REYES TURNS IN A REGAL PERFORMANCE FOR QRC

In the 2016 SSCL North Zone cricket season, Queen’s Royal College (QRC) had themselves quite a formidable group indeed. With a mix of established older players and exciting younger prospects, the ‘Royalians’ were making waves, particularly in the U-16 division, where the ever-reliable Navin Bidassie, in his final season at this age level, was leading a team that boasted not only seasoned performers but also included the talented young all-rounder Adam Reyes. He first caught the eyes of cricket aficionados in his earlier debut seasons with the school’s U-14 team, where his excellent batting abilities were perfectly complimented by his effective leg-spin and tidy wicketkeeping when necessary. On March 22^nd, 2016, Adam would bring all of his talents to the fore to help his team secure a decisive victory over East Mucurapo Secondary.

Skipper Bidassie won the toss and took first strike on a hot, windy afternoon at QRC’s college grounds. Mucurapo were still without their injured left-arm pace ace as well as a couple other senior players. Their depleted attack struggled mightily to contain the QRC opening pair of Bidassie and Zaheer Abass Ali as well as deal with the stiff breeze blowing across the ground. Anything slightly off-line or loose was expertly put away to the boundary or beyond as the home team’s most senior batsmen plundered 14 fours and 3 sixes between them, racing to 129 before Abass Ali was dismissed for 43, bringing young Reyes to the crease in the 16th over. The consistently impressive Sachin Emrit would then strike twice in the very next over, trapping Bidassie L.B.W. with his first ball and dismissing J. Ward in similar manner off the fourth to secure a double-wicket maiden and leave QRC in a spot of bother at 134-3. Then, the Adam Reyes show began.

The next 12 overs would see Reyes raise 58 runs in partnership with Kylon Samuels, out of which Samuels contributed just 9, but his stout defence of his wicket allowed Reyes to flourish at the other end. When Mucurapo finally broke their partnership through K. Constantine’s second over of a new spell, Adam had already raced to 43 not out with 8 beautifully executed boundaries to his name. He took a liking to S. Phillip’s gentle medium pace in the next over, crashing successive fours through the covers to bring up a highly entertaining half century, but could only look on with concern as Constantine came up with a double-wicket effort in over number 30 to leave QRC on 229-6 with just 3 overs left until the cut-off point for their innings. Reyes would put the willow to Phillip again, taking 10 runs off the 31st over before Emrit, replacing Constantine from the pavilion end, deceived him with a well-disguised slower delivery to pouch a return catch. Adam had been at the wicket for 16 overs, during which time his team amassed 90 runs, with his personal contribution being 61. The QRC innings would end on 238-8 after 35 overs, setting the Compre boys a challenge that no doubt kept their minds occupied during the lunch interval.

The Compre coaching staff, encouraged by the batting they had seen in their last match from their two most diminutive players, sent out Emrit and Sooknanan to begin their run chase and both young men began confidently. They were helped by some loose initial bowling from the QRC attack, so much so that after 3 overs they already had 30 runs on the board, and by the 9th the 50-run partnership arrived in just 38 minutes off 54 deliveries. With the score on 53 in the very next over, however, J. Awong would make amends for his earlier wayward deliveries by inducing a faint edge off Sooknanan’s bat for Reyes to take a very sharp catch behind the wicket to secure the first breakthrough for the hosts. They would be left waiting for further success as new batsman C. Young would provide excellent support to the steady Emrit in a 37-run partnership that took Mucurapo to 90 at the end of over number 17. In need of a bit of magic, the QRC skipper summoned Reyes from behind the stumps and brought him on to bowl. His very first delivery was a slow, well-flighted leg-break that was so completely misread by Young that he could only prod a gentle catch back to the bowler. This was just the catalyst the home team needed, and they struck again in the next over to snare wicket number 3. With Reyes settling immediately into his rhythm and bowling with a confidence that belied his young age, skipper Bidassie went on the attack, rotating his bowlers effectively and stifling the Compre run chase.

Emrit, meanwhile, was doing his best to keep the QRC boys at bay, mixing solid defence with the occasional boundary and taking as much of the strike as he could until he was undone by a ripper from Bidassie that dislodged his off stump and sent him dejectedly back to the pavilion for a truly gritty 41. From 129-4 at this point, the Mucurapo innings ended swiftly, losing their last 6 wickets for just 9 runs to be all out for 138. Reyes bowled unchanged from his end to cap off an excellent day’s work with figures of 5.2 overs, 3-13 as the rampant Royalians ran out victors by 100 runs. Adam Reyes had put the U16 division on notice that his brilliance was not just limited to his bat, and he would go on to be a major success for QRC.