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National T20 Championship - Playoffs
The finals of the Romania’s Cricket Championships for 2011 was held over the weekend of 24-25 September at Otopeni Reserve, Cricket Romania’s newest facility, a short drive from CR headquarters, located in the Omnilogic Compound, outside Bucharest. Throughout the summer, qualifying matches had transpired and four teams had successfully advanced to the playoff weekend – United, Cluj, the Indian Cricket Club of Bucharest and CSSM, which had replaced Banat Lions due to the absence of some key players.
Saturday 24th September
1st Qualifier
UCC 149-7 (Kayani 33*, Thakur 31) beat CCC 36-10 (Haider 5, Gondal 3-7, Manani 3-13) by 113 runs in 11.4 overs.
The first of four matches pitted the two teams that had finished top of their zones, United Cricket Club (UCC) against Cluj Cricket Club (CCC) together. Both had progressed through the qualifying matches unbeaten so the game promised to be a close affair. Under blue skies without a breath of wind, after winning the toss and batting United racked up an imposing total, with many of its frontline batsmen making contributions; foremost among them was captain and opener Sudeep Thakur who led the way with 31 runs off 22 balls, and Aftab Kayani at number 6 whose 33 runs came from 24 balls. UCC’s total of 149 was certainly a challenge, but not an impossible task – although Cluj’s batsmen made it such as wickets fell early, cheaply and regularly, and the team capitulated for a paltry 36. The game was completed within twelve overs with wickets shared amongst UCC’s four bowlers Vicky Manani (3-13, with 17 dot balls), Ali Zawwar (2-13, 11 dots), Sheraz Gondal (3-7, 9 dots) and Sudeep Thakur (2-3, 9 dots). Its win allowed UCC a smooth passage to the following day’s final.
Eliminator
ICCB 140-5 (Hussain 48*, Karim 29) beat CSSM 97-10 (Narad 28, S Singh 22, Riaz 4-20) by 43 runs in 17.4 overs.
Having watched Cluj fold so unceremoniously to UCC, both the Indian Cricket Club of Bucharest (ICCB) and Clubul Sportiv Studentesc Medecina (CSSM), from Timisoara, would have fancied their chances against them in the weekend’s third game. To proceed to that match however, they had first to play each other and win, and the game began amidst warm and brilliant sunshine, with CSSM winning the toss and deciding to bowl. Throughout its innings the ICCB batsmen had the better of CSSM’s bowlers, although wickets fell at regular intervals; in its 20-over total of 140-5 Sajjad Hussain top scored with an unbeaten 48 off 41 balls, and all-rounder Abdul Karim fell for 29 off 24. CSSM’s best bowler was Zeeshan Malik with 2-26 with 6 dot balls. CSSM’s response looked shaky at 13-2 but when Gill Sabir Singh joined opener Garav Narad its hopes brightened as the pair took the score to 56 before Singh (22) was dismissed. Two runs later Narad followed, and thereafter CSSM seemed simply to run out of batsmen, being all out for 97. Five bowlers were used by ICCB, with Usman Riaz returning the most profitable figures of 4-20 including 8 dots. The result, a comfortable ICCB win by 43 runs, meant a long drive home for CSSM while based on Cluj’s performance in the morning game ICCB could feel confident of winning the following day’s first match and proceeding to the final against their old Bucharest foes UCC.
Sunday 25th September
2nd Qualifier
CCC 104-9 (Bhale 30, S Khan 19, Karim 4-15) beat ICCB 80-10 (Manowari 16, Kumar 3-12, Bhale 3-18) in 14.4 overs.
With a place in the final at stake, Sunday’s morning game began in windy conditions several degrees chillier than a day earlier, after ICCB captain Sukhbinder Singh won the toss and invited Cluj to bat. Just two of Cluj’s batsmen were able to impose themselves over the ICCB attack - Ruben Bhale, whose batting had been hindered by an injured thumb against UCC, returned to form with 30 well-crafted runs off 36 balls, and opener Shoiab Khan scored 19, but they were the only two batsmen who made it into double figures. The innings ended spectacularly with the first hat trick in a Cricket Romania championship match, bowled in the final over by Abdul Karim. Despite his heroics Cluj’s total of 104 was hugely assisted by some wayward bowling from ICCB, whose 24 extras would coincidentally be the finishing margin between the two sides. The ICCB response began smoothly enough with the consistent Riaz hitting two boundaries off Haider’s first over, but even though wickets began to fall thereafter, ICCB would have thought that its batting depth would have come to the rescue to overhaul what was, after all, a very gettable target. However, tight bowling and aggressive fielding from Cluj ensured that it was not until the last wicket that ICCB managed to string together any kind of partnership, but that came undone in sensational fashion when ICCB’s top scorer Shahfad Manowari was brilliant caught one-handed by Cheesma Arslan fielding a metre in from the mid-on boundary. Every member of the Cluj team rushed to congratulate him, ebullient in the knowledge that their victory had won them a second chance against UCC, who had so convincingly beaten them a day earlier.
Final
UCC 154-8 (Haider 63, Manani 33, D Singh 2-25) beat CCC 97-10 (Gill 47, H Kayani 3-11) in 17.5 overs.
Bright afternoon sunshine and overall warmer conditions had reappeared at Otopeni Reserve and with a sizeable crowd of enthusiasts in attendance, Sudeep Thakur called successfully at the toss and, unsurprisingly, chose to bat; surprisingly however, his wicket fell in the first over, caught behind by Cluj skipper Amitoz Gill off Azzum Haider for a three-ball duck. A solid partnership worth 48 runs ensued between Thakur’s opening partner Vicky Manani and Imran Haider, who came in with the score on 3 and departed at 126-4, having scored exactly half those runs, while Manani was the second top scorer, contributing 33 to UCC’s total of 154. Once again UCC’s batting depth held strong, and if one batsmen failed, others would step up to keep the runs flowing. Haider had begun cautiously but grew in confidence and his 63, which included four 6s and four 4s, provided the backbone of UCC’s total; it was also the weekend’s highest individual innings. While he and Manani shouldered the brunt of the work, Gopalakrishnan, Gondal and Jha kept the scoreboard ticking over, and after 20 overs the innings total would have been higher if the Cluj bowlers had not held their line and length. Wickets were shared amongst Cluj’s five bowlers, with Dalvinder Singh (2-25, with 5 dot balls) managing to extract the most from the pitch. The Cluj response faltered early after opener Haider was run out for 7, and once Khan and Shamas were dismissed soon afterwards, followed by the stylish Bhale who was run out for a golden duck, it became clear that any chance of Cluj causing an upset lay with Gill – although he too fell eventually, bowled by Manani for a well compiled 47, which included two 4s and four 6s, off 46 balls; that the next highest score was Cheema Aslan’s 8 emphasised the profligacy of the Cluj batsmen, and the commitment of the UCC attack. UCC’s Hamad Kayani (3-11) then proceeded to wrap up the Cluj innings with three quick wickets, all bowled, bringing his side victory by 57 runs.
There had been no doubt in the minds of spectators that UCC were worthy winners of the second Romanian Cricket Championships. Its performances were team efforts in the truest sense. Ably led by Thakur, the entire team showed discipline in all aspects of the game – the bowlers rarely strayed in line and length, the fielders held their catches and chased and threw into wicketkeeper Gopalakrishnan faster and more accurately than any other side, and backed each other up, rarely allowing opposition batsmen to relax, while UCC’s batsmen, in turn, showed restraint when restraint was necessary, but more often than not attacked the ball, safe in the knowledge that failure would merely bring another contributor to the crease. Several impressive individual efforts were displayed throughout the weekend but the umpires – including the ECB’s hugely experienced Graham Cooper – awarded the Man of the Playoffs trophy to Abdul Karim of ICCB, whose all-round performance, including his hat trick against Cluj, eclipsed all others. The tournament came to a close with the awards ceremony presided over by Gabriel Marin, Cricket Romania’s President, who congratulated all four clubs for a successful weekend of cricket and expressed his hope that the following year’s championships would be held at Moara Vlasiei, where Cricket Romania’s new home is under construction. The ceremony, which included an encouraging speech by ICC Europe’s outgoing Regional Development Manager Richard Holdsworth, heralded the close of another successful stanza in the evolution of cricket in Romania.
