WINTER 2014 – SLCC WINNERS, CHARGERS GLADIATORS RUNNERS UP

It was a Final for the ages (03/14/15). A game which went back and forth down to the wire. Tournament featured 26 teams, most ever in a single tournament hosted by the TCC taped ball league. The game was delayed due to a wet ground and fog. SLCC won the toss and elected to field. Opening bowlers Kanchane and Thusitha restricted CG openers to only 11 runs in the 4 mandatory power play. CG struggled to accumulate runs in the first 10 overs, scoring just 29. Siddharth (25*) and Sandeep (18) put up a partnership with a flurry of two’s to get CG to a competitive total of 93/8 in 20 overs. Top bowlers for SLCC were Thusitha, Bernard and Nalith with each of them picking 2 wickets, with less than 5 runs per over.

SLCC had a poor start to their innings losing 6 wickets for just 25 runs in 7 overs with excellent bowling from Sundeep and Vinit backed up by great fielding. The momentum was all in favor of CG at this time. Thilan (21), former captain of SLCC and Bernard (33*) put together a match winning partnership of 57 runs. CG were not ready to abandon ship, taking Thilan’s wicket in the 17 over and Kanchane’s in the 18 th. That was not going to deny SLCC their first championship win in their 5th attempt. Bernard and Thusitha finished the chase in the 19th over to secure SLCC the championship by two wickets. Top bowlers for CG were Sundeep with 3 wickets and Vinit with 2 wickets. The game had high quality umpiring from Strikers and MCC.

The game was followed by a well-organized prize distribution ceremony arranged by TCC and attended by numberof friends and family members who had come to support the teams.Everyone was honored with the presence of a former USA Captain Sushil Nadkarni with an illustrious career for the USA team as the chief Guest. The other members were President Nanda Kumar, Vice President Krishna Shikaram, and HCL Ground Manager, Herman Geddes.

Jagadish Biradar, organizer of TCC Taped Ball tournament coordinated the presentation ceremony. Sushil Nadkarni was presented with a plaque by Nanda Kumar for his contribution to cricket in Houston. In his address to the gathering, Sushil who recently retired from active cricket mentioned that having played the game honestly is what counts the most after the playing days are over.

Gihan Fernando, the captain of SLCC was presented with the championship trophy and Dinesh Kasliwal, the captain of CG was presented with the runners up trophy. The players of the winners and runners up received individual trophies. Man of the match for the finals was Bernard from SLCC for a tremendous all-around performance.

Sai Shyam Durbha from Big 12 won the Best Batsman trophy with 204 runs. Rajesh Pant from Cougars won the Best Bowler trophy with 16 wickets and Rajiv Madhavan from Big 12 won the best All-Rounder trophy with 126 runs and 12 wickets. Trophies were also given to the man of the match for Semi Finals, Quarter Finals and Pre QF. Bernard from SLCCand Mathew from CG were the recipients of MVP for Semi Finals. Wickrama from SLCC, Vinit from CG, Ashwin from Cougars and Sai Shyam from Big 12 were the recipients of the MVP for Quarter Finals. Jeeva from Spartans, Sai Shyam from Big 12, Senthil from Rattlers and Mayuresh from Thunderbolts were the recipients of MVPs for Pre QFs. Special prizes were given to Pervinder Gulati from Grady for a century, Subodh from CG, Ankit from Grady, Subbu from Cougars and Praveen from HJCC for a Hattrick.