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By Peter Della Penna in Brooklyn, N.Y. (on Twitter)
USA U-18 squad member posted the highest score of the day, 57 off 33
balls, for Queens 1 as they trounced Bronx/Manhattan by 113 runs to win
the 2012 NYC Mayor’s Cup High School Cricket All-Star Game on Saturday
at Gateway Park in Brooklyn, N.Y. Wilson was named the MVP on the day
after scoring 24 in a narrow 9-run win over Queens 2 in the first
15-over semifinal. Bronx/Manhattan reached the final after a 7-wicket
upset of Brooklyn, chasing 106 to win with a ball to spare in the second
semi-final despite 56 from USA U-18 squad member Zahib Tariq who
captained the Brooklyn side.
Bronx/Manhattan won the toss for the 20-over final and sent Queens 1
in to bat. Ahsan Riaz, a senior from Hillcrest HS who was later named
Best Batsman for the day, got Queens off to a tremendous start and
helped lay the platform for victory by striking 49 off 32 balls
including five fours and a six. When he departed, the score was 82 for 1
in the 11th over.
Troy Mars joined his John Adams HS teammate Wilson at the crease and
the pair blitzed the Bronx/Manhattan attack to put on 61 for the third
wicket in just 4.3 overs. Mars, the leading scorer in the PSAL for 2012,
cracked 35 in 19 balls including two fours and three monstrous sixes to
put the game well out of reach for Bronx/Manhattan to chase. He finally
fell to Taher Miah, the Dewitt Clinton junior who topped all PSAL
bowlers with 31 wickets in the regular season.
Wilson
continued on until the 19th over. He brought up his 50 off 27 balls
with back to back boundaries through midwicket and mid off. He finished
with six boundaries and two sixes on the day and will be taking his good
form to Florida next month when the USA U-18 team takes on Bermuda and
Canada in a series of round-robin matches.
Image (right) - Randall Wilson pulls for 6 during his knock of 57
in the 2012 NYC Mayor's Cup High School Cricket All-Star Game.
[Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]
A flurry of wickets fell in the final 10 balls as Queens finished on
178 for 7 in 20 overs. Miah had the best figures for Bronx/Manhattan
with 3 for 14 in four overs.
Wilson and freshman phenom Keifer Phil from HS of Construction opened
the bowling for Queens and their pace was too hot to handle for the
Bronx/Manhattan batsmen. Zahid Hasan of Herbert Lehman top edged a
delivery the skied to cover where Brandon Boodhoo of Richmond Hill HS
took a superb catch on the run.
The fall of the first wicket brought Bronx/Manhattan captain Asfaque
Chowdhury to the crease. The DeWitt Clinton junior had taken his team to
victory in the semi-final with 46, but was run out without facing a
delivery after getting into a terrible mixup with Zeeshan Arip and with
that Queens ran away with the match.
After Syed Islam was bowled by Phil, John Adams leg-spinner Zafaar
Yusuf ripped through the middle and lower order to take 6 for 13 in 3.4
overs and easily walked away with the Best Bowler award on the day. The
match was over in 15.4 overs after Yusuf took the final wicket to bowl
out Bronx/Manhattan for just 65. Phil, who had taken figures of 2 for 1
in two overs during the first semi-final, finished the final with
figures of 2 for 13 in four overs and marked himself as an exciting
prospect for the future with his raw pace.