Shahid Shahzad The Hero In Thrilling Everest Win

By Sam Sooppersaud
The Everest Masters Cricket Organization made it “two in a row” when they successfully defended their 2016 championship title against Village Ram Masters, at Idlewild Cricket Ground in Rosedale, Queens, New York on Saturday, September 23, 2017. The unseasonably hot weather added to a day of excellent cricket on the part of both teams. A batsman on each side scored a century which helped both teams to score in excess of 200 runs in the 35-overs contest. Both teams should be complimented for putting on a show for the small group of dedicated cricket fans who showed up to watch the game.

Village Ram Masters won the toss and invited Everest to take first strike. That decision did not go well with some Village Ram fans who thought that their team should have batted first. After all, some reasoned that “our players ah much oldah dan dem. We go get tired by de time we get fuh bat.” Although Village Ram lost the game, it was not because of tiredness or lack of hustle. In fact they took more chances in running between the wickets than a fresh Everest club. They turned one’s into two’s and two’s into three’s. For the most part of their inning the Everest batsmen were somewhat lackadaisical in running between the wickets. I felt they could have scored an extra 20 runs had they been more aggressive in their running.

Everest had a good start to their inning, but they lost two wickets with the score on 34. A third wicket partnership between Sohan Dass (44) and eventual centurion Shahid Shahzad (113) pulled them back in the game. They lost another wicket, their fourth, with the same 141 score on the board. A fifth wicket stand of 61 between Shahzad and skipper Zamin Amin (30) tilted the advantage toward Everest. They eventually were all out for 243 runs. S. Shahzad gave a display of batting befitting a clinic. He batted watchfully, caressing the good deliveries, but punishing the bad ones.

Shahid Shahzad struck a vital 113 as Everest retains the New York Masters Cricket League title. Photo by Shem Rodney. Top photo, Everest team after winning the championship. Photo courtesy of Debo Sankar.

Village Ram Masters used seven bowlers in all in their effort to dislodge the aggressive Shahzad. Wicket takers were: L. Williamson (2-41), K. Sang (3-20), W. Myers (2-27), T. Gordon (1-31), and C. Mendonca (1-43)

In reply, Village Ram sent out D. Morgan and R. Trocard to open the batting. Needing close to seven runs per over, the two batsmen started their batting aggressively. The first wicket fell at 41, and another at 56.

They lost two more wickets by the time they had posted 100 runs on the board. Everest was definitely on top, but their nemesis with the bat was Trocard. He was stroking the ball cleanly all over the field on his way to a personal ton. He gave the Everest boys and their supporters some anxious moments.

Village Ram’s second 100 runs cost them only three wickets, with Trocard still at the middle. It looked like Village Ram was on their way to a win. But with the fall of Trocard’s wicket it seemed inevitable that Village Ram would fall short of the required total. Trocard’s even 100 was not enough, as the Village Ram inning closed out at 221, losing by just 24 runs, and giving Everest the 2017 Masters championship title.

Bowling for Everest: S. Dass (1-37), V. Seonarine (2-29), D. Mohammed (3-43) and Z. Amin (2-42).

The Everest boys were elated that they had won the championship title once again, but voiced some displeasure, having won the championship in 2016, and until now the club has not received that trophy from the NY Masters League. They said that they had discussed this matter with the league, yet their trophy, the symbol of their championship season, was still being withheld from them. They are hoping that it would not be the same for this 2017 championship trophy. They asked me to look into the matter, and I promised to do so.