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USA Cricketer
April 2011 - Posts
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By Peter Della Penna
Former Indian Test player Sunil Joshi will be the featured guest at
the 2011 Philadelphia International Cricket Festival, which began on
Thursday April 28 and goes until Sunday May 1. Now in its 19th year,
this edition of the festival features 14 teams from around the USA
including New York, New Jersey, Florida and Colorado as well as teams
from Canada and the UK.
The Philadelphia International Cricket Festival has made a habit of
welcoming a cricket celebrity each year to be a part of the weekend’s
activities. In 2010, Michael Kasprowicz was part of the event while Sir
Richard Hadlee, Mark Nicholas, Sir Garfield Sobers, Gary Kirsten, Mark
Boucher, Jonty Rhodes, Richie Richardson, Derek Underwood and Fred
Trueman have all been guests of the festival in past years and Joshi
continues the tradition.
Joshi  played
15 Tests and 69 ODIs for India between 1996 and 2001. He has 615
first-class wickets in addition to four first-class centuries playing
for Karnataka.
Image (right) - Toronto CC celebrates after winning the 2010
Philadelphia International Cricket Festival. [Courtesy: Peter Della
Penna/DreamCricket]
The 40-year-old Joshi is scheduled to appear at a banquet for the
festival teams on Saturday night at Merion Cricket Club in Haverford,
Pa. He is also scheduled to present the championship trophy at the
conclusion of Sunday’s final at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. Starting
time for the final on Sunday is set for 1:30 p.m.
The 14 competing teams are split into two groups of seven. Each team
will play six round-robin Twenty20 matches in their group before the two
group winners square off in the final on Sunday. Toronto CC, the
two-time defending champions, will be aiming to hold onto their crown
against several long time participants at the festival including Mad
Dogs, Staten Island, Sarasota and the British Officers.
For more information, visit www.cricketfestival.com.
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By Peter Della Penna
The inaugural ICC Americas U-17 tournament that was scheduled to be
held in Toronto from July 3-10 has been canceled. ICC Americas Regional
Development Manager Martin Vieira confirmed the news by email. No reason
was given for the cancelation.
Consequently, the first USACA U-17 National Tournament has been
postponed. The tournament was originally scheduled for Memorial Day
weekend, May 27-30, in Orlando, Fla.
“We have not canceled it, we’ve just postponed it,” said USACA
General Manager Manaf Mohamed. “We don’t want it to interfere with
school schedules.” A new date has not been decided, but Mohamed said he
anticipates the tournament will now be held late in the summer.
The USACA Junior Nationals,
the country’s U-19 National Tournament, is yet to have a finalized
date, but it is likely that they will be held in the fall on Columbus
Day weekend, October 7-10, in Los Angeles.
As of now, the first USACA tournament of the year will be the first
ever USACA Men’s Twenty20 Championship. It is scheduled to be held in
Dallas from June 17-20. A format has not been finalized, but Mohamed
hinted that each team could play two matches a day. With all eight
regions participating in the tournament, that could mean a round-robin
style event with every region playing each other followed by a 1st
place, 3rd place, 5th place and 7th place game on the final day.
The event will be used to help pick a team to participate in the ICC
Americas Division One Twenty20 in July. In addition to Canada, the two
next best finishing teams will advance to the 16-team 2012 World
Twenty20 Qualifier in Dubai. Canada automatically qualifies for the 2012
World Twenty20 Qualifier, in addition to Afghanistan, Ireland, Kenya,
Scotland and the Netherlands, by virtue of being an Associate/Affiliate
team with ODI status.
The ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 was originally scheduled to be
held in Toronto, but multiple sources have indicated that it has been
moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. That has yet to be officially confirmed
by ICC Americas.
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By John L. Aaron
 The upcoming New York Cricket Region (NYCR) election appears to be mired in controversy, with two sets of characters – the protagonists and the antagonists. Clearly a script is unfolding that can only hurt, not help cricket in the region and further create a divide among the stakeholders.
The 1859 Charles Dickens’ novel - A Tale of Two Cities may be well-suited as a backdrop as the election plays out, with some very colorful characters reenacting the pivotal response to a note from one of the novel’s characters Jerry Cruncher, instructing Jarvis Lorry to wait at Dover for a young woman. Lorry’s response was a cryptic “Recalled to Life.”
An Elections Committee comprising Mr. Paul DaSilva, (NY Nassau League) Chairman; Mr. Mascellus Bailey, (Metropolitan League); and Mr. Wesley King (Brooklyn League) was appointed by Regional Director Mr. Selwyn Caesar. Subsequently, Mr. Patrick Sutherland, (Brooklyn League), was appointed to coordinate the election process for and on behalf of the region, due to the unavailability of Mr. Wesley King, the region’s Secretary.
The election was originally set for April 24, 2011, that was subsequently changed to May 1, 2011. On March 19, 2011 Mr. Sutherland issued an advisory e-mail inviting applicants wishing to serve in the various positions on the regional board to submit their applications no later than April 16, 2011. Clearly the election committee thought that was enough time for anyone wishing to serve, to submit their application and resume.
It is reported that several individuals jumped at the opportunity to serve New York cricket and complied by honoring the request of the Elections Committee and its Coordinator Mr. Sutherland. It is believed that all the positions were accounted for by one or more interested persons. The Elections Committee set April 24, 2011 as the date when the candidates would be interviewed for the various positions however, the deadline for the submission of applications and resumes was suddenly extended to April 22, with interviews scheduled for April 26, 2011.
Why the deadline for applications was extended by almost one week and after applications were already received for every position? Well according to the region’s Secretary Mr. King, he is being blamed for creating confusion by circulating the USACA elections timeline for regional and national elections. One fails to see how the two issues may have been confused with each other, or the Secretary could be blamed for any confusion, unless the confusion was deliberately created as a smoke screen for the dastardly act about to be inflicted upon the New York cricket stakeholders, and those enthusiastic individuals who have already tossed their hats into the ring.
Is it fair to have extended the deadline for applications? You be the judge based on the following facts –
Mr. Paul DaSilva, Chairman of the Elections Committee and principal architect of the timeframe and deadlines for applications and interviews, has single-handily extended the deadline, with the support of the Regional Director Mr. Selwyn Caesar, and…Whoa! Mr. DaSilva, according to reports, has inserted himself as a candidate for the position of Regional Representative.
According to the other member of the committee Mr. Mascellus Bailey, “I first heard of the extension at the same time as everyone else. I was not consulted, nor was my opinion sought. Not a phone call or anything. Now, I am being told that publicly I am linked to extending the deadline.” The Metropolitan League president added, “I have absolutely nothing to do with the extension of the deadline for applications, and I don’t agree with it. I would’ve agreed if there were positions still open and no one had applied by the April 16 deadline set.”
Calls to Mr. DaSilva have gone unanswered, despite a request for a return call from this writer.
Dickens’ cryptic message of “Recalled to Life” is an eerily symbolic notion of Mr. Paul DaSilva being unearthed, dusted off, and self-imposingly thrust upon the NYCR leagues as their representative on the USACA board. According to one league president, Mr. DaSilva has often failed to attend regional meetings, field teams for inter-league or The Mayor’s Cup matches, and pulled down the region’s web site in an unceremonious manner, thus denying the region an opportunity to showcase itself.
It is alleged that several persons from Mr. DaSilva’s league have now thrown their hats into the ring after he extended the deadline for applications. Self-serving, you ask?
The Regional Director Mr. Selwyn Caesar was gracious enough to return my call to him, and he expressed surprise that no league president had contacted him regarding protesting the extension of the application deadline, nor the fact that the Elections Committee Chairman had inserted himself into the race for Regional Representative. Mr. Caesar stated, “I did not anticipate Paul entering the race, nor did he discuss same with me. If so, I would have given him a different direction prior to the application, and not to run,” adding, “The inclusion of Paul DaSilva into the race, is a personal concern of mine and it bothers me.”
When pressed on whether he was in agreement with the extension, Mr. Caesar said yes, because he was a part of that decision, adding, “The elections should go forward as dictated by the extension process, since no league president has contacted me regarding any protest.”
The question one is tempted to ask here is, “Was the league presidents or other members of the regional administration consulted on extending the deadline for applications?” The answer is blatantly obvious, since not even the other member of the Elections Committee was consulted, not even by a phone call.
In direct contrast to Mr. Caesar’s claim of being unaware of any protests from the league presidents, there appears to be a united front against the electoral process now employed by the Chairman of the Elections Committee and the Regional Director, along with Mr. Sutherland the Elections Committee Coordinator/Secretary.
I contacted Mr. Sutherland earlier today for a response to the issue and he advised me that the decision to extend the deadline for applications was, “…made by the Elections Committee.” When asked if that included himself, he stated that he was only the Secretary and had nothing to do with the decision. I informed Mr. Sutherland that Mr. Bailey had denied any connection with the extension of the deadline; therefore it was safe to assume that the decision was solely Mr. DaSilva’s. Mr. Sutherland asked if it was possible to consult his notes and to get back to me shortly. I have not heard from Mr. Sutherland since.
President of the Commonwealth League, Lesly Lowe stated, “It’s absurd what’s going on. I am appalled by the situation. This election process is being run by someone who does not have this region at heart and does not attend regional meetings, and he is now running to represent the region.”
Mr. Milford Lewis, President of the New York Cricket League said, “The USACA time line was forced upon us, however, I did not have a problem with it, and it is obvious we are not following that anyway.” He however stated that, “As a member of the regional administration, I was not privy to any discussion regarding the extension of the application process, and only saw it when I received an e-mail stating that the deadline was extended.”
When contacted, Mr. Wesley King, NYCR’s Secretary was very disturbed by the claims made by the Regional Director Mr. Caesar, which blamed him (Mr. King) for creating the confusion regarding the election timeline. He said, “As Secretary, I distributed the information to the entire regional administration, because it came from USACA, so I don’t see how I can be blamed for doing that.”
Mr. King went on to express his dissatisfaction regarding the extension of the deadline for applications, stating, “The Elections Committee should have contacted the league presidents before extending the deadline,” adding, “It (the deadline) should only have been extended if there were no applicants/candidates for one or more of the positions.”
Eastern American Cricket Association President Rudy Persaud said that the process was corrupt and, “It’s not fair to those candidates who have already applied by the original deadline of April 16, and set by the Elections Committee. There was no confusion about the USACA dates and the Regional Director did not ask the league presidents if they were confused.” He added, “I was not in agreement with moving the application deadline and I was very surprised. However, I was advised by Mr. Sutherland that it was the Elections Committee’s decision.” Mr. Persaud went on to say, “I now know that Mr. Bailey was not a part of the decision to extend the applications deadline.”
Mr. Persaud said that it appears as though the lame-duck Regional Director (Mr. Caesar) who is not seeking reelection is uninterested in what happens within the region, as he is on his way out. He cited a recent invitation to the NYCR from the Office of the Mayor of New York and the New York City Parks Department to attend a meeting to plan the 2011 Mayor’s Cricket Cup and Mr. Caesar declined on the basis that he would not be around this year, during The Mayor’s Cup.
NYCR’s Regional Representative to the USACA board Mr. Krish Prasad, a candidate for the same position in the upcoming election said, that when he heard about the deadline being extended, he contacted his league president (Rudy Persaud) and the Regional Secretary (Wesley King), both of whom said they were not privy to the decision and could not offer him a plausible explanation. Mr. Prasad added, “It appears to me as though many of the regional administration members are being kept in the dark, and I am concerned that there are individuals outside of the NYCR, seeking to influence the outcome of the elections.”
I spoke with two of the candidates contesting the regional elections and who submitted their applications prior to the original deadline of April 16, 2011. Both responded on the condition of anonymity, stating that the deadline extension appears to have been engineered to accommodate a group of people seeking to control the NYCR. Both candidates unequivocally stated that it was unfair to them and the other candidates who submitted their applications on time, before the “mystery” (according to one of them) extension appeared. The confusion appears to surround the candidates and the regional administrators, all except for Mr. Caesar and Mr. DaSilva.
If only Charles Dickens was still around, he may have very well wondered what the dickens was happening in the New York Cricket Region. Is it a tale of two cities? On one side the power grabbers and on the other side, the hapless cricketers and other stakeholders.
[Opinions expressed in this column are those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the views of DreamCricket.com.]
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By Jamie Harrison
Comments
- Youth cricket in the United States is growing at an unprecedented rate as hundreds of thousands of children are exposed to the game for the first time.
- Youth cricket in the United States is desperately in need of assistance, without which it will cease to expand much beyond its existing base and will eventually disappear altogether.
These are two seemingly contradictory statements, and yet, they are both true. Youth cricket has reached a moment of tremendous opportunity – and also mortal danger, largely because of timing, immigration and demographics.
 The 1970 United States census recorded 51,000 American residents that had been born in India. By 2006, this number had exploded to over 1.5 million, making Indian-born immigrants the fourth largest group in the country, after those from Mexico, the Philippines and China. Much of this movement has been in the last decade, with more than a third arriving after 2000.
Pic (right): Thanks to the efforts of USYCA, schools are getting exposed to cricket at an unprecendented rate. On April 15th, the Cincinnati Cricket Club, an USYCA affiliate, conducted a cricket clinic at the Edwin D. Smith Elementary School in Dayton, OH.
It is also important to note that most of the new arrivals were in the age group when one typically has children, and over 25% gained employment in the IT industry (compared to less than 3% of overall foreign-born residents).
The impact of this wave of South Asian immigration can be seen in the revival of their favorite pastime in this country. They drive the tiny cricket retail industry, they create the market for cricket to be broadcast online and they prompted ESPN to sign a contract with the Star Sports. Their children are also the reason that cricket academies exist in the United States.
For much of the last decade, a few dozen noble volunteers and lonely visionaries have created and sustained a collection of cricket academies and training centers in America. These organizations are scattered across the nation, and yet at the same time are also largely concentrated in a handful of locations.
The places in which these enterprises have survived are instructive. They are typically located near communities that boast large numbers of families with roots in the Indian subcontinent.
This should not be particularly surprising, as children are far more likely to accept coaching in sports with which they are familiar, or at least with which their families are familiar. In America, this filters out 95% of the population before the academy places its first advertisement, and is frankly a tough business model under which to operate. This also explains why the typical cricket academy in the United States counts its participants in the dozens, rather than the hundreds.
In spite of these challenges, a number of stalwarts have not only survived, but have thrived, often with little or no outside support. In New York, organizations like the New York Youth Cricket Academy and New York Tristate Cricket Academy are all able to draw from the metropolitan area’s growing Asian and West Indian populations, and have built a very solid foundation.
On the West Coast, groups such as the California Cricket Academy, the Bay Area Cricket Alliance and the Northern California Cricket Association carry much of the weight.
In between the oceans, the Florida Cricket Academy will send two teams overseas in 2011, the Michigan Cricket Academy prepares junior squads for local and national tournaments and Cricket Academy USA hosts cricket camps, teams and leagues.
In addition, sprinkled across the map are dozens of other smaller efforts, often run as an extension of a local cricket club or league. Due to a shortage of children and resources, it’s rare for these more modest operations to do much more than just practice with their charges or run small leagues.
Another sad truth about the present state of affairs is that without large numbers of children emerging into adulthood to play top-quality cricket, there’s little hope for the youth of today to play the game seriously for long. If he or she is good enough there might be a spot on the regional or national team, if they can afford to pay for their own training, get time off from work and raise the money raised to travel.
Unlike top cricketing nations around the world, the young American cricketer who hopes to play professionally has little to which to look forward.
This is why many children of cricket-playing fathers turn their backs on the game, or simply drift away in their teen years. The tragedy is that without the large numbers needed to create and support a cricket infrastructure in this country, we even lose the children we thought were ours alone. Many of them never even consider cricket to begin with, electing to play baseball, soccer or some other sport that can dangle a more promising future in front of them.
And herein lies the mortal threat to youth cricket.
It is to be expected that those who played cricket in their youth will want to play the game here, and this is borne out in the growing adult leagues around the nation. When these new Americans have children, it may also be expected that they will raise their children to have at least a passing interest in cricket, and this is borne out in the faces of those who attend our academies, camps and clinics.
The frightening reality we must face is that the incredibly large numbers of immigrants from cricket-playing nations cannot continue forever (especially when it is so intertwined with the fortunes of one industry), and therefore cannot be depended upon as a permanent stream of cricket followers and players. If the children of these “first-generation” families are allowed to be lost to cricket, they will not be easy to replace in the short term, and perhaps impossible in the long term.
It is a foolish to believe that there is a way to preserve cricket in America without quickly making it an American sport. We need the participation, attention, and yes, the cash flow, of a sizeable percentage of the population to maintain cricket as a viable sport in this country (certainly far larger than 5%). If cricket does not quickly (5-10 years) become a popular option for American children, if this window of opportunity is inadequate to break cricket out of its niche status – then the game is up.
But there’s hope – and opportunity.
If all of these cricket-coaching organizations have one thing in common, it’s that almost all of the participants in these programs came to them with some knowledge about cricket. It would be unnatural otherwise. To expect a parent to pay for coaching in a sport with which their children were unfamiliar would be unrealistic.
 That’s why the task of introducing children to cricket for the first time must necessarily be shifted elsewhere, which is where the United States Youth Cricket Association (USYCA) comes in.
Pic (Right): On April 8th, Washington Warriors CC, a USYCA affiliate, presents a free cricket kit to Langston Hughes Middle School and South Lakes High School, both in Reston, VA.
USYCA brings cricket where it has not been in America for over a hundred years – the general public. By donating cricket sets to cash-strapped schools, and usually arranging for a local cricket enthusiast to deliver training, children across America are being exposed to the game, and are embracing it.
By the time schools reopen this August, over 750 US schools will have received USYCA American Cricket Champ sets, raising the number of students impacted to over 500,000. These are the kinds of numbers youth academies need to have if they are going to change the future of cricket in America.
To imagine the impact of bringing cricket to the broader US population, imagine a factory production line where 95% of the raw materials were lost before they ever got to the factory floor. Rather than operating at full capacity, the factory would be producing only at 5% efficiency – a disaster that would soon drive most companies out of business.
But let’s say that this particular factory adapted and learned to get by (barely) on the 5%, until one day the flaw in the delivery system was corrected, and suddenly the percentage of raw materials began to rise, first to 10%, then 25% and then 50% and beyond.
This factory would now find itself in the enviable position of having honed its craft throughout many lean years only to find itself newly blessed with resources aplenty. The factory would need to staff up to handle the new workload, and its operators would find themselves talking about growth and expansion, rather than cutbacks and sacrifice. Both the quality and quantity of the factory’s products would soar, as would its customers’ satisfaction.
This, then, is the tremendous opportunity for youth cricket in America.
 If the USYCA Schools Program can be adequately supported, the impact will soon be felt at every academy, camp and training facility in the country. Clinics that struggled to find 50 children will be forced to add additional dates to their calendars to handle the demand. Academy operators will run their businesses full time. Cricketers who had always wanted to go into coaching would find themselves being courted and offered top dollar – to do the thing they love.
Pic (Right): Do you want to get involved with youth cricket? The moment of opportunity is now! Click here to join the USYCA movement.
If, on the other hand, we refuse to invest in the provision of “raw materials,” if we just keep hoping that “someone else will do it,” progress will be slowed or perhaps even thwarted altogether.
In the past decade, the stars have aligned for cricket in America. But this window of opportunity, which seems so wide open now, cannot remain so forever.
We have but this brief moment in time to make America a cricketing nation. If we delay, if we assume that others will take up the slack for us, all will soon be lost and cricket in the United States will slide back to its previous resting place, as just another footnote in American sports history.
The future of cricket in the United States is being written today. If you’re interested in being one of its authors, get involved now, before the moment is lost forever.
[The author is the Founder and President of USYCA. All pictures appear here courtesy of USYCA.]
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This is Nottingham (thisisnottingham.co.uk) noted the arrival of USA cricketers - Adrian Gordon and Muhammad Ghous, with moderate curiosity and great enthusiasm.
About Gordon, the website noted: "The other bowlers race in with the fluid, textbook action of young men who have had coaching, and plenty of it, since they were young boys. Adrian steams in like a man who's just overheard the batsman saying something untoward about his mother. His action is less about honed fluidity, more about barely contained aggression."
Muhammad Ghous is quoted as saying: "This is a place we wanted to be," Muhammad said. "[The US] should send more junior guys." That, plus more full-time coaching and a developmental framework, should make a difference.
Here is the full link:
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/American-cricketers-come-Notts-train/article-3483305-detail/article.html
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By Conroy Reid
Regional U19 player, Kweise Edmondson, slammed his maiden century in
leading Metropolitan CC (2-0) to an impressive victory over Nashville
(0-1) during the second round of the GSCL season. Edmondson’s ton
followed up his equally impressive 82 in the opening round last week in
a nail biter, as MCC edged International CC.
The young talented batsman now seems to have blossomed into a
formidable force, fulfilling some of the early promising signs he
displayed at the U15 level. The exclamation point of his innings was a
towering six that sailed out of the grounds, as he moved from 95 to 101
to complete his hundred and end the game.
Scores: Nashville 163 all out; Dass 52, E. Burnett 29, Wade 2 for 19; MCC 169 for 4; Edmondson 101 n.o, Mascoll 26.
In other games:
 At
Mark Trail – Defending champs, Vibes Sports Club blazed their way to a
2-0 start with an emphatic 9 wicket win over ICC. Set the meager target
of 98 for victory, after McFarlane (4 for 20) and Thomas (3 for 15) had
wrecked ICC, Vibes, led by Jowayne Powell’s 72 n.o, blasted their way
home in just 7 overs.
At Burdett Park – UBACCC with new additions – Ken Wright and Mark
Mumby – strolled over CHCC by 62 runs to also move to 2-0. Taylor with
71, and Lawrence with 57 led the way as UBA racked up 224 for 5 off the
allotted 40 overs. CHCC, 162 all out, came up short.
Pic (Right): Anthony Graham got 3 for 20
At Lithonia Park – A blistering century opening stand between Lindo
and James led Tropical to an easy 9 wicket victory over Wanderers CC.
Batting first, Wanderers, with Plummer top scoring with 28, were
restricted to 129 all out, being held in check by Slocombe (3 for 19)
and Graham (3 for 20). Lindo (60 n.o) and James (40) then made quick
work of the target as Tropical moved to 2-0. Wanderers fell to 0-2.
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By Sam Sooppersaud
It was the Clash of the Titans! The 2010 PSAL Champions, William
Bryant, doing battle with the 2008 and 2009 Champions, Newcomers Lions.
Nothing less was expected but a slugfest, and a slugfest we had.
It
was a feast for the batsmen, as they bombarded the offerings of the
bowlers with sixes and fours to all parts of the ground and over the
fences. The warzone was The Cage (cricket field) in Richmond Hill, New
York. The battle was fought on Friday, April 15, 2011.
At
the start of the game when Newcomers won the toss and decided to take
first strike, it appeared that the bowlers would dominate the contest.
Even when Bryant came in to bat, the bowlers took the upperhand
immediately. But the bowlers rendezvous with success was short lived as
the batsmen thrashed whatever was offered, send red missles flying over
the fence unto Foch Boulevard or crashing unto the fences around the
field.
 Pic (Right): Newcomers Lions made 173, which was not enough to defeat William Bryant, the 2010 champions.
It
was the Newcomers big hitters who first set up the tempo. Then Bryant
at their bat took up where the Newcomers boys left off. It was an
awsome and exciting display of power hitting that anyone would ever see
in a Twenty20 game.
The wicket at The Cage has a history of
being a batsman's paradise and it lived up to its reputation in this
game. Newcomers won the toss and Skipper Gazi Rahman decided to take
first strike. The Bryant bowlers were not deterred by the fact that the
wicket favors the batsmen. They set upon the opposing batsmen with a
purpose. They immediately seized the advantage as they sent back four
(4) batsmen to the showers in the space of seven (7) overs and with
only thirty-three (33) runs on the books. Bryant was definitely on top
and they pressed on.
Then walked in power hitter Mahbubul Chowdhury, and how quickly fortunes changed!
A little refresher. It was Chowdhury who brought back his team from the brink of disaster when Newcomers won their last PSAL championship
in 2009. They were batting at 57 runs for 6 wickets with 3 overs left.
Within the next 9 balls that he faced he clobbered 33 runs and gave his
team a somewhat respectable total, which eventually they were able to
defend.
Now, back to the Bryant-Newcomers game. Chowdhury
set the tone for his assault on the hapless bowlers by sending the
first ball he faced over the long on boundary onto Foch Boulevard. He
did not let up but continued his massacre of anything red that came his
way. By the time he was bowled with one (1) ball to go in the innings
he had amassed ninety (90) runs which included nine (9) 6's and six (6)
4's. Indeed, a dominant performance. He was ably supported by Skipper
Rahman who scored 24 runs. Chowdhury scored 76 runs out of a 5th wicket
partnership of 90 runs. The Newcomers innings closed at 173 runs for
the loss of 8 wickets.
The Bryant batsmen took up where the
Newcomers batsmen left off. They lost a wicket in the second over with
the score on 7 runs. But the celebrations of the Newcomers players and
supporters were short lived as Newcomers did not claim another Bryant
wicket until the score was 158 runs. The second wicket pair of Hasis
Ahmed and Syed Hussein decimated the Newcomers bowling attack to the
tune of 151 runs.
Together they put on a fireworks display for the players and few spectators who were cheering each lofty drive for a 6 or a 4.
Haseeb
was eventually caught for 41 runs, but by this time Bryant were well on
their way to victory road. Saeed brought the spoils home by deservedly
hitting the winning run; and he made a hard hitting 70 runs Not Out.
With this winning run on the board the Bryant players and supporters
exploded onto the cricket field in jubilant celebrations and they
certainly earned that exuberance. Needless to sat the Newcomers boys
were disappointed and dejected. They felt that they had a larghe enough
score which they could defend but their bowlers let them down, along
with some superb batting by the Bryant batsmen.
This is the
beauty and uncertainty of Twenty20 cricket. No score is safe from the
onslaught of opposing batsmen. The PSAL invites cricket lovers to come
out and watch the youngsters in action. They are our cricket future.
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By Peter Della Penna
The opening of the Swinging Away exhibit on Sunday at the
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., provided
an opportunity for many sports enthusiasts to see and learn about the
history of the two sports side by side. For many visitors it was their
first encounter with the sport of cricket. Hopefully, it will not be the
last one though for several families who got more than they bargained
for upon making their way up to the third floor for the exhibit.
“I’d love to go see a full game actually,” said 45-year-old Karen
Knights of Raymond, Maine. Knights was with her husband Rodney and
13-year-old daughter Megan on a day out to discover baseball history
when they came across the Swinging Away display. The entire family was quite intrigued by the differences between baseball and cricket.
“The size of the field is so strange,” said Karen. “It’s a circular
field. I guess that’s a pretty big difference in my mind and where all
the outfielders stand. They stand all around you it seems like. It seems
really different.”
“It looks like it takes a lot of skill to play watching it on the
screen,” said Rodney. Part of the exhibit features a television screen
that plays about three minutes worth of diving stops, great fielding and
home runs from baseball followed by an equal length loop of cricket
highlights. The cricket portion begins with a pair of Paul Collingwood
one-handed leaping grabs at backward point. The Angelo Mathews catch and
flick back before going over the boundary is featured as well as
Tillakaratne Dilshan scooping a six past fine leg.
The montage ends with Shane Warne’s theatrical dismissal of Andrew
Strauss in the second Ashes Test at Edgbaston in 2005, when Strauss
walked across his stumps and was bowled behind his legs. “I didn’t fully
understand it until I saw it on the screen,” said Rodney. “Once I saw
that, it looked like it takes a lot of skill to be able to hit it.”
“The biggest thing
to me was that the batter is not as much up there to try to hit the
ball as he is to protect the wicket and hitting the ball is just a
byproduct of him protecting that wicket. That was the biggest thing I
learned, he’s guarding that and he has to hit the ball out of the field
and then when he does, okay now I can run and get some points.”
Image (right) - Rodney, Megan and Karen (l-r) Knights learn about
cricket equipment from a hands on display at the opening of Swinging
Away. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]
“[It’s] more of a defensive game I think,” said Karen, before Rodney
countered his wife’s argument by noting that “300 runs doesn’t sound
like a defensive game.”
For the Prushan family of Bryn Mawr, Pa., they were familiar with the
fact that cricket was in their neighborhood, but for different reasons.
“I’ve been to Merion Cricket Club, but to play tennis, not to play
cricket,” said Alan Prushan. “When I went to school in D.C., you would
see them playing, not on the mall, but on the fields adjacent to the
monuments.”
One of Alan’s two teenage sons, 17-year-old Joel, said that he never
felt like he has had to learn sports growing up in America. Instead, he
feels that he has absorbed them over time, much different to the
experience he had at the Baseball Hall of Fame while encountering
cricket. He felt the Swinging Away exhibit taught him a lot in a short span without confusing him.
“With American sports, no one teaches you about the sport,” said
Joel. “You kind of gradually pick it up from watching it with your
family. You just kind of know over time. No one ever has to teach you a
sport, but with this we really don’t know anything so we’re getting hit
with all this information at once but once you pick it apart it’s
actually really easy to understand and you actually know much more about
the game than when you walked in.”
“I’m looking forward to going to Haverford and watching a match now
because this has kind of intrigued me,” said Joel’s mom Carol. The
family got to meet the Haverford College team, who were invited guests
at the Hall of Fame for the ribbon cutting. Bryn Mawr is a short
distance from Haverford and she wouldn’t mind getting behind a local
team now that she knows they exist. “It’s kind of given me a taste and I
wanna go see them actually play and what it really is about.”
The appeal of cricket was evident for younger families too. Lynn and
Sean Flansburg of Rotterdam, N.Y., have an annual membership at the
Baseball Hall of Fame and brought their six-year-old daughter Zoey and
three-year-old son Alec to Cooperstown on Sunday specifically for the
opening of Swinging Away.
 “When
we renewed our Hall of Fame membership, one of the things they do is
send us magazines and it talked about this upcoming exhibit,” said Lynn
Flansburg. “We were actually supposed to come yesterday but the exhibit
didn’t open until today so we held out to come today so we could show
our kids the difference, something new and exciting.”
Image (left) - Haverford College sophomore Matt Smith shows
three-year-old Alec Flansburg how to hold a cricket bat inside the
Learning Center at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
[Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]
The kids got to put bat on ball during the interactive session in the
Hall of Fame Learning Center session with the Haverford team on opening
day. Both parents were having a hard time getting the bat out of
three-year-old Alec’s hands while Zoey was having a good time trying to
be a wicketkeeper. Part of the Swinging Away exhibit displays a
jersey worn by former England women’s captain Charlotte Edwards,
something which appeared to inspire Zoey to get more involved as the day
wore on.
“My daughter just asked, because we saw there’s a cricketer outfit
for a girl that was in there, she’s like, ‘I see a girl in here so I
know a girl can play it somewhere so you need to find out where.’ So I
guess I would Google it and see if there’s anything in our area,” said
Flansburg. “She saw that girls can play it so now she wants to know
where we can go so that she can learn to play it.”
While the opportunity to meet, greet and play cricket with the
Haverford team was limited to the opening day festivities, Flansburg
says that the overall nature of the exhibit is one of the reasons she
and her husband keep coming back to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“We’ve had a great time. I think my kids have had fun,” said
Flansburg. “Seeing that we’ve come here a number of times, it’s nice to
see a new exhibit in the Hall of Fame. It’s not just one small room.
There’s actually quite a bit of stuff.”
Swinging Away will be at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum until February 2012. For more info, visit www.baseballhall.org.
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By Partab Ramchand
Among all visiting captains who have toured India Gerry Alexander
who passed away a couple of days ago is remembered with affection even
though it is over 50 years since his West Indian steamrollered India
into submission becoming the first touring side to win three Tests in a
row. The Indian team then was beset with chaos, there were
stories of disunity and jaundiced selections, as many as 24 cricketers
played for India in the series and there were four captains in the five
Tests. Under the circumstances the West Indies winning the series 3-0
and coming within an hour of making it 4-0 may not be a surprise. All
the same it is worth recalling that when the series started they were
given little chance of doing well in the contest, let alone winning it.
For the first time in a decade the visitors were without any of three
W’s and even though they had young stars in Gary Sobers, Rohan Kanhai,
Conrad Hunte and Basil Butcher along with the experience of Jack Holt
and Sonny Ramadhin the Indians on paper looked the stronger team with
the line-up consisting of Ghulam Ahmed, Subash Gupte, Vinoo Mankad,
Polly Umrigar, Vijay Manjrekar, Gulabrai Ramchand, Pankaj Roy and Nari
Contractor. What could not be foreseen – other than the disunity
and the chaos in the Indian ranks thanks largely to off the field
machinations – was the fact that the West Indies possessed two really
hostile fast bowlers in Roy Gilchrist and Wesley Hall. Aware of the
Indians’ discomfort against pace Alexander used the two fast bowlers
judiciously resorting to spin only as a change option. The fast men
responded admirably with Hall taking 30 wickets in five games and
Gilchrist 26 in four and the series was wrapped up comfortably. Alexander
is remembered not only for his shrewd captaincy but the forthright
manner in which he dealt with Gilchrist’s indiscipline. It was during
that tour that the fearsome pace bowler played his last Test thanks to
Alexander sending him back home after he sent down beamers to Swaranjit
Singh the North Zone captain in the last match of the tour. It was a
simmering situation that came to boil and the temperamental Gilchrist
was asking for trouble following several cases of misbehaviour – to put
it mildly - on the tour. Gilchrist was a law unto himself and it
required a strong captain like Alexander to deal with him firmly. His
role as a victorious and no-nonsense captain overshadowed Alexander’s
double playing role as brilliant wicket keeper and courageous lower
order batsman. In the second Test at Kanpur it was the skipper who
rescued the team on the opening day after Gupte’s guiles had brought
them down to their knees. The master leg spinner had taken all six
wickets as West Indies slumped to 88 for six before Alexander played
the rescue act to perfection with a timely 70. Such was the impact that
the West Indies recovered to win the Test by 203 runs – the first of
the three successive wins. I was just a pre-teen cricket crazy
fan when all this happened in 1958-59 but on the tour of 1974-75 I had
the good fortune to meet up with Alexander who came as manager of yet
another victorious West Indian side. I interviewed him for the
newspaper I then worked with and found him to be polite and erudite and
his English was perfect as one who had studied at Cambridge in the
early fifties. He was not a reporter’s dream in the sense that he did
not readily give information but would make sure his replies were
succinct. He was always available for comments and made sure that the
interviewer went away happy. Alexander’s deeds as captain and his
feats as a wicket keeper and batsman have been well chronicled. He
first led West Indies after playing in just two Tests and ended his
international career giving full support to Frank Worrell his successor
captaining West Indies in 18 of his 25 Tests. His prominent role in the
Brisbane tied Test as well as the magical 1960-61 series between West
Indies and Australia – arguably the greatest contest of all – has been
well documented and in his various roles the polished gentleman
cricketer takes his place as among the finest West Indian ambassadors
in the game.
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By Peter Della Penna
A rainy day couldn’t dampen the spirits of sports enthusiasts making
the pilgrimage to upstate New York on Sunday for the opening of Swinging Away: How Cricket and Baseball Connect
at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.
The exhibit ran from May through December 2010 at the MCC Museum at
Lord’s before being shifted to Cooperstown where it debuted over the
weekend and will run until February 2012.
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum President Jeff Idelson,
Senior Director of Exhibits and Collections Erik Strohl, and Senior
Curator Tom Shieber had the honor of cutting the ribbon to open up the
exhibit. Schieber played a major role in organizing the exhibit to come
to Cooperstown and says it was the desire to learn more about the
history of baseball that turned him into a cricket aficionado many years
ago.
“I’ve always
been interested in baseball history,” said Shieber. “I got to
researching 19th century baseball and in so doing, I kept on bumping
into references to cricket in the mid 19th century in America. I finally
figured out I’m gonna have to learn this sport if I’m gonna really
understand baseball.”
Image - (From left to right) Tom Shieber, Jeff Idelson and Erik
Strohl cut the ribbon to officially open the exhibit. [Courtesy: Peter
Della Penna/DreamCricket]
“Not only did I learn cricket and really love the sport because it’s a
great sport, but also then it allowed me to better understand cricket
in the 19th century. Quite frankly if anyone wants to understand the
beginnings of baseball and how baseball evolved during the 19th century
to the sport that it is today, you’ve got to really understand cricket
and specifically 19th century cricket. That was really critical to my
understanding of baseball, was my understanding of cricket.”
At the entrance to the exhibit on the third floor, museum visitors
had the opportunity to enhance their understanding of cricket with a
“Hands-On History Cart” which included bats, balls, and batting gloves
from both baseball and cricket, as well as a baseball mitt and
wicketkeeping gloves laid out for fans to pick up and try on.
 Despite
not knowing much about cricket previously, museum employee Emily Voss
stepped up to be the person in charge of explaining all about the sport
to the fans making their way to the cart and displayed the knowledge of a
seasoned cricket veteran.
Image (left) - A young Yankees fan wields the willow in front of
the hands on display cart. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]
“I actually think it’s really fun and I thought it was really
interesting to watch the video when we were going through the training,”
said Voss. “I would actually like to watch a full game sometime in
person and just see how it all plays out over the course of a full day
or longer than that.” For anyone who came up to the cart, Voss was eager
to answer any questions about the rules of cricket, but says she spent
much of her time emphasizing the basic differences in strategy between
the two sports based on the shape of the bats.
“The thing that they usually notice most is the difference between
the bats,” said Voss. “Obviously very different bat shape, very
different bat style, so the thing I’m really trying to drive home with
them is that in baseball, the batter’s job is to be the offense and in
cricket, the batter’s job is to really be more of a defender of the
wicket. The style of the bat and the shape of the bat is dictated by the
role in the game.”
The only NCAA varsity cricket team in America, Haverford College, was
also part of the festivities. Sophomore Matt Smith of Doylestown, Pa.,
led a one-hour session in The Bullpen Theater about the history of
cricket at Haverford, which included a Q & A between museum visitors
and the rest of the team.
After the history lesson, the Haverford team went into the Hall of
Fame Learning Center to put on cricket demonstrations. Museum visitors
of all ages got to try their hand at batting while a few of the braver
ones put on gloves to try their hand at wicketkeeping. Haverford captain
Thomas Leonard, a sophomore originally from Kolkata, said it was a
great honor for Haverford to take part in the day and hopes that the
exhibit will foster more appreciation for the game.
Image (above) - Haverford College captain Thomas Leonard talks
about cricket inside the Hall of Fame Learning Center with 17-year-old
museum visitor Joel Prushan of Bryn Mawr, Pa. [Courtesy: Peter Della
Penna/DreamCricket]
“I think it’s a great honor for Haverford to be invited here and I
think it’s a great honor as well for the college to be recognized for
its role in cricket,” said Leonard. “I think it’s great to have the
combination of cricket and baseball in together. I think it will be a
great benefit to different viewers in both the different sports to be
able to appreciate them respectively.”
Shieber hopes that fans will get to learn a lot about baseball
through cricket because of the exhibit. He also hopes that seeing the
two sports side by side will help break down some of misconceptions
about cricket and make the game easier to understand for baseball fans.
“The thing I’m really excited about is that it brings an
understanding of these two sports, not one, not about cricket, it’s
about baseball and cricket, and that understanding to an audience that
is very baseball familiar and very not familiar with cricket,” said
Shieber. “I really hope that by learning about the commonalities between
the sports, their shared history, the people who are familiar with
baseball, it’s like baseball is holding your hand as you learn about
cricket, but also as you learn about what’s in common with the sports.
Actually what’s really neat is after you learn what’s in common, you get
to see these amazing contrasts you wouldn’t think of. I’m just excited
about the possibilities of people learning something new and hopefully
taking a little bit of the mystery off of cricket.”
For more information about Swinging Away and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, visit www.baseballhall.org.
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The composition of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will be reconsidered by the Executive Board during the ICC Annual Conference in Hong Kong in June 2011. ICC's decision on April 4, 2011, to allow only Full Members to participate in the 2015 World Cup was met with full-throated protests from the associates and affiliates and the latest announcement by ICC gives hope to countries such as Ireland and Afghanistan.
Today's announcement by ICC confirms recent media reports suggesting that ICC was under pressure to review the decision. On April 9, 2011, PTI, quoting a confidential source, reported that the format for the 2015 World Cup 'could still be debated and discussed at future ICC meetings.'
According to the ICC media release, ICC President Mr Sharad Pawar has decided to request the Board to revisit the issue. Mr Pawar is quoted as saying: "I have given this matter further serious thought and will request the Board to consider this topic once more. I can understand the views of the Associates and Affiliates and ICC will seek to deal with this issue in the best way possible."
The April 4 decision by ICC was seen by analysts as a way to protect the weaker full member teams. Recent media reports have suggested that Bangladesh and Zimbabwe were in favor of a 10 team format as they were not comfortable with a situation where they would be forced to compete with associate teams.
An expanded format might help usher in a meritocracy creating a healthy competition among those countries that are viewed as strong contenders for the top 12 slots. USA's chances for qualification during 2015 are slim and the team's next chance of improving on their present ranking of 26 is not until 2012.
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By Ricardo Inniss  Timothy
Nicholas Surujbally was born on May 26th 1984 in the San Fernando
Hospital and grew up in Princes Town, Trinidad & Tobago (T&T),
the land of the humming bird and calypso. The dashing right-handed
batsman and right-arm off-spinner was nurtured at an early age at a
coaching clinic from Under-10 level. His friend from that clinic was
the back-of-the-arm left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed, who later went to
represent the West Indies.
Timothy later played for the South East and was also captain at Under-13, 15, 17 and 19 levels, rubbing shoulders with the likes of
Dwayne Bravo, the Ganga brothers - Daren and Sherwin, Denesh Ramdin,
Kieron Pollard, Adrian Barath and Ravi Rampaul, all of whom went on to
represent the West Indies team. Timothy also played with national
players William Perkins and Samuel Badree. Timmy, as he is familiarly known by his peers, played club cricket in T&T, first for Wanderers, with Gus Logie as coach before moving to Powergen Cricket Club, where his coach was David Williams, the Windies assistant coach.
Timmy represented Trinidad at senior level against a Tobago XI, in a
Fruta-20/20 match, in which he was named Man-of-the-Match after scoring
77. In 2006 Timmy was recruited to play for a club in New York
called Real Challengers, where he hit his highest score to date 175
against Golden Arrow Cricket Club. In 2007, Timmy migrated to Miami,
where he met and married his current wife Nadia. Having settled in
Miami, he started playing for International Club in the South Florida Cricket Alliance (SFCA) Premier Zone Division l. In 2010, Timmy was named “Cricketer of the Year.” The
prolific batting allrounder, who favors the straight drive and cover
drive but hooks and pulls savagely when on the go, has scored eight (8)
centuries so far, in the USA. His favoritebatsman to watch, is Brian Charles Lara.
When not playing cricket, he likes going to church and telling people about the love of Christ. His favorite music is Gospel and Reggae Gospel, along with some soft and slow stuff. When asked by DreamCricket.com what his aspirations are, the very soft spoken and quiet Timothy Surujbally replied, “before coming to the US, my dream was to play for the West Indies, but now I’m aspiring to play for the USA.” Equipped with the appropriate cricketing credentials, Timmy has an attractive array of strokes on either side of the wicket. He can
produce tidy off-spin and is an excellent slip fielder. Timmy was
recently at the helm when T&T won the 2011 MAQ T20 championship and
was named captain of an SFCA XI, to come up against Jamaica on Easter
Sunday.
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By Peter Della Penna
Muhammad Ghous and Adrian Gordon, both of whom made their debuts for
USA’s senior team in 2010, arrived in the UK on April 6 to spend one
month training with Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, the reigning
champions of the English County four-day competition. The opportunity
was arranged by ICC Americas Performance Officer Andy Pick, who wanted
to provide a chance for players within the Americas region to enhance
their skills in a professional atmosphere.
“Knowing County Cricket, I know this time of year when the season’s
starting, you can never have enough bowlers for your net practice,” said
Pick, who played 15 seasons of County Cricket with Nottinghamshire,
taking 495 first class wickets and 242 List A wickets. He also
previously served as Bowling Coach for Nottinghamshire before working in
his current role with ICC Americas and still has strong ties with his
former county.
“The head coach at Notts is a good friend of mine, a guy I grew up
with and played with. I just asked him at Christmas if I could get some
talented bowlers who were good enough, would he be able to give them an
opportunity at Notts to join in with the preseason and practice with the
professionals and be part of the setup for a month or so to immerse
themselves in cricket and learn as much as they could.”
Notts  head
coach Mick Newell agreed to the proposal. Pick then scanned the player
options in the USA before deciding on Ghous and Gordon.
“I selected Ghous and Adrian Gordon, based mainly on what I’d seen in
Italy last year with Adrian especially and knowing Ghous is obviously
is one of the better young spinners,” said Pick.
Image (right) - Muhammad Ghous in action at the 2010 U-19 World Cup in Australia. [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]
USACA then agreed to help out funding the initiative by covering the
players’ flights and accommodation, easing the burden for the pair of
college students.
“I’m really pleased USA Cricket has come up and found the money and
they’ve invested in two of their young players to give them this
opportunity to develop,” said Pick.
Notts has a host of players with international experience currently
on their roster, including captain Chris Read, New Zealander Andre
Adams, Australian Adam Voges, Samit Patel, Darren Pattinson, Stuart
Broad and Graeme Swann. Notts County also has a Test venue, Trent
Bridge, as their home facility. Pick is hoping Ghous and Gordon will
soak up as much as possible from the resources at their disposal.
“I went in [April 8] and they were practicing on the actual square at
Trent Bridge and having a bat and a bowl at Trent Bridge and I know
that they practiced with the first team on a couple of occasions,” said
Pick. “Hopefully they’re picking the brains of these top quality
players, some international Test players and people like that, being
around them, mixing with them and just seeing their professional
approach to cricket whether it’s fielding, fitness, net practice,
whatever it might be. It’s just an opportunity for them to pick up
information and to use it to their advantage as they develop as
players.”
Pick used
an off day that Notts had to take Ghous and Gordon on a 45-minute drive
south to have a training session with Leicestershire and says that both
players have helped to improve the reputation of cricket in the USA
with the skills they’ve demonstrated in front of both county squads.
Image (left) - Adrian Gordon in action at ICC WCL Division Four
in Italy. Pick said the performances he witnessed of Gordon in Italy
influenced his decision to select the fast bowler for a chance to train
with Nottinghamshire. [Courtesy: ICC]
“I know the coaching staff there pretty well as well and Notts didn’t
have a practice on that particular day so I arranged to take them
across to Leicester so we went across to Leicestershire and they
practiced at Grace Road,” said Pick. “It’s been good. I think both sets
of coaching staff have been impressed with what they’ve seen. In
England, you talk about cricket in the USA and people have a perception
of it. Nobody really knows what the standard of cricket is like
certainly in the Americas. I think these two guys have given people a
little bit of a surprise with their abilities.”
Pick is trying to organize similar opportunities for other players in
the Americas, including players from Canada and Bermuda, and hopes that
this endeavor will become a regular occurrence.
“It’s an opportunity I’d like to see some of the best young bowlers
in the region make use of,” said Pick. “It’s a regional project. It’s a
regional opportunity. If the bowlers are of a standard that they’re
going to be able to contribute when they go over there, I’d like to see
it be an ongoing thing.”
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Former T&T women’s footballer Nadia Gruny is now making a name
for herself playing cricket for the United States women’s cricket
team. Tobago-born Nadia Gruny, who turns 27 on April 23,
was part of the T&T Under-17 women’s team in 2001, before moving to the US on a football
scholarship. She finished her Bachelor of Science in Marketing at South Carolina
State University and has a Masters in Sports Business Management from the University of Central Florida.
Gruny was part of the team which
defeated Canada and she is looking forward to the Women’s Global World Cup
qualifiers in Bangladesh set for November. Here is a link to the complete article in The Guardian.
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By Peter Della Penna
“Remember to protect the wickets,” Vinny Romano told his players in
the John Bowne team huddle right before they went out to bat in a New
York PSAL match for the first time. “I don’t want any of you guys going
out there trying to swing for fours and sixes early on.”
The 60-year-old Romano has coached golf, volleyball and wrestling in
his many years at John Bowne High School in the Flushing section of
Queens, but this year he’s taking on a new role to help support a group
of students desperate to play cricket.
“I never ever thought in this country I’d be able to do this,” said
Tenille Rajkumarsingh, who came to America when she was 12 and is the
only female playing for John Bowne. “I used to play in Trinidad for my
school and I came here and they didn’t have cricket. So when I found out
they had cricket in my senior year, I got excited.”
Image (above) - Coach Vinny Romano (center), gives his John Bowne
team some motivation and final instructions before they went out to bat
for the first time against Bronx High School of Science. [Courtesy:
Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]
John Bowne played its first ever match on Monday afternoon against
Bronx High School of Science to start the fourth season of cricket in
the PSAL. There was overwhelming interest at the school for several
years and the students had support from the school’s athletic director
but still had to overcome some obstacles to get registered as a varsity
sport.
“I said okay if you really want a team, I need to see the interest, I
need you to get students to sign up so they went and did that,” said
Desiree Alloggiamento, the athletic director at John Bowne. “They had
gotten a list of about 25 students, first names, last names, ID numbers.
They were really serious. I asked them what experience they had and
they said they’ve all played before. They came to me almost every single
day and wanted to know ‘Are we getting a team?’ So it’s really because
of the students.”
“My principal and I discussed it. We requested a team with the PSAL.
We were told that we actually were rejected at first due to financial
reasons on the PSAL’s behalf. So the students were disappointed.” But
after William Grady High School dropped the sport for 2011, it opened
the door for John Bowne to take their place.
“Then the PSAL called us and said that we were able to get in the
league and would you want to still do it,” said Alloggiamento. “I said
absolutely because these kids like I said they were coming to me all the
time.”
“They’ve given me a lot of support, the school principal, the
athletic director,” said Romano. “In less than a month’s time, I had to
recruit players, buy uniforms, buy equipment, get equipment sent. They
gave me great practice space ahead of other teams, I hate to say it,
because we’re a new sport and they wanted it to get off the ground.
Whatever I needed, they just said go spend it and you’ll be reimbursed.”
The  John
Bowne team arrived early at Kissena Park in Queens on Monday afternoon,
champing at the bit to get on the field. Bronx HS of Science didn’t
arrive until 30 minutes after the scheduled 4 p.m. start time but the
match finally got underway with John Bowne getting good contributions
from Vish Pathania with 32 at number three as well as Hammad Hussain
scoring 35 not out at number nine, including the first six in John
Bowne’s history in the 18th over. They finished at 148 for 9 after 20
overs.
Image (right) - Hammad Hussain (13), hits a delivery through
midwicket on his way to top score with 35 not out for John Bowne.
[Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]
Due to the late start, the second innings didn’t begin until after 7
p.m., so it was near certain that the final result was going to be
determined by run rate once darkness set in. Bronx HS of Science had
trouble scoring off the bat, but the John Bowne bowlers made the game
close with the amount of wides conceded, 29 in eight overs before the
match was called. However, two tidy overs from Ritvik Iyer sealed the
match for John Bowne. He came on as the fifth bowler to be used, but
took 4 for 11 in his two overs of seam bowling to pin Bronx HS of
Science back at 53 for 5 when the match was called and John Bowne was
declared the winner after finishing with a better run rate.
“It feels good,” said Ali Shahbaz, John Bowne’s captain. Shahbaz and
his teammates didn’t know what to expect prior to the first game, but
have been filled with tremendous optimism seeing how it all went. “We
thought that we weren’t gonna win because Bronx High School’s been
playing for three years. Now since we have a win, this was like a
practice match for us. We want to go ahead and not lose any games at
all. We want to make it to the finals.”
Coach Romano was equally nervous before the day started, but gained some insight from his team’s first outing.
“I just didn’t want to embarrass myself,” said a smiling Romano at
the end of the day. “I could judge by baseball skills and similar skills
that cricket has with other sports, but I never watched anybody else
play cricket so I didn’t know what to expect from our kids. I’m very
happy they produced.”
After only one match, Romano has seen the influence that having cricket established at John Bowne can have on the community.
“Because I’m also a Coordinator of Student Activities, I hope the
student participation at all activities in the school increases. I think
by getting different ethnic communities involved in different sports,
that would only help the school to better itself,” said Romano. “I think
it would be a valuable attraction for a lot of the communities. One of
the gentleman I saw who was watching the game today, he told me, ‘I was
thinking about sending my kids to John Bowne, but now that they have a
cricket team, I’m definitely going to send them to John Bowne’ because
he lives right in the neighborhood.”
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