Commonwealth Is New England Division Leader After Beating Massachusetts

Commonwealth Cricket League celebrates the fall of a wicket during their first game in the American Cricket Champions League which was played on July 12. Photo by Shiek Mohamed

American Cricket Champions League
By Terry Coffey
Massachusetts State Cricket League hosted Commonwealth Cricket League Saturday afternoon, with first place in the American Cricket Champions League’s New England Division on the line.

CCL won the toss and elected to bat. MSCL bowled well, with Commonwealth managing only 60-5 after 20 overs. When Waqas Ali was forced to retire hurt for 31 in the 32nd over, CCL had only scored 109, and with only two wickets remaining, MSCL had to feel confident of restricting them to a low total. But those final two wickets accounted for 32 runs, and although CCL didn’t quite make it the full 40 overs, their total of 141 was certainly better than they might have hoped for earlier.

Massachusetts’ bowling attack was led by Nathan Green‘s 2-14, which included five maidens, Amrinder Singh‘s 2-22, Jaideep Reddy‘s 2-37 and Fazal Alam‘s 2-37.

MSCL started well, making it to 29-1 after five overs. Despite the loss of two more wickets for only 16 in the next five overs, Massachusetts was ahead of CCL’s tally at the 20 over mark, at 81-5. Things looked even brighter as Zeshan Muhammad blasted 14 off the 21st over, but when he was caught in the last ball of the over, the MSCL innings unravelled. In the end, Massachusetts could manage only an additional 24 runs before being out for 119 in 27.5 overs.

Arif Islam took 3-31 for Commonwealth in the victory.

With the road win, CCL picked up a bonus point, and occupies first place in the New England Division by seven points.

Commonwealth next takes the field August 16 against Southern Connecticut Cricket Association. Massachusetts is in action August 9, also against Southern Connecticut.