ECC won the TCC taped Ball Fall 2016 tournament by defeating Cougars by 7 wickets in a keenly contested final between 5-time finalist and 2 time winners ECC and 7 time finalists and 4-time winner Cougars. With this win ECC claimed its 3rd title. Both ECC and Cougars made it to the final, losing just one game in the league phase.
On a slightly overcast Saturday morning ECC lost the toss and Cougars promptly decided to bat. Cougars got off the blocks with a fast start and were 26/0 at the end of 4 overs. Sankar Tangirala and Vishal Bolagam bowled 2 excellent overs taking a wicket each to dent Cougars start and from there on Cougar batsmen Chaitanya Kancharla and Ramesh Kumar played carefully in the face of some excellent bowling by Vishal and Bhaskar Saripella and ended up at 57/2 after 10 overs. Thereafter Cougars lost their big hitting middle order (Chaitanya, Subbu Upadhyaya and Swaroop CK) in the next 4 overs against some excellent spin bowling by Mahesh Thandra Ashwinkumar and some dead accurate bowling by Bhaskar. Ramesh from Cougars carried on at one end scoring briskly but with regular wickets falling, Cougars could only manage to score 109/9 in their allotted 20 overs.
The game was still in balance as Cougars are known for their excellent bowling attack and their ability to defend small totals and ECC is known for their batting depth and prowess. Bhaskar from ECC set the tone for the chase with a couple of sixers in the first over. Prabhu Prashant got Ashok Balasubramanian cheaply in the next over but Gautam Singh and Bhaskar played sensibly to take ECC to 30/1 in 4 overs. Subbu and Krishna bowled some incisive overs but ECC started accelerating through some classical batting by Gautam and some innovative modern day batting by Bhaskar. Bhaskar fell for 25 but George Issac joined Gautam and both played some sensible attacking cricket to keep the scoreboard ticking at a fair pace. Gautam (43) fell with one run required to win and George (40*) finished the match and ECC cantered home in 15 overs for the championship.

The game was followed by a well-organized prize distribution ceremony arranged by TCC. TCC extended thanks and appreciation to Dinesh Kasliwal from Gladiators for his wonderful voluntary service in the scheduling of the tournament.

Mr Sudhi Seshachala graced the occasion as chief guest. He was lauded for his contribution and support to cricket in Houston.

Chief Guest Sudhi Seshachala felicitated by TCC

Jagadish Biradar, the organizer of the tournament coordinated the presentation ceremony.Vasu Parupudi, the captain of Eldridge Cricket Club (ECC) was presented with the championship trophy

Winners ECC with Chief Guest Sudhi Seshachala

Ashwin Tandon, the captain of Cougars was presented with the runners up trophy.

Runners up Cougars with Chief Guest Sudhi Seshachala

Man of the match for the finals was Gautam Singh from ECC for his excellent match-winning performance with the bat.
Saad Sallahuddin from Woodlanders won the Best batsman with 283 runs, Bhaskar Saripella from ECC won the best bowler with 19 wickets, Kiran Muppala from ECC (233 runs 11 wickets) and Subbu Upadhyaya (202 runs and 12 wickets) from Cougars won the Best All Rounder, and Swaroop CK from Cougars won the Best Wicket Keeper with 34 catches for the tournament. This year there were a spate of centuries and all the centurions namely Rajendran Nair from STYX, Subbu from Cougars, Saad from Woodlanders and Megnath from Houston Titans were awarded special awards as was Srini Kolan from Gen X for taking a Hat-Trick.

Best Bowler Bhaskar Saripella

Best All rounder Kiran Muppala

Best All rounder Subbu Upadhyaya

Best Wicket keeper CK Swaroop

Centurion Subbu Upadhyaya