Rockaway Defeated Visiting Trinidadians

By Sam Sooppersaud
July 17th, 2008
A small but vocal crowd was on hand at Baisely Park, Queens, on Tuesday, July 15, to witness the Rockaway Cricket Club of Richmond Hill, Queens, defeated the visiting Clark Road Club, from Penal, Trinidad. Clark Road is a semi-professional club which competes in first division cricket in Trinidad.

They are here in the Big Apple for a series of games in the New York Metropolitan area.

The Rockaway Club led by Hafeez Ali won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket which from the outset was a batsman's nightmare. Bowlers were getting uneven bounce while some balls kept low. But Rockaway overcame this unpredictability in the wicket to reach a winning score in their allotted forty overs.

Sudesh Dhaniram

NY Regional under-19 opening batsman S. Hussain and Skipper Ali walked out to the middle to commence the Rockaway inning. For the first 8 overs they were kept quiet by the accurate pace bowling of K. Peters and A. Mahabir, scoring only 23 runs. With the score on 39 Hafeez retired having scored 24 runs mostly in singles save for two glorious drives for boundaries.

Next to retire was S. Hussain (12) runs and with the score on 59. With the fall of M.Nurse, third man in, the pair of R. Ramdass and S. Dhaniram delighted the crowd with some glorious shots sprayed all over the cricket field. Dhaniram was more severe on the bowlers. Three straight hits for sixes over the bowlers' head were a delight to watch. Meanwhile Ramdass was contented in rotating the strike. He was eventually out for 18. The very exciting William Perkins joined Dhaniram and together they were involved in a 69 run partnership. Rockaway ended its inning at 189 for 7 wickets. Dhaniram 55 and Perkins 37 runs.

Bowling for Trinidad M. Munasar returned figures of 3 for 13 in 4 overs. D. Teelucksingh and M. Persaud getting 2 wickets apiece for 48 and 23 runs respectively.

Trinidad took their turn at bat after the interval and started disastrously with opener S. Suloch fell by a nasty blow in the groin with the very first ball of the inning bowled by N. Khan. Luckily he suffered no injury. He slammed the very next ball magnificently to the wide mid-on boundary. In the same over the other opener M. Munasar was bowled for a duck attempting to emulate the shot by Suloch, but ended up loosing his leg stump.

The second wicket fell on 6 when S. Suloch was caught off the bowling of H. Tony. The third wicket pair of G. Mohabir and A. Mohabir gave the visitors a ray of hope of recovering with a partnership of 57 runs. Once they were separated wickets fell with regular frequency.

The Rockaway fielders backed up their bowlers with some very good fielding and catching. With the introduction of Dhaniram to the attack, Trinidad's demise seemed more inevitable. He returned bowling figures of 3 for 22 and was ably supported in the bowling department by Austin Hutchinson and D. Singh, each getting 2 wickets for 8 and 20 runs respectively. N. Khan and H. Tony claimed 1 wicket each.

Trinidad were all out for 130 runs in 31 overs. G. Mohabir scoring an even 50 runs. A. Mohabir 20 and M. Bodoe 16, the only three batsmen to reach double figures.

After the game everyone at the park enjoyed a sumptuous dinner of fried rice, chicken in the rough, chowmein, goat curry, and other delicacies. Of course Trini delights doubles and busup shut were plentiful. The diners washed down their meal with an assortment of ice-cold beverages. The players then moved on to the home of Hafeez Ali for a presentation and more festivities.

It was a great day for cricket, and for players and spectators alike, considering it was a Tuesday, a working day.