Villagers Run Atlantis Out of The Village

By John L. Aaron
Villagers Sports Club, last Sunday, ran Atlantis Cricket Club – NY out of the Roy Sweeney T20 Challenge Cup, defeating the boys in green by six wickets.

Coincidentally, the Roy Sweeney Cricket Oval was the scene of the onslaught as Villagers won the toss and invited Atlantis to bat. Atlantis would lose its first wicket in the 5th over with just 18 ticks on the board – Winston Forrester, 10, c. Darlon Hall, b. Andre McCarthy. It would be another 13 overs, and 120 runs later that Atlantis would lose its second wicket. That of overseas registrant Kellon Carmichael, (59 3x6s, 5x4s) off 42 balls. The partnership of Carmichael and skipper Randall Wilson, 64 not out (4x6s, 2x4s) off 49 deliveries, had placed Atlantis on track to score north of 200. However, with overseas registrant Ronaldo Ali Mohammed exiting with just one delivery left at the bottom of the final over. The Atlantis projected score of 200 plus runs would not be realized. Ali Mohammed’s cameo appearance of 20 off just nine balls (1×6, 3x4s) would boost the score to 163. Seth Maugh replaced Ali Mohammed with 19.5 overs in the can. He contributed two not-out, closing out the Atlantis inning at a respectable 165 for 3.

Andre McCarthy snared all three Atlantis wickets at the cost of 7.25 each off his four overs. McCarthy was the most successful of the six bowlers used by Villagers. The Atlantis wickets fell at 18, 138, and 163.

Villagers too to the middle with an asking run rate of 8.4 per over. Certainly not an impossible ask of a team with such a deep batting line-up of power hitters as Villagers.

Villagers were immediately in trouble losing overseas registrant and power-hitter Tristan Coleman, c. Ronaldo Ali Mohammed b. Seth Maughn, without bothering the scorers, and in the first over.

Maughn sought to jab at the Villagers’ head before punching at the club’s mid-section batters. His jabbing proved effective as Coleman’s opening partner Alex Amsterdam was caught by Winston Forrester off Maughn for 20 off 22 balls (1×6, 2x4s). Maugh would return to the ring to throw upper-cuts to the Villagers’ mid-section, resulting in Kevin McCarthy’s exit after contributing only four ticks caught Shawayne Kellman. Villagers were in a spot of trouble at 94 for three at the halfway mark.

However, it soon became the Steve Massiah and Barrington Bartley show as the duo made every effort to chase the Atlantis bowlers out of the village. Massiah targeted medium pacer Giovanni Letren in particular, taking the Trinidadian bowler uptown for four maximums and downtown for one boundary in a 34-run over. It would perhaps become the turning point of the Villagers’ inning and the game.

Off-spinner Avinash Wajib would temporarily salvage the Atlantis defense in the 15th over, capturing the prized wicket of former USA captain Steve Massiah, 75 (5x6s, 7x4s) off 48 balls, c. Randall Wilson b. Avinash Wajib. Villagers were then just three runs shy of the win, with four overs to go and six wickets in hand. However, the partnership of Massiah and Barrington Bartley’s fireworks at the other end, 43 not out, off just 15 deliveries (5x6s, 1×4), all but put the booth on Atlantis’ hasty exit out of the 2022 Roy Sweeney T20 Challenge Cup.

When Bjorn Brown strolled out to the middle, the proverbial fat lady had already started doing her scales. Brown’s deuce rounded out the score at 166 for four in 16 overs. The Villagers’ wickets fell at 6, 88, 94, and 163.

Seth Maughn enjoyed figures of 4-0-31-3 and Avinash Wajib 2-0-29-1.

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