American Cricket Champions League
By Jon Marthaler
Mention the words “Philadelphia cricket,” and the American cricket historian immediately conjures images of a pre-World War I era, of the Gentlemen of Philadelphia smashing the touring Australians, of George Patterson and Percy Clark, and of John Barton King, the greatest-ever American cricketer.
Greater Philadelphia Cricket League team.
The Greater Philadelphia Cricket League can lay claim to no such history, having started just last year. But with 24 teams in the league for 2014, up from 20 last season, and with clubs spread from Atlantic City, New Jersey in the south all the way to the Lehigh Valley in the north, the GPCL might be far more representative of Philadelphia-area cricket than the Gentlemen ever were.
The men from Greater Philadelphia currently lead the Mid-Atlantic division of the American Cricket Champions League, on the strength of a dominating win over the Washington Metro Cricket Board. The GPCL shot out their Washington counterparts for 110 in less than 28 overs, then chased down the total with relative ease, needing just 17 overs to complete the victory.
The star of the match was Philadelphia left-arm spinner Ali Bukhari, who took 7 for 23. In consecutive overs, Bukhari trapped Washington’s Vishal Khatri lbw, had Kaylan Musani caught, and got Ankur Saini lbw. It was an impressive spell of three wickets in three overs – a feat that Bukhari needed just four balls of a fourth over to equal, bowling three Washington batsmen in rapid succession.
When the dust cleared, Washington had gone from 60-3 and batting first on a good wicket, to 95-9 and clawing desperately for three figures. They made it, but only just, before Bukhari cleaned up with a seventh wicket.
“Agewise he’s a little bit high up there, but I wanted to use his experience,” said GPCL captain Waqas Shahid of Bukhari. “I’ve played against him in the league and I know he’s one of the most difficult bowlers to tackle. If you don’t have experience in how to play a left-arm leg spinner, you can really give your wicket away – and that’s exactly what happened with WMCB that day.”
Shahid credited Bukhari for keeping the pressure on Washington. “He has a lot of variety in his bowling,” said the captain, “and he flights the ball and bowls slower and when it pitches, it turns a lot.”
The run chase was simple, on a wicket that the captain said he would have been confident in making 250 on, had his team batted first. Shahid ended the day 43 not out, off 48 balls, with Shaik Ahamad making a rapid 41 in support to lead the rest of the Philadelphia team.
The GPCL is again in action this weekend, taking on the Mid-Atlantic Cricket Conference, which encompasses teams from southern Virginia and North and South Carolina. Shahid admits he’s a bit worried, not knowing much about his team’s southern opponents. “We have to just play to our strengths,” he said.
The Philadelphians are not without surprises, though. This weekend is the planned ACF Champions League debut batsman Mayank Patel, who astonished onlookers earlier this year in a game with his club, Lehigh Valley CC, which saw him score an astounding 79-ball 263. Given that his innings included an astounding 32 sixes, to go along with seven other boundaries, one may expect some power hitting in Philadelphia this weekend – perhaps to go along with Bukhari’s difficult-to-play bowling.
It’s only right, really. After all, the GPCL has a long tradition of Philadelphia cricket to uphold.
