BELIZE CITY, Wed. July 22, 2015–Thanks to the kind sponsorships of Belikin and Smart, the Harrison Parks Cricket Competition 2015, under the auspices of the Belize National Cricket Association, continued over the weekend. Two very exciting games were played.
In the beautiful village of Lemonal, Sunrise of Lords Bank traveled there to go up against Easy Does It. This was a best-of-three in the semifinals. Sunrise won the toss and took to bat first. To remind you, if you have forgotten, in last year’s season, these two teams had met in the playoffs, and Easy Does It had beaten them two games straight. So, with that said, I would believe that each knows how the other plays. Two very defensive batsmen were sent in first, Conway Jones and Zaggi. They started to show very excellent batting. But with the strong bowling of captain Kenroy Reynolds and his partner, wickets started falling in this order: 1 for 12; 2 for 12; 3 for 25; 4 for 25; 5 for 59; 6 for 82; 7 for 92; 8 for 92; 9 for 92; 10 for 92.
Jeovanie Baizar top scored with 42 for Sunrise, while Leroy Reynolds took 5 wickets for the home team. In playoff games, a score of that amount by any team that does not have effective bowling it could be surpassed quickly. I’ve mentioned that on several occasions. My theory proved just that, when Easy Does It, took to bat after lunch break. Sunrise captain tried his best, along with his other bowlers, to defend their score; but it couldn’t be done. At the fall of 3 wickets, Easy Does It had surpassed the score. In that inning, Aaron Muslar top scored with 41 runs for the home team, while veteran Edison Parks took 2 wickets. Game two is set for Saturday, August 1, in Lords Bank.
The next game was a semifinals tie breaker at Bermudian Landing between Wicked 11 and Brilliant. Wicked 11 took to bat first and scored 231 at the fall of the last wicket. Wickets fell in this order: 1 for 68; 2 for 86; 3 for 154; 4 for 174; 5 for 189; 6 for 189; 7 for 194; 8 for 203; 9 for 230; all for 231. In that inning, Winston Flowers scored 47, and captain Shelton Robinson top scored with 57 for Wicked 11 (he has top scored in all three games played against Brilliant); while Calbert Reynolds and Landis Wade took 2 wickets each for Brilliant. Brilliant must now work very hard to overcome this large score. When time came for them to just do that, wickets fell in this order: 1 for 1; 2 for 29; 3 for 42; 4 for 48; 5 for 53; 6 for 54; 7 for 70; 8 for 70; 9 for 76; all for 101. A well fought game and season for Brilliant. In that inning, Calbert Reynolds scored 43 for Brilliant, while Troy Rhaburn took 4 wickets for Wicked 11. Wicked 11 will now face the winner out of Easy Does It and Sunrise in the finals.
Best of luck to all teams! Come out, fans; bring out your family. Cricket season is drawing to a close, so come out and enjoy. See ya next week.