By Peter Della Penna

Timroy Allen saved the day as USA came back from a deep hole in the final overs to snatch a one-wicket win over UAE on Sunday afternoon at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Pic (Right): File picture of Timroy Allen

“I think today was a very very important victory for us,” said Steve Massiah, USA captain. “What it has done for the team has given us more self belief and I think it’s a very very good morale boosting victory for us. So we can take a lot of positives and I’m sure we’ll be up for the game on Tuesday and we are looking forward to it very much.”

UAE was sent in by USA to bat first and were bowled out for 141 with a ball left in the innings. Usman Shuja dismissed both openers in his unbroken four over spell to start the match, getting Mohammed Iqbal out with a good slower ball yorker. Lennox Cush removed Qadar Nawaz first ball, getting him to chip to Massiah at midwicket in the circle before Shuja got Arfan Haider to slice a full and wide ball to Rashard Marshall at backward point to make it 34 for 1 in the 5^th over.

After Shuja finished, Massiah mixed up his spinners well to keep UAE’s batsman off balance. Saqib Ali came in at number four and top scored with 47 off 43 balls as he was never really able to tee off due to excellent bowling by Cush and Saurabh Verma in particular. Allen, who opened the match opposite Shuja with his pace bowling, also came on to bowl off-spin in the middle overs, presenting another dimension to his game.

After two solid partnerships, UAE looked to set a very good total with the score at 111 for 4 in the 16^th over, but wickets fell fast and furious at the end. Imran Awan came on at the death to take three quick wickets as UAE lost their last six batsmen for only 30 runs. The bowlers were well supported in the catching department by Rashard Marshall in particular, who took three brilliant catches overall.

USA came out and made a confident start with Carl Wright and Sushil Nadkarni before Wright fell on the final ball of the 4th over for 22 to make it 39 for 1. After that, UAE’s three left arm spinners Shadeep Silva, Khurram Khan and Haider, nearly ground the chase to a complete halt. The middle order struggled to get singles and keep the scoreboard ticking as USA was only able to score 17 runs in the next 6 overs.

Three consecutive runouts were brought about as a result of more pressure by the UAE to put USA in a serious bind. None of them were close as kamikaze running and direct hits by the fielders did USA in. After Sudesh Dhaniram was run out for 5 in the 11^th over, Aditya Thyagarajan and Rashard Marshall ran themselves out on back to back balls in the 12^th, to make it 67 for 6.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with chemistry or us not playing together,” said Massiah when asked about what caused the runouts. “I think it was just some poor judgement and it’s cricket. It happens very often. You are gonna see a repeat of that as you continue to look at cricket. Our preparation has been very good and we’ve gotta make the most of whatever is presented in front of us.”

In came Timroy Allen at number eight, who made batting look incredibly easy by smoking 57 runs in only 26 balls to turn the match in USA’s favor. While others before him became bogged down, Allen showed nerves of steel and kept the runs flowing. He only had five dot balls in his knock to go along with three fours and four sixes.

“Today was a demonstration of some pretty clean hitting as well as some very sensible batting by Tim,” said Steve Massiah, USA captain.

The 16^th over was the turning point in the match as Allen seized on Nawaz’s medium pace to take 18 of the 22 runs in the over. After a dot ball and a wide to start, Shuja took a single to get Allen on strike. He then smashed a six over midwicket before another wide was speared down the leg side. Allen then hoisted a six over square leg before Nawaz buckled under the pressure with another leg side wide. Good running turned one into two on the fifth ball before Allen finished the over with a four over the bowler’s head.

“It’s just basic cricket. It was kind of windy. The wind was blowing towards where all of those sixes went on the leg side. So on the opposite side I was just getting singles, ones and twos just to fill it up but I knew we’d have to score most of our runs from that side with the wind because we couldn’t go against it.”

The match swung again late as Silva bowled Shuja in the 17^th over and Verma was run out next ball to make it 119 for 9. Awan came in and combined with Allen to provide some tense moments. On the last ball of the 18^th over, Allen clubbed one straight into Awan’s right elbow at the non-striker’s end. He was in total agony, but showed great fortitude in staying there to give Allen and USA a chance to win.

With six runs to win and seven balls left, Awan drove a ball from Silva straight to cover that would have ended the match but it was put down at knee height by the fielder. Instead, Allen began the final over against Khan on strike and after a two on the first ball, he drove what should have been a single to long on where UAE’s best fielder Naemuddin Aslam charged the ball and reached down to pick it up, but it went right through his legs for the game winning boundary.

USA will train in Sharjah on Monday before returning to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday for their first Group A match against Scotland, who beat Kenya by 16 runs in the other warm-up game in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Official Scorecard

ICC World T20 Qualifier Warm-up

UAE vs. USA

USA won by 1 wicket

USA won the toss and elected to field

UAE Batting

Batsman                      Runs    Balls    4s         6s         Dismissal

Mohammed Iqbal        9          7          1          0          bowled Shuja

Arfan Haider               21        16        4          0          ct Marshall bowled Shuja

Qadar Nawaz              0          1          0          0          ct Massiah bowled Cush

Saqib Ali                     47        43        4          1          ct Awan bowled Cush

Khurram Khan*          18        16        2          0          ct Marshall bowled Verma

Naeemuddin Aslam    19        17        1          0          ct Wright bowled Awan

Abdul Rehman+         2          3          0          0          ct Cush bowled Verma

EHSN Silva                13        7          0          1          ct Wright+ bowled Cush

Awais Alam                2          3          0          0          ct Marshall bowled Awan

Qasim Zubair              4          4          0          0          not out

Moiz Shahid                2          3          0          0          ct Massiah bowled Awan

Total Extras                 4 (1 no ball, 0 byes, 2 leg byes, 1 wide)

Team Total                  141 all out in 19.5 overs

 

Fall of wicket: 27/1 (Iqbal), 32/2 (Nawaz), 34/3 (Haider), 78/4 (Khan), 111/5 (Ali), 118/6 (Rehman), 121/7 (Aslam), 124/8 (Alam), 137/9 (Silva), 141/10 (Shahid).

 

USA Bowling             Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets

KU Shuja                    4-0-26-2

TP Allen                      3-0-24-0

LJ Cush                       4-0-23-3

S Dhaniram                 2-0-16-0

I Awan                                    2.5-0-25-3

S Verma                      4-0-25-2

 

USA Batting

Batsman                      Runs    Balls    4s         6s         Dismissal

SS Nadkarni                12        9          2          0          ct Aslam bowled Zubair

CD Wright+                22        17        2          1          ct Aslam bowled Nawaz

LJ Cush                       17        25        0          1          LBW Ali

SJ Massiah*                2          11        0          0          bowled Silva

S Dhaniram                 5          12        0          0          runout (Khan)

A Thyagarajan             1          2          0          0          runout (Rehman+)

RA Marshall                0          0          0          0          runout (Zubair)

TP Allen                      57        26        3          4          not out

KU Shuja                    6          9          0          0          bowled Silva

S Verma                      0          1          0          0          runout (Zubair)

I Awan                                    1          4          0          0          not out

Total Extras                 19 (0 no balls, 0 byes, 9 leg byes, 10 wides)

Team Total                  142 for 9 in 19.2 overs

 

Fall of wicket: 39/1 (Wright), 40/2 (Nadkarni), 47/3 (Massiah), 57/4 (Dhaniram), 67/5 (Thyagarajan), 67/6 (Marshall), 87/7 (Cush), 119/8 (Shuja), 119/9 (Verma).

 

UAE Bowling             Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets

Qasim Zubair              3.2-0-21-1

Qadar Nawaz              3-0-49-1

EHSN Silva                3-0-13-2

Khurram Khan            4-0-13-0

Arfan Haider               3-0-24-0

Saqib Ali                     3-0-13-1

Gulf News reported that USA would play two practice matches against UAE on Feb 5th and 7th.  [DreamCricket.com will provide live coverage of the tournament, which is hoped to begin February 7th with the second of the practice matches].

The United States of America (USA) cricket team have arrived in the country and will play two Twenty20 matches against the UAE.

"America will play the two matches on February 5 and February 7 as part of their build-up for the International Cricket Council Twenty20 World Cup qualifiers," Mazhar Khan, the Administrator of the Emirates Cricket Board, told Gulf News at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

"Both the matches will be held at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium and will commence from 2pm. America is one of the teams competing in the qualifiers commencing on February 9 along with Afghanistan, [the] UAE, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Kenya and [the] Netherlands," he added.

By Rohan Chandran

Many years ago, I was a college freshman, watching Pakistan take on the West Indies in an ODI (1990s Tip: Make friends with the guy who controls the University C-band satellite dish).  A dorm-mate of mine was passing through the room just as the screen showed Desmond Haynes’ 8,000+ runs in ODI cricket. Cue complete shock and awe – that one person could score that many runs. He sat down and watched the remainder of that game, and several games thereafter.

Cricket can indeed garner an audience, even here in America. There is, of course, much that we must do to improve the standard of our game, but in parallel there is much that we can do to make it attractive, and that is what we focus on here.

1. Think Long Term and put Cricket First.

Short term thinking and ego-fuelled self-aggrandizement are not only detrimental to the quality of our cricket, but also restricting our ability to popularize the game.  We’re all better than each other, and busy looking for our own little glories, instead of thinking about the game and its longevity.

How many people want to spend their free time following that?

For people to invest their time, effort and emotion in following a sport, whether it is as a casual fan or a fanatic, they need to reasonably expect some return on their investment. Being a fan is not a one-night stand, it’s a lifelong commitment. For cricket to earn that commitment from people, it has to make that commitment itself.

Soccer is still working to make it in this country, and it’s taken 50 years of concerted effort to get this far. If we keep looking for quick fixes and plump for short-sighted solutions, at best we’ll have a few false dawns (think Pro Cricket or MLC of a few years ago). Soccer learned from its mistakes, and took a long-term approach, starting with fundamentals. It’s working for them, and we would do well to borrow from their experience.

So what should we do?

2. Get into Schools – It’s about the kids.

The US Rugby team consistently makes it to the Rugby World Cup, and will be there once again in 2011. The team is currently ranked 16th in the world, and has been around the top 15 for years.

How many rugby fans do you know? How popular is rugby in America? Your likely answers are “none”, and “not very”. Will qualifying for a cricket World Cup (T20 or ODI) have a different outcome?

Rugby has recognized that their biggest problem is that their sport is only picked up in college, at the earliest, where it serves a niche interest, but also as a fallback for those who don’t play other varsity sports. Cricket is even worse off, played by people in their twenties, thirties and forties. It exists as, and is perceived as, a recreational pastime for those who hail from other lands.

Rugby is pushing hard to get into high schools and to involve kids at an earlier age, and that is something cricket needs to do in a big way if it is looking to create any sort of a broad base for the future. Start where you have a cricket friendly population, and expand from there. It’s okay to be the fallback sport for those who don’t make the cut in the big ones. It’s okay if it’s immigrants and the children of immigrants who are your first takers.

3. Develop cricketers properly.

We only have to look at our recent national squads, in order to glimpse another fundamental problem. The senior squad Is comprised of thirty-somethings (with just a couple of exceptions).  But age is not the enemy, cricketing roots are.

We have failed to develop players locally, and so boys who play in our U19 squads, and perform at that level, disappear without a trace. At the senior level, in come players who learned and developed their game elsewhere, and are now in the US for non-cricketing reasons.

We do nothing to take the children who show real talent and promise in the 14-18 age group, and develop them into cricketers for our future.  These are the boys who have to break into our national team so that finally, we have home grown talent to support.

They don’t have to be white Americans, they don’t have to even be American born, but until we create an environment in which someone can learn or develop their game here, and then make it to the highest level available to them (the US senior team), there will be little that’s American about our cricket team, and therefore little that will appeal to anyone outside the cricket playing fraternity.

4. Marketing – Kill the politics, and give people a hook.

If you want any sort of broad based appeal, then you need to make an effort to market the game, and in order to do that, the game has to be marketable to its potential audience.

First and foremost, nobody has time for the politics and shenanigans that plague US cricket today.  Look at baseball in the mid-90s, and if you doubt me, ask the Montreal Expos who were having their best ever season, lost all their fans and are now the Washington Nationals. Clean up our act in cricket, and then we at least give ourselves something that we can market without embarrassment.

Then follows the question of how we market it. We need to look at what resonates with the target audience – the sort of things they might connect with.

• Collegiate Sports – For Americans, loyalty to their undergraduate alma mater is lifelong. Pride in your college or university is a big deal, and following and supporting its sports teams are a core part of that. At Stanford, I was routinely asked about how we did in the cricket Pac-10, and there was even excitement about the cricket Big Game against Cal.

Unfortunately, the cricket Pac-10 did not exist, and Berkeley no longer play in the local league. There are some commendable efforts going on to create regional and national inter-collegiate competition.  If we can make this a reality, it will be another big step forward in giving us a shot at being a popular game.

• Statistics – Follow the example of the baseball boxscore. Be creative, and realize that the game may need to be marketed a little differently in a country which doesn’t have the sport sewn into its fabric. Cricket lends itself to numbers in a way that perhaps no other sport does – so embrace that.

• Quality – At the end of the day, you need to provide a certain level of quality to get mass appeal. Loyalty and fandom is either born out of geography, or the attractiveness of a winning habit. What I’m really saying is that we need to do all the basic things that would appear in the “5 ways to improve the standard of cricket in America” article – around our infrastructure (tangible and intangible), administration, coaching, selection processes, and just basic understanding of what the game is about at a higher level.  White balls and colored clothing are not the solution if it’s sustainable interest that we are looking to foster. A quality product needs to come first.

5. Realistic Objectives.

So with all of that in mind, we come to what might be a controversial point. Who are the “Americans” we’re trying to take the game to, and what does it mean to create mass appeal and a national scale audience?

Here I contend that we are fools if we think we can in any way supplant or even exist at the same level as the major American sports. It isn’t going to happen. Cricket is not made in the USA. You either have to change cricket, make it an American sport, and then give it a shot; or you have to think realistically about what cricket’s potential place in the order is. Baseball took care of option 1, so we’re working with option 2.

We need to avoid using “American” as a euphemism for “35 year old white male from middle America.” We’re not trying to sell prime time television advertising, and that person is not, and likely never will be our audience.

Instead, we need to understand and accept that for the game of cricket as we know it (and as it evolves globally), the “American” we can go after is possibly an immigrant, or the child of immigrant parents. That’s not a bad thing – it describes a node in most family trees. If cricket can start capturing the children of immigrants first, it then has a shot at their children, and each subsequent generation on an increasingly broad scale. So rather than delude ourselves, let’s go after what we can really get.

Now that doesn’t mean we can’t and won’t attract anyone else – I think if we taken all of the above suggestions, and those made by others in this series, we will attract many fans outside that base as well. But that is where the core has to initially come from – they are the messiahs who will spread the word, as it were.

 

Tom Geoghehan ponders the 64 million dollar question - will Americans take to cricket?  

And a lot of people weigh in e.g. Don Lockerbie (USACA CEO), Steve Massiah (USA Captain), Kevin Connolly (BBC's Washington Correspondent), Peter Wynne-Thomas (Author of The Complete Encyclopaedia of Cricket), and David Brooks (Sports Historian).

Click on thumbnail for full article.  The most interesting parts are without a doubt the reader comments, and the following paragraphs attributed to David Brooks -

Given its need for facilities and equipments, it will need to take hold in schools and universities, says Mr Brooks. And Americans will need to be exposed to world-class cricket, although the time difference means that mostly happens when they are in bed or in work.

"Perhaps if the US team, complete with a baseball star selected by reality TV, qualified for a Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies, with a game or two in Miami, then perhaps, just perhaps, with the right marketing, cricket could get the exposure it needs."

Of course, the following comment by Depaul Singh is indicative of the great passion of cricket's expat fans - "I came from Guyana to the US in 1986 and arrived on a Thursday. On the Saturday I was playing cricket."   The part about Depaul's being the "only shop in the US entirely devoted to cricket" is strange. Because we have a shop in NJ devoted to cricket.  The truth however is that Depaul was an early entrepreneur in cricket retail and noteworthy are his pioneering ways along with other early cricket retailers - Stuart (who founded his store in 1982) and Bedessee.

By Peter Della Penna

What had been a sour tournament over the last two weeks for Team USA ended on a sweet note when they registered their first win of the ICC U-19 World Cup with a nine-wicket demolition of Afghanistan in the Plate Championship to finish in 15th place.

Pic (Right): Team USA poses for a final time on the field at McLean Park in Napier, New Zealand after notching their first win at the ICC U-19 World Cup. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna]

Hammad Shahid was named Man of the Match with 3 for 18 opening the bowling for USA to set up victory as USA bowled out the opposition for 86 before chasing down the runs in 14.2 overs.

“It feels good actually getting a first win in the World Cup,” said Shahid.

Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first, but they could not withstand USA’s attack led by Shahid. Afghanistan’s batting has suffered all tournament after four of their top five batsmen defected to Canada at the end of the World Cup Qualifier in Toronto last September, including the second highest run-scorer in that event, Ayoub Ahmadzai. Coming into this match, Afghanistan’s lowest total of the World Cup was 118 in 49.2 overs against India. However, USA’s bowlers teamed up to best that by 32 runs.

Shahid made the first two breakthroughs, getting Jawed Ahmadi clean bowled for 5 before trapping Ahmadi’s opening partner Mehboob Shah Ayan Aminzai LBW for 10 to make it 30 for 2 after eight overs. USA was absolutely stoked in the field while Afghanistan completely capitulated once the spin bowlers came on. The tweakers were led by Yash Shah, who was making his first appearance for Team USA after leading all bowlers in economy rate at the World Cup Qualifier in Toronto, and by Saqib Saleem, who for the second tournament in a row was USA’s leading wicket-taker, this time with 10. Shah built pressure with another classic spell of tight bowling, finishing with 2 for 16 in nine overs with three maidens.

“I just wanted to play in New Zealand to begin with,” said Shah. “I just wanted to get the experience of playing in the World Cup. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t get selected in the previous group stage’s matches but I was happy to get this opportunity and prove myself that I can do much better here too.”

Pic (Above): Henry Wardley and Greg Sewdial receive congratulations from their teammates as they walk off the field unbeaten. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna]

While Shah tightened the screws, Saleem gleefully flighted the ball to invite false strokes from the batsmen to finish with 3 for 20 in 6.2 overs. Khushal Rasooli led Afghanistan with 23 runs and was last man out to Saleem, caught in the covers attempting a booming drive as Afghanistan were all out in 32.2 overs for 86. The bowlers were all well supported in the field as seven quality catches were taken, a far cry from the first match between the two sides.

“The last game we played against Afghanistan, we dropped a lot of catches,” said Shahid. “Today, we took all our catches.”

Henry Wardley and Steven Taylor eased USA towards the target, which was achieved before lunch. While Taylor once again belted the ball around the ground, Wardley caressed it into the gaps to keep the scoreboard ticking. Taylor fell for 30 going for a big heave, but Greg Sewdial joined Wardley to finish the job with Sewdial finishing 14 not out and Wardley unbeaten on 27.

USA finishes 1-4 overall in tournament play, with one washout against Canada. While the overall result wasn’t exactly what the players and fans were hoping for, the players were happy to end the tournament on a winning note.

“I feel like we could have won the Plate, and I think we should have won the Plate and if not, at least competing for the Plate,” said Shiva Vashishat, USA U-19 captain. “But we had a loss against Ireland in our groups, and then the rain and a couple things went against us. So that really doesn’t show where we stand in the world and I think next time a team is there, they’ll do a lot better.”
 

Official Scorecard
ICC U-19 World Cup Plate Championship: 15th/16th Place Match
Afghanistan vs. USA
USA won by 9 wickets
Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat
Man of the Match: Hammad Shahid

Afghanistan Batting
Batsman			Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Dismissal
J Ahmadi		5	7	1	0	bowled Shahid
MSA Aminzai		10	16	2	0	LBW Shahid
NUH Malekzai*		22	46	4	0	ct Shahid bowled Ghous
SM Shirzai		0	8	0	0	ct Saleem bowled Ahmad
H Shahidi		7	13	0	0	ct Wardley bowled Shah
K Rasooli		23	49	3	0	ct Vashishat bowled Saleem
AK Zazai+		1	29	0	0	ct Taylor+ bowled Saleem
Z Zaki			4	6	1	0	bowled Saleem
A Khan			0	4	0	0	ct Shahid bowled Shah
ID Khan			2	10	0	0	ct Sewdial bowled Shahid
A Alam			4	7	0	0	not out
Total Extras		8 (1 no ball, 0 byes, 2 leg byes, 5 wides)
Team Total 		86 all out in 32.2 overs

Fall of Wicket: 6/1 (Ahmadi), 30/2 (Aminzai), 36/3 (Shirzai), 
51/4 (Malekzai), 53/5 (Shahidi), 66/6 (Zazai), 74/7 (Zaki), 
75/8 (A Khan), 78/9 (ID Khan), 86/10 (Rasooli). 

USA Bowling 		Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
SR Ahmad		7-0-27-1
H Shahid		7-1-18-3
YD Shah			9-3-16-2
MA Ghous		3-1-3-1
S Saleem		6.2-0-20-3

USA Batting
Batsman			Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Dismissal
SR Taylor+		30	24	5	0	bowled ID Khan
HR Wardley		27	46	2	0	not out
GR Sewdial		14	17	2	0	not out
Total Extras		16 (2 no balls, 0 byes, 4 leg byes, 10 wides)
Team Total		87 for 1 in 14.2 overs

Did not bat: S Saleem, RG Corns, S Vashishat, A Mohammed, MA Ghous, 
H Shahid, SR Ahmad, YD Shah. 

Fall of Wicket: 49/1 (Taylor).

Afghanistan Bowling	Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
A Alam			4-0-26-0
ID Khan			5-0-25-1
Z Zaki			3-0-10-0
A Khan			2-0-18-0
NUH Malekzai		0.2-0-0-4

By Peter Della Penna

In a very disappointing display, USA lost their ICC U-19 World Cup Plate Championship playoff match by five wickets to Zimbabwe on Monday afternoon at Nelson Park in Napier, New Zealand. Man of the Match Natsia M’Shangwe took 3 for 13 in the field for Zimbabwe before scoring 27 opening the innings to kickstart Zimbabwe’s chase.

After overnight and morning rain delayed the start of play, the match was reduced to 41 overs. Zimbabwe won the toss and didn’t hesitate to send USA in to bat, taking full advantage of the conditions in Napier.

Picture (Right): Andy Mohammed tries to cut this ball from Nathan Waller, but manages only to edge it behind to become USA's second wicket to fall.  [Picture Courtesy: Ganesh Sanap]

“The pitch had been under the covers for the last three or four hours so I thought the ball would do a little bit early on,” said Dylan Higgins, Zimbabwe U-19 captain.

While the bowlers did get the ball to move around quite a bit, USA’s batting put in a shocking performance to be all out for 115, which included six batsmen out without scoring. The first of those six was opener Steven Taylor, who sent a rank long hop from medium pacer Nathan Waller straight to Higgins at cover with the score at 4 in the second over. Greg Sewdial then joined Andy Mohammed and constructed a decent partnership of 34 runs, but it wound up being the biggest partnership of the innings for USA when Mohammed got out to a similar ball from Waller, edging it behind to the keeper Dean Mazhawidza for 9 to make it 38 for 2 in the 10th over.

After that, wickets tumbled at will for the Zimbabwean bowling attack. While Waller finished with three, it was M’Shangwe’s leg-spin that really dismantled USA. After clean bowling Shiva Vashishat for 17 to make it 91 for 6, the flood gates opened up and he teamed up with off-spinner Simon Mugava to rip through the tail as numbers eight through ten, Saami Siddiqui, Regis Burton and Hammad Shahid, all got out for ducks. Muhammad Asad Ghous was the last man out for 21, finishing behind extras, 24, and Sewdial, 35, as USA’s third highest scorer in the innings.

Post Match Interview vs. Zimbabwe with Shivnaraine from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

M’Shangwe set the tone for Zimbabwe’s batting order when he hit the first ball of the second innings for six off Naseer Jamali. He teamed up with Tinotenda Mutombodzi to put on 42 runs for the first wicket and from there Zimbabwe never looked back.

Saqib Saleem tried to give USA hope and should have had a wicket first ball when he came on in the eighth over as he got M’Shangwe to sky a top edge to midwicket, only for it to be put down by Ghous. It was one of four USA drops, none of which could be afforded with such a small total to defend. Saleem finished with four wickets as it was clear Zimbabwe were clueless against spin. However, the total of 115 was something that gave USA’s bowlers no chance to defend. Most likely 30 more runs would have been enough. Instead, Peter Moor finished with 21 not out to see Zimbabwe over the line by five wickets.

USA will now face Afghanistan in the 15th/16th place match on Wednesday at Nelson Park while Zimbabwe will play Hong Kong in the 13th/14th place game. The last time these teams played, Afghanistan beat USA by 36 runs at the World Cup Qualifier in Toronto last September.
 

 

Official Scorecard
ICC U-19 World Cup Plate Championship
USA vs. Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe won by 5 wickets
Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field
Man of the Match: Natsia M’Shangwe

USA Batting
Batsman		Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Dismissal
SR Taylor		0	3	0	0	ct Higgins bowled Waller
A Mohammed		9	28	1	0	ct Mazhawidza+ bowled Waller
GR Sewdial		35	45	5	0	ct Mazhawidza+ bowled Price
S Saleem		0	1	0	0	bowled Waller
RG Corns		0	5	0	0	ct Mazhawidza bowled Price
S Vashishat*		17	47	2	0	bowled M’Shangwe
MA Ghous		21	54	1	0	bowled Chatara
SM Siddiqui+		0	1	0	0	LBW Mugava
RG Burton		0	2	0	0	ct Waller bowled M’Shangwe
H Shahid		0	8	0	0	ct Waller bowled M’Shangwe
N Jamali		9	5	2	0	not out
Total Extras		24 (0 no balls, 0 byes, 3 leg byes, 21 wides)
Team Total		115 all out in 33.1 overs

Fall of wicket: 4/1 (Taylor), 38/2 (Mohammed), 40/3 (Saleem), 41/4 (Corns), 
69/5 (Sewdial), 91/6 (Vashishat), 96/7 (Siddiqui), 97/8 (Burton), 
99/9 (Shahid), 115/10 (Ghous). 

Zimbabwe Bowling	Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
T Chatara		5.1-1-11-1
N Waller		7-0-42-3
CW Price		6-0-18-2
SM Mugava		8-1-16-1
N M’Shangwe		6-1-13-3
DR Higgins		1-0-12-0

Zimbabwe Batting
Batsman		Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Dismissal
N M’Shangwe		27	30	1	2	ct Corns bowled Saleem
TC Mutombodzi	39	57	5	0	ct Sewdial bowled Saleem
N Waller		2	10	0	0	bowled Saleem
M Zambuko		13	15	0	1	ct Sewdial bowled Saleem
DR Higgins*		10	27	1	0	ct Corns bowled Ghosu
PJ Moor		21	19	3	0	not out
A Lindsay		2	16	0	0	not out
Total Extras		5 (0 no balls, 0 byes, 1 leg bye, 4 wides)
Team Total 		119 for 5 in 29 overs

Did not bat: D Mazhawidza+, SM Mugava, CW Price, T Chatara.

Fall of wicket: 42/1 (M’Shangwe), 61/2 (Waller), 74/3 (Mutombodzi), 
95/4 (Zambuko), 105/5 (Higgins). 

USA Bowling		Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
N Jamali		4-0-19-0
H Shahid		3-0-14-0
S Saleem		9-1-38-4
MA Ghous		8-0-32-1
RG Corns		5-1-15-0

 

History was made for both Indian and American cricket on January 19th at the DLF India Premier League 3 Auction.  Nineteen year old Harshal Patel, was among the three U-19 players, the first Gujarat Cricket Association player, and the first to have played any cricket in USA to join the Mumbai Indians.

For 19 year old Harshal, a USA Green Card holder who played the 2008 season with Aggressive Cricket Club in the Cricket League of New Jersey, this is a dream come true.  (Well almost - his dream is also to earn a test cap!)

In Harshal's case, the journey was paved with hard decisions.  When Harshal's family emigrated to USA when he was still 15 years old, he was in a dilemma.   His coach wanted him to stay back in Gujarat.  “I was aware of Harshal’s capabilities," his coach Tarak Trivedi said and he pleaded with Harshal's family to give him a couple of years.  After much persuasion, Harshal's family finally relented, agreeing that Harshal would spend summers in USA but would continue his training under the guidance of Mr. Trivedi.

"I left a cosy life in New Jersey because I always wanted to be a cricketer," the second year student at HA College of Commerce told Times of India last summer, thanking his parents for encouraging his love for cricket.  "I live alone and just practise day in and out.  I have got lots of love and care from friends around me."

In fact, his years of independence may have helped.  "By staying alone and managing everything on his own, Harshal has matured a lot as a person which is also reflected in his performance," Gujarat U-19 coach Ashok Mankad told TOI.

The IPL Draft - Proud Parents in New Jersey

On January 19th, the drama played out in three different timezones.  It was mid-afternoon in India and IPL 3.0 auction was just winding down at the Trident Hotel in Mumbai.  The event had already seen more than its fair share of extravagance and drama.   Several big players saw no bidders and some like Pollard were grabbed for jaw-dropping amounts. 

At 1:54PM, just before he brought the proceedings to an end, the IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi announced that Harshal Patel had been picked up by Nita Ambani of Mumbai Indians for Rs. 8,00,000.  Harshal was the last of the three U-19 players to be drafted into the league, a first for that league.

For Harshal's parents - Vikram Patel and Darshna Patel, who are residents of Linden, New Jersey, January 18th had been another day at work at Terminal C of Newark International Airport.  Vikram works with Prime Flight Aviation and Darshna at the Dunkin Donuts.  They went to sleep hoping that their boy, who was in New Zealand as part of the India U-19 team playing in the ICC U-19 World Cup, would have a good day on the other side of the world. 

Little did they realize that the emerging medium-pacer would realize his dreams of becoming a professional cricketer as the new day dawned.

Speaking to DreamCricket.com, Vikram Patel said, "Harshal has been playing cricket since he was a toddler and has been training with Coach Tarak Trivedi since he was 8.  It is a matter of great pride and a source of great joy that his dreams have come true.  And I hope that he will continue to do well.  This is just the beginning."

Over in New Zealand, when he heard the news on January 21st, Harshal was so overwhelmed that “he was speechless,” Trivedi said speaking about Harshal's reaction to the news.  Among the many things that Harshal was excited about was the prospect of being part of a team led by his idol - Sachin Tendulkar!

Harshal's next challenge will not find it easy to be part of the playing eleven - Mumbai has several big-name bowlers that will also be laying claim to that spot - Zaheer Khan, Dilhara Fernando, Dwayne Bravo and Dhaval Kulkarni.  However, just being part of the squad will help him grow as a cricketer.  In the words of Saurashtra captain Jaydev Shah: “Sachin’s guidance will make him a thinking cricketer, and he will benefit from this in future matches.”

A right-arm seamer with a big outswinger, Harshal Patel's rise was impressive from an early age.  Harshal scored a double-hundred in school cricket playing for Hiramani and was gaining in reputation as a bowler. He took 23 wickets (at an average of 11) in the 2008-09 Under-19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy with best bowling figures of 5-27 against Baroda.

In March of 2009, Harshal was selected for India's victorious U-19 tour of Australia where he did well in seamer-friendly conditions getting 3 for 32 in a three day match at Perth.  Very soon, he was named to the U-19 squad to the ICC U-19 World Cup.

Prodigious talent - Immediately made a mark in USA

In New Jersey, where he turned out for Aggressive CC in CLNJ in 2008, his talent was immediately noticed. 

"In a match against NJIT, he shared the new ball with former international and West Indies paceman Reon King.  And I remember it was Reon, who was standing at first slip, he was astonished with the young boy's accuracy and clean bowling action, saying to me that we have a star in front of us," Santosh Dani who played for Aggressive CC told DreamCricket.com.

NJIT and Atlantic Region cricketer Siddharth Mehta remembers the day like it was yesterday.  He was the batsman facing Harshal.  "We had heard about Harshal Patel because he had played U-16 cricket back in Gujarat with Rajdev Patel, who also plays in CLNJ.  But he was only 16 or 17, so how bad could it be, we thought.  But let me tell you, the boy was lethal!  We were stunned to see the pace he was generating on a ho-hum New Jersey track!  I said to myself - he must play for my team NJIT next season." 

Little did he realize that NJIT was going to be competing with India for the boy's time!  In the summer of 2009, although Harshal was on NJIT roster and spent the summer in New Jersey, he did not play because he was already signed up to play for India U-19.  And even though he will become eligible for USA citizenship in the coming years, he may never play for USA. 

Imran Khan, Manager of the USA Cricket team gets some press in San Francisco ahead of USA's world cup T20 campaign.

"No matter how far Imran Khan Suddahazai travels, the sport of cricket always finds him.

It did just that when he moved to Saratoga about four years ago. Although a lifelong cricket player — who as a youth had hopes of going pro in his home country of England — Khan had no intention of sticking with the sport when he made a new life in the Bay Area.

But he came across a posting on the Internet from the California Cricket Academy in Cupertino asking for volunteer umpires for its youth program. Khan said he'd be willing to help out. But what was supposed to be a one-shot deal turned into a yearlong coaching gig."

Click here for more.

 

 

By Peter Della Penna

Walking around the grounds in Christchurch early this week as well as the Queenstown Events Center on Friday, it was hard to hear anyone giving USA a chance in this ICC U-19 World Cup. “You guys are unlucky. You got drawn in the toughest group,” was a phrase heard early and often, referring to the daunting matchups USA will face in Group B pool play against Australia, South Africa and Ireland.

However, the glass half full mentality that is permeating throughout Team USA’s camp says that despite the odds stacked against them, this is a fantastic opportunity to take on the big boys and show the kind of talent that exists in America.

Pic (Above): Team USA goes through stretches before their final training session ahead of their Group B clash with Australia. [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia]

“Our main goal is obviously we’re going in to win,” said Shiva Vashishat, USA U-19 captain. “But whether we win or lose, we are trying to show the whole world that US cricket is growing and we want to show that US cricket will be a threat in the future and hopefully we can get some success in this tournament.”

Symbolism in how difficult this tournament will be for Team USA can be found in looking at the distances they traveled to get to the World Cup versus that of their first opponent on Friday, Australia. While the American squad had to fly to San Francisco to then go on a 13-hour flight across the Pacific Ocean to Auckland, Australia’s players required just a short 3-hour trip across the Tasman Sea to reach New Zealand. Still, Team USA is out to prove this is only one of many obstacles that can be overcome in their path to glory and they are not about to back down in Saturday’s fixture.

USA will be taking on a squad that features four players who have state cricket experience, including three who have played first-class cricket: captain Mitchell Marsh and opening bowlers Alister McDermott and Josh Hazlewood. The standard of play that these Aussie teenagers have seized upon is a big advantage preparation-wise heading into the match.

“Definitely the standard that the Shield cricket back home and the one-day stuff and all that is of a very high standard, probably the strongest domestic competition in the world nearly,” said Hazlewood. “It’s developed my cricket. It’s quickly developed over the past couple of months and improved a great deal so I think I’m in good stead for the World Cup.” Hazlewood, who has been compared to Glenn McGrath in the past, says that New South Wales teammate Stuart Clark has been very helpful in giving tips on fine tuning his own line and length bowling.

Marsh and McDermott are two of several players on the squad that are the offspring off some high profile Aussie cricketers and athletes. Marsh’s dad Geoff played 50 Tests as a batsman for Australia while McDermott’s dad Craig took 291 wickets in 70 Tests. Team USA’s best claim to fame is that Regis Burton’s great uncle is Sir Vivian Richards.

Still, there are some positives heading into the match. First is the fact that like USA, Australia went 1-1 in their warm-up games, beating West Indies and losing to Bangladesh. There is also the fact that USA can present a surprise element to Australia based on the fact that at this age level, most teams have hardly seen each other and most information about the opposition is limited.

“We don’t really know much,” said McDermott. “We haven’t really researched much on any of the teams or anything. We’re just gonna go out there to play our best cricket every single game and do the best possible thing we can.”

Seeing the best cricket possible on Saturday would go hand in hand with the backdrop of Queenstown and its international cricket facility, which both sides agree is quite a sight to behold.

“I think it’s a lovely town, very scenic and obviously very touristy as well,” said Hazlewood. “I’m very happy that we got drawn down here and the ground just looks unreal.”

USA’s captain is hoping the scene will provide inspiration to pull off a big upset.

“This is on everyone’s behalf that our whole team thinks this is the most beautiful ground that we’ve ever seen, probably will ever play at,” said Vashishat. “The mountains, the grounds, the environment here, everything is just so beautiful and perfect so we’re gonna try to make the most of this.”

 

by Ben Miron 

The sport of cricket has now been part of my life for just under three years, and like many cricket fans, I am completely obsessed with the game. I play cricket year round in the Houston Cricket League and watch as much international cricket as possible. I know there is a large foreign born population who are as equally obsessed with cricket as I am. However, I am now just finding out that there are other white, American born cricketers like myself. To me this is very refreshing, not only to justify that I am not crazy for spending every weekend at the cricket field, but it also shows that there is hope in expanding the game among other Americans.

I enjoyed reading Peter Della Penna’s article and believe that I can add to his insight with my own five ways to make cricket attractive to Americans.  
 
  1. Show cricket highlights on television

DreamCricket.com invites you to share your views with us on how cricket can be made more attractive to Americans. Please leave your comments by clicking on the Reader's Comments link.  If you would like to write an Op-Ed column on this subject, please write to us at content@dreamcricket.com.

 

Source: USACA Media Release

The United States of America Cricket Association today released its Senior Men’s USA team selected to compete in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier and World Cricket League Division 5 tournaments in Dubai, UAE and Nepal, respectively. 

The full squad is Timroy Allen, Imran Awan, Orlando Baker, Lennox Cush, Kevin Darlington, Sudesh Dhaniram, Glen Hall, Rashard Marshall, Steve Massiah (Capt.), Sushil Nadkarni, Usman Shuja, Aditya Thyagarajan, Saurabh Verma, Clain Williams and Carl Wright. Officials: Imran Khan (Manager), Clayton Lambert (Coach), and Akhtar Masood Syed (Physio). 

Following a weekend long rigorous training camp at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida last month, under the watchful eyes of USA national coach Clayton Lambert, and New Zealand’s Hamish Barton, USA Cricket Association 2nd VP and Director of Cricket Operations Sheikh Manaf Mohamed today made public the list of players and officials selected to travel from New York to Dubai on February 1st and return from Nepal on March 1, 2010. 
 
In Dubai, the USA will have practice sessions at the Sharjah Stadium on February 4th and 5th, before a practice match at the Abu Dhabi Stadium on February 6th. Another practice session is scheduled for February 8th, before the round-robin of matches in the World Twenty20 Qualifier begins in Dubai on February 9 through 11, with the Semi Finals and Finals on February 12 and 13 respectively.
 
The USA squad will leave Dubai for Nepal on Valentine’s Day, February 14. The squad will have three days of practice, before participating in round-robin matches from February 20 through 27, with a rest day on February 25th.  The squad will leave Nepal two days later for the journey back home, arriving in New York on March 1st.
 
This is one of the first times that the USA will have its Men’s senior team and its Under-19 squad participating in back-to-back international tournaments outside of the USA. The USA Under-19 squad is currently in New Zealand preparing to participate in the ICC Under-19 World Cup and is expected to return home at the end of this month. The United States of America Cricket Association today released its Senior Men’s USA team selected to compete in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier and World Cricket League Division 5 tournaments in
Dubai, UAE and Nepal, respectively.
 
The full squad is Timroy Allen, Imran Awan, Orlando Baker, Lennox Cush, Kevin Darlington, Sudesh Dhaniram, Glen Hall, Rashard Marshall, Steve Massiah (Capt.), Sushil Nadkarni, Usman Shuja, Aditya Thyagarajan, Saurabh Verma, Clain Williams and Carl Wright. Officials: Imran Khan (Manager), Clayton Lambert (Coach), and Akhtar Masood Syed (Physio). 
 

 

by Peter Della Penna 

It’s been a little over four years since cricket hijacked my life. The stick and ball sport holds my thoughts hostage 24/7. A large part of these thoughts revolve around the fact that there are not a vast amount of white American-born people like myself who take pleasure in cricket the way they freely do in other sports like college football. Millions of people across the country were glued to their televisions on the night of Saturday, Dec. 12, to see who would win the Heisman Trophy. Unfortunately, the number giving their attention to the Test match between New Zealand and Pakistan was a fraction of that.

By Ricardo Inniss

The highlight of the South Florida Cricket Alliance (SFCA) Presentation of Awards
Dinner and Dance, held on Saturday evening December 05, was  Lauderhill United’s ace Leg-Spinner Main U. “Romeo” Ahmed, voted as the 2009 Cricketer of the year. “ Romeo” who can produce  a cleverly disguised googly at will, created history, by capturing 41 wickets during the 50 overs competition, the most ever by a bowler in the over 30 years-old  SFCA.
 
Born  in Dhaka, Bangladesh on December 30, 1986, “Romeo” as he is familiarly known by his peers, arrived in the United States of America in 2006, having only played  tape-ball cricket in the land of his birth. In South Florida, he first played for Florida International, In the Florida Southeast Cricket League (FSCL). Soon after that, with prodigious turn, nippy bounce and deadly accuracy, the crafty leg-spinner was mesmerizing batsmen throughout the SFCA.
 
He first started to play in the SFCA in 2007, where he has turned out for Pakistan, taking 30 wickets in 2007 and repeated it in 2008, playing for the U S
Academy. “Romeo” represented the SFCA Youth Team in the 2008 Classic, in 2009 he turned out for current Classic champions Team USA, and bagged 23 wickets the most by any bowler in the competition.  Playing for Lauderhill United in the recently completed 50 overs competition (Premier Zone), following is a look at how he took his record- breaking 41 wickets:
 
His best bowling performance was against Myrtle Grove, when he snared 7 for 30, from 5.4 overs. He had three 5 wicket hauls, 5 for 14 from 7.3 overs (including a hat-trick) against Sportsman, 5 for 18 off 5.4  against Osswald Park 1 and 5 for 27 from 8 against Parkway. One 4 wicket haul, 4 for 35 off 10 against International. There were four 3 wicket hauls, 3 for 5 from 4 overs against West Indies Alliance, 3 for 11 off 6 against Palm Beach, 3 for 22 from 9 against Parkway and 3 for 22 off 6 against Palm Beach. 2 for 52 from 9 overs against Myrtle Grove and 1 for 27 off 10 against Osswald Park 1, completes the 41 wickets haul at an average of 6.41, after bowling 80.83 overs, 8 maidens, for 263 runs.
 
Standing  at 5’ 10” the slenderly built, cunning, and very determined leg-spinner, is aspiring to represent the USA, but says if a chance comes his way to play league cricket in England, he will grab it with both hands. After cricket, “Romeo” likes  playing golf and watching movies.
 
During the SFCA Awards Presentation, Dinner and Dance, Long standing President Jeff Miller, announced his resignation (more to come on this later).  Former Vice President Melton Taylor is now the President.

By Peter Della Penna

A few additions from the initial 40-man list, as well as some notable omissions, highlight a short list of 23 men’s national team probables heading down to Florida this weekend to take part in a training camp alongside the Under-19 team.

The list obtained from USACA features 10 players representing the 2009 USACA National Champion New York Region squad, including three who were not in the original list of 40. Akeem Dodson, George Adams and Dennison Thomas have all been invited back to Florida after impressing the selection panel at the National Championship last month.

Among the 23 players, 13 of them have never played for USA’s senior squad.

“Each one of the new guys has just as much chance as anyone else to make the team,” said USA coach Clayton Lambert. “Their performances were so impressive at the last camp that there wasn’t much that separates any of them from anyone else.”

Sushil Nadkarni is not in the list as he is still recovering from an Achilles tendon injury he suffered in the Western Conference Tournament in Minneapolis this past August. It is unclear whether or not he will be fully healed in time to play for the USA in February when they travel to the UAE to take part in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.

Barrington Bartley, Timroy Allen and Nasir “Charlie” Javed are also not on the list. Bartley is not participating for work related reasons, but it is unclear if Allen and Javed are not on the list due to performance or unavailability.

The U-19 team will also be training alongside the senior team this weekend in Florida. The 14-man squad that went to Toronto in September will be joined by six other players gunning for the final roster spot on the 15-man team that will go to New Zealand for the ICC U-19 World Cup. While not guaranteeing it, U-19 coach Sew Shivnaraine indicated there is a strong probability the squad that went 6-3 in September to qualify for the World Cup will not be broken up.

“It’s hard to change a winning team,” said Shivnaraine. The choice for the 15th player looks to be a two horse race between South East Region wicketkeeper-batsman Steven Taylor and New York Region pace-bowling all-rounder Kavishwar Bridgepaul. It all depends on whether the selectors opt to increase the depth in batting, which struggled in Toronto, with the big hitting Taylor or instead bring in Bridgepaul to boost the pace bowling department for the seam friendly conditions of New Zealand.

According to Lambert and Shivnaraine, no U-19 players have been included in the list right now for the senior team because they want everyone to focus their efforts 100 percent on the month long tour to New Zealand. However, there is still a possibility that if anyone has a standout tour, they could be added to the senior team afterwards.

The official 15-man U-19 World Cup squad is expected to be announced after the completion of this weekend’s camp. The other five players will form the reserves in case a player needs to be replaced due to injury or other reasons. The senior squad will be cut down to about 18 players for another training camp that is being planned for mid-January before a final squad of 14 is picked.

List of Senior Team Probables

Atlantic Region: Imran Awan, Clain Williams.

Central East Region: Ashhar Mehdi (wk), Akhil Pathan, Khawaja Usman Shuja.

Central West Region: Orlando Baker.

New York Region: George Adams, Lennox Cush, Kevin Darlington, Sudesh Dhaniram, Akeem Dodson (wk), Glen Hall, Rashard Marshall, Steve Massiah, Dennison Thomas, Carl Wright (wk).

North West Region: Mohammad Bilal Khan, Nauman Mustafa (wk), Samarth Shah, Saurabh Verma.

South East Region: Anand Tummala.

South West Region: Aditya Thyagarajan, Ravi Timbawala.

List of U-19 Probables

Atlantic Region: Muhammad Asad Ghous, Yash Shah, Charan Singh, Henry Wardley.

Central East Region: Abhijit Joshi.

Central West Region: Ryan Corns.

New York Region: Kavishwar Bridgepaul, Regis Burton, Gregory Sewdial.

North East Region: Azurdeen Mohammed.

North West Region: Akash Jagannathan (wk), Naseer Jamali, Saad Khan, Saqib Saleem, Saami Siddiqui (wk), Vinay Suri, Shiva Vashishat.

South East Region: Steven Taylor (wk).

South West Region: Salman Ahmad, Hammad Shahid.