EACA Blitz T20

Imtiaz ‘Tizzle’ Hassan blasted a swashbuckling 51 not out and returned to pick up 3 for 21 in 4 overs to lead Liberty Sports Club’s upset of Richmond Hill CC by 45 runs in their EACA T20 Blitz Zone 1 match up on Sunday 22nd Sept.

Richmond Hill started the day by blowing away NY Centurion in the first match of the Baisley Cage double header. Led by another ton from Sudesh Dhaniram, the home team posted 223 in their 20 overs and returned to blow out their opposition for 124.

Liberty’s Imtiaz Hassan, 51 not out and 3/21 blew out Richmond Hill

Liberty SC won the toss and chose to take first strike in favorable conditions for the second match. The boys in blue got off to a rocketing start thanks to Thakur Singh (30, 5 fours & 1 six) who took a liking to Deryck McDonald’s slow swingers. At 50 without loss after 6 overs LSC looked set to post a total in excess of 150.

Dhaniram removed Thakur and triggered a mid order collapse which saw skipper Danesh Deonarain, heavy hitter Terrence Madramootoo and Altaaf Habibulla back on the concrete bleachers without bothering the score much. Andy Harricharran (29, 3 fours) who opened the batting with Thakur held his end but could not resist chipping down the track to Kumar Nandallal to be stumped. This left the score at 80 for 5 in the 14^th over.

Imtiaz joined the proceedings and immediately swung the match back in LSC’s favor. The imposing left hander took the game to the RHCC attack striking 3 monstrous sixes and 4 blistering fours to race to an unbeaten 51. He was especially brutal to veteran Ramphal Bactowar and his exploits included taking 17 off Bactowar’s 3^rd over. Marlon Persaud and Hemchandarbose Persaud made useful contributions and batted around Hassan as LSC posted a final score of 160 for 8. The inning was closed off by Andray Persaud whipping the last delivery for a six over long on.

Defending the total, Hassan found success in Liberty’s first over when he had the day’s centurion, Sudesh Dhaniram, caught 1^st ball at long off, the catch taken by the ever reliable Thakur Singh. Hassan would make two more crippling blows, bowling Shameer Sadloo in his 2^nd over and getting Wazid Ward to hold out to Thakur once again at long off in his third over. This reduced RHCC to 33 for 3 in the 5^th over and helped Hassan to figures of 4 overs 3 for 21. It soon became 35 for 4 in the 6^th over when Harricharran had Debo Shankar miss queue a pull to a diving Altaaf Habibulla at short midwicket.

Imran Ali (28) & Zaheer Sadloo (26) started on a recovery partnership but their inclination to avoid risks resulted in an ever climbing required run rate. The pair added 53 but used up 8 overs to do so with LSC only allowing 6 boundaries during their stay. Madramootoo removed Ali with his 2^nd ball after being introduced into the attack and that triggered the collapse LSC was looking for.

Marlon Persaud (3 for 22 off 4 overs) then cleaned up the RHCC tail with help from Andy Harricharran (2 for 14 off 4 overs) and Madramootoo (2 for 18 off 2.2 overs) as Liberty SC bowled out RHCC for 115 in 19.2 overs.

The win means Liberty SC will finish at the top of the T20Blitz Zone 1 having defeated Victory CC, NY Centurion & RHCC while gaining a walk over after Hillside SC played an unregistered player in their match one week previous. #TheBlueNation now awaits their opposition in the T20Blitz Quarter Final Playoff spot.

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