Even after the evening shadows had engulfed Canarsie Park, the officials, players and supporters of New York Youth Cricket Club were still euphoric with a fantastic win over Brooklyn/Queens Cricket Club. On a warm Saturday afternoon at Seaview Avenue at 88th Street, the New York Youth Cricket Club (NYYCC) celebrated their entrance to the American Cricket League, winning their first game by five wickets with five balls to spare.
Randal Wilson got an unbeaten 93 against Queens/Brooklyn. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
NYYCC lost the toss and Brooklyn decided to take first strike and opened with Steve Samuels and R. Partad, while New York Region Under 19 player, Chris Singh and Bjorn Brown opened the bowling. While Singh was able to move the ball in and out, Brown extracted a lot of bounce from the pitch. Partap was the first to go, bowled by Singh for 7 and soon thereafter Standford was caught by wicket keeper Surrendra Singh off Chris Singh for 4.
Ramlakan joined Samuels and together they took the score to 81 before FDR High School and New York Region Under-19 all rounder Zaheb Tariq, got them both caught. Samuels for 34 and Ramlakan for 47. N. Ramoutar scored a fine 42 before he was caught off Brown.
Thereafter there was not much resistance, but numerous fielding lapses, including the dropping of many catches allowed the team to reach 214 for 9 after 40 overs. Tariq was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 26 in 8 overs, Chris Singh 2 for 40 in 8 overs, Omar Afridi 1 for 11 in 3 overs, Randall Wilson 1 for 10 in one over and Brown 1 for 27 in 5 overs.
NYYCC’s start suffered an early set back as New York Under 19 player, Rafeek Nazeer, was caught behind off Saroop after hitting one four. The skipper, USA Under-19 representative, Trevor Singh, left soon after caught at mid-on for 11. Any spectators who left at this juncture were denied one of the most brilliant and controlled displays of batting ever seen around here from two under 17 players. Batting at number 3 and 4 respectively, Omar Afridi, former Scotland Under-17 player of the year in 2011, and New York Under-19 and John Adams High representative, Randal Wilson, plundered the bowling in a manner that would make the buccaneers proud.
Omar Afridi was among the runs too, hitting 74. (Photo: JLAaron)
Despite an outfield that was in need of cutting, they carved out a fine partnership, with Afridi setting the pace, ably supported by Wilson. They added a partnership of 146 before Afridi fell to a catch at mid off. He had made a valuable 74 runs with one six and five fours. Wilson continued the journey with NYYCC at one stage needing 47 runs from 42 balls and brought it down to a more manageable 21 runs in 24 balls. When the target was reached for the loss of five wickets. Wilson was not out on 93 with one six and three fours. This was a very fine inning from this 16 year old and it’s a shame that he missed out on the century.
Chris Singh was not out on 6. R. Sarop took 2 for 17 in 5 overs and D. Sodeen 2 for 27 in 4 overs