By John L. Aaron
The much anticipated Rockaway Group of Companies sponsored Rockaway T20 New York Cricket Fiesta is all set to launch this weekend at Baisley Pond Park, 150th Street and Baisley Blvd., Queens, NY.
Bangladesh and Pakistan square off at 10:00am with Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago clashing at 2:00pm at the same venue. It promises to be a fun-filled day of cricket. Principal sponsor Hafeez Ali of The Rockaway Group of Companies, in an invited comment, said, “I am looking forward to a competitive tournament and my hope is to bring back the level of competitive cricket New York has been longing to see. Good luck to all of the participating teams.”
After some delay, three of the four squads have been announced. Bangladesh, Guyana, and Trinidad & Tobago have all named strong squads with a mixture of youth and veterans, while Team Pakistan is still to announce its squad. However, the teams are all ready to rumble for the inaugural Rockaway T20 title; in a return to national representative cricket in New York area, a la Red Stripe and Caribbean Cup tournaments of the late 80s and 90s.
The squads are:
BANGLADESH
Abu B. Siddik, Abu Rahat, Anindo Das, Arif Islam, Enamul Haque, Jr, Fayzal Ahmed, Jakir Hussain, MD Abu Taher, MD Kamruzzaman, MD Shaheen, Mohammed Nazu, Mohammed T. Choudhury, Nadim U. Zaman, Nazmul Hasan Siddique (Captain), Pranay Subra Das, Rahat Rahman Khan, Robin Das, Syed Sibghat Hussain (Vice-Captain), Ubaidullah Rahi and Zahir Azad. Coordinator/Manager is Mohammed Mehraz and Sarwar Chowdhury will serve as Coach of the team.
GUYANA
Akeem Dodson, Akshay Homraj, Alex Amsterdam, Andre Kirton, Andy Mohamed, Derick Narine, Deveshwari Prashad, Dominique Riki, Dyanand Roopnarine, Karan Ganesh, Michael Noble, Moshin Khan, Muneshwar Patandin, Randall Wilson, Richard Ramdeen, Terrence Madramootoo, Treon Forde (wk), Udesh Bisnauth, Wasim Haslim and Renrick Batson. Manager –Jameel “JZ” Mohamed, with Sew Shivnarain as Coach.
Pakistan
Abdullah Syed, Adil Nosherwan, Adnan Khan, Adnan Nasim, Asad Manwar, Awais Butt, Babar Raiz, Imran Mazhar, Jahazeb Alam,Junaid Alam, Naeem Arif, Rizwan Akram, Salik Iqbal, Shazad Shahid, Taimoor Haider, Umar Farooq, Usman Chaudhry, Waheed Akhta, Waseem Akhtar, Zafar Khan. Manager-Irfan Malik.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Andre Brown, Anthony Jaggernauth, Chris Mangal, Daryl Roopchand (Captain), David Mohamed, Deen Sooden, Gregory Mahabir, Hafeez Khan, Jameel Khan, Kerry Ramlakhan, Mahadeo Bodeo, Ranjeev Bridgemohan, Richie Siewchan, Ryan Khan, Sean Stanisclaus, Steve Samuels, Timothy Surujbally and Vijay Ramphal. The Management staff is – Joe Siewharack, Coordinator, Shadi Khan, Manager, Hafeez Khan, Asst. Manager, and Hemat Gangapersaud and Sheldon Gomes, Coaches.
Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana have long been seen as power houses of cricket in the New York area, however, Pakistan, with a few stand out players have competed exceptionally well in these types of tournament. Bangladesh, may be the team to watch. In the past decade the Bangladeshi community has seen an influx of phenomenal players from that country. Team Bangladesh is expected to compete at the highest level against the other household squads.
