American Cricket Champions League
By Matt Becker
Saturday in Orlando, the Florida Cricket Conference (FCC) played its first match of the ACF Champions League season against the North Florida Cricket League (NFCL) at Silver Star Park – and they must have been spending their extended pre-season in the nets, as they would go on to score the most runs in an innings thus far in the tournament.
NFCL were playing their third match of the season – they had split their two matches with Florida Southeast Cricket League in June – which meant that the division was wide open and waiting for a favorite to emerge.
Saturday dawned a hot, sticky day that saw temperatures soar from the 70s into the 90s. FCC won the toss and elected to bat. And bat they did. Openers Oneil Hylton and Chris Chung rocketed out of the gates as the NLFC attack wilted in the late morning sun. The pair had amassed 186 runs before Chung finally fell 10.4 overs into the game. Hylton fell shortly after (bowling part timer Arivarasan (Vijay) Panneerselvam claimed both prize wickets) but not before he had cruised to a brilliant and for all intents and purposes match-winning 116 off of 74.
After Hylton’s wicket, FCC’s run rate slowed just a bit as Raju Booka took the wickets of Bhim George and Larry Charley, but they still were at 253 for five when a strong 6th wicket partnership between Rizwan Ahmed and Maksood Indawala saw the runs flow again. Indawala scored 35 off of just 17 and Ahmed scored 52 off of just 22. The stand took FCC to a record demolishing 40 over total of 334.
It was a not a good day for NFLC’s bowlers. Particularly Nathan Stan whose 8-0-87-0 was emblematic of the club’s struggling attack. Bear in mind that this was the same bowler whose seven wickets led the division at the beginning of the day.
Chasing 334 was never going to be easy, but the batter-friendly pitch surely gave the North Floirda XI a little bit of hope. Unfortunately, NFLC stumbled out of the blocks and the FCC attack ripped into their opening batsmen. Ramchandra Kaunder was out LBW for only one. Farman Mohmand was clean bowled after only scoring four. And Kotesh Patibandla was also bowled after seeing just eight deliveries and scoring just the one run. The decimation of the top half of NFLC’s batsmen left the club tottering at 18 for three.
Hope came in the form of a pair of run-a-ball half centuries from Jignesh Patel and Panneerselvam. But it was never going to be enough against FCC’s relentlessly efficient wicket taking. Robert Cressar took four for only 28 while Rahul Desai took three for only 34. And after just 37 overs North Florida were all out for just 221, giving FCC their first win of the season in their first match of the season by 113 runs.
Now on top of the division, FCC were to play again the following day, but the match was abandoned due to a flooded field after a burst pipe, so they split the points with Florida Southeast, leaving the division just as wide open as it was when the weekend started. FCC are tied at the top of the league with FSCL on four points, but hold the tiebreaker with a superior net run rate. NFLC are in second on three points and can still win the division but not without a little bit of help and a whole lot of luck.
Next up for FCC is FSCL in what might be a title decider on August 9, while NFLC will look for revenge against FCC on August 17.
With the ACF Champions League finals taking place in Orlando, whoever wins the Florida Division will be seen as the favorite to win the whole league – which adds even more spice to a competitive and interesting division.
