Trevor Henry stroked his third consecutive 50 plus score and Inzy Khan bowled a brilliant spell picking up three wickets as Richmond Hill Liberty Cricket Club (RHLCC) surged to the Eastern American Cricket Association (EACA) 40-Over final. Their performance capped a comprehensive 102 runs victory (Scorecard) over Meten Meer Zorg-NY Cricket Club (MMZ) in the league’s semi-final played at the Bailsey Cage on Sunday August 11th.
MMZ, following their reentry into the EACA in 2018, qualified for division one status and surely made the most of it. The spirited bunch ended the regular season in 4th place in the competition was eager to get going against the 2018 finalist RHLCC. Captain Kelvin Shewpersaud won the coin flip and confidently inserted RHLCC on the hot August Sunday.
The dominant opening pair of Dino Chooweenam and Dominique Rikhi kept with trend and racked up 66 inside five overs before the veteran Ricky Kissoon was introduced into the attack. After going for 5 runs off his first two balls, Kissoon found a groove and dislodged both Chooweenam (40) and Rikhi (42) leaving the score on 88 for two.
Trevor Henry joined Azeem Khan at the crease and the pair kept the RHLCC inning going. They would move the score to 167 in the 25th over before Khan held out to long on. Henry, fresh off of 91 and 160 in his previous two innings, was quickly approaching his half century and looked in-form as ever. He kept on going passing his half-century with a massive 6 down the ground to start the 26th over. The stylish right-hander’s inning ended at 73 in the 32nd over comprising of 1 four and 7 maximums.
With the score on 213 for 5 at Henry’s departure the RHLCC lower order wobbled in trying to close off the inning. The remaining five wickets only added 27 runs as MMZ gained some confidence back heading into the break. Matthew Lutchena was the main force behind the quick wrap up of the tail and finished with 3 wickets for 10 runs off of his 1.5 overs. Skipper Shewprasad and Kisoon finished with 2 for 55 and 2 for 22 respectively while there was a wicket each for Shameer Khan, Andy Mohammed and Keith Edie.
The confidence in the MMZ camp quickly slipped away when opening batsman, Andy Mohammed, played on Jamiel Jackman to start the 3rd over. Edie was joined by Melvin Shewpersaud and the pair patiently put on 42 for the second wicket before Edie was run out. The introduction of Inzy Khan into the attack brought further pressure to the MMZ line up.
Khan’s bowling proved to be the changing point of the chase for MMZ sending down 6 overs 2 maidens and picking up three quick wickets for just 11 runs. Melvin Shewpersaud stuck around to compile 47 runs but the remaining MMZ batters were just not up to the task as the run rate mounted and the RHLCC bowling capitalized to wrap up the chase at 138 all out.
Leon Mohabir (3) and Terrence Madramootoo (2) were among the wickets along with Jackman (1) and Inzy Khan (3). The win books #TheBlueNation into its 4th EACA 40-Overs final in 5 years and will take on 1st timer Galaxy Cricket Club. RHLCC will be keen to improve on its showing in recent years having won the championship in 2015 but coming runners up in 2017 and 2018.
The 2019 EACA 40-Overs final will be played on Sunday, August 18th at the Baisley Cage. The first ball will be bowled at 12:00 PM sharp.
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