American Cricket League
By Clifford Hinds
Last Sunday, New York Youth Cricket Club (NYYCC) recorded its eleventh win in the John David Williams Limited 40-Overs Competition by defeating St. Catherine Club by 18 runs in a closely contested match. With one game to go, the youngest club to participate in an adult league in the United States has clinched the top position in the Steve Holder Zone. Their record stands at 11 wins, 2 losses, and one no result.
Chris Singh scored of 41 and had 3 for 47 from 8 overs.
NYYCC won the toss and took first strike with New York Region Under-15 player Rafeek Nazeer and USA Under-15 player Chris Singh. Both batsmen played some glorious shots as they put on a partnership worth 59 runs before Nazeer played a rash stroke and was bowled by Phillips for 27 which included 5x4s. Rana took his turn at the wicket and built a good partnership with Singh before the latter was caught in the covers off Hermas for a well played 41 with 2x6s and 2x4s.
Trinson Carmichael was then given out lbw to Sealey, when on 8. Enter Syed Hussain who was in an attacking mode and punished all the bowlers. In the meantime, Rana was given out lbw to Maughn for 40 and with the score at 172, Syed was caught for 38 off Sealey. The lower order batsmen pushed the score to 197 after 40 overs, quite below the intended target, but a fighting score none the less. Sealey and Maughn each took 3 wickets for St. Catherine.
Hermas and Braithwaite led the reply as they faced the bowling of Carmichael and 15 year-old Keifer Phils. Braithwaite was the first to go, lbw to Carmichael for one with the score at 9. Maughn stayed with Hermas until the score reached 39 when Maughn was bowled by Chris Singh who had replaced Phils after he had bowled five overs.
Only two runs were added to the score before Phillips was run-out by a direct throw as he scampered for a single. Four more wickets fell before the score reached 76 as Singh bowled Hermas for 32, then he had Sealey caught in the slips by Chetram Persaud for five. At the other end, leg-spinner Syed Hussain had Parris caught and bowled for 10, and Griffith brilliantly caught by Carmichael for a duck.
Any hope for a quick victory was dashed, as veteran batsman Ralph Weekes and Collymore engineered a counter-attack of epic proportions as they added 70 runs before Hussain deceived Weekes after he had scored a well-played 54 that included 4x6s and 5x4s. Collymore was run-out for 43 and Phils wrapped up the tail, with St. Catherine all out for 179 falling short by 18 runs.
Trinson Carmichael had figures of 7-3-8-1. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
Chris Singh was voted Man-of-the-Match with his score of 41 and 3 for 47 from 8 overs. Carmichael was unplayable with figures of 7-3-8-1. Hussain took 3 for 44 from 7 overs, and Phils one for 24 from 7 overs.
This was an excellent performance from the youngsters in the absence of USA Under-18 players Zahib Tariq, Randall Wilson and Omar Afridi. The final game of the regular season is against West Indies Alliance this Sunday, August 26 at Idlewild Park at 223rd Street and 147th Avenue, Rosedale, NY.
