USA Cricketer : Assiniboine Park, USA cricket, Winnipeg, 2011 ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division, Vibhav Altekar

2011 ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division All-Tournament Team

openingbat — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 23:29:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

1. Alex Dore, Bermuda – The left-hand batsman turned in a Man of the Match performance against Canada with 51 at the top of the order on the final day of the event. Dore tied for fourth overall with 108 runs and also took several sharp catches at short cover.

2. Delray Rawlins, Bermuda (pictured right) – The all-rounder may be one of the shortest players on the field, but he made his presence felt in a big way for Bermuda. Had they won the tournament, he probably would have been named MVP. Rawlins led Bermuda with 137 runs, good for third overall, including a 71 opening the chase on the first day against USA. On the bowling side he took six wickets with his left-arm spin and turned in a 2.73 economy rate, the second best in the tournament. He could have had twice as many wickets had his fielders not let him down by dropping numerous chances, almost all of them straightforward.

3. Neil Tagare, USA – The classy right-hander from the North West Region turned in the highest individual score of the event, 79 against Bermuda, and finished sixth overall with 104 runs. Of all the batsmen on display, he showed the most promise for future development with the most technically correct approach at the crease. No one timed the ball better than him in Winnipeg.

4. Vibhav Altekar, USA – After making a double-hundred in the national tournament in Hartford, 140 runs in four matches may seem light but it was good enough to lead USA in the category. Altekar got a start in every match, but his highest score only wound up being 50. At the international level, he needs to make those starts count.

5. Dave Parikh, USA (captain, pictured left) – Parikh shined most in USA’s win over Canada, an individual performance so dominant that it played a huge role in giving USA the tournament title on the net run rate tiebreaker. He scored 67 not out and took 4 for 6 in eight overs that match as USA won by 138 runs. Overall, Parikh tied for fourth overall with Dore by scoring 108 runs on the week and tied for second overall in the wickets column, leading USA with seven scalps. He also had a tournament best 2.63 economy rate.

6. Abrash Khan, Canada (pictured right) – A rare sight at this age level is seeing players make runs down the order but Khan did that in just about every game. He scored the most runs on the week with 142 with a best of 77 in a win over Bermuda. Khan also bowled solid spells coming on as a first change bowler, taking four wickets with a respectable 4.21 economy rate.

7. Gordon Makin, USA – While he played as a wicketkeeper for USA, Makin makes the All-Tournament Team based on his batting. He had limited opportunities in USA’s first two matches, but when USA was in trouble in their third match against Bermuda, Makin nearly pulled USA across the line with a sterling 65. He played unselfishly down the order and has the tools to be a very good player at U-19 level.

8. Christion Gibbons-Wade, Bermuda – A versatile player, Gibbons-Wade had an impact in several games. The big hitter scored an unbeaten half-century in a lost cause against USA in the first match of the tournament and was a devastating pinch-hitter in the rematch with 23 not out in 11 balls. He opened the bowling a few times with decent results but took 5 for 35 against USA coming on in the middle overs and finished with seven wickets overall.

9. Gayan Ferdinands, Canada (pictured left) – The off-spinner posed the most problems throughout the week for any bowler outside of Rawlins. Ferdinands took a tournament best 12 wickets, five more than any other bowler. He bowled aggressively by tossing the ball up full to invite the drive and his fielders backed him up the entire week.

10. Manula Adihetly, Canada (vice-captain) – Canada’s vice-captain takes the same spot on the All-Tournament Team. He had excellent control for a leg-spinner and constantly teased batsmen by giving the ball plenty of flight. Adihetly finished with seven wickets, second on Canada behind Ferdinands and tied for second overall in the tournament.

11. Sarbjot Singh, Canada (wicketkeeper) – The Winnipeg product led all glovemen on the week with 11 dismissals behind the stumps. He was particularly good standing up to the spinners with five catches and one stumping keeping to the slow bowlers.

12th man: Khalif Williams, Bermuda – Bermuda’s off-spinner took seven wickets on the week but just misses the cut to make the first XI. Both Ferdinands and Adihetly showed just as much wicket-taking ability as Williams, but bowled with better control and had better economy rates.

USA Cricket: Bermuda beats Canada; USA takes 1st place on tiebreaker at 2011 ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division

openingbat — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 22:12:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Scorecard powered by New Inning Foundation

Alex Dore’s 51 at the top of the Bermuda innings helped his side post a comfortable target to defend in a 20-run win over Canada on Friday in the 2011 ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division Tournament at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Dore was named Man of the Match for his knock which included eight boundaries. The win created a three-way tie between Bermuda, Canada and USA at 2-2. USA was named tournament champions based on a superior net run rate with Canada finishing second and Bermuda third.

Bermuda won the toss and elected to bat first on a sunny and windy morning in Winnipeg. Dore and Keishun Smith put Bermuda on the path to victory by producing the best opening partnership of the tournament, 53 runs in 7.5 overs. They were aided in large part by a costly first over bowled by Canada U-15 captain Prushoth Senathirajah, who conceded 15 extras and 22 runs by the time six legitimate balls were bowled. Smith finally left for 11 when he chased a wide delivery from Abrash Khan and edged behind to wicketkeeper Sarbjot Singh.

Dore built another half-century stand with Delray Rawlins for the second wicket and in the process reached his half-century off 66 balls, but he departed one ball later after trying to cut off-spinner Gayan Ferdinands and gave a simple edge to Singh. The keeper took his third catch and brought Ferdinands his second wicket when Rawlins tried to play the same shot to a quicker delivery to go for 17 and the score became 121 for 3 after 20.

Bermuda had looked set to post a score well in excess of 200, but went through a rapid decline thanks to the continued efforts of Canada’s spin attack. Leg-spinner Manula Adihetly got into the act in the next over when he bowled Bermuda U-15 captain Antonio Darrell through the gate for a duck to make it 124 for 4. Ferdinands then took his third when he had Joshua Commissiong caught at point for 16. Two balls later, Adihetly had Janhoi Bean-Wilson caught for 6 at long on as Bermuda started to crumble at 138 for 6. Ferdinands made it 139 for 7 in the next over when Detre Bell left without scoring as he tried to punch off the back foot to another quicker ball and gave Singh his fourth catch.

For the second time in the week, a controversy involving Bermuda sprung up when Micah Perozzi was given out obstructing the field on the second ball of the 28th over to make it 147 for 8. Perozzi defended a full delivery from Ferdinands toward silly point. While the ball was still bouncing, Singh came out from behind the stumps to pick it up, but as he leaned down to field Perozzi kicked the ball away from him. The ball was not bouncing toward the stumps so the action taken by Perozzi was not done in defense of his wicket. Singh then asked the umpires, “Howzat?” Both umpires entered into a discussion and asked Senathirajah if he wanted to withdraw Canada’s appeal. Singh then appealed again and with no objection coming from Senathirajah, Perozzi was given out. Perozzi began gesturing at both umpires while a member of the Bermuda management ran out onto the field to protest but the umpires stayed with the decision.

Joshua Gibbons-Wade was the ninth wicket to fall with the score on 155 when he edged Adihetly to Senathirajah at slip for 10. The last wicket pair of Khalif Williams and Joshua Liyanage added 19, the most outside of the first two partnerships, before Williams was caught slogging at deep midwicket for 14 off the bowling of left-arm spinner Kurt Ramdath and Bermuda was bowled out for 174 in 33.5 overs.

Bermuda came out to field with very aggressive body language and didn’t hold back from sledging. Tensions were on the rise after the Perozzi dismissal and on the first ball of the chase, Gibbons-Wade delivered a neck high full toss at Harsh Thakar. In the next over, the keeper Bean-Wilson gave a shoulder barge into Thakar while fielding a throw. The umpires once again drew the ire of the Bermuda management staff off the field when they approached Darrell to have a word about controlling his players increasingly poor behavior, which was evident all week long.

The opening stand ended at 31 when Ramdath was caught for 13 slogging the left-arm spin of Rawlins to Perozzi at long on. Things got even uglier after Perozzi completed the catch when he started a celebration which involved him turning to the Canada bench to start shooting an imaginary machine gun while yelling out, “Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!” The Bermuda team then went to the boundary edge to welcome the new batsman Bradley Dickson, with all 11 fielders surrounding him and chatting to him all the way to the crease which prompted one of the Canada management members to yell out, “Stay away from my batsman!”

Canada’s chase failed to regain momentum as Bermuda took wickets at regular intervals from there. Dickson was caught down the leg side for 9 trying to guide a short delivery from Rawlins past the keeper to make it 49 for 2. Four balls later, Senathirajah was out for a duck when he hit a full toss from Rawlins to Darrell at mid off. Williams came on and removed Thakar for 17 when he drove the off-spinner low to Dore at short cover to make it 57 for 4.

In a week that saw one batsman timed out and another dismissed obstructing the field, it was only fitting that Ferdinands was out hit wicket for 8 when he swung too hard at a leg side wide from Perozzi only to miss the ball and have his bat hit the stumps on the follow through to make it 72 for 5. Khan made 18 to overtake USA’s Vibhav Altekar as the tournament’s leading scorer, but fell to Perozzi when he hit a full toss to midwicket as Canada’s best partnership came to an end at 33 to make it 105 for 6 in the 26th.

Amrinder Atwal was the next to go for 1 when he tried to flick Williams through midwicket but instead sent a leading edge back to the bowler to make it 106 for 7. Miraj Patel fought valiantly with Adihetly to produce a 30-run stand for the eighth wicket as the two gave Canada a glimmer of hope at winning the match and taking the tournament title. Patel top scored for Canada with 41 and finished as their second highest scorer on the week behind Khan, but after hitting seven boundaries he was finally bowled by a slower ball from Gibbons-Wade after going through with a pull shot too early.

Canada still needed 39 runs to win with only two wickets left in hand. Darrell brought himself on and had Adihetly caught behind swishing at a good length ball for 11 to make it 152 for 9 in the 36th as Canada needed 23 to win in 26 balls. The USA team was now present at the field in advance of the tournament awards presentation and cheering for Bermuda to win, which would produce a three-way tie and give USA the tourney title on the net run rate tiebreaker. Perozzi obliged by removing Neil Ramdath for 3, caught behind for Bean-Wilson’s third catch to end the match as Canada was bowled out for 154 in 36.4 overs.

Image (above) - The tournament champion USA U-15 squad. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

At the tournament awards presentation, Canada took home three of the awards and USA one while Bermuda’s players received none of the individual honors. Sarbjot Singh was named Best Wicketkeeper after completing 11 dismissals behind the stumps, five more than the next best keeper. Abrash Khan was named Best Batsman after scoring 142 runs in four innings including a top score of 77 vs. Bermuda. Gayan Ferdinands was named Best Bowler after taking 12 wickets on the week at an average of 9.67. His best performance was 5 for 36 against USA and he also had a 3.63 economy rate.

USA U-15 captain Dave Parikh was named Tournament MVP. Parikh scored the second most runs for USA with 108, tied for fourth overall in the tournament with Bermuda’s Alex Dore, and also took seven wickets to lead USA in the category and tied with three other bowlers for second overall. Parikh also had the best economy rate of all bowlers in the tournament with 2.63 runs per over. Parikh’s performance of 67 not out and 4 for 6 in eight overs against Canada played a major part in boosting USA’s net run rate way ahead of Bermuda and Canada to ensure they won the tournament tiebreaker.

USA Cricket: Five by Ferdinands helps Canada upend USA by 25 runs at 2011 ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division

openingbat — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 02:16:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Scorecard powered by New Inning Foundation

Canada U-15 off-spinner Gayan Ferdinands derailed USA’s chase with a five-wicket haul to lead his side to a 25-run win on Thursday in the 2011 ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division Tournament at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Ferdinands was named Man of the Match after wrecking USA’s middle order with 5 for 36 in eight overs including two maidens. The win takes Canada to 2-1 while USA finishes the tournament at 2-2.

Canada won the toss and elected to bat first on a perfect morning with a gentle breeze blowing down the ground from the south instead of across the pitch from the east as had been the case on Wednesday. As a result, both teams bowled with much better control on the day. Harsh Thakar was the first player to go, caught behind after edging a half-hearted drive to Gordon Makin off the bowling of Dave Parikh for 2 to make it 5 for 1 in the third over.

Image (right) - Gayan Ferdinands accepts the Man of the Match award from ICC Americas Regional Development Manager Martin Vieira. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Unlike on Monday when Canada wilted for 63 all out against USA, the host’s batting lineup showed tremendous patience and focus as Kurt Ramdath and Bradley Dickson eased their way to a 70-run second wicket partnership. The pair were never really threatened by USA’s bowlers while Ramdath showed good sense in going for big shots with the wind at his back, hitting six fours and a massive six straight down the ground. He was finally caught for 43 pulling a half-tracker from leg-spinner Mihir Athavale to Rohit Mogalayapalli at deep midwicket.

Dickson ran himself out for 25 two runs later when he drove a full delivery from Anirudha Srinivas to Karanjit Singh at point and took off when there was no run to be had. Ferdinands departed for 12 in similar fashion after building a promising 36-run stand with Canada U-15 captain Prushoth Senathirajah. Ferdinands drove Singh to point where Sagar Patel was fielding. Senathirajah took off while Ferdinands stayed put. Patel threw to the wrong end where Makin collected and faked a throw to the bowler as Senathirajah was making his way back. The fake was enough to lure Ferdinands out of his crease and Makin whipped off the bails to make it 113 for 4 in the 29th over. Senathirajah was then bowled by Vibhav Altekar for 33 to make it 129 for 5 in the 32nd.

Abrash Khan was joined at the crease by Miraj Patel and just as they did two days before against Bermuda, the pair took Canada to a winning position with a solid partnership. Patel finally left for 17 when he drove into the wind against Parikh and was caught at cover by Mogalyapalli to make it 164 for 6 after 37 overs. Manula Adihetly was run out without facing a ball on the first ball of the 38th after Khan tried to stretch a single into two as Singh fired a direct hit at the non-striker’s end running in from the long off boundary. Khan continued on until the last over when he spooned a simple catch to Athavale at cover off the bowling of Singh to make it 180 for 8. Sarbjot Singh was caught for a duck two balls later and a single was taken off the last ball by Amrinder Atwal as Canada finished 181 for 9 in 40 overs. A day after giving up 42 extras in the field, USA only conceded 13 against Canada.

USA’s chase got off to an excellent start as Singh and Jason Gobin produced the highest first wicket partnership of the tournament with 49 runs. Each player looked comfortable against the pace bowling of Canada, but problems started to develop once spin was introduced. Singh eventually fell for 21 when he edged an attempted back foot drive to first slip off Ramdath’s left-arm spin. Neil Tagare fell four balls later for a duck to end the 14th over when he mistimed a pull off a short delivery from Ramdath and gave a simple catch to Cooper Hart at square leg to make it 49 for 2.

Gobin’s strike rate slowed considerably once leg-spinner Adihetly began to bowl in tandem with Ramdath. Gobin had a string of 11 straight dot balls between the 16th and 19th overs and before long, frustration got the best of him as he tried to come down the track to drive Adihetly but never got to the pitch of the ball and was stumped for 28 in the 21st over to make it 63 for 3.

USA had been scoring at three runs per over, but with Altekar and Parikh now at the crease USA scored at better than six per over for the next 10 overs. The pair added 66 for the fourth wicket and seemed to have USA on course for victory until Ferdinands came on for a third spell from the southern end. Ferdinands had given up 28 runs in three overs bowled from the northern end as he struggled to flight the ball into the wind.

Image (left) - Vibhav Altekar drives through the on side during his innings of 48 to top score for USA. Altekar finished as USA's leading scorer in the tournament with 140 runs in four innings. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Now bowling from the southern end, USA continued to target him, disregarding the fact that he was now bowling with the wind at his back and the batsmen would be hitting into a stiff breeze. The ploy worked brilliantly as he struck with his second ball in the 31st over when Altekar tried to clear Hart at mid on by driving into the wind and a simple catch was taken inside the circle to get rid of the batsman for 48. Parikh crossed with the ball in the air and on the very next ball he edged a drive to Senathirajah at slip to leave for 17 as USA’s collapse began to take shape at 129 for 5.

Two overs later, Makin tried to pull a short ball into the wind and was caught at midwicket in the circle for 1 to make it 130 for 6. In the 34th, Mogalayapalli was run out for 5 when Sagar Patel hit a delivery from Adihetly into the covers and took off before changing his mind, only to leave Mogalayapalli stranded halfway down the pitch. Thakar fielded and threw to Adihetly over the stumps with Mogalayapalli three yards short to make it 136 for 7.

Patel repeated Altekar’s mistake in the 37th when he slogged a full delivery from Ferdinands into the wind to give Hart another easy catch at mid on for 10 as USA slumped to 145 for 8. Ferdinands completed his five-wicket haul when Athavale went for another slog into the wind as Hart took his fourth catch of the day to make it 155 for 9 in the 39th. Ferdinands’ remarkable five-over spell ended with 5 wickets for 8 runs and effectively sealed the match for Canada.

Khan took the only wicket by a pace bowler for Canada in the final over to end the match when he had Rutvij Bhise caught down the leg side by the keeper Singh and USA was bowled out for 156 with two balls remaining. Canada conceded their fewest amount of extras this tournament with 15 during the innings.

Canada takes on Bermuda in the final match of the tournament on Friday. A win will make them the undisputed tournament champions while USA would finish second and Bermuda third. A win by Bermuda would create a three-way tie at 2-2 with net run rate deciding the winner in which case USA would most likely finish in first place. USA’s run rate is currently +0.650, Canada’s at -0.109 and Bermuda’s at -0.759. If Canada loses, they cannot finish in first place. In order for Bermuda to finish in first place ahead of USA, they must bat first and score a minimum of 242 runs while also bowling out Canada for 46 runs or less, a highly improbable scenario. Friday’s match between Bermuda and Canada is scheduled for a 10:30 a.m. start at Assiniboine Park.

USA Cricket: Captain Parikh inspires 138-run demolition of Canada at 2011 ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division

openingbat — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:58:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Scorecard powered by New Inning Foundation

USA U-15 captain Dave Parikh’s brilliant all-round performance was more than enough for his side to defeat Canada U-15 by 138 runs on Monday afternoon in the 2011 ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division Tournament at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Parikh was the easy choice for Man of the Match after top scoring in USA’s innings with 67 not out before wrecking Canada’s lineup in the field with figures of 4 for 6 in eight overs including four maidens. USA moves to 2-0 with the win while Canada joins Bermuda at 0-1.

Canada won the toss and sent USA in to bat first on another bright and sunny day in Winnipeg as Karanjit Singh and Jason Gobin opened once again for USA. Canada was able to get rid of Gobin early to make it 22 for 1 in the fifth over when medium pacer Amrinder Atwal bowled him for 11 after Gobin played across the line and missed a full delivery. USA’s batting hero from day one, Neil Tagare, came in next but scored just 12 before he top edged an attempted flick through the on side off Atwal and was caught at midwicket to make it 43 for 2 in the 11th. Singh went next for 15 when he tried driving leg-spinner Manula Atihetly through the covers but instead sliced a simple catch to point to make it 68 for 3.

Parikh then came to the crease where he joined Vibhav Altekar to forge a chanceless 74-run partnership in the span of 12 overs. Both batsmen calmly negotiated the spin tandem of Atihetly and Gayan Ferdinands, waiting patiently for the loose deliveries to dispatch to the boundary. Altekar raised his half-century in 57 balls with 10 boundaries, but was out one delivery later when he cut left-arm spinner Kurt Ramdath to point to make it 142 for 4 in the 31st.

Parikh carried on with Rohit Mogalayapalli to build another half-century partnership as USA cruised toward 200. USA took their batting power play to start the 37th over and managed to add 34 runs in the final four overs as Parikh brought up his 50 in 60 balls with nine fours. Canada’s fielding had been sharp for most of the innings, but Parikh was dropped off back-to-back deliveries on 63 and 65 at mid off and mid on in the last two overs. Mogalayapalli was finally caught driving medium pacer Abrash Khan to cover for 18 with two balls to go in the innings to make it 198 for 5. Parikh and Gordon Makin added three off the final two deliveries as USA finished 201 for 5 in 40 overs. Atwal had Canada’s best figures with 2 for 33 in eight overs.

Image (above) - USA U-15 captain Dave Parikh acknowledges his teammates after reaching his half-century against Canada. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Parikh and Rutvij Bhise opened the bowling for USA and had the host side under immediate pressure. Ramdath and Harsh Thakar could only muster 13 runs for the first wicket before Ramdath fell for 9 when he spooned a catch to Mogalayapalli at cover off Parikh’s left-arm seam bowling. The opening stand wound up being Canada’s best partnership of the innings.

Bhise and Parikh then ripped apart Canada’s lineup as four more wickets fell with the score on 23. Thakar chased a wide delivery from Bhise and edged to Makin behind the stumps for 9. Seven balls later, Ferdinands was out for 5 driving Parikh to Srinivas at mid off, who slid forward to complete a superb catch. Canada U-15 captain Prushoth Senathirajah fell without scoring off the next ball when he tried to smash Parikh over Srinivas, but the fielder backpedaled from mid off to take another athletic catch to end the ninth over with Parikh set to bowl a hat-trick ball at the beginning of the 11th.

Before that could take place though, Bhise made it three wickets in three balls on the first delivery of the 10th when Adihetly fended off a bouncer to Brandon Dat at square leg for a golden duck. Parikh took his fourth in the 13th over when Sarbjot Singh became the third batsman to leave without scoring, driving loosely to feather a thick edge to Makin making the score 33 for 6.

Miraj Patel was run out for a duck when Bhise fired a direct hit to the keeper’s end after chasing a ball down from his position at first slip to make it 40 for 7. Atwal was also run out for 6 when Khan cut a delivery from Altekar to point and set off for a run that was never there. Parikh fielded and fired to Makin over the stumps with Atwal well short to make it 50 for 8. Khan was ninth man out for Canada’s top score of 17 when he sliced the medium pace of Anirudha Srinivas to Bhise at point to make it 55 for 9. Srinivas also claimed the last wicket when number 11 Rohan Devrai became the fifth Canadian batsman to fall for a duck, top edging an attempted pull to Singh at midwicket as Canada was bowled out for 63 in 23 overs. Extras were second top score with 11. USA’s impressive bowling performance was evident in the fact that they did not bowl a wide until the 12th over at which point Canada was already five down.

USA has Tuesday off as Canada takes on Bermuda with both teams looking to register their first win on the week. Game time is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. local time from Assiniboine Park.