Dominique Rikhi hit a superb 83. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
By Sam Sooppersaud
The Melbourne New York West Indian Alliance (MNYWIA) 2017 T20 Tournament continues this coming weekend at cricket grounds in Brooklyn and Queens, New York. The schedule is as follows:
Saturday, October 14th at Baisley Pond Park, 150 Street and Baisley Boulevard, Queens.
Everest/ACS vs Punjab at 10:00 AM
West Indian Alliance vs Everest/ACS at 2:00 PM
Saturday, October 14th at Seaview Park, Brooklyn
Pakistan Elites vs Punjab at 2:00 PM
Sunday, October 15th at Baisley Pond Park, 150 Street and Baisley Boulevard, Queens.
Galaxy vs Pakistan Elites at 10:00 AM.
Galaxy vs Melbourne NY Alliance at 2:00 PM
Sunday, October 15th at Seaview Park, Brooklyn
West Indian Alliance vs Pakistan Elites at 2:00 PM
Last weekend cricket fans saw two more exciting games completed in the tournament. On Saturday, October 7th, at 10:00 AM Everest/ACS played Pakistan Elites. ACS took first strike and scored 182 for 7. Shahid Shahzad, 43, Karan Ganesh, 42, Zamin Amin, 37. The most successful bowler was Zulqerman Mehr with figures of 4 for 46 in his 4 overs. In reply Pakistan Elites fell short by 34 runs. Their score: 148 for 8. Zahid Tariq, 56, Salas Iqbal, 23. For ACS, Wasim Haslim took 2 for 25, Jetendra Sookdeo 1 for 37, Karan Ganesh 1 for 22, and Zamin Amin 1 for 28.
The second game on that day (October 7th) started at 2:00 PM with Melbourne NY Alliance (MNYA) taking on Pakistan Elites. The game was played at the Baisley Pond Park, also. MNYA occupied the crease first and scored a stunning 235 for 6. Dominique Rikhi, 83, Barrington Bartley, 50, Jamal Hinckson and Troy Mars 20 runs each. Bowling for Pakistan Elites: Saad Awan 2 for 54, Adel Sahiwalian and Burhan Shazed 1 wicket each for 46 and 27 respectively. Having to overcome 235 runs for victory was too much to handle for Pakistan Elites. They fell for 171 runs. Salik Iqbal 64, Waseem Shazed 19. Taking the wickets for MNYA were Nosthush Kengije 4 for 46, Kevin Darlington, Matthew Marques, and Barrington Bartley, 1 wicket each for 28, 24 and 24 runs, respectively.
Salik Iqbal of Pakistan Elites hit 64. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
An additional four games were scheduled for Sunday, October 8th, two at Idlewild Park, Queens and two at Baisley Pond Park. Due to the overnight rains both games were cancelled at Idlewild Park, as well as the 10:00 AM game at Baisley Pond Park. It was apparent that even the 2:00 PM game at Baisley Park would also be cancelled. The wicket was covered, but the bowlers’ run up at each end was wet and somewhat soggy. Once the rain had stopped at about 12:30 PM a few spectators along with a couple of team management personnel worked feverishly to get the ground ready for play. They swept the water logged at each end, then using a concrete mixer tray attach to a rope, they trucked dried dirt to the soggy areas. At about 2:30 PM Umpires Danny Khan and Pandit declared the ground playable.
Fans that helped with fixing the soggy run-up.
A loud shout went out from the small crowd gathered to watch the game when the captains walked out to the middle to spin the toss. Galaxy won the coin toss and elected to bat first. West Indian Alliance would have the first bowl. The game proceeded well into the 13th over. But at the 13.4 over junction of the game and the score at 140 for 3, things went awry. This is what went down. The batsman played a ball out to extra cover and both batsmen took off for a run. The fieldsman charged in and scooped up the ball. The non-striker, sensing that he may be run out, called out “No”, and headed back toward his end of the wicket. The striker, by this time, was half way down the wicket. He stopped in his track. As he turned to head back to his cease, his feet gave way and he stumbled. At the same time he lost his bat. He scampered in toward his crease, but did not make it as the ball was collected by the ‘keeper who broke the stumps. The fielders appealed for a RUN OUT. Surprise, surprise. Umpire Danny Khan signaled Dead Ball. Yes, the President of the United States of America Cricket Umpires Association adjudged this play as “Dead Ball”. Preposterous. How can this be? The fielders questioned the umpire who stuck by his decision. Would this umpire negate a boundary if the fieldsman fell down and was not able to prevent the ball from reaching the rope? Certainly not. The ensuing discussion produced no fruit. The game was called, broken, abandoned. Call it what you may. One nonsensical, stupid call by the umpire, and an enjoyable day of cricket was spoiled.
After speaking to both team’s management, I was told that at one point in the discussion Umpire Khan agreed to negate his call of Dead Ball. However, he would not give the batsman out, Run Out, because he “couldn’t see if he got back” in time. Yes, he was so focused on his Dead Ball call that he forgot to look to see whether the batsman had made his ground. Folks let me say this. We have some excellent umpires doing our games, but there are a few who, to put it bluntly, STINK. I will address this umpiring problem in a later article. What the result of this game would be, I have no answer. I guess the tournament’s management will have to sift this through. I am just the guy reporting the facts. I do not make any judgments.