I cannot imagine the mood of the Tropical team. The powerhouse of the League has fallen off its pedestal since suffering a loss to Vibes in the 2008 League finals and further losses this season to McNair Lions and Nashville Vols. If anything, the psychological edge may not be there as they have everything to lose tomorrow. A loss tomorrow could signal the end of an era in Georgia cricket. Am I sensationalizing here? Maybe…okay, yes! But guess what - I bet I am just voicing some thoughts that the Tropical-ans would be too sensitive to share and keep it bottled up inside of them. Let’s take a look at the stats and see what we can deduce.

Tropical

• Top batsmen Lyndon Johnson and last year’s MVP, is the #4 batsman in the League with an average of 43 runs off 11 matches.
• Jermaine Lindo had a slow start to his batting performances this season but may be peaking at the right time. Lindo is the #6 batsman with an average of 34 runs.
• Though they are not in the top 10, David Hoilett, Basil Williams, and Michael Sutton have batting averages of 54, 53, and 37 runs. These three guys have played significantly less games than their figuring teammates.
• My favorite spin bowler :), “Big John,” second this season to teammate, Derron Banks, has played 9 games and captured 18 wickets. Slocombe has been more economical with a run-rate of 4.73 vs Banks’ 7.26

Vibes

• Newcomer Frederick Redwood has been an all-rounder that is making a difference. Redwood is neck-and-neck for the #1 batting standing with McNair’s Junior Murray. Redwood has a whopping 554 runs of which 102 was made against Tropical when they last met. Redwood has proven very effective in the bowling department as he is tied for taking the most wickets (18) but off 11 matches, which has put him in the #3 position.
• Dave Wallace has a high score of 177 runs vs the solid UBACCC but only managed 6 runs against Tropical. Wallace has played the least amount of games (6) among the top 10 batsmen but sits at the #8 position with an average of 55 runs. He last played on July 19th.
•  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release # 2008-29
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly today introduced a citywide cricket league for teenagers, administered by the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau. The league is open to youth ages 14 to 19. A majority of those who have signed up to play this summer are of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Guyanese descent; others are Trinidadian, Jamaican, and Indian (South Asian).

“New York today is home field for new immigrant and American-born players alike, many of whom excel at sports that local leagues don’t traditionally offer,” Commissioner Kelly said. “With our help, young enthusiasts from Bangladesh to Brooklyn now can expect to play them here. The NYPD has long provided programs for youth while promoting positive police-community relations. Our Twenty20 Cricket Cup combines the best of both worlds, so to speak.”

Six teams of 15 players each – including the “Pak Brighton,” “Punjab,” “Cosmos,” “Panthers,” “Superstars,” and “Knight Riders” – will play every Wednesday and Thursday, weather permitting, from July 23 until late August, when the tournament culminates in a championship game on Aug. 20. Matches are organized by the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau and refereed by New York State certified umpires. The cricket tournament comes on the heels of the NYPD United Soccer league, established in May.

NYPD Community Affairs officers conducted outreach through community groups, youth programs and businesses in the five boroughs; they also promoted the tournament through local New York adult cricket leagues. Both the NYPD Twenty20 Cricket Cup and NYPD United soccer league are extensions of the Department’s New Immigrant Outreach initiative that aims to establish positive ongoing relations with multiple ethnic groups including the Arab and South Asian communities.

Caps, jerseys and pants are provided to players by the New York City Police Foundation, in various colors resembling international, professional team uniforms. All cricket matches are played in Brooklyn at the Gateway Cricket Ground in Spring Creek Park.

I was the only female in the competition but had absolutely no apprehension… until we started fielding. Our team fielded first. The guys put me in the square leg position. I was terrified because the weekend before I fielded in the same position in the ladies game and caught a blistering ball from a pull shot - and that was with a hard tennis ball. I thought, what would the men do to me in the square leg with a hard ball?? Fortunately, none of the guys were able to play any powerful shots towards me. Throughout the game, I also fielded in the gully position, point, and short mid off. What were the guys thinking? What if the batsman played a nice cover drive??? Nevertheless, I ensured no balls passed me.

The innings was over in no time. We were chasing 110 runs. I was penciled into the 6th or 7th batting position but because the first wicket fell at about 79 runs with many overs to spare, the guys sent me in man-down. I felt great - excited and couldn’t believe I was getting my opportunity to bat in my first hard-ball cricket match. That match was my 3rd cricket match ever, the first two being against ladies and with the hard tennis ball.

Overtaken with anxiety, I ran onto the field. The umpire and the guys outside the boundary told me to slow down. I got to the pitch, lined up my bat with what I believed was the middle stump…didn’t even ask the umpire for confirmation. The bowler was a spinner. First delivery - I swung! I missed! Ball landed safely into the keeper’s gloves. Second delivery - I swung! I missed…and the bails flew off! That was it. I couldn’t believe my batting was over. I never even touched the ball! So embarrassed and so ashamed. The pace of the ball was deceptive. In the air, it looked slow and playable. By the time it hit the ground, it picked up an unbelievable pace - one that made me feel like it was impossible for my bat to connect with the ball.

Disappointed that I did not touch the ball, I spent the next 45 minutes or so batting in the nets against some of the guys who offered to bowl me with some pace. Eventually, I did start connecting with the ball. It was just a matter of warming up the mind and the muscles to play quicker. Afterall, I had been playing against my fellow female teammates with the hard tennis ball.

Just Dismissed

Dismissed for DUCK!

Attempting to redeem myself in the nets

Making contact with the ball :)

By Conroy Reid

Vamsee Reddy

It’s been twenty four years.  No league opponent or friendly team had ever surpassed this Tropical’s self imposed threshold.  It ended on Sunday.  The Nashville Vols, led by Vamsee Reddy’s thundering hundred in 17 overs, and 64 from Aniket Borwankar, blasted their way pass the 300 runs mark – a first against Tropical – and with Borwankar’s 4 for 39, and Srinivas Gunna’s 3 for 23, also handed Tropical their worst ever defeat, a whopping 168 run loss.   Reddy’s ton was the second league century scored against Tropical this season – another first; Redwood scored one earlier for Vibes.

At Nashville:   Vols versus Tropical

The Vols won the toss and took first strike on the batsman friendly, matting covered, concrete wicket at White Creek.  A short handed and undermanned Tropical team took the field and was immediately put under the gun as Reddy began to fire away, launching rockets into the adjoining baseball field and tennis courts.  The bowlers and fieldsmen faltered not only under this onslaught, but also the sweltering sun, and a horrendous fielding display ensued.  Among the opportunities: a skier to long off was put down; so were two to mid-wicket, and a simple dolly to mid off.  All through this Reddy banged away, and six 4s and nine 6s later had his ton, before he was out for 107, caught by Lindo off Slocombe.  This was not the end of the drubbing.  After a mild middle order collapse in which Harris grabbed three quick wickets, the Vols regrouped and the resurgence followed.  When Borwankar joined the fray at number 8, there was a sense that the score was still not enough and he, like Reddy, banged away.  More towering sixes into the baseball field, and soon it was 300 on the board.  Tropical fielders slumped. The once thought of brick wall had crumbled.

Tropical’s drained batsmen failed to muster any form of a serious challenge in their reply against a pumped-up Vols bowling attack and aggressive fielding.   After a towering six over long-on, Johnson failed to clear the boundary at the same position and was caught by Brindavanam off the next delivery.  Givance followed in the next over, adjudged LBW, padding up to one from Gunna.  Lindo and Williams staged a short lived recovery before Lindo top-edged a pull shot and was caught on the pitch by the bowler, Borwankar.   Two overs later, the wheels came off the cart.  Harris tapped a full toss back to Borwankar, and, next ball, Cole spun on a short one , top – edged, and was caught at mid-on.  At  90 for 6, a 200 run defeat loomed nigh.   Sutton and Reid saved a little grace and delayed the inevitable for awhile before Borwankar produced a peach of a delivery to bowl Sutton, and Reid was soon undone by Lodhi.

Score: Nashville 323 for 7, off 40 overs; Harris 3 for 55. Tropical 155 for 9, off 28.3 overs; Williams 34, Lindo 29.

At Mark Trail: Stone Mountain versus CSC

Stone Mountain broke a seven game losing streak to record their first win of the season by defeating CSC in their match at Mark Trail.  Kevin Edmonson continued his fine run of form with another half century, and Lynch spanked the CSC bowling with a surprising 89, including eleven 4s and two 6s in leading Stone Mountain.  Both clubs are out of the play-off picture.

Score: Stone Mountain, 237 for 7, Lynch 89, Edmonson 60, Morton 3 for 14, defeats CSC, 210 all out, McMaster 48, Gabbidon 46, Ewart 4 for 39

At Best Academy: McNair Lions versus MCC

An intriguing twist, rather unpleasant surprise, struck the MCC team full in the face when they gathered on the field for their match against McNair Lions at Best Academy on Sunday.  Without many of the player’s knowledge, their captain, Andre Hooper, had transferred to McNair during the week, and was now preparing to oppose them in a key match-up as the teams vie for a play-off spot.  MCC batted first and posted 187 for 8 off the allotted 40 overs, with extras being the top score at 41.  Murray took 3 for 27, and Hooper went wicket-less (0 for 28), as MCC denied him any success with the ball.    However, he added salt to injury with the bat by top scoring with 45 in leading the successful Lions run chase, and featured in a vital fourth wicket partnership with Lambert (32).  The loss dealt a severe blow on MCC’s chances for a play-off spot, and they must now win both remaining games, including a rematch with the Lions, plus get some help from other clubs.

Score: McNair Lions, 189 for 7; Hooper 45, pulls off surprise on MCC, 187 for 8, off 40 overs

With less than a year under my belt on the West Coast, I searched the net for ladies cricket in the Bay Area and found the Bay Area Cricket Alliance. There was a link for “Women’s Program” on the site but it only linked to an empty page. Curious about what existed, I emailed the generic contact email and in no time got a response from someone named Raj. It turned out that Raj is a Board of Director of USACA which means that there is extremely high visibility to everything that we do. Raj is not only our coach but he is our biggest fan, our biggest promoter, and organizer for everything ladies cricket. That was just the beginning. A beginning to what has been a very rewarding 2 months so far.

The Firebirds Ladies Cricket Team

I recruited the majority of the ladies from Oracle, which I now call the “core” of ladies cricket in the Bay Area. We practice on Tuesdays and Saturdays at the Stanford nets. Thanks to Brian and Piyush, they have allowed us to share the grounds with the Stanford Cricket team.

Our girls have come a long way. On our first day (May 2nd, 2009), many did not know how to catch a ball or hold a bat. Within a week, we converted from the hard tennis ball to the hard ball - a quick leap but a smart one. The girls were quite receptive and recognized that in order to make it to the highest level, we needed to play real cricket.

On June 27 and 28, our team, the Firebirds, played the best of the North West Cricket League in the inaugural Pacific Coast Women’s Invitational Cricket Tournament. We played two 20/20 games and lost both on the scoresheets. However, given that our team have been together for 6 weeks, and the Seattle team have been playing for 4 years, we considered our performances as wins and are very happy to say that we batted out the 20 overs and made over 100 runs each time. The scores were:

Day 1: Seattle Chargers 130/5 and SF Firebirds 100/6

Day 2: Seattle Chargers 156/4 and SF Firebirds 124/6

See Press Release on USACA for detailed information.

President of the GSCL and PRO of McNair, Dr. Butts, was on hand to present the MVP awards and speak to both teams. See video below:

The Lions took the field against the giants of the GSCL League, Tropical.  Tropical won the toss and elected to bat. With the second over on board, Nkomo Butts trapped Sutton, caught for 8, followed by David Hoillett for 18 runs. Tropical amassed some 40 something runs with stroke play from Jermaine Lindo and Richard Hoilett.

Bowling changes occurred - Belgrave bowled a tight over conceding just 4 runs. Junior Murray’s first five balls were treated brutally by R. Hoilett who knocked a quick 13 runs - two towering sixes as Tropical raced to 98.  Then the breakthrough occurred! Murray had R. Holiett bowled and caught off the last ball of the over.  Belgrave got two wickets in the next over — Lindo 43 and Alford Givens 0.  At this point, it appeared that Tropical found itself in disarray as wickets fell rapidly. Eight wickets fell for about 50  runs— R. Wong with 12 was the only other batsman with double figures.  Yes, what seemed to be a walk in the park for Tropical, turned out to be an error complacency as Tropical was bowled out for 143 runs off 15 overs, giving the Lions a run rate of just about 7.25 runs per over with 5 overs to spare.  Yet, beating this score, based on prior outcomes of games between the Lions and the Tropical, could be considered an uphill task; the runs were already on the board.

Jermaine King

In the presence of the feeling of the victory, the Lions sat to reflect on the match and drew on the prospects of the other games to come.

Freaks of Nature are the greatest of the greatest of anything. Garrick may not be a Sir Brian Lara, but he still qualifies. Michael Jackson was a Freak of Nature. Michael Jordon, Barack Obama…and others, are all Freaks of Nature. It means simply that people who are the greatest at what they do, do not do things the way average people do. They cannot! There is always almost something “weird” about them. Which makes me wonder, what is the weird thing about Obama that we do not know about as yet?

How many cricketers bat in ODIs with music blasting in their ears? How many cricketers can do it and bat effectively? This is Garrick’s style. I am amazed and excited at the idea that in order to become focused on the pitch, he has to create distractions. This reminds me of the Tao Te Ching philosophy:

If you want to become whole, let yourself be partial.
If you want to become straight, let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn, let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything, give everything up.

Garrick might be practicing Chinese philosophy without even knowing it.

By Conroy Reid

The final day of the South East Regional Tournament produced the most thrilling match, and, at the end, the Georgia Supreme Cricket League (www.gascl.org) was crowned champion.

Scores: Georgia Supreme Cricket League 241 for 8 off 50 overs - Garrick 56, R. Hoilett 39, T Surujbally 3 for 27; SFCA 207 all out - Mayar 60, Pierce 37, Wong 3 for 50, Hooper 3 for 52.

On the warmest day of the week-end spectators flocked to the park to witness Georgia Supreme take on South Florida in a championship game packed with hype as newcomer Georgia and its star studded lineup faced the big guns from the South. Much anxiety and concern surrounded the start of the game when the teams request for the game be moved from the smallest of the three playing fields, to one more accommodating of a championship game, was rejected by the organizers. But such are the fallacies of some US cricket management committees, and the game was played. Georgia Supreme won the toss and elected to bat.

D. Hoilett, in his first stint at opening the inning, hung his bat at one that came back into him and soon it was 20 for 1. Florida then missed a golden opportunity when Garrick, batting at number three, flashed at one outside the off stump and was dropped at gully, before he had scored.

Lindo and Garrick then batted aggressively but carefully and saw the score reached 101 for one at the first break - 15 overs. The introduction of Surujbally and Nayaik into the attack after the drinks triggered a major turn of events in South Florida’s favor. Surujbally removed Garrett, Lindo, and Murray in quick succession forcing Georgia into survival mode.

Only 32 runs were scored off the next 15 overs! After the second intermission, Hoilett opened up, and two towering sixes over extra cover brought cheers from the highly partisan Georgia crowd and the stranglehold was lifted, but not for long. Edmonson and Hoilett soon fell, followed by Harris. The depth of the Georgia batting order then became evident, as Hooper and Hutson batted through ten overs in an eight wicket partnership of 65 before Hutson was out last ball of the inning, and Georgia closed at 241 for 8. Surujbally had the fine figures of 10 - 1 - 27 - 3.

Smiles crossed the faces of the South Florida’s batsmen when they started their reply. Having fully surveyed the field and facing the seemingly small target, they were off to the races at a blistering 7 runs per over, scoring 70 for 1 off 10. Joey Pierce (37) and young Steven Taylor (25) took aim at the short boundaries off Wong and Hooper, but their cavalier knocks ended quickly.

2009 USA SER Champions: Standing L-R: Junior Williams-Manager, Naseer Lodhi, Leon Garrick, Kevin Edmonson, Mark Mumby, Andre Hooper, Lyndon Johnson, Desmond Lewis - Coach Seated L-R: David Hoilett, Adsyl Hutson, Junior Murray, Patrick Harris - Captain, Germaine Lindo, Alford Givance - Vice Captain

However, the SFCA captain and vice-captain (Nayaik and Nayar) teamed in a couple of vibrant partnerships that took them in sight of victory (200 for 6) and quieted the now large throng of Georgia Supreme supporters. They were willing to let Slocombe have his spell by playing him cautiously and seeing him off. Thirty seven were needed off 13 overs. A lengthy stoppage took place to rectify the interpretation of some power plays rules, and this seemed to unnerved the South Floridians.

An uncharacteristic - rather atrocious - swipe across the line of a short pitched delivery from Hutson led to Nayar’s downfall - caught behind for a well played 60 - and all hopes for of a Florida victory went with it. Hooper returned to claim two more wickets in his final over, and Garrett, with his first and only delivery off the tournament, induced an edge to first slip where Slocombe took the catch high above his head. Swarm, high fives, and celebration! Georgia Supreme won by 34 runs. Hooper was voted game MVP for his fine all-round performance.

It was a satisfying victory for the Georgia Supreme, having just two months ago won an appeal to USACA Board of Directors for membership - after being denied twice by the SER administration. The cricketing prowess this league displayed can only add to the growth of the game in the region and the US as a whole.