08 November, 2009, Naaman Williams Park, NJ

Almost exactly a month after the 40-over Championship match, the Berbice Royals find themselves in yet another Final in NJSCUA’s first season. This time against a slightly unfamiliar foe – Pak Am. When asked what ‘Pak Am’ stood for, Salman Hasan of Pak Am proudly proclaimed “It is short for Pakistan and America!”

A gorgeous Fall weekend had been predicted early in the week. This was not unlike many Summer predictions from earlier in the year except, this time, the sun actually stayed in view when the weekend did arrive. The cloud-spotted blue skies provided a wonderful anti-gravity blanket to catch the white cricket ball flying off the bats of our cricketers in New Jersey. Whether the fielders did their part to catch the ball as gravity had the last laugh was another story. In a year full of weather-driven results and “no results”, it was quite fitting that the weather decided that the two Semi Finals and Finals of the first NJSCUA T20 Championship should all be played and completed in wonderful conditions on the same day and, most astonishingly, in the 2nd week of November – one of the latest dates recorded for an official league match played in New Jersey in the past few decades. 

Cricketwise, the day began relatively early with the two Semi Finals kicked off simultaneously at quarter past nine in the morning, a few miles apart. Pak Am played Hightstown C.C. at the Thomas Jefferson ground while the Berbice Royals took on season-long rivals, the Excalibur C.C. at Naaman Williams Park.

Photo (Left): The NJSCUA 2009 silverware

While Pak Am defeated Hightstown by almost 100 runs (scorecard), Berbice Royals had to work a bit harder to vanquish their opponents in what became a closer match than they’d have liked it to begin with. A few quick wickets by the Excalibur bowlers in the second half of the Royals’ innings gave them a scare, but thanks to a steady knock of 47 from their top order batsman, Clain Williams, the Royals announced their arrival into the Finals.

The Championship tussle was also scheduled to be played at Naaman Williams Park. A third umpire, a tradition kicked off by DreamCricket.com’s Radiant Info Twenty20 tournament earlier in 2009, was instituted for this match in the form of Venkatesh Raghavan. The on-field umpires, Srihari Bindiganavale and Gokul Chakravarthy called “Play” at 1:25PM and the league and the teams had done everything to ensure that the early sunset wouldn’t hamper the prospects of a fully contested and, more importantly, fairly completed cricket match.

Berbice Royals’ captain, Lall “Ruppie” Ramnauth, promptly won the toss and elected to field for the second time in the day. When asked later at the awards ceremony as to what the thought behind this was, he’d simply say “We felt our bowlers could put [any] batsmen under pressure [early on]”. His bowlers repaid his faith in them. Sean Thompson, the burly quickie ensured a wicket in the very first over of the innings. Ramnauth himself had a big hand, quite literally too, in this dismissal was quite another thing. The ball – an ever-so-slightly out-swinging one – at well above 75mph, took the edge of Abdul Rahim’s bat and flew to the lone slip in the form of “Ruppie”. Things seemed to have been frozen in time as the ball took a while to reach him. But he flung himself to his right – well to his right – to pluck the ball and landed back on earth with the fruit of his labor. The team was pumped up and any tiredness from the first Semi Final – mental or physical – seemed to have faded away with that one incident. The wicket brought the hero of the Semi Finals for Pak Am, George Matthew, to the crease.

The always steady and metronomic Derick McDonald did what he does best from the other end and the Royals’ opening bowlers had Pak Am tied down at 13/1 in 3 overs. Ahson Bukhari was stroking the ball well and playing risk-free strokes, seemingly in an effort to build a decent score when he was adjudged caught behind the wicket to a ‘snorter’ from McDonald. The wicket keeper, MahadeoPersaud, standing up to McDonald, gathered the ball near his chest to claim the catch. The batsman, Bukhari, was not amused and suggested that his bat was nowhere close to the ball. Pak Am – 15/2 in four overs.

Having played the first bowling powerplay and scored at less than four runs an over, the Pak Am pair of Matthew and Waqas Shahid had the confusing task of scoring quickly and yet not taking too many risks in the second bowling powerplay.

Photo (Right) Top: Pak Am, Bottom: Berbice Royals

The NJSCUA special T20 regulations include three powerplays as follows: First four overs of mandatory powerplay – two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle, a second ‘bowling powerplay’ of two overs and a final ‘batting powerplay’ of another two overs – with three fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle in both the cases. When Ramnauth opted for his second powerplay in the fifth over, Matthew and Shahid must have felt a little of that burden easing up since their task of achieving conflicting objectives seemed slightly more likely with the fielding restrictions. That feeling may not have lasted much longer as Matthew negated the lower risk by going for a might heave against McDonald, only to end up caught. End of the second powerplay; Pak Am – 22/3 in six overs.

This brought the skipper, Khirbaq Hasan and Shahid together, with Shahid timing the ball wonderfully and playing within the ‘V’, thereby getting the singles and reducing the risk. This experienced and mature pair took Pak Am to fifty in ten overs. Their partnership of twenty eight in four overs was that rare combination of runs without wickets that had eluded Matthew and Shahid earlier. Asif Bari, one of the stars with the ball for the Royals in their Semi Final match, replaced Thompson and was welcomed rudely by this pair as he went for eight runs in his first, the innings’ ninth while McDonald’s last over – the innings’ eighth – cost him seven. But when McDonald was replaced by Mahendra Bhim, the wily offie, his quicker one got through the defenses of Hasan to bowl him. Hasan had started complaining even before the ball reached him that the bowler’s action was suspect and refused to leave the pitch after being bowled. The umpires did not intervene and so he left the field, kicking and screaming all along the way. Pak Am – 50/4 in ten.

Burhan Rahman joined the well-set Shahid. Rahman showed more maturity by ensuring that his more skilled partner got most of the strike. This meant that the pair put on twenty seven runs in the next four overs even though Rahman only got five of those runs in just about as many balls – a great exhibition of the virtue of an astute partner and a sensible partnership even in the shortest form of this sport. Bari and Bhim were the victims of this partnership. While Bhim continued his spell, Bair had handed the ball to Ravi Chandreka in the thirteenth over giving rise to a double off spin attack. Buoyed by this success and the fact that they still had six wickets remaining, the pair opted for their powerplay in the fifteenth over. Pak Am – 77/4 in 14

This decision, wise as it was, did not quite harvest the rewards that Pak Am might have expected. The very first over of this powerplay, bowled by Chandreka, saw the one player who could have taken advantage of the powerplay, Shahid, go for a wild and, it must be said, tired swing, completely missing the ball and ending up with the timber landed behind him. In walked the strapping Sarfraz Khan in what seemed to be a clear indication that Pak Am did not want this powerplay to go the wasteful way of the first two. Khan lasted all of two deliveries, the second of which flew high and straight behind the bowler’s head for a good 5 seconds but a red streak appeared in the sixth and the ball seemed to be stuck in middle air. When the dropped jaws were closed back together giving way to a collective gasp, Quyaam Farrouq emerged with the ball in his left hand. He had run from a ‘wide-ish’ long on for a good 15 yards, stretched out his left had as far as he could, while still running sideways and then jumped a foot or so to time what could only be termed as a ‘plucky’ catch. This catch would upturn his skipper’s efforts to land Farrouq the ‘Best Fielder of the Finals’ award. Goher K Tareen joined Rahman but this last installment of the powerplay only saw nine runs jotted down in Pak Am’s scorecard. But the pair kept taking a lot of runs without any boundaries or lofted shots and the fresh, athletic legs of Tareen pushed Rahman to the cliff of his fitness in the bargain. The pair added nineteen in three. Pak Am – 100/6 in 18.

As they approached the last two over with four wickets in hand, Hasan and his mates must have seen a score of 120 as a realistic possibility. In what had become typical of this innings, hopeful faces were met with the slapping hand of disastrous reality when Tareen and Rahman both exited in the nineteenth over, bowled and run out respectively. Ahsan Haseeb and Javed Akram came to the middle and swung and swept and scrambled fourteen runs out of the last over to give their team a fighting score of 115/8 to defend.

The Royals, having chased down 94 in their earlier match with almost three overs and an equal number of wickets to spare must have felt confident hunting down ten more runs in those extra balls, the only ‘x-factor’ being the bowling of Pak Am. Royals’ own hero of the Semis, Williams, opened the batting with Farrouq. Pak Am opened for their part with all rounder Shahid and Rahman.

On this occasion, Williams couldn’t contribute much with the bat as he fell to the well-disguised slower one from Rahman that he missed completely, even in his attempt to only play a defensive stroke, and was bowled for three. #3, Mahadeo Persaud, also fell to Rahman in the very same over, the second of the innings. A classic edge flew to Shahid’s right at a ‘slip and a half’ who timed his dive to his froth and right to perfection and snapped up another stunning catch, the third such of the match. Farrouq seemed determined to continue his contribution in the match and blasted a four in the over to ensure that despite the wickets, the Royals ended the over at 12/2.

Bhim teamed up with Farrouq in what ended up being the best partnership of the match for the Royals ad the pair made much better use of the first and second bowling powerplays to get their team to 36/2 in six and then to a more calculated 46/2 in 8 overs. This must have felt like the ideal platform that the rest of the Berbice Royals batsmen could just calmly build their victory podium on.

Shahid gave way to the young and always energetic Tareen in over # 7 while Rahman completed his full quota of four overs on the trot. In his second over, Tareen, whose skidding action and sliding deliveries had been troubling the batsmen for an over and a half, finally caught Bhim right in front of the middle and Bindiganavale had no hesitation in ruling him out, LBW. A slight protest by Bhim was immediately quelled by his own team mate, Farrouq, who quickly indicated to Bhim that he was indeed out.

Another Pak Am all rounder, Matthew, got his first over in the tenth. And what an over it was! A sprightly run up culminating in a wonderfully side on gather and a close-to-the-wicket release with a pivoting outwardly follow through and the ball sailing the breeze on its seam’s rudder all add up to one thing: a classic out swinger’s action. A double-blow ensued with McDonald completely misreading a full, swinging ball that crashed into his legs right in front of middle stump and then Farrouq, having survived a very close LBW appeal himself, missing another outswinger that brushed his pads and took the bail off the off stump on its way to the wicket keeper. This over pretty much took the wind right out of the Royals’ counter attack and, having come right in the middle of their batting innings, left their lower order to score the remaining runs at more than a run-a-ball. Berbice Royals – 52/5 in 10 overs.

Naveed Khan joined captain, Ramnauth who had himself survived a few seemingly close shouts especially from Tareen’s end. When Matthwe bowled his second and the innings’ twelfth over, he caught Ramnauth playing for an outswinger even as the ball did something that only textbook outswinging bowling can make it do – it swung in the air outward, but pitched on the seam and cut back slightly into the batsman catching him ‘plumb in front’ of the off and middle stumps. But overs eleven through thirteen did produce twenty one runs for the Royals. Royals – 71/6 in 13 overs.

Khan was seldom able to get bat on ball and it was his new, and already third, partner, Chandreka, who seemed to be able to score more freely at that point.

Photo (Right): The NJSCUA 2009 T20 Runners Up, Berbice Royals

The pair scored another twenty runs in three overs before Abdul Rahim enticed the shackled Khan to hit a skier to deep long on, where Tareen steadied himself under a very high skier and took the catch safe and sound.

Ravi Chandreka seemed to be the major hope for the Royals now as they lost their seventh wicket. But it was not all lost as the Royals had five full overs to knock off thirty one runs and they had not yet taken their batting powerplay. Thompson walked in with the instructions that they should do so right away and so they did. Khirbaq had already given the ball to his offie, Javed Akram. A nervous half-tracker by Akram was followed by a wonderfully loopy off spinner that Thompson could not keep away from the stumps even though he got some bat onto it. The rest of the over only yielded two runs. Royals – 87/8 in 16.

With one more over of the powerplay remaining, with only two wickets in hand and the now ‘middling’ Chandreka at the crease, twenty nine runs from twenty four deliveries still looked possible if the Royals tail wagged a bit. IF! Typical habits of the tailenders were in full view as the seventeenth over from Rahim first saw #10 Sunil Singh get entangled in a terrible run attempt and then the anxious Chandreka attempting a huge six but only managing a local one as Burhan Rehman got under it and accepted the catch easily. And just like that, the match was all over for the Royals. They were left with three overs to spare and ninety five runs on the board for the second time in the day. The major difference – they had lost all the wickets and were short by ten runs. 

The underdogs, Pak Am, couldn’t even begin to hide their joy and relief at pulling out the proverbial rabbit out of the hat. Their captain was almost in tears and their supporters, some of whom had brought celebratory percussion instruments along, gave them a fitting fanfare.

The league President, Deepak Katte, along with special guests, Shelton Glasgow – the Atlantic Region’s USACA Representative, Atul Huckoo – the President of Edison Cricket Club, and Mr. Amarnath from Dhoom FM were the dignitaries present at the presentation ceremony. Mr. Gokul Chakravarthy hosted the ceremony and Mr. Balwant Tulshi from Royal Elastics and Mr. Sunil Singh from Executive Shirts Laundry who were sponsors of the NJSCUA Twenty20 league were also present. There were numerous tokens of appreciation presented to the sponsors and supporters of the league. The umpires who officiated in the Final Championship match were also handed a commemorative plaque each. Each of the finalists won individual medals as well.

Photo (Right): The NJSCUA 2009 T20 Champions, Pak Am

Apart from the Runners Up trophy, the Berbice Royals also won some individual awards that would have acted as some consolation at the end of a heart-breaking Finals. These and other individual awards presented were:

Best Fielder of the Finals: Quyaam Farrouq, Berbice Royals                                    
Best Bowler of the Finals: Ravi Chandreka, Berbice Royals
Best Batsman of the Finals: Waqas Shahid, Pak Am
MVP of the Finals: George Matthew, Pak Am

Mr. Katte thanked one and all for a wonderful season and expressed his satisfaction at the way in which the inaugural season had been conducted and played and hoped that the league would build on this in the years to come. Mr. Glasgow congratulated the league for putting together a good tournament and when asked if he had “… seen cricket played in these parts this late into the year”, answered with a casual “Yes, on TV” that had all the assembled in splits. The teams exchanged pleasantries while the victorious Pak Am could be heard rejoicing well after the last Royals wicket had fallen.

Scorecard of the match can be found by clicking here.