Titan

Another Victory For The Titans In Game 2

Walt H. Rambaransingh | Date 06/28/19

On a sweltering, hot late June day, the Palm Beach Titans continued their 2019 South Florida Cricket Alliance 20 over campaign. Game 2 of the 2019 SFCA 20 over regular season was played against perennial rivals (& Titans extended family), Port St. Lucie at the Titans home ground of John Prince Park. Palm Beach Titans won the toss and elected to bat first. With several frontline players missing for various reasons for this match, some of the Titan’s supporting cast had to step up to the plate for their squad.

Sachith and Sahel opened the batting. Both opening batsmen began prudently but punished the bad balls when bowled. The first wicket did not fall until the 12th over with Sahel edging a ball back to the opposing wicketkeeper. At the fall of first wicket with 68 runs on the board, Sachith was on 28 runs while Sahel exited with 27 runs to his tally. Praveen came to the crease to replace Sahel. The new batsman played the role of rotating the strike to the in-form batsman, Sachith. That second wicket partnership lasted 5 overs and netted 42 runs before Praveen lost his wicket in the 17th over. Master Blaster Nagarjun replaced Praveen at the crease with 23 balls left in the inning. Both Sachith and Naga took appropriate advantage of the remaining overs by scoring a collective 44 runs in those 3.5 remaining overs. At the end of the first inning, the Palm Beach Titans scored 154 runs with Sachith scoring 76 runs not out (60 balls), Sahel scoring 27 runs (36 balls) and Naga scoring a quick 20 runs not out (9 balls).

With 4 frontline bowlers unavailable for the match, Earl and Walt opened the bowling in defense of the defendable Titans score of 154 runs. Earl was very stingy in the opening over only allowing a total of 2 runs and putting immediate pressure on the opposing opening batsmen to score runs. Walt began his first over (2nd overall) in a horrible fashion allowing perennial Port St. Lucie all-rounder, Richard Louis to hit him for a 4 and a 6 in his first 2 bowled balls. However, Walt scalped his wicket with the third ball of his first over forcing him to cut a ball straight to point fielder, Maruthi who took a sensational low catch. Two balls later, Walt claimed the wicket of the newly entered 1-down batsman via a quick stumping from wicketkeeper Vice-Captain, Avinash. Maruthi aka “Rudi” replaced Walt after Earl’s second over. Maruthi claimed the 3rd wicket of the match 2 balls into his 1st over (4th over overall) via a clean bowled ball. With 3 wickets falling in less than 4 overs, the 4th and 5th batsmen of the opposing Port St. Lucie team dug their heels in and sustained a dangerous 89 run partnership that lasted almost 13 overs before Sahel took the wicket of in-form batsman Tony Reid via an LBW decision in what was the dagger that the Titans needed after the bowlers of the middle overs were porous. Earl, Sahel and Maruthi were collectively stingy in the final 5 overs. The bowling was supported by above par fielding from Titan stalwarts who negated several doubles and some singles. Bowling highlights included 2 wicket hauls from Walt and Sahel and a 1 wicket haul from Maruthi along with miserly bowling from Sahel, Earl & Maruthi in the latter 5 overs. At the end of the 2nd inning, Port St. Lucie accumulated 131 runs for 5 wickets lost in 20 overs. Palm Beach Titans won the game by 23 runs. The Titan’s bowling details are below:

Earl - 4 overs, 0 maidens, 20 runs, 0 wickets. (3 wides)

Walt – 3 overs, 0 maidens, 31 runs, 2 wickets. (0 wides)

Maruthi –4 overs, 0 maidens, 15 runs, 1 wickets. (5 wides)

Jaideep –4 overs, 0 maidens, 38 runs, 0 wickets. (3 wides, 1 No Ball)

Prateek –2 overs, 0 maidens, 17 runs, 0 wickets. (0 wides)

Sahel –3 overs, 0 maidens, 10 runs, 2 wickets. (3 wides)

The Palm Beach Titans continued their early winning days of the 2019 South Florida Cricket Alliance 20 over campaign with a resolute victory against Port St. Lucie. Batting highlights included Sachith scoring 76 runs not out (60 balls), Sahel scoring 27 runs (36 balls) and Naga scoring a quick 20 runs not out (9 balls). Bowling highlights included 2 wicket hauls from Walt and Sahel and a 1 wicket haul from Maruthi along with a collective parsimonious bowling economy from Sahel, Earl & Maruthi in the latter overs. Fielding highlights included above par fielding from Titan stalwarts who negated several doubles and some singles. The second game of the 12 game 20 over campaign ended in a fortuitous but effective win for the club which allowed all available resources to contribute to the affirmative team result. The Palm Beach Titans continue to look positively to their future campaign and ambitions. The team will endure to improve their deficits and engage their positive traits.