… West, South win respective regions

By Frederick Halley

MATTHEW Nandu enhanced his growing reputation as one of the top young cricketers in Canada with another brilliant all-round performance as Cricket Ontario Regional Under-18 and Under-16 championships climaxed at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club ground, King City on Thursday, August 20.

The 17-year-old Nandu, son of former Guyana and West Indies Under-19 leg-spinner Arjune Nandu, copped the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the Under-18 category after totalling 220 runs (averaging 89.43) and capturing eight wickets at 10.25 runs apiece in the four-day tournament. His four for 18 in the final proved also to be the best figures in a match while the 125 was good enough for the Player-of-the-Match trophy.

The left-handed Nandu’s unbeaten 125 for East Region versus South was also the highest individual score of the tournament. His only disappointment came in the final as East had to settle for the runners-up spot to Mihir Patel’s South, going down by 28 runs.

South’s Jash Sawh, who has shown remarkable improvement over the last year, was also outstanding, topping the aggregate with 279 runs which included a fine 104 versus North in the third-placed playoff where he was adjudged the Player-of-the-Match.

Among the other notable batting performers were Ethan Gibson who smashed 104 for North against South, placing third in the overall aggregate with 178 runs, West’s Jeevanand Nauth who hit 77 and South’s Siddh Lad (75) in a tally of 170. These performances enabled these players plus Mihir Patel to cart off Players-of-the-Match awards.

Kairav Sharma of East was the top wicket-taker with 11 scalps (average 13.36) while Arjun Thuraisingam (North) ended with eight (average 13.38).

Yash Mondkar (West) took the MVP honours in the Under-16 category. His 207, including a top-score of 108, the lone century in the group, earned them third place after thrashing North by 49 runs.

Two players, Keyur Padhiar (South) and Miguel Nandu  (East) finished with eight wickets each while Sid Nagpal’s four for 38 versus was the best bowling figures in the category.

Players-of-the-match prizes went to Rithik Singh (West), Yuvraj Samra (South), Harikesan Bala (East), Miguel Nandu, Tarandeep Singh, (North -two), Nigel Ramsaroop (South) and Mondkar while Jay Peshwa’s 12 catches were the most by a player.

The Under-18 final saw West defeating East by 28 runs. Set 184 for victory, after limiting West to 183 all out in 38.2 overs, East were dismissed for 155 in 38.3 overs with Ramanvir Dhaliwal hitting a top-score of 40 (five fours) and Arjune Nandu 38 with two fours and a six. Kairav Sharma finished with three for 24, skipper Mihir Patel three for 19 and leg-spinner Jonhatan Singh two for 18, including the key scalp of Nandu.

Earlier, West looked well set for a score in excess of 250 but lost their last five wickets for 11 runs, slipping from 172 for five to 183 all out, following an opening stand of 107 in 22.1 overs Siddh Lad (65) and Mihir Patel (46).

The collapse was engineered by Aditya Manjrekar, whose three for 11 from three overs included the only hattrick of the tournament. Nandu bagged four for 18 from 7.2 overs.

South recorded a lop-sided victory over East in their Under-16 clash, winning by 67 runs following a boundary-studded unbeaten 99 from Nigel Ramsaroop. Batting first, South reached a formidable 235 for seven in their allotted 40 overs with Ramsaroop clouting six fours and an equal number of sixes before he was left high and dry one run short of a well-deserved century. Yuvraj Samra supported with 39 (five fours) while Dev Patel took three for 45.

East were restricted to 168 for nine when their overs expired with Miguel Nandu (48 with five fours) being the main scorer. Keyur Padhiar claimed three for 15 and Kishan Missir two for 15.

At Thursday’s presentation, which saw Cricket Ontario president Sha Saleem Zafar, vice-president Prain Persaud and delegate of Cricket Canada, Ranjit Chaudri, among the executives in attendance, the consensus was it was an amazing week of excellent cricket and brilliant performances by the young stars of the future.

According to Persaud, “It all came to a rewarding end for both the players and Cricket Ontario for a very well organised and executed event.

Special thanks were extended to the parents and offspring for their dedication and support, as well as the coaches and organising committee for their contributions in the planning and execution.

“We thank all of our sponsors and the staff of Maple Leaf Cricket Club for their part in making this a very successful event and setting the ‘bar’ for future events to come. Despite COVID-19 we managed to stage an event of this calibre for our youths.”