Ten Teams To Compete For New York Bash Title And 10K

New York T20 Big Bash
By Sam Sooppersaud | Schedule Below
Twenty20 cricket has taken the cricketing world by storm!
Yes, cricket fans, since this format of the game was introduce in England, its popularity has spread like wildfire. Now all cricket fanatics are talking about, is 20/20 cricket.

The prestigious New York T20 Big Bash championship trophy. Photo: www.cricketzoneusa.com

In India, there is the Indian Premier League (IPL), The Big Bash in Australia, and The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in the West Indies. There is the Bangladesh Premier League and the Sri Lanka Twenty20.

In the United States, the Cricket Council USA has been staging Twenty20 Tournament in different states. The most popular being the MAQ T20 played at the Broward County Cricket Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on the first weekend in December each year. This tournament is now in its seventh year.

Well, New York cricket fans, you do not have to travel to India, or the West Indies, or Australia, or to the other countries to watch exciting T20 cricket. You do not even have to travel to Florida to enjoy your passion for this “slam bam, thank you Ma’am” format of cricket. This entertainment is now in your backyard.

Starting on Friday, May 2nd, ten franchises would be vying for cricket supremacy in New York when they go against each other at various cricket parks around the New York City areas.  The games would be played at Baisley Park, 150 Street /Rockaway Boulevard, Queens, Idlewild Cricket Park, 223rd Street/ 147th Avenue, Rosedale, 80th Street/Seaview Avenue, Brooklyn, and 108th Street/Seaview Avenue, Brooklyn.

Ten teams are in contention for the Championship and the other prizes put up by the management team at NY T20 Group, Inc, Ajaz Asgarally, President, Linden Fraser, 1st VP, Hafeez Ali, and 2nd VP. These individual have done a yeoman’s job in putting this tournament together. They have enlisted the expertise of the savvy cricket administer, Jeff Miller, to be the tournament manager.

Jeff is well known for putting on the Fort Lauderdale cricket extravaganza each year for the CCUSA. That tournament was started with a handful of teams. In the 2013 edition of the tournament, 64 teams participated in the week long cricket festival with prize moneys being in excess of one hundred thousand dollars. It is hoped that the NY T20 Big Bash would grow over the coming years to enjoy some of that success.

The prize money for this tournament, right now, stands at $12,000, with the champions taking home $10,000 and the runners-up, $2,000. It was originally proposed that the prize moneys would be $15,000, and that 16 teams would participate. However, 6 teams have pulled out, hence the scale down. In addition, the champions would be entered to contest in the MAQ20 in Florida this coming December. They would not have to pay the $3,000 entrance fees. Ajaz Asgarally has pledged $500 towards the winners’ hotel expenses.

Following is the schedule of games.
Friday, May 2nd: These games start at 12:00 Noon
Atlantis v Bangladesh Tigers at Idlewild Park
NY Blasters v Pak Stallions at 80th Street
St. Lucia Masters v Pakistan First at Baisley Park
Pak-America v NY Warriors at 108th Street
Somerset v NY Superstars at 108th Street

The second set of games start at 4:00.P.M.
St. Lucia Masters v Atlantis at Idlewild Park
Bangladesh Tigers v Pakistan First at Baisley Park
NY Superstars v NY Blasters at 80th Street
Pak Stallions v NY Warriors at 108th Street
Pak-America v Somerset at 108th Street

Additional preliminary games would be played on Saturday, May 3rd, at the same venues, starting at 9:30.A.M. The Quarter Finals start at 2:30.P.M. The Semi-Finals would be played on Sunday, May 4th, starting at 10:00 A.M at Baisley and Idlewild. The finals would be staged at Idlewild Park at 2:30 P.M.

So cricket fans, come on out and enjoy three days of entertaining Twenty20 Cricket.