Titan

It’s NEVER Easy.

Walt H. Rambaransingh | Date 02/05/17

On a beautiful, crisp February day, the Palm Beach Titans began their 2017 South Florida Premiere League 40 over campaign. Game 1 of the 2017 SFPL 40 over regular season would be played against familiar adversaries Port St. Lucie CC at Girlscout Friendship Park. Palm Beach Titans won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Krishna & new “Icon” player Anglin (aka Fireman) opened the bowling. With the absence of regular perennial wicketkeeper Tiki Singh, Bharat & Chucky shared those duties for the day. The new opening bowling pair began efficiently with great strength that put pressure on the top order batsmen of the opposition. Anglin struck first by taking the wicket of the on-strike opening batsman with the last ball of his first over with an edge caught behind by wicketkeeper for the day, Bharat. Anglin continued his effective pace bowling by removing the 1-down batsman with the 2nd ball of his 2nd over via a catch at the slips position by Chucky. After 4 over spells by each of the opening bowlers, skipper Andre chose Nathan & Nagarjun to be his first change bowlers. Both 1st change bowlers started well, each only giving up a total of 7 runs each in their first 2 overs. This was the first official bowling opportunity for Nagarjun as he is normally used as a middle order batsman for the squad. Surprisingly, he had a magical 3rd over as he took 2 wickets along with a 3rd wicket scalp in his 4th over. Nathan bowled effectively in his 5 over spell recording a maiden first over & taking the wicket of the opposition’s skipper. Tanmay & Andre then came in as 2nd change bowlers. As he normally does, Tanmay had an immediate effect by removing danger batsman (and former USA national team member) Tony Reid with a sweet reactionary caught & bowled on his very first bowled ball of the match. Andre was also miserly and effective by taking a wicket with the 4th ball of his very first over. Skipper Andre then brought back the opening bowlers, Krishna and Anglin to clean up the back end which was accomplished when Anglin took his 3rd wicket of the day halfway thru his 7th over. Fielding highlights included 2 catches by new player Cameron and 3 catches by Bharat (2 as a wicketkeeper & 1 at the long-off boundary). Bowling highlights included 3 wicket hauls by Anglin & Nagarjun, a 2 wicket haul in 3 overs by Tanmay and collective, effective bowling by the entire Titans bowling lineup. One of the critiques of the Titans bowling was the 18 extras given, 10 of which were wide bowled balls by Nagarjun. At the end of the inning, Port St. Lucie was all out for 90 runs in 27.3 overs. Palm Beach Titans CC Bowling details of the day are below:

Krishna – 6 overs, 0 maidens, 18 runs, 0 wickets.
Anglin – 6.3 overs, 0 maidens, 11 runs, 3 wickets.
Nathan- 5 overs, 1 maiden, 22 runs, 1 wicket.
Nagarjun- 5 overs 1 maiden, 23 runs, 3 wickets.
Tanmay - 3 overs, 0 maidens, 11 runs, 2 wickets.
Andre – 2 overs, 0 maidens, 4 runs, 1 wicket.

Chucky & Atul opened the batting in what appeared to be a simple run chase. The stoic opening bowlers for the opposition were Tony Reid & Richard Louis and they began their defense by collectively removing 4 Titans batsmen in the first 4 overs. So, after the first 4 overs, the Palm Beach Titans lost 4 wickets with only 8 runs on the scorecard. Chucky, Atul, Praveen & Bharat were those 4 lost wickets with only Chucky scoring runs off the bat while the other three scored “Ducks”(quack, quack, quack). Krishna and Skipper Andre then came to the crease and “steadied the ship” with efficient batting between the 4th and 15th overs. Krishna unfortunately lost his wicket via a stumping on the last ball of the 15th over before the drinks break. At the 15th over break, the Palm Beach Titans had 50 runs on the scoreboard with 5 wickets lost & 41 runs needed. Nagarjun then came in to replace Krishna. Skipper Andre & Nagarjun batted very methodically to win the game by successfully chasing the 91 runs needed for victory. Skipper Andre played a proper captain’s knock to win the game by playing out the opening bowlers and ensured a steady, safe pace to earn the win. Batting highlights included Skipper Andre with 35 runs (not out) and Nagarjun with 25 runs (not out) along with a much needed 14 runs from Krishna when the top order collapsed. Palm Beach Titans CC win by 5 wickets, chasing down the required 91runs in 26.5 overs.

The Palm Beach Titans begin their 2017 South Florida Premiere League 40 over season with a victory over Port St. Lucie CC. This also marks the first victory for the new collective merger of Palm Beach CC & Titans CC, now known as Palm Beach Titans CC. Bowling highlights included 3 wicket hauls by Anglin & Nagarjun and a 2 wicket haul by Tanmay. Fielding highlights included 2 catches by Cameron and 3 catches by Bharat. Batting highlights included steadying spells by Skipper Andre, Krishna & Nagarjun. Critiques included a top order batting collapse & the number of wide balls bowled. The team looks to improve week by week as this new season progresses and this victory is a good beginning.