Camelot Came With A Lot Less Against Atlantis

With better odds, Camelot came up with a lot less against Atlantis this past Sunday at Heckscher State Park, as they dropped to 1-1 in a loss to the Prashanth Nair led 3-0 Atlantis, in the Eastern American Cricket Association’s 2012 season’s week 3 fixture.

Nicholas Stanford hit an unbeaten 63 and took 3 wickets as when Atlantis met Camelot last Sunday. Photo by John Aaron.

In a highly anticipated match-up Camelot Cricket Club won the toss and elected to bat first under a bright and sunny sky, with a wind that certainly helped the bowlers at times, and the guys swishing the willow at other times.

The highly rated Camelot with the hard-hitting Lawrence Shoy did not fare well against Atlantis’ opening pair of Greg Robinson and Nicholas Standford, as the pair subdued Camelot’s opener Shoy, restricting the batsman to 17 (2x4s) while facing 36 balls. Camelot were soon in trouble at 33 for 3 in 8 overs, 47 for 4 in 11 overs and struggling further at 68 for 5 in 15 overs. At 94 for 6 in 20 overs, Camelot still looked all set to reach at least a buck-fifty, but the remaining four batsmen only added 29 runs, before conceding the inning at 123 all out off of 30.3 overs. Extras contributed 19.

Bowling for Atlantis, Nicholas Standford with figures of 5-0-23-3 and Keon Lake with 8-0-27-3 wickets, were ably supported by Greg Robinson 7.3-0-27-2 with their skipper Prashanth Nair and Hugh Craig rounding out the Camelot scalps with one wicket apiece.

Coming in to the match with a combined total of 648 runs from their first two matches of the 2012 season, Atlantis would rely on its opening pair of Jason Greaves and Henderson Blades to lay the ground work for a very pleasant day at the office, by posting 52, before Blades exited via lbw. Enter Nicholas Standford with a previous 94 vs. Enmore and 58 n.o. vs. East Side Warriors. Standford would help his team post another 50 runs when at 102 Greaves departed lbw, while on 18 (2x4s). Standford would go on to score 63 n.o. off 36 balls, with Atlantis cruising to their third straight victory scoring the required 124 for 2 in 16.2 overs. Alex Amsterdam was not out on 4 at the victory mark. Extras contributed 24 runs. With the wind beneath its wings, Atlantis defeated Camelot by 8 wickets and 23.4 overs to spare.

Bowling for Camelot, Mohamed Shafi 3-0-22-1 and Hafeez Khan 4-0-25-1 were responsible for the two Atlantis scalps.

In any Man-of-the-Match judging last Sunday, Nicholas Standford would certainly stand out head and shoulders with his contribution of 63 n.o. and three wickets. He has certainly hit the season in form, averaging 104.50 runs so far for the season, in addition to last Sunday’s three scalps. Although primarily a top-order batsman Standford is as good a utility player as any team would hope to have on its roster.

All teams are off this weekend for the Memorial Day Weekend, but the action resumes on Sunday, June 3 with Atlantis visiting Everest/ACS at Bay Park, Long Island and Camelot the guests of Richmond Hill at “The Cage” – Baisley Pond Park, in Queens.