Metropolitan Cricket League
Ibrahim Zahoor 85 help Staten Island Cricket Club (SICC) accomplished their fifth consecutive win against River Valley as the action continued in Metropolitan Cricket League on Sunday in the beautiful valley of Poughkeepsie.
Ibrahim Zahoor hit a quick 85 in Staten Island Cricket Club's win over River Valley.
Staten Island skipper Shaffikul Sackroolar won the toss and elected to bat on a hard surface. SICC opened with Ibrahim Zahoor in the absence of regular opener Prashanth Nandavanam. Ibrahim made his intentions clear in the second over as he lofted Hewitt for a big six over the cow corner, and lofted him again over the long off in the bowler’s next over courtesy a well-timed straight drive which could easily be the shot of the day. Soon after, he lost his partner Brandon through a terrible mix up resulting in a run out.
Majid came in at one down and started to rotate the strike as Ibrahim kept his aggressive approach. Ibrahim was so comfortable at the crease as if he was playing in his own backyard and reached his 50 in the 11th over with the team’s total on 66, which showed his dominance at the wicket. In the 14th over SICC lost their second wicket as Majid slashed a drive to point after putting on 75 with Ibrahim.
At the fall of the wicket veteran Kodi came in who was making his first appearance this year and used all his experience to take the innings further. Both the batsmen were very keen in rotating the strike, as the boundaries were hard to come by on a very heavy outfield. Ibrahim was finally out in the 24th over nicking one to the keeper of the bowling of Powell after scoring 85 which turned out to be a match-winning knock. His innings included six hits over the boundary ropes.
Fahad Mughul came and went cheaply trying to up the run rate. Kodi was steady at the other end and was out in the last over for 36.
Staten Island score was 180 for the loss of six wickets, which was very competitive considering a very heavy and a big outfield. D. Powell with figures of three for 30 was the pick of the bowlers for River Valley who were looking for some inspiration to open their account in the league.
Chasing 181 against a strong SICC bowling was always a daunting task for River Valley batsmen and it proved right, as none of the batsmen were comfortable against swing and seam early on. Fahad broke through in the seventh over as opener Ali Hussain edged one to the keeper Ibrahim with the scoreboard reading just 21. At the other end Glenn Shanghie bowled an economical spell of six overs giving away only 13. In the end River Valley were bundled out for 138 in the last over as none of the batsmen other than Abdul Shakur and E. Mattis to contribute any significant score of 30 and 29 respectively.
For Staten Island as has been the case in the past skipper Shaffikul Sackroolar was the man who took the most wickets with the figures of 4 for 9 in only 3.5 overs.
Staten Island with five wins in the pocket and a strong well-balanced team look very good to make it to the play offs. Their next game is against Cosmos who are not having a very good time of late but are always a strong opposition. That fixture is on Saturday at Van Courtland Park.
