Zaheer Saffie Blaze Unbeaten 100 From 36 Balls In Big Apple Win

EACA T20 Blitz
By Saif Yasin
After claiming the EACA Power 40 championship the week before, Big Apple Cricket Club (BACC) returned to action with aspirations of claiming the T20 championships. With their attention now focused on the shorter formats, BACC faced off in a double game encounter against formidable opponents Long Island United Cricket Club and Atlantis Cricket Club.

Big Apple skipper Zaheer Saffie struck a swashbuckling 100 against Long Island United. Photos by Shiek Mohamed

In their first match of the double header Atlantis won the toss and elected to take first strike. Openers Ryan Sukhdeo and Shawn Mason got Atlantis off to a decent start before Big Apple removed them 8 and 14 respectively. Ryan Girdharry came in and established a decent partnership with the hard-hitting Kavishwar Bridgepaul.  Things fell apart when Bridgepaul was out LBW for 26 off the bowling off Ryan Balram, leaving Girdharry without a partner to carry on the innings with. He would eventually go caught by Zaheer Saffie for 60 off the bowling Telston Johnson leaving Atlantis with a par total of 150.

In reply to this total, Big Apple got off to a flyer of a start with openers Richard Ramdeen and Romeno Dean playing very aggressively against the Atlantis bowling unit. First innings hero Ryan Girdharry removed Deane for a well played 26 and would come back later in the attack to claim the wickets of Ramdeen for 44 and Andre Kirton for 0. Zaheer Saffie saw that Girdharry wouldn’t do any more damage as he calmly brought Big Apple home with a well-composed 42 not out.

Game 1 Summary:
Atlantis 150/7: Ryan Girdharry 60 4x4s & 3x6s/ Kavishwar Bridgepaul  26 1×4 & 3×6/ Shawn Mason 14 1×4 & 1×6
BACC: Mark Gomes 4-0-34-3/ Telston Johnson 4-0-40-2/ Ryan Balram 4-0-17-1
BACC 151/5: Richard Ramdeen 44 6×4/ Zaheer Saffie 42* 2x4s/ Romeno Deane 26 3x4s & 3×6
Atlantis: Ryan Girdharry 4-0-22-3/ Hugh Craig 4-0-36-1

Big Apple vs Long Island United CC
In their second match Big Apple won the toss and elected to bat first against LIUCC.  Romeno Deane and Rhett Ramotar opened the batting for Big Apple and were off to fast start immediately as Deane stroked two fours before being dismissed for 9. Richard Ramdeen joined Ramotar and the two to rebuild the innings after the early setback. Both batsmen played confidently and would eventually reach into the forties before LIUCC fought back. They removed the aggressive Ramdeen for 49 while Ramotar seemed to injure himself during his innings and had to retire hurt on 40. Andre Kirton didn’t last long as he was dismissed for only 2, bringing out captain Zaheer Saffie. With Big Apple in need of a rescue, Zaheer Saffie did what any captain would do and took the innings by command. Just as he took Big Apple to a formidable score in the Power 40 finals with a fine century, he took Big Apple to a more than competitive total with yet another ton. His swashbuckling innings of 100 not out came off a mere 39 balls and saw Big Apple to a monstrous score of 233 in their allotted overs.

Richard Ramdeen was also among the runs.

In response to this huge task, LIUCC were immediately pegged back as Theron Rodney removed both openers. A third wicket partnership between H. Singh and W. Ashiq was just what they needed as both batsmen were timing the ball very well as they dispatched the Big Apple bowlers to the boundary.  Big Apple put a chokehold on the inning when Singh was run out for 41 and part time Romeno Deane removed Ashiq for 72. From there on LIUCC’s inning’s fell apart as Sean Thompson and Deane kept the wickets tumbling. They were eventually dismissed for 163 in 18 overs.

Game 2 Summary:
BACC 233/6: Zaheer Saffie 100* 8x4s & 6x6s/ Richard Ramdeen 49 6×4 & 1×6/ Rhett Ramotar 40 6×4
LIUCC: Q. Kasim 4-0-40-1/ T. Khan 4-0-55-1
BLIUCC 163/ All Out: W. Ashiq 8×4’s & 1×6 / H. Singh 42 4×4’s
BACC: Romeno Deane 1.1-0-4-3/ Teron Rodney 4-0-37-2/ Shawn Thompson 4-044-2