Former Essequibo youth captain, Ameer Singh smashed a record 202 not out yesterday in the New York Police Department Under-19 T20 tournament and in the process seeing the Dragons to a 331-run win over Alliance XI.
Singh, who was also leading Dragons at Baisley Pond, New York, won the toss and elected to take first strike where his side piled on a record-breaking 372 for two from their allotted 20 overs before restricting Alliance to a mere 41-5 in their quota.
Despite a subdued first over, Singh shifted gear and took 32 runs from Mohammed Abdullah’s second over.
By the seventh over, Dragons soared to 140 but Singh lost his opening partner, Romayne Netram, for a ball-a-run seven.
The right-handed opener continued his abuse, dismantling the Alliance bowlers.
He struck eight fours and 23 sixes, breaking the record for the most sixes in an innings for the competition.
His 53-ball innings saw him reaching 202 not out.
After the match, Singh told Stabroek Sport it was a special day for him to accomplish such a remarkable feat and dedicated his innings to his mother who passed away in March, 2020.
“It was special for me. To reach a century is hard in T20 much less to reach 200 is really a special feeling,” Singh said while adding, “I dedicated this innings to my mother today. The innings I played was not only for my team but for her. I had a dream last night, the night before my game; it was me batting and her cheering me on. Today whilst batting I felt her presence. I decided it was going to be my day since I woke up, I got to the ground I led the warm up sessions and as I was doing knock ups, I was hitting everything out of the middle. I just went out and played the ball to its merit and timed them sweetly.”
Singh, who also plays for Police Sports Club in Georgetown, was complemented by Mohammed Shaun who was also belligerent to the Alliance bowlers with an explosive 49-ball 126 not out. Shaun was quiet at the start of his innings, showing confidence in Singh to just turn over the strike and trusted his fitness with a series of double runs before motoring towards the back end of his innings and hitting six fours and 10 sixes, five of which were struck consecutively before retiring not out.
In the chase, Dragons got the early breakthrough with the fast bowler, Kyle Kowlessar (2-6) removing the two openers cheaply. Alliance never recovered as each batsman was unable to reach double figures.
