A thrilling weekend of exciting cricket continued at the MYO cricket ground as the final leg of preliminary matches were played in the MYO Inter-Jamaat 15 Overs Softball Cricket Competition at the MYO ground on Woodford Avenue.
Part of the ongoing action
Last Friday MYO and LBI Masjid recorded victories in their matchup. Home team MYO got past Diamond New Scheme by three wickets, while LBI got the better of New Mosque by six wickets. In the opener, the home team restricted their opponents for 116 in 14.2 overs. Rickey Sargeant led the attack for the visitors with 32 (2×4, 3×6) runs. Timore Mohamed and Safraz Esau led the attack with two wickets each for MYO. In reply, MYO reached the required target in 12.4 overs although the visitors had managed to capture seven of their wickets. Majeed Khan led MYO with an aggressive unbeaten 36 (4×4, 3×6), batting at number five. Mohamed added 26 (2×4, 2×6) and Esau 27 (1 x 4, 1 x 6).
In the second clash New Mosque scored 161 from their 15 overs after several batsmen played their hands. Altaf Samaroo powered his way to 33 after hitting three fours and a similar number of sixes, while earlier in the innings, Rohit Samaroo had scored 27 (2×6). In reply, LBI skipper Safraz Ally batted his team to safety with a boundary-laden 62 (5×4, 6×6). Several other batmen supported, with Chris Khan hitting 27 (3×4, 1×6), Carl Spencer 21 and Randy Narain, who struck three sixes in an unbeaten score of 19. Zaman Alli supported with 22 (1×4, 2×6) not out. Rohit led New Mosque’s bowling attack with three wickets but LBI won the game in 10.1 overs.
In Sundays fixture New Amsterdam battled it out with Tuschen Train Station Masjid. New Amsterdam won the toss and asked Tuschen Train Station Masjid to take first strike. Tuschen Train Station Masjid made a massive 184 for 5 in their 15 overs. Number 3 batsman Azad Ali led the attack with a solid and boundary filled innings of 95 runs (2 x 4, 10 x 6) while opener Imtiaz Hack, scored 42 (3×4, 3×6). For New Amsterdam, Kassim took 2 wickets in one over.
Needing to score at 12.33 runs per over, New Amsterdam were in the hunt with the opening pair of Keion De Jesus and Martin Singh putting on 83 runs in 7 overs before Singh was out bowled by Anthony Kadar for 23 runs (1 x 4, 1 x 6). De Jesus was then joined by Raymond Mohamed who then carried the score to 137 in 11 overs before De Jesus was bowled by Timothy Persaud for 69 runs (1 x 4, 5 x 6). In came Safraz Kassim when the pair carried the score to 155 in 13 overs before Mohamed was run out trying to sneak a second run for 47 (5 x4, 2 x 6). Needing to get 15 runs in the final over, New Amsterdam could have only managed 8 runs and ended their innings at 178 for the loss of 3 wickets.
In the second fixture Corneila Ida/Hague Masjid lost the toss and were sent in to bat making 110 all out in 10 overs. Naeem Khalil made 36 runs and Rafeek Mohamed 26 runs. Bowling for New Amsterdam was Wahab Riaz, Raymond Mohamed, Safraz Kadir and Wazim Akram picking up 2 wickets a piece. New Amsterdam in reply made light work of the total and finishing off the game in 12.1 overs for the loss of 6 wickets. Leading the way was Bashir Kellowan with 44 runs (7 x4, 1 x 6) who supported by opener Keion De Jesus with 21 (1 x 4, 1 x 6) and Safraz Kadir with 21 not out (1 x 4). Aftab Hussain picked up 3 wickets and Khalil 2 wickets in a losing cause for Corneila Ida/Hague Masjid.
In the third match played on Sunday, Tuschen Train Station Masjid won the toss and took first strike making 179 for the loss of 8 wickets. Opener Daniel Chunoo made 73 runs (2 x 4, 7 x 6) while Timothy Persaud chipped in with 23 (3 x 6). Extras also played a part in the score with 24 runs. Safraz Ally picked up 3 wickets and Rafeek Abdul 2 wickets for LBI. LBI in their turn at the crease found it difficult to keep up with the required run rate and stumbled to 149 all out in 14.5 overs with Randy scoring 28 runs (1 x 4, 3 x 6). The main destroyers were Harry Singh with 4 wickets and Anthony Kandar and Timothy Persaud picking up 3 wickets a piece.
On Monday 22nd April Corneila Ida/Hague Masjid failed to turn up and LBI was awarded the victory by walkover.
