By Conroy A. Reid

Filled with intrigue and with great anticipation, the GSCL bowled off the 2009 season on Sunday with four games, all played on immaculately prepared fields and under glorious sunny 750F and slight breeze conditions. Intrigue surrounded the off-season acquisition and movement of players, and how the new-look teams would perform.

USACA national coach Clayton Lambert returned to lead McNair Lions, and was joined by former West Indies wicket-keeper batsman Junior Murray who played for Vibes last year. US national player Dave Wallace would open the innings for a Vibes team that now included former Jamaica representative Fredrick Redwood. Leon Garrick who had a brief stint with the West Indies test team joined UBA which is now led by former Tropical wicketkeeper Errol Brown. Andre Hooper left Vibes to lead MCC and was joined by Adsyl Hutson – former Vibes captain, along with the Burnett brothers who previously played for Nashville.

With its new status as a member of USACA in the South East Region, it was highly anticipated that the GSCL would focus more on harnessing and showcasing the talent in the league to become a viable participant is US cricket. The expansion to nine teams – Georgia Southern University was accepted for 2009-, the influx of new players, and the addition of two more playing fields is indeed expected to support the efforts. And for all of this, the spectators came out in droves.

The day was punctuated with some splendid batting performances as bowlers all around were taken to the sword : Oriel Mascoll slammed his maiden hundred and the season’s first in MCCs loss against UBA which had half centuries from Mumby and Tulloch; Junior Murray scored a brilliant 100 n.o in leading McNair Lions to narrow victory over CSC; Redwood and Wallace introduced themselves to the league by scoring 96 and 62 respectively as Vibes won on a canter over Nashville; Al Givance had a fine knock of 63 n.o to lead Tropical in an easy victory over Stone Mountain. Bowling performance of the day went to Ryan Wong of Tropical with 7-2-17-4.

First Round Results:

At Lithonia Park: Vibes, 322for 8, slammed Nashville, 169. Newcomers Dave Wallace and Fredrick Redwood spanked Nashville’s bowling to lead Vibes to a 153 run victory in the opener for the defending champs. Electing to bat after winning the toss, Vibes opening pair of Wallace and Knight got off to a brisk start before Knight was out for 47. A few more wickets then fell quickly before Redwood restored order and saw Vibes to the huge total. Nashville, at their turn at the crease, lost wickets regularly including two via the run out route, and never seriously challenged. Giwani top scored with 34, as Redwood took 3 for 43.

At Mark Trail: McNair Lions 191 for 6, edged out CSC, 190 for 9, in final over… as Junior Murray picked up where he left off last year by scoring a hundred and leading his new team to victory in a nail-biter, giving Lambert a triumphant return to the league. Batting first, CSC never did really get on top of their game as several batsmen had good starts but failed to capitalize; Gabbidon top-scored with 37. Murray, however, did capitalize on his start by batting through the innings and hitting a boundary for the winning run and his century. For CSC, Gabbidon took 3 for 29 off seven overs.

At Burdett Park: Tropical, 191 for 6, easy win over STMN, 111 all out. In a game reduced to 35 overs because of wet conditions from overnight rain, Tropical - led by fine knocks of 63 n.o from vice-captain Al Givance, and 35 from Captain Patrick Harris - cruised to their total without much fanfare. Stone Mountain’s run chase was highlighted by a quick-fire 28, with two 4’s and two 6’s from 14 year old Kwesi Edmondson, and 42 from old veteran Peter “Honey” Harper. Wong returned the round’s best bowling figures, capturing 4 for 17 for Tropical.

At Best Academy:UBACC, 220 for 4, beats MCC, 218 for 8, in a matchup of two revamped clubs. MCC, with new skipper Hooper and several other new players, batted first and blasted their way to 150 for 2 off 20 overs as Mascoll enjoyed several chances and feasted on all bowlers before Griffin (8 - 2 - 12 - 3) tightened things up for UBACC. Only another 68 runs were score off the remaining overs in the inning. In reply, UBACC found the going quite easy on a great batting strip. Garrick failed to impress, getting bowled for 3, but Mumby 69, Tulloch 63, and King 38 saw UBACC home safely.