70 The QUEE NS Courier • NOVEMBER 7, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com sports JOHNNIES REBOUND CRICKET UP AT BAT CRICKET IS COMING UP BY ANTHONY O’REILLY [email protected] When Anwer Hossain moved to New York City as a young child from Pakistan, he searched all over New York for a place to play his country’s beloved sport: cricket. But it wasn’t as easy as he thought to find one. “I used to love playing it as a child,” Hossain said. “I started searching for teams in New York, but it was really difficult to find one.” That soon changed, as Hossain is now a part of the New York Cricket League and the Commonwealth Cricket League, currently playing for Castle Hill Cricket Club. The sport of cricket is a way for immigrants mostly from the West Indies and parts of Asia- to feel at home in America. Lately, more and more opportunities have been popping up for those looking to play the game, according to Hossain and cricket promoters. Eric Ferrier, who founded the New York Softball Cricket League, said it was hard to round up members across the state when he was starting the organization. But Ferrier, who is of Guyanese descent, boasts that today the league has nearly 2,500 players in Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Long Island. He credits a lot of the success to word-of-mouth promotion from the league’s current players. And although word of mouth is important to the game’s recent growth, some believe a lot of credit also belongs to the NYPD’s annual cricket tournament. The tournament, which has been going on for about six years, is hosted in either Queens or the Bronx every year for players ranging from 14-19 years old. This year’s tournament was played in Flushing. Its aim is to develop a relationship with the city’s immigrant community. “We do a lot of outreach work with the new immigrant community,” said Sgt. Adeel Rana, who founded the tournament. Rana said, despite the improvements in the sport’s popularity, there is still much to do when it comes to the fields in which the sport is played. “I think one of the top priorities should be creating more fields,” Rana said. “Every park has a baseball field, but not a lot have cricket fields.” Those concerns have the opportunity to be addressed if City Councilman Ruben Wills’ proposed bill to create a cricket task force to help promote the sport is passed. Wills’ bill has been introduced to the City Council, but has yet to be voted on. “I support the bill. The politicians are very important to getting things done,” Rana said. While he is optimistic for the sport’s future, Hossain noted that cricket still has a way to go before it can become a mainstream American sport. “I love the sport. I would do anything for it,” Hossain said. But he added, “It’s going to be really difficult to reach that point.” Photo courtesy of Anwer Hossain Cricket player Anwer Hossain believes his sport is becoming more and more popular in the city. ST. JOHN’S STRUGGLES IN FIRST GAME, REBOUNDS IN SECOND BY LIAM LA GUERE [email protected] St. John’s University men’s basketball head coach Steve Lavin promised that this year the Red Storm would do something “special.” But it certainly didn’t look that way in the Johnnies’ 2013-2014 pre-season debut, an exhibition game against the Division II San Francisco University State Gators on Saturday, November 2. The Red Storm struggled throughout the game, shooting just 41.3 percent from the floor, while allowing the Gators to shoot 51.6 percent. The Johnnies, however, managed to escape with an 82-80 win, due to big shots by junior guard D’Angelo Harrison, who scored 29 points. “Clearly there are a number of aspects both defensively and offensively that we need to clean up,” Lavin said. “We went down the list of areas that we need to improve upon and then also gave them credit for having the resourcefulness to find a way to win on a night where things weren’t going well for us, and that’s an important trait.” Harrison hit a mid-range jump shot over two defenders with 16.7 seconds left in the game to give St. John’s an 81-80 lead. After a defensive stop on the ensuing play, Harrison was fouled and knocked down one of two free throws to expand the lead. With just 4.8 seconds remaining, the Gators took a final three-point attempt, but missed what would have been the game-winning shot. “I don’t care what division it is, it’s hard to come back, especially the way they were playing and executing,” Harrison said. “It was good that we pulled it out.” Although the first game was tough, the Red Storm rebounded in its second exhibition game, which was the team’s final match before the start of the regular season. The Red Storm dominated Humboldt State University on Monday, November 4 with a score of 106-39, led by forward God’sgift Achiuwa, who scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds. The Johnnies dismantled the Lumberjacks early and scored often. By halftime the score was 47-15, and the lead just continued to balloon from there. “There were some positives tonight,” Lavin said. “I was pleased with our team’s willingness to share the basketball and find the open man.” Photo courtesy of St. John’s Athletic Communications Forward God’sgift Achiuwa led St. John’s with a dominant victory over Humboldt State University after the team nearly lost to San Francisco University two days earlier.
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