May 4th Sheri 100 Shock and Awe West Haven Riverside provided the fireworks on Sunday as they demolished West Haven CC in their last pre-season game to end on a perfect record on four wins. Riverside took first strike and never look back with the man of the match Sarvesh sheri Rishi blasting his way to a magnificent 100 not out. Sarvesh shattered the ball to all parts of the ground, smashing five 6’s over the bowler head and each time the ball went sailing to another zip code the bowler just said wow he can bat. With Sarvesh spectacular performance Captain Raj Rai awarded him a new bat to entertain the fans for the 2003 season. Riverside 197 West Haven 89 all out..
8/21/05 Breaking News: Ah thunder and lighting could not
provide as much noise as did the ball coming off the
well balance blade of the cricket bat, in a battle of
man vs man fan vs fan. What we have here folks is the
showdown between two of the premier clubs of the
Connecticut Cricket League. A contest better than the
recent Afro-Asia Cup. Under threatening skies and
dangerous temperature approaching 100 degree, this
contest took on a meaning more than the playoff spot
that both team were fighting for, the players and
officials were under attack by the brutal environment
and the team that was more mentally and physically
strong on this day survive the day to seal a spot in the
playoff. The battle took place on one of the best
cricket field in the United States under management by
Riverfront Recapture Hartford CT. The game with
Caribbean Cricket Club consisted of talented players
from the pristine island of Jamaica and Riverside
Cricket Club with its awe-inspiring players hailing from
the beautiful land of Guyana. With a 12PM start on the
cards for the 40 overs affair under the match official
Lloyd Baichan, the toss went up and came on the side of
Caribbean cc. Without
hesitation, faster than making your way through E-Z pass
on the Turnpike, Caribbean cc stated their intentions
and decided to bat on a pitch favoring both batsman and
bowlers.
With a trove of fans and supporters, the game got the start
that all in attendance enjoyed more than a BBQ session
over a cold beer. Yes folks the Caribbean opening pair
of Hutchinson and Parris started the run fest off with
some scintillating fours and quick singles as the
Riverside players was running to all parts of this 80X80
yard cricket ground drenching in sweat. With the bowlers
feeling the heat from the bat and the brutal weather a
breakthrough was needed to slow this run rate, it came
when Parris got a thin edge off the bowling of Ragin and
a comfortable catch taken by keeper Ragnauth. Well just
when you though the momentum was slowing, Riverside was
on the end of some more brutal punishment from the
totally skilled Everton Nelson, this guy was off to a
quick start slamming the ball to all parts, hitting the
big ones over the ropes and savoring his blade for the
well placed singles.
Everton moved the Caribbean score card to 95 in
the first 15 overs, bringing smiles to the Caribbean
fans with a great half century to his name, but with the
introduction of spin by Riverside things took a dramatic
turn, Marlon Kallicharan who just took the red eye from
LA and landed in Hartford 1 hour before the game started
was a bit dazed but with the ball in his hand his spin
bowling was disciplined and penetrative causing the
batsman all sort of discomfort, like a rash in Rio
Marlon bowled a dizzying spell changeling the inform Everton with
his off spin. Under intense concentration Everton was
fighting to survive the spinning ball. After a drop
catch off a wicked turner Marlon persisted with his
exaggerated “Warnie” like delivery and caught
Everton in no mans land with the ball slamming into his
pads and a vigorous appeal by Marlon and the Riverside
players screaming “how is dat” the umpire was in
agreement with the appeal and slowly raised his finger
indicating an LBW decision against Everton, this
spectacular moment was the pinnacle phase for the match
as Caribbean could not sustain their fast pace scoring
rate and although other batsman attempted to keep the
rate going Caribbean was running out of gas faster than
you can say $3 a gallon. Batman Andrews attempting a
huge hit was caught by a spectacular one handed leaping
catch on the boundary by Moka Khan. With this out of
this world catch the Caribbean innings was very much
over after scoring 163 runs bringing some joy to the
fans.
Riverside Cricket Club strategy for going after the runs was
to go on an all out attack, especially since the weather
was still hot and humid and they wanted to make sure the
Caribbean cc players felt the same pain as they did in
the filed running after the ball. Riverside decided to
send in an opening pinch-hitting pair of Andrea “the
giant” Mayers and Tony “the tiger Kallicharan”.
Well within a few overs the Caribbean bowlers was
under attack from both batsman assaulting anything that
was offline. Andrea
playing in his big hitting style muscle the ball around
and Tony who is in from was the more aggressive of the
two. Tony first super shot was over the ropes for a
mammoth sixer and he kept the run rate flowing with
power strokes off the back foot. With Caribbean, felling
the pressure to take a wicket, medium pacer Mullins was
introduced in the attack. This was a smart move as the
bowler slowed it down and going for a big hit, Andrea
missed time the ball and was caught, scoring 19.
In came Marlon “the magnificent Kallicharan”
an exceptionally cricketer
with the ball but an awesome cricketer with the
bat. Batting is this man cream of wheat, along with his
other all-round abilities in the field be it wicket
keeping or just his fielding acrobatics. Well the fans
and supporters came to see something special this day
and they got it with the batting display that was put on
by Marlon. A
cool relax approach to batting with the surgical brain
always working and the hand eye coordination racing to
reel havoc on the bowlers, Marlon 3lb willow was in
overdrive. This man just show the rest of the cricketers
what technical power batting was all about. With his
blade always straight and a comfortable back lift, the
intimidating bouncer that was sent down was sweetly
timed without effort over the boundary ropes. The fans
and the Caribbean players were struck with shock.and awe
after the glorious shot. Marlon was on the move with
Tonly providing his own brand of heavy hitting stroke
play. The two put on a brilliant partnership. The
Caribbean players tried all the tricks in the book but
Marlon Kallicharan had an answer for all of the bowling
variations. He showed his full array of strokes and even
threw the kitchen sink at the bowlers. With a yoker
length ball coming at Marlon he savagely straight bat it
over to the ropes.
With the score moving to the target the batsman
went on a rampage with Tony working the ball to all
parts and Marlon lashing it severely with perfect
placement and timing. Tony going one more time for a big
heave was caught at the boundary, bringing his innings
to an end after scoring a hard hitting 62
In came Moka Khan who recently endured a few weeks of strength
training, a burly fella with the upper body of a Mack
tuck. This boy is an ox! Caribbean still felt that if
they can get Marlon they had a chance to make the
playoff. But the bowling was severely savaged by the
welding blade of Marlon Kallicharan and his tremendous
bat speed in the middle. He slog sweep a perfect pitch
delivery to the ropes and clobbered the next delivery
into the stands. The game came to an amazing end as
Marlon elegantly cover drive the winning runs over the
80 yard boundary ropes. Malon finished the innings off
in style scoring 59 not out and Moka15 not out.
Riverside Cricket Club is now on the way to the playoff
looking to go all the way. At the end of the game the
Caribbean players congratulated Riverside and beers was
had by all. For taking 2 catches 1 wicket and scoring 59
runs Marlon Kallicharan was named match MVP and received
cash prize of US$500 sponsored by Jemo Custom Cabinetry.
The Riverside Tigers are on the prowl looking for the
next victim.
And on an ending statement the USACA should look to select Marlon Kallicharan in the USA team, as a gifted player of his caliber should represent the USA. Show me another one like him that is in the team, I am still looking. Get the man in the Team and stop the politics.
Scorecard Rcc vs. Ccc Team Points Ladder Top Batting Top Wicket Takers
8/13/05 Riverside Cricket Club took revenge over Sunrise CC and won the glorious I-95 Trophy after several attempts. Riverside scoring 195 was too much for Sunrise as they crashed to a partly 147 all out. Riverside look forward to defend the Trophy in 06 and beating Sunrise again.
7/17/05 Riverside Cricket Club claim an easy victory after bowling out Windsor CC for a partly 110, Riverside starting the run chase with openers Mohamad Khan and Andre Mayers these chaps took the Windsor bowlers to the cleaners with Khan score a quick fire 35 and Mayers not out on 15, then the troubling behavior started by the WCC players prompted them to walk off the filed without any regard of the game or the official umpires. WCC forfeited the match giving Riverside a quick victory.
7/10/05 Riverside Cricket Club entertained the large crowd of fans and cricket supporters at the Riverside Park under perfect playing conditions with blue sky and temps in the low 80’s just what the doctor order. The fans were treated to a high scoring match as Riverside faced the powerful St. Lucia team the big name players like the dangerous Evan and all 6 feet 7 of Chris Arthur. But this day belong to the Tigers after slamming a wicked 192 runs with Andre Mayers leading the way with a brutal 41 and the rest of the team played the supporting role with all batters scoring runs to bring up the imposing total. Well St. Lucia had some different ideas and went after the runs like a 100 mph bullet train. The most brutal and vicious batsman of all Evans dig into the Riverside bowling blazing off 20 runs from the first 2 overs as Dhaval Choksih was on the receiving end of Evans big 4 lbs bat as he continued the onslaught. He was support by Wilson who score 35 but Evans luck ran away from him as he was out for a hard hitting 41 going for big hit as he was clean bowled by Raj Rai But just when St. Lucia was on the go a new bowling weapon was introduced by the name of Ayaz Dalal the former Windsor cc Captain who recently joined Riverside and was playing his first game for the Tigers, Well all we can say was Dalal did all with his wicked spinning ball and brought St. Lucia back to reality taking 2 wickets in his first over but by the end of Dalal six over spell he just clean house and finished the game giving Rcc a comfortable victory. Dala claim the remaining wickets taking a matching winning 5 wickets in his first game for his new team Riverside. By the end of the game the fans enjoyed each moment and ran on the field picking up the man of the match Ayaz Dalal, 5 wickets on debut not bad. Scorecard Rcc vs St. Lucia
6/5/05 Riverside Cricket Club crushes Banks cc on a hot and humid day at the Riverside Oval. The Tigers was on the prowl looking to punish Banks and send them home early. Banks got bowled out for a miserable 59 runs with the man of the match Anil "NeeLow" Harribaran cleaning up Banks with five wickets and taking a spectacular Hat-Trick than include wicket 1 Caught wicket 2 LBW wicket 3 Bowled, that is the order of the Hat-Trick. Riverside knock off the runs quickly to enjoy the rest of the afternoon with the fans. NeeLow you go get em again with the spin factor. Scorecard Rcc vs Bcc
5/22/05 Also a quick update on our recent league game against Caribbean Club, the Tigers ran away with an impressive victory scoring 210 runs with an opening partnership between Moka Khan and Shanan Ragnauth racking up a powerful 140 runs, a record for the league at this stage in the competition. Scorecard Rcc vs Ccc
Pictures
from 2004 CT League Finals
Riverside
- Cricket Hall of Fame's 2003 Six-A-Side Champions
Score
cards from 2003 cricket season
Sarvesh
Rishi's 2003 Shock & Awe 100 n.o
Marlon
Kallicharan's 2002 blazing 106 n.o
