By Frederick Halley

TORONTO, Canada – After ruling the roost in the Premiere League for six consecutive years and enduring one of their worst seasons in the inaugural Elite League of the Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA) last year, Hawaiian Arctic Cricket Club (HACC) will be seeking to make amends when they oppose Highland Creek in Sunday’s final, set for the Ashtonbee ground, Scarborough, here.

In Sunday’s semi-final, played at the same venue, HACC denied last year’s finalists Scarborough Cricket Club (SCC) a second trip to the grand finale with a crushing 104-run victory, much to the delight of their loyal supporters.
The win was engineered through two brilliant performances by two of their ‘importees’ in Royston Crandon, a former Guyana and West Indies One-day player and Imran Khan, who hails from the tiny island of Wakenaam, Essequibo.

Crandon, who smashed a brutal 124 in his previous game versus Highland Creek, was in a more sedate mood this time around, as he cracked a match-saving 82 while left-arm spinner Khan, in an inspiring and mesmerising spell, bagged an amazing five for 14 in his 10-over spell.

Needing 197 for victory after limiting the powerful HACC batting lineup to 196 all out in 44.4 overs, SCC were hustled out for a mere 92 in 31 overs as their batting faltered badly in the face of penetrative bowling, mainly from the spinners, and a superb fielding effort led by former Canadian player Abdool Samad. Showing little signs of his advanced age, Samad sneered two startling catches in the cover region.
The only batsman to show any resistance was Suhail Variava with a solid 33 (two fours) before top-edging a catch to Crandon at slip off Khan while Siraj Uniya chipped in with 20 (three fours).

Earlier, HACC were given a fine start of 48 in the first nine overs between Bhim Bodhoo (25) and Surendra Seeraj (21) after being sent in by their opponents, However, they slipped to 68 for five by the 16th over before Crandon and skipper and former Guyana wicket-keeper/batsman Azib Ali Hanif revived the innings, adding 66 for the sixth wicket.
Mixing aggression with defence, the two averted a complete middle-order collapse before Hanif was stumped for a well-played 26 which a six and a four.

The experienced Crandon continued to shepherd the lower-order and by the time he was unfortunately run-out when looked well set for his second consecutive ton, HACC’s total was already looking threatening. Crandon’s match-saving knock of 82 was laced with three sixes, a five and three fours.

Zenul Uniya finished with three for 21 from his allotted two overs while Arif Malek took two for 33 from nine.
In the other semi-final, played on the adjacent ground, Highland Creek defeated league leaders Ambassadors who were hoping to improve on their last year’s performance when they were also eliminated in the semis by SCC.