All roads led to Crooked Tree this past Saturday, where the first of a best-of-three games series in the cricket finals (of the Harrison Parks National Cricket Competition 2014) was to be played between the home team, Brilliant, and Easy Does It of Lemonal Village. From around 10:00 in the morning, visitors started convening on the grounds. At 10:30 a.m., it was known that Brilliant had won the toss and had decided to bat first.
What a lovely day it was! A big crowd had gathered in the village playing field, friends and families of both teams, and cricket fans that came out just to watch the game.
Well, the game started. The Easy team took the field, and first two Brilliant batsmen went out to face the bowling of Kenroy Reynolds and Cyril Banner. These two batsmen started to show good defensive plays. After a few overs, one of the batsmen was out. Brilliant had 13 runs for the first wicket. When the 2nd wicket fell, they had a comfortable 73 runs. There was noise coming from Brilliant’s corner, where friends and family gathered. The remaining inning went this way: 3 for 75; 4 for 92; 5 for 105; 6 and 7 for 116; 8 and 9 for 123; all for 131. Raynard Gillett and Arturo Wade scored 34 and 27, respectively. Andrew Banner took 4 wickets.
It is time now for lunch break, and friends and spectators have the time now to predict the outcome at the end. With these two teams playing, it is interesting to note that the captain of Brilliant team, Lawrence Banner, is from Lemonal, the home of Easy Does It; also Andrew Banner and Calbert Reynolds. All three are from Lemonal. Lawrence is a veteran when it comes to cricket. He has won championships as captain in Lemonal, Flowers Bank and Crooked Tree. Lawrence has more experience than young Kenroy Reynolds. But let’s see what happens in the second half.
Lunch break is over, and time to rumble. Brilliant took the field, and the first batsmen went in to face Andrew Banner and Rodwell Conorque. These two bowlers were the ones that put a beating on other opponents, and will try to do the same today. At the beginning it looked like that will happen, as the first wicket fell for 4 runs; then the second for the same score. When the third batsman fell, only 16 runs had been recorded. The game changed then, as the scores started to build. This is how it went: 4 for 55; 5 for 89; 6 for 125; 7 for 129. No more wickets fell, and Easy Does It surpassed the score and won with three wickets to spare, ending a very spectacular game. The young captain showed the veteran that old tricks never worked out on Saturday. For Easy Does It, Herbert Banner scored 41 runs, followed by Aaron Muslar with 36; Kenroy Reynolds took 3 wickets, with Herbert Banner, Mykelt Anthony and Cyril Banner taking 2 wickets each.
Brilliant now travels to Lemonal to try and even things up. Let’s see if Captain Lawrence could dig for different tricks next Saturday.
Each team is congratulated for the professional way the game was played. I know that all had enjoyed the day out in Crooked Tree. Fans and friends of the losing team might be disappointed and not too pleased; but it’s only a game in which only one team could win. So, keep a strong spirit, and come out to Lemonal on Saturday and cheer for your team, as they try to redeem themselves.