USA Cricket: North West and South West top undermanned South East in U-19 trial matches

openingbat — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 11:21:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

Pranay Suri took 5 for 28 in a resounding 85-run win over a nine-man South East team before an all-round effort from Shayan Abdul Ghani Ahmed took South West past South East by 5 wickets in a pair of 25-over U-19 trial matches on Thursday at Woodley Park.

In the morning match, South East won the toss and elected to field, hoping to get something out of the pitch conditions in the same manner that North West had done when fielding first against South West on Tuesday. North West’s opening pair prevented that with a 100-run stand.

Jodhbir Singh top-scored with 50 while his opening partner Zulkifl Nana scored 34. Leg-spinner Sunil Deopersaud then dismissed both players in the space of five balls in the 17th over as both men were beaten in flight to be stumped by Zain Ali Syed. Syed then took off the wicketkeeping gloves to come back for a second bowling spell where he claimed the wickets of Akash Jagannathan and Krish Goel. Viraj Patel claimed the other wicket to fall, that of Suri, as North West finished on 151 for 5 in their 25 overs.

Image: North West U-19 captain Pranay Suri took 5 for 28 against South East, finishing with 8 wickets for 49 in two trial matches at Woodley Park. [Copyright: DreamCricket.com]

South East’s chase with a nine-man batting lineup became more difficult when they were deducted one over for a slow-over rate in the field. Kwiese Edmondson was dismissed in the fourth over for 7 by Happy Kumar and two overs later Kumar claimed Ricky Nayar for 5 to make it 22 for 2.

Syed came to the crease and put on a 33-run partnership with Awais Yasin. Suri was on the receiving end of a harsh assault from Syed, who raced to 24 off 22 balls before he was run out. He tried to take off for a single from the non-striker’s end, but Yasin didn’t budge and Goel fielding at point alertly tossed the ball to Suri over the stumps at the bowler’s end, who broke the stumps with Syed well short trying to get back.

On the very next ball, Suri had Yasin out LBW. He wound up claiming five wickets for two runs in his last 2.1 overs with one run coming off the bat and the other courtesy of a wide. South East went from 55 for 2 to 66 all out in the span of 4.2 overs.

In the afternoon match, South East won the toss and elected to bat. They put up a much stronger fight against South West with Edmondson and Nayar forging a 43-run opening stand before Syed and Deopersaud added 47 for the third wicket. Syed was dropped second ball for the second game in a row, but went on to top-score once again with 54 in only 41 balls before he was bowled by leg-spinner Gurpreet Sandhu.

Ahmed then produced his second solid spell of left-arm spin in three days, getting Deopersaud and Yasin out stumped. Ahmed finished with 2 for 25 in five overs while Ryan Amaratunga, Salman Ahmad and Shakeel Ahmad each chipped in with a wicket. South East finished 149 for 6 in 25 overs.

Image: Shayan Abdul Ghani Ahmed finished with 2 for 25 against South East and 4 for 48 in two U-19 trial matches for South West. [Copyright: DreamCricket.com]

South East worked hard throughout the innings to restrict runs and build pressure, but with only nine men in the field, the task was too difficult to manage. Shakeel Ahmad worked to build a solid platform at the top of the order and finished with 33 to top-score for South West. However, the scoring rate was a little slow for the first 15 overs as South West stood at 65 for 2 with another 85 needed in the last 10.

Ahmad got out to Syed in the next over which brought Ryan Amaratunga to the crease with Hammad Shahid. The two hustled between the wickets to score quick runs, rarely allowing dot balls to happen. Amaratunga batted unselfishly to score 24 in 16 balls before being caught on the midwicket boundary by Syed off the bowling of Patel to make it 103 for 4 in the 20th.

Ahmed came to the crease and with his older brother Shahid continued the flow of runs. The two added 34 before Shahid was caught on the boundary at long off by Syed off the bowling of Faraz Jaferi for 29 to make it 137 for 5.

South West needed 13 to win with 12 balls to go, but only needed four balls to reach the target. Nayar started the 24th over with a wide and then a single to Sandhu, who replaced Shahid at the crease. Ahmed showed tremendous energy when he produced an all-run four before blasting a six over midwicket. He then clipped a single to the leg side to finish the match on 20 not out, giving his team a 5-wicket win.

North West vs. South East Scorecard

South East vs. South West Scorecard

USA Cricket: North West claws past South West to win by 4 wickets

openingbat — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 07:32:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

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.

Match Scorecard

USA Cricketer : Shayan Ahmed, North West

USA Cricket: North West and South West top undermanned South East in U-19 trial matches

USA Cricket: North West claws past South West to win by 4 wickets