Wasim Akram and Shahid Afridi win US double wicket tournament

The first ever ZEE International Double Wicket Cricket Championship was held at Lincoln Park West, in Jersey City, New Jersey, from July 13 to 15. Sixteen players from six countries - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, England and the West Indies participated in the three-day tournament.

India and Pakistan fielded two teams - India Reds (Robin Singh and Vinod Kambli) and Indian Blues (Sunil Joshi and Hrishikesh Kanitkar) and Pakistan Blues (Wasim Akram and Shahid Afridi) and Pakistan Greens (Saeed Anwar and Azhar Mahmood). Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka); Aminul Islam and Akram Khan (Bangladesh); Jimmy Adams and Phil Simmons (West Indies) and Chris Lewis and David Capel (England) were the other participants.

Pakistan's Rashid Latif and a local player kept wickets during the tournament. Former West Indian left-handed batsman Larry Gomes was the tournament referee, who also acted as the TV umpire. India's SK Bansal and Pakistan's Mian Muhammad Aslam officiated as umpires. Local players, led by Derek Kallicharran, younger brother of former West Indian captain and batsman Alvin, fielded for the various teams during the tournament.

The competition was played at a baseball park. A synthetic wicket, which was imported from South Africa, was laid out for the event. Since the wicket had unpredictable bounce and pace, the bowlers used shorter run-ups and bowled slow stuff. All matches were televised live on Zee UK, Zee Africa and Zee USA. Pakistan TV also took a live feed. Although the crowd was disappointing on the first day, the last two days saw a fairly decent flag-waving crowd, mostly from the subcontinent.

Pakistan Blues, represented by Wasim Akram and Shahid Afridi, won the competition defeating the Bangladeshi pair of Akram Khan and Aminul Islam in the final. India Blues and the West Indies were losing semifinalists. The winners took US$ 20,000, while the runners-up won half that amount. Afridi won US$ 1000 for hitting the maximum sixes, while Derek Kalllicharran was adjudged the best fielder with maximum catches. The mayor of Jersey City gave away the prizes.

Brief scores:

July 13: Match No 1 (Group A): Pakistan Blues 82-2 in 8 overs beat India Reds 65-2 in 8 overs. Match No 2 (Group A): England 59-5 in 8 overs lost to West Indies 70-3 in 8 overs. Match No 3 (Group B): Pakistan Greens 50-5 in 8 overs lost to Sri Lanka 61-2 in 8 overs. Match No 4 (Group B): India Blues 44-3 in 8 overs lost to Bangladesh 47-1 in 8 overs. Match No 5 (Group A): Pakistan Blues 69-5 in 8 overs beat West Indies 34-4 in 8 overs.

July 14: Match No 6 (Group A): West Indies 69-1 in 8 overs beat India Reds 32-9 in 8 overs. Match No 7 (Group A): England 41-7 in 8 overs beat India Reds 4-0 in 1.5 overs (India Reds conceded the match when Kambli was injured). Match No 8 (Group B): Pakistan Greens 41-5 in 8 overs lost to India Blues 44-2 in 8 overs Match No 9 (Group A): Pakistan Blues 88-3 in 8 overs beat England 75-2 in 8 overs Match No 10 (Group B): Sri Lanka 5-9 in 8 overs lost to Bangladesh 21-3 in 8 overs

July 15: Match No 11 (Group B): India Blues 54-2 in 8 overs beat Sri Lanka 27-8 in 8 overs. Match No 12 (Group B): Bangladesh 68-2 in 8 overs beat Pakistan Greens 43-7 in 8 overs.

Points table:
Group A           P  W  L  Pts    Group B      P  W  L  Pts

Semi-finals: Bangladesh 58-5 in 8 overs: Akram Khan (60 runs with 2 outs) & Aminul Islam (18 - 3) beat West Indies 55-3 in 8 overs: (Phil Simmons 27 - 1) & Jimmy Adams (36-2) Pakistan Blues 118-4 in 8 overs: Shahid Afridi (63 - 3) & Wasim Akram (69 - 1) beat India Blues 77-4 in 8 overs: Hrishikesh Kanitkar (33-2) & Maninder Singh (49-2) (Maninder Singh replaced the injured Sunil Joshi

Final: Pakistan Blues 81-9 in 8 overs: Shahid Afridi (79 runs, with 7 outs) & Wasim Akram (43 - 2) beat Bangladesh 58-2 in 8 overs: Akram Khan (40 - 1) & Aminul Islam (20-1)