Triumphant New York U-19 Youths Return To Apple

By John L. Aaron
Sept. 3rd, 2008
The national champions New York Under-19 squad returned to the Big Apple on Tuesday night, after sweeping the competition in the United States of America Cricket Association’s (USACA) national Under-19 tournament in Florida over the Labor Day weekend.

The National Under-19 Champions - Return to New York last night at LaGuardia airport. Absent from the team photo are Shaan Metha who went on to directly to college and Cameron Mirza, holidaying in Florida, after helping the New York team win the national championship in Florida. Photos by John Aaron

Looking very smart in blue jeans, light blue polo shirts and dark blue blazers with the New York Cricket Region’s logo, the exuberant youths were accompanied by their manager Lester Hooper, brother of f ormer Guyana and West Indies Test player and Captain Carl Hooper, along with beleaguered coach Linden Fraser.

The success of the Big Apple youths was even sweeter, following a unilateral decision by USACA’s president Gladstone Dainty to suspend coach Linden Fraser, after the selection of the national Under-15 team for the ICC Americas tournament in Bermuda, and his (Dainty’s) alleged call to NYCR’s Regional Director Jeffroy Morrishaw, threatening to disqualify the New York youths, if Coach Fraser was seen interacting with them.

The USACA National Championship trophy

Fraser was named the team’s coach shortly before the team left for Florida, and airfare and hotel arrangements were already in play. To reinforce the USACA president’s dictate, the New York Regional Administration honored the suspension, without even seeking suspended action on the matter, as a representative appeal on behalf of the New York youths.
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