Guyanese shine on first weekend of US Minor League Cricket T20

By Avenash Ramzan

USA Cricket and American Cricket Enterprises last weekend commenced the inaugural 24-team, city-based Minor League Cricket T20, with a total of 10 games across the two days.

The tournament, which features a host of Caribbean players, will run until November 30.

Several Guyanese players turned in creditable performances on the first weekend, namely Test batsman Assad Fudadin, First-Class players Gajanand Singh and Trevon Griffith and former national Under-19 players Dominique Rikhi and Akshay Homraj.

Fudadin, playing for New England Eagles, took 3-17, bowling the new ball against Empire State Titans, and then returned to topscore with 55, but his efforts could not inspire victory.

Singh got scores of 44 and 35, helping his side Empire State Titans, to victory in both games on the opening day, while Griffith struck 60 and took 2-21 in Empire State Titans’ loss to DC Hawks on Sunday.

Opener Rikhi made 76 in a losing effort for New Jersey Stallions against Empire State Titans, and Homraj scored a quick 46 to help New Jersey Somerset Cavaliers to victory over New England Eagles.

Below are the summarised scores from the first weekend.

Empire State Titans beat New Jersey Stallions by 42 runs. Empire State Titans 184-4 from 20 overs (Gajanand Singh 44, Umer Farooq 33, Javein Thomas 30, Waseem Shahzehd 28*, Oraine Williams 2-26) vs New Jersey Stallions 142-8 from 20 overs (Dominique Rikhi 76, Akeem Dodson 24, Damion Jacobs 4-25, Derone Davis 2-31)

East Bay Blazers beat Silicon Valley Strikers by four wickets. Silicon Valley Strikers 103-6 (Srinivas Raghavan 44*, Nick McLachlan 2-24) vs East Bay Blazers 105-6 from 19.1 overs (Rohith Ramkumar 31, Srinivas Raghavan 2-21, Sheryar Khan 2-15)

Atlanta Param Veers beat Atlanta Fire by 10 runs. Atlanta Param Veers 244-9 from 20 overs (Darpankumar Patel 115, Mark Parchment 40, Garth Garvey 23, Shaquille Forbes 23, Sahil Charania 3-40) vs Atlanta Fire 234-7 from 20 overs (Rishi Bhardwaj 93, Sagar Patel 51, Jagroop Raina 3-14, Evroy Dyer 2-34)

Empire State Titans beat New England Eagles by 25 runs. Empire State Titans 179-8 from 20 overs (Waseem Shahzehd 66, Gajanand Singh 35, Assad Fudadin 3-17, Alexandrino Kirton 2-34) vs New England Eagles 154-4 from 20 overs (Assad Fudadin 55, Oniell Powell 28, Zeshan Muhammad 24, Damion Jacobs 2-28, Derone Davis 2-29)

Irving Mustangs beat Houston Hurricanes by 75 runs. Irving Mustangs 194-7 from 20 overs (Rayyankhan Pathan 47, Petson Mathews 41, Sagar Patel 28, Hamza Khalid 5-22) vs Houston Hurricanes 119 all out (Shayan Jahangir 50, Rameez Raja 46, Nosthush Kenjige 4-21, Junaid Khan 2-19)

Irving Mustangs beat Austin Athletics by 12 runs. Irving Mustangs 139-9 from 20 overs (Sushant Modani 32, Muhammad Waqas 32, Junaid Khan 27, Dylan Joseph 3-33, Willem Ludick 2-32) vs Austin Athletics 127-9 from 20 overs (Niket Kumar 27, Willem Ludick 25, Syed Najaf Shah 3-15, Nosthush Kenjige 3-26)

East Bay Blazers beat Golden State Grizzlies by four wickets. Golden State Grizzlies 85 all out (Sohan Bhat 22, Rusty Theron 4-19, Sanjay Krishnamurthi 2-16) vs East Bay Blazers 86-6 from 18.5 overs (Sanjay Krishnamurthi 37*, Neeraj Goel 3-10, Sohan Bhat 2-18)

DC Hawks beat The Philadelphians by 30 runs. DC Hawks 182-6 from 20 overs (Adil Bhatti 63, Gourav Bajaj 52, Manoj Acharya 3-21, Karima Gore 2-21) vs The Philadelphians 152-8 from 10 overs (Muhmmad Shah 37, Karima Gore 26, Yashwant Balaji 24, Gourav Bajaj 2-7, Navin Stewart 2-29)

New Jersey Somerset Cavaliers beat New England Eagles by 57 runs. New Jersey Somerset Cavaliers 208-6 from 20 overs (Kennar Lewis 49, Akshay Homraj 46, Aaron Jones 34, Bruce Blackwood 3-21, Alexandrino Kirton 2-36) vs New England Eagles 151-5 from 20 overs (Oniell Powell 34, Umair Mir 31*, Muhammad Asad Ghous 2-16)

DC Hawks beat Empire State Titans by five wickets. Empire State Titans 191-7 from 20 overs (Trevon Griffith 60, Javein Thomas 58, Navin Stewart 4-41) vs DC Hawks 192-5 from 18.3 overs (Navin Stewart 61*, Adil Bhatti 57, Sunny Sohal 24, Trevon Griffith 2-21, Amanpreet Singh 2-30)

Matches in the competition will continue at the weekend.