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The growth of tennis ball cricket in bay area has been more than extraordinary.
The collective effort of the volunteering community and the unbridled enthusiasm
shown by participating teams has helped CricBay reach breathtaking heights.
CricBay can truly claim to be a democratic league where every single opinion
counts and is heard. The league has grown by leaps and bounds year on year and
has attracted casual and serious cricket lovers alike. The key ingredient to
this success has been the development of its website
www.cricbay.com which has
grown along with the league, thanks to the diligent efforts of the webmaster
Sunil Shenoy. The website now boasts of a
Fantasy Cricket game where creating a
team, trading players and scoring points is as simple as ABC. The quality of the
participating teams has been top notch which is evident from the fact that the
last 4 seasons has seen 4 different winners. It has been a joy ride and there
have been plenty of surprises and shocks along the way. This weekend's finals
were no different.
Cricket in this league is divided into 2 major tournaments that cover the entire
year. The regular season usually runs from mid-February to early-October and the
rest of the year is covered by the Fall open. After the first round robin stage
the teams are split into silver, gold and platinum divisions and the remaining
game of the season are knockout encounters. This year's Silver final was played
between Megastars and
Thunderdawgs on 27th of Sept 09 and was a keenly contested
game. Thunderdawgs scored 98 runs of their allotted 20 overs and managed to keep
Megastars down to 78 runs to win by a comfortable margin of 20 runs in the end.
On 04th Oct 09, the Gold and Platinum finals
were played at the Thornton Jr.
High School. They were thrillers and exactly what all cricket lovers around the
world would give an eye and a tooth to see. The dignitaries present during the
grand finale included Raj Padhi, West Coast Representative of the United States
Cricket Association, Rajendra Badadare, coach of the USA Under 15 national
cricket team and a playing member of CricBay and Sam Rao, Bureau In-Charge West
Coast at The Indian Express North America. The Gold Finals saw 2008 regular
season Gold winners Immortals taking on the 2008 season Platinum winners
Eagles.
After an average season by their standards
Eagles were keen to be in the winners
circle and lift the Gold trophy. However their plans took an early setback when
Immortals piled up 107 runs batting first with
Nirmam Sandesara going berserk
top scoring with 45 runs. He received able support from
Viral who ended up
scoring a valuable 24 runs. Chasing any score in a final is tough task and
chasing 100+ in a tennis ball final is even more stressful.
Eagles had a bad
start to the chase and lost wickets at crucial stages with
Senthil playing a
lone hand of 30 runs. But that was until
Arvind Sridhar got going. Those who
have been in CricBay for a couple of seasons or have played against him know
that he is capable of changing the game in an instant with some lip-licking
clean hitting. The platform was set and he stepped it up, taking Eagles almost
single handedly towards victory only to be stopped short with victory in sight.
With 5 runs to win in 4 balls and only 1 wicket remaining a boundary and a
wicket tied the game and in the ensuing super over The Immortals (10/1) beat
Eagles (2/1) by 8 runs to clinch their second Gold title in 2 successive regular
seasons. Nirmam was awarded the Man of the Match for efforts with the bat.
The
excitement on the adjoining pitch with the Platinum finals between
Squared Leg
and Champs XI was no less. Squared Leg batting first managed a respectable, but
maybe under par on a 360 degree ground, score of 83 runs. Champs started off the
chase in style scoring 18 off the first 4 overs. However they lost the plot
along with a heap of wickets in the next 6 overs and ended up on 29/4 at the end
of the 10 over mark. It seemed an uphill battle and Squared Leg seemed charged
up to put a quick end to the game. However
Nimish and
Nagesh had something else
in store for them. With some positive intent and some rub of the green going
their way they started building a partnership that would eventually take them to
victory. Although Nimish was caught for a well made and crucial 18, Nagesh
continued the charge towards victory scoring valuable 22 runs. A six by
Sreeram
all but sealed a win for them and victory was duly achieved on the first ball of
the last over to bring an end to a fantastic fight back from Champs XI. Nimish
was deservedly the Man of the Match for getting Champs out of a sticky situation
and onto a championship trophy.
The games were rounded up with an awards
ceremony rewarding all the fantastic achievements by individuals all through the
season. The volunteers and community writers were also felicitated for their
tireless efforts for organizing another successful season. The community owes a
lot of gratitude to all the sponsors, including
Prakash Advani D.D.S and Associates,
Precious Dental Care,
Swathi Tiffins,
ERP Factory,
Evolution Stone, inc.,
myhomeandbath.com and
Perceptive Technologies, who have been the cornerstone
behind the leagues success.
Scores and Awards:
Platinum Finals
Squared Leg 82/7 in
20.0 overs lost Champs XI 83/6 in 19.1 overs
Gold Finals
The Immortals 107/7
in 20.0 overs tied with Eagles 107/10 in 19.4 overs
Super Over:Immortals 10/1 defeated Eagles 2/1 run in 1 over
Silver Finals
Thunderdawgs 98/9
in 20.0 overs defeated Megastars 78/9 in 20.0 overs
Volunteer of the year:
Shiv Meramajal
Individual Awards:
MVP - Srinivas Singampalli (Squared Leg)
Best Batsman - Bijoy Kallur (Hurricanes)
Best Bowler - Anal Shah (Spartans CC)
Best Fielder - Dhruvin Shah (Xterminators)
Best Keeper - Lakhvinder Singh (Fighting Clan)
Regular Season Champions
Group A: Challengers CC
Group B: Kings
Group C: Raiders
Group D: Maharajas
Group E: Hurricanes
Group F: Yuva X1
Team Awards
Best Team Spirit: Falcons
Best Umpiring Team: Friends XI
Photographs by
Sheshu Shenoy and Ranjeet Mankikar.
The Community for Public Relations and Assistance of CricBay can be
contacted at copa@cricbay.com
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