By Frederick Halley
NASEEB Cricket Club (NCC) defied the odds to emerge winners of the Elite Division when the Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA) 2022 season climaxed at the Ashtonbee Number 1 ground last Sunday.
Having already dethroned defending champions Ambassadors Sports Club in the semi-final at the same venue the previous weekend, NCC proved superior to Victoria Park Cricket Club (VPCC) in the fiercely contested final.

The victory also meant they achieved the feat in their first year in the Elite Division, after being promoted from the Premier Division which they won in 2021.
Led by a fine century by Imtiyaz Hanslod, whose 105 from 86 balls was laced with seven fours and six sixes and supporting knocks of 51 and 42 respectively from Yasin Patel and Varish Shaikh, NCC made light work of VPCC’s 262 all out in 48.2 overs, reaching 263 for four in 44.4 overs in the 50-over affair..

Hanslod, who entered the fray with NCC on 96 for three in the 17th over, shared a brilliant fourth-wicket stand of 159 with Patel who counted two fours and two sixes in 51 off 85 balls. By the time Hanslod was dismissed in the 44th over, NCC only needed eight runs for a richly deserved victory. Hiten Patel was VPCC best bowler with two for 56 off his 10 overs.

Earlier, VPCC, who elected to take first strike on a typical Autumn day, were indebted to Gazenfar Syed who stood out like a beacon with a dazzling 137 off 133 balls, an innings decorated with 12 fours and two sixes.
Syed, who batted at number three, shared in two useful partnerships during his solid knock. He added 60 for the third wicket with Dhruv Patel (18) and a further 88 for the fifth wicket with Jaival Metha who contributed 39 with two fours and two sixes.

Varish Shaikh (three for 53) and Salim Patel (two for 60) were VPCC’s top bowlers while the respective Most Valuable Players (MVPs) were Hanslod and Syed.
NCC finished fourth in the points standing, tallying 90 points, the same as third-placed VPCC. Ambassadors topped with 100 points, edging Caribbean Stars on net run rate after the latter also ended the season with 100.

Meanwhile, Hanslod who finished fourth in the batting aggregate with 521 runs (average 116.40), with one century and three half-centuries, crowned a fine all-round season, bagging 25 wickets at 16.36 runs each to finish third in the bowling department.

Caribbean Stars’ Akeel Mohammed registered the most runs (535) from 14 matches, including a century and three fifties, averaging 143.43. Siddarth Patel of VPCC occupied the second spot with 529 from a mere six matches, scoring a century and three fifties and averaging 179.32. Another Caribbean Stars batter, Mario Belcon, ended in the third position with 521 runs from seven matches, smashing a century and six half-centuries and averaging 127.70.

The bowling department saw VPCC’s Jaimin Vyas top with 33 wickets from 13 matches at 11.70 runs each. Shuaib Zaid of Ambassadors was second with 30, also from 13, at 14.93 and his teammate Amerish Deoraj 23 wickets from 15 at 17.43.

In an invited comment, SCA president, Guyanese-born Shiv Persaud, extended congratulations to the eight participating teams while praising the efforts of Naseeb CC who upstaged pre-tournament favourites, defending champions Ambassadors and last year’s runners-up VPCC.