By Peter Della Penna
A dogged defense of 91 in a Friday night Twenty20 encounter was backed
up by a methodical chase of 198 on Saturday afternoon as the USACA
South East Region squad made it two for two coming out on top of the
touring Marylebone Cricket Club squad at the Central Broward Regional
Park in Lauderhill, Fla.
Post Match Interview with MCC Captain Michael Foster from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
On Friday night, South East won the toss and batted first against the
MCC squad. South East got off to a superb start as Timothy Surujbally
charged full speed ahead for 27 runs opening the innings and combined
with Saisitaram Ramesh to put on 46 runs for the second wicket. Ramesh
was bowled by Ajaz Akhtar with the score on 52 in the 6th over and that
sparked a dramatic collapse.
Surujbally was out to Tom Bartram in the next over, the first of
Bartram’s five wickets as he then set about dismantling the middle
order with steady medium pace bowling. Bartram was on a hat trick after
taking the wickets of Steven Taylor and Robert Cresser with the score
on 77 in the 9th over. South East’s last nine wickets fell for 39 runs
as they were all out for 91 in 13.3 overs.
It looked like MCC would get there with plenty of overs to spare, but
South East came out fired up and keen to defend their meager total. Ken
Singh set the tone for South East, opening the bowling by completing
two maidens in his four over spell. Anand Tummala also built pressure
of his own with a maiden and two more overs for only six runs. After
the halfway point in the innings, MCC was 24 for 5.
Captain Michael Foster came in at the fall of the fifth wicket and
tried to galvanize his team, scoring 38 off 29 balls. With the score at
80 for 7 and 12 needed to win off the final over, MCC was boosted after
a no ball was called on the second delivery to make it nine needed from
five balls. Foster then scored a two and a single off the next two
deliveries, but was stranded at the non-striker’s end with six needed
to win in three balls. Robert Cresser bowled a dot ball, then bowled
Ajaz Akhtar before Bartram hit a single off the last ball as South East
managed to hold on for victory.
“I thought we had bowled and fielded really well and probably had a
number that we could chase down,” said Foster after the loss on Friday
night. “But as we’ve seen all around the country here, a lot of spirit
in the field… and unfortunately we fell a couple short.”
In Saturday’s contest, MCC won the toss and batted first. Once again,
their innings got off to a very slow start as Singh and Tummala didn’t
offer anything loose. Shani Kamalia hit MCC’s first boundary with the
last ball of the 12th over to make the score 42 for 0. Two balls later,
Singh claimed the first wicket for South East as he bowled Simon
Montgomery. In the next over, Jibran Gul replaced Tummala and Kamalia
started to open up, hitting another boundary off the fourth ball, but
got carried away and on his next delivery, tried to pull a short ball
and mistimed it straight to Tummala at midwicket in the circle to make
it 48 for 2.
After Singh’s spell was finished, Hussain Haider came on and continued
to apply pressure with some crafty right arm spin bowling as he mixed
in off spin with leg spin. He finished with 2 for 27, claiming the
wickets of Paul Bryson and Karl Pearson.
When Pearson fell to make it 88 for 5 in the 26th over, Foster was
joined by Paul Davidge at the wicket and the two grinded out 97 runs
for the 6th wicket. Foster took on an aggressive role while Davidge
blocked his way through the first half of his innings, making sure to
stay at the wicket to keep the tail from being exposed. At one point,
Davidge was on 10 off 47 balls. Foster, a former Sheffield Shield
player for Victoria in Australia’s first class competition, played some
classy strokes to keep the scoreboard moving and brought up his 50 with
an elegant cover drive. He was finally caught in the 47th over on the
boundary by Cresser off Surujbally’s off spin for 66 in 67 balls with
eight fours in his knock. The only other boundaries in the innings were
the two hit by Kamalia. MCC finished 198 for 8 in their 50 overs.
South East had a rocky start to their innings when both openers,
Surujbally and Taylor, were dismissed cheaply to make the score 17 for
2. After seeing off the rest of Bartram’s opening spell, Sunju Patel
and Japen Patel then constructed a solid 82-run partnership for the
third wicket to get things back on track. Japen Patel was caught behind
trying to defend a Pearson delivery to make it 99 for 3, but Sunju
Patel moved along, playing mostly through the air as he reached 50 in
70 balls. However, he was dismissed LBW one ball later to Rupert
Swetman’s medium pace to make the score 117 for 4 in the 29th over.
Tummala and Syed Hassan inched their way comfortably towards the target
as South East looked set for an easy win, but when Bartram reentered
late for a second spell, he nabbed both men, with a run out sandwiched
between the dismissals, to swing things back MCC’s way making the score
174 for 7. Will Hodson got Cresser pinned on the crease to be given LBW
for 3 making it 190 for 8 in the 44th over and it looked like MCC just
might steal the match.
Anthony
Sahadeo joined Moazzam Imtiaz at the wicket and the two calmly
negotiated their way through the pressure of the situation to tick off
the last nine runs, sealing the victory by two wickets.
Pic (Right): MCC player Paul Davidge (left, with sunglasses)
observes FCA player Faraz Jaferi bowling his left arm spin in a clinic
put on by the MCC touring squad on Friday afternoon. [Courtesy: Peter
Della Penna]
Over the entire tour by MCC, the US teams dominated most matches as the
squad from London was caught off guard by the quality of players they
were facing.
“We just sort of jumped off the plane in LA thinking this is gonna be a
wonderful holiday and we’ll get challenged a few times playing cricket
and maybe we’ll have the better of the games and how wrong we were,”
said Foster. “What has just stunned me all the way around the country
is just the spirit with which the game is played. I expected some
talent because this is the US after all and the US is very good at
getting their act together with skills but just the spirit for the game
and the little things that the sides have been doing. They’ve been
fielding really well and putting energy in the field and a lot of voice
and managing to put pressure on us. We’re experienced cricketers and
they managed to put pressure on us, which is what we should be doing to
them.”
Prior to the first match on Friday, the MCC squad conducted a coaching
session outside on the satellite fields at Central Broward Regional
Park with some teenage players from the Florida Cricket Academy. The
MCC squad also conducted clinics in California and all the MCC players
were very impressed with the young talent. Foster believes there is
definitely something to look forward to down the road for cricket in
America.
“I think the talent is terrific,” said Foster. “I’ve been to a lot of
developing countries, sort of the lower tier cricketing nations if you
like and seen a lot of players going around. The talent here is second
to none.”
MCC vs. South East Region T20 Scorecard
South East won by 4 runs
South East won the toss and batted
South East Batting Balls Runs 4s 6s Dismissal
T Surujbally 27 21 3 0 ct Kamalia b Bartram
A Sahadeo 1 2 0 0 ct Pearson b Friedlander
S Ramesh 16 12 2 0 b Akhtar
A Tummala 3 6 0 0 b Bartram
S Taylor+ 10 7 0 1 ct Friedlander b Bartram
R Nayar 1 2 0 0 LBW Bartram
R Cresser 0 1 0 0 b Bartram
K Singh* 1 2 0 0 runout (Kamalia)
S Hassan 10 17 2 0 not out
M Imtiaz 1 5 0 0 ct & b Terry
J Patel 1 6 0 0 b Terry
Total Extras 20 (0 no balls, 5 byes, 1 leg bye, 14 wides)
Team Total 91 all out in 13.3 overs
Fall of wicket: 6/1 (Sahadeo), 52/2 (Ramesh), 54/3 (Surujbally),
56/4 (Tummala), 75/5 (Nayar), 77/6 (Taylor), 77/7 (Cresser),
83/8 (Singh), 84/9 (Imtiaz), 91/10 (Patel).
MCC Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
M Friedlander 2-0-18-1
W Hodson 3-0-18-0
T Bartram 4-0-17-5
A Akhtar 2-0-24-1
P Terry 2.3-1-8-2
MCC Batting Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal
S Montgomery 5 5 1 0 ct Imtiaz b Cresser
M Friedlander 6 10 1 0 LBW Singh
K Pearson 21 43 1 0 ct Tummala b Cresser
P Davidge+ 0 4 0 0 ct Imtiaz b Tummala
S Kamalia 2 11 0 0 LBW Tummala
R Swetman 2 11 0 0 runout (Ramesh/Taylor+)
M Foster* 38 29 4 0 not out
W Hodson 0 2 0 0 LBW Ramesh
A Akhtar 2 4 0 0 st Taylor+ b Cresser
T Bartram 1 1 0 0 not out
Total Extras 10 (1 no ball, 0 byes, 1 leg bye, 9 wides)
Team Total 87 for 8 in 20 overs
Did not bat: P Terry
Fall of wicket: 16/1 (Montgomery), 16/2 (Friedlander), 17/3 (Davidge),
21/4 (Kamalia), 24/5 (Swetman), 68/6 (Pearson),
72/7 (Hodson), 86/8 (Akhtar).
South East Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
K Singh 4-2-7-1
R Cresser 4-0-32-3
A Tummala 3-0-6-2
J Gul 4-1-0-16
T Surujbally 3-0-9-0
R Nayar 1-0-8-0
S Ramesh 1-0-8-1
MCC vs. South East Region 50 over match Scorecard
South East won by two wickets
MCC won the toss and batted
MCC Batting
Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal
S Montgomery 9 32 0 0 b Singh
S Kamalia 28 47 2 0 ct Tummala b Gul
P Bryson 11 35 0 0 b Haider
R Swetman 4 21 0 0 b Cresser
K Pearson 7 12 0 0 b Haider
M Foster* 66 67 8 0 ct Cresser b Surujbally
P Davidge+ 31 74 0 0 ct & b Surujbally
M Friedlander 2 5 0 0 st Sahadeo+ b Surujbally
P Terry 2 3 0 0 not out
W Hodson 5 6 0 0 not out
Total Extras 33 (2 no balls, 11 byes, 8 leg byes, 12 wides)
Team Total 198 for 8 in 50 overs
Did not bat: T Bartram
Fall of wicket: 42/1 (Montgomery), 48/2 (Kamalia), 64/3 (Swetman),
75/4 (Pearson), 88/5 (Bryson), 185/6 (Foster),
189/7 (Davidge), 190/8 (Friedlander).
South East Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
K Singh 10-2-23-1
A Tummala 7-1-34-0
J Gul 6-2-19-1
H Haider 10-3-27-2
R Cresser 5-0-22-1
T Surujbally 7-0-32-3
M Imtiaz 3-0-14-0
S Hassan 2-0-8-0
South East Batting
Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal
T Surujbally 2 16 0 0 ct Kamalia b Bartram
S Taylor 11 20 2 0 LBW Hodson
S Patel 50 71 4 0 LBW Swetman
J Patel 30 57 2 0 ct Davidge+ b Pearson
S Hassan 32 47 2 0 b Bartram
A Tummala 14 20 0 0 ct Davidge+ b Bartram
J Gul 9 14 0 0 runout (Kamalia)
M Imtiaz 11 18 2 0 not out
R Cresser 3 7 0 0 LBW Hodson
A Sahadeo+ 4 14 0 0 not out
Total Extras 35 (3 no balls, 0 byes, 6 leg byes, 26 wides)
Team Total 201 for 8 in 46.5 overs
Did not bat: K Singh*
Fall of wicket: 15/1 (Surujbally), 17/2 (Taylor), 99/3 (J Patel),
117/4 (S Patel), 157/5 (Tummala), 174/6 (Gul),
174/7 (Hassan), 190/8 (Cresser).
MCC Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
T Bartram 10-3-24-3
W Hodson 9-2-39-2
K Pearson 8.5-0-38-1
M Friedlander 7-0-33-0
P Terry 4-0-24-0
R Swetman 5-0-21-1
S Montgomery 3-0-16-0