The Achievers Real Estate NY, Inc sponsored Liberty Sports Club spent the 2012 Memorial Day Weekend playing two games against a Washington Metro Cricket Board All Star XI in Oxen Hill, Maryland. Micheal Noble stared with the bat and ball in the first game played on Saturday while Terrence ‘Coolie Bai’ Madramootoo and Derick McDonald came up trumps with bat and ball respectively in the second game on Sunday.
Noble scored 42 and picked up 2 wickets in Game 1.
Game 1 (35 Over Game on Saturday)
The hosting side, WMCB All Star XI, allowed Liberty Sports Club the option to bat first following the visiting team’s early morning drive down to The Old Line State from New York. Dilly Khilawan and Danesh Deonaran opened the batting for LSC and got the visitors off to a slow but steady start on a sweltering Maryland day. Deonarain would be the first to go for 21 and followed shortly after by Alex Amsterdam.
Dilly battled on to stroke a solid 32. The fall of Amsterdam’s wicket brought Micheal Noble to the crease. Noble held his end as quick wickets were lost, after Dilly departed, while LSC mid order tried to up the run rate in the 35 over game.
The WMCB All Star XI bowlers found success against the LSC bats but Noble would counter with an assault of his own as he struck an attractive 42 to guide LSC to 158 all out off of 32.4 overs.
In their chase the WMCB All Stars were given a strong start by openers Karthik Thota & Akash Pathak. The pair posted 58 for the first wicket as they capitalized on the visiting side’s unfamiliarity of the pitch and outfield. Liberty SC would go on to pick up 6 more wickets at frequent interval with Terrence Madramootoo picking up back to back wickets in the final over of his spell of 2 for 15 off 7.
Ashwin Boini hand other plans, however, his muscular hitting combined with clever stroke play saw the Washington Metro All Star team home with an over and 3 balls to spare with 3 wickets in hand.
At the end of the game the host team recognized Micheal Noble for putting up the best individual performance for Liberty Sports.
Terrence Madramootoo blasted an unbeaten 46 and picked up 1 for 17 in Game 2.
Game 2 (40 Over Game on Sunday)
Having narrowly lost the first game and having a sense of payback due the LSC team showed up back on Sunday at Oxen Hill to take on the WMCB All Star XI in a 40 over encounter. The all stars won the toss and chose to bat but Vijendra Sing would strike early in the second over to start with a wicket maiden. Terrence Madramootoo would continue to spur LSC forward by trapping the number three batsman, Bally Maharaj, LBW in the 5th over. Thota, who posted 23 on Saturday would follow that up with 24 to help the host rebuild after the early wickets.
The hard hitting Mohammed Amir batting at number 5 would change the course of the All Star’s innings as he blasted 44 which included 5 fours and a 6 to help boost his team to 162 all out in the 38th over.
Bowling for Liberty SC Derick McDonald was the star. McDonald picked up 4 for 28 off of his 8 over allotment which included the wicket of Amir who was looking to take the game away from LSC when Derick was introduced into the attack. Sohan Dass supported with 2 for 25, Alex Amsterdam 2 for 11 and Terrence bowled an economical 5 over s for 17 runs and 1 scalp. Imtiaz Hassan also bowled 8 economical overs for 25 runs.
Liberty SC Captain presents WMCB Captain with a medal.
Liberty SC got off to a shaky start losing openers Shafik Shaw followed by Dilly Khilawan with the score on 8. Danesh Deonarain would play a patient knock to partnered Amsterdam as the pair put on 36 before Deonarain was run out. Amsterdam went on to post 38 before he was out bowled shortly after Noble was out caught at short fine leg.
In a spot of bother with the score on 71 for 5 needing 92 more to win off of 22 overs, in stepped Terrence Madramootoo. Following a few cautious overs the appropriately named ‘Hulk’ took full flight into the WMCB all star attack. His first 22 balls yielded 6 runs but from there onwards it only took 19 more balls to blast 40 runs to champion his team to the win.
Terrence, who after the game was honored as LSC best player by the hosts, found support from Vijendra Singh who played an 18 balls 17 runs cameo and Derick McDonald who chipped in with 13 off 15 balls to help seal the victory.
Karan Saini was the pick of the bowlers for the Marylanders with 3 for 21 off his allotted 8 overs.
Post Game
Both teams expressed excitement at the opportunity of playing against each other and thanked each other for a great weekend of cricket. Both the WMCB’s president, Avinash Varma, and Liberty SC Director, Dilly Khilawan, stated the need for a continued relationship between the two organization. The two teams shared interest in making the Memorial Day weekend games and annual event.
Following each game the host team provided a handsome supply of food and refreshments for both teams and the teams presented memorabilia to each other to mark the occasion.
Liberty SC would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Mr. Varma and Mr. Garnet who made the whole weekend possible. A special thank you to Mr. Joey Sadloo is also being extended for playing a key part in allowing Liberty SC to play in the weekend games.
