Well, what can you say? When you’re a class above the rest it’s evident for all to see! You know, like when everyone is having a bad day and that one person is just there smiling in the back? Well, that was Kofi James all weekend. We believe the game should be renamed Empire Nation vs Kofi James because he literally bullied and dominated Empire with both bat and ball.
On Day One, he teamed up with Kadeem Phillip to keep the town men strangled for runs bowling them out for 130 runs. Thanks to Justin Athanaze’s (48*) lower order power hitting that got Empire Nation to some sort of respectable total. Both bowlers picked up 5 fours. James then returned with the bat and dominated the opening stand (71) with Tarek Charles scoring 69 in 48 balls. No other Black Hawks Batsman got passed 20 runs.
When James got out at 86 for 2, one would say the Hawks were in the driving seat right? Wrong! We could not be more wrong as this game has an interesting way of humbling the best of teams. Liberta Black Hawks managed to muck up a good start to being bowled out for 105 inside 30 overs. The last seven wickets fell for only 5 runs. This is why we said it was Kofi James vs Empire Nation.
When Day Two started, it didn’t take long for the Leeward Islands all-rounder to resume where he left off. He bowled 19.5 overs trying his best to outfox every batsman that faced him and he successfully picked up 6 scalps. This meant he collected 11 wickets in the match. Empire could only add 115 runs to the 25 runs lead from the first innings.
James returned in the second innings and was a bit more reserved in his approach as he rotated the strike as much as he possibly could. He literally could not be contained and in no time he got to another half-century making it five for the season. It also brought him 700 runs in the 2022 ABCA Two Day Competition which is a tremendous feat. He scored 75 runs in this inning with no other teammate passing 20 runs just like the first inning.
When he got out at 108 the Black Hawks were strolling towards the target of 140 and thanks to the experience of Kadeem Phillip and Joshua Thomas, they put on a 29-run partnership before both fell 4 runs shy of the target. Miandre James scored the winning runs alongside Captain Michael Greaves.
Congratulations Kofi James for your outstanding 2022 ABCA Two Day Competition performances. We would like to wish you all the best in your future endeavours. We would like to thank our sponsors for making the POTW award a possibility.