Action continued in the Massachusetts State Cricket League with Guyanese cricketer Shaquille Williams blasting a magnificent ton to take his side, the Golden Eagles, over the line in a 40-over affair against St Columbus CC ‘A’. In the process, the Eagles have booked their spot in the playoffs.
Shaquille Williams has continued to dominate
Having won the toss Columbus opted to bat first, aiming to post a mammoth total. Openers Sathish Mahendran and Abhishek Garg took to the crease and batted patiently within the ‘powerplay’ overs. However, they soon became victims of Williams’s off spin, and fell for 32 and 21 runs respectively. Williams then picked up this third wicket when he removed Nikhil Sikka cheaply.
From there wickets continued to fall in rapid succession despite Divyesh Patel putting up resistance with a patient knock of 43 off 40 balls. In the end, Columbus were bowled out for 171 in 36.5 overs.
Bowling for the Eagles were Nirav Shah, with 3-49; Nitin Mewada, with 3-39; Shaquille Williams, with 3-18; and Karthikeya Jagadish, with 1-22.
Needing only 172 for victory, the Eagles lost opener Ravi Rao for a golden duck after the first two balls, and a few other wickets tumbled, but the Eagles continued to press on.
When Williams to the crease, his unbeaten innings of 104 off 90 balls was filled with 10 boundaries and 4 maximums. He was the driving force behind the Eagles’ innings, which ended with the Eagles winning in 29.5 overs with the score at 174-2.
Williams, the top scorer, was assisted by Amogh Gudi with 33 and Shashin Thakur with 26. Siddhesh Vedak was the only bowler to bag 2-35.
Williams has by far continued to impress in the tournament, having scored 261 runs from his 6 matches at an average of 87, inclusive of 2 fifties and 1 century.
