By Danesh Deonarain

Liberty Sports Club sporting a restructured outfit, fell by 69 runs to Meten-Meer-Zorg in their EACA Division A Round Robin fixture at Flushing Park on July 29^th. MMZ won the toss and took first strike but LSC would make immediate inroads in the batting line up. Imtiaz Hassan had Amarnauth Persaud (8) caught and Thakur Singh followed with the prize wicket of USA national batsman Andy Mohammed (25) shortly after to leave MMZ at 40 for 2.

The in form pair of Travis Ross and Deonath Baksh threatened to once again putting together a huge partnership

Swing bowler Rayhanul Islam scalped 4/25

for MMZ, but Thakur would strike another crucial blow to remove Ross for 17. Andy Harrichand came into the attack and announced himself by clean bowling Baksh (28) then trapping Saud Hussain (5) leg before. Ramratan Jagnarine picked up Ken Nandakumar (3) caught by Thakur at long on to leave MMZ in some trouble at 6 for 106 after 20 overs.

Zaieed Majid (45) and veteran Ajaz Aasgarally (27) staged a resilient 79 runs partnership to pull MMZ back into the game. The pair struck the ball with ease as the LSC bowlers toiled for 13 overs before being able to separate the pair. Majid was bowled by Harrichand in the 33^rd over and this triggered a collapse of the final three wickets at the close MMZ 205 all out in 36.5 overs. Bowling for Liberty Harrichand picked up 3 for 42 while Hassan, Thakur Singh and Vidour Singh picked up 2 wickets each.

The fairly depleted LSC batting line up in their reply to what would ordinarily be a pedestrian chase never posed any great threat to MMZ. Openers Bose Persaud (3) and Harrichand (5) fell early. Danesh Deonarain and Imtiaz Hassan staged a fighting partnership to boost the score to 75 for 3 before Deonarain fell for 20.  Hassan continued on but kept on losing partners after which he finally held out to mid-on for 35.  

Later in the order Jay Singh chipped in with a run a ball 25 and Vidour made 11 to be the only batsmen to score double figures for LSC. Liberty only managed 135 all out in the 39^th over in reply to MMZ. Bowling for MMZ, medium pacer, Rayhanul Islam picked up 4 for 25 while Ross and Amarnauth picked up 2 wickets each. The loss for LSC, the 4^th consecutive for the team, has effectively brought an end to their hopes of qualifying for the semi-final stage of the EACA Power 40 competition with 3 games left.

MMZ’s win, on the other hand, keeps them in good standing as they vie for one of the 4 top spots in the EACA Division A Power40 playoffs. In next week’s play LSC will take on Big Apple at Brentwood while MMZ will face off against Hillside Sports Club at Bay Park.

Victory 350 too much for Phantom

By Dyon Ravello

At Hecksher Victory took first strike against Phantoms, with left arm seamer Shaun Merchant striking three early wickets to rock the Victory top order. Mandeep and Nipun combined with an aggressive 200 plus partnership to leave Phantom winded. Nipun fell fifteen runs short for his hundred allowing Kabir to come to the crease to finish with a let innings cameo sc0ring 46. Mandeep measured his course as he remained unbeaten on 113 to lead his side to 350/6.

Phantoms needing 8.75 runs per over were cautious in their approach as they got to 59/3 after 16 overs. The fall of opener Atif Bhaig signaled the end of the resistance as only Asif Kiani played any semblance of a innings against the Victory attack. Victory captain Rohit Kwatra who fell early when his side batted took the opportunity to scalp four wickets. Off Break bowler Gary finished off the tail with three wickets as the Phantoms were foiled for 100 to lose by 250 runs and still in search of their first win on the season.

Camelot chase down 205 to top Arsenal. Arsenal losing for the first time in Division B play. At Brentwood, Falcons and All Stars were inactive due to the unavailability of umpires at the location. There has been a shortage of umpires for a few weeks with numerous matches being played with a solitary umpires instead of two officials.