Best High School Team in USA ? Championship Finals this Sunday !

Richmond Hill High School, the favorite, will face off against # 7 seed William C Bryant High School in the Finals of the New York City PSAL high school cricket league.

This is the 3rd year for the NYC High School cricket league, which this year had 28 teams. No other American city has been bold enough to start high school cricket and New York City can be proud of paying homage to the Founding Fathers of the USA by making cricket a varsity sport. After all Presidents George Washington and John Adams, among others, were cricket palyers. The first organized American sport was cricket.

Willam C Bryant High School might be the underdogs in this game, but after losing their frist 3 games of the season they went on win 11 games whilst losing only 1 more. They have solidfied as a team, and are playing phenomenally. They have scored more than 150 runs in 4 games.

Kavishwar Bridgepaul should have been on the USA Under 19 Team which particpated in the 2010 Under 19 World Cup. He bowls fast and bats with a straight bat (not neccessarily a valued skill these days) whilst being an etremely hard hitter of the ball.Bridgepaul is one of the best young allrounders in the USA. He has the capacity to bowl even faster. Bridgepaul is the star of the Richmond High School team, and scored a century in a PSAL game this season. Good as the team is, Bridgepaul’s all round performance is likely to determine the result of this game.

It’s no surprise that Richmond Hill High School should be in the Finals. The area of Richmond Hill is called “Little Guyana” dominated as it is by people of Indian Guyanese background. More recent additions of Sikhs and other Indians make it likely that this could be the start of a dynasty for Richmond Hill High School.

Nothing is predictable in cricket however, and 2 famous Alumni of Richmond High School hint at the possibilities :One is Rhil Rizzuto (1917-2007), a Baseball Hall of Famer and longtime Short stop for the New York Yankees ( and later their broadcaster for years).
However another alumni was Comedian Rodney Dangerfield whose career was built on being a loser and not getting any “respect”.

Newcomers High School won the Championship in 2008 & 2009, with John Adams High School being the Runners up in both years.

Sunday, June 6th, 2010 @ 1:00pm
Gateway Park, Brooklyn, NY
Directions to Gateway: Belt Parkway to Brooklyn. Exit 15 Erskine Street. Make a left at the first light. Drive about a quarter of a mile. The cricket ground is on the left.