Helen Marshall’s Borough Three-Peats As Champions

By John L. Aaron
(Photo Gallery)
On a day best suited for a championship final last Saturday, the Borough of Queens’ Helen Marshall XI defeated a Marty Markowitz’ Brooklyn XI at Canarsie Park in Brooklyn last Saturday. The Queens XI bearing the name of its Borough President Marshall and comprising players from the Eastern American Cricket Association (EACA) defeated a symbolic Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz XI comprising players from the Brooklyn League, appropriately.

The victorious Eastern American Cricket Association (Queens) team poses with awards and officials. Photos by Shiek Mohamed

It was a third time charmer for the Borough of Queens XI led by Karen Ganesh, while Brooklyn and Manhattan have each won the championship once. Queens with a somewhat younger team and including USA national players Adrian Gordon, Clain Williams, and former USA national Under-19 player Andy Mohamed proved a tad too much for the Brooklyn XI.

Batting first Markowitz’ Brooklyn XI scored 124 for 6 in their allotted 20 overs, with Asad Munawar and L. Richards each top scoring with 28. Munawar was the more aggressive, reaching the ropes on five occasions, with Gregory Anthony chipping in with 22, and opener Romeo Dean contributing 13.  Just as Munawar seemed set to deposit a sizable total in the Brooklyn account, Queens Skipper Karen Ganesh had him caught with the score on 54. The other five wickets would fall at 59, 69, 101, 111 and 118.

Bowling for Queens: Adrian Gordon with figures of 2-0-11-2, Andy Mohamed 4-1-12-2, skipper Karan Ganesh 4-0-18-1 and Prashant Nair 4-0-20-1 were responsible for the six dismissals.

Runners-up Brooklyn Cricket League.

Queens took to the crease needing 6.35 runs per over and opening with Henderson Blades and Andy Mohamed. Blades would be the first to go for 12 bowled by Andre Kirton with the score on 32. His opening partner Andy Mohamed would top score with 26, including 4x4s. Other significant contributors were Skipper Ganesh with 24, Mark Gomes, 22 and Adrian Gordon, 12, as Queens wrapped up the victory with 127 for 7 off 18 overs.

Andre Kirton was clearly the pick of the bowlers for Markowitz’ Brooklyn XI, nabbing 3 wickets for 22 off 4 overs including 1 maiden. Imran Mohammed grabbed 2 for 18 off 4 overs, while skipper Mark Audain snatched 1 for 16 off 2 overs. There was one run out victim – Zaaid Majeed.

Queens skipper Karen Ganesh with 24 not out and one wicket was awarded the Man-of-the-Match, although one would have thought Andy Mohamed top scoring with 28 and grabbing two wickets would have been so named. Nonetheless, it was a very exciting match watched by several fans and New York City Parks and Recreation officials, including new Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Kevin Jeffries.

EACA captain Karan Ganesh collects the winning trophy from Krish Prashad.

USA Cricket Executive Secretary John Aaron in addressing the gathering following the presentation of the hardware thanked the New York City Parks Department for doing a fantastic job of recognizing cricket as an emerging sport within the five Boroughs and making a concerted effort to accommodate the sport with dedicated playing spaces.

Aaron noted that Queens Borough President Helen Marshall would be thrilled to learn that the 2011 Mayor’s Cricket trophy now belonged to her Borough for the third time in five years.

Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Jeffries said that he was aware that he was following in the footsteps of former Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Julius Spiegel who was very passionate and dedicated to the sport, and promised to work with the New York Cricket Region in seeking sponsorship for future tournaments, as well as improving the infrastructure to accommodate the growth of the sport.

Commissioner Jeffries reached out to some cricket stakeholders present asking what he could do as Commissioner to help the sport grow, and within the almost 5,000 acres of parks space in Brooklyn.

Asad Munawar collect the best batsman award from John Aaron.

The 2011 Mayor’s T20 Tournament was sponsored in part by EACA President Rudy Persaud and Golden Arrow Sports Bar located at 107-14 101st Avenue, South Ozone Park, Queens.

SCORECARDS
Brooklyn Batting
R. Dean bwled A. Mohamed 13
A. Munawar c. Z. Majeed b K. Ganesh 28
L. Richards c. A. Mohamed b  P. Nair 28
A. Ali bowled A. Mohamed 00
G. Anthony LBW A. Gordon 22
A. Kirton Stumped Wktpr b A. Gordon 06
M. Audain Not Out 04
M. Nadeem Not Out 03
Extras: 20
TOTAL: 124

Andre Kirton receives the best bowling award from Rudy Persaud.

FOW: 54, 59, 69, 101, 111, 118 and 124

Queens Bowling: T. Johnson 2-0-10-0, C. Senior 2-0-21-0, K. Ganesh 4-0-28-1, A. Mohamed 4-1-12-2, P. Nair 4-0-20-1, Z. Majeed 1-0-12-0, A. Gordon 2-0-11-2

Queens Batting
H. Blades bowled A. Kirton 12
A. Mohamed c I. Mohamed b A. Kirton 26
C. Williams lbw A. Kirton 05
K. Ganesh Not Out 24
T. Balwant Ct. Wktpr 09
M. Gomes c A. Kirton b I. Mohamed 22
Z. Majeed Run Out (Kirton). 02
A. Gordon LBW M. Audain 12
T. Johnson Not Out 01
Extras: 14
TOTAL: 127

FOW: 43, 47, 54, 69, 111, 123, and 122

Brooklyn Bowling: A. Kirton 4-2-22-3, M. Nadeem 2-0-28-0, A. Ali 2-0-14-0, I. Mohamed 4-0-28-2, S. Ahmed 4-0-22-0, M. Audain 2-0-26-1

Mark Audain (right) Brooklyn League skipper and official poses with runners-up trophy.