Flasherz Defeat Liberty Knights for Second 2011 Championship
By Rabin Sookraj
It was a cloudy day and as the wind gust across the field, it was an ideal day for cricket at Roy Wilkins Park; everything was all set for the Division IB finals in the NYSCL 30 Over Cup competition between Liberty Knights and Flasherz.
Flasherz B pose with Division IIB Third Place trophy.
Flasherz having won the toss and electing to bat, send their opening pair of Randy Nayaran and Flasherz Captain Rocco Dindayal to the crease. Flasherz opening batsmen start out blazing and in the fifth over Rocco was given out caught behind via a bad call for 21.
Joining Randy at the crease was Vicky aka Hussey who tried to rebuild a partnership, Vicky stumps was removed by a beautiful delivery and Randy was caught at midwicket. At this point Liberty Knights had the upper hand.
At the crease was a new pair in Richard and Dharampaul Singh. The pair had Liberty Knights bowlers frustrated and starting picking up the singles and doubles with the occasional boundary. At the fifteen over interval Flashers were 85 for 3. This pair put on a 73 runs partnership before Dharampaul Singh was caught behind for a brilliant knock of 37. Richard at that point was 31.
Young Brothers Division IIC Champions.
Joining Richard at the crease was Kumar. Kumar and Richard stood their grounds but Liberty Knights removed Kumar. At this point runs were hard to come by as Flasherz were 136 for 5 in the 24th over.
In comes Vickash Singh joining Richard who started to strike the ball all over the ground and quickly rebound Flasherz score card. Richard fell for a well played 48. Joining Vickash at the crease was Vikram, who play a very well supporting role turning the strike over to the danger man at the crease.
Vickash Singh with the help of Vikram and Vick after Vikram fell boost the Flasherz score card to 192 off their 30 over. Vickash went on to score 27 and was run out on the last ball of the game trying to steal a single.
It was now time for Liberty Knights to face Flasherz bowlers. Opening the bowling for Flasherz were Vikram and C. Sookwah. Vikram first over was a maiden. After the fifth over Liberty Knights were 20 without loss as Vikram and Sookwah kept the pressure on for the first 8 over.
Shawn Prashad of Liberty Knight receive the DivisionIB second place trophy.
Sookwah drew first blood; the score was now 44 for 1. At this point Liberty Knight was going the same pace as Flasherz only lagging behind by a few runs but up by wickets when comparing over by over. Rocco made his first bowling change and giving the ball to his dependable bowlers Dharampaul Singh and Vickash Singh.
Vickash Singh struck in his first over and at the fifteen over interval Liberty Knights were 80 for 2. Liberty Knights at this point was on par with Flasherz score card. It was now doing or dying for both teams, Liberty Knights have to make 113 in 15 over and Flasherz have to defend 112 in 15 over.
Rocco decided to make another bowling change, handing the ball to the man with the golden arm “Kumar”.Kumar struck in his first over to remove danger man Ken Sanichar with his 5th ball by a brilliant catch from C. Sookwah at the long off boundary.
In walk Manoj Balchand and then out walk Manoj gone for a duck, with a wonderful caught and bowl by Kumar in the last ball in his first over. Liberty Knights supporters were quiet at this point but Flasherz players knew it was not over.
Challengers pose with their DivisionIIC Third Place trophy.
Vickash, Dharampaul however ended Liberty Knights chances by removing the 7th, 8th & 9th wickets easily. Liberty Knights was left with one over to score 29 runs and the last pair at the crease. Flasherz Captain and Vice Captain decided to give the ball to Kumar to bowl the final over, however all he needed was one delivery to yet again have a caught and bowl to remove the last of Liberty Knights wicket. In all Liberty Knights were all out for 164 in 29.1.
Vickash Singh was awarded Man of the Match for a well played 27 runs and picking up 3 vital wickets. All and all it was an exciting game to watch as it was two evenly matched teams. Kudos goes out to the Liberty Knights Cricket Club who put a fight but it was Flasherz who prevail.
Congratulations to the Flasherz Cricket Club. That makes it two championships for this year, and they will be looking forward to the Triple Crown. Also congratulations to Flasherz B for winning the third place in division IIB.
Young Warriors Defeated Apollo XI To Take Div. IIA Title
By Roy Jaikaran
Last Sunday; Young Warriors played Apollo XI in the final in the New York Softball Cricket League 30 Over Cup competition at Roy Wilkins Park. The scenario from the beginning seems to be a one-sided affair in favor of Young Warriors Cricket team, because of the many young players on the Apollo XI team, they seemed to be inexperience and uncompetitive, but believe me, it wasn’t so, those kids gave us the run for our championship.
Better Hope captain Aproo receive the DivisionIIB championship trophy.
Look out for them in the next competition. Young Warriors won the toss and batted first, with a wicket down in the first over for 2 runs. Vice Captain A. Gobin teamed up with opener G. Sarwan and they took the score to 22 runs in the fourth over before Gobin was bowled by Rogi for 10 runs.
Shuresh Persaud gave a little resistance before he was caught for 12 runs. Wickets kept falling at a very quick pace and at the end of 15 over’s, the score was 91 for 8 wickets.
Then came in the dependable, prolific and hard-hitting Roy Jaikaran who teamed up with opener Sarwan and slowly and surely they built the best partnership of the day with 41 runs taking the score to 132 runs before Jaikaran was caught going for a big hit at long on for 16 runs.
Young Warriors was bowled out for 134 runs in 22.2 overs with opener Sarwan remain unbeaten with 67 runs that gave him the man of the match award. Best bowling for Apollo were Rogi with 3 wickets for 27 runs and Omesh with 3 wickets for 36 runs.
Apollo XI started very well with Vijay hitting 17 runs in the first over, something that did create some worry for the Young Warriors’ players. But through good captaincy of Dara Singh’s ability, Vijay was caught in the 7th over for 22 runs, with the score of 40 for one wicket.
After that spell, the run rate kept slowing down and wickets was falling too. At the end of the 15 overs, Apollo XI had 77 runs for 4 wickets, a score seem to put Apollo XI in the Championship podium.
Again through good captaincy, Young Warriors get their act together and within 11 overs, they bowled out Apollo XI for 124 runs.
The best batting for Apollo XI was Vijay with 22 runs; Johnny got 16 runs and Bhagwan with 15 runs. Vijay Beresford took 3 wickets for 10 runs and A. Gobin with 3 wickets for 15 runs was the best bowlers for Young Warriors.
Not forgetting to mention the three valuable catches by G. Sarwan. Once again, Young Warriors are the Champions, going for the Triple Crown in the Twenty20 competition.