Viewpoint
As we prepare for the cold weather here in New York and the sadness of not having the opportunity to visit the different parks on the weekends to watch or play our beautiful game called cricket I’ll take a look back at the Metropolitan Cricket League (MCL) for 2012. The MCL which is celebrating its 133rd years is one of the oldest and arguably the most successful leagues in the country.
By Dervon Wallace
First I would like to congratulate President Mascelles Bailey and his executives on another season which must be noted that it takes a lot to organize and run a competition of this nature that futures player of different ethnicity and background. Congratulations to Westbury Cricket Club for all but completing a clean sweep of all the trophies on offer having won the Clement “Busta” Lawrence Round Robin, the Roy Sweeney Challenge Cup and sharing the Super Eight T20 with Progressive Cricket Club.
In 2012 the organizers decided to scrap the 2nd division and went with one competition which in my views didn’t improve the standard of play as teams from the previous division 2 found out that life with the big boys weren’t easy and of such it would have been better if their earn the right to play with the most establish players by first parading their skill amongst teams on their level before making the transition to the top. Also there were cases of team going thru the motion knowing that even if they finish 0 wins they will be back in the same competition next season when in the past even the teams at the lower half of the table would remain competitive dreading the prospect of been regulated to a lower division. Organizers may raise the point that it’s expensive to run 2 competitions but I don’t share that view as teams would still be responsible for preparing their home grounds and paying umpires fee.
Metropolitan Cricket League president Mascelles Bailey. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
As an ardent cricket lover I had the privilege of seeing all 16 teams played at least once and visited all the grounds used. An embarrassing display though out the season was the inconsistency of some umpires some of whom seems incompetent. On the flip side some players didn’t make their already HARD job any easier as some were indiscipline in their approach to a sport known as “The Gentleman’s Game” by appealing for everything and in some cases very excessively when it was clear a batsman was not out or given not out by un umpire. In appealing some players could be seen running up and down the field and towards umpires as if they were playing a game of cowboys and Indian. It must be mention that it’s not a professional league but I think the organizers, clubs and players can get a few basic right as it’s a collective effort that it will need to improve the state of cricket in the region that can only benefit the national team.
PS. The MCL Annual Presentation will be held on Saturday November 24th, venue and time will be posted.