Eastern American Cricket Association
40-Overs Homestretch Avenue For Teams

By John L. Aaron
As the Eastern American Cricket Association’s 40-Overs competition entered its final week, some teams were heading for Homestretch Avenue and the winners circle, while others were simply heading home, well sort of.

Enmore Maintains Lead
Enmore maintained its lead as the top-points team in the EACA’s 40-Overs competition, defeating a challenging Atlantis last weekend at Baisley Pond Park, in Queens.

Atlantis opting to chase invited Enmore to take first strike. However, it was Atlantis who struck early, grabbing the first four Enmore wickets with only 13 runs on the tins. An opening spell of 16 overs from Haseeb “Feezo” Sheriff and Lincoln Deonarine yielded only 41 runs, as Sheriff recorded 8-2-15-3 and Deonarine 8-0-26-1. However, the remaining Atlantis bowlers could not sustain the pace of the opening bowlers and lifted their feet off the throat of Enmore.

Despite Deryck Kallicharran’s knock of 113 and Rabilall’s unbeaten 46, the Atlantis bowlers failed to capitalize on the chances given them, by dropping four vital catches. In addition, Kallicharran was caught behind when only on eight, but the batsman failed to walk, surviving a very confident appeal and a forgiving nod from the umpire. In may ways it was that decision that took some of the wind out of Atlantis’ sail, as Kallicharran and Enmore would go on to record 230 for 7 in the allotted 40 overs. The Enmore wickets fell at 3, 12, 12, 13, 78, 198 and 225.

In reply, Atlantis was off to a disastrous start, losing their first wicket with the score at one. It never really improved, as the entire team was routed for a paltry 94 in 21.5 overs. S. Anil…annihilated the Atlantis line up capturing 6 wickets for 47 runs in his 8 overs. The Atlantis batsmen’s poor shot selection did not help their cause either, as they sought to add to their 27-point tally. Desmond Thompson returning from knee surgery was the top scorer with 20 off 13 deliveries, including two 4’s and one 6.

Enmore now moves on with 45 points, remaining one point ahead of 2006 champions NY Challengers, with 44 points.

Everest/ACS Bends Golden Arrow
Everest/ACS surging for the league-leading Enmore, hurdled Golden Arrow at Lido Beach. Batting first, Golden Arrow scored 175 for 8 in their 40 overs. Skipper Sew Shivnarine enjoyed an unbeaten 68, including seven 4’s and one 6. His knock, along with 63 from R. Budhoo and including an equal number of 4’s and a six. The Golden Arrow wickets fell at 0, 9, 10, 13, 97, 111, 128 and 153. The wickets were shared almost equally among Everest/ACS’s five bowlers used.

Everest/ACS in response lost a similar number of wickets in their quest of the victory at 177 runs in 32.2 overs. Top scorers were K. Ganesh, 32, H. Ramsabad, 30, and skipper Z. Amin, 20. The Everest/ACS wickets fell at 31, 48, 49, 101, 120, 123 and 151, with Golden Arrow’s J. Sookan 3 for 31, R. Budhoo 2 for 42 and the remaining three wickets shared among L. Jackman, P. Charran and S. Shivnarine. The victory moved Everest/ACS to 42 points, maintaining their third place position in the points standing.

Richmond Hill Snarls Bayshore Tigers
Despite Bayshore Tigers’ Umer Iqbal’s 130 (7x4’s and 11x6’s), Richmond Hill was still able to rally behind solid knocks from top and lower order batsmen and defeat the Tigers.

Taking first strike, Bayshore Tigers reached 265 all out in 39.5 overs. In addition to Iqbal’s century, solid knocks of 28, 26 and 23 came off the bats of Sohall, Atif and U. Butt, respectively. The Bayshore Tigers wickets fell at 3, 64, 67, 84, 97, 161, 163, 197, 205 and 265. Latchman Udai with 3 wickets led the Hill’s bowling attack.

Richmond Hill in response and advancing to 37 points with the victory, reached 266 in 33.1 overs and the loss of only six wickets. Leading the way was Shiv Raghubar with an unbeaten 80 and batting at number 8. However, Sunesh Wazid enjoyed an unbeaten 78, including five 4’s and one 6. Supporting knocks in the 20’s came from four other Richmond Hill batsmen.

The Richmond Hill wickets fell at 39, 44, 54, 88, 123 and 130. While the Tigers’ Umer Iqbal and Sohail each grabbed two wickets, while Naved and Abid each snarled one each.

Other Contests
In other games, NY Challengers defeated Canal No. 2 Polder at Bay Park to advance to 44 points, while the East Side Warriors and Hillside game was abandoned with the teams each receiving 2 points and moving them up to 16 and 11 points respectively. The much-anticipated match up between East Bank and Empire scheduled at Brentwood was rescheduled for Sunday, August 27, following the unsuitability of the playing conditions at Brentwood. East Bank currently stands at 29 points, while Empire Mortgage sits in fourth place with 32 points.

Make Up Matches
This weekend will see those matches scheduled for July 9 last, being played as follows: Empire Mortgage vs. East Side Warriors at Heckscher I, Golden Arrow vs. Bayshore Tigers at Heckscher II, Canal No. 2 Polder vs Hillside at Bay Park, East Bank vs. Everest/ACS at Baisley Pond Park, Enmore vs. NY Challengers at Lido Beach and Unified Ambassadors vs. Richmond Hill at Randall’s Island. All matches start at 1:00 pm.
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