Persaud And Habibulla Efforts Not Enough To Stop Richmond Hill

Eastern American Cricket Association’s Power40 competition
An outstanding bowling and fielding performance by Liberty Sports Club was wasted when they failed to chase 206 against the experienced Richmond Hill Cricket Club at the Baisley Cage on Sunday.

Marlon Persaud picked up his third consecutive 4 wicket haul for LSC in 2013.

Marlon Persaud led the LSC bowling with his third 4 wicket haul for the season but it was Ramphal Bactowar’s 5 for 30 which dismantled the inexperienced LSC line up and deliver RHCC an easy 95 runs win.

Richmond Hill won the toss and did not hesitate in electing to bat first on a hot 1st Sunday of the Summer. Vijendra Singh struck the first blow for LSC when he removed the experienced Debo Sankar for 16. Sudesh Dhaniram replaced Debo but the prolific, former West Indies A team player, was kept quiet by the bowling combination of Imtiaz Hassan and Andy Harricharran. The pair did not allow the veteran right-hander to break free. Looking to get after Altaaf Habibulla when he replaced Hassan, Dhaniram top edged a pull shot and was out caught for 16. Zaheer Sadloo soon followed and RHCC found themselves at 92 for 4 in the 21st over.

Shameer Sadloo (38) & Deryck McDonald (30) patched up the RHCC inning, sharing an 80 runs partnership before Marlon Persaud removed both of them in his 4th over. Persaud would pick up 2 more wickets in his 5th over and along with Terrence Madramootoo (2 for eight) wrapped up RHCC’s inning for 205.

Thakur Singh 1 for 38, Vijendra Singh 1 for 22, Imtiaz Hassan 0 for 28 off 8 overs and Andy Harricharran none for 40 rounded off the Liberty SC bowling.

Feeling confident after restricting RHCC on a flat-trimmed, Baisley outfield and a typically bouncy wicket, LSC got off their chase with 12 runs after 2 overs. This would all change when Marlon Persaud was struck Leg Before in the 3rd over and Dilly Khilawan was caught in the 4th. Skipper, Danesh Deonarian, & the in-form Andy Harricharran then set about the repair job and put on a 51 runs 4th wicket partnership before Deoram Puran took a well-judged catch at deep square leg to remove Deonarain (33).

Altaaf Habibulla turned in another solid all-round performance with 2 for 30 and 33 not out.

Bactowar then went to work; he scalped 4 more LSC batsmen, including Harricharran (16), as RHCC ripped through the #BlueNation middle order. The only batsman to offer any resistance was Altaaf Habibulla who once again played a solid hand coming in at number 7. The all-rounder batted confidently, hitting 5 boundaries in an unbeaten 33 before the remaining LSC batsmen were bowled out with the score on 110.

Bactowar’s bowling effort was well supported by Dhaniram’s 3 for 15 and McDonald and Kumar Nandalall picking up 1 wicket each.

Liberty Sports Club continues their EACA Power40 tournament against the 2012 champions, Everest/ACS, this Sunday at Lido Beach. Follow the progress of Liberty Sports Club and join the #BlueNation via facebook (facebook.com/LibertyCricketClub) and twitter (@LibertySportsC).