By John L. Aaron
East Side Warriors continue to seek ways to stake a foothold in the Eastern American Cricket Association league by doing battle each Sunday on the field against its peers, and last Sunday was no exception, as the club relentlessly continues pursue establishing itself as one of the premier teams in the league.
Atlantic skipper Prasanth Nair.
Winning the toss and electing to take first strike, Atlantis Cricket Club coming off of a convincing 180+ run win over Enmore Cricket Club the previous Sunday, quickly raced to 188 for 2 in 27 overs, before closing out at 300 for 6 its 40 overs. Alex Amsterdam knocked up an exciting 64, while the previous week’s near-centurions Kavishwar Bridgepaul and Nicholas Standford returned with half-ton scores of 56 not out and 52 respectively. Opener Henderson Blades cruised to 42, before exiting. Kasif Naseem with 3 for 50 was East Side Warriors’ best foot soldier.
In response to Atlantis’ even 300, East Side Warriors gave it their all, but eventually ran out of steam at 158 all out in 27.3 overs, after struggling at 46 for 3 in 7 overs. Sajjad Ishfaq 34, Ahson Qadeer 26 and the usually reliable Salman Rafique 24, along with Faisal Ahmed 24 contributed to the team’s tally. Bowling for Atlantis, pacer Greg Robinson 3 for 32, Timothy Rodney 3 for 34, Keon Lake 2 for 44 and skipper Prashanth Nair 2 for 39, captured the Warriors’ wickets.
Atlantis’ skipper Prashanth Nair said he was very impressed with the batting of Amsterdam, Blades, Bridgepaul and Standford, adding, “I was glad that Nicholas (Standford) and Bridgepaul carried on their good form from last week. It was a very tough wicket to bat on.”
Timothy Rodney took 3 for 34 against East Side Warriors.
Commenting on his team’s performance with the ball and moving to 2-0, the first-year college student and Atlantis skipper stated, “We could have bowled better than that. However, Robinson and Rodney gave us a good start.”
This Sunday Atlantis faces Camelot Cricket Club at Heckscher State Park, while East Side Warriors clashes with Liberty Cricket Club at Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways.
All matches start at 1:00pm.