Clarion County Cricket Team in Top Four at Florida US Open Cricket
Clarion County Cricket Team.
CLARION – The Clarion County Eagles Cricket Team played hard in one of the country’s biggest cricket showdowns at the US OPEN CRICKET to on December 5 to 13 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
It was challenging, but Clarion County established itself as one of the top four tournament teams.
The 13th edition of the US OPEN had 10 esteemed teams from across the country participate and only the best of the best were allowed to register for the tournament. Yasir Bhatti, the owner of Clarion County Eagles Cricket Team, decided to take Clarion to a higher platform of cricket.
The management of the Clarion Country Eagles chose world class players to represent the team with names for their first showdown, including Sunil Narine, William Perkins, Ruman Raees Johnson Charles, Aaron Lilley, Nitish Kumar, Josh Cobb, James Fuller, Jhonathan Foo, Yasir Bhatti, Jade Darenbach, Terrance Hinds, and Jeavor Royals.
“At the start of the , so many people belonging to all the teams at the tournament believed we were going to be the first-year-run-over team,” Bhatti said. “Almost everybody doubted us after our first loss especially, the comment on the second toss about the ‘eagles not flying high enough’ by the tournament organizers.
“Following the second loss, two in a row, we still believed. The team fought the next two games similar to Clarion County blue collar workers do every day. After the next two wins, there was no second thought on how high these eagles could fly.”
The team’s campaign did not start of how we hoped,” according to Bhatti. The team did not get a chance to practice much together as players were flying in from Pakistan, UAE, West Indies, United Kingdom, and other locations.
Bhatti always told the team to just play their best. While the hopes to make it to the playoffs stage were very slim, Clarion County Eagles did it. By winning the next two matches with a convincing win, they secured a place in the semi-finals. The team fought their way after two consecutive losses and showed everyone what Clarion is all about.
Unfortunately, the Eagles lost in the Semi-Finals against the Somersest Cavs/22 Yards by only one run. Cavaliers 22 Yards were undefeated, and Cavaliers 22 Yards put a total of 200, Clarion County only got 199 runs.
The game was a nail-biter and went on till the last delivery was bowled. with some analysts saying it was the best game organizers and crowd had witnessed in USOPEN history,” said Bhatti. Cavaliers 22 yards, a veteran team, went on to win the tournament in a one-sided Final.
“We will come back stronger next year. We were happy that we could make it to the top four in our first year.”
“On a personal note, memories that came from a team committed to play a role for the team and doing it together will remain very close to my heart. Stars/professional cricketeers were dropping their individual prestige for team achievement and that was special.
“Special thanks to our sponsors, TerraWorks Inc. and Burford & Henry Real Estate Services, Umer Shafique for being the chief organizer, Juber Hanna for being the Eagles tournament manager, and Roshni Chasmawala for reporting on the team and tournament organizers.
“We will be back, stronger and better.”