Richard Allen Tops Charts Again, while Atlantis Bounces Back Big

By John L. Aaron

Westbury Sports Club vs. Island Wide Cricket Club
Westbury won by 392 runs
The Metropolitan Cricket League’s Brian Lara look-alike Richard Allen continued his rampage against the league’s bowlers as the fourth round of league matches got underway last Sunday in New York. Westbury hosted Island Wide at Westbury, where Allen again topped the charts, this time with a double ton as the Westbury Sports Club batting maestro helped his team defeat Island Wide Cricket Club by an unreasonably wide margin of 392 runs.

Winning the toss and opting to bat first, Westbury lost Allen’s opening partner Roberto Simpson with only seven runs on the board in the second over. It appears that Allen needed Simpson out of the way so that he could resume his onslaught alongside skipper Carlos Green in a whopping 365-run second-wicket 25 overs partnership. The duo took the Island Wide bowlers to the cleaners, as Allen posted 237 off just 97 balls, including 17x6s and 18x4s, “retiring hurt” with a strike rate of 189.81 and a season average thus far of 198.61. At the other end, his comrade-in-arms Carlos Green was unabashedly smashing 123 off 72 deliveries with three maximums and 14 rope bracers.

Adding insult to injury and the pain of Island Wide’s wide-open wound, hard-hitting powerhouse Horace Porter smashed 41 off 17. Brandon English added some English polish with 54 off 18, joining the only other double-digit contributor Extras, 35, on the board. The Westbury 35-over inning onslaught ended seven short of 500 runs for the loss of just three wickets. Thank God!

The Westbury wickets fell at 7, 373, 393, and 398. Bowling for Island Wide: Jerry Bowen added a glimmer of hope while hurling five overs for 70, resulting in two wickets. Mahindra Ramsumair was the only other wicket-taker at the cost of 81 runs off his five overs.

Island Wide gallantly took to the middle at an asking rate of more than two runs per legal delivery. However, their sojourn in the middle was a brief one as the procession of batters back to the shade offered little hope to the team’s batters. Aloysious Fontelle showed a brief glimmer of hope against hope, posting 35 off 17 with one six and six fours. The only other batter who dared to show some muscle was Mahindra Ramsumair, 21, with two maximums. Delroy Foster added 13 to the team’s total before exiting, followed by the rest of the team at 101, all out.

The Island Wide wickets fell at 18, 40, 65, 77, 82, 85, 100, 101, 101, and 101, as the Island Wide inning came to a merciful end. Bowling for Westbury: Joe Brown and Brandon English each enjoyed four for 13 each off of five and three overs, respectively. Michael Meggs and Ryan Bennett each shared a wicket, as Westbury’s total points for the season climbed to 20 points off four matches played thus far. They are sitting all alone at the top of the league’s chart.

Richard Allen was adjudged Player-of-the-Match.

Atlantis Cricket Club – NY vs. Villagers Sports Club
Atlantis won by seven wickets
While Allen was stunning the league with his incredible batting prowess on the Island, Atlantis was stunning the rest of the league and the Village men in Brooklyn. Atlantis bounced back from a humiliating loss to Westbury the previous week and to move ahead of the second-place Villagers.

Through the first five overs in the contest against Villagers, Atlantis, invited to bowl first, had Villagers at a jaw-dropping 4 for 9 in the first five overs, with only one run coming off the bat. It was the beheading of the Villagers’ top-order batters, with the scorecard reading 9 for 4 in 5 overs.

Jevoy Spence c †Randall Wilson b Jaden Norville, 0 (1 ball)
Andre Mccarty c Orlando Kirton b Jaden Norville, 0 (2 balls)
Tristan Coleman c Prashant Nair b Telston Johnson, 0 (8 balls)
Barrington Bartley lbw b Telston Johnson, 0 (11 balls)

That was all within the first 37 minutes of the match.

The Villagers’ top order had no answers for the questions raised by Atlantis’ opening bowlers – veteran Telston Johnson and Under-19 Atlantis debutante Jaden Norville. The youth player snared the wicket of Jevoy Spence with his first delivery for the club. He would go on to post figures of 8-1-37-3. He recorded 29 dot balls — almost five maiden overs of his eight overs spell. At the other end, Telston Johnson, in his second outing for Atlantis this season, had 8-1-28-4 while also recording 29 dot balls.

The Kerala, India, spinner Prashanth Nair in his first match of the 2023 season, returned miserly figures of 8-2-23-1 with 36 dots to his credit. With stats of 8-1-24-1 and 33 dot balls, Isiah Gomez was the exclamation mark on the bowling Villagers faced in a match hyped as a showdown between two of the top four teams in the league.

It was Rushane Manning with an unbeaten 67 (1×6, 6x4s), along with Zahib Tariq, 37, and Duwayne Kerr, 20, who added some respectability to the Villagers’ middle inning resistance against the Atlantis hurlers.

With Villagers posting 167 for 9 in their 40 overs and wickets falling at 0, 2, 6, 8, 20, 47, 82, 150, and 157, Atlantis was asked to score 4.2 per over for the victory and five points.

Taking to the middle with openers Darius Gopaul, 31 (2x6s, 4x4s) and debutante Freddy Pestano, 10, Atlantis showed intent to have an early day from the office. And an early day it was, as the boys in green and yellow closed up shop at 169 for 3 in 19 overs, winning by seven wickets.

Losing the early wickets of Pestano, Gopaul, and Steve Roopnarine, skipper Randall Wilson was joined by his deputy Kellon Carmichael and together, the duo saw it home unbeaten, contributing 38 (2x6s, 2x4s) and 66 (5x6s, 5x4s) respectively. There were 24 extras as Villagers desperately sought a breakthrough that was not there on a sunny Sunday at the Roy Sweeney Cricket Oval in Brooklyn.

The Atlantis wickets fell at 17, 51, and 52 at the 6.4 overs mark, with Messrs. Wilson and Carmichael taking Atlantis to victory in the remaining 12.2 overs. Bowling for Villagers: Gregory Robinson, who debuted for Villagers after exiting Atlantis in 2022, had figures of 3-0-33-1. Villagers’ skipper George Adams 3-0-12-1 and Duwayne Kerr 2-0-22-1 rounded out the Atlantis scalps by Villagers.

With the victory, Atlantis moved into second place but tied with Villagers and Suburbia at 15 points each.

Player-of-the-Match was Kellon Carmichael.

Lucas Cricket Club vs. Spice Island
Lucas won by 114 runs
With an impressive opening stand north of 130, Lucas Cricket Club won the coin toss and posted 282 all out against Spice Island Cricket Club. Of the total tally, 137 runs came off the willows of Johan Jeremiah, 82, off 50 balls with 4x6s and 10x4s, and Orval Crawford, 55 (1×6, 7x4s), between the two top scorers and the tail-enders Rodarri Smalls, 29, Troy Baptiste, 23, and Malcolm Gray, 16. The other batters posted single-digit scores. Extras contributed a massive 65 as the Spice Island bowlers exhibited a wide array of deliveries, exactly 42.

Bowling for Spice Island: K. Samuel was the most economical 7-0-30-2. Gregory Anthony, Damian Reed, and C. Edgar each enjoyed two scalps. There were two run-outs in the 32.2 overs inning.

In response, Spice Island’s inning culminated at the 30 overs mark, following a five-over penalty for a late start. They posted 168 for five, with five batters left on the bench. Top scoring for Spice Island was Clint Chastou, 64 (2x6s, 3x4s), and Gregory Anthony, 37 (1×6, 4x4s). Despite the gallant effort in the middle, Spice Island could not overcome the 282 posted by Lucas, thus succumbing to a 114-run defeat. The win placed Lucas on the board with a 1-3 record and on par with Spice Island and Island Wide Cricket Club with a similar win-loss record and five points each.

Player-of-the-Match was Johan Jeremiah.

The teams across the league observed a Moment of Silence in memory of Lloyd “Dico” Dixon, a New York cricket stalwart and steward who passed away earlier in the week.

The funeral arrangements for Dico are as follows:
Viewing: 4:30 – 5:30 pm on Friday, June 23, 2023, at Guarino Funeral Home, 9222 Flatlands Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11236.

Lloyd Dixon will be buried at Canarsie Cemetry in Brooklyn, NY, on Saturday, July 1, 2023, at 10:15 am.