It’s A T. Walke In The Park For Everest/ACS, As Atlantis Stumbles At 7-2

EACA 2012 Division A Power40
Uneven Surface Causes An Uneven Match-Ending Injury
By John L. Aaron
It was not exactly a walk over victory at Heckscher State Park last Sunday, but veteran pacer Trevor Walke certainly helped Everest/ACS stride to a 9-2 record in the EACA 2012 Division A Power40 tournament. Trevor Walke grabbed five Atlantis wickets for 35 runs off his eight overs, as though it was taking candy from a baby. However, it was Atlantis’ Kavishwar Bridgepaul who literally stumbled and fell, when he missed his footing on the edge of the recently resurfaced pitch at Heckscher.  The hard-hitting batsman, along with Hugh Craig was the last pair at bat and were in pursuit of 34 runs from 10 overs to ensure an Atlantis victory over Everest/ACS, when the mishap occurred and he was unable to complete the run, resulting in his being easily run-out and ending the game.

Kavishwar Bridgepaul.

Winning the toss and inviting Everest/ACS to take first strike, Atlantis without its skipper Prashanth Nair, opener Jason Greaves, pacer Casper Davis, Jr., and front-line wicketkeeper Ryan Sukhdeo, knew they had their work cut out for them.  Atlantis struck with the score at 26, with 20 of those runs belonging to S. Nowrangalall (4x4s). His quick-fire knock came off 10 deliveries, before he was caught off the bowling of Nicholas Standford. Everest/ACS’ second-wicket partnership of 71 between Greg Sewdial 41 (1×6, 4x4s) and opener A. Merchant, 32 would steady the Everest/ACS inning, as the next four wickets would fall for the addition of 41 runs and in the 28th over.  Tamesh Balwant with a steadfast knock of 38 off 45 balls and veteran Terry Hastoo with 17 not out would see Everest/ACS reach 210 for 9 in the 40th over.

The Everest/ACS wickets fell at 26, 107, 111, 115, 148, 178, 180, 192 and 194. Atlantis’ Keon Lake with figures of 8-0-31-4 was the pick of the bowlers, followed by Steven Jacobs 8-0-29-2 and acting skipper Nicholas Standford, Jermaine Horatio and Alex Amsterdam grabbing one wicket each in the 2 hours 55 minutes inning.

Atlantis in reply was off to decent start posting 40 runs before Henderson Blades (10), would become the first victim of the veteran pacer Trevor Walke. Skipper Nicholas Standford would be greeted with a first ball duck, caught compliments of Mr. Walke.  Shawn Mason would stick around for 20 deliveries hitting a well-made 40 in his best effort of the season, thus far. His knock included 5x4s and 2x6s, before he gave Walke his third wicket with the Atlantis score at 65.  Seven runs later Alex Amsterdam would become Walke’s fourth scalp, having contributed only four runs, as Steven Jacobs tried to figure Walke out at one end, while Shaheed Amin (8-0-65-1) was being clobbered at the other end.  However, it would be Everest/ACS’ skipper Karan Ganesh who would get the experienced Jacobs caught and bowled for a painstaking contribution of 29 off 48 deliveries. Atlantis would go on to lose its first six wickets for 90 runs as a rout loomed. Ron Andrew with eight runs would be Trevor Walke’s fifth victim for the day, as Atlantis limped to 148 for 8 in the 25th over.

Trevor Walke of Everest/ACS picked up 5 for 35. Photo by Shiek Mohamed

However, with Kavishwar Bridgepaul stroking the ball very well but running out of partners, Atlantis had the overs and the power of Bridgepaul, but was looking for someone to stay with the hard-hitting right-hander.  As the batsmen rotated the strike, Bridgepaul was unrelenting on the Everest/ACS’ bowlers hitting 2x6s and 5x4s in his knock of 41. Bridgepaul and the very dependable Hugh Craig as the last man in appeared to quickly develop an understanding of the mathematical equation facing them.  However, fate would favor Everest/ACS and remove any threat of the Atlantis last pair making the 34 runs needed off the final 9.5 overs for the victory. With Karan Ganesh’s first delivery of his seventh over, Bridgepaul called for a single and took off, barely crossing with Craig before twisting his ankle on the covered edge of the recently paved pitch. The batsman went down heavily and was unable to complete the single as an Everest/ACS fielder realizing what had happened simply took a quick courteous glance at Bridgepaul, before flipping off one bail of the exposed wicket to run-out the hapless batsman and end the match.

The match was not expected to be a walk in the park for either team, but neither could have imagined that was the way it would end.  However, the major credit must go to the veteran and wily pacer Trevor Walke for scalping five of Atlantis’ top-order six batsmen.  A. Merchant had figures of 5-1-21-2, while Shaheed Amin and his brother Zamin each grabbed one wicket, with the Atlantis wickets falling at 40, 40, 65, 72, 83, 90, 113, 148 and 177.

As of this posting, Kavishwar Bridgepaul appears to have suffered only a very bad sprain of his right-ankle. X-rays taken showed no broken bones.

Everest/ACS now stands at 9-1, while Atlantis is at 7-2. Everest/ACS plays Richmond Hill this Sunday in The Cage at Baisley Pond Park in Queens, while Atlantis hosts Long Island United at Heckscher State Park. A previously postponed Atlantis vs. Big Apple match is slated for this Saturday. The venue is yet to be determined.