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By Peter Della Penna

North West U-19 captain Pranay Suri took 3 for 21 to put South West in a hole they couldn’t dig out of as North West won by 4 wickets on Tuesday during a trial match at Woodley Park in Van Nuys, Calif. The match was scheduled to be part of the 2010 Junior Nationals, but the tournament was officially canceled Tuesday morning by USACA due to travel problems for New York and South East. However, the matches scheduled for the tournament will still be played so that players can be evaluated for selection to USA’s U-19 team that will compete at the ICC Americas tournament next February in Florida.

South West won the toss and curiously decided to bat first on a morning in which the pitch was filled with moisture and dew covered the outfield with temperatures in the high 50s. It would be a costly decision in the end as the South West batting order struggled to cope with the morning conditions.

The opening pair for South West had already fallen with the score on 9 as Happy Kumar and Arsh Buch each claimed a wicket. Arjun Anandan and Salman Ahmad worked hard to steady the innings, but that effort was undone by Suri as the off-spinner effortlessly scythed his way through the middle order to claim the two set batsmen followed by Gurpreet Sandhu to reduce South West to 56 for 5.

Image: North West U-19 captain Pranay Suri. [Copyright - DreamCricket.com]

Fellow off-spinners Krish Goel and Roshan Varadarajan also chipped in with two wickets each and before long, South West was 96 for 9. Shayan Ahmed fought hard to give his team something to defend as the number eight top-scored with 34. He added 36 for the 10th wicket with Irfan Anwar, the highest partnership of the innings, before Ahmed was dismissed on the final ball of the innings as South West finished all out for 132.

Hammad Shahid put an early scare into North West, dismissing Jodhbir Singh on the second ball of the chase. But Akash Jagannathan came in and paired with Zulkifl Nana to patiently construct a 68-run stand. It took a persistent amount of pressure from Ahmed to dismiss both batsmen, but by that point, the target was within striking distance for North West. Kumar hit the winning boundary for North West with 10 balls to spare.

Wednesday’s forecast is for heavy rain in the greater Los Angeles area so play is unlikely, but Thursday will be bright and sunny. If the field is able to dry by Thursday, South East’s players who traveled to Los Angeles may get some match practice against either South West or North West.