– NY, India, Jamaica, ready for debut
By John Ramsingh in Queens, New York
The snow has disappeared and the sun is out which means it’s time for cricket in New York. It’s the back end of spring in the ‘Big Apple’ and teams in the second annual Rockaway T20 New York Cricket Fiesta are ready for battle.
The season opener was washed out after torrential rain swept through Queens, New York on Saturday May 13 and forced the organisers to reschedule the highly anticipated bowl off at the Baisley Pond Park.
The weather has improved significantly and the opening match will be a repeat of last year’s final when champions Pakistan take on Guyana at Ferry Point Park, Whitestone Bridge Bronx this Saturday from 10:00h.
The second game of the double header will see debutants New York Select XI and Jamaica battling for the psychological opening victory.
The tournament made a successful debut in 2016 with four teams of expats playing each other twice before Pakistan and Guyana clashed in the August 20 final at Baisley Pond Park (BPP) in a high scoring thriller. Pakistan chalked up an impressive 202/7 then restricted a youthful Guyana side to 196/6 to win by six runs. The other teams in the first season were Bangladesh who finished third and Trinidad and Tobago.
In 2017, the tournament has attracted six teams with Trinidad and Tobago opting out while Jamaica, India and the New York Select XI are included. The organisers have reached out to other expat teams including Barbados and teams from the Leeward and Windward Islands who were unable to field teams.
The New York Select team is a mixed team that comprises mainly Guyanese players who represented the country of their birth at the youth level including captain Karan Ganesh who also represented the West Indies at the under 15 and under 19 levels. Former Jamaican First Class opener, Jamie Trenchfield is also in the star studded line up alongside Chris Patadin, Waslim Haslim, Zaheer Mohammed, Ramdeen Yadram, Dawnley Grant, Seon Daniels and Krishendat Ramoo.
Each team has nominated 18 players and some big names in the Guyana team include Akshay Homraj, Zamal Khan, Rajiv Ivan, Dominic Rikhi and Renwick Batson while in the Jamaican camp will be former West Indies opener Xavier Marshall, former captain Tamar Lambert, Tristan Coleman, Yannick Elliot and Charlton Senior.
Chairman of the tournament, Ralph Tamesh said that the “addition of two teams this year signals growth and we are hoping that we can continue to grow from strength to strength.” While speaking exclusively to Guyana Times International Sport, the chairman also stated that “the overall quality of play will be of high standard due to the quality of players we have.”
Tamesh was part of the tournament briefing which took place on Tuesday evening at the Royal Empress Banquet Hall which is part of the Rockaway Group of Companies, the tournament’s sponsor.
At the event which was attended by organisers and teams’ representatives, Chief Executive Officer of the Rockaway Group of Companies Hafeez Ali also spoke of the expectations of this year’s tournament, “I am pleased with what we have this year and we are looking forward to more professionalism than last year.”
Last year, only BPP was used however this year, matches will be played in Brooklyn and the Bronx which the Tamesh said was a move to allow more persons in New York to appreciate the sport of cricket in the USA.
At the conclusion of the tournament briefing each team collected their coloured uniforms and were reminded of the importance of professionalism more so since there will be live commentary and updates on the internet by the best in the trade.
Each team will play each other once with the top three going to the play-offs after completing their five matches. The team with the most points after the round robin stage will go straight to the August 12 final while the second and third placed teams will clash for their place in the championship match which will be played at the Baisley Pond Park. The top prize is US$7,000 and a massive trophy.
