The 2015 John Bart King Award Goes To…….

Wesley Evermon (Mercer) batting; Sam Brunk (Mercer)bowling.

The John Bart King Award is named in honor of America’s greatest cricketer ever. Bart King played 1st Class cricket from 1893 to 1912. It is awarded to American cricket players who were not born into the game but chose to learn & play, usually in college. Accordingly it primarily recognizes students whose “parents did not come from a cricket playing country”. Previous winners are 2009 – Curt Sonnet (GWU), 2010 – Ian Carlin (Wooster), 2011 – Darren Stortz (Iowa), 2012 – Nick Mancino (Penn), 2013 – Danny Yetman (Harvard), 2014 – Norris Guscott (Harvard). Calin & Guscott both made it into Sports Illustrated.

“For 2015, the cricket journeys of 2 players have been practically the same, so it was decided to name Joint Winners, from Mercer University : Wesley Evermon & Sam Brunk, baseball players who now open the batting & bowling for Mercer University ! Sam also wicket keeps !

Every John Bart King winner is taught and strongly supported by his Club President & team mates and Sameer Anand, and Yash Patel in particular have spent hours coaching our winners.” American College Cricket Founder & President Lloyd Jodah explained.In the words of Mercer University Cricket Club President Sameer:

“Sam, Wesley and I all are brothers of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, which is how we met. As Mercer’s baseball team is very well ranked nationally, they didn’t have the opportunity to play college baseball. In starting the team, I realized that I couldn’t just appeal to the conventional cricket players at our school, because there weren’t very many. Wesley and Sam joined immediately to support me, but also to learn a new sport.

Sam was a pitcher for his varsity baseball team, and grew up playing the sport competitively as well as his part time job being a baseball umpire. From that he gained a good arm, the ability to track the ball in the air very well. Naturally, he was very good in the field, but he quickly came into the lineup as our opening bowler. Capable of generating good pace and consistent with yorkers, he spent a hours every week bowling against a wall and practicing his run up. He also gained a lot by watching cricket, as we stayed up every night in our dorm watching the ICC World Cup this past year.

Wesley, a catcher for a high school that made the Little League World Series, started as a wicket keeper. He became our opening batsmen because he is used to handling a lot of pace from baseball. He currently holds the highest score in our short cricketing history. He began bowling to fill our lineup of bowlers and created an effective pace with good bouncers. We value him most as our opening batsman, as he sees pace very well, and is extremely powerful driving through the ball.”

Wesley scored 55 in 31 balls with 6 fours & 3 sixes vs Georgia Southern, and 28 off 35 balls with 2 fours vs USF, putting on an opening partnership of 31 with Sam (12) off the strong USF bowling.

Sam, 5’10 and 155 lbs, also had a great opening bowling spell, taking 3 wickets for 10 runs in 3 overs vs Georgia Southern. The USF & FSU batsmen took lots of runs off of both however.

Sam and Wesley, both 19 years old, say they knew nothing about cricket until Sameer & Yash started teaching them and as for their family & friends ? Wesley said they’ve “mostly been curious and wanting me to teach them everything about it”.

Sam said, “I’ve had to explain every a lot but many people are happy to see something new in college sports. My family has been very supportive and have came to Florida to the South East Championship. As for the team I knew we were going to have a great time.”

Wesley,5’11 & 185 lbs, added, “I wasn’t nervous about the speed of the ball but the pitch was making it bounce at head level – I’ve never seen anything like that. Representing Mercer is an honor and a privilege.”

American College Cricket sponsor Dream11 is proud of Sam & Wesley’s accomplishment, and look forward to seeing them grow to even greater heights in cricket.

More photos:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153405293044331.1073741867.264550834330&type=3