Last Ball Win earns USA the All Stars Series !
A “practice game” before the Main Event whilst it gave an indication of the excitement ahead, & may have also lulled the American College Cricket USA Team into a bit of complacency. Sam Das (Arkansas State) smashed 10 sixes & 1 four in 68* to give USA the win.
In the 1st game of the actual Series, Sam Das continued his form with 51* to get USA to a good total. Despite Neel Patel (South Alabama) 43 & Sai Kiran 30 USA was reeling at 109 for 7 at 14.3 when Das came in. USA began bowling with spin & got an early wicket but couldn’t do anything against Dhaliwall 54 & Captain Angad 63, both delighting with gorgeous shots around the wicket ! They enabled CCUC to win in 18.1 overs.
GAME 2
Setting themselves a target of 180 USA fell just short but a magnificent innings by Vice Capt Ishann Bansal (PITT) 68* and then Aditay Sen (UF Gators) 47 down the order got USA to 168 for 5.
Canada started cautiously and maturely and got to 50 in 7.1 before losing their 1st wicket. Dhaliwal scored 30, Angad 27 but the lower order succumbed to USA’s motivated bowling & fielding for the USA win, setting up a grand finale. Nell Patel (South Alabama) got the best bowling figures of the Series, the only 3fer with 3 for 15.
GAME 3 Dhaliwal tore into the bowling for 78, whilst Ahsan struck 58 taking Canada to a huge total of 198 for 8 !
Ishaan took this as his personal challenge, despite losing Hari Kiran 2nd ball, the Capt for a duck, and Bansal’s 50 came out of 69. Saikiran 39 added some fire power and when Ishaan got out at 91 USA was 167 in 16.1 with victory in sight. Ishaan’s 91 took 51 balls with 6 fours & 7 sixes.
Nevertheless it came down to a nailbiting last ball when USA needed 1 to tie,2 to win, 8 wickets down,wicketkeeper Rudy Srivastava on strike slapped at the ball & got an edge down behind the Keeper for 4 & the win !
Ishaan was Top Batsman with highest aggregate & 2 Match winning innings, but CCUC’s Ramanvir was only 3 runs behind, batting really well. Neel Patel was Top Bowler with 6 wickets. USA Wicketkeeper Rudraksh took the most catches,6, and Saikiran Valaboju (Everest), in the outfield took 3 including one where her volleyballed the ball on the boundary, fell out, jumped back in and took the catch !
The next All Star matches may be at Nationals, definitely if the English team makes it. In May we will play in Toronto.
Scorecards & other stats are on our Cricclubs link,
Videos on the American College Cricket Facebook & Instagram pages
