By John L. Aaron
The New York Metropolitan Cricket League’s (MCL) 2023 season got off to a flying start with both bat and ball on Sunday, May 7, in the Boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
The Clement “Busta” Lawrence Premier 40-Overs competition saw Lucas Cricket Club hosting Westbury Cricket Club at Marine Park D, Brooklyn, Island Wide Cricket Club hosted Spice Island Cricket Club at 80th Street, Canarsie in Brooklyn, and Suburbia Sports Club playing host to Atlantis Cricket Club – NY at Roy Wilkins Park in Queens.
Villagers Sports Club earned an early season walk-over from Pioneer Sports Club in a fixture scheduled for the Roy Wilkins Oval at Gateway in Brooklyn.
LUCAS vs. WESTBURY
With Westbury winning the toss and opting to take the first strike, they posted a mammoth 423 for 8 in their 40 overs. The prolific Richard Allen continued his 2022 form as though there was no winter or early spring break in between, top-scoring with a punishing of the Lucas bowlers. He chalked up 164, including 18x4s, and 4x6s off of 103 deliveries, before exiting LBW off the bowling of Evol Loten. Carlos Green ably supported him with 64 off 50 balls, including 5x4s and 1×6 in a 192-run second-wicket partnership. Horace Porter chipped in 48, Ryan Bennett, 34 not out, and Javein Thomas, 33.
The Westbury wickets fell at 24; 216; 284; 306; 329; 335; 335; and 404. Bowling for Lucas: Evol Loten was the most successful, with 4 for 100. Howard Blake grabbed 2 for 88, while David Baker and Nalburn Whittaker enjoyed one wicket each at 59 and 65, respectively. Extras contributed 49.
In response, Lucas fell short by 334 in 24.1 overs. It was a blowout as Lucas could not find the spark to plug the holes in their batting. Except for Rodarri Smalls, 26, Malcolm Gray, 16, and Dave Hart, 13, all the other batters sported negative contributions or just single digits.
The Lucas wickets fell at 44; 51; 73; 83; 86; 86; 88; 89; and 89. Howard Blake retired without scoring. Bowling for Westbury: Romaine Johnson had an awesome spell with figures of 6.2-2-9-4. His spell included 32 dot balls. Ryan Bennett posted 3 for 20, and Michael Meggs 2 for 36.
Umpires Garfield Hodge and Phernel Charles officiated the match.
ATLANTIS vs. SUBURBIA
The boys in green won the toss and elected to bat, posting a respectable 298 off 37.4 overs behind the willow of Giovanni Letren’s 101 off 72 deliveries, including 9x6s and 5x4s and a strike rate of 140.28. It was an electrifying knock from the young Trinidad & Tobago native. He entered the fray with Atlantis in the hole at 41 for 4 in the seventh over.
The Atlantis wickets fell at 15; 23; 27; 41; 87; 102; 132; 213; 285; and 298. Bowling for Suburbia: Dean Burrell topped the charts with 4 for 47 off six overs. He was supported in the losing cause by skipper Cuthbert Mendonca, 2 for 35 off eight overs, Boston Thomas, 2 for 65, and Romain Martin, 1 for 61. There were 42 Extras.
Suburbia took to the middle, somewhat ambivalent, staring at almost 300 runs on the board. However, their opening pair posted 35 more runs than their counterparts Atlantis’ opening stand of 15., before losing their big-hitter and former Atlantis power-forward Andre Lindsay to Sumantro Das for 14.
Suburbia plodded along without ever surpassing the asking rate of 7.45, losing six wickets between the 75 and 105 run mark. Suburbia’s top scorers were Towan Henry, 40 off 51 balls with 7x4s. Boston Thomas, 22 not out, Dean Burrell contributed 16 (1×6, 1×4), and Romain Martin matched Andre Lindsay with 14, including three boundaries. Extras chipped in 25, as Suburbia was left stranded in the countryside at 149 all-out in 27.4 overs, compliments of a great spell of bowling from Atlantis’ Ronaldo AliMohammad, who enjoyed figures of 7-2-26-5. It was his first fiver of 2023, following a very productive season in Guyana. He single handedly captured 50% of the Suburbia wickets, while Suburbia scored just 50% of the total runs posted by Atlantis.
With the recognized top-order of Jayden Higgins, 2, skipper Randall Wilson, 16, Mbecki Joseph, 0, and Kellon Carmichael, 2, Letren paired up with Ronaldo Ali Mohammad, 33, off 25 balls (1×6 and 4x4s), pushing the Atlantis total into the suburbs and closer to the three-figure mark. Letren exited as the eighth wicket to fall, bowled Romain Martin. Wicketkeeper Antonio Handy, 42 (2x6s and 2x4s), hung in with pacer Sumantro Das with a swashbuckling quickfire 35 off 21 (2x6s and 3x4s) as Atlantis emerged back into the city lights from the suburbs two runs shy of 300.
The Suburbia wickets fell at 50, 75, 78, 88, 89, 103, 105, 115, 145 and 149. Bowling for Atlantis: AliMohammad 5 for 26; Darius Gopaul 2 for 36, and Sumantro Das and Orlando Kirton one apiece at 29 and 14, respectively.
Umpires Ashley Greene and Erfanulla Syed officiated the match.
ISLAND WIDE vs. SPICE ISLAND
It was the clash of the islands as Island Wide Cricket Club hosted Spice Island Cricket Club at East 80th Street Canarsie. Island Wide won the toss and invited Spice Island to bowl first in the match reduced to 25 overs affair.
Island Wide posted 137 all-out in 23.2 overs and defeated Spice Island 108 all-out in 23 overs by 29 runs. Unfortunately, the individual scores and bowling analysis were not readily available at the time of this posting.
Umpires Mohammed Shakur and Mohamed Mustaq officiated the match.
With a Mother’s Day Weekend break, the MCL Clement “Busta” Lawrence Premier 40-Overs competition resumes on Sunday, May 21, with the following fixtures.
VILLAGERS hosts ISLAND WIDE at Roy Sweeney Oval
SPICE ISLAND hosts SUBURBIA at Marine Park D
ATLANTIS hosts LUCAS at East 80th Street Canarsie
WESTBURY hosts PIONEER at Westbury High School