Several Canadians are playing in the 7th USA Open T20 Cricket tournament in Broward County, Florida this weekend. The weather has not been kind so Saturday’s schedule includes attempts to replay several originally abandoned group matches, although more rain is in the local forecast for today (Saturday December 5, 2015) and Sunday. Only four of the now 31 participating teams completed three group matches on the opening two days.
Canadian international spinner Junaid Siddiqui produced one of the best bowling efforts of the tournament on Thursday with 4/19 from 4 overs for AFT Gladiators against CT Blizzards. Blizzards 94 all out from 17.3 overs was quickly overhauled as Dutch international Stephan Myburgh clipped a quick 48 as the Gladiators stormed to 95/1 from 7.5 overs. But rain storms replaced thunderous batting and on Friday games were reduced to six overs per side in an attempt to get games completed in the eight groups of four teams.
Rizwan Cheema hit a quick 22 in Smart Choice USA struck 77/1 from 5.3 overs to beat Future Tech Atlanta Paramveers, who tallied 76/4 from 6 overs. Ruvindu Gunasekera and Hamza Tariq did not get a bat in this game. Saad Bin Zafar is also in the Smart Choice squad.
Other Canadian players include Khurram Chohan who scored 25 in a game for GN Euro and Jimmy Hansra had a brief bat, making 1* for Indian Lions. The run had a certain value as the Lions 66/7 from 6 overs proved enough for an 8 run win against AFT Gladiators, who made 58/4 (6 overs). Dhanuka Pathirana picked up 2/3 from 5 balls for California Kings to end Bullets Cricket Club innings on 35 all out (5.5).
The six over games have a limit of one over per bowler. In a game scheduled for a Friday night start at 11.20pm, Kirtan Patel took 3 wickets for no runs in his over, the fourth of the game, against Kendall Stars. The Stars failed to shine in this game. Stars 50/7 (6 ov) was not enough as Kirtan Patel followed with a fairly quick 20* to see Charlotte Lions to a winning 51/1 with 5 balls to spare.
Some may recall Xavier Marshall thumping 157* for West Indies against Canada in the 2008 Scotiabank Tri-Series. Marshall scored 43 for Chicago United on Thursday. The top individual score in the tournament, so far, is 66 by Underdogs’ Dunae Nathaniel.
Some other Canadian internationals, including Jeremy Gordon, may be playing in the tournament but abandoned games and six over games do not allow too much chance to make big scores. But play is underway on Saturday, so hopefully the game’s footprint in the USA may grow. It might be useful if the organizers had someone make periodic website progress reports of what is – or is not happening.
At some stage on Saturday the US Open should enter the playoff phase with the closing phases, including semi-finals and the final, on Sunday. Some might like to know the projected times of the semi-finals and finals, which will, presumably, be covered via live internet streaming. (EN)