by Peter Young
BELIZE CITY, Wed. July 19, 2023
Well, what a wonderful day it was for CRICKET! There were many tears, tears of happiness and tears of not happy. Some were at a loss, wondering “why we lost? Where did we go wrong?” That will forever be thought of, words that are very important – IF, NEARLY, MAYBE or SUPPOSE I had won. You did not win! Not your turn.
Under the auspices of the Belize National Cricket Association, the Barry Bowen / Harrison Parks Cricket Competition playoffs continued last weekend, and we all enjoyed every moment of the matches.
We go to BDF Camp cricket field where the Level One finals start for Wicked 11 and BDF. Both captains I know had their actions in order of how to defeat their opponents.
Under the strong captainship of Brandon “D7-BULLDOZER” Lewis, Wicked 11 took to bat first. At the onset, the batsmen had proper control of the BDF bowling by starting to dominate the game. At the fall of 5 wickets, Wicked 11 scored 150 runs. That made it seem like a lot of runs more will be added. Not so, for under the pressure coming from BDF bowler TRAVIS STEPHENSON, who took 5 wickets, that thought was dashed away, for the other 5 wickets pushed the score to only 21 more, for a total of 171. Vince Robinson and Ordel Cassasola scored 43 and 36, respectively.
After lunch break and some socializing, it was time to rumble. Well, under the pressure coming from Brandon Lewis – the D7 BULLDOZER and Walter Flowers, who took 3 wickets each, BDF only scored 117, losing by 54. That match ended, giving Wicked 11 the first slice of the pie, with Brandon “D7 Bulldozer” Lewis named Man Of The Match. Congratulations, winner! Best of luck next time to the team that did not win!
We now go to Landing where the pitch for international cricket is located. There is a fellow whose name needs to be mentioned with lots of pride and love for the sport. This is Mr. Dirk Sutherland, who takes pride and effort to see that this field is maintained at all times, especially in season like now. He is also an active player/coach for Brave 11 Reloaded cricket club. A dedicated cricketer, you name it for cricket, DIRK IS PRESENT. Today his team will be going up against St. Paul’s Strikers for a shot at the championship or settle for 3rd Place. We wish him and his team the best of luck. Well, venue packed, ready to see two teams rally to their best.
Brave 11 Reloaded went to bat first, and under good bowling coming from Lloyd Cassasola and Jaron Pakeman, who took 3 and 2 wickets, respectively, Brave 11 Reloaded scored 109. Dirk Sutherland scored 16. Not an impressive total, but I have seen teams survive with a smaller score. We will see what happened.
After lunch break, Strikers took to bat. Throughout about half way through the inning, it seemed that Brave 11 Reloaded had the better of their opponents. When the 8th batsman went in, Strikers needed about 45 runs to win. These two batsmen, Jaron Pakeman and Brian Cassasola saw that the bowling for Brave 11 Reloaded was not that effective; they took advantage and started to dominate the game. With bats in hand, these two batsmen came out NOT OUT. The score was beaten. Dirk Sutherland took 2 wickets, and Allen Stephenson took 3 wickets. Jaron Pakeman scored 26, and Brian Cassasola scored 29. Well, Jaron Pakeman was named Man Of The Match for scoring 26 and taking two wickets in 1.4 overs, giving up only 7 runs. Congratulations to both teams for the sportsmanship displayed during and after the game!
On Sunday at St. Paul’s Bank, the Strikers will clash once again with troublesome Tropical Disturbance. This is the starting of the best-of-three in the Level Two finals.
On Saturday, BDF travels to the blooming Flowers Bank to try and even things up with Wicked 11. If not, then let’s see what’s next for them.
That’s it for now, folks. I will say bye bye till next weekend. Follow the preamble of the game. Respect can’t be forgotten, for yourselves, opponents and officials of the game!