EACA Adds Twenty/20 Excitement
League Embraces Popular Format

By John L. Aaron
The Eastern American Cricket Association, like many other cricketing bodies has been caught up in the latest trend in cricketing competition – the Twenty/20 format. This year for the very first time the league has designated its second-part season to the exciting new format and right on the heels of the Sandford Caribbean Twenty/20 championships in Antigua, which saw a Republic of Guyana XI, win a cool US$1,000,000 in a head-to-head clash with the twin-island Republic of Trinidad & Tobago.

Unfortunately, the stakes are somewhat slimmer here in New York, as the EACA has only budgeted US$2,000 and US$1,000 for the winner and runner-up respectively. With sound financial support coming from co-sponsor and popular Queens Attorney John Ragano of Ragano & Ragano, Attorneys-at-law, the EACA is hoping that the format will attract other supporters in the weeks ahead.

Anticipated Excitement
The EACA’s Executive Committee met recently and drafted a three-group fixture for its 13-team roster. The league has placed the six top-seeded teams into three groups based on the current 40-overs points standings. This weekend will see some Twenty/20 action in Groups I and II, while the remaining regular 40-overs fixtures are completed.

The three groups are as follows:

GROUP I - NY Challengers, Richmond Hill, Canal No. 2 Polder, East Side Warriors and Bayshore Tigers.

GROUP II - Enmore, Empire Mortgage, Golden Arrow and Unified Ambassadors.

GROUP III - Everest/ACS, Atlantis, East Bank and Hillside.

Twenty/20 Kick-Off
Tomorrow, Heckscher State Park will be the site for four games in the exciting new format. 2005 league champions NY Challengers will compete in two of the games and so will Richmond Hill and Canal No. 2 Polder.

The star-studded Challengers squad will engage Richmond Hill in the first game at 11:30 AM and Canal No. 2 Polder at 3:00 PM. The other line-ups will see Canal No. 2 Polder pitted against East Side Warriors at 11:30 AM and Richmond Hill and East Side Warriors locking horns at 3:00 PM. The four matches will take place on two of the three fields at the picturesque Heckscher State Park facility.

Baisley Pond Park will be the venue for another Twenty/20 clash. This one involves Unified Ambassadors and Golden Arrow and gets underway at 12:00 Noon.
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