American Youth Cricket off to flying and winning start in Barbados cup

Top Level Academy 144-9 (40 overs)
NY Tri-State Youth 148-8 (34.2 overs)

NY Tri-State win by two wickets

The American NY Tri State cricket side have landed on their feet in Barbados and begun the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers U-19 Tournament with two straight wins.

On their first outing, they beat Grantley Adams School very comfortably having bowled the Barbadians out for just 79.

Dave Mohabir was the star taking three wickets for six runs in four overs. The American side ovetook that score comforably, reaching 81-2 in 16 overs with a top score of 36 from Dhanesh Persaud.

After the match, the side’s Head Coach, Basil Butcher Jr, battled with the steelbands and spoke to Prost International at the Tournament’s official opening ceremony.

He spoke of ensuring that the team builds up slowly through the group stage of the tournament and continues to learn.

He also talked of the need for his players, some new to Barbados and others new to the West Indies entirely, to acclimate to the differences in climate and condition from the USA.

The second game followed on July 8th. This time they faced Guyanan opposition in the Top Level Academy.

The two sides produced an exciting game, won eventually by the Americans by just two wickets.

The Academy batted first and guarded their wicket well but struggled to get the ball off the square. Wicketkeeper Kishawn Silas made a gallant 44 and at 96-3 after 29.4 overs, he seemed to have guided his side to a position to finally score some boundaries, as with just ten overs and two balls left, they were lagging behind the run rate.

However Tri-State’s skipper Ekansh Rastogi produced a corker and trapped Silas LBW and from then on, his side took control. He bowled Trilok Nanan first ball then starman Jayden Dowlin took over.

He had already dismissed opener Lomar Seecharran but more importantly had strangled the scoring rate with some deadly unforgiving spin bowling and not only created chances for himself, but for the teammate fortunate enough to be bowling from the other end.

Dowlin removed the dangerous Sanjay Algoo who scored three of the only eleven boundaries the Academy were allowed, but he excelled even more when asked by his captain to bowl at the death. He bowled so accurately that even with little to lose, the Top Level Academy couldn’t get the ball off the square with any consistency.

His figures of 3-19 off eight overs were a testament to how well he bowled but the 32 dot balls from his 48 meant that only one third of his deliveries yielded any runs at all. In any form of one day cricket, that is remarkable.

If there was another star, it was skipper Rastogi.

He also took wickets (3-31), but the excellence of his field positions stood out. Very often, the Academy players played fine shots only to see the ball heading straight to a fielder. The bowlers bowled to the fields he set, and the fielders responded with a faultless ground game. It is clear he has the respect of his charges.

Their catching was the only weak area with some difficult ones dropped as well as one or two easier ones, giving the coaching staff something to work on as the tournament takes a day off on July 9th.

With 145 required to win, it would be fair to say the Americans made heavier weather of the chase than initially looked necessary.

Persaud (28) guided them to a safe 65-1 before he fell. Thereafter Emmanuel Lewis (35) and Ajay Prithiviraj (20), one of the many supported by their parents’ presence, steadied the ship even further.

Even when Prithiviraj fell at 109-4 with 14.2 overs left, the victory seemed in sight.

But the Academy found a bowler who had been help back in Danvir Seegobin.

Despite coming on sixth, he ripped through the tail as the Americans became unnecessarily aggressive in search of the target. He took 5-38 in six overs, which allowed some Americans to get experience in the middle but conceded runs fast enough to secure the win.

He took five of the last six wickets, the exception being Dowlin who fell to a quite astonishing catch by wicketkeeper Silas, which was without doubt the visual highlight of the day.

A worthy 15 from Aarav Murthy off just nine balls with three boundaries however saw the Americans home.

With tomorrow being a rest day, coach Linden Fraser told Prost that he will be perusing the league table in Group B. He will find that the Sir Everton Weekes CoE also have two wins from two games.

They beat Combermere in a match between the other two sides that won their opening games.

The two unbeaten sides meet on July 10th in their next game at Dash Valley in a table topping encounter which will guarantee the victors a place in the next round.

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