West Indian Softball Association
Dynasty In High-Scoring Affair

By Darshan Chickery
April 27, 2009
Dynasty got back to its winning ways by beating Richmond Hill by 10 runs in a high scoring affair at Charles Drew Park in the third round of the WISA 25 Over Competition last Sunday.

After winning the toss, Dynasty decided to bat first. With the first legitimate delivery of the game, P. Malipal followed a wide one and was caught by Imran Wahab at point off J. Hemraj. Ricky Narine joined Nayan Rudra at the crease and all ‘hell’ broke loose. The two put on 91 in less than nine overs for the second wicket partnership. ‘Kudos’ to Dynasty’s decision making – batting Narine at such an early stage. Strategy or not it worked out beautifully for them. Narine made 53 off 30 balls.

The onslaught continued when Vicky Subkaran joined Rudra at the crease. They rotated the strike and took advantage of some very shoddy fielding by Richmond Hill. The two put on 66 for the third wicket before Rudra was out for 62 in the 19th over. The score was 158 for 2.

Subkaran fell for 35 with the score at 174 in the 21st over. Dynasty lost their last seven wickets for 39 runs but the damage was already done - 213 off 25 overs. Richmond Hill’s Kumar Chickery grabbed 3 for 42. Four other bowlers took one wicket apiece.

Ask to score a staggering 8.52 runs per over, Richmond Hill openers – Ahmad Shazaman (Zaman) and Cliflee Velaidum gave Richmond Hill just the start they needed. They put on an impressive opening stand of 139 before the inform Zaman fell for 72 in the 17th over. His superb knock included eight 4’s and a six. That was Zaman’s third half century in as many games.

As much as the opening stand was impressive, Richmond Hill still needed to score at a clip of 8.5 runs an over to pull out the victory. Richmond managed to score only 30 runs from overs 17 to 21 and in the process lost the important wicket of Velaidum for 49 in the 21st over.

Richmond Hill lost wickets constantly and in the process fell way behind. They needed 22 to win in the last over to be bowled by Subkaran. They managed only 11, hence lost the game by ten runs. T. Ramotar, M. Seeram & R. Prabhu took two wickets apiece. Ricky Narine completed a superb all-round performance by bowling his five overs for 22 runs.

Gobin, Dhanai And Maystry Steer Canje to Victory
By Chin Singh
April 27, 2009
A superb batting display by New York famous Tejpaul Gobin, and an excellent spell of bowling by Yadram Maystry helped Canje Cricket Club beat Crushers Cricket Club, by 74 runs. Canje, for the 3rd time in a row, won the toss, and without hesitation, decided to take first strike. The opening pair of Thakur Kumar and Nizam Latiff started out very briskly, but with the score at 27, Latiff was bowled by Jaimangal for 8. After 11 overs, Canje was 78 for 5, including a brief innings of 14 from Goordial Matai. Gobin, who came in at number 5, had no time to waste, as he would score 31 runs from the next two overs, to take the score to 109 for 5 at the break. In 6 overs after the break, Canje would score 65 runs before Gobin was bowled, trying to go over the top, for a swashbuckling 78. His innings included 5 sixes, and 6 fours. J.G. Dhanai, who with Gobin had put on a partnership for 96 in 8 overs, continued from where Gobin had left off. And at the end of the 25 overs, Canje had reached 231 for 8, with Dhanai unbeaten with 57, an innings that included 5 fours and a six.

When Crushers started their innings, disaster struck as Z. Khan was bowled by Maystry for a duck. Crushers would lose another wicket in the 5th over, with the score at 31. V. Rangasammy, who had opened the innings, batted superbly, for 46, before he was comprehensively bowled by Latiff, with the score at 58. Three more wickets would fall quickly and at the 13 over break, Crushers were reeling at 70 for 6. Needing 162 runs from 12 overs, was always a tough task, but Tony Ramphall and Jaimangal had other thoughts, as they would take the score to 137 in 21 overs, before Ramphall, who was batting brilliantly, was bowled by Maystry, for an exciting 37. Maystry would pick up two more wickets in the same over, including that of Jaimangal for 21. Crusher’s innings would come to a close, at 157 for the last nine wickets. Bowling for Canje, Y. Maystry had figures of 4 for 10, in his 5 overs. He was supported by J. Danhai, and N. Latiff, with two wickets each.

Summarized Score
Canje – 231/8. T. Gobin – 78, J. Dhanai 57 (Not Out, T. Kumar, 21, M. Singh, 16. Jaimangal – 3/32, R. Gobin 3/20.
Crushers – 157/9. V. Rangsammy – 48, T. Ramphall – 37, Jaimangal – 21. Y. Maystry – 4/10. N. Latiff – 2/28. J. Dhanai – 2/34.