Atlantis Soars Above Galaxy On Dwayne Smith’s Ton
Atlantis Cricket Club – NY, last Sunday soared into the Galaxy in a 35-Overs encounter at Heckscher State Park, NY, and against Galaxy Cricket Club. Having explored and conquered Galaxy in the first phase of the EACA Cricket Zone 40-Overs at 88 th Street in Brooklyn – the distance of a Planet or two from Heckscher on Long Island, the boys in green sought to maintain their unbeaten streak against the visitors from another Galaxy.
Dwayne Smith crafted a superb 101 not out off of 77 deliveries as Atlantis beat Galaxy.
Atlantis earning the option to bat or bowl, as a result of Galaxy not having a full squad at the scheduled 1:00pm start time, opted to bat on a bright and beautiful day with a whip of air at the park. They immediately found themselves in a whirlwind of trouble, losing the first four wickets; M. Noble, 8, T. Ford, 14, S. Mason, 33 and A. Amsterdam, 7, with less than 75 runs on the board.
However, despite losing the top third of its batting line-up Atlantis staged a rally behind Dwayne Smith batting at number six. It was a classic, well executed inning by the young batsman, as he crafted his unbeaten stay at the wicket with some glorious cover drives, pulls and square-cuts to the boundary. His 101 not out off of 77 deliveries, although not a record-breaking ratio race to a century, spoke volumes of his tenacity, patience and judgment. Added to those quality batting traits was his situational awareness, as wickets continued to fall around him and the score not looking to get beyond the 150 runs mark.
Smith’s knock included 5x6s and 6x4s on his way to his first ton of the season, after a few earlier disappointing starts. The exuberance the talented batsman displayed in his elevation and punching of the air upon reaching the ton, suggested his relief at finally getting the proverbial monkey off his back. His unbeaten ton was not without the help of Jamal Hinckson, 31 (3x6s, 1×4), Prashanth Nair, 29 (1×6, 3x4s) and a last-wicket survival partnership of 40 with Greg Robinson, 12 off 13 balls. Robinson was out on the very last ball of the inning, caught on the boundary line by Randall Wilson, after a bit of a juggling act. From 136 for 7, Atlantis had milked the weary Galaxy bowlers for an additional 126 runs, reaching 262 all out in 35 overs. Thanks in large part to Mr. Smith’s fine knock.
The Atlantis wickets fell at 22, 53, 67, 70, 120, 121, 136, 194, 222 and 262. Bowling for Galaxy; Metray Balgobin, 3 for 65 off 7, Yudesh Bissnauth, 2 for 37 off 7 and Kieran Krishna, 2 for 58 off 7 were the leaders, with Dhaniram Seepersaud, Rajendra Latcha and Rafeek Nazeer each snaring one wicket apiece.
Set a little over seven and one-half runs per over for victory, some may have considered the target out into the Universe, but Galaxy’s top five batsmen posted 129 runs, compared to Atlantis’ top five who recorded 93 runs. Why is this bit of statistic important? It underscores the importance of having a batsman who can anchor the middle-order of any batting line-up, if the top five or bottom five, for that matter, fails. Galaxy needed its own Dwayne Smith to shore up its middle order, as wickets fell at regular intervals after the team had posted 140. The lower six batsmen could only tally 51 runs for a total of 190 in 32.3 overs, including 10 Extras.
Galaxy’s Rafeek Nazeer who top-scored with 40 (2x6s, 2x4s), was the only middle-order batsman displaying some grit against the slower bowling attack of Atlantis, as the Yudesh Bisnauth led Galaxy fell for the second time in six weeks to Atlantis. Tops scorers for Galaxy were Randall Wilson, 33 (6x4s), Rajendra Latcha, 26, Yudesh Bissnauth, 16, Tamesh Balwant, 14. Metray Balgobin and Chanderpaul Rampersaud, each chipped in with 12 apiece. The latter was brilliantly run-out by Prashanth Nair via wicketkeeper Tyrone Ford. It was one of those clean pick up and throw plays you wished you could watch later on video.
Bowling for Atlantis, Prashanth Nair was the pick of the crop with figures of 6.3-0-35-4. Greg Robinson 7-1-29-2, Michael Noble 6-1-31-2 and Alex Amsterdam 3-0-19-1.
Atlantis’ fielding has been nothing but superb over the past four matches and it augurs well, as the team heads for the semi-finals of this year’s Cricket Zone 40-Overs Championships. Recently acquired wicket-keeper batsman Tyrone Ford who had two dismissals behind the sticks, seems to be a welcomed addition to the team in the absence of injured Vice-captain Ryan Sukhdeo.
Atlantis comes up against the league-leading Liberty Sports Club this Sunday at Belmont State Park on Long Island, NY. Match time is 1:00pm.
