John Adams High School has gone to the finals on two occasions.
By Sam Sooppersaud
The preliminary rounds of games of the 3rd season of the PSAL Varsity cricket, Twenty/20 have been completed. The top teams (High Schools) have been seeded. The playoffs matching have been made, dates have been set, grounds have been allocated, and umpires have been assigned. All incidental arrangements have been made. So gentlemen (ladies), start your engines. The race to the finish (championship) starts on Wednesday, May 26, 2010.
Among the high schools that competed in this year’s competition, sixteen teams won 6 games and more. They will now be competing in the playoffs to determine who the 2010 PSAL Cricket Champion will be. The win – loss record of the top ten teams are so comparable that at this time it is impossible to even make a prediction as to who will come out on top at the end of it all. In the winning columns there is only a two game difference among the top ten teams.
Following are the win – loss records of all the schools that took part in this year’s competition of games. There were five divisions and the records are as follows:
Lehman 8-3, Midwood 10-2, FD Roosevelt 10-1, Van Buren 10-2, Richmond Hill 11-1, Clinton 7-5, Lafayette 9-3, Sheephead Bay 9-3, Aviation 10-2, Hillcrest 7-5, Bronx HS of Science 5-7, Brooklyn Int’l 8-4, Abraham Lincoln 8-4, W. Bryant 8-4, John Adams 6-6, Stuyvesant 1-10, Prospect Heights 4-8, William Grady 3-8, Newcomers 6-6, Franklin Lane 6-6, Wingate 0-12, Automotive 0-12, Jamaica 4-8 and Queens HS of Teaching 0-12
The top sixteen teams were seeded as follows: 1 Richmond Hill, 2 FDR, 3 Van Buren, 4 Aviation, 5 Midwood, 6 Lehman, 7 WC Bryant 8 Hillcrest, 9 Sheepheads Bay 10 Lincoln, 11 Lafayette, 12 Newcomers, 13 B’klyn Int’l , 14 Franklin Lane, 15John Adams, 16 DeWitt Clinton.
The first round of the playoffs starts on Wednesday, May 26th: Richmond Hill vs Clinton at Baisley Park, The Cage, and Hillcrest vs Sheepshead Bay at Idlewild Park, both games in Queens starting at 4:00. P.M.
On Thursday, May 27th, there will be 4 games: Midwood vs Newcomers at Marine Park, Brooklyn, Aviation vs B’klyn Int’l at Baisley Park South, Van Buren vs Franklin Lane at Baisley Park, The Cage, and Lehman vs Lafayette ate Ferry Point in the Bronx.
The final two games in the first round of playoffs take place on Friday, May 28th: WC Bryant vs Abraham Lincoln at Baisley Park South, and FDR vs John Adams at the new Canarsie Park, Brooklyn.
The top seeded team meets the lowest seeded teams, the second seeded team meets the second lowest, and so on and so forth. However, this does not suggest that it is a foregone conclusion that the teams with the better record will prevail over the teams with a lower record of wins. What each team has done in the past – the preliminary – rounds, remains the past. Twenty/20 format of cricket is unpredictable. Any one team can beat another in any one day. So at this time bets are open.
Incidentally the two top teams Newcomers and John Adams, that played in the finals in both 2008 and 2009 have been seeded 12 and 15, respectively. Newcomers have won the championships for both years that PSAL cricket has been played. Come out to one of the parks and enjoy some entertaining 20/20 cricket. Come and see some of the future USA stars perform.
Let me commend Commissioner Bassett Thompson, Asst. Comm. Ricky Kissoon, cricket Administrator Lorna Austin, and their staff for a job well done.