By Peter Della Penna

The New York Region had a long day today culminating in a 5 wicket defeat to the South East Region on the first day of the USACA Eastern Conference Tournament, held in the northern suburbs of Washington, D.C. After a five hour drive for the team on the morning of the match, New York appeared sluggish, getting off to a poor start as wickets fell at a breakneck pace before they were bowled out for 119 at William Wirt Field.

Patel and Allen of South East Post Match Interview vs. NY from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

“It’s part and parcel of the game,” said New York captain Steve Massiah. “If you play enough cricket, these things are going to happen. I thought today was just a collapse. Hopefully, we can learn from this and we can regroup and hopefully win the next two games.”

New York was struggling at 30/3 in the 13th over before Massiah orchestrated a fightback with Rashard Marshall to give New York some hope. They added 42 for the fourth wicket, by far the largest partnership of the innings for New York. It ended when Timroy Allen beat Massiah with a short ball that kept low and took out the leg stump. Massiah was gone for 25 and from there New York lost their final six wickets for 47 runs as Allen took another three and threw down the stumps to have Dwayne Smith run out.

However, New York was not going down without a fight. Kevin Darlington took four wickets in four overs as South East was left reeling at 25/4 in the 7th over. But the lunch break was taken after the 8th over and afterwards Darlington came out flat and his teammates didn’t give him any support bowling or in the field. New York’s fielding was atrocious as at least 15 runs were given away through misfields, drops and overthrows. It took the pressure off of Man of the Match Patel, who steadied the ship as he guided his squad to the two biggest partnerships of the match. He put on 48 for the 5th wicket with Anand Tummala and finished with an unbeaten 6th wicket stand of 47 with Allen to finish the match.

“I was just trying to stay there as long as I could,” said Patel. Patel finished 53* in 68 balls with five 4s and one 6. South East reached the target in the 25th over as the winning run was scored off a wide. It was a microcosm of the wayward day for New York.

“If we are going to go on to the national championship, we need to win the next two games,” said Massiah. “It’s pretty much straightforward. We need to win and we need to win big.” New York will take on Directors XI at Chillum Park on Saturday.

Meanwhile over at Chillum Park in Hyattsville, Maryland, the Atlantic Region put in a complete team performance in taking out the Directors XI today by 3 wickets. Aditya Mishra was named Man of the Match after he top scored for Atlantic Region with 49 as they chased down the Directors XI’s 174 in 37 overs. Directors XI made it interesting with a late flurry of wickets, but in the end the Atlantic Region proved their class.

“I personally was kicking myself for getting out with 49 and leaving the team with what happened in the end,” said Mishra, who had five 4s in his knock. “I think it’s a lesson for all of us. I was very confident that we were gonna see it through, but losing 7 wickets chasing 174, I don’t think the game should have ended that way. But we’ve gotta learn from our mistakes so hopefully tomorrow we’ll do much better.”

Singh and Mishra Atlantic Post Match Interview vs. Directors XI from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

The Atlantic Region will take on the South East in the feature game tomorrow at William Wirt Field. Both matches are scheduled to get underway at 11 a.m.

USACA Eastern Conference Unofficial Scorecards
South East vs. New York
South East won by 5 wickets
New York won toss and batted
Man of the Match: Japen Patel

New York Batting

 

Batsman        Runs    Balls    4s    6s    Dismissal
D Evans        1    11    0    0    ct Sahadeo+ bowled Tummala
G Hall            5    19    0    0    ct Nidumkkala bowled Tummala
S Massiah ©        25    46    3    0    bowled Allen
L Cush            9    17    0    0    LBW Singh
R Marshall        17    20    3    0    ct Tummala bowled Javed
A Dodson+        7    12    1    0    ct Nidumkkala bowled Allen
D Thomas        6    9    0    0    c & b Javed
K Ganesh        5    15    0    0    ct Patel bowled Allen
D Smith        4    15    0    0    runout (Allen)
A Kirton        2    4    0    0    not out
K Darlington        7    11    1    0    LBW Allen
Total Extras        31
Team Total        119 in 31 overs

South East Bowling    Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets

K Singh        9-1-42-1
A Tummala        9-2-21-2
T Allen        7-1-28-4
N Javed        6-0-21-2


South East Batting

Batsman        Runs    Ball    4s    6s    Dismissal
R Srikanth        0    6    0    0    ct+ Dodson bowled Darlington
T Surujbally        1    4    0    0    bowled Darlington
H Nidumkkala        17    16    1    1    bowled Darlington
V Nayar        0    11    0    0    LBW Darlington
J Patel            53    68    5    1    not out
A Tummala        17    28    0    0    run out (Kirton)
T Allen        13    14    2    0    not out
A Sahadeo       
R Cresser+
K Singh
N Javed ©
Total Extras        19
Team Total         120 in 24.3 overs

New York Bowling    Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets

K Darlington        9-1-35-4
D Thomas        5-1-35-0
L Cush            6-1-9-0
D Smith        3-0-19-0
S Massiah        1-0-10-0
D Evans        .3-0-3-0


Atlantic vs. Directors XI
Atlantic won by 3 wickets
Man of the Match: Aditya Mishra

Directors XI Batting

Batsman         Runs    4s    6s    Dismissal
A Mohammed        0    0    0    ct ? bowled Awan
C Monroe        3    0    0    ct ? bowled Gordon
B Ajodhi        20    2    0    ct ? bowled Amin
G Sewdial        24    3    0    run out
J Rasheed        5    0    0    ct ? bowled Forest
R Burton        23    2    0    ct ? bowled Mehta
A Bhatti        12    2    0    ct ? bowled Forest
K Bridgepaul        20    4    0    ct ? bowled Mehta
R James        29    1    1    not out
A Sehgal        2    0    0    ct ? bowled Patel
A Ajodhi        6    1    0    ct ? bowled Patel
Total Extras        40
Team Total        174 in 46.2 overs

Atlantic Bowling    Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets

I Awan            9-2-42-1
A Gordon        8-1-25-1
D Forest        10-1-36-2
R Amin        5-0-30-1
S Mehta        8-0-31-2
K Patel            6.2-3-6-2


Atlantic Batting

Batsman         Runs    4s    6s    Dismissal
R Gowkaran        22    2    1    bowled Bridgepaul
A Mishra        49    5    0    st ? bowled Sehgal
S Mehta        10    2    0    ct ? bowled James
C Singh        34    5    0    ct ? bowled Sehgal
C Williams        4    0    0    bowled Rasheed
K Patel            1    0    0    ct ? bowled Sehgal
K Baride        9    2    0    ct ? bowled Mohammed
D Forest        15    1    0    not out
I Awan            4    1    0    not out
R Amin
A Gordon
Total Extras        30
Team Total         178 in 37 overs

Directors XI Bowling    Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets

K Bridgepaul        4-0-33-1
A Ajodhi        1-0-9-0
A Bhatti        2-0-15-0
R James        3-0-17-1
J Rasheed        10-1-17-1
R Burton        2-0-13-0
A Mohammed        6-0-39-1
A Sehgal        9-0-30-3