New York Tristate team. Photos by Shiek Mohamed
Roy Sweeney Cup
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The inclement weather of last Memorial Day Saturday did not dampen the spirits of the Superstars Cricket Club women’s team of Canada who had arrived in New York on Friday night for a series of T/20 games against the women team of the New York Tristate Organization.
Lorena Vitte during her unbeaten knock of 53.
After a lengthy inspection on Saturday morning, the games were finally called off at 11:00 am. With the rain, falling continuously there was no hope that there would be any cricket that day.
Both teams took the opportunity to get in some much needed indoor practice and after lunch, the visitors did some shopping. At 8:00 pm, a reception was held for the visitors and it turned out to be a gala affair.
Some of the cricket supporters in attendance, included, New York State Senator, James Sanders, Jr., Krish Prasad, New York Region Representative to USACA, Venelda Wallace, New York Region women cricket coordinator, Rudy Persaud, President of Eastern American Cricket Association, Vishnu Mahadeo, Constituent Service Representative, Attorney, John Regano, Wesley King, President, American Cricket League, Lloyd Dixon and Dillon Bourne of the Tournament Committee, Clifford Hinds, tournament Chairman, Larry Williams, Videographer and the coaches of Superstars and Tristate, Frank Persaud and Linden Fraser, respectively.
There were numerous speeches, some, very humorous, and there was plenty to eat and drink. There was a birthday cake for Triholder Marshall, captain of Tristate women and for the Tristate organization, which was celebrating its tenth anniversary.
Two games were scheduled for Sunday and after some early gardening activities, the games got underway at 11:00 am. Superstars boasted a team that featured experienced and new players. Former Canada nationals, Ave Morgan and Mona Persaud were joined by USA nationals, Ivy Mahabir. On the other hand, Tristate Lynx had Triholder Marshall, Melissa Sandy, Karen Bayles, Doris Francis, Anahita Arora, Geetha Shawkarla, Delkash Shahriarian, all USA national players. There were two fourteen year olds who would feature in the tournament, Rohanie Patel of Tristate and Achini Perara of Superstars.
Superstars called correctly and offered Tristate the strike. Melissa Sandy and Lorena Vitte opened the inning and made steady progress against Ave Morgan and Achini Perera. However, when Shruti Patel was introduced into the attack she immediately induced Sandy to make a false stroke and she was caught by Aisha Iftikhar for 18 with the score at 36. Karen Bayles came next but only made 1 before she was bowled by a beautiful out swinger from Patel for 1. Doris Francis came to the wicket and immediately attacked the bowling scoring a quick 23 off 24 balls before she was unfortunately run out.
Meanwhile, Vitte was joined by young, Rohanie Patel and together they took the score from 85 for 3 to 120 for 3 after 20 overs. Vitte end with 53 not out and Patel was not out with 6.
The best bowler for Superstars was Shruti Patel who took 2 for 16 in 4 overs.
The Superstars Cricket Club women’s team of Canada.
Superstars began their inning with great expectations which were soon dashed as Triholder Marshall and Anahita Arora had them struggling from the start. The visitors sabotaged their own effort by poor running between the wickets, which resulted in 5 run outs. Doris Francis picked up 2 wickets as Superstars slumped to 73 for 7 after 20 overs. Throughout the inning, the young Achini Perera stood alone, like the rock of Gibraltar. The opening batter faced 61 balls and at the end was 16 not out.
The second game started after lunch and Superstars were sent in to bat but again struggled against the Tristate bowlers. Francis picked up 3 wickets, S. Jain 2 and they were well supported by Arora and Rohanie Patel who took one wicket each. Superstars were bowled out for 65 in 19.4 overs. Gul Imran top scored with 16 while the veteran Ivy Mohabir was left not out with 10. Francis took 3 for 12, Jain 2 for 10, Arora 1 for 11 and Patel 1 for 10.
Rohanie Patel and Melissa Sandy opened for Tristate and knocked off 43 before Patel was caught by Achini Perera of Mohabir 12 and Sandy was bowled by Perera for 31 and Shahriarian was run out by Perera for 2. Marshall was left with 6 not out and Karen Bayles 4 not out as Tristate achieved victory with 67 for 3 in 13.5 overs. Ivy Mohabir took 1 for 1 and Patel 1 for 14 in 4 overs. M. Rathore must be complemented for her brilliant work in the field.
Live commentary and music was provided by Len Aichabar and Carl Bennett and they exhausted the full cricket vocabulary in giving vivid descriptions of the proceedings. Kerk Higgins handled the Cric HQ scoring system with great efficiency and Larry Williams was there to videotape the game.
At the presentation ceremony, which took place afterwards, commemorative medals was handed out to all participants. Superstars was awarded the Runner up Cup while Tristate was awarded the Roy Sweeney Cup. Achini Perera was awarded the MVP trophy for her all round batting, bowling and fielding.
Batting awards went to Lorena Vitte and Melissa Sandy of Tristate and Achini Perera and Gul Imran of Superstars. Bowling awards went to Doris Francis, Rohanie Patel, Ivy Mohabir and Shruti Patel. Books on advanced cricket coaching were given to coaches Frank Persaud and Linden Fraser and copies of Tony Becca’s latest book, “Cricket Lovely Cricketers, the best of my time” were awarded by Lloyd Dixon to Krish Persaud and Clifford Hinds
The touring team from Canada ended their stay New York with a visit to Manhattan. Overall, it was a great effort by the Tristate organization.
