American Cricket League Honors Its Stars

By John L. Aaron
The American Cricket League, largely based in Brooklyn moved its annual awards presentation to Naresa Palace, in Queens, last Saturday evening, where the league recognized those players and clubs who had outstanding performances during the just concluded season.

The predominantly Barbadian league represented by nine clubs in two zones – the Steve Holder Zone which includes Empire, Queens United, Somerset, Stamford and Swansea Cricket Clubs and the Noel Smith Zone, comprising Cambridge, Casablanca, Kingsgrove and Wanderers United Cricket Clubs, were represented by players and supporters alike at the spacious Naresa Palace on Rockaway Boulevard in Queens, NY.

Led by outgoing League President Henderson Clarke, the American Cricket League has a rich history of competitive cricket in the New York metropolitan area and has seen several national players from Barbados, as well as the rest of the Caribbean pass through its ranks.

The top championship club honors went to Swansea Cricket Club – 2007 unbeaten Mark Clarke Knockout champions, and with 81 points, the 2007 Limited Overs champion, followed by runners-up Wanderers United and Kingsgrove respectively.

Some of the individual batting awards were claimed by Kingsgrove’s Hamilton Goodridge 189.00 season average, Empire’s Henderson Blades with a top aggregate of 459 runs, and highest individual score of 191 by Wanderers United Clain Williams. Wanderers United also claimed the prize for the highest team score of 393 all out, recorded against Stamford Cricket Club.

In the bowling department, Anthony McLean of Somerset captured the most wickets -19 scalps at an average of 17.42 each, however, the best bowling average went to Swansea’s Rafique Payne with an average of 10.13 per wicket. Best bowling performance in a match honors went to Stamford’s Wayne Edwards 6 for 29 against Somerset and Wanderers United’s Edmund Flemming 5 for 19 against Casablanca.

There were thirteen centurions, with honorable mention going to Kingsgrove’s Hamilton Goodridge who led the group with three unbeaten centuries.

The Steve Holder Zone saw Empire’s Dwayne Smith topping the boards with an average of 73.83 including a high score of 108. Kingsgrove’s Hamilton Goodridge topped the Noel Smith Zone with a mammoth tally of 567 for an astounding average of 189.00. The batsman was not out on six occasions and recorded a high score of 105 not out, one of three centuries scored during the season.