After a hard-fought tournament, WOMCC finally lived their dream of winning TCC, which is the toughest taped ball tournament in the Houston area. This was their first ever title. They pipped CFCC by three wickets in a thrilling game that was worthy of a final!
On a bright, sunny morning, 20th Nov 2021, WOMCC won the toss and elected to field first. Their bowlers were on song throughout the tournament and that was the best way to go ahead for the team. The opening batsmen were removed very quickly by the fast-bowling duo of Chand and Afsar. Sasidhar nicked one off Afsar and Abhished nicked one off Chand with Navin catching both the batsmen out. The score read 11/2 in the third over. Akshay and the ever-reliable Yesu started the rebuild nudging around the strong WOMCC bowling around for doubles and singles. The duo put together 32 runs in 6 overs. Pranav, the dibbly dobbly medium pace bowler came into the attached and removed Yesu (17) with his first ball! After this breakthrough, Rajkiran and Akshay (24) continued to defy an aggressive WOMCC attack. CFCC managed to reach 51/3 at the end of the first half of the innings.
In the second half, Akshay was bowled off a peach of a delivery by Asfar and Rajkiran and Dikshith followed soon after being removed by Archit in a gap of two balls. After 14 overs, CFCC were in a bit of a spot of bother at 73/6, looking for some desperate runs to at least reach the par score of 120 which was a defendable total on the ground. This much needed impetus was provided to the team by Manjunath (23) and Yashwanth (24). The duo scored at a brisk rate and added almost 50 runs in 6 overs. Trying to score a quick double, Manjunath was run out courtesy a rocket throw by Chand from the deep. After that partnership ended, Pranav bowled a beautiful last over giving away just 5 runs which limited the CFCC team to a respectable total of 125/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
Chasing 126, Navin and Naushad started cautiously overcoming a lethal spell by Yesu in which he conceded only one run in his first two overs. This included a maiden over to WOMCC’s in form batsman Navin Negi. After a solid start of 35 runs in 6 overs, Naushad (18) was run out by Yashwanth trying to steal a single. After this, Manjunath came into the attack and picked Rushang, Archit and Zeeshan quickly to leave WOMCC in a spot of bother at 67/4 in the 11th over. WOMCC were in further trouble after Yesu removed the captain Neelesh and Abhishek removed Asfar. Standing through all this fall was Navin Negi. He kept one end steady and continued batting steadily. Pratap and Navin put a stand of 31 runs and got WOMCC well within the sight of the victory.
After Pratap fell, Navin unbeaten on 60 with 7 fours and a six finished the game off in style to hand WOMCC their first ever TCC trophy!
The game was followed by a well-managed presentation ceremony organized by Jagdish Biradar. Neelesh Musale, the captain of WOMCC was handed over the winner’s trophy and the runners up trophy was handed over to captain of CFCC Prabhakar Thota. Navin Negi from WOMCC was the MVP of the final and the MVP for the tournament.
Tournament awards were also handed over. For Divn I, George from ECC was the best batsman with 262 runs, Prabaharan from Big 12 was best bowler with 12 wickets, Shiva from HCCC was the best wicket keeper with 29 dismissals, Sandeep from Miura Bulls was the best allrounder with 130 runs and 11 wickets. Special awards were given to Shiva from HCCC for a century and Gopi from Masters for Hat trick.
For Divn II, Saad from Champions CC II was the best batsman with 343 runs, Manohar from Martians was the best bowler with 15 wickets, Ram from Spartans with 23 dismissals was the best wicket keeper, Roshaka from All Stars CC was the best allrounder with 210 runs and 10 wickets. Special awards were given to Saad from Champions CC II for a century and Sadesh of All Stars CC for a Hat trick.
Online scorecard is at: https://cricclubs.com/3T/fullScorecard.do?matchId=908&clubId=8675
YouTube video is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSiDOSlnGvs
Winners WOMCC are as below
Runners up CFCC are as below
