Ontario win a thriller, defeat Georgia by 1 wicket

Facing very humid conditions and after travelling all night, team Ontario overcame a middle order collapse to defeat the Georgia Supreme Cricket League by 1 wicket in Atlanta.

GSCL won the toss and elected to bat and got off to a steady start.  Led by former West Indian wicketkeeper Junior Murray, GSCL was 109 for 2 after 27 overs.  Murray top scored with a fluent 57.  Ontario fought back hard and managed to pick up wickets at regular intervals and limited GSCL to 198 all out in 47.1 overs.

In reply, Ontario got off to a flying start led by Tauseef Shahid and one down batsman Samad Sheikh.  Tauseef made 38 (4 fours, 2 sixes) and Samad supported him with a steady 37 (4 fours, 1 six).  Ontario was nicely poised at 93 for 1 after 10 overs and it seemed reaching 199 would be a breeze, until the spinners came on and changed the innings.

Ontario slumped to 104 for 5 after 16 overs and the game had turned.  With 2 new batsman at the crease, GSCL turned on the pressure, but Ottawa Valley all rounder Nabiullah Nawabi and Hamilton District Cricket League all rounder Khizar Hamid consolidated with a crucial 55 run partnership to get the team back on track.  Nawabi made 29 (2 fours, 2 sixes) and Hamid made 24 (1 four, 1 six).

Once Nawabi fell LBW and Hamid was run out by partner Umer Arshad the pressure was back on Ontario.

Haider Naveed and Arshad batted wonderfully and shared a 26 run 10th wicket partnership to lead Ontario to victory.  GSCL legspinner L. Laggan was the pick of the bowlers finishing with figures of 10-1-43-5.

You can download the full scorecard here.

From left to right:  (Back Row) Shawn Manhas, Haider Naveed, Samad Sheikh, Karun Jethi, Tauseef Shahid, Waleed Imtiaz, Khizar Hamid, Umer Arshad, Murtaza Malik

(front row) Nabiullah Nawabi, T. Azhad Amidon, Kuldeep Dhaliwal, Majed Khan, Zaeem Ghazanfar