The 60-year-old Allen started his career at Brooklyn International in 1998. “I was there for the first graduating class,” he said, “The school opened in ’94.”

And he took over coaching the cricket team in 2010. “I knew absolutely nothing about the sport when I started,” he said, “Now, it’s my favorite.”

Allen says Lorna Austin, Bassett Thompson and Ricky Kissoon were the founders of PSAL cricket back in 2008. “It is because of them, students in New York City have been able to play interscholastic cricket for 16 years,” Allen said.

Austin serves as administration executive assistant for the New York City School system, and Thompson and Kissoon are cricket commissioner and assistant cricket commissioner, respectively.

In 2009 Brooklyn International joined the PSAL Cricket program through the efforts of Scott Jackson, recalls Allen. “He (Jackson) was a longtime humanities teacher at the school,” Allen said.

Paul Allen, the physical education instructor, took over as coach — and on three different occasions brought the Buckeyes to the PSAL semifinals.

“If we qualify for the playoffs this year, I will consider it a successful season. We have some good players and a lot of enthusiasm, but probably not enough talent to get to another semifinal,” the coach noted.

Most of the International squad has been comprised of students from Bangladesh and, to a lesser extent, Pakistan, says Allen.

In fact, Brooklyn International High School at 49 Flatbush Avenue Extension is comprised of immigrants, and English is a second language for the students. “You must be in the country four years or less to qualify for admission to International,” Allen said.

The mission of Brooklyn International High Schol is to help English Language Learners (ELLs) develop their language, intellectual, cultural and collaborative abilities so that they may become active participants in today’s independent world.

“We strive to help every student reach his or her potential by fostering academic growth, personal growth and tolerance,” are the words on the school’s mission/website.

Students at BIHS come from over 30 different countries — Mexico, Yemen, Haiti, Iraq, Tibet, Ecuador, Uzbekistan and China. More than 30 different languages are spoken at the school, including French, Urdu, Polish, Fulani, Bengali, Haitian, Creole and Hindi.

“Our current captains are M.D. ‘Mahi’ Hussan and Zohaib Hassan,” the coach said. “They’re assisted a great deal by M.D. Khalid, who will likely captain the team next spring.”

In cricket, the captain sets the batting order, decides who bowls and when and where to place the fielders.

The PSAL cricket season takes place in the spring, with a 10-12 match schedule. Brooklyn International plays its home matches at Marine Park, and the coach says the students usually practice indoors. The team equipment, he noted, is supplied by the school — that would include gloves, bats, protection, leg pads, and ankle, thigh and hip pads. The catcher is the only participant to wear a glove in cricket.

BIHS boasts 11 or 12 members on its roster, and Allen says almost all are Bengali. “We have one Asian and one African on the team,” he said.

PSAL cricket is coed — but BIHS has no girls on their roster. “We’ve never had a girl on the roster,” Allen said, “But we’ve played teams with girls.”

Those teams in Brooklyn I-A include Brooklyn Tech, FDR, Franklin K. Lane, and BIHS. Brooklyn A-II include: Transit Tech High School, Medgar Evers College Preparatory School, Midwood and Prospect Heights Campus.

John Adams High School (Queens) has won the most PSAL cricket championships, followed by Long Island City and Richmond Hill. FDR is the only non-Queens team to ever win a title.

The PSAL plays a form of cricket known as T20. This means that both teams have 20 overs each to bat their 11 players. Each over consists of six balls. “So,” Allen says, “in theory, each team should face 120 balls in a T20 match.”

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game — the ball is hard, like a baseball, but with a different seam down the middle. It is played between two teams of 11 players on a field, at the center of which is a 22-yard pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. Two players from the batting team — the striker and non-striker — stand in front of either wicket, with one player from the fielding team — the bowler — bowling the ball towards the striker’s wicket from the opposite end of the pitch.

The striker’s goal is to hit the bowled ball and then switch places with the non-striker, with the batting team scoring one run for each exchange. Runs are also scored when the ball reaches or crosses the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally. When 10 batters have been dismissed by their fielding team, the innings end and the teams swap roles.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup will be played in the U.S. and the West Indies, June 3-12. The PSAL has arranged with the ICC to have 124 PSAL-cricket playing athletes participate as flag bearers for the matches taking place in New York City.

This will be the first ICC event taking place in the United States and will occur across three venues — the brand new 34,000-seat Nassau County International Stadium, the renovated Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas and the Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill.

And Paul Allen will love every minute.

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected] Twitter@AndyFurmanFSR

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