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Bhatti leads Montgomery to a win against American College Allstars

openingbat — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:12:00 GMT

Bhatti leads Montgomery to a win against American College Allstars
by DreamCricket USA
Nov 03, 2009

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By Lloyd Jodah

Nearly every throw hit the stumps in an astounding display of fielding by the College Champions Montgomery as they took on an American College Cricket Allstars XI at Baisley Pond Park.

Billal Razzaq (George Mason U) got stopped by airport security in Virginia, missed his flight but that didn't let that prevent him from playing in this game. Sumantro Das (Boston U) and Jaideep Reddy (U Mass), Shaan Mehta (George Washington U) also came to join USA players Akeem Dodson (York) , Andy Aza Mohammed (TCI) and Regis Burton (SUNY) together with Dwayne Smith (City Tech), Saud Hossein (Vaughn), Chaitnath Khilawan (Brooklyn College) and Hugo D'Oliveira (York).

Akeem Dodson and Andy Mohammed, two of the best young batsmen in the US opened the battting for the Allstars in overcast and windy conditions. Dodson scored 100* a few weeks ago when he played here and right away clipped one beautifully off his hip through square leg for 4.

Pic (Right): Adil Bhatti, Captain of Montgomery College [Picture courtesy: NewYorkCricket.com]
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But Suchit Laheri kept it tight at one end whilst Montgomery Captain Adil Bhatti showed why he's one of the top young allrounders in the country by moving the ball through the air, and into Andy Aza Mohammed for an easy LBW decision. Akeem Dodson soon followed to another inswinger from Bhatti and suddenly Montgomery had the upper hand.

Ankit Sehgal was second in the batting averages in the Washington Cricket League and statistically the top allrounder, so it was no surprise that his spin was effective. Smith (City Tech) and Hossein (Vaughn) briefly looked good before Tahir Chaudhry and Sehgal dismissed them. The batsmen were restricted to singles many times instead of twos because the Montgomery fielders appeared to be mutant fielders - hitting the stumps just about every time they threw.

Khilawan was run out by a laser throw from Bhatti. The Allstars were reeling at 86 for 6 with Regis Burton, the USA Under-19 star who is also a USA senior probable on 15 when Jaideep Reddy came to the wicket. Burton drove over midwicket for 6 and looked in good form before getting caught off Wali Syed, who was bowling fast yorkers.

Reddy played himself in and then in the 24th over he hooked over square leg for 4, and ondrove for 6. He took 19 off the 25th over with a 6,4,and 4. Then Ashgar made one of the many unerring throws by Montgomery to destroy the stumps and run out Reddy for 42 (4 fours, 2 sixes). D'Oliveira was the 3rd run out by the mutant men of Montgomery leaving Razzaq on 2* for the College Allstars to finish with a respectable 170 runs off 30 overs.

The stylish Danish Ashgar and hardhitting Sadiq "Hulk" Naseer took strike against the fiery Sumantro Das. Das started with a bouncer to Ashgar and as Naseer said bowled "very fast" - he was timed at the Madan Lal Training Camp in India at 84 mph but has not bowled since August.

But Ashgar is a strokeplayer in the great Zaheer Abbas vein. His swirling blade sent the ball to square leg, point, midwicket, cover punishing Das and D'Oliveira in particular, who was off line. Naseer hit the ball hard overhead for 6 followed by well placed shots in between point and cover going LBW for 25 to Reddy, then Shaan Mehta clean bowled the dazzling Ashgar for 31 (1 six, 3 fours).

Montgomery - The American College Champions

Andy Mohammed came on with his left arm spin and bowled tightly but Wali Syed punished Burton's short balls before Das took a blistering catch off Razzaq to get rid of Syed 30 (2 sixes, 2 fours). Jaideep Reddy was the top wicket taker in the Massachusetts Cricket League this season and he showed why - his medium pace was effective and he sent back the dangerous Sehgal.

Umair Dasti (25*) was batting steadily when mystifyingly, in what turned out to be an astute piece of captaincy, Bhatti came late in the order at 128 for 5. It was still a tight game. Bhatti was having none of it though, he took command with an imperious confidence. A step and a beautiful cover drive for 4, followed by straight drives for 6 and 4. Bhatti scored 31* (1 six, 4 fours) out of 42 runs put the game away for Montgomery with nearly 2 overs to spare.

All Stars Team

The last time Aamir Chaudhry was in NY, he had the pleasure getting pulled onstage by the lovely Tanushra Dutta to dance at a Bollywood show but this trip he did not even get to bat, nevertheless he was ecstatic with the victory. Jaideep Reddy was all smiles, "I enjoyed playing the game,even though we lost" . Bilal Razzaq said,"This is one of the best games I've played in - meeting the guys was great." whilst Das' parents shared tasty samosas.

Later congrats came from American College Cricket VP Nino DiLoreto whilst challenges poured in, including from Rahul Potghan, Captain of Auburn U who sent word "We look forward to playing against Montgomery soon." Tarun Sandhu, the USC Trojans Captain said "We can't wait to play Montgomery in the 2010 American College Cricket Championship ."

Adil Bhatti was named the Man of the Match by Bassett Thompson (Commssioner of the NYC High School Cricket League).

Next College Game: Nov 7th - Penn State vs Rutgers @ Baisley Pond Park.
For info Contact Lloyd Jodah 718 751 6117

College Allstars 170 all out (30 overs)

Jaideep Reddy     42
Regis Burton         23
Akeem Dodson     16

Adil Bhatti             2 W,6 O, 24 R
Aamirr Chaudhry  1 W,6 O, 20 R
Tahir Chaudry       2 W,3 O, 14 R

LOST TO

Montgomery College 171 for 5 (28.1overs)

Adil Bhatti            31*
Danish Ashgar     31
Wali Syed            30
Umair Dasti         25*
Sadiq Naseer      25

Jaideep Reddy   3 W,6 O, 27 R
Bilal Razzaq       1 W,3 O, 19 R
Shaan Mehta      1 W,3 O, 20 R

Penn State defeats BMCC in USA collegiate cricket action

openingbat — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:08:00 GMT

Penn State defeats BMCC in USA collegiate cricket action
by DreamCricket USA
Oct 28, 2009

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Penn State University cricket team drove more than four hours sunday to play the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) in New York, and like their well-known Nittany Lions football team the day before, could they go back with a victory?

It was a glorious Autumn day, and the trees ringing Baisly Pond Park field were like jewelry aglow in their colorful hues. Canadian geese politely stayed outside the bounday line, whilst the sun was a welcome intrusion after the week's rain.

Commissioner of the NYC PSAL Cricket League for High Schools, Bassett Thompson, came to watch some of the students who had graduated from the PSAL League now playing for the first time for a college team. BMCC, a college in the City of New York (CUNY) system was fielding a cricket team for the first time - surprising considering the large percentage of its 240,000 students come from a cricket background.

In the previous three weeks Arslan Mohammed, an accounting major at BMCC, had made a lot of calls, put up flyers in his school, and formed a Facebook group to get the players together for the BMCC team. Arslan said "I played for DeWitt Clinton in the High School League so when I heard what American College Cricket was doing I told Lloyd I wanted to play. He promised me if I got a team together he would get another college to play us." The team had no gear but was motivated to borrow bats, pads, etc, and it was that sunday morning that protective cups were purchased.

Traffic delayed the Nitany Lions team but the game got underway as soon as they arrived. Sridhar Ranganathun of Penn State won the toss and batted first. Arslan Mohammed and Tasbir Hussain opened the bowling for BMCC and except for wides bowled well. Ranganathan leaned back and cracked a four square then walked into one and hit it straight overhead for six, and looked real good before he went for 17.

The Penn State and BMCC teams pose for a picture

Number 3 batsman, Rahul Sarnobat had played for the Karnataka U-19 team in India but was rusty from having no cricket for a year. Nevertheless the tall Sarnobat exquisitely on-drove, square drove and hooked for boundaries, and went down the wicket for a six in his 42 runs (3 fours, 2 sixes). Another trip down the wicket and he didn't quite get hold of the ball and was caught at long on off Afshan Tahir. Rajesh Gopalan smashed two sixes whilst Venkat Ravi played a beauiful cut and the Penn State Team looked like they were headed for about 160 before Ravi went to Muznib.

Andre "Rusty" Kirton was the re-introduced into the attack. Kirton played for the USA in the U-19 World Cup in 2006. Like many young players he was getting lost in the shuffle after his Under 19 career was over so he jumped at the opportunity to play college cricket, as he put it: "Now that I'm involved Montgomery won't be keeping the Chanderpaul Trophy ". Kirton's left-arm spin was difficult to handle and he quickly took 3 wickets for 10 runs, which together with a couple of run outs ended Penn State's innings at 129.

BMCC batted and Rahul Sarnobat generated pace, got hit for two fours and clean bowled the two openers - all that action in his first over ! Akhil Kumar took two more wickets whilst Rifat Hussain 22 (2 fours, 1 six) showed defiance. Wahaj Anwar hit 21 (1 four,1 six) before getting run out by a brilliant running one-handed pickup and throw by Sarnobat at mid-on. Waqar contributed 11 before being runout to leave BMCC 107 all out as the twilight sky turned an incandescent orange.

PSAL Commissioner Thompson congratulated the Penn State guys and added " It's great to see cricketers graduate from playing for their High Schools (in NYC) to playing for their colleges ! Hopefully BMCC or another NY college can go on to win the American College Cricket Championship next year !"

Ranganathan, as President of Penn State Cricket Club said: "I would like to extend our invitation to colleges to play at our new ground. We have excellent facilities (astro turf, flood lights etc.). We also have several players who have achieved a lot in Indian domestic leagues, including two who could not make it today - Vikram Kumar who was the wicket keeper for Tamil Nadu in Ranji Trophy and Mahesh Krishnamurthy who was the runner-up in the ESPN Fastest Bowler Challenge for Chennai. "

Rahul Sarnobat was declared the Man of the Match, following which photos were taken and the Penn State team started on their four hour journey back to school.

Next College game is Saturday, Oct 31st - 12 Noon at Baisley Pond Park when American College Champions Montgomery College returns to New York. For more info call Lloyd Jodah 718 751 6117

Match Report and Photo: Courtesy Lloyd Jodah