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T&T emerges victorious in 2011 Lauderhill International Night Cricket Final

openingbat — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:38:00 GMT

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By Ricardo Inniss

The curtain came down on the 2011 MAQ T20 Lauderhill Night Cricket Competition, coordinated jointly by the SFCA and FSCL, before the usual large noisy crowd at the Lauderhill Sports Park, on Saturday evening April 9, as Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) defeated Jamaica in a tight match. T&T walked away with the MAQ T20 Trophy and a $2,000 check. T&T’s skipper Timothy Surujbally and Jamaica’s Glen Anglin were the stars of the night. The 26 year-old exuberant stroke-player Surujbally, was named MVP of the competition.

Pic (Right): Front L to R: Anthwan Singh, Joey Pierre, Timmthy Surujbally (Capt.), Gaston Walker, Ravi Samlal, Asad Alrashid and Shane Ford. Back L to R: Leon Garrick, Tariq Hosien, Stefan Babulal, Tazmool Hosien, David Ramsingh and Joel Pamphille.

The competition, now in its tenth year, was previously won seven (7) times by Jamaica, who also shared it once with Guyana.

Sent in to bat after losing the toss, T&T rattled up a very respectable as well as defendable 194 for 6 off the allotted 20 overs. Leading the way, skipper Surujbally, in a punishing mood, blasted 5 fours and 7 sixes in a scintillating hot-like-fire 29 ball 66. Not to be left out, Leon Garrick lashed 3 fours and 4 sixes off 41 balls, Joey Pierre smashed 3 fours off the 20 balls he received while scoring 21, and Baliram Nayaik stroked 3 fours in a cameo 12 ball knock. Bowling honors for Jamaica, went to Herlando Johnson who scalped 3 for 33 from 4 overs, Ken Wright with 1 for 11 off 2 and Eian Thomas, 1 for 37 off 4. There were 22 extras.

In a bold reply, Jamaica was dismissed for 181 after 18.3 overs, to give T&T victory by 13 runs, and their first ever lien on the MAQ T20 Night Cricket Trophy.

Hard-hitting Glen Anglin, batting at number 6, in a whirlwind knock of 81 slammed 6 peppery fours and 7 huge sixes off 41 balls to keep the match wide open, until he was ninth out with the score on 180. Young Steven Taylor looked threatening while at the wicket, but fell for a 14 ball 22 that included 2 fours and a six. Keyonie Gayle banged a quick-fire 20 off only 9 balls including 2 fours and a six, and Mark Johnson smashed 3 fours in a 12 ball 17.

Bowling for the victorious calypso boys, Joel Pamphille bagged 3 for 40 from 3.3 overs, Ravi Samlal captured 2 for 22 off 3, Gaston Walker 1 for 37 in 4 and Tazmool Hosien, 1 for 51 from 4. There were 2 run outs and 24 extras. The umpires were, Danny Khan and Mohammed Ally. Paul Mowatt was the official scorer. Congrats are in order for T&T.

After the match T & T captain Timothy Surujbally told DreamCricket.com: "We played as a team throughout the competition with everyone sticking to the game plan. I thought our out-cricket was excellent. Our batsmen and bowlers performed at the right time, and all the players played a major role at one time or the other. I’m very pleased and happy to have led T &T to their first ever MAQ T20 Night Cricket championship.”

USA messes up the chase in first T20 against Jamaica in Florida

openingbat — Sat, 22 May 2010 21:52:00 GMT

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By Gokul Chakravarthy

Match Scorecard

The Twenty20 festival had well and truly begun when USA won toss and asked the Jamaican men in yellow to bat first at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida on a bright Saturday morning.

Photo (left): Man of the Match and ex-West Indian international, Marlon Samuels sizing up a delivery from Steve Massiah, Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com

Lennox Cush opening the bowling for USA from the Pavilion End indicated a bit more of a ‘winning’ gameplan as opposed to that of gauging new players’ abilities in match situations, which was the case in the previous match. Cush went for 7 in the 1st over but showed why he was in his captain’s plans. Bilal Khan had his captain’s faith as well and kept it, opening from the “TV-tower End”.

The scoreboards, announcements and other organizational aspects around the match were also much more up to snuff from the word “go” during this match. Much like the US team’s game plan for the 50-over match on Friday, the organizers got a chance to test things out and iron out the kinks for the weekend.

USA came into the match with 4 significant changes: 16-year-old Steven Taylor, Lennox Cush, Timroy Allen and Aditya Mishra came in for Clain Williams, Moazzam Imtiaz, Muhammed Ghous and Andy Mohammad.

Yesterday’s hero Pagon stayed yesterday’s news as he went for a breezy 13. He was caught expertly at point by Mishra who had to go down low and hold the briskly slashed ball from Pagon inches off the ground. He made the catch look so ho-hum that the crowd couldn’t be blamed for thinking it was a dot ball. Cush had his first and only victim of the match.

When West Indies internationals Samuels and Hinds got together and Stanford T20 star for Guyana Cush was bowling to them, it was one of the 1st all-star matchups of the day.

At 33/1 in 6 overs, USA’s opening bowlers had done the job for their skipper by restricting the vastly experienced and skillful pair of Samuels and Hinds to a below-par T20 score coming out of the powerplay.

This start was made possible by Cush’s unwieldy brand of spin, where he jumps up to the crease and plops the ball down at almost the same point on the pitch most of the time. It is the trajectory and pace at which the ball travels to that point and hence from that point to the batsman that kept changing and ended up tying the batsmen down to just 1s and 2s, at the most.

Khan bowled a consistent line and length as well and that was his undoing as well. When in the 8th over, Wavell Hinds faced him, Khan couldn’t quite alter that line to suit the left-hander, resulting in a few wide balls in that over. Nevertheless, 43/1 in 8 overs would still count as a job well done, although it wasn’t without a fair contribution from the pitch itself.

Knowing this, Steve Massiah replaced Cush with Timroy Allen and Khan with himself. Allen’s bowling style is of the ‘moderate’ variety to Muhammed Ghous’ orthodox and Cush/ Massiah’s experimental. Allen had the Hinds and Samuels in a bit of a quandary about whether or not to take him on from his very first delivery. That indecisiveness spilled into their running and Hinds was all but gone, having backed up a long way from his nonstriker’s end and being sent back by Samuels. Massiah would not accept the generous offer. His fumble at midwicket allowed the batsman to scamper back to his ground.

At 72/1 after 12 overs, Masshaih felt comfortable enough to bring back a bit of pace into the proceedings and he was right. This was not to haunt him and his team for too long as, in the 13th over, Orlando Baker’s 1st, trying to break free from the shackles of the spin twins from both ends that had kept the a check on the scoring, Hinds spooned up an easy catch to Adrian Gordon at long off.

Massiah bowled through his overs without much damage in terms of boundaries, but the runs were being accumulated at more than a run-a-ball. Baker’s 2nd over changed that. A belligerent Danza Hyatt took deflated Baker’s dough with 2 fours and a six in that over, making the overall tally a massive 16 runs, the innings’ most fruitful.

Photo (right): West Indian international, Wavell Hinds, stroking it "Windies-style", Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com

Samuels also came to the party in the last 4 overs and the duo put on close to 50 runs in that time, helped along generously by Gordon’s juicy offerings at too full or too short a length, negating the difficulties in the pitch and allowing Hyatt and Samuels to free their arms as they saw ‘hit’.

A wicket in the last ball of the innings must have helped USA go into the dressing room with their morale curve on an upward slope. 145/3 was going to be a tough score to chase on this sluggish pitch and with enough spinners and slow bowlers of his own, Tamar Lambert of Jamaica must have felt confident enough of beating the USA in their chase.

Lambert didn’t change his tactics with the ball at the top of the innings from the 50-over version. Andrew Richardson’s 2-for-28 from 6.5 overs and the best bowler on show the day before, Krishmar Santokie with returns of 3-for-11 from his 7 overs, were good enough to open the attack for him.

Massiah, on the other hand, moved Baker down in his batting order to make way for Mishra while keeping Carl Wright where he was the previous day.

One pair did not disappoint its captain while the other one did.

A maiden over from Richardson to the struggling Wright was followed up by a 2-run over from Santokie from the Makeshift-TV-tower End. Carl Wright’s tentative loft was almost caught by the mid off fielder. When he got back on strike later that over, he decided enough was enough and got well under a ball from the giant of a man, Richardson and lofted it into ‘no man’s land’ over covers for a lazily run 2. These are the finer aspects of the sport that upcoming teams such as USA would do well to grasp and do well in. It is often said that the shorter versions help in leveling the playing field between opposing teams that might otherwise have a wider gap in talent. Running between the wickets and fielding are aspects that can leverage such shorter versions to bridge that gap. What would have certainly been 3 runs for Test playing batsmen was reduced to a mere 2 by the USA openers.

They rectified that once or twice in the later overs from Santokie. Bevon Brown replaced Santokie and struck in his very first over when a hard-hit shot from Wright was snapped up by the quick reflexes of Samuels. Samuels then came on to replace Richardson and got a wicket all by himself soon thereafter. Mishra played all over one from him and was bowled for 10.

Lennox Cush, the vice-captain, joined Massiah at the fall of Mishra’s wicket and didn’t last long either as Brown caught his loft gone wrong, as a top-edge popped the ball way up over the pitch. A steady Brown set himself under the ball, waited for it for what seemed like eternity, and took the catch after its tantalizing aerial stay. What was more entertaining was his celebration after taking that catch. He moved backwards in short, Michael-Jackson-moonwalk-style, jerks keeping pace with Cush alongside him as he was walking back to the pavilion. This even brought a wry smile on Cush’ face.

But Massiah was not smiling as he and Aditya Thyagarajan got together – the former latter was given a clean chit by the coach, Imran Khan, the previous day while the former was considered to be still out of form. Aditya couildn’t repeat his batting display from the previous day as he fell for a meager 2.

Massiah struggled as he shifted between extreme caution and extreme adventure, much to the irritation of the crowd, which was well into the 4 digits. At 67/6 in 15 overs, USA’s hopes of winning the match had crossed over into wishful levels. From that point on, all the USA team did was, as Marlon Samuels later put it after winning the Man of the Match award, “worked really hard, but the Jamaican team is a much better team and executed their plans properly.”

The only bright spots for USA were the aggressive intent and execution shown by Ashhar Mehdi and the entry to the crease of USA’s first-ever home-born and youngest cricketer, 16-year-old prodigy, Steven Taylor.

Photo (left): The only 2 bright spots for USA, Steven Taylor and Asshar Mehdi (stroking the ball), Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com

Mehdi’s clean hitting was well-appreciated by all assembled, not the least of which was his own skipper Massiah. His score of 28 in 20 balls was the only thing in USA’s batting that resembled anything remotely invoking the spirit of T20 cricket. Taylor’s sedate innings came to an abrupt end when he was brilliantly stumped down the leg side by the fleet-footed and even soft-handed, Carlton Baugh who has also represented West Indies in the past. This was Baugh’s 2nd such stumping of the day, the earlier one getting rid of Baker.

USA’s innings sauntered to a mere 98/9 in 20 overs. They could just about stake their claim at having played out their overs but very little more than that. When asked about his team’s game plan, Massiah was to say “We executed our plans up until the last 2 overs, but then they took the match away from us. Taking into consideration the fact that we were batting on a pitch that had been used for 120 overs, it was more difficult to bat second. There is definitely room for improvement as we move forward. They had the luxury of having wickets intact. When you have wickets in the last 5 overs, you can go hard. But I thought today was a much improved performance [from us].”

When asked about his own batting, he added “We haven’t played in a couple of months an the guys are coming out of the winter. In T20 cricket, you’ve gotta kind of improvise and hopefully throw the bowler off their line and length. The pitch was very slow and so it was very hard. So you couldn’t really go through the line of the ball. It didn’t work today.”

Photo (right): US Cricketers starstruck by the presence of one of the cleanest hitter in cricket, Ross Taylor, Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com

About the crowd missing out on some entertainment due to lack of boundaries when USA batted, Massiah said “It’s unfortunate that the crowd hasn’t been able to see the best of the America talent, but it is only because we are going through a transition period.”

Pearls Cup Reshaped - No match on Thursday. Event begins on Friday instead.

openingbat — Sat, 15 May 2010 03:25:00 GMT

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USA Cricket - NZ Cricket Media Release

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Friday, May 14 - Next week's historic series of international cricket matches scheduled for Florida has been re-shaped to include two double headers, featuring the New Zealand BLACKCAPS vs. Sri Lanka and the USA vs. Jamaica.

New Zealand and Sri Lanka were originally scheduled to play three international Twenty20 matches to launch the hosting of full international cricket in the USA. However, the International Cricket Council has ruled that the lights available at the Broward County Regional Park are not quite up to the standard required for the broadcast and hosting of full international cricket.

"Ideally the inaugural game in the Pearls Cup series would have been a night game on Thursday, May 20th. The lights at the stadium are fine for most levels of cricket, but they need to be of a higher standard for the playing and broadcast of international cricket" said New Zealand Cricket CEO Justin Vaughan.

“And added to this, there is a high probability of rain and thunderstorms in the region on Thursday which added weight to our decision. Because of these factors, we have decided, along with our partner USA Cricket, to focus all of the attention on the weekend with the two double headers as well a full One Day International between USA and Jamaica on Friday the 21st.”

"The BLACKCAPS are tremendously excited about the opportunity of launching international cricket in the United States and it promises to be an amazing weekend of cricket. The BLACKCAPS have had fantastically close games against the Sri Lankan team in recent times and the Pearls Cup series promises to be a great spectacle.

It is also great to see that Jamaica have sent a full-strength squad, including a number of players who have played for the West Indies. Their games against the top USA team should also add a lot to the event" Vaughan said.

Anyone who had purchased a ticket for Thursday's game should contact Ticketmaster for a reallocation to the weekend or a refund.

S. Florida Cricket: Mark Johnson hits second ton. Takes Jamaica to Final!

openingbat — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:43:00 GMT

SFCA Simms Cup Update

The South Florida Cricket Alliance (SFCA) Simms Cup Semi-Finals was marred by some persistent showers which brought a premature end to both matches at Lake Stevens Elementary School, on Sunday April 11.

Pic (Right): Mark Johnson scored a sizzling 111 with 11 fours and 6 sixes! [Courtesy: Mark Johnson]

The number one team Jamaica, playing Team USA in a match shortened by rain, will advance to the final and Guyana, also in a match marred by rain, scored a win over Trinidad & Tobago (T&T), by a faster run rate, to set up a Jamaica vs. Guyana final. The man-of-the-day was Jamaica’s Mark Johnson who banged a stroke-filled ton.

Semi-final 1 - Jamaica team vs. USA at Lake Stevens-East:

Taking to the crease first after winning the toss, Jamaica amassed a respectable 290 all out off 38.3 of the allotted 40 overs. Leading the way, the ebullient former USA left-handed hard-hitting batsman Mark Johnson hit his second ton in the competition, when he blazed his way to a sizzling 111, spiced with 11 peppery fours and six huge sixes.

The consistent Ken Wright, slammed 4 fours and 2 sixes in a sparkling knock of 49, whilst Fredrick Redwood hit 21 (4 fours) and Jermaine Thompson got 15 (2 fours). Johnson, whose 111 came off 82 balls and with Wright’s 49 coming off 62, shared a 102 run fourth wicket partnership.

Bowling honors for Team USA went to Cedrick Davis, who captured 3 for 50 from 6.3 overs, Dave Wallace 3 for 57 from 7 including 1 maiden, Andre Forbes 2 for 42 from 5 and Mark Simpson, 1 for 24 from 2.

In reply, Team USA was on 57 for 2 after 11 overs when rain ended play. Dave Wallace scored 23 (4 fours), Micton Wallace got 11 (2 fours) while Shawn Beckford and Shane Ford, were both not out on 11 and 7 respectively.

Bowling for Jamaica, Andrew Williams took 1 for 20 from 5 overs and Redwood, 1 for 37 from 6. Since the competition dictates that 16 overs must be completed in a last innings effort, to make it a match, and as this did not happen, Jamaica as the number 1 team will advance to the final.

Semi-final 2 - Guyana vs. T&T at Lake Stevens-West:

Sent in to bat after losing the toss, T&T was dismissed for 171 in the exact 40 overs allowed. Joel Lee cracked 7 fours in an enterprising knock of 47, Bally Nayaik hit 45 including 3 fours and a six and Timothy Surujbally got 23 (3 fours & a six). Bowling for Guyana, the skipper, leg- spinner Masood Mohamed, captured 3 for 25 from 8 overs, another leg-spinner Vickram Ramoutar bagged 3 for 27 from 8, Imran Saddick took 2 for 30 from 8 and Nazim Ali, 2 for 38 from 8.
In reply, Guyana was on 94 for 4 after 18 overs, when heavy rain ended play. Rasheed Bacchus hit 23 (2 fours & a Six), whilst Kayume Mohamed and Vickram Kumar were both undefeated on 19 and 18 respectively. Kayume Mohamed smacked 2 fours and Kumar, 2 fours and a 7, which included an overthrow. Bowling for T & T, Tasmool Hosein took 2 for 3 from 6 overs and Ken Singh, 2 for 27 from 8.

The final Jamaica vs. Guyana, is scheduled for North Dade Middle School on Sunday April 18.

MAQ T20 Lauderhill Night Cricket Round 11 Update

When the 2010 MAQ T 20 Lauderhill International Night Cricket Competition completed Round 11 on Saturday evening April 10, at Lauderhill Sports Park, Barbados whipped Guyana and Sri Lanka trashed Leewards, while Barbados’ Raymond Denny and John Willoughby, stole the spotlight in an unbroken scintillating second wicket partnership worth 119 runs.

First match at 5 PM, Guyana vs. Barbados:

Winning the toss and electing to bat first did not help Guyana, as they were toppled for a not so competitive 132 from 14.4 of the allotted 20 overs. Opener Nazim Ali, banged 5 fours and 2 sixes.

In a topscore of 46. Andrew Permaul chipped in with a useful 32 (5 fours & a six) and Skipper Masood Mohamed got 29 (3 fours and a six). Bowling for Barbados, Micton Wallace took 2 for 19 from 3 overs,Steven Brathwaite 2 for 30 from 3, Justin Holder 2 for 35 from 3.4 and David Brathwaite, 1 for 15 from 3.

In a positive reply, Barbados made light work of the winning total by cruising to 133 for 2 off 15.2 overs, to inflict a convincing 8 wicket victory. Taking them there, former USA captain Raymond Denny and John Willoughby, flayed the Guyana bowling, whilst associated in a 119 run third wicket partnership. Denny slammed 9 flawless fours and a six in a sparkling 36 ball unbeaten 61 and Willoughby, smacked 4 scorching fours and 5 towering sixes, while carrying his bat 55, scored of only 39 balls. The best of the bowlers for Guyana, were Ali with 1 for 27 from 4 overs and Avinash Rampersaud, 1 for 40 from 4.

Second match at 8 PM, Leewards vs. Sri Lanka:

Occupying the crease first after winning the toss, Sri Lanka posted a respectable 209 for 7 off the arranged 20 overs. Naveed Ahmed, smashed 3 fours and 5 sixes in a blistering 58, not to be left out Nazir Javed, blazed his way to an exact 50 off 39 balls that included 7 fours.

The opening pair put on 101 for the first wicket. Other useful contributions came from Syed Hassan, who hit 6 fours and 2 sixes in his red-hot 18 ball 41, Mohamed Mahazar who got 20 (1 four & 2 sixes) and Ken Singh 15 (1 four and a six).

Bowling for Leewards, Everton Mapp took 2 for 38 from 3 overs, as Trevor Garvey, Steven Lewis and Boswell Jeffers each took a wicket for 12, 33 and 48, while there were 2 run outs.

In reply, Leewards were dismissed for 133 after 18.2 overs, leaving Sri Lanka the victors by an emphatic 76 runs. Only Lewis who banged 5 fours and 4 sixes in a blazing 54 off the 38 balls he received and Jeffers who got 27 (2 fours and a six), offered any resistance.

Bowling Sri Lanka to victory, Singh scalped 4 for 20 from 4 overs, Sadik Haque snared 3 for 17 from 2, Hassan 1 for 3 from 1.2 and Pieter Potgieter, 1 for 20 from 4.

The following matches will be played on Saturday evening April 17: First match at 5 PM, Windwards vs. Team USA, and in the second match at 8 PM, Jamaica play India.

Lauderhill Jammers wins seventh straight Parkway Masters title as Charles and Henry steal spotlight

Current champions Lauderhill Jammers, defeated Palm Beach to retain the Annual Parkway Over-45 Years-Old Title, for the seventh straight year, when the two teams squared off at North Dade Middle School, on Saturday April 10. 2010.

The Jammers’ Victor Charles cracked an exact 100 and Ivor Henry, a sparkling 76, to steal the spotlight.

Winning the toss and deciding to occupy the crease first, reigning champions Lauderhill Jammers posted a very competitive 242 for 4 off the arranged 25 overs. Victor Charles, smacked 5 fours and 5 sixes in fiery unbeaten 100 to lead the way.

Not to be outdone Ivor Henry, with an array of shots on either side of the wicket, of which 9 fours and a six were the most rewarding, stroked a classy 76, whilst Horace Stanley got 24 (1 four & a six). Charles and Henry shared a valuable second wicket partnership worth 92 runs. Bowling for Palm Beach, Ronald West took 2 for 28 from 3 overs, Val Campbell 1 for 32 and Paulton Hall 1 for 48.

In reply, Palm Beach looking for 243 for victory and the Parkway Masters title, was restricted to 162 for 4, off the regulated 25 overs, to concede victory by an emphatic 80 runs. Ross Livingstone, banged 5 fours and 2 sixes in a well played 41, Vickram Ramoutar in a cameo knock, blasted 4 fours and 2 sixes in 38, and Steve Wint hit 24 (2 fours & 2 sixes).

The best of the bowlers for the victorious Jammers, were Gaythorne Williams, Virgil Francis and Conroy Henry, with a wicket each for 3, 17, and 34 respectively. Congrats are very much in order for Lauderhill Jammers.