Vasquez The Destroyer, Knight Riders His Victims
By James Persaud
In the opening round of the NYSCL 2012 25 Over Championship competition, Phantom and Knight Riders won their games convincingly. Coming into the second round these two teams reach and both were hyping this game to be a very challenging encounter.
It is very early into the season and already teams trying to place themselves for the playoffs, Phantom asked Knight Riders to bat first. Amit Doma opening the bowling was right on target bowling good line and length and one run came of the over.
Leonardo Vasquez an all rounder who was bowling late, either number four or five in the last season has moved up the order and shared the new ball. Vasquez was quick and found the surface to be very friendly offering him quite some swing. His fourth ball had K. Hardial driving straight into the hands of Boodhan at extra cover; the score was 5 for 1.
Doma next over was a maiden and Vasquez struck again in the third over removing Harry Jaggernauth off stump with the first ball, he strikes again in the over. The last ball had Ali driving hard to Sase Narine at mid off, he jumped high and the ball deflected of his hand and a very vigilant Javid Salem at mid on diving to his left took a superb catch.
Doma was bowling well and without any success to this point, in the fourth over, his second ball found the edge and the wicketkeeper did the rest, Singh was gone for 1. The Phantom skipper Javid Salem kept the pressure on and let his opening bowlers bowled their full quota of overs. After ten over the score were 30 runs for the loss of eight wickets.
Vasquez struck again in his third over had T. Hardial caught without scoring and Doma had Danny Dhaniram caught in the deep for a well played top score of 13. Danny was the only batsman who batted with confidence and strikes the ball well. The first boundary of the game came in the ninth over, a cover drive of the bat of Joseph Jerrick. Jerrick occupy the crease for a while, this did not hinder the Phantom fielders since he was more determined in stopping the ball defending his wicket than scoring runs.
J. Singh was run out when both batsmen end up at the same end trying for a double. A bowling change was made in the eleventh over and for the next three overs 11 runs was added without any further damage. Javid Salem was bowling very quick and too much down the leg side and was called for wide a few times. Ryan Ramjas bowled one over for one run.
At the water break Phantom had a plan in place, to stop Knight Rider from reaching the half century mark. When play resumed the Skipper Salem took the ball himself, Knight Riders, M. Singh had a plan also he lifted Salem first ball over deep mid wicket for a boundary. As if Salem had seen enough his next ball removed Singh middle stump, the new batsman was M. Hassan and he flashed at the next three balls and the fourth and last ball of the over removed his off stump.
The Knight Riders inning came to an end in the fourteenth over and a total score of 46. Vasquez was the destroyer with figures of 4 for 10, Amit Doma took 2 for 14 and Javid Salem claimed 3 for 12.
Knight Riders took the field and Phantom had a plan to end to game in ten overs or less. They send Rudy Narine and Ryan Ramjas to face M. Singh and M. Hassan. Narine was placing the ball and picking up the single and doubles, while Ramjas was looking to taking the ball over the top.
Ramjas was successful a few times before a big running mix up between the batsmen and Ramjas was run out for 8. The new batsman was Natram Seepersaud and together with Narine they moved the scoring along with singles and double and an occasional boundary.
Knight Riders tried desperately to stay in the game, but the required score was too small to defend. They used five bowlers in trying to stop the Phantom’s; their only successful bowler was Seehadray who took the wicket of Seepersaud.
After Seepersaud was out he was replaced with Deodat Boodhan, Boodhan batted well and sometimes it seem as though he is trying to hitting the ball too hard instead of placing the ball. He is a class batsman, especially his cover and extra cover drives. Boodhan end the game with a beautiful cover drive that raced into the boundary and Phantom reached the required runs in nine overs. Narine was left on 21 not out and Boodhan had 8 not out.
Crown XI opener Rafeek Alli Top Score with 111 Not Out Against Ravens
By Shaheed Behari
Crown XI score second win as their star opening batsman Rafeek Alli smash a well played century that guide them to victory over Ravens. Ravens won the toss and decided to give Crown XI the crease first. Opening the batting with Rafeek Alli was Sonna Harichand; both batsmen batted courageously seeing Crown XI going into half time with 127 runs without loss.
Rafeek Alli hit an unbeaten 111.
Rafeek Alli century includes 4 sixes, 10 fours, and 15 doubles .Crown XI made 224 for four wickets in 25 overs. Bowling for Ravens S. Sawh took 1 wicket for 32 runs, D. Bhikham 1 wicket for 48 runs , I. Chinapen 2 wicket for 41 runs ,V.Arjune 37 runs for no wicket and P. Rambrose no wicket for 27 runs.
In reply Ravens with a great batting line up but in the second over Ravens wicket was falling one after the next. At the end of the thirteenth over Ravens were 43 runs for 6 wickets.
After the break Ravens was score very slow. At the end of their allotted overs, Ravens made 78 runs for nine wickets. Bowling for Crown XI Satrohand Persaud had 5 over 16 runs 1 wicket, Shaheed Behari 5 over 14 runs 2 wicket ,Safeek Alli 4.4 overs 9 runs 3 wicket and best bowling come from Raheem Gafoor 5 over 27 runs 4 wicket.
Crown XI players send out special thanks to Ravens for a wonderful game, and the umpires for doing a very good job.
Flasherz B Extinguished Wildfire
By Rabin Sookraj
It was a perfect spring day at the Park, Wildfire winning the toss and elected to bat. Opening the batting for Wildfire where R. Singh and T. Bhoodai. Opening the bowling for Flasherz B where Ajay and Vickram. Ajay with the new ball drew first blood with the 3rd delivery in the first over by removing T. Bhoodai with a superb catch by Vickram at backward square.
Flasherz B team.
Coming in at # 3 was S. Racktoo, the two batsmen starting to strike the ball and finding the gaps and boundary with ease. After 4 overs Wildfire managed to score 33 for the loss of 1 wicket. Flasherz B Captain (Raj) decided to have his first bowling change and brought in Rabin to bowl the 5th over.
Rabin removed both R. Singh and S. Racktoo for 15 and 17 respectively Wildfire now at 37/3. At the crease were C. Singh and Vinod Singh. The two batsmen frustrate Flasherz B bowlers until Mario removed Vinod Singh in the 10th over and C. Singh in the 12th over for 10 and 20 respectively. At the halfway mark Wildfire was 85 for 5 wickets.
It was time for Flasherz B to rethink their approach to the game. Flasherz B Captain Raj decided to bring back their opening bowlers and in the 15th over Vickram struck to remove wicket # 6, 7 and 8 for a superb Hat-Trick. Wildfire was all out in the 17th over for 101. Wildfire R. Singh scored 10; S. Racktoo 17; C. Singh 20; Vinod Singh 10.
Bowling for Flasherz B Ajay had 4-0-12-2; Vickram 3.5-0-29-4 including a Hat-Trick; Rabin 4-2-7-2; Mario 2-0-15-2.
It was time for Flasherz B to bat. Opening for Flasherz B where Kevin and Vickram, being a low scoring game, Flasherz B thought it was a walk in the park. However, Wildfire bowlers had other thought, opening the blowing for Wildfire was C. Singh and S. Racktoo.
They held Flasherz B batsmen at bay by quickly removing both openers, in walk Andy at #3 who managed to hold on. With a superb bowling attack, Wildfire had Flasherz B for 29/3 after the 8th over. At the crease was Andy (Andrew) and Flasherz B Captain Raj.
The two batsmen managed to hold on for a well-played partnership of 25 but it wasn’t meant to be, Raj fell in the 12th over for 11. At the halfway mark, Flasherz B was 71/5. Andy still at the crease joins by Mario (vice cap.) but only to see Mario depart in the 15th over.
In the 16th over Andy was run out for a well played 32, Andy top scoring for Flasherz B. Flasherz B in trouble now, after the 16th over the score was 86 for 7. At the crease was Rajiv and Rabin, however Rajiv fell in the 17th over, now the score 93/8.
It was now up to Rabin and Swami to bring Flasherz B home. Swami hit a single; a boundary and a double, with a few extras Flasherz B in a tight squeeze move to secure their Second win for season. Kudos to the Wildfire bowlers and players for a well fought match. Batting for Flasherz B: Andy (Andrew) 32; Raj 11; Mario 9.
Bowling for Wildfire: C. Singh 5-1-11-1; S. Racktoo 5-1-11-3; Vinod Singh 4-0-29-2; S. Mohamed 2-0-16-1.