Constantine secures victory for “Compre”

As part of their efforts to provide young cricketers with more opportunity to develop their skills, the North Zone of the PowerGen SSCL organized age-group knockout tournaments yearly at the end of the conventional league competitions.

The very nature of these games led to many exciting and competitive battles, but there were occasions that individual brilliance resulted in quite one-sided results.

On May 16, 2016, the “Compre” boys from Mucurapo Road took on the “Tigers” from Westmoorings in a quarter-final game that saw Kareem Constantine put the full range of his talents on display as he propelled his team to victory.

East Mucurapo skipper Sachin Emrit called correctly at the toss and chose to bat first. His bowling attack had already shown in the previous rounds of the competition that they were capable of defending any total their batsmen put up, so Emrit was content to abide by that old saying of “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”

The “Compre” resolve would get tested early as St. Anthony’s opening bowler M. Pierre sent back M. Seepersad and C. Young with a double strike in just the 3rd over of the innings. Kareem Constantine arrived at the crease to partner his skipper and the pair went about rebuilding their team’s fortunes in vastly contrasting styles. Whilst his skipper kept the strike ticking over with his deft placement and shot selection, Constantine brought his power to the party.

Constantine contributed a rapid 29 to Emrit’s 20 as they raised a 55-run partnership in just 5 overs, smashing 5 brutal boundaries in the process. The dismissal of Emrit via a careless run out saw Constantine move into the role of senior partner at the crease, taking almost all the strike in a partnership of 30 for the 4th wicket with J. Batson until his aggressive nature finally succumbed to a slower delivery from R. Preston and he was bowled for 46 containing 7 boundaries that were hit so hard that the poor cricket ball would have filed assault charges if it could.

St. Anthony’s skipper A. Lochan moved in quickly to pressure the remaining batsmen and indeed only one other score got to double figures as “Compre” ended their innings on 172 in the 26th over. That they even raised such a total was thanks to a plethora of wides from Lochan’s back-up bowlers who did not give their skipper the support he needed.  

If the Westmoorings lads thought they had seen all of Constantine’s power and ability as a batsman, they were about to be introduced to Constantine the bowler. His coaches had long held the belief that he was by far one of the fastest bowlers in his age group and if he could focus his aggression, he could be virtually unplayable on his day. His opponents would soon realize that this was indeed his day. With a brand new cherry in hand and the Queen’s Park Savannah breeze at his back, Constantine rocked the St. Anthony’s run chase with a double-wicket maiden in the very first over. First R. Preston and then J. Hernandez were so comprehensively bowled that it seemed very likely neither even saw the ball.

Kareem’s next over saw him concede 11 runs as that stiff breeze played havoc with his radar and led to 4 wides, but in between those deliveries, he managed to also uproot G. Romany’s stumps to leave the score on 20-3 after the 3rd over of the chase. Skipper Emrit had given the other opening bowling spot to the spin of J. Batson, but 3 wides and a no-ball while conceding 8 runs was definitely not what he was looking for, so he turned to the rapidly improving Shaquille Phillip. This would prove to be a genius move, as Phillip complemented Constantine perfectly. St. Anthony’s would now have to contend with the blistering, accurate pace at one end and deceptive guile at the other. It was simply too much for the batsmen to deal with on the day, as the “Compre” bowling tandem took just FIVE more overs to dismiss the remaining 7 wickets. With his variety and beautifully disguised slower ball, Phillip took 4-8 in his 3 overs and Constantine’s fire and brimstone brought him 6-22 off just 4 overs unchanged from one end.

So deadly accurate was Kareem’s pace that EVERY SINGLE ONE of his 6 dismissals was bowled! In fact, between them, the “Compre” boys claimed 7 wickets bowled, 1 L.B.W., and 2 caught by close fielders to give their team a handsome 134 run victory margin.

Kareem Constantine had ensured that his name would live long in the memories of his opponents on this day with a wonderfully destructive show of power, aggression, and ability that became a hallmark of his school cricket career.