
Shiloh Adams with the Cup and the side before the final
Hills Academy 157-8 (40 overs)
NY Tri-State 158-5 (38.1 Ov)
NY Tri-State won by 5 wickets
On an unforgettable day at Kensington Oval, a group of young American cricketers who had barely met ten days ago, produced a shock win to claim the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers U19 Tournament.
In beating last years champions, Australian side Hills Academy, they have put American youth cricket on the map and announced that the USA will have talented cricketers available in years to come.
The side won four out of five group games and a semi final, to reach the Kensington Oval Final where they turned their record into six wins out of seven.
The team had many stars throughout the seven games with at least eight of them having good claims to be player of the tournament for their efforts in winning one of the matches.
On this occasion it was Emmanuel Lewis who made an unbeaten 54 having come in with his side perilously positioned at 39-3.
After the match Head Coach Linden Fraser revealed:
“Lewis batted splendidly. He played a different role.
“He told me, ‘Coach, you don’t have to worry. I’m going to take this all the way through’.”

NY Tri-State Head Coach Linden Fraser holds the Sir Garfield Sobers U19 Tornamen Trophy in the Oval locker room after his NY Tri-State side won the final by five wickets
This was with 119 runs still required.
Young Lewis was as good as his word,
He hit three 4s in 83 balls over two hours and showed a discipline in respecting the good deliveries that get lesser players out and indeed had dismissed he and his colleagues in earlier matches.
His innings could not have been a better testimony to how much this side had learned in under a week of intense cricket.
Of the 178 deliveries bowled during his time at the crease, NY Tri-State scored 119 for the loss of just two wickets.
His first batting partner was Ajay Prithiviraj who has had an outstanding tournament.
The Dallas batsman had scored 108 runs without dsmissal going into the final during the three previous three games.
By the time he was bowled by Naden Cooray for 26, he had increased that to 134.
Those 134 runs for just one wicket arguably propeled the American side into the final.
His departure brought Dhanesh Persaud to the crease.
Like Lewis, Persaud reserved his best for the big occasion. They put on 84 for the fifth wicket. With NY Tri-State just one run behind the Aussies’ score, Persaud (35) was finally caught by Thomas Macdonald off Riley McDowell. But he had ensured his side’s victory.
Rags Prabhune, hero of an earlier game, faced the last ball of that over and then watched on elatedly as Lewis scored the winning runs off Neel Kanbargimath‘s first ball to scenes of absolute jubilation.
However, it has not always looked like the Americans would seize the day.
They made a poor start as Hills openers Hamilton Seoung and Beau Goodall dominated the first hour, easily passing 50 without loss and looking every part as if they would post their thrid successive target of over 200.
They saw off not only the opening bowlers but the next two bowlers and forced NY Tri-State captain Ekansh Rastogi to turn to his hat-trick hero of the previous game Aarav Murthy.
Murthy saved the side yet again.
He bamboozled Goodall, clean bowling him for 31 with the score on 71. That was the turning point of the match. Two overs and eleven runs later, Seoung was gone for 41 with Persaud taking the catch. Murthy had dismissed both openers without adding to their scores.
Theee runs later, the irrepressible wicketkeeper Shiloh Adans got his obligatory dismissal when a sharp throw by Dave Mohabir ran out his opposite number Advith Boreddy (7). Saatvik Kailash then removed Finn Bailey (3), caught by Danish Dinesh.
At that point, with Hills at 88-4, the American side finally seemed to have the upper hand for the first time.
But Josh McDowell (19) and John James (17) showed that fighting spirit for which Australian athletes are world reknowned. They added 34 at an excellent pace over just five overs.
At 122-4 with eight overs and four balls left, the match was absolutely in the balance. A score of over 190 looked more than possible. THat would have been way beyond any total that Tri-State had chased and on the massive outfield of the Oval, it would have been a very tough task.
Enter Jayden Dowlin.
Dowlin has probably been the side’s best bowler over all. Not only does the son of a former West Indian cricketer, Travis Dowlin, take wickets; but he is also so hard to score runs against that he forces errors against his bowling partners and enables them to take wickets at the other end.
Prabhune’s catch to dismiss James changed the trajectory of the closing stanza of the Hills innings. 122-4 became 124-7 after Dowlin bowled Kanbargimath (1) and Mohabir, star of the opening victory, bowled McDowell.
MacDonald (23*) did a good rescue job to take his side to 157, and at least give his bowlers somethign to bowl at but Lewis had other ideas and the all round effort was more than sufficient to cause a memorable day for American youth cricket.
The players’ parents had placed US flags around the boundary to support the side and were incredibly supportive throughout the competition.
Their sons were respectful to their opponents and to the game of cricket. In an era where American youth, especially males, have a poor reputation propelled in the media, these boys were a credit to their country.

Players Ajay Prithiviraj and Rags Prabhune with their very proud ‘Cricket Dads’
Photos: Barry Prabhune and Raj Prithiviraj
More reaction and photos to follow.