New York Centurions team.
Atlantis Cricket Club – NY and New York Centurions got all tied up last Sunday at the newly acquired EACA ground at Belmont Lake State Park, West Babylon on Long Island. The duo engaged each other at the new park in the second phase of the EACA’s 2015 Cricket Zone 40-Overs tournament.
Winning the toss and electing to stand guard first, New York Centurions paced themselves to 157 all out in 32.5 overs. Top scorers were Shazam Ramjohn, 38 (5x4s, 1×6) following a comfortable opening partnership with Deoraj Sewanan, 13 (2x4s), Troy Haley contributed 20, Ritesh Bridgelall, 27 and Carlton Baker, 12. The remaining batsmen all put up Bingo scores, while Extras chipped in with 28, including 21 wides compliments of the six bowlers used by Atlantis.
All of the Atlantis bowlers shared in the Centurions’ scalps. Keon Lake 2 for 17 off 8 overs, Jermaine Horatio 2 for 24 off 6 overs, Jamiel Jackman 2 for 29 off 8 overs and Greg Robinson 2 for 33 off 3.5 overs. Michael Noble and Prashanth Nair each had one wicket apiece at 19 and 29 respectively.
At less than four runs per over, it certainly was not a tall ask of Atlantis, however, it was not meant to be such an easy walk down the aisle, as Atlantis was quickly in sticky waters losing openers Henderson Blades and Shawn Mason for 7 and 13 (3×4) respectively. Mason and Michael Noble had stabilized things somewhat with the latter contributing 29 (5x4s) in his trip to the altar.
Atlantis Cricket Club.
Kavishwar Bridgepaul and Keon Lake attempted to reconcile things along the way, after Atlantis lost the very in-form Dwayne Smith for a single. Bridgepaul would go on to score 26 (3x6s, 1×4) and Lake, top scoring with 31 (2x6s, 2x4s). Vice-Captain Ryan Sukhdeo batting in the most unusual position at number 7, did not stick around long enough to record any runs, while Jermaine Horatio stayed long enough to post eight runs, before exiting.
The very dependable Prashanth Nair brought some respectability to the Atlantis inning by contributing 23 not out (3×6’s) batting at number nine. However, he was not ably supported, running out of partners in Jamiel Jackman without scoring, and Greg Robinson facing the last ball of the over with the scores tied at 157, and Atlantis needing one run to win, was bowled by Ridwan Ramjohn, after scoring only a single.
Leaving 11.2 overs on the table, Atlantis failed to make it all the way to the altar to consummate the victory, and have only themselves to blame for some irresponsible batting, in the absence of some of their top-order batsman currently away. On the other hand, New York Centurions bowled extremely well to contain the Atlantis batsmen, while enticing them to go over the top; an offer most of them gladly accepted and lost those battles along the way. New York Centurions conceded 18 extras, including 13 wides.
Bowling for New York Centurions: Carlos Bachu was the pick of the crop with figures of 3 for 24 off 8 overs, including 18 dot balls. Nicholas Nandan 2 for 33 off 3 overs, Carlton Baker 2 for 43 off 8 overs, and Ridwan Ramjohn and Vijay Persaud, each with one wicket apiece at 4 and 22 respectively.
Atlantis seemed to be in a hurry to tie the knot and that they did, sharing the fruits of the union at 2 points each, dropping to .500 for the season at 4-4. No doubt Atlantis would be looking to bounce back, and before the return of its skipper Alex Amsterdam, Nicholas Standford and Jamal Hinckson.