SEVERELY hampered by the number of grounds at its
disposal, the Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA)
was still able to complete a successful; 2022 season
which climaxed with the First Division final, played at the
Ashtonbee Number Two ground on Saturday, October 8.
In a hotly-contested final, played under wintry conditions,
Team Tigers A whipped Maple Cricket Club by 38 runs
to claim the coveted title after the latter had topped the
standings in the division.
Skipper Al Chowdury led from the front with a fine 103 as
Team Tigers A made a challenging 293 all out in 48.2 overs,
hitting six fours and two sixes in the process. He received
valuable support from Sohrab Miah who slammed seven
fours and four sixes in a quick-fire 73. Rakulan Ratnam
finished with three for 41.
Maple, who started disastrously, made a late charge through
an attacking 66 (five fours and four sixes) from Sujeethan
Balasingam but his effort proved in vain as they were
dismissed for 255 in 45.4 overs. There were three wickets
each for Hussain Maquith, Tayab Iqbal and Abu Syed.
All the other finals were completed the previous weekend
with Naseeb Cricket Club (NCC) creating a stir, defeating
the highly-favored Victoria Park Cricket Club (VPCC)
in the Elite Division and Highland Creek carting off the
Premiere League Championship with a hard-fought
victory over Champions Cricket Club.
In the other divisional finals, Armor ruled the roost with a
huge 148-run victory over Ambassadors B in the Second
Division final while TPark Youngstars captured the Third
Division crown with a 48-run win over newcomers
Stikbook.
Nasseb’s victory was engineered by a fine century from
Imtiyaz Hanslod, whose 105 from 86 balls was laced with
seven fours and six sixes and supporting knocks of 51
and 42 respectively from Yasin Patel and Varish Shaikh as
they made light work of VPCC’s 262 all out in 48.2 overs,
reaching 263 for four in 44.4 overs in the 50-over affair.
Hanslod shared a brilliant fourth-wicket stand of 159 with
Patel whose knock of 51 included two fours and two
sixes.
Earlier, VPCC, who elected to take first strike, were
indebted to Gazenfar Syed who struck a dazzling 137 off
two sixes. Varish Shaikh (three for 53) and Salim Patel
(two for 60) were NCC top bowlers while the
respective Most Valuable Players (MVPs) were
Hanslod and Syed.
NCC had earlier dethroned defending champions
Ambassadors Sports Club in the semi-final and
the victory also meant they achieved the feat in
their first year in the Elite Division, after been
promoted from the Premier Division which they
won in 2021.
The Premiere Division final saw Champions
winning the toss and reaching 221 for eight in
the allotted 50 overs with Yunus Motara hitting a
composed 59 (three fours). Hassan Raza, Arslan
Khan and skipper Mohammad Azmi bagged two
wickets each for 33, 47 and 50 runs respectively.
In reply, Highland Creek reached the required
target in 46.5 overs with MVP Karan Dewan
unbeaten on 89 (eight fours) when victory was
achieved. Faheem Motara, who claimed two for
30, was adjudged his team’s MVP.
In a lop-sided Second Division final, Armor CC,
who also topped the points standings, batted
first and rattled up 277 for seven in 38 overs in
the 40-over affair. Sameer Syed (74), Ahsan Syed
(65) and Waseem Sajjad (64) were the principal
scorers.
In reply, Ambassadors were skittled for 129 in 34.
3 overs. Moshin Sajjad and Muneer Khan were
the main destroyers with three wickets each.
TPark Youngstars easily defeated Stikbook in
the Third Division final, winning by 51 runs after
batting first and reaching a respectable 230 for six
in 38 overs. Kamran Nazir was left stranded on
an unbeaten 92 while Sajid Siddique supported
with 55. Murali Kotha took four for 50.
Stikbook could only muster 179 all out in 33.3 overs, going down by
51 runs. Aaravind Rangamreddy top-scored with 73 while Bhaiyat
Zuned claimed four for 35.
Among the other winners were Island Warriors in the T20 Elite,
YoungStar in the T20 Premiere, Legends Kerala in the T20 First
Division, Kayi Wolves in the T30 Elite, Oshawa Hawks/Toronto
Braves in the T30 Premiere and Evergreen in the Over-50.
The official presentation ceremony will take place sometime
during the 2023 season, set to commence in May.