The late Paul Parbhudial.
Approximately 200 people gathered at the Alley Pond Park last Sunday in Eastern Queens, NY to participate in the inaugural memorial cricket match honoring the late Paul Parbhudial. ‘Uncle Paul’ as he was popularly known was a huge cricket fan and probably the number one fan and supporter of the Queens Village Cricket Club. He passed away in December 2008.
Prior to the game played between Queens Village and Richmond Hill, players and supporters in attendance observed a moment of silence and briefly reminisced the fond cricket moments of ‘Uncle Paul’ by his son Ravi.
The twenty (20+) aside 30 over affair began just after 1:00pm. Richmond Hill won the toss and decided to bat first. No, twenty people did not fielded all at once, eleven did. Richmond Hill managed to get to 233 for the lost of seventeen (17) wickets. Anand Singh and Darshan Chickery top scored with 38 each. Contributing knocks of 31 came from Gibran Wahab and 25 by Robin. Queens Village’s Ravi Parbhudial was the best bowler with 4 for 23. He was nicely assisted by Ramjit Singh and Kishan with three wickets apiece.
Queens Village made a spirited reply with 217 for 21. Bygee Sookram top scored with a swashbuckling 32. His entertaining knock contained three 6’s and three 4’s. Other contributions came from Johnny Sookraj with 25 that contained three 6’s and a four, Kundan’s 25 whose knock contained four 6’s and Vicky Brijmohan 23. Vicky Dhanraj was Richmond Hill’s best bowler with 5 for 30. He got support from Joe Ramnarine & Kumar Chickery who took three wickets apiece.
Among the gathering in attendance was and old acquaintance of ‘Uncle Paul’ – Sham Samaroo. He spent a few hours and in the process could not avoid the conversation of cricket with ‘the boys’.
A presentation – symbolic of the event took place immediately after the game. Ravi Parbhudial, Vicky Dhanraj and Darshan Chickery received trophies for Best Bowler, Man of the Match and Best Batsman respectively. Queens Village and Richmond Hill got a trophy each for participating in the game. Then the most moving part of the event came. Queens Village presented a plaque to Mrs. Parbhudial read by a relative of the late Paul Parbhudial. The message brought tears to all in attendance.
Ravi Parbhudial and his siblings would like to thank all the players and supporters who came out to the event. This game will become an annual fixture on Memorial Day weekend.
