Melbourne To Play Seven Star In Final After Beating Pak America

Melbourne Cricket Club.

Commonwealth Cricket League Premier Division
In the Commonwealth Cricket League Premier Division Semi Finals on Sunday at Whitestone, Melbourne defeated Pak America by 34 runs. Winning the toss and electing to bowl, Pak America enjoyed early success as they got Melbourne’s opener Dhillon Singh on the first ball of the third over with only 9 runs on the board.

But from there on, Melbourne batsmen played on sensible with a combination of caution and aggression, building upon small and consistent partnerships of 37, 20, 30, 32, 37 and 48 runs.

Although there were no really high, individual scores, all batsmen contributed nicely in posting a total of 231 runs all out in 34.3 overs. Youngster Jamil top scored with 34, followed by Amit (27), Rumon (24), Arif (23), Rudhir (23), Pranay (19), Shojib (18) and Junel (14).

Pak America in reply found themselves in early trouble losing their opener Jamshed in the very first over and after 15 overs they were reeling at 64 for 6 wickets. Their next three batsmen did put up a fight and gave Melbourne a little scare as Sabir (32), Ali Raza (34) and Shazad (43 not out) took them to a respectable 197 all out in 32 overs.

Melbourne shifted from their bowling strength of spin to pace on the fast track and the pacers accounted for all 10 wickets with Anindo picking up 3, Mithul (3), Dhillon (3) and Arif (1).

Excellent team effort from Melbourne in all facets of the game.

Strikers vs Seven Star
Seven Star won the toss and elected to bat first.

Openers Greg Sewdial and the inform Moshin Khan gave Seven Star a brisk start of 94 runs before Greg retired hurt in the 17th over with his score on 41 runs. Strikers then took 3 quick wickets as Boyce Jewth, Mohammad Habib and Sarmad Khan were out very cheaply.

Vijay Sewnarine joined Moshin in the middle and they took Seven Star to a respectable score of 192 runs before Sewnarine was run out for a patient 27 in the 33rd over. This brought Nadir Mohammad to the middle and he made a quick-fire 17 runs not out. Moshin Khan was caught in the final over for a well-played 87. Seven Star finished on 225 for 5 in 35 overs.

Strikers started their inning with Gajanand Singh and Shahid Shazad and found themselves in early trouble when Shazad was caught in the slip for 1 in the 2nd over. Strikers lost another 2 quick wickets in the 6th and 7th over. Ariful Hasan joined Singh and together the pair put a scare on Seven Star with some brilliant stroke play until Singh was eventually out for 54 runs.

Seven Star then took two quick wickets and once again the game was in their favor until Rafiq Ugradar joined Ariful. With the run rate climbing after every over, Strikers batsmen had to push their scoring into a higher gear and they did. But Seven Star proved they can take catches just as well as Kieron Pollard and Strikers were eventually out for fighting 214 runs in 34.5 overs.

The final score card
Strikers Vs Seven Star
Date: 08-24-14
Venue: Whitestone 1
Toss: Seven Star won the toss and elected to bat first.
Result: Seven Star won by 11 runs.
Seven Star made 225 for 5 in 35 overs.

Seven Star Batting:
Mohsin Khan 87
Greg Sewdial 41 retied
Boyce 16
Habib 01
Sarmad Khan 00
Vijay Seenarine 27
Mohammed Nadir 17*
Tim Persaud 01*

Strikers Bowling:
Mohammed Irfan 4-0-23-0
Ariful Hasan 6-0-31-0
Rafiq Ugradar 2-0-12-0
Robin Das 3-0-30-0
Shabaz Ahmed 6-0-24-0
Waqas Ali 2-0-7-0
Saeed Hussain 7-1-28-2
Mohammed Choudhary 6-0-44-2
Strikers made 214 all out in 34.5 overs.

Strikers Batting:
1. Gajanand Singh 54
2. Shahid Shahzad 01
3. Shabaz Ahmed 15
4. Waqas Ali 00
5. Ariful Hasan 47
6. Saeed Hussain 00
7. Robin Das 05
8. Mohammed Choudhary 13
9. Rafiq Ugradar 31
10. Mohammed Irfan 14
11. Asad Ali 09*

Seven Star Bowling:
Vijay Seenarine 6.5-1-33-2
Tim Persaud 7-0-40-2
Krish 6-0-37-3
Mohsin Khan 6-0-41-1
Sarmad Khan 7-0-52-2
Mohammed Nadir 2-0-17-0