Eastern American Cricket League T20 Blitz | Scorecard
Amjad Khan struck a belligerent 59-ball century that knocked over Richmond Hill last Sunday at Baisley Park (The Cage) in the Eastern American Cricket League T20 Championship. It was a match-up that had Richmond Hill as the favorite, for some alien reasons, in this encounter. Subsequently it turned out to be a one-sided affair, a one man show with fireworks aplenty from the willow of Khan, and a third Championship for Everest/ACS in 2012.
Amjad Khan carved 108 from 59 deliveries against Richmond Hill in the Eastern American Cricket Association T20 Blitz. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
Khan, a former United States national player who holds the record for the highest score in a limited over match in the US-a triple century in a 50 overs match in California, walked to the wicket to open the batting for Everest/ACS after Richmond Hill had posted a reasonable 144 for 9 off their allotted 20 overs. Khan can bat and he wasted no time in letting the opposition knows that champions are simply a cut above the rest when he unleashed a flurry of well executed strokes all around the wicket. He reached the boundary 16 times, while reading the Richmond Hill bowling attack like a nursery rhyme. He took special liking to M. Seram’s off spin as the ball spun in the opposite direction once it made contact with Khan’s bat with 24 runs coming off one over. During the raining boundaries Sadloo’s economical spell went unnoticed.
The ‘Cage’ was burning runs and Richmond Hill was feeling the brunt of heat with Amjad Khan on fire. When Khan finally went in the 15th over for 108 runs with the score on 131, he had floored the opposition with a telling blow to the mid-section to the tune of 7 massive 6’s and 9 blazing 4’s in a spectacle that could not have been scripted for the final showdown in the EACA’S 2012 season. When Captain Karan Ganesh and former US Captain Zamin finally handed the opposition their last rights in the 17th over and snapped the lock on the “Cage.” they had left a badly wounded Richmond Hill team, in the “Cage” and out of breath.
Earlier, it was Amin and Ganesh who kept the opposition in check with two controlled spells of left arm orthodox and right arm off spin at a crucial point in the match. Amin, after an ordinary performance with the ball in the preliminary rounds responded to the challenge in this final bagging 4 for 32, while Ganesh conceded just 16 runs from his four overs. That after Richmond Hill had batted themselves into a good position despite being made to work hard for their runs with an opening partnership that yielded 71 runs between W. Ward and D. Sankar. However, the opening pair just couldn’t find the liberty to free their hands against a good opening spell from two experience campaigners in Saheed Amin and Trevor Walke; both of whom continue to expose the weakness of the ‘modern’ day batsmen.
They, Amin and Walke, succeeded in forcing an ‘overly cautious’ start from Richmond Hill opening batsmen into the 11th over. That virtually left the match in a delicate balance with perhaps too few overs for the Richmond Hill middle order to launch an attack, and a chance for Everest/ACS to apply some pressure. Richmond Hill had depended on the inform hard hitting Imran Ali to up the rate, but once Faud Shainawaz, a talented a cricketer to watch for the future, removed Imran Ali, and Terry Hastoo sneered both Sadloo brothers who were beginning to look ominous, Richmond Hill had their backs against the wall in the ‘Cage.’ a strong the middle order batting lineup were stifled with the overs rapidly slipping away. It gave Everest/ACS the opening they needed and they wasted no time to pounce on Richmond Hill lower order. The tail faltered in an effort to get quick runs in the closing overs but struggled to 144 for 9 in their allotted 20 overs.
In the finality, it was a target that proved to be a walk in the park for a formidable Everest/ACS batting line-up. And a final that had promised to be a fierce battle between two formidable opponents that penciled a few former national players on both of their rosters turned out, on this day, to be a Sunday afternoon ice cream for Everest/ACS. With this victory, Everest/ACS had convincingly swept the three championships trophies in the EACA in 2012. They blow away this Richmond Hill team in this T20 in a similar fashion when they schooled Atlantis in the EACA premier Round Ribbon, and MMZ in the xxx. Everest/ACS captain, young Karen Ganesh led his team with a steady head that was balanced on either side by the wealth of experience from Zamin Amin, Terry Hastoo and Trevor Walke.
While the individual talent of the opposing teams may have breathe some interest in the clashes, and at times overwhelmed their teams, such inkling are simply not enough to match the sum of the parts of Everest/ACS whose dominance on the cricket field, at testing times, are the measures of true champions. Notwithstanding, the oppositions came knocking with hope in much the same the way of Tony Orlando’s “Knock three times on the ceiling if you want me.” But Everest/ACS in their own inimitable way took a page out of the old western ‘Hang Em High’ and dance to their own tune. They lifted the championship crown without much jubilation as they bask in the glory of 2012 Champions, Champions and Champions again!