By Intiaz Mohamed
Photo Gallery
A New York World XI stunned a Guyana XI to reach the final of the Roy Sweeney T20 Benefit Tournament last Saturday at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.

Karan Ganesh led New York World XI batting with 39. Photos by Shiek Mohamed

Guyana, led by the former USA captain Steve Massiah won the toss and elected to field on what seemed to be a dead track with a heavy outfield. Michael Noble and Sumon Bari opened the innings for the New York World XI led by Telston Johnson, but soon found themselves in deep trouble losing both openers cheaply; M. Noble for 2 and S. Bari for 7.

A third-wicket partnership of 46 from Karan Ganesh and young Travis Ross would give the New York World XI some breathing room, with both batsmen playing with caution while repairing the early damage done by Quasen Alfred who picked up the two opening wickets. Travis Ross would eventually fall for a well-played 21 which included two fours, and with the score on 56.

Ryan Balram, A. Maseen and Shiv Ragubar did not make any significant contributions as they fell for 2, 0, and 0, respectively.  With the scorecard reading 61 for 6, Shawn Thompson along with Karan Ganesh would add 18 runs, moving the score to 79. Ganesh subsequently fell victim to the veteran pacer Kevin Darlington, giving the former USA national player his only scalp of the match. Ganesh had a superb knock of 39 from 38 deliveries, including a four and two sixes, helping to stabilize the New York World XI inning.

It was just like in the movies, the best was saved for last!

The New York World XI skipper Telston Johnson joined Shawn Thompson, and the pair added some excitement to the game, while taking their team’s score to a respectable total. The pair added 45 with some fine hitting from skipper Johnson, as he punched Steve Massiah and pacer Kevin Darlington to the boundary and beyond on many occasions. Johnson blasted an unbeaten 38 from 16 balls with two fours and three sixes, while Shawn Thompson played the supporting role and was left not out on 11. The New York World XI would reach a formidable total of 124 for 7 off the allotted 20 overs.

Shawn Thompson (left) with New York World XI skipper Telston Johnson added a vital 45 runs partnership.

Guyana’s most successful bowlers were Andre Kirton who had 3 for 19 off 4 overs, Quasen Alfred 2 for 18 off 3 overs, and Ryan Girdhary none for 10 off his 4 overs.

Guyana’s opening pair of skipper Steve Massiah and Akeem Dodson would walk to the crease and aggressively start their response. They were very harsh to pacer Telston Johnson and Charlton Senior, as Massiah drove with immaculate ease and Dodson cut and hooked brilliantly against the opening pacers. The pair posted 74, before Akeem Dodson fell to Michael Noble, bowled for a well made 38 that came off 43 balls and included four fours. Quasen Alfred would join his skipper and together the duo added 31, before Alfred fell lbw to Karan Ganesh for 17. Steve Massiah was then bowled by Shiv Ragubar and the Guyana XI collapse was triggered from there on.

Shawn Thompson along with Karan Ganesh spun webs around the other batsmen, as they would become the bowling heroes for the New York World XI. Shawn Thompson’s hat-trick was the decisive factor in the defeat of the highly favored Guyana XI.

Karan Ganesh picked up the wickets of Andre Kirton and Kavishwar Bridgepaul for 0 and 3 respectively, while Shawn Thompson struck capturing his club’s captain Zaheer Saffie for 4, and captured the wickets of Romeno Dean, Azrudeen Mohamed and Kevin Darlington, all without scoring. He would celebrate a hat-trick with his first three victims.

In the end the Guyana XI fell short by 10 runs, as they could only muster 114 all out in 19.5 overs.

Shawn Thompson and Karan Ganesh would finish as the most successful bowlers for the New York World XI, finishing with four wickets apiece at 16 runs each.

The New York World XI would now take on a Jamaica XI in the final this Saturday. Jamaica defeated Trinidad & Tobago convincingly, to advance to the finals.

The New York World XI vs. Jamaica game is schedule to start at 12 noon on Saturday, June 23 at the Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY.

Guyana v Rest Of The World
Saturday, June 16 2012 at Floyd Bennett Field
Rest Of The World Won By 10 runs
Guyana Guyana won toss and decided to field
Rest Of The World Guyana Guyana
124 for 7 (20.0 overs) 114 all out(19.5 overs)
Rest Of The World
Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s S/r
M Noble c K Darlington b Q Alfred 2 4 0 0 50.00
S Bari b Q Alfred 7 14 0 0 50.00
K Ganesh c and b K Darlington 39 38 1 2 102.63
T Ross lbw b A Kirton 21 28 2 0 75.00
R Balram c and b A Kirton 2 2 0 0 100.00
A Maseen b A Kirton 0 2 0 0 0.00
S Ragibar lbw b Z Saffie 0 1 0 0 0.00
S Thompson not out 11 15 0 0 73.33
T Johnson* not out 38 16 2 3 237.50
Extras 0nb 2w 1lb 1b 0pen 4
Total 124 for 7 (20.0 overs)

 

Batsman Fall of Wicket Partnership Batsmen Over
M Noble 1-8 8 M Noble(2) S Bari(5) 2.4
S Bari 2-10 2 S Bari(2) K Ganesh(0) 2.6
T Ross 3-56 46 T Ross(21) K Ganesh(22) 11.2
R Balram 4-58 2 R Balram(2) K Ganesh(0) 11.4
A Maseen 5-58 0 A Maseen(0) K Ganesh(0) 11.6
S Ragibar 6-61 3 S Ragibar(0) K Ganesh(3) 12.5
K Ganesh 7-79 18 K Ganesh(14) S Thompson(4) 16.2

 

Bowler O M R W Wd Nb S/r Econ
K Darlington 3.0 0 21 1 1 (1) 0 (0) 19.00 7.00
R Gildhary 4.0 0 10 0 0 (0) 0 (0) 0.00 2.50
Q Alfred 3.0 0 18 2 0 (0) 0 (0) 9.00 6.00
S Massiah 4.0 0 44 0 1 (1) 0 (0) 0.00 11.00
A Kirton 4.0 0 19 3 0 (0) 0 (0) 8.00 4.75
Z Saffie 2.0 0 10 1 0 (0) 0 (0) 12.00 5.00

 

Guyana Guyana
Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s S/r
A Dodson+ b M Noble 38 43 4 0 88.37
S Massiah* b S Ragibar 47 44 3 1 106.82
Q Alfred lbw b K Ganesh 17 15 1 1 113.33
A Kirton c A Maseen b K Ganesh 0 1 0 0 0.00
K Bridgepaul c S Ragibar b K Ganesh 3 5 0 0 60.00
Z Saffie c T Ross b S Thompson 4 5 0 0 80.00
R Gildhary c M Noble b K Ganesh 2 2 0 0 100.00
R Deane b S Thompson 0 1 0 0 0.00
A Mohammed c K Ganesh b S Thompson 0 1 0 0 0.00
A Habibulla not out 0 0 0 0 0.00
K Darlington c A Asif b S Thompson 0 2 0 0 0.00
Extras 0nb 1w 2lb 0b 0pen 3
Total 114 all out(19.5 overs)
Batsman Fall of Wicket Partnership Batsmen Over
A Dodson 1-74 74 A Dodson(38) S Massiah(35) 12.3
Q Alfred 2-105 31 Q Alfred(17) S Massiah(12) 16.5
A Kirton 3-105 0 A Kirton(0) S Massiah(0) 16.6
S Massiah 4-106 1 S Massiah(0) K Bridgepaul(1) 17.2
K Bridgepaul 5-112 6 K Bridgepaul(2) Z Saffie(4) 18.4
R Gildhary 6-114 2 R Gildhary(2) Z Saffie(0) 18.6
Z Saffie 7-114 0 Z Saffie(0) R Deane(0) 19.1
A Mohammed 8-114 0 A Mohammed(0) R Deane(0) 19.2
R Deane 9-114 0 R Deane(0) A Habibulla(0) 19.3
K Darlington 10-114 0 K Darlington(0) A Habibulla(0) 19.5

 

Bowler O M R W Wd Nb S/r Econ
T Johnson 2.0 0 21 0 0 (0) 0 (0) 0.00 10.50
C Senior 3.0 0 27 0 0 (0) 0 (0) 0.00 9.00
K Ganesh 4.0 0 16 4 0 (0) 0 (0) 6.00 4.00
S Ragibar 4.0 0 18 1 0 (0) 0 (0) 24.00 4.50
M Noble 4.0 0 14 1 1 (1) 0 (0) 25.00 3.50
S Thompson 2.5 0 16 4 0 (0) 0 (0) 4.25 5.65