I know we have certainly sparked interest in you with the captioned title which honestly is the aim. Are you tired of reading boring cricket posts? Like the same set of jargon all the time and well-polished English? Well you no longer have to because ‘dis ya ah arwe subben’. Anyway, forgive of us for all this chatter, it was another glorious weekend for cricket and we have alot to tell you. Lets Go!
Featured Game
Well last week we termed it as the ‘Who Run Town’ clash but beat Athanaze beat Rising Sun Spartans. Wait that was an error, it should have read Empire Nation beat Rising Sun Spartans. But who cares? Whether it be Justin ‘Amazing’ Athanaze or Empire, we enjoy good cricket.
Empire strolled over to the Rising Sun Ground not very far away from their home ground to battle. The Spartans won the toss and elected to bat but were skittled out by Athanaze and others in 41 overs for 134. Dillon Wills was the only batsman that offered some fight as he smashed 40 runs worth of boundaries in 49(73). The Amazing Athanaze picked up 6 for 23 with some top-class off-spin bowling. He was immediately able to extract bounce and turn from the track when introduced into the attack. He got some support from legspinner K. Scott and S. Burton.
Empire got off to a very rapid start as National player, Damien Lowenfield playing his first game for the season, took the attack to the bowlers very early on. He scored a faster than a run a ball half-century with 6 fours and 3 sixes before he became the second victim to fall via the run-out route at 88 for 2. However, B. Jn Baptiste and Burton steadied things and batted well for the next 12 overs adding 66. But just when Empire Nation looked on the verge of posting a massive total, Captain S. Simon gave Spartans a double strike. He removed both batsmen at the start of the 29th over causing Nation to rebuild again. T. Bemjamin and K. Scott struggled to score freely on a wicket that offered the spinners bounce prodigious turn. Benjamin was the first to go with the score at 177 for 5 before Scott followed at 181.
Athanaze batting at 7 found support from batsmen C. Payne and R. Henry. He made 49(53) balls stroking 2 fours and 3 sixes before he was bowled by G. Harillal bringing about declaration at 262 for 8 from 58 overs. It meant that Empire Nation had a 128 run advantage to play with and was not in the mood of batting again. Spartans started very solidly like they normally would in their second innings in previous games. But unfortunately, Athanaze was the first change bowler which meant runs would dry up pretty quickly as he tightened the screws on them. He was solely responsible for removing the first six batsmen as Spartans went from 29 for 1 to 87 for 6. But then he hired Burton to come and do the demolition job which he did effortlessly, taking the last three wickets. Rising Sun was bowled out for 115 in 39 overs giving the title of who ‘Run The Town’ clash to Nation who beat then convincingly to win by an innings and 13 runs.
Elsewhere
Pythons hosted the men from the east in a drama-filled encounter at the McPond Playing Field. The game had everything in it. From quality seam bowling to stumps gone walking, to runs scoring to players feuding. Having only 9 men at the start, Captain Michael Haynes-Dover won the toss and quickly elected to bat on the hard wicket in bright sunny conditions. Pythons looked solid at 27 without loss before former West Indies/Leeward Islands fast bowler Gavin Tonge was introduced into the attack. Not bowling expressed pace but with cheeky persistence, valuable experience and great consistency, he was able to skillfully removed the top order like how a brain surgeon would remove the head scalp. He was assisted greatly by National Under-19 fast bowler Tehrique Mason. The two bowled impressively for 22 consecutive overs taking 10 wickets for 51 runs. Pythons were bowled out for 71.
But just when you thought that Pythons would be rolled over in no time, their fast bowlers answered the clarion call. Seasoned bowling all-rounder Samuel Peters bowled with pace and provided some discomfort for the batsmen while the guile and consistency of Rodney Williams plugged away at the other end. Peters provided the breakthrough at in the third over leaving the Golden Eagles flapping at 4 for 1. But the Rodney Williams show begun as he continually plucked the feathers of the eagles as attempted to take flight. The two reminded onlookers a bit of Steyn and Philander just rolling over line ups. They duo shared all ten scalps between them dismissing Bethesda for 59 runs with Williams picking up 7 for 28 and Peters 3 for 31.
It was truly a day of quality seam bowling from both teams because Mason returned for the remainder of the afternoon to continue to terrorize the Pythons batsmen as he teams up with former Leeward Under-19 player, Jawakie Joseph. The two shared 5 wickets at the close of play on the first day leaving Pythons at 72-5. Michael Dover batted patiently ended the day 40 with the night watchman, Kadeem Josiah.
The night went by in a flash, it was now Sunday, a bright and sunny day. All Saints new they would have to set a decent score for them to beat Bethesda, which they did. Dover batted like a champion offering little to no chances as he brought up his first century of the season. He played a very composed inning. The kind of innings you wish to see from him every game. He put on 73 with Josiah for 6th wicket before the latter was caught. It brought Peters to the crease, who batted with a sense of purpose. The two added 75 for the 7th wicket as they gradually increased the scoring rate. After Dover was dismissed the Pythons soon declared for 244 giving Eagles to 256 to win.
With the target set, Pythons were hoping that their pacemen could repeat their first innings wonders. However, Bethesda was quite contented to watch and play every ball on its merit, thus not giving many chances. Peters removed Payne at 18 for 1 but Max Harsham walked to the crease and joined Kevin Pitman as the two literally bat Pythons out of the game. The two batted very patiently putting away bad balls when given. But then Conroy Semple provided the breakthrough much needed for the Pythons. He had Pitman caught and bowled before he removed Lawrence. Harsham then brought up his first half-century for the club before he was bowled by ‘star boy’ Kenny Sutton. From 90 for 1 to 102 for 4, Pythons was now flexing its muscle as it prepared to swallow the eagle. But it was short-lived as they face resistance from a wagging tail and to make thing no easier dropping a few difficult catches. But in spite of it all, it was an excellent game of cricket by both teams. Bethesda eventually made 118-6 at the close of play.
Pigotts Crushers welcomed New Winthorpes lions to deliver a crushing win that only the Lions can only bark about. New Winthorpes won the toss and elected to bat, and got off to a fairly decent start before Skipper Francis Jr. made the breakthrough at 30 for 1. He then removed A. Cornelius the very next ball to leave the Lions staggering at 30 for 2 but could not get the hat trick. Theophile was then introduced to the attack and he made light work of J. Otto removing him for 1. However, while all the drama unfolded at one end, J. Fernandez was gathering momentum to bring up a very conservative half-ton. He was responsible for keeping the innings together but he found little support from the other batsmen. Lions were eventually bowled out for 140. Theophile picked up 4 for 46 while fast bowler, Timmo Thomas continuing to impress since transferring to Pigotts shared the other six wickets with E. Francis.
Crushers started quite positively R. Phillip smashing a six early up before I. Peters dismissed him before he caused any more trouble. Then Fernandez with his left arm medium removed former West Indies U-15 player without scoring. Francis joined Henry and they put 59 for the third wicket before was removed by legspinner A. Cornelius for 30 with the score at 87 for 3. The Crushers struggled to build any partnerships of great significance. However, they still managed to get past the Lions score with D. Benta top-scoring with 47 (69) and Henry 46(80). Cornelius picked up 4 for 42.
Needing to set a target for Crushers, Lions had to clear a deficit of 39 runs which they did quite easily before the tenth over losing only one wicket. But then Francis removed Cornelius for the second time in the game at 46 for 2 Fernandez quickly followed and before you knew it they were collapsing at 71 for 5. But Moore and Joseph offered some fight and put on a 50 run partnership, as Joseph went on the attack just dealing in sixes as he registered another half-century for the season. After Moore was dismissed, the tail just did not wag at all as Joseph almost scored all the remaining runs to be scored. Crushers eventually bowled out Lions for 160 runs giving them 121 runs to chase. Joseph top-scored with 56 while that man again, Theophile picked up 4 for 47, thus picking up 8 wickets in the game.
It was a rather strange duo that opened the ball for Lions. We saw an offspinner and legspinner sharing the new ball which was extremely strange knowing that fast bowling all-rounder Shavorn Moore was in the ranks. However, it did not take too long for Cornelius to deliver one more bite to see what would result at 11 for 1. Fernandez removed both J. Andrew and Francis in no time to leave Crushers at 28 for 3. This brought Benta to the crease who batted patiently with Henry who has been in great form. When Benta departed, Pigotts still needed 69 runs to win with six wickets in hand. It was certainly Theophile’s turn to be in a no-nonsense mood. He made 49(39) with 4 fours and 2 sixes while Kadeem ended on 40(99) . Crushers finished the game at 122 for 4, winning the game by 6 wickets. Tyrone Theophile was voted man of the match.
There was another derby that we forgot to mention, but this one was called ‘ Ah who run da Southside”. Bolans and Jennings met at the Jennings Playing Field with the home side quickly inserting the visiting who were dismissed for 79 runs by some excellent seam bowling from O. Peters and Martin. The duo was responsible for blowing away another top order with the first seven wickets belonging to them. Williams than just mopped up the other vulnerable wickets available.
Captain Caesar and James started in a similar fashion as to how they did against Empire in their last game removing the first three batsmen inside of 11 overs for 23 runs. But then a Peters connection was made with Orlando and Elijah rebuilding the innings to 69 for 4 before the latter falling to the off-spin bowling of D. Stange. M. Browne playing in his first game of the season quickly followed and D. Francis went not to long after. W. Nelson came guns blazing as he slammed a quickfire 31(16) leaving the score at 158 for 7 when he made way for Martin. It was that duo again, but this time it was not a ball in hand, but the bat and Martin showed he certainly was no rabbit with a bat. Martin and Peters batted quite easily putting on a century run partnership with Peters bringing up his first ton for Jennings and Martin registering his first half-century in ABCA competitions. Jennings finally declared at 258-7 giving Bolans a heavy deficit to clear.
T. Tonge and S. Wallace gave Bolans the start they were looking for with a solid 40 run partnership before Williams collect his first scalp. Due to the pressure exerted by Williams, the men from Bolans never got going after the opening stand. K. Athill top-scored with 24 while Tonge and Wallace chipped in with 20 and 21 respectively. Mr. Williams would go on to pick up another 5 wicket haul with season-best of 7 for 46. Jenning won by an innings and 63 runs.
Liberta on the road again paid the schoolboys another yearly visit to scold them. But Schools gave some fight this time around batting a total of 58 overs for 104 runs scoring just under 2 runs an over. J. Norde and M. Walsh put on a valuable 45 run partnership before Phillip intervened and removed Walsh for 29 in the 16th over. This began a massive block-a-thon with the next 42 overs costing only 59 runs. It was some very tight bowling from the likes J. Benjamin who took 4 for 9 from 8.3 overs and the KKK trio. And no we are not referring to the racist sect in the USA.
Liberta started proceedings quite solidly as they put on 77 for the first wicket. A. Christian in his first game for the season was the aggressor, making 78 from 70 balls loaded with 12 fours and 2 sixes. K. James was the first to go, then Christian followed when the score was 110-2. E. Warner was responsible for taking the first two wickets. In fact, he found support in M. Harillal who tied up the other end and he kept plugging away from his end. The two shared 9 wickets between them as Warner picked up six wickets and Harillal three. K. Gore and K. James were the only two other batsmen to reach the 20 run mark. Liberta was dismissed for 171 all out.
At the resumption of the Combined Schools innings, Liberta constantly made inroads into their fragile batting line-up with the first wicket falling in the 6th over at 12 for 1. The biggest partnership was for the 2nd wicket with Warner and Walsh putting on 21 runs. However, it was short lived as Walsh was removed K. Gore with the score at 32. The school boys hardly put up a fight, as they were bundled out for 70, just three runs more than the deficit, they needed to clear. No batsmen got to 20 runs just to show the strong grip that the Blackhawks had on any progress. Gore, who played his first game of the season, teamed up with James to collect 9 wickets with the former picking up 5 for 20 and the latter got 4 for 22. Liberta needing 4 runs to win finished the game in the 2nd over with new opener M. James top scoring with 4. The player of the game was adjudged as Karima Gore.