08/14/2017
Sunday August 13th, 2017 Riverside CC vs Caribbean CC Match Report: Eight teams in the Connecticut Cricket League qualified for the Quarter Finals, however the match up between Riverside and Caribbean was probably the game that everyone had their eyes on. During the regular season match up, Caribbean was able to get the better of Riverside and now for the Quarterfinals Caribbean CC was fully loaded with all their star players and as per scouting report were looking formidable. Riverside made some crucial changes by promoting veteran Peter Singh to the top of the batting order and bringing back their pace man Taj Khadar.
On a perfect New England summer day, Caribbean CC won the toss and sent Riverside to bat, Riverside opening pair Peter Singh and Bobby Abbasi from the start looked settled, comfortably rotating the strike with some nice cuts and drives, the pitch didn't offer much bounce to the pacers and the ball kept low so batting was a little tricky, but Peter and Bobby kept their composure and batted with sense, soon the opening partnership flourished to a nice 50, including one over where Peter took apart the Caribbean bowling for 17 runs and Bobby hitting some nice boundaries and an elegant six. Bobby was the first to go when he tried to clear the long on fence, the ball looked well on its way to another six, but Caribbean had strategically placed their 6'6" fielder Zulu Bonner who jumped another 2 feet and plucked the ball out of the sky sending Bobby back for 24. Next man in was Ramoo but he didn't last long and was out for 10. Peter was playing well and was joined in the middle with Riverside's leading batsman Munawar Abbasi, Peter Singh crossed the 50 mark in style and both men were batting comfortably and Riverside was well positioned at 125 for 2 from 25 overs. But then Caribbean made a bowling change which proved to be game changer for them, 6'6" Zulu with his high arm action started tossing some looping deliveries, tempting Riverside batsman to step out and go for the big hits, the Riverside batsmen took the bait and went for the shots, soon the wickets started to fall at regular intervals, Peter finally got out for a valuable 57, Anil Persaud batted for 17 runs but the rest of the batsmen were not able to turn the big advantage into a sizeable score and were all out for 159. Suddenly the match had swung in favor of Caribbean CC and their players looked happy with their performance in the field. The Riverside bench had a little look of disappointment and they knew that they blew the chance to post a formidable total to put pressure on the Caribbean batsmen. The match was evenly poised with a slight advantage to Caribbean.
Umpires Cuzzy and Grace walked toward the center of the pitch and signaled the start of the second half. Caribbean openers were in, Riverside fielders were set and Captain Salim Sattar tossed the ball to Paul Bodhoo who started with 3 wides down the leg, the atmosphere was thick with tension and all eyes were on the action in the middle, then Paul bowled his first ball which was a full length yorker, McClean tried to dig it out but was beaten and the ball crashed into his stumps, Riverside team erupted with joy! Next batsman in for Caribbean by the way of Australia was Hoyle who stroked the first delivery confidently for a single and put Clarke on strike, who cut the next ball to deep backward point and took off for a single, Denish Persaud a.k.a Big D picked the ball and fired a bullet directly at the stumps where Denesh Samaroo a.k.a Lil D took off the bails in a flash and what looked like an easy single turned into a total disaster for Caribbean with 2 wickets down in the first over and only 4 runs on the board. Next over it was Riverside pace man Taj Khadar who was bowling to Caribbean danger man Everton Nelson, but Taja was upto the task, bowling a tight line and not giving an inch to Everton or Clarke. 3rd over it was back to Paul and it was like DejaVu as he started the over with a wide but then just like his previous over bowled an in swinging yorker which Nelson misread and tried to flick towards leg but missed and got wrapped dead center, RCC fielders jumped in unison to appeal but it sounded more like a war, umpire Grace raised her finger, suddenly Caribbean was down to 3 wickets with hardly any runs on board. Next over Taja continued with accurate nipping balls and the pressure mounted on Caribbean with Kevin Baugh and Clarke in the middle trying to salvage and get the Caribbean innings going but Paul had other ideas as in the very next over he had Clarke trapped LBW with another swinging delivery, although the Sun was shinning bright on the field but the dark clouds were hovering over Caribbean. Baugh was joined with Monroe in the middle, Taja continued his spell, with wickets falling and runs stagnant, the frustration took over, Baugh tried to break the shackles by going for a big hit off Taja's bowling, the fielder in the deep was Paul who took a stunning one handed catch to send Kevin Baugh back to the pavilion. In the very next over Taja produced a sharp outswinger tempting Caribbean batsman Bruce to go for the shot which he did, edging the ball to slip where Muni Abbasi took a sharp catch to make it 21 for 6 in 10 overs. The Riverside openers Paul and Taj had dealt a lethal blow to Caribbean upper order batsmen. Captain Salim now turned to his trusted spin Quartet of Raj, Munawar, Ramoo and himself. All the spinners except Ramoo bagged a wicket each, although Ramoo took a nice diving catch in the deep. Caribbean batsman Thelwel a.k.a Chango with 37 runs and Henry a.k.a Country with 10 runs were able to bring some respect to the total by taking it to 74, for the last pair Captain Salim brought back his match winning horse Paul who immediately had Rawl Caroyl trapped LBW to close the match and the win for Riverside.
Peter Singh got the best batsman with his 57, with Bobby making 24 and Anil 17. Paul Bodhoo got Best bowler with figures of 4 for 16 off 6 over. Taja had 2 for 11 off 4 overs, Raj 1 for 14 off 4 overs, Salim 1 for 16 off 4 and Muni had 1 for 8 off his 3 overs. For Caribbean Chango made 37 and Zulu got 6 wickets.
All in all a fantastic win for Team Riverside, pushing them into the semi finals against the formidable Sportman's CC who are the reigning Champions of the CCL 40 overs tournament. Join us next week at Keney Park cricket fields for the two semi finals Riverside vs Sportsman's and Euphoria vs West Indian. Should be a very interesting day of cricket !!!
