Weekend Sports With James Atherley
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday.
The nation collectively held its breath with eyes glued to their TVs as the national football team of Belize faced the Cayman selection in game II yesterday after the lackluster stalemate at Belmopan last Wednesday. Football has always excited the Belizean public and our dominance over Cayman is a matter of history. To have not eliminated the island would have been unthinkable. 4 minutes into the ballgame, this center off the right wing by Cayman is terribly misplayed inside the box by the Belize defense. Cayman picks it up and the host leads 1-zip. Stunned, team Belize works to recover its composure and earn this spot kick just outside the 18. Elroy Kuylen gets the call for the set piece and unleashes an educated left foot that bends into the goal. The Cayman keeper is beaten and we’re tied at one apiece.
In 2nd half, Belize grows a little more. The center into the box allows our team to launch that forces the keeper to come up with a necessary touch. Another attempt goes awry when this nice feed is squandered from point blank range. When the Cayman goalie comes off his line to err on the possession, team Belizean cannot capitalize. At the other end, this set piece by Cayman befuddles Woodrow West, but he recovers enough to quell the dangerous situation. It could have ruined out chances, but all’s well that ends well. The 1-1 score holds up and it’s enough for our team to move on. For sure, the deficiency and lack of cohesion by our team is troubling to say the least. These will have to be rectified as we move on to face Dominica.
In basketball news, League Leading Cayo Western Ballaz put its undefeated record on the line Friday night against the Belize Yellow Pages Hurricanes who looked to the friendly confines of the Belize Elementary Gym there in Belize City to accomplish what no other team has been able to through 7 weeks of severe competition. Much credit for the superb Ballaz, play must be given to Roger Troyer who has emerged as the league’s top scorer with a 24 pt average and tonight he gets the Cayo team rolling with the swish for 3. Troyer would lead all scorers with the game high 18 pts providing 10 rebounds. Ty Bradley would try to be the answer for the host team, Hurricanes and he grabs this rebound to go glass for 2 of his team high 13 pts with 5 rebounds to boot. But it’s the visitors leading by 5 at the end of the 1st.
Akeem Walters has grown by leaps and bounds this season fighting off Lindbergh Graham for this rebound to stick the rebound off the glass to show 17 pts and 7 rebounds for the night’s work. However, the big man for Cayo sticks this triple, but Kurt Burgess would out up only 7 pts while his stellar defensive effort yielded 11 rebounds to grab a share of the game high. Sharing the lead on the boards is Brian White who pulled 11 also but would only sink 6 pts. At intermission, his team is down by 11. He used to be superman and he shows why sticking with this play for the put back and would deliver doubles of 13 pts and 10 rebounds to the Cayo Ballaz.
Earl Johnson did his best to keep the Hurricanes rolling and would give them 11 pts and 4 boards. In the meantime, Winston Pratt is yet to reach his comfort zone with the Hurricanes, but hits this necessary 3 and would finish 8 pts 6 boards. Still the Hurricanes find themselves down by 9 at the end of 3rd. the Ballaz would put the clmap on in the 4th. Keith Acosta benefits off this missed shot to extend the lead to 13. They go on to post the 67 – 55 big Win to take this undefeated streak to 7 straight. The Hurricanes fall to 2 and 5.
On the cricket scene, Sunrise melted Brave Union in a lobsided score of 162 to 37. Jermaine Baizar single handedly outscored the opposition combined with his 91 runs output while Conway Jones struck for 5 wickets. For Brave Union, Kishane Flowers recorded 6 runs and took 5 wickets. In other results, Easy Does It edgef Excellence 91 to 89 and Medicines outlasted Suga Boys 119 to 76.
In closing folks, the family of late Manfred Denfield Atkins donated a trophy in his name to the 2015 Cross Country Cycling Classic. A pioneer in sportcasting, Manfred, a mainstay at the now extinct Radio Belize interviewed Mohammed Alu and Joe Frazier on their respective visits to Belize. His work set the stage for what is sport broadcasting today. He was one of a kind.
Jah over all, I’m James Adderley.
