Big-4 Semi Finals A Done Deal

By John L. Aaron
The Eastern American Cricket Association’s 2006 Big-4 Finals has been set for tomorrow, Sunday, September 17 at Bay Park, Long Island. However, in the event that Idlewild Park in Rosedale, Queens becomes available, the match will be switched to that location, according to league President Krish Prasad. Readers are encouraged to check with league officials, other fans or team players, to confirm the exact location of the game.

NY Challengers Routs Enmore
The Steve Massiah led NY Challengers showed Enmore no respect by routing the latter in their Big-4 Semi Final clash last weekend at Bay Park, LI. The seven-wicket victory saw skipper Steve Massiah, just back from leading the USA in the Americas Cup in Canada, hitting a ton and ably supported by his teammates.

Batting first NY Challengers racked up an impressive 311 for 3 off their 40 overs. Leading the charge was skipper Steve Massiah with an unbeaten 105. Andrew Gonsalves batting at number four slammed 64, while Lennox Cush in an opening role blasted his way to a swash-buckling 53. The other contributors were Mahadeo, 38 not out and K. Mandall, 19.

A rejuvenated Challengers with all their pistons seemingly back in order and firing, bowled out Enmore for 175 and the victory in 28.4 overs, as the top four Enmore batsmen were scuttled out for a paltry 22 runs. S. Ali, 6, A. Seebarran, 7, J. Yassin, 6 and D. Kallicharran, 3, exited before Jainarine entered and put up some semblance of a resistance, eventually falling to Steve Massiah for 24 (4x4’s). The other Enmore batsmen showing any grit were Jagnarine and J. Persaud, each with 22, followed by tail-ender S. Mohammed with a face-saving 13.

The Enmore wickets were shared almost equally among the NY Challengers bowlers, with no one capturing more than two scalps.

Everest/ACS Topples Richmond Hill
Everest/ACS in a move designed to pit them once more against NY Challengers in the league’s Big-4 finals, took Richmond Hill out of the equation. Thus, a rematch of the 2005 Big-4 finals is scheduled between the two teams for tomorrow at a venue, yet to be confirmed.

Winning the toss and opting to take first strike, Everest/ACS reached 207 for 9 in their allotted 40 overs. Led by an opening contribution of 62 off 73 balls from Amjad Khan, Everest with a few stumbles along the way was able to post a troubling 207 target for Richmond Hill. Getting among the double–figure runs for Everest/ACS were T. Roberts, 23 not out, H. Amin, 21, skipper Zamin Amin, 19 and opener Neil Solomon 15. Extras posted a contribution of 37.

Everest/ACS’s wickets fell at 65, 73, 106, 142, 143, 163, 164, 178 and 178. Shiv Raghubar was the Hill’s most successful bowler capturing 4 for 35 off 8 overs. Latchman Udai had 2 for 35 off 5 overs, while Shameer Sadloo and Ramphal Bactowar each grabbed one wicket apiece.

In reply, Richmond Hill could only muster 135 all out in 33.5 overs. Top scorer was Sunesh Wazid run out for 29 and Ramphal Bactowar with 25 not out. Opener Mustaq Yussuf was run out for 24, while Shameer Sadloo enjoyed a knock of 23 in the losing cause. Richmond Hill’s wickets fell at 14, 14, 41, 90, 92, 95, 95, 97, 118 and 135.

The Hill’s batsmen were pinned down by openers T. Walke and S. Amin with combined figures of 16-2-50-0. despite not sharing in the wickets up for grabs, clearly the two bowlers did what they were supposed to do in limited overs cricket, keep the opposition to three runs per over or less. Eventually sharing the Hill’s wickets were T. Hastoo, 2. Z. Amin 2, and K. Ganesh and K. Ramsabad each with one wicket apiece.
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