By Saif Yasin
On a steamy summer afternoon Big Apple C. C. and Liberty C. C. faced off in round 8 of the EACA round robin competition. Liberty C. C. won the toss and elected to bat first which seemed to be the right decision at the time. Openers Bose Persaud and Dilly Khilawan put the Big Apple pacers under a lot of pressure during the first few overs as they banished anything short to the boundary for four.
Kumar Nandalall took his first 5 wicket haul for the season. Photos by Shiek Mohamed
The two put on a 42 run partnership before Persaud was bowled off the bowling of Kirk Higgins for 24. Liberty C. C. skipper Danesh Deonarain was the next man in and who along with Khilawan put on another decent partnership to bring LCC at 91 for 1 going into the water break, but just before the over came to an end Deonarain was bowled by Mark Gomes for 21.
Before the water break LCC seemed poised to put up a score of 200 plus, but after the break it seemed as though a completely different LCC was playing this game. Khilawan continued to bat on but with little support on the end, the LCC wickets were tumbling one after the other. The LCC middle order was cleaned up by Kumar Nandalall as he bowled a devastating spell of 5 for 18. Khilawan eventually fell victim to Nandalall for a team high 42 and in the end LCC put up a sub par total of 147.
Inning Summary:
LCC all out for 147: (Dilly Khilawan 42/ Bose Persaud 24/ Danesh Deonarine 21)
Big Apple: Kumar Nandalall 8-2-18-5/ Zaheer Saffie 8-1-20-1/ Kirk Higgins 5-0-24-1
Chasing a score of 147, Big Apple batsmen didn’t need to do anything spectacular at the crease. Mark Gomes and Shawn Thompson were sent out to open but LCC wasn’t going to go down without a fight. With the score on 11 for no loss in the 3rd over Gomes skied the ball high into the air resulting in him being caught for 7 off the bowling of Lawrence Shoy.
Shiv Ragubar produced a fine knock of 44 not out for Big Apple.
Next in was in form Clain Williams who has been a major part of the Big Apple batting line up. After knocking two boundaries Williams was put out on a questionable caught behind call off the bowing of Thakur Singh, Thompson would depart soon after for 16.
All of sudden LCC had pushed Big Apple onto the back foot, going into the water break after the 15th over Big Apple was at 51 for 3 a good forty runs behind what LCC had at that stage. Zaheer Saffie and Mark Gomes needed to bring up back the run rate to avoid Big Apple from slipping behind, but Gomes wouldn’t stay around for too long as he departed for 10.
First innings hero Kumar Nandalall came into the attack and along with Saffie brought Big Apple back into contention. Saffie would fall for a well played 35. With about 60 or so runs needed for victory attacking batsmen Shiv Raghubar came to the crease. Raghubar dispatched the ball to all parts of the ground with his wide variety of shot selections; he and Nandalall would see Big Apple home in the 35th over ending on 44 and 20 respectively.
Inning Summary:
Big Apple 150 for 5 in 35 overs: ( Shiv Raghubar 44 not out/ Kumar Nandalall 20 not out/ Zaheer Saffie 35)
LCC: (Lawrence Shoy 8-2-19-2/ Ramrattan Jagnaraine 7-1-31-1/ Thakur Singh 6-1-29-1)
Big Apple has the next two weeks off and will resume action on July 16th against East Side Warriors, in the mean time we would like to invite everyone to our first annual BBQ and dance. The event will take place on Sunday July 9th at 138-06 107 Ave Jamaica NY 11435, tickets are $10.00 a head before 11pm. For tickets or more info please feel free to contact Mr. Telston Johnson at 347-723-3284.
Saif Yasin is a 16 year-old student at Scholars Academy and a member of Big Apple Cricket Club.