By Peter Della Penna

 

South West’s plot to end North West’s undefeated run to the title was derailed by rain and no result in their match meant that North West was crowned USACA’s 2010 Senior National Champions on Sunday at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Fla. Atlantic finished in second place after defeating New York by 27 runs on the artificial wicket outside the stadium at CBRP.

 

“I think it’s a great achievement for us,” said North West captain Nauman Mustafa. “We have been participating in this tournament for the last four or five years. There have been a lot of players playing for four or five years. We have always come close and we have always demonstrated a lot of talent in batting bowling and fielding, but this time we prepared well and wanted to show everyone that we have batsmen, bowlers and fielders who can compete at this level.”

 

North West won the toss and elected to bat after the match was reduced to 35 overs because of dampness in the pitch and wet runups from overnight rain. Left arm paceman Elmore Hutchinson bowled an outstanding opening spell for South West, taking the wicket of Ashok Singh for a duck. He also had Mustafa edging a delivery straight to captain Mehul Dave at first slip who couldn’t hang onto the chance. However, Mustafa was runout for 16 a short time later by Ravi Timbawala when the batsman took his time getting to the other end and the alert Timbawala fired a direct hit to make it 35 for 2 in the 13^th.

 

Abhemanyu Rajp then struck twice more for South West, clean bowling the dangerous James Crosthwaite for 5 in the 13^th. After the 15^th over, drinks were taken and the covers brought on as rain started coming down. Play was stopped for 30 minutes, but when play resumed, Rajp forced Arjun Thyagarajan to edge a good length ball to Dave at slip for 3 to make it 52 for 4 in the 17^th.

 

 

North West then tried to muster up a few partnerships to build a respectable total as Rishi Bharadwaj and Saqib Saleem added 23 before Bharadwaj was caught behind by Kadu off left arm spinner Mrunal Patel for 26. Saleem then added 28 with Shantanu Divekar before Saleem played onto his stumps for 27 to give Patel his second wicket. Patel took his third when Saurabh Verma sent a leading edge to Ricky Singh at cover to depart for 2 and the score was 107 for 7 in the 31^st.

 

Divekar then batted aggressively but sensibly to boost North West’s total in the last five overs as North West added 46 runs in that span. He didn’t hit a single four and only had one six, but he was effective at picking off ones and twos. Srinivasa Santhanam scored 11 as part of a 26-run partnership with Divekar before he was caught on the boundary by Timil Patel off Dave to make it 133 for 8. Divekar finished 39 not out after helping his team score 16 runs in the last over bowled by Hutchinson and North West finished 153 for 8 in 35 overs.

 

During the innings break, the rain stopped and started numerous times. Just when it seemed like things were clearing up and the sun was shining enough for the covers to come off, rain started pouring down again. After an inspection was made at 3:15 pm, the umpires called off the match and with no result, North West erupted in celebration while South West was left to rue their costly decision to bat first on Friday in a 2-wicket loss to Atlantic. South West finished the tournament at 1-1 in third place.

 

In the other match between Atlantic and New York, play was reduced to 33 overs after a delayed start. Sean Stanislaus scored 27 opening the innings in place of Aditya Mishra, who sat out after receiving two stitches on his finger from dropping a chance in the slips on Saturday. Neil McGarrell came in at number six and rescued Atlantic after another collapse, scoring 37 not out. Jermaine Lawson came in at number seven and also chipped in with 42, including a seven that was scored when he ran three before four overthrows occurred. It was indicative of New York’s sloppy performance all weekend long. Atlantic finished at 165 for 7 as leg-spinner Dwayne Smith took three wickets.

 

 

Atlantic then took the field and jumped all over an uninspired New York. New York’s top six contributed seven runs as Jermaine Lawson took 5 for 22. Steve Massiah was run out without facing a ball while Carl Wright and Rashard Marshall were dismissed by Lawson without scoring as New York started their chase at 9 for 5.

 

The score was 44 for 8 after 12.2 overs when the players were taken off the field for rain. However, play was able to resume outside the stadium because of the artificial pitch they were playing on and a new target of 111 in 22 overs was established. Number 10 batsman Adrian Gordon top scored with 24, but New York was bowled out for 83 in 20.4 overs to the delight of Atlantic coach Basil Butcher. It was sweet revenge for Atlantic, who lost to New York by 9 wickets in the final game of the 2009 Eastern Conference Tournament when Atlantic was bowled out for 82 batting first. New York's loss meant that the 2009 national champions finished the 2010 Senior Nationals 0-3.

 

New York’s questionable behavior from Saturday also carried over to the ground on Sunday. Former West Indies Test fast bowler Adam Sanford, who had taken 1 for 93 in 17 overs in New York’s first two games, was left out of the starting XI on Sunday. He could be seen sitting outside the boundary in his New York uniform drinking alcohol while his team was in the field and continued to drink when his team went out to bat.

 

“I can’t comment on yesterday, but if the New York players weren’t there, I think that’s pretty bad and that’s not a right precedent,” said New York captain Massiah in reference to Saturday’s incident when several players left early during their match against South West and as a result did not shake hands at the game’s conclusion. “I think cricket is a sport that you form great friendship and the camaraderie should be great. I wasn’t there because I had to be over at the Atlantic game because there were a few players that were kind of earmarked [for selection] since I was there.

 

“On behalf of the New York Region, I’d sincerely like to apologize to the team yesterday for us not going over and shaking hands with them. I think it wasn’t right and hopefully come next year or come the next time we wouldn’t have a repeat of that. Again today, I can’t really comment on who was drinking in uniform because I wasn’t there. I had to be in a [selection] meeting. Once again if New York offended anyone over the last two days I would like to apologize for it.”

 

The selection meetings that took place this weekend included Massiah, vice-captain Sushil Nadkarni who was in Florida on Saturday and Sunday observing matches, and coach Clayton Lambert. National selectors Sew Shivnarine, Sunny Khan and Abrar Ahmed did not attend the national championship in Florida this weekend.

 

Atlantic also was not without its problems. USA national player Muhammad Ghous started all three games, but on Saturday and Sunday he did not bat and did not bowl any overs in both games. Team sources said that Ghous had a disruptive attitude throughout the weekend. Ghous has had discipline issues in the past, including his role in an on-field fight during a New Jersey league match that resulted in a four-match ban in 2009. At the USACA tournament banquet on Saturday night in Florida, many of USA’s current and former national players at U-19 and senior level were recognized, but Ghous was not recognized because he did not attend.

 

At the end of tournament awards presentation, South West’s Rajp received the Best Bowler Award for taking 7 wickets for 82 runs in 25 overs. He tied for the tournament lead in wickets with Lawson, but Rajp had a better average and economy as Lawson finished with 7 for 105 in 23 overs. Rajp also won the Best Bowler Award in Los Angeles at the Western Conference Tournament in September after taking 9 for 96 including 7 for 35 in one match vs. Central East. The 24-year-old off-spinner has established himself as a strong contender for selection for USA’s team that will go to Hong Kong in January for ICC WCL Division 3.

 

Former West Indies Test player McGarrell walked away with the tournament’s Best Batsman award after he scored 147 runs for Atlantic to lead all batsmen. McGarrell was not dismissed a single time in Florida. McGarrell also took 6 for 44 in 20.1 overs of left arm spin and also has a strong chance of representing USA in Hong Kong. McGarrell took the Best Bowler award at the Eastern Conference Tournament this year in Atlanta after taking 7 for 60 in 22.5 overs. Despite being 38-years-old, McGarrell’s fielding and fitness continue to put younger players to shame.

 

Official Scorecard

South West vs. North West 35-over match

No result

North West won the toss and elected to bat

 

North West Innings

Batsman                      Runs    Balls    4s       6s         Dismissal

N Mustafa*+                16         42         0          0          runout (Timbawala)

A Singh                         0           2           0          0          b Hutchinson

R Bharadwaj               26         53         0          0          ct Kadu b M Patel

J Crosthwaite              5           5           0          0          b Rajp

A Thyagarajan             3           9           0          0          ct Dave b Rajp

S Saleem                     27        41         1          0          b M Patel

S Divekar                     39         43         0          1          not out

S Verma                       2           4           0          0          ct Singh b M Patel

S Santhanam             11         9           2          0          ct T Patel b Dave

S Shah                         2           2           0          0          not out

Extras                          22 (0 no balls, 0 byes, 4 leg byes, 18 wides)

Team Total                153 for 8 in 35 overs

 

Did not bat: N Jamali.

 

Fall of Wicket: 1/1 (Singh), 35/2 (Mustafa), 48/3 (Crosthwaite), 52/4 (Thyagarajan), 75/5 (Bharadwaj), 103/6 (Saleem), 107/7 (Verma), 133/8 (Santhanam).

 

South West Bowling   Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets

E Hutchinson               7-0-32-1

M Dave                          6-1-18-1

N Malik                          4-0-19-0

A Rajp                            6-0-31-2

T Patel                           7-0-29-0

M Patel                          5-0-20-3

 

 

Unofficial Scorecard

Atlantic vs. New York 33-over match

Atlantic won by 27 runs (revised target based on average runs per over/net run rate)

Atlantic won the toss and elected to bat

 

Atlantic Innings

Batsman                      Runs    4s       6s         Dismissal

S Stanislaus+             27         1          1          ct Mills+ b Smith

C Singh                        1           0          0          ct Wright b Thomas

N Chokshi                   10         1          0          ct Hall b Thomas

K Baride                       9           0          0          ct Gordon b Smith

D Forest                       7           1          0          ct Mills+ b Smith

N McGarrell*               37         3          0          not out

J Lawson                    42         3          1          b Gordon

G Adams                     0           0          0          b Darlington

I Awan                          20         1          2          not out

Extras                          12

Team Total                165 for 7 in 33 overs

 

Did not bat: M Ghous, M Nisar.

 

New York Bowling    Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets

K Darlington               6-1-31-1

D Thomas                  7-2-21-2

A Gordon                    5-0-34-1

D Smith                      7-0-20-3

A Kirton                       6-0-36-0

R Marshall                 2-0-18-0

 

New York Innings

Batsman                      Runs    4s        6s         Dismissal

C Wright                       0            0          0          ct Adams b Lawson

G Hall                           2            0          0          LBW Lawson

S Massiah*                  0           0          0          runout (Adams)

A Mohammed             1            0          0          ct Singh b Lawson

R Marshall                   0            0          0          ct McGarrell b Lawson

S Mills+                        4            0          0          b Awan

D Thomas                  12           2          0          ct Singh b Lawson

D Smith                       14           0          0          runout (Forest)

A Kirton                        5             0          0          b Adams

A Gordon                     24          3          0          ct Adams b Forest

K Darlington               2             0          0          not out

Extras                          19

Team Total                 83 all out in 20.4 overs

 

New York’s innings interrupted by rain after 12.2 overs with the score on 44 for 8. When play resumed, the target was reduced from 166 in 33 overs to 111 in 22 overs.

 

Atlantic Bowling        Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets

J Lawson                     6-2-22-5

I Awan                          6-0-19-1

G Adams                     4-0-22-1

N McGarrell                4-0-16-0

D Forest                      0.4-0-0-1