American Cricket Champions League
By Jon Marthaler
The Washington Metropolitan Cricket Board handed the Greater Philadelphia Cricket League its first loss of the year on Saturday, in a match that went down to the final over and the penultimate ball of the match.
Richardson Sacrais took 2 for 26 in eight tight overs for Washington, and added a quickfire 55 with the bat, an innings that included eight fours and spanned just 43 balls – a performance that moved him to third in the overall ACCL MVP standings. Gundeep Chahal took a pair of important early wickets for Washington, and ended the day at the crease by hitting the winning run.
Washington won the toss and chose to invite the Philadelphians to bat – a decision that looked prescient when the visitors removed the dangerous Philadelphia openers, Mayank Patel and Waqas Shahid, within four overs. Wickets fell regularly in the opening part of the innings, eventually reducing Philadelphia to 69-5, but Sumeet Shalar and Venkat Aluri put on 57 for the sixth wicket to steady the ship. Gurdish Singh, who ended the match as Philly’s top scorer with 47 not out, and Machel Pelle added 54 more for the eighth wicket – an important partnership that eventually saw the home side recover to post a target of 236 for the visitors to chase.
In the late-May meeting between the sides, Philadelphia bowled out Washington for just 110, which no doubt weighed heavily on the visitors’ minds. The GPCL appeared to be on their way to doing the same this week, when Singh had Avadh Nandra caught without scoring from just the third ball of the match. Vishal Khatri and Ashutosh Gairola ended that bid for a repeat, though, by building a pair of careful innings on the way to a 96-run partnership. Khatri would end with 48, Gairola as the top scorer of the match with 64, and by the time Gairola fell in the 31st over, Washington was ahead of Philadelphia’s score for the first time.
Philadelphia roared back, though, with Shaik Ahamad taking a pair of wickets, and with two overs to go, Washington was left with ten runs to get and three wickets in hand. The visitors got eight of the required runs from the first five balls of the penultimate over, but Junaid Saeed was out caught with the final ball, with his team on 234-8. From the first three balls of the last over, Washington could only draw level, and Singh had Sacrais caught from the fourth, leaving the game tied and Washington nine wickets down with two balls left.
In stepped Chahal. He faced only four balls in the match, all in the final over; he took only the two early wickets, and otherwise bowled without luck. But he scrambled a single with the second-to-last ball of the match, the run that won the game for Washington. Singh, who took three wickets and scored an unbeaten 47, was the man of the match based on MVP points. Sacrais was just behind him, and probably has a case for his own man of the match award.
The win gave Washington a record of three wins and one loss on the year – just behind Philadelphia, which had four unblemished wins coming into the match, and would likely have run away with the Mid-Atlantic division title if Washington hadn’t managed a victory.
Now, Washington has a home match against New Jersey and a visit to the winless Mid-Atlantic Cricket Conference to try to close the gap at the top of the division with Philadelphia, which has only a road game against New Jersey remaining. Philadelphia has a large advantage on net run rate – +2.542 against Washington’s -0.245 – so Washington’s main hope is to win both games and hope for a New Jersey win against Philadelphia.
New Jersey’s visit to Washington takes place next Saturday, the next game for Washington; Philadelphia’s final game of divisional play, their trip to New Jersey, takes place August 30. By then, we should have much more clarity on the Mid-Atlantic race – and on the team that will represent the division in the finals.
