By Peter Della Penna

 

In the summer of 2004, a 16-year-old named Akeem Dodson was just starting to earn his stripes at Villagers Cricket Club in New York’s Metropolitan League. At the time, he had just joined the club and even though he had represented USA at the U-19 level a year before in Canada, he was mostly unknown to his Villagers teammates. Villagers captain Orlando Baker then decided to slap a nickname on him to make him a little bit easier to identify.

 

“This guy used to play first class for Jamaica, Mario Ventura, a left-hand batsman,” said Baker. “He resembled Spooky. They bat the same way, left-handed, the way they *** their bat and everything. So I said, ‘Yo Dodson, your new name is Spooky.’ This guy reminds me so much of Spooky and that name stuck on him.”

 

“When I first got to Villagers, he was the captain of Villagers. I remember the first time I went there, I went to watch one of the games and they told me to come to a meeting,” said Dodson, recalling his version of events. “I went to a meeting and sat down and they were playing dominoes. I don’t think he remembered my name. He looked at me and just called me Spooky. Like a smart person I answered. So since then it’s been that.”

 

However, Baker says he knew exactly who Dodson was and he could tell just by looking at him bat that the teenager had a promising future and that was the reason behind giving him the nickname. “He’s like, ‘Bakes, who is Spooky?’ I said, ‘Spooky’s a big bat mon. I’m giving you a big bat name, so don’t worry.’”

 

Dodson’s big bat and big name have been making the rounds of US cricket since he went with USA’s squad to the 2006 U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka. Like most of the other players in that team, it was a rapid rise for Dodson to national prominence.

 

After being born in Queens, N.Y., Dodson’s family took him back to his father’s native Guyana when he was two years old. He stayed there until he was 12 when his parents divorced and his father took him to rural Pennsylvania where cricket became an endangered species in his life.

 

 

“For the two years I was in Pennsylvania I didn’t play any cricket,” said Dodson. “I always had a bat and a ball with me though. I would hit it in the house up against the wall sometimes. My dad would get mad at that.”

 

When he was 14, he moved to Brooklyn and once again resumed cricket. His skills hadn’t eroded and just a year later in 2003, he was selected to play for USA’s U-19 squad in Canada at the Americas Qualifier for the 2004 U-19 World Cup.

 

“I felt a certain sense of accomplishment,” said Dodson. “If you get picked for a national team, you were among the 14 best in your country. Being picked to represent your nation is always an honor. I felt really proud. My father was proud of me.”

 

The bigger accomplishment though was when USA did a u-turn in the span of two years to go undefeated at the 2005 U-19 Americas Qualifier, knocking off Canada in the process to qualify for the U-19 World Cup, USA’s first ever World Cup appearance at any level in cricket.

 

“I remember that year when we won, we had gone from losing the time before to going and blowing out everyone,” said Dodson. “We were hyped. Yeah let’s go now. We couldn’t wait to go [to Sri Lanka].”

 

With limited training resources compared to the Test level countries, it could have been a daunting and intimidating process for many of the players. But one member of the management team says he was impressed how Dodson adjusted under the circumstances.

 

“When we went to the World Cup, the thing that I was most curious about was to see which one of our guys on the team would be able to step up to that next level to compete against the best at their age group in the world and in my opinion, Akeem was one of the guys that did that,” said Basil Butcher Jr., USA’s trainer on the U-19 tour to Sri Lanka.

 

“The World Cup really taught me to be more patient, especially batting,” said Dodson. “Before that, they used to call me a shotgun because I used to play shots off everything.”

 

Coming off the heels of the U-19 World Cup, Dodson made two tours with USA’s senior team. The first was going back to Canada later in 2006 with the squad for the ICC Americas Division One tournament. He did not get a game, but got valuable experience being around the side. In November 2008, he did get to suit up for three games when USA went to Guyana for the WICB Cup, where he was captained by Baker, and then stayed in the squad for the ICC Americas Division One tournament in Florida where USA went undefeated to win the title. Since then, he has not appeared for USA.

 

Butcher has tried to pin the reason down to a few areas, one of which he feels is that Dodson never completely eliminated his shotgun habit.

 

“He has to bat longer,” said Butcher. “He seems to have a tendency, he’ll hit a bowler around for a short period of time and then give his wicket away. That’s one thing I think he needs to improve on in terms of just wanting to put a higher price on his wicket.”

 

 

Another point that Butcher says that Dodson needs to work on is fine-tuning his technique, something which Dodson wholeheartedly agrees with.

 

“I think the biggest part of my game that’s hurting right now is the technical stuff,” said Dodson. “As I start to mature in my game, that’s what’s really giving me away. When I was younger, a lot of times I would lack the strength or the physical ability to do something, but now that I have the physical ability, it’s the little technical things that usually gets you.”

 

One extremely beneficial experience that Dodson took in during his time away from the senior team was to spend the summer of 2009 playing for Waresley Cricket Club, which plays in the UK’s Huntingdonshire & Cambridgeshire League on Saturdays and the Bedfordshire County League on Sundays. Over the summer he posted a career best 190, which was the highest score at the club during the season. Dodson hopes he’s helped to play a part in changing the perception in the minds of Waresley’s opponents about the capabilities of Americans playing cricket.

 

“They were shocked,” said Dodson. “Every time I’d tell them that I’m an American, they were like, ‘What?! You’re American?!’”

 

Baker for one has noticed how that time in the UK has helped Dodson’s game.

 

“I think Dodson’s cricket has progressed a lot. I think the stint he did in England did a lot for his cricket. When Dodson joined Villagers, he was still at youth level cricket and his cricket has grown and he’s matured a lot,” said Baker. “Sometimes I’m just kind of surprised that he’s not really given the opportunity at the national level but then everybody see things different. For me he’s always one for the future because he’s a naturally talented cricketer. He’s very athletic. He can keep, he could bat, he could field. He’s not only a good keeper but he’s also a very good fielder. I always encourage him to keep working and whenever time you get an opportunity, you make use of it.”

 

Just weeks after turning 23, Dodson had a disappointing time with the bat in Atlanta at the USACA Eastern Conference Tournament playing for the New York Region in September, but this weekend he has a chance to make amends at the USACA Senior Nationals in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In the process, he can plant a seed in the minds of selectors that he is ready for another shot at returning to the national team. At last year’s December trials, Dodson was harshly overlooked despite being one of only two players, with Ryan Corns being the other, to complete a 1.5 mile fitness test in under 12 minutes. It’s that kind of hunger and serious approach that Baker feels will stand Dodson in good stead for whenever his next chance may come.

 

“He’s always in good physical shape,” said Baker. “I’ve never seen him turn up to a camp unfit. That’s one thing that I admire about him as a kid. That’s something you can’t take away from him because he’s always ready.”