Alex Amsterdam

Cricket is no exception to this, with names such as David Gower, Brian Lara, Graeme Pollock, Sourav Ganguly, Saeed Anwar, Alvin Kallicharran and Kumar Sangakarra springing to mind.

A perfectly executed fade away jump-shot, a curling free-kick in to the top corner of the net, an exhilarating front side cutback on a glassy 6-foot wave. I’m not necessarily referring to those that dominate their chosen sport, but rather those who seem to execute their skills with a grace and finesse that is more poetry than prose. The beautiful ones.

The train-spotters amongst you will have noticed something that these players have in common – they are all left-handed batsmen. It is a strange phenomenon that in the cricket fraternity left-handed batsmen are universally acknowledged as being more stylish and pleasing to the eye than right-handed players.

The USA Cricket Team have unearthed a stylish left-handed batsman of their own in recent seasons. The New York based, Guyanese native, Alex Amsterdam has established himself as a regular fixture in the middle order and like his contemporaries has always looked graceful at the crease. He has also been a consistent scorer from his regular position at second drop in the order, with his breakout performance coming at last year’s World Cricket League Division 4 tournament in Los Angeles. USA won the tournament, and have therefore qualified for the Division 3 tournament this year in Uganda.

Their success in L.A. was in no small part thanks to Amsterdam’s 213 runs at an average of 53.25 across the week. Included in those runs was his maiden century for the United States – his 102 coming off just 98 balls in the loss against Jersey.

However, with attention now moving toward Division 3 and the tougher level of competition, increased effort has been invested in making sure the team that heads away is as strong as it can possibly be. With several new players coming into the wider squad having had first class experience in different places around the world, there might have been cause for concern for the incumbents. However, Amsterdam suggests rather than being worried about their place in the side, all members of the squad look up to these players and are enjoying the experience that they have brought to the setup. The players know how important it is to give a good account of themselves in Uganda with the younger members of the side, Amsterdam included, keen to soak up as much as they can from those with more experience. It is this desire to improve which will see Amsterdam continue to be a key player for the U.S. in #WCL3.