Deonarine’s half century propels Silicon Valley to Toyota MLC 2021 Title

…Guyanese players among top performers

The inaugural season of the Toyota Minor League Cricket Championship came to an exciting conclusion on Sunday, Oct. 3, at the scenic Church Street Park in Morrisville, NC.
The Silicon Valley Strikers defeated the New Jersey Stallions by six wickets, and won a grand prize of $125,000, thanks to the efforts of Guyana’s very own Narsingh Deonarine. The Strikers have thus become the first-ever Toyota Minor League Cricket Champions.

The highlight of the tournament was the plethora of Guyanese players that performed well. After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Stallions began in blistering fashion, scoring 44 runs from the first five overs.
New Jersey looked set to compile a huge total when they reached 85 for the loss of one wicket after 10 overs. Dominique Rikhi led the charge, scoring 42 from 33 balls, supported by Sai Mukkamalla, who struck 31 from 27.
However, after Kulvinder Singh removed Mukkamalla in the twelfth over, the Strikers claimed four wickets in four overs, and clamped down on the Stallions’ scoring.

A final flurry of runs for New Jersey in the last three overs set the Strikers a total of 141 runs to chase. Kulvinder Singh ended with figures of 3/32 from his four overs, while Saurabh Netravalkar, Roshon Primus and Pranay Suri each took a pair of wickets.
The Strikers’ batting started at a fast pace, with Rahul Jariwala and Unmukt Chand helping Silicon Valley to 49 from their first five overs. Jariwala fell for 21 and Chand for 22, and Jayasuriya followed quickly after for a duck following a run out. The Strikers’ inning was anchored by a superb Narsingh Deonarine half-century, an unbeaten 52 from 43 balls, while Roshon Primus struck 31 from 25 balls, also unbeaten.
The Strikers reached their target with 11 balls to spare, Deonarine scoring the winning run and being named the Player of the Match for the first Toyota Minor League Cricket Championship winning team.
The tournament showcased the likes of many Guyanese players, all of whom performed well. In the batting department, Trevon Griffith was the second highest run scorer with 566 from his 18 games, made at an average of 37.73. Christopher Barnwell came in at fourth with 559 runs from his 16 games, scored at an average of 50.82; while Jonathan Foo, scored 407 runs from 14 games at an average of 58.14.
Bashkar Yadram scored 365 runs from his 18 games at an average of 33.18, Derick Narine scored 351 runs at an average of 27, Asad Fudadin scored 321 runs at an average of 24.69, Dominique Rikhi scored 315 runs at an average of 24.23, Chris Patadin scored 304 runs at an average of 25.33, Narsingh Deonarine scored 269 runs at an average of 26.90, Rajindra Chandrika scored 267 runs at an average of 26.70, Tagenarine Chanderpaul played just four games, but scored 260 runs at an average of 260, and Sherfane Rutherford, who also played four games, scored 121 runs at an average of 30.25.

In the bowling department, Christopher Barnwell led the pack of Guyanese players with 15 wickets at an economy rate of 6.7; Devendra Bishoo took 14 at an economy rate of 5.5, Trevon Griffith took 14 at an economy rate of 5.8, Bashkar Yadram took 14 at an economy rate of 6.5, Jonathan Foo took 14 at an economy rate of 7.1, Tagenarine Chanderpaul chipping in with 7 at an economy rate of 5.8, Dominique Rikhi took 6 at an economy rate of 5.6, and Asad Fudadin took 5 at an economy rate of 8.8.