Want to Join Cricket League in Central NJ

deepcc — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:43:00 GMT

Hi,

I am living in Piscataway and I am interested in Joining Cricket Team to play leagues. I am All Rounder (Right Arm). Please let me know how to join to play cricket league for this 2010 season.

Please send me your response to my email: kash_22033@yahoo.com

Thank You.

Commonwealth-A captures the fourth crown of the decade

gchakravarthy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:40:06 GMT

By Soumendra Basu With the arrival of Fall 2009, the MSCL Division I finals looked partly new and partly more of the same. The game featured Commonwealth-A, finalists for the past three consecutive years, coming off an exciting semi-final victory over a very resilient Star team. The final also featured the absence of perennial powerhouse Conway; their place being taken up by a very capable Guyana, coming off a very efficient win against Gymkhana A. Playing at Roberts Field, Guyana won the toss and put Commonwealth-A into bat. Out walked Ali and Qasim, to face the veteran Lall and do-it-all Baksh. Right from the first over, the Commonwealth openers started to middle the ball, and the runs began to flow. Amazingly, both openers ran well, and availed of all opportunities to score. Baksh was soon replaced with Sanichar, who stemmed the flow for a bit. But it was the day of the openers, who raced to 78 before Qasim fell for 31 in the 11th over. Ali was joined by Fazal, who started cautiously, and was just starting to open up when he was superbly caught by Steve on an uppish drive. Zeeshan joined Ali, and was happy rotating the strike to Ali, who by now was in a murderous mood. Balls were disappearing regularly across and over the boundary off the middle of Ali’s broad bat. His 50 came up quickly, and Ali was showing no signs of slowing down when he pulled his hamstring going for a quick run. Fazal padded up to run for him, and quick singles were added to the repertoire along with the big hits. Zeeshan fell to Ramlochan for a subdued 18, and Kiran joined Ali, who was by now, looking good for a century. Just as it appeared that Commonwealth was going to get a huge score, Guyana spinners H. Punoo, Goolcharan and Jaglall bowled very tidily and slowed down the scoring. Perhaps motivated by giving away his wicket in a critical juncture in last year’s finals, Kiran started very sensibly, and both batsmen treated the good deliveries from the spinners with respect, while punishing the bad balls without fail. The Commonwealth momentum was further slowed when Fazal, running for hamstrung Ali, strained his own hamstring badly, putting his chances for bowling in the finals in jeopardy and prompting Zeeshan to replace him as a runner. With the score at 201, Ali, who was in the nervous nineties, fell just short of his hundred, holing out to Sanichar at long off for a superbly made 97. Ali’s performance was truly brilliant, following up on his match winning 84 in the semi-finals. His 97 was studded with 7 fours and 4 superbly timed sixes, with a strike rate above 90. With 4 overs to go, it appeared that Commonwealth would end up with a score around 220; competitive, but not a guaranteed winning score considering the talented Guyana batting line up. In walked grizzled veteran Joseph Buffong. In the next two overs, Kiran commandeered the strike and accelerated brilliantly, before departing for a crucial 35 (3 fours and 1 six) off 24 balls in the 38th over with the team score at 217. Mark joined Buffong, who was now being jeered by the crowd for blocking a couple of balls to get his eye in. Well, Mark got the best seat in the house for one of the most exciting last overs in memory. Guyana supporters, who were vociferously suggesting retirement for Buffong, were stunned into silence, when he plundered 23 runs off the last over. It included one four and three huge sixes, each longer than the the previous one. This put a charge into the Commonwealth supporters who, by this time, were on their feet, cheering wildly. This aerial assault brought the Commonwealth total to 248 for 5. The match was clearly not locked up, but it was definitely advantage Commonwealth at the halfway stage. Guyana opened with Lallbehari and Steve against Nitin and Sachin operating with the new ball. For whatever reason, Nitin’s compass was a bit off for the day, and he managed to place several balls just to the left and right of a diving Mark, the keeper, to keep the score ticking by, even though the batsmen themselves were quite in check. When he did get the ball on line, he got good results, bowling Steve who had not managed to trouble the scorers. Sachin found a much better line, but the next man in, Baksh, was looking to be in ominous good form. Wahab replaced Nitin and had Baksh caught by the bowler he replaced with Guyana on 50. This was a huge wicket since Baksh is one batsman who could score at a rate fast enough to overtake the big Commonwealth total. Nitin soon removed Lallbehari and Guyana was tottering at 56 for 3. In came H. Punoo and he started batting beautifully with Ramlochan playing a supporting role. Spin was introduced in the form of Ali and Zeeshan, and the batsmen, aided by some dropped catches accelerated the scoring till Ramlochan fell to Zeeshan in the 18th over with Guyana at 91. In came M. Balgobian, with the intent of finishing the game with one swing of the bat. He dispatched the first ball for a huge six and spent the rest of his time at the crease trying to surpass this with every ball he faced. Punoo on the other hand was sweeping the spinners with consummate ease, and worry lines were beginning to appear on Fazal’s forehead. To add to Commonwealth’s worry was the injury to Fazal and that Qasim was prone on the sideline, not feeling well after his efforts at quick singles at the top of the Commonwealth innings. Inevitably, M. Balgobian fell just before the break, nicely caught by Kiran off Zeeshan, with Guyana at 113. Sanichar joined Punoo after the break, and he carried on where Mohabir left off, hitting the ball hard to all corners of the field. Purak was introduced into the attack, and he was rudely greeted with both batsmen with rampage in their eyes. Completely against the run of play, Punoo decided to take the aerial route against Purak one too many times and was out for 30, well caught by Zeeshan on the fence, who ended up flat on his back after making the catch. It was a huge wicket, because Punoo was batting brilliantly. With Guyana at 126 for 6, Commonwealth could be forgiven to think they had the game in hand. Sanichar, however, had other ideas. With support at the other end, first from Rudy, and then from Naresh, Sanichar went on an all-out attack. With options running out, Fazal brought himself on, in spite his hamstring injury, and he used all his experience to try to contain Sanichar with limited success. The introduction of Qasim, who by this time had willed himself out of his exhaustion, changed the game. He took care of Rudy and Naresh in quick succession, and finally earned the crucial wicket of Sanichar who scored 49, caught by Purak. It should be mentioned that although the Commonwealth fielding was not as sharp as it should have been, Purak was the one sure-handed fielder throughout the playoffs, ending up with three catches in the finals. With Sanichar departing at 193, Lall and P. Punoo delayed the inevitable for a couple of overs, till Qasim claimed Punoo to end the Guyana innings at 197. Qasim finished with figures of 4 wickets for 9 runs in five overs, a game winning bowling effort indeed. It was a well-played final, and both teams need to be congratulated. Guyana put up a fierce resistance when all seemed lost, and in spite of chasing a massive target, did not allow the outcome of the game to be certain till the very end. Commonwealth-A has shown remarkable consistency and won its fourth Division I title in this decade. Fazal thanked his troops after the match, and expressed his gratitude for having so many options throughout the season. Players from both teams shook hands warmly with Guyana gracefully congratulating Commonwealth on their victory. The evening finished with the presentation of the trophies and an on-site dinner with both teams mingling and socializing together. The picture of Fazal holding the trophy on the 25th Anniversary of the Commonwealth Cricket Club added a nice symmetry to the post game celebration!

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Want to Join Cricket League in Central NJ

Commonwealth-A captures the fourth crown of the decade