Titan

Titans Open 2011 With A Strong Statement!

Paul Dharmendra Ramkissoon

The postponement of the league games to the latest season start date in South Florida recorded cricket history meant one thing...heat and rain affected games would be the norm early in the season.  Luckily, Port St. Lucie CC does have one of the fastest drying facilities in the league but on the morning of Sunday May 15th,  2011, opening day, getting a game in seemed improbable.  With the forecast predicting 40-55% chance of rain thoughout the day, combined with an ominous call from the PSLCC manager asking to call the game off due to weather concerns while the team was carpooling up...it seemed like a waste of gas.  Fortunately, the league rules stipulate that you must turn up regardless and so Titans did.

With the ground soaked but the sun starting to peek out...a delayed start seemed obvious, so the prioirty shifted to the opening day BBQ plans.  Grillmaster Waltiebaby prepped the coals and the meat seasoned by Paulie was put to fire.  A special opening day feast of beef roast, pork shoulder roast, chicken and some salads were on the menu.  The slow cooking of the meat accentuated the slow start to the proceedings.  One thing that happened fast though was the change in weather, from bleak and drizzly to sunny and windy within an hour.  In all only six-overs were lost and a 37 over game was on the cards.

Titan's new 40-over skipper Tanmay Kadam, lost the toss and was asked to bat first on a damp wicket.  As expected the ball kept a bit low and slow in the early overs as longtime openers Sachith K. & Dalip M. negotiated a spirited and accurate opeing bowling combination.  By the time the first wicket fell the score had pushed on to 40 odd for one in the ninth overs as Dalip was caught in the deep just out of range of a six, off a full toss.  He had already made a solid 25 up to that point and contributed to a good start for the team.

Next Anil Bhawani strode to the crease, one of several off-season additions that have the Titans cricket family very excited about this season.  He played with fluency from ball one and raced into the forties to catch up with Sachith...at one point both were on on 47 and teammates began betting on who would make his fifty first.  Sachith won the race and raised his bat in such a fashion that if you blinked you would have missed it...it suggested he had much more in mind than a fifty.  Anil and him had put on over a hundred run partnership before Anil was caught at deep cover on 49, with the score at 150 odd for 2.  With 10 overs remaining, Paul R. was rewarded for his good off-season form with an on-the-fly promotion to #4.  Perhaps due to the great start, he attempted to push the scoring onwards and was stumped for eight runs.  This prompted Tiki's arrival at the crease another form player in the off-season coming off a rich century in Sarasota.  His stay was also short lived as he fell for 7 runs.  This brought hard hitting Danny boy to the crease and him and Sachith took it to the end of the innings.  Sachith brought up his century with a straight six and finished on 107*...with Danny supporting well.

Titans had scored 237/5 and later realized they had the pleasure of facing USA's Tony Reid who bowled a miserly spell.  Funny enough, the batsmen had identified him as the PSLCC side's best bowler not knowing who he was and had already discussed just moving him around for singles and doubles and targeting the other bowlers.  Guess he has still got the goods!

The new ball pair of Paul and Danny stood ready for action, but all did not go smoothly.  Paul got in a decent first over, but Danny went for a few too many prompting a change to Vice Captain Rakesh from that end.  The next over, Paul struck and later in his first spell he removed the other opener for his two wickets on the day.  Rakesh likewise sent two batsmen back including the big wicket of Tony Reid who was LBW to one that jagged back sharply off a good length.  Tanmay and Atif then came in to bowl miserly and send back another four bats, along with Danny who came back strongly and was unplayable in the latter overs, prising out the other two wickets.  All in all it was a strong bowling effort and fielding performance, perfectly set up by brilliant batting.  St. Lucie managed only 147 all out in 31 of their 37 overs completing a dominating 90 run victory by a Titans squad that has now officially put the league on notice.

Congratulations to Man of the Match, Sachith Kongahakotuwage for his 107* and to our new skipper Tanmay Kadam as he starts his term off in style!