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By Peter Della Penna in Atlanta (with additional reporting by Sandra Ibarra in Los Angeles)
A
five-wicket haul from Adrian Gordon bowled New York to a thrilling
17-run win over Atlantic on Saturday in the USACA Eastern Conference
Tournament at Creel Park in College Park, Ga. Gordon was named Man of
the Match after taking 5 for 43. Atlantic was 126 for 5 needing 206 to
win, but Gordon took four of the final five wickets to wipe out
Atlantic for 188. New York moved to 2-0 at the weekend event while
Atlantic dropped to 1-1.
“I just wanted to bowl,” said Gordon (picture at right). “I kinda
believed that hey, I could have went out there and got some wickets and
that’s what I took for the day. It’s just having a little confidence in
yourself. From the start I didn’t, but at the end, I wanted to bowl.”
New
York won the toss and batted first on a hot day in Atlanta with the
temperature climbing into the low 90s for the second day in a row.
Atlantic struck the first blow when Imran Awan had Akeem Dodson out for
a duck to make it 3 for 1 in the third over. Hall then constructed two
solid partnerships, first with Steve Massiah for 42 runs and then Andy
Mohammed for 87 runs.
Massiah got out to a gem from Awan as a good length ball got some
extra bounce and took the glove on the way through to the keeper to
dismiss the New York captain for 21. Mohammed was dropped twice on his
way to 37 before being given LBW to left arm spinner Muhammad Nisar.
Mohammed appeared to be hit outside the line of the stumps and it was
the first of several poor decisions that New York received following on
from five top order LBW decisions they suffered on Friday.
Muhammad Ghous then entered the attack and hastened the
collapse with three wickets. Hall fell next for 68 when he pulled a
short ball straight to substitute fielder Charan Singh on the square
leg fence and the score became 150 for 4. Stuart Mills lasted only
three balls before he edged Ghous to Aditya Mishra at slip to depart
for 2. Nisar claimed Barrington Bartley next for 15 when he sliced a
full ball to point where Durale Forest pulled off a spectacular diving
catch to his left and New York fell to 154 for 6.
Ghous claimed his third when Denison Thomas was given out LBW for
6 to a ball that appeared to be clearing the stumps comfortably. Adam
Sanford was given LBW for 5 to Nisar, making it 167 for 8 on a ball
that looked to be missing leg stump. Adrian Gordon fell next when he
was given out caught behind off Neil McGarrell for 8 to make it 185 for
9 in 39 overs.
“It’s just been unfortunate, the last two days we’ve been on the
receiving end of some very poor umpiring decisions,” said Massiah.
“That does not augur well for the future of cricket, especially a
tournament like this where it is expected that the umpire should be of
a certain standard because these guys are obviously vying for places on
the national team. So to me personally, it’s disappointing that that
has happened and I hope come tomorrow we’ll have some good officiating
and we should be able to see the best of the New York batting, which in
this tournament I don’t think we’ve seen as yet.”
NY vs. Atlantic Post Match Interview with Steve Massiah from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
Dwayne Smith was then joined by Kevin Darlington and they fought
to bat out all 50 overs for New York. Smith was dropped with the score
on 190 by wicketkeeper Sean Stanislaus off the bowling of Awan.
However, Stanislaus made amends and Awan finally got his third wicket
when Darlington was given out caught behind for 6 to end the innings as
New York was bowled out for 205 in 43.5 overs.
Atlantic got away with numerous drops against South East to still
win their match on Friday. However, with four drops against New York,
including Hall before he had reached double digits, their second
straight poor fielding performance was too much to overcome.
New York’s opening tandem of Sanford and Darlington bowled with
great intensity to set the tone in the field and Darlington was
immediately rewarded with the wicket of Mishra for 4 in the second over
to make it 8 for 1. Sanford continued to pepper Siddharth Mehta with
bouncers as the batsman ducked and swayed out of the way.
“I thought 205 was a defendable total, taking into consideration
the experience of our attack with the likes of Kevin Darlington, Adam
Sanford and the fast improving Adrian Gordon and young Smith has bowled
brilliantly in the last two games,” said Massiah. “I thought it was a
total we could have defended but it would have required us taking early
wickets, which we did.”
Mehta was joined by Stanislaus and the two saw off the opening
bowling attack, but there was no respite once the first change pair of
Thomas and Gordon entered the fray. Thomas took a wicket on his fourth
ball, getting Mehta to drive a full length ball to Mohammed at cover as
Mehta departed for 20 to make it 52 for 2. Three deliveries later,
Gordon struck on his first ball as Stanislaus was given out caught
behind for 21 and the score became 52 for 3 in the 13th.
Durale Forest joined Clain Williams as the two took their time to
get settled. Williams managed to get his eye in on 15, but threw his
wicket away holing out to long off where Sanford held on to a simple
catch to give Thomas his second and the score became 79 for 4. At the
other end, Smith replaced Gordon and was on the mark from ball one,
building pressure with accurate and attacking leg spin. Ghous buckled
under the pressure and was out for 1, as his attempted drive was edged
to Dodson at slip and Atlantic was in trouble at 82 for 5.
McGarrell came in to rebuild with Forest, who was extremely
cautious in building his innings. At one point, Forest was on 11 off 51
balls. But with McGarrell there for support, he started to come out of
his shell. However, the longer Forest stayed at the crease, the more
medical attention he required as he needed to have the trainer/coach
come out on at least three separate occasions to treat him for muscle
cramps.
By the second drinks break, the two batsmen added 40 runs and had
taken the score to 122 for 5. The match was evenly balanced, but Gordon
returned for a second spell to turn the match New York’s way. He struck
with the score on 126 when McGarrell tried to slap a short and wide
ball through the off side, but sent a straightforward catch to Massiah
at cover. Twelve runs later, Junaid Rasheed tried to hook Gordon and
sent a top edge that spiraled in the air above the keeper Mills before
it came down into his gloves and the score became 138 for 7 in the 39th over.
Atlantic elected to take the batting power play at the start of the 40th
and Gordon came off in favor of Thomas and Sanford. George Adams teamed
up with Forest to produce a freewheeling partnership and it appeared
that Atlantic might come back to take the match. The two added 40 runs
for the eighth wicket before Adams went to clear the fence, but only
managed to send an easy catch to Mohammed at long on five yards in from
the boundary to make it 178 for 8 with Adams out for 13, giving Gordon
his fourth.
Panic set in for the new man Awan two overs later when Darlington
was bowling to Forest. The batsman drove a full length ball straight to
Massiah at cover, but Awan took off immediately, thinking that it would
beat the fielder. Awan and Forest wound up at the same end as Massiah
tossed the ball to Darlington, who easily flicked off the bails for the
ninth wicket at 185 in the 45th over.
Nisar joined Forest, who was on 60 at the time but physically
spent. A few singles later, he took a full delivery from Gordon and
with a tired effort drove the ball in the air straight to Massiah at
cover, who took the catch over his head to end the match sparking wild
celebrations on the field from New York.
In the game played at McNair Middle School, South East defeated
North East by 80 runs to go to 1-1 while North East dropped to 0-2.
Farhat Ullah top-scored with 80 for South East in their total of 284 in
49.2 overs as several other players got starts but couldn’t go on to
make a big innings.
North East finished 204 for 8 in 50 overs. The biggest
contribution was 52 not out from Srinath Rajagopalan coming in at
number nine. Off-spinner Hussain Haidar took 4 for 31 in 10 overs with
two maidens to keep North East in check.
Out in Los Angeles, North West captain Nauman Mustafa (picture at right)
raised
the first century of the weekend in his team’s victory over Central
East, moving each team to 1-1 in the tournament. Mustafa scored 102 out
of his team’s total of 330 for 4 in 50 overs. He was well supported by
James Crosthwaite, who followed up his 71 against South West with 87
against Central East on Saturday. In reply, Central East was bowled out
for 164 in 39 overs. Ashhar Mehdi finished with 42 for Central East
while Saurabh Verma took 3 for 40.
South West kept up their good form on their home ground with a
4-wicket win over Central West to move to 2-0. Central West batted
first and were bowled out for 166 in the 47th over. Abbas
Jafri scored 40 and Jignesh Desai 60, but only two other players
crossed double-digits. Timil Patel took 4 for 39 for South West. In
reply, Aditya Thyagarajan carried his team to victory after they
stumbled to 82 for 5. Thyagarajan finished 62 not out.
On the final day, New York will play South East and Atlantic plays
North East in Atlanta while Central East plays South West and North
West plays Central West in Los Angeles. Here are the scenarios for
qualification to the national championships to be held later in the
year.
Eastern Conference
New York: Advances with win OR Atlantic loss. If New York
loses and Atlantic wins, New York, South East and Atlantic will have a
three-way tie at 2-1 and first through third will be determined on net
run rate.
South East: Advances with win AND Atlantic loss. If
Atlantic wins, South East must win to force a three-way tie with New
York and Atlantic. First through third would be determined on net run
rate. If South East loses, Atlantic must lose to force a three-way tie
for second place with Atlantic and North East. Second place would be
decided on net run rate.
Atlantic: Advances with win AND New York win. If South East
wins, Atlantic must win to force a three-way tie for first with South
East and New York with first through third place decided on net run
rate. If Atlantic loses, South East must lose and a three-way tie for
second place with South East and North East would be decided by net run
rate.
North East: Must win and New York must win for North East
to have any hope of advancing. A North East win and a New York win
would create a three-way tie for second place with net run rate being
the tiebreaker. North East is automatically eliminated with a loss.
Western Conference
South West: Advances with win OR North West loss. If South
West loses and North West wins, a three-way tie for first place with
Central East and North West would happen with the final places
determined by net run rate.
North West: Advances with a win over Central West AND
Central East loss. If Central East wins, North West must win to force a
three-way tie with Central East and South West for first place with the
final places determined by net run rate. If North West loses, Central
East must lose to force a three-way tie for second place with Central
East and Central West. Second place would be decided by net run rate.
Central East: Advances with a win over South West AND a
North West loss. If North West wins, Central East must win to force a
three-way tie for first place with North West and South West with first
through third place decided by net run rate. If North West loses,
Central East must lose to force a three-way tie for second place with
Central East and Central West. Second place will decided by net run
rate.
Central West: Must win and South West must win for Central
West to have any hope of advancing. If South West wins and Central West
wins, a three-way tie with Central East and North West will happen with
second place decided by net run rate. Central West is automatically
eliminated with a loss.
Match Scorecard
Atlantic vs. New York
New York won by 17 runs
New York won the toss and elected to bat
Man of the Match: Adrian Gordon
New York Batting
Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal
G Hall 68 103 7 2 ct sub (Singh) b Ghous
A Dodson 0 6 0 0 b Awan
S Massiah* 21 14 3 1 ct Stanislaus+ Awan
A Mohammed 37 43 6 0 LBW Nisar
B Bartley 15 15 1 1 ct Forest b Nisar
S Mills+ 2 3 0 0 ct Mishra b Ghous
D Thomas 6 13 0 0 LBW Ghous
D Smith 24 25 2 0 not out
A Sanford 5 7 1 0 LBW Nisar
A Gordon 8 13 1 0 ct Stanislaus+ b McGarrell
K Darlington 6 22 0 0 ct Stanislaus+ b Awan
Total Extras 13 (0 no balls, 0 byes, 2 leg byes, 11 wides)
Team Total 205 all out in 43.5 overs
Fall of Wicket: 3/1 (Dodson), 45/2 (Massiah), 132/3 (Mohammed),
150/4 (Hall), 152/5 (Mills), 154/6 (Bartley), 162/7 (Thomas), 167/8
(Sanford), 185/9 (Gordon), 205/10 (Darlington).
Atlantic Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
I Awan 7.5-0-48-3
G Adams 5-0-38-0
D Forest 7-0-24-0
N McGarrell 7-0-17-1
M Nisar 9-0-50-3
M Ghous 8-0-26-3
Atlantic Batting
Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal
S Mehta 20 36 4 0 ct Mohammed b Thomas
A Mishra 4 5 1 0 ct Mills+ b Darlington
S Stanislaus+ 21 30 3 0 ct Mills+ Gordon
C Williams 15 20 2 0 ct Sanford b Thomas
D Forest 62 119 3 1 ct Massiah b Gordon
M Ghous 1 10 0 0 ct Dodson b Smith
N McGarrell* 20 36 0 1 ct Massiah b Gordon
J Rasheed 5 8 1 0 ct Mills+ b Gordon
G Adams 13 12 1 0 ct Mohammed b Gordon
I Awan 5 2 1 0 runout (Massiah/Darlington)
M Nisar 1 1 0 0 not out
Total Extras 21 (6 no balls, 2 byes, 2 leg byes, 11 wides)
Team Total 188 all out in 45.3 overs
Fall of Wicket: 8/1 (Mishra), 52/2 (Mehta), 52/3 (Stanislaus),
79/4 (Williams), 82/5 (Ghous), 126/6 (McGarrell), 138/7 (Rasheed),
178/8 (Adams), 185/9 (Awan), 188/10 (Forest).
New York Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
A Sanford 8-0-53-0
K Darlington 8-2-21-1
D Thomas 10-2-25-2
A Gordon 7.3-0-43-5
D Smith 10-1-31-1
B Bartley 2-0-11-0