Home  Sports Windies XI wins first int’l title in US
|
Windies XI wins first int’l title in US |
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 01 June 2008 |
The West Indies All-Star Team, under the captaincy of Antigua’s Richie Richardson won the inaugural MAQ T20 International Cricket Tournament '08 played last weekend at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida.
The tournament, the first of its kind on American soil, attracted thousands of spectators who braved inclement weather which plagued the event all weekend long. “We never got quite the numbers we were looking for due to the rain, but we are very happy with the turnout seeing that this is our first of many more contest to come,” said Nino DiLoreto a spokesman for the tournament.
The four team 20/20 tournament which is the brainchild of Mahammad Qureshi featured all stars teams from Pakistan, Canada, the West Indies and a World Eleven.
When the smoke cleared it was the West Indies and Canadian teams who made it through to the finals. The Windies defeated Pakistan by 21 runs and The World XI by nine wickets, while Canada beat both teams by five and nine wickets respectively to set up the showdown between the two.
It was the West Indies team who batted first, scoring 128 runs for the loss of four wickets, behind an impressive knock of 48 from wicket keeper batsman, Courtney Browne. Richardson, who batted fifth, only managed to score 11 much to the chagrin of the crowd. Shawn Riley 15 runs (no), Shawn Beckford 13 runs (no) and Stuart Williams 14 runs were the other contributors.
Canada in reply could only muster 90 runs before they were all out despite a valiant effort from Geoff Barnett (28 runs) and Sanjay Thuraisinghham (25 runs). Tim Allen led the charge for the Windies taking three wickets for 14 runs, assisted by Hamish Anthony two for 6, Franklyn Rose two for 11 and Richie Richardson two for 26.
Browne was voted the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament, as he scored the second most runs with 67, recorded three outs via the stumped route along with three catches behind the stumps.
The weekend tournament also featured a concert which had Marcia Griffiths, Alamgir, Allison Hinds, Roopal G, Ky-mani Marley, Michelle Riu, LUST, Code Red, Florida Melody Makers and Adesh Samaroo performing for the spectators later in the evening.
Next up on the slate for the organizers, whose intention is to foster the growth of cricket in the US, is the Freedom Cup scheduled for the July 4th Weekend.
|
|
|
|
