American Teens compete in High School Cricket for 4th year in NYC !
Fortunately the NYC Dept of Education, through the PSAL, seems to understand that Americans have many different backgrounds and went ahead and started a cricket league in the city’s public high schools so kids from a “cricket-playing” background have an opportunity to play – of course others are welcome as well.
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No worries here about who are “mainstream Americans” or use of un-American terms like “ex-pats”.
Now American kids with names like Singh,Rahman,Gupta, Scott, Khan, Kowchai etc are playing varsity cricket for the 4th year in the largest high school system in the USA .
Last Friday, on 2 of the best fields in New York the 2 Finalists from the 2010 PSAL (NYC Public High School) cricket league were on display. At Baisley Pond Park South, where the grass was surprisingly uncut, 2010 Runner up Richmond Hill HS took on Lehman HS, whilst at Idlewild, 2010 Champions William C Bryant took on Aviation High School.
Uncut grass continues to plague the quality of our cricket – its astounding that administrators and players have not demanded better in the past, and even moreso now. Nothing less than the right field conditions would do for other sports, and so it should be for cricket.
With their talented allrounder Kaveshwar Bridgepaul graduated, Richmond Hill High School has not done as well this season, but they have a huge talent pool to draw from and so will always be a threat. Today Lehman HS, under Coach Nigel Thompson, 77 to Richmond Hill’s 99.
Over at Idlewild Field, nestled in a nearly secret corner of Queens, with a backdrop of landing planes at JFK Airport,2010 Champions Bryant were looking strong against Aviation High School, which was led by Captain Imdad Khan and Coach Wesley Henry.
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Willian C Bryant’s new Coach Paul Hornstein said, “I’ve coached about 5 games including ice hockey,softball, and some things are common to most sports.For instance keeping your eye on the ball is paramount, no matter the sport. If you don’t keep your eye on the ball, its more likely you’ll miss it, batting or fielding.”
Sounding Bruce Lee-like he said “Power comes from the here (indicating the core) and the movement of the hips” .
It was obvious that despite being in a strong winning position Coach Horstein was frustrated by the frequent stoppages by his team to ask the score, as he urged his team to not get complacent. The William C Bryant Owls in the meantime set attacking fields to the Aviation High School tailenders, giving up some runs whilst going in for the kill. Aviation managed to get 82 to Bryant’s 117.
Ah yes, on a gorgeous spring day, on 2 beautiful fields near picturesque ponds, American high school teenagers playing cricket………reminding us on this Memorial Day Weekend that so did George Washington and his troops at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War.
LATEST STANDINGS ( out of 26 NYC High Schools) :
Franklin D Roosevelt High 11 W 0 L
Hilllcrest High School 9 wins 1 Loss
Brooklyn International High 9 W 2 L
William C Bryant High School 8 wins 2 Losses (last year’s Champion)
Long Island City High School 8 wins 2 Losses
John Adams High 7 W 2 L (Finalist in 2009 and 2010)
- Aviation Hight School
- Aviation High School batsman
- Lehman High School gets a wicket
- Lehman HS bowler
30 May 2011, 1:59 am
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30 May 2011, 4:28 am
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