was the most successful of the Hillside bowler’s bagging 3 for 35 of 5 overs.
Bowling for Hillside: Sayeed Allie 4-0-20-0, Altaf Habibulla 7-0-35-1, Naushad Khan 5-0-28-0, Nedesh Basdeo 8-1-63-2, Shameer Rahim 8-1-27-1, Awaz Hasildar 5-0-35-3, and Ejaz Rahaman 3-0-16-1.
When Hillside took strike, they could only muster 130 runs with 25 of it coming from extras. Only three of their batsmen would reach double figures; Nedesh Basdeo fell for 10, Shameer Rahim showed some resistance with 58, including one four and 4x6s, and Nausad Khan 10.
Shiv Raghubar’s leg-spin would pick up three wickets, while pacers Charlton Senior had one and Telston Johnson two wickets. Spinners Shawn Thompson bagged two wickets and Kumar Nandalall took one.
Bowling for Big Apple: Charlton Senior 8-1-18-1, Telston Johnson 8-0-22-2, Shawn Thompson 8-0-38-2, Kumar Nandalal 8-2-18-1, and Shiv Raghubar 7.4-2-27-3.
Big Apple takes on Long Island United this Sunday, June 23rd at Bay Park.