Noble Effort Puts Atlantis Back In Orbit With Win Over Galaxy

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Atlantis Cricket Club – NY having sat out the last two weeks of the 2014 EACA 40-overs fixture through no fault of their own, finally saw action this past Sunday against Galaxy Cricket Club in “The Cage” at Baisley Pond Park, in Jamaica, NY.

Atlantis' Michael Nobel grabbed 6 for 11 against Galaxy. Photo: JLAaron

Winning the toss and electing to bat, Atlantis showed some significant batting rust, reaching 135 all out in 32.5 overs. Top scorers were newcomer Dominique Rikhi, 26, Keon Lake, 21, and Michael Noble contributing a solid 29, with the number 8, 9 and 10 batsmen Kumar Gopaul, Prashanth Nair and Thakur Singh chipping in with 16, 15 and 11 respectively. The Atlantis wickets fell at 47, 49, 68, 73, 80, 88, 93, 113, 133 and 135.

The Galaxy bowlers kept the Atlantis batsmen in check bowling decent lines and lengths yielding only 10 extras in 32.5 overs. Dhaniram Seepersaud with figures of 8-0-29-4 was the pick of the crop, while Asraf Ganny enjoyed 3 for 35 off his 8 overs, and Yudesh Bissnauth returned figures of 4.5-1-9-2. Sunesh Wazid had one for 39 off 8 overs.

Set an asking rate of less than four runs per over, it would be up to the Atlantis bowlers to defend such a low total, but defend it they did, knocking Galaxy out of orbit; all out for 117. The Atlantis victory was behind a noble bowling effort from all-rounder Michael Noble, who demolished Galaxy’s middle six batsmen with a fine bowling spell of 8-4-11-6. Noble’s stint was the mesmerizing spell that shifted the momentum fully in Atlantis’ favor, although Galaxy was off to a less than auspicious start compared to Atlantis’ opening stand of 47; Galaxy lost their first three wickets for 43 runs.

A lot was expected from young Randal Wilson batting at number three, but the aspiring national cricketer was caught off the bowling of Atlantis’ skipper Alex Amsterdam for 8. The very dependable Sunesh Wazid appeared to be having a lot of difficulty putting away Noble’s good and bad deliveries, in the end Noble put him away and out of his misery via the caught and bowled route for 5.

Galaxy's Dhaniram Seepersaud had 4 for 29. Photo by Shiek Mohamed

The Galaxy batsmen who showed some resistance were Rafeek Nazeer, 22, Metray Balgobin, 15, Yudesh Bissnauth and Asraf Ganny, each with 14. Atlantis threw in 12 extras for a Galaxy tally of 117 all out, and Atlantis winning by 18 runs in 28 overs. The Galaxy wickets fell at 15, 39, 43, 56, 62, 66, 86, 89, 106, 117.

Atlantis visits Phantoms next at Lido Beach on Long Island, while Galaxy enjoys a much needed bye.