From Paul Rushing Park – The home of Houston cricket
By Sean Chapman

Sunday saw a celebration of Houston cricket played at Paul Rushing Park, the new home of cricket in Houston. The 3 grounds at the Paul Rushing Park, new this year, were in great condition and some tremendous cricket was witnessed. The main event saw the 2009 championship game of the Houston Cricket League. The game fittingly pitted the two best teams from the 2009 season against each other.
Houston Indian C.C. finished on top of the division one standings, only losing 2 games for the year and cruising through their playoffs, competed against Triggers C.C. who finished 2nd to HICC in the standings, but won the war today!
In front of a crowd of 200 people TCC dominated the game for a convincing 152 run win. HICC started the day well winning the toss, but not much else went HICC’s way. The TCC openers Roshan Ngangom and Akbar Ali put on a 64 run opening partnership, this was followed by a string of partnerships that was highlighted by Ngangom’s 60 and Arun Douglas’s 64.

TCC were all out in the 40th over for 243. Ankit Mehta grabbed 5 wickets for HICC, while Monik Patel had an outstanding day behind the stumps with 6 dismissals.

HICC needed a good start to chase down the 6 runs an over needed for victory, but the opposite occurred with Giresh Kamthe and Fahim Ibrahim blasting through the strong HICC top order to reduce them to 15 for 4. This effectively sealed the game for TCC and HICC never recovered despite a gutsy 37 from Ankit Mehta who batted on gamely after being struck in the head by a bouncer until he was run out in a mix up with Tejas Sanghavi. No other HICC passed 10 runs in a disappointing effort.

HICC was all out for 91 in the 22 over. Giresh and Fahim both claimed 3 wickets.

Roshan and Arun were named joint MVP’s for the performances.

The HCL also conducted a six-a-side tournament at the ground with 8 clubs competing. The event was won by an undefeated Elite C.C. team who defeated the Houston Riders C.C. in the final.

A great day for Houston cricket went off without a hitch thanks the many tireless volunteers that make the HCL one of the best leagues in the country.