The second week of the SFSCL spring campaign was poised to get underway as CSU continued their quest of a championship in the A Division. It was a overcast, but cool day as CSU hosted SuperKings for the second ,arch of the current season. The venue was SuperKings home ground, St. Georges park, that was graciously offered as all the normal venues were snapped up by other teams. The field was set and players from both teams were poised to begin proceedings as the captains made their way to the middle. CSU inaugural skipper, Kendall Ramsijewan, just like week one, won the toss and elected to bat first.
CSU, in their quest to find a new opening pair experimented, by promoting battle tested Nickolas Fagu along with Balram Pooran to open their account. They would look to provide CSU with a solid base to build upon in order to get the innings started and they would get off to a flyer. SuperKings would turn to their most reliable bowler in Ryan Gurudeo to curtail the CSU innings as he has a staunch reputation as an economical bowler. He would start with disciplined lines, inducing two dot balls to start before sending down a wide delivery. He would overcompensate on the next delivery as he placed a delivery well outside the leg stump that didn’t turn as much as he would have hoped and Pooran played that through the offside to cash in the first boundary of the innings. On the other side, Shazad Inshanali was tasked with bowling along side Gurudeo, but he would not enjoy the same success as him. He started his spell bowling erratically as he couldn’t focus his deliveries to a set corridor. His second delivery was a waist high full toss that Fagu played for a glorious six over extra cover. The second delivery also came out as a low full toss that was also dispatched quite comfortably over extra cover as well. In all, Inshanali gave up 14 in his first over, padding the CSU innings with a few welcome runs. Gurudeo would produce a masterclass over as he only conceded one run putting some pressure back on the batsmen. Inshanali was allowed to continue and it would prove to be the right choice as he provide the SuperKings with the early breakthrough they needed. He produced a delivery outside offstump, that induced an expansive drive from Fagu, but all he could muster was an inside edge that sent the ball crashing into his offstump leaving the score on 26-1. The skipper decided to go in himself to stabilize the innings after the loss of that early wicket and we would do a good job of it with the opener Pooran. They would rotate the strike and put away the the loose deliveries for boundaries along the way. They put up a steady 17 run partnership until Pooran attempted to drive a delivery over the boundary line but only managed to hole out to Brian Seeram who took the catch comfortably. Harvey Govind was the next man in and would have hoped to recreate his innings from last week, but it wasn’t to be. He attempted am expansive drive off the bowling of Karl Waith, but he played over the ball as the delivery pegged back the middle stumps bringing Vice Captain Mikey Singh to the crease. Together with the skipper, they would shire up the middle and get the score going. They would see the side to the 13 over break leaving the score on 93-3. After the break, SuperKings would clamp down on their run feast as opening bowler Gurudeo, and the stingy Omesh Tankishore didn’t allow them to get under any deliveries. That pressure induced the next mistake as the skipper brought on Seeram to bowl and would get the dangerous Singh to play over a delivery that went crashing into his off stump. Newly acquired HASRATALI Amin was the next man in and provide CSU with a flourishing innings. He negotiated a tough period where the momentum shifted fully into the SuperKings corner as the aggressively bowled at the stump and limited the boundaries. In that period, Ramsijewan attempted to drive an offering from Martin Jaundoo, but played over the ball and was bowled leaving the score on 127-5. Amin would also succumb to Jaundoo as he attempted to pull him to the midwicket boundary but the delivery found some extra bounce allowing only a top edge that skied a catch to Inshanali who made light work of the chance. The rest of the batsmen contributed a few runs leaving SuperKings to chase 175 runs for victory.
M Singh 36
Ramsijewan 33
Jaundoo 3 for 11
St. Georges park is notoriously small, so the SuperKings would have backed themselves to successfully chase the sub par total. They sent out Gurudeo and Seeram to start the innings and they would demolish the CSU opening bowlers. They would start the innings, scoring at over 10 runs an over giving their side the jumpstart they needed. They pounced on any delivery that was remotely loose with calculated aggression during those opening overs. Seeram was the batsman leading the charge as he struck 3 fours and 4 sixes in his 40 run innings pushing the score to 68 runs, until Nick Fagu disturbed the furniture in his first over. Nick would also take another wicket in that over as Gurudeo attempted to flay a ball through extra cover, but managed to find Amin at short mid off who took the catch. The two new batsmen, Sham Persaud and Martin Jaundoo were watchful to start their innings as Fagu along with Mikey Singh, kept the runs down. Mikey would disturb their partnership as he got Sham to hole out to long off leaving the score on 87-3. Raj Tankishore was the next batsmen in and he would support Jaundoo to establish the largest partnership of the match. They compiled a match winning 75 run run partnership as Jaundoo launched an all out assault on the CSU attack. He used tempered aggression as he punished any delivery that was straight or down the leg side as he racked up 57 runs to see his side through to the required total. During his innings he struck 5 fours and 4 sixes while batting very intelligently keeping his side always inching toward the set total. SuperKings displayed great temperament and fearlessness as they dismantled the bowling attack reaching the target with over 5 overs to spare.
Jaundoo 57*
Seeram 40
Fagu 3 for 26
CSU now owns a 1-1 record as they head into week three where they are to face a revamped Outlaws squad. Tune in next week.
Article Source
united-cricket.org
