Basdeo Ramnarain Struck Magnificent Ton As Pioneer/Tristate Defeat Lucas

Metropolitan Cricket League
The inclement weather of last Saturday night was not enough to prevent the playing of the game between Pioneer/Tristate Cricket Club and Lucas Cricket Club which was played at Gateway. After plenty of rehabilitation work on the pitch, the game started at about 1:15 pm. The game was reduced to 35 overs as Lucas won the toss and invited Pioneer/Tristate to take first strike on an unpredictable pitch which was expected to contain a lot of moisture.

Avinash Basdeo Ramnarain bats during a pick up game. Photo by Shiek Mohamed

Pioneer/Tristate opened with 17 year old Horatio Paul and former New York Region Under 19 star, Avinash “Basdeo” Ramnarain. Nalburn Whittaker and A. Bailey opened the bowling for Lucas. The batting pair started cautiously but soon got on top of the bowling stroking the ball to, and over the boundary with glorious regularity.

Those two youngsters kept Lucas at bay for close to two hours and in the process created a club opening record partnership of 174 before Paul was out lbw to Walfall for a well played 52 which included (4×4 –and 2×6).  Bobby Hameed joined Ramnarain, but the latter was soon out for lbw to Walfall for a magnificient 103 which included (12×4  and 4×6), a great effort by the youngster. Hameed was out lbw for 13, Dolthy Dunstan made 16 and Devon Auguste made 26 not out  as the team rallied to 246 for 8 after 35 overs.

Bowling for Lucas, Whittaker took 3 for 38 in 7 overs, Walfall 3 for 42 in 7 overs, Bailey 1 for 37 in 7 overs and H. Loten 1 for 70 in 7 overs.

As the Pioneer/Tristate players warmed up to take the field, coach, Linden Fraser, Manager, John Mitchell and Technical Director, Clifford Hinds were devising the bowling strategy. Crawford and Whyte  opened the batting for Lucas, while Beddessee Allstars left arm seamer, Dillon Bourne and  former Atlantic Region youth medium pacer, David Forbes opened the bowling.

With the score on 19, Lucas lost two wickets with Crawford being caught off Forbes for 14 and Whyte being run out for 2. Williams and E. Loten were the next batsmen but were removed by Forbes in short order for 10 and 16 respectively as the score crawled to 48 for 4. Walfall played a great inning as he tried to hold the batting together but he could not find a willing partner. He went on to score a fine half century (6×4 and 1×6)
There was no resistance from the other batsmen as Lucas crumbled to 156 all out in 25.3 overs and Pioneer/Tristate moved on to 2-0.

David Forbes was the pick of the bowlers taking 3 for 23 in 7 overs, Roy Tullt 2 for 23 in 6 overs, Dunstan 1 for 7, Devon Auguste 1 for 0 and Kalishwar Bridgepaul 1 for 30.