Photo: Chhabed Sathee/ Bnagla Press
Staff Reporter: The T20 cricket tournament is a surprise and a different kind of joy, and if it is organized by expatriate Bangladeshis outside the country, then there is no question. In the busy life, on weekends there is a little bit of entertainment as well as watching games together with friends, exchanging greetings and a few hours of gossip is a different feeling. The New England T20 Gold Cup cricket tournament kicked off on July 31 this year in Connecticut, about 125 miles from New York in the United States. The nearly two-and-a-half-month tournament came to an end on Sunday (October 17) when Vernon Cricket Club (VCC) won the final by defeating the Connecticut Super Kings (CTSK) by 138 runs in the final match hosted by the Bangladeshi American Friends and Family of Connecticut (BAFFC).
Photo: Chhabed Sathee/ Bangla Press
The final game began at 12:30 pm with the performance of four national anthems at the new cricket ground built at the Robertson Elementary School in the Town of Manchester. Brianna Biswas performed the national anthems of Bangladesh and the United States. Players from Pakistan and Sri Lanka play their national anthems on YouTube. A large number of Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and American guests and leaders of the Bangladeshi community attended the game. The expatriate cricketers had hoped for a tough fight between the Connecticut Super Kings (CTSK) and Vernon Cricket Club (VCC) in the final. But the Connecticut Super Kings did not live up to their expectations.
Photo: Chhabed Sathee/ Bangla Press
Vernon Cricket Club decided to bat first after winning the toss. They scored 204 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs. Connecticut Super Kings achieved the target of 204 runs thrown by them and were all out for 66 runs in 15 overs with 5 balls to spare. Like the opening match, Vernon Cricket Club of Connecticut set a record of 216 runs in 20 overs (VCC) in 12 overs. In the opening match too, Vernon Cricket Club batted with a target of 211 runs thrown by Western Massachusetts Cricket Club and recorded 216 runs in 12 overs in 20 overs.
Suddenly light rain started in the middle of the second over game on Sunday. Although the spectators were embarrassed at the time, the game was kept going till the end due to the firm decision of umpire space engineer Amiruzzaman Tutul.
Photo: Chhabed Sathee/ Bangla Press
Usman Chowdhury top-scored for Vernon Cricket Club with 224, Basit Ali with 14 wickets and Adil Sardar with 27 sixes. Shoaib Sheikh was named Man of the Match for his 194 runs, including 3 fifties, 16 sixes, 8 fours and 5 wickets, 2 catches, a strike rate of 147.09 and a bowling average of 18.6 per wicket. His overall ranking is 808.
The Man of the Match selected from the start of the tournament to the final are: Shoaib Sheikh – Downtown Strikers, Usman Murid (2 times) – Vernon Cricket Club, Aman Chaturvedi – Downtown Strikers, Jisan Ali – Western Mass Cricket Club, Ruan Farmando – Connecticut Super King, Richard Sam-Connecticut Super King, Fosy Uddin-Western Mass Cricket Club and Haider Imran-Vernon Cricket Club.
Photo: Chhabed Sathee/ Bangla Press
Engineer Amiruzzaman Tutul and Imran Ali were the umpires and Oliur Rahman, Shariful Ahsan Helal and Sohelur Rahman Swapan were the scorers respectively.
Cricket fans of the Bangladeshi American Friends and family of Connecticut tournament technical committee Mollah Bahauddin Pial, Harun Ahmed, President Shad Chowdhury Babu and Engineer Amiruzzaman Tutul for the first time start the tournament. The organizers hope that it will continue in the future as well.
Lunch at the all-day Chicken Barbecue for players, spectators and guests next to the Visitor Gallery.
Manchester City Mayor Joe Moran was the chief guest at the awards ceremony between the champions and runners-up team at the end of the game and Gold Sponsor was the special guest Dr. Aman U Sayed, joint gold sponsor (outside the rules) Dr. Tamim Ahmed and Ashfaqul Tarafdar. Another gold sponsor Mir Sabbir Ahmed was seen in the opening match but was not seen in the final.
Photo: Chhabed Sathee/ Bangla Press
Manchester City Mayor Joe Moran, Vernon Cricket Club’s Captain Usman Murid spoke at the awards ceremony, which was co-hosted by umpire engineer Amiruzzaman Tutul and Bangladeshi American Friends and Family of Connecticut.
On behalf of the organizers, presenter Ayesha Dewan Lipi asked Mayor Joe Moran to allocate the grounds of Robertson Elementary School in Manchester permanently for the Asian community and to install electric lighting in the grounds of Engineer Amiruzzaman Tutul. He will try to resolve these issues if re-elected. In the end, the Manchester City Mayor picked up the award among the champions and runners-up team heads.
Members of the Bangladeshi American Friends and Family of Connecticut also handed out checks and trophies to other players. They are Shad Chowdhury Babu, Harun Ahmed, Bahauddin Pial, Chowdhury Haider Tarek, Shariful Ahsan Helal, Kabir Akhand, Shaheen Ahmed, Jahed Chowdhury Liton, Mamun Sarkar, Sadek Nazrul, Dr. Aman U Sayed, Dr. Tamim Ahmed, Masudur Rahman Apu, Ashfaqul Tarafdar, Mashiur Rahman Kamal, Golam Ahmed, Ayesha Dewan Lipi and Tareq among others.
BP/SM
