FORMER Essequibo cricketer, Telston Johnson, produced with the ball and bat, but his New York XI team could not get past Punjab 11 when the quarterfinals of the New York National Cricket League (NYNCL) 30-over Saturday Playoffs continued over the weekend at Drew Park.

Punjab 11 won the toss and elected to bat, but Johnson had them struggling early, as he bowled opener, Atif Mushtaq (0), then had Balwinder Singh (0) caught and bowled, off successive balls in the first over of the game.

Middle-order batsman, Hunain Munir, brought his team back with a top-score of 76 from 100 balls. In his innings, he struck four fours and an equal number of sixes.

Only Sushil Kumar (18) and Zeeshan Ahmed (11) offered support, as Johnson returned in his second spell to pick up two lower middle-order batsmen to finish with 4-34 from six overs.
Support came from Vejai Seonarine, who picked up 3-6 from 2.5 overs towards the end.

Needing 143 runs for victory, the pro-Guyanese side, New York XI, were placed on the back foot early after losing two wickets for three runs.

Opener Mushin Perkhan scored a watchful 21 from 36 balls, while middle-order batsmen, Skipper Karan Ganesh (19 from 26), Seonarine (14 from 25) and Salim Satar (23 not out from 36 balls) all tried to get on top the bowling.

Johnson (batting at seven) was briefly able to swing the pendulum, but when he fell for an innings-high 33 (3X4s, 2X6s) from 22 balls, his team never recovered and succumbed by the penultimate ball of the innings for 133 runs.