BELIZE CITY, Wed. May 11, 2016–Hello to all cricket fans and lovers of sports! Under the auspices of the Belize National Cricket Association and the kind sponsors of this year’s competition, Belikin and Smart, the Harrison Parks 2016 Cricket Competition continued over the weekend. As the regular season is nearing its end, players are making sure their teams reach the playoff spot. There are teams already out of such position, but are still going on for the love of the game.

       Over the weekend, there was much fun some winning teams had with their opponents. For example, Berlan, who is at 2nd place in Zone Two, played against Brave Union; Berlan took to bat first, and at the fall of the last wicket, they scored 301 runs. Kenton Young top scored with 121 runs, while Shane Young, playing for Brave Union, took 4 Berlan stumps.

       Brave Union went to bat with the strong hope of beating that score. (All things are possible, but not this time.) Well, although Dennis Tillett tried his best to take down Brave Union as low as possible by taking 4 stumps, with the strong batting of Jason Revers, who scored 52 runs, Brave Union went down, but placed on the scoreboard 184 solid runs. That was a good fight, boys.  You all had the heart of an iguana. The saying goes like this: After a man has done his best, not even the angels can do better.

       Then Excellence went to Lemonal to play against Easy Does It. Excellence is at first place in Zone One and has played 8 games, losing none. Before going into this game, Easy Does It had only lost one, and that was to Excellence. Well, Excellence took to bat, and at the fall of the last wicket, they scored 197 big ones. Kenroy Roca top scored with 60; while Julian Reynolds took 5 Excellence stumps.

       Easy Does It, after lunch break, went to try and cover the score. However, due to the wonderful bowling of Sydney Martinez, who took 5 Easy Does It stumps, all they could bat was 124.  Andrew Banner scored 39 runs.

       Western Eagles won a close one over Cashu Medicos. Medicos went to bat and scored 120 runs. Marlon Reyes took 4 of their stumps. Then Western Eagles went in. To my information gathered, Western Eagles scored 121, but with the last batsman in. That was close.  Jonathan Benjamin scored 34 runs.

       Western Eagles and Easy Does It are tied for 2nd place. Come Saturday, that tie will be broken, as Western Eagles takes on the Easy Boys in Lemonal.

       Now, at Lords Bank, Sunrise, who was at fourth place, took on Uprising, who was at third place. Sunrise went to bat and scored 94 runs. That seemed like a small score to Uprising. For Sunrise, Geovanie Baizar scored 27 runs; and for Uprising, Keenan Tillett took 4 Sunrise stumps.

   After lunch break, Uprising went to bat. The first two batsmen were performing well. But then wickets started falling in ways of being bowled, stumped or caught. When the last batsman went in, the team only had 64 runs. Well, there was noise from Sunrise fans until the score started to add up. The score was at 85 when veteran Edison Parks missed a catch on the slip. One could have seen Mr. Parks nearly cry. After the over, Mr. Parks was handed the ball to redeem himself.  The first ball bowled, the batsman hit a boundary four, bringing the score so much closer to win.  Edison bowled again, this time to trick the batsman. It worked! The batsman hit the ball, not a good hit, and the wicket keeper caught it. Sunrise won by 6 runs. Not only that, but they took third place from Uprising, dropping them to fourth. I mentioned before that stats could change.  In that inning, Dwayne Hendy scored 21, and Gareth Joseph took 3 wickets. That ended an exciting game.

       Then to the cashew land of Crooked Tree. Wicked 11, who is at 1st place in Zone Two, went to extend their winning streak. And they did so by beating Brilliant, 80 to 79 with 6 spare wickets.  For Brilliant, Alexander Reynolds scored 19, and Glenroy Reynolds took 3 wickets. For Wicked 11, Shelton Robinson scored 24, while Edison Robinson and Keon Robinson took 3 wickets each.

       Congrats to all winners! Better luck next time for the rest.

       This week Saturday, Sunrise goes against Wicked 11 at Flowers Bank; Brilliant goes up against Brave Union at Boom; and Western Eagles goes up against Easy Does It at Lemonal.

       That’s it, folks. See you at your venue of choice. Love and respect for all. Have fun!