By Darshan Chickery
On a weekend where most New Yorkers were busy soaking up the last bit of sunshine on the unofficial last weekend of summer, ‘bumpa ball’ cricket was very much alive at Dr Charles Drew Park in Queens NY. The inaugural Labor Day Inter County competition was played over two days between Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice and New York Youths.
Manoj Sukhra (right) collects his man of the match award for hitting 38 and taking 2 for 3. Photo courtesy of Darshan Chickery
After three scintillating rounds of play, Demerara and Berbice emerged a top of the points table with two wins apiece. Rivalries are not synonymous with much that is good but where cricket is concerned, Berbice and Demerara is. It does not matter where on planet earth this one takes place, it’s always a heated battle and that this one was.
After winning the toss, Berbice decided to bat first despite being bowled out for 65 in the preliminary encounter when they batted first against Demerara on Saturday. Ahmad Shazaman and I. Jumadeen took the crease against Demerara’s Vish Persaud and Suresh Balkarran. Demerara struck first when Shazaman was caught off the bowling of Persaud. Then with the very next delivery, Moonsammy was comprehensively bowled. To add insult to injury, Jumadeen was run out for one in the second over. Berbice was down but not out at three wickets for four runs. Gordial Matai and Ramesswar added 26 for the fourth wicket before Ramesswar was caught off the bowling of Suresh Balkarran for 17.
A Narsingh joined Matai at the crease with the score at 30 for 4 in the seventh over. Berbice needed to stem the flow of wickets but failed to do so as Narsingh was caught off the bowling of Shashi Wilfred for 11. Berbice was in a ‘Canje size trouble’ at 44 for five in the 9th over. Latchman Mohan and Matai added 16 to take the score to 60 for 5 at the break (13 of 25 overs).
Mixing aggression with caution, Matai and Mohan took the score to 100 before Matai’s leg stump was knocked over by Kumar Chickery for a well played 38. His knock included two fours and two sixes. Despite the loss of early wickets, Berbice was well placed to get a score somewhere around 145 -150. All they needed was to have G. Kundan or Ravi Lutchman to support Mohan with a swift partnership – neither happened. Berbice lost their last four wickets for 24 runs. Mohan was the 9th man out for 22 as Berbice was bowled out for 124 off 23.2 overs. Shashi Wilfred took 4 for 28. He was nicely supported by Vish Persaud with 3 for 13.
Asked to score at five runs an over, Demerara promptly lost Anand Singh – their most consistent batsman in the tournament without scoring to Murph Seeram. Seeram celebrated as though the game was over. That probably ‘rubbed’ the Demerara players the wrong way as they ‘dug in’ but lost Nashad Hamid for 8 with the score on 13, Majid Khan for 14 with the score at 35 and Manoj Sukhra for 7 with score at 47. The score was 55 for 4 at the half. At that moment, the game was anybody’s. Berbice had Demerara scoring at almost one less than the five runs per over needed. Demerara was depending on their very deep batting line up.
Shashi Wilfred and skipper Vishal Singh batted with determination after the break. They Put away the bad deliveries for boundaries and ran short crisp singles when Berbice least expected. Demerara inched and then eventually coasted home to 125 for 4 in 22 overs. Singh and Wilfred were unbeaten on 35 and 38 respectively. For his unbeaten 38 and 4 for 28, Shashi Wilfred was adjudged the Man of the Match.
Squads for the tournament:
Berbice squad: Ahmad Shazaman (Capt.), I Jumadeen, Ravi Lutchman, Mel Matai, Mahendra Seeram, Gordial Matai, Satish Moonsammy, Terry Moonsammy, Anup Narsingh, Latchman Mohan, Narine Algu, Gowkarran Kundan, Yadram Mystri, Vick Ramesswar and Gopie Doodnauth. Mgr. Chin Singh.
Demerara squad: Vishal Singh (capt), Majid Khan (v.capt), Vish Persaud, Manoj Sukhra, Mark Bobb, Suresh Balkarran, Ravin Gopaul, Anand Singh, Nashad Hamid, Shashi Wilfred, Vijendra Narine, Vicky Sugrim, Darshan Chickery and Asif Ally. Mgr. Boodram Sookraj.
Essequibo squad: Irving Dharry (capt), S. Azeeze, S. Nandram, Dave Tageshwar, Elton Dharry, Romain Singh, Nishal Dhaniram, I. Dharry, Dane Glascow, Ravin Singh, L. Silas, V. Pooran, Vishal Dhaniram, L. Dharry, E. Dharry (sr), N. Singh, D. Raj and G. Danaram. Mgr. Mr. Singh
New York Youths squad: Nayal Singh (capt), Prasana Malipal, Surin Sawh, Dharampaul Singh, Vikash Singh, Feiaz Samad, Kenny Narinedatt, Narine Gobin, Dinesh Pooran, Ricky Narine, Krishna Gopaul, Z. Samad Rocco and Narine Gobin. Mgr. Gibran Wahab
Round I Scores:
Demerara 163 all out: NY Youths 167 for 3 Man of the Match – Anand Singh 84
Berbice 146 all out: Essequibo 84 all out. Man of the Match – Y. Mystri 5 for 15
Round II Scores:
Berbice 65 all out: Demerara 67 for 3. Man of the Match – Shashi Wilfred 4 for 10
NY Youths 108 all out: Essequibo 110 for 8. Man of the Match – Dane Glascow 28 and 2 for 19
Round III Scores:
Berbice 107 all out: NY Youths 71 all out. Man of the Match – Mel Matai 5 for 15
Demerara 157 for 9: Essequibo 51 all out. Man of the Match – M. Sukhra 38 and 2 or 3
