NWCL Select wins the Innagural 2011 NWR Twenty20 tournament title

The match report from the desk of Vishwa Gaddamanugu. I was lucky enough to have been witnessing all the games that NWCL Select team played in the role of the NWR selector and I was treated to some excellent cricket from a side who believed in themselves and all the players played at least a notch higher than what they possibly can and the end result was the championship. Leadership was a crucial factor with all the experience players coming in and doing their bit which eventually resulted in camaraderie in the team as they functioned and played as one unit. These are my personal views and reliving the great moments that this team had over the Memorial Day weekend of May 28th, 29th and 30th 2011 played in Sacramento, Fremont, San Jose and Santa Clara (all in the Bay Area). You are free to publish the report but make sure that the contents are published in full.

NWCL vs Sacramento CA

Game #1 - Sat, May 28th 2011 - Patwin Elementary School, Davis:

SCA lost the morning game to BACA and for the 2nd game they beefed up their team with the trio of Pathan brothers (Bilal, Aamer and Amjad) making themselves available to play the game against NWCL. NWCL players having landed in the morning and driving for more than 2 1/2 hours to get to the ground from all the different airports in town. SCA won the toss and decided to bat first with the rain threat always looming around. SCA raced away to 77/0 in 7 overs. Nikhil Chury introduced into the attack started making in roads right away and in his second over rocked SCA with 3 wickets in one over with Abdullah taking two stunning catches with the second one easily being the catch of the tournament. The SCA innings slowed down as the rain came down heavily and play was stopped. The game did not commence after the interruption as the wet field was dangerous to play on. Both the team split the points.

NWCL vs NCCA - David and Goliath story revisited - the game of the tournament

Game #2 - Sun, May 29th 2011 - North Gate Park, Fremont:

There was one team that went into the match as the wounded lions where they were mauled for one of the biggest defeats (albeit in a different format) at the same venue a year back. The other was on a absolute high after having a stunning victory after losing out to their out of town opponents for 3 years in a row. One team put forth some replacements (announced 4 days into the tournament) for its unavailable marshals from the last year's mauling. The other one seems to find reinforcements for the job just about everywhere - with a bench strength as good as a formidable team. NWCL had to produce something other than ordinary if they were to compete against a home side (that plays together) in their favorite ground who have been winning many of the local competitions in the past one year.

NWCL won the toss and there was no hesitation to bat first on the wicket where chasing becomes tough against good bowling attacks. Imran Khan bowled well to peg back the first 2 wickets to put NWCL on the back foot. Srinivasa Raghavan played one of the best innings of the tournament where each one of his crafty strokes were breathtaking and enthralled many of the local crowd who gathered to support the local team. Nikhil Chury and Vijay Beniwal played a good supporting role and running hard between the wickets to put the innings back on track. Srinivas was out trying to place in the vacant leg side to pull back the initiative NWCL had gained while batting. Wickets started to fall at regular interval but Nilesh Rane playing his debut match in the inter-league level played an attacking and strokeful innings in the last few overs to take NWCL score to 121/7.

At the half way break even though the game was even stevens the momentum shifted slightly towards NWCL towards the end of the innings with 18 runs scored of the last over and 47 runs scored in the last 5 overs. NCCA on the other hand was very happy to keep NWCL to a par score. At the toss NCCA would have been happy to restrict NWCL to 121.

NCCA's batting started like what Sunny Singh does best - attack the bowlers right from the word go. Vijay knowing the opposition batting started with pace and spin combination. The first wicket fell in the 4th over with the score at 32, at a time where NCCA was running away with the game with Sunny Singh looking in ominous touch. Naseer Jamali bowling a match decisive spell turned the match on its head in the 5th over by claiming 2 wickets of Sunny Singh and Saqib Saleem in back to back first 2 delivers to rock NCCA to 34/3. NWCL captain Vijay Beniwal coming in as 1st change gave nothing away and troubled all the batsman throughout his spell with pin point accuracy. Vijay was supported very well by Srinivasa Raghavan and Samarth Shah (after Naseer finished his spell on the trot) who brought in all their experience of having played at higher level and just pinned down NCCA batting. With the required run rate increasing every over the super strong NCCA batsman (with the likes of regional team regulars like Arjun, Shantanu, Rishi) trying to break the shackles fell one after the other by the pressure mounted by Vijay and company with some accurate and smart bowling and sharp fielding. The match which looked all but sealed at the end of the 4th over from where it looked like NCCA would cruise to victory changed the course and the noose was alarming getting tighter with every passing over for the NCCA batsman. Finally the 30 run victory was much deserving for the NWCL team that had many new players who were playing at this level for the first time and each and every player stepped up their level of cricket. There were lot of hero's in the game - Nilesh Rane, Naseer Jamali, Vijay Beniwal, Samarth Shah - but the stand out performance was from Srinivasa Raghavan (39 runs in 28 balls - 3 4's and 2 6's & then bolwing 3-0-13-1). Srinivasa Raghavan was declared the Man of the Match for his all round performance.

NWCL vs BACA - the virtual Semi Final:

Game #3 - Sun, May 29th 2011 - William Sheppard High School, San Jose:

Both the teams went into the game with the NWCL wanting to improve their chance to win the tournament with a win here and BACA challenging them to win this game so that they can set up a final in the last game of the tournament against arch-rival NCCA.

NWCL captain won the toss and decided to bat first. Srikanth and Shehzad opened the batting and were going steady until Ifthikar dismissed both the openers in quick succession to peg NWCL to 19/2 in the 5th over. Kiran was the next batsman missed and Srinivas was dismissed in the 9th over with the NWCL score reading 39/4. BACA bowler Santosh bowled an amazing spell of fast bowling and was the pick of the bowlers keeping the NWCL batsman in check. Vijay and Nilesh then rebuilt the innings against some accurate bowling by BACA bowlers in their home ground. The ball was moving in the air and off the wicket and was looking tougher for the batsman to bat freely. Vijay and Nilesh then sensing the need ran the runs hard to convert singles and doubles and stitching a 58 run partnership in 62 balls which turned out to be the match winning partnership. Vijay was run out for a well made 23 in 32 balls at the end of the 19th over. Nilesh provided the final push by hitting 15 runs including 2 huge 6's before holing out in the last ball of the innings for one of the best batting display of the match - 37 in 43 balls. The score of 108/7 did not look sufficient at the end of the NWCL innings.

NWCL strength was bowling and they came really hard at the BACA batsman. Naseer and Kiran bowled their hearts out and conceded only 20 runs in the first 6 overs which 2 maidens (one apiece). Kiran got the breakthrough in the 8th over with BACA score reading 36/1. From then on Srinivas, Samarth, Nikhil and Vijay bowled quite accurately (like they did all throughout the tournament) to turn the screws. BACA batting wilted under mounting pressure from accurate bowling as well some excellent catching (Nilesh stumping Ashok, Abdullah taking yet another blinder of a catch to dismiss BACA captain Barry and Vijay took a skier running behind) and ground fielding to hand over NWCL a 20 run victory. Nilesh Rane was declared the Man of the Match for his excellent batting towards the end of the innings which was the difference between BACA 7 NWCL as well as his brilliant glove work.

NWCL vs CCL - the 'literal' Finals

Game #4 - Mon, May 30th 2011 - Kathryn Hughes Elementary School - Santa Clara:

NWCL needed a win this game to win the inaugural NWR inter-league Twenty20 tournament to make the result of the last game of the tournament (BACA vs NCCA) inconsequential. The CCL team arrived 1/2 hour late into the game and did mention that they are kind enough to give us a full game rather than a forfeit. NWCL wanted to win the game outright rather than other means as they had already lost a chance to play the 1st game against SCA.

NWCL won the toss yet again and decided to bat. The start was bad with NWCL losing the first wicket of Abdullah with the score reading only 1. Srikanth and Srinivas then put on a 36 runs partnership to steer NWCL out of trouble. After Srinivas got out Srikanth and Nilesh scored briskly and ran hard as the thick outfield did not help scoring easy. They put on 66 runs for the 3rd wicket before Srikanth was out for a well made 57 runs in 47 balls with included 3 4's and 3 6's. This was the only half century and the highest score by a NWCL batsman in the tournament. In the quest for scoring some quick runs NWCL lost a few wickets towards the end but ended up posting 150 runs for 7 wickets in their allocated 20 overs.

Naseer and Vijay opened the bowling for NWCL and bowled immaculate line and length. CCL wickets started to fall at regular intervals and Vijay went on to try 8 bowlers. CCL folded up for 93 in the 20th over. A convincing 57 run victory for the unbeaten NWCL team clinched them the NWR Inter-League Twenty20 championship. Srikanth Sundaragopalan was declared the Man of the Match for his stellar batting performance.

Championship team:

When the team was announced and looking at the strengths of other teams in the competition no one gave NWCL a chance to win the championship and was looking good to finish #4. The grit and the fighting spirit that this team has demonstrated in the past was seen once again among the newcomers. One of the spectators commented - "don't give them an opening (wicket) - once they get one wicket they have the knack of getting more wickets". They did that against 2 of the strongest sides of the competition. It was such a good bowling performance by the team that they succeeded in keeping the opposition to less than 100 runs in all the games they played.

Nilesh Rane was easily the find of the tournament - scoring 85 runs in 3 completed games while being brilliant behind the wickets. Seasoned campaigners - Vijay Beniwal (52 runs and 4 wickets), Srinivasa Raghavan (67 runs and 2 wickets), Srikanth Sundaragopalan (73 runs), Samarth Shah (11 wickets) and young Naseer Jamali (2 wickets) were always there for the team when it needed them the most. Nikhil Chury (7 wickets) bowling orthodox left arm spin was impressive when ever he was tossed the ball and was used effectively during powerplays. Abdullah Khoajakhail (4 catches) was impressive on the field as usual. Debutant Kiran Somasekhar (2 wickets) bowled his heart out in the game against BACA and CCL. Shehzad Jumani (in the role of an opener), Amit Sharma as an off spinner and Javaid Ashgar as a medium pacer got some opportunities to showcase their talent. The experience of playing the next level cricket should have really helped all the new players and they all did their bit on the field to keep the team spirit high. Captaincy of Vijay Beniwal was spot on and brilliant while he was marshaling the troupes and ringing in changes as deemed necessary to be on top of the game at all times. Srikanth Sundaragopalan in the dual role of a Vice-Captain and Coach made sure that every resource in the team was very well utilized and it paid dividends.

Such was the brilliance of the team work of NWCL team that the organizing committee was unable to find a MVP amongst the best team on display (and having lost out of playing a full game against the last placed side) and gave the award to Sunny Singh (from NCCA for scoring 125 runs (with 75 runs coming against weaker opponents) and 3 wickets in 4 matches). Samarth Shah was awarded the bowler of the tournament with 11 wickets. Arjun Thyagarajan (NCCA) won the batsman of the tournament award with the highest run aggregate (129 runs).

It was a sweet victory for the NWCL team that had 6 players playing at this level for the first time and that too after putting a team together 4 days to the tournament while spending money out of their pockets to travel and play the games over the long weekend. Each and everyone of them did respond magnificently, rose to the occasion and played out of their skins to win the championship.

This championship is a tribute to all the hard work put in by all the individuals for the past 5 odd years to build a system in place (time, money and the commitment) so that young talent can be breed into the system without having to feel the pressure.

Scoresheets: http://super25cricket.org/index.asp?tx_id=1192&m_id=3&mm_id=9

Standings/Points: http://super25cricket.org/index.asp?tx_id=1192&m_id=3&mm_id=11

Statistics: http://super25cricket.org/index.asp?tx_id=1192&m_id=3&mm_id=10

Go NWCL Select !!!

Go Moosees !!!!!

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - a double hundred in Gwalior

A date that has annoyed, irritated or in some cases tormented many a cricket fan. It was on this day that Saeed Anwar broke Viv Richards' record for the highest ever score in a One Day International. The record was thus passed on from a legend of the game to a player who was merely good, but by no stretch extraordinary - Anwar averaged 37.62 against the major nations in ODIs, and away from home his average shrank to 26.70.

Then last year, another name joined Anwar at the top of the list: Charles Coventry. Even after he scored 194 not out, a lot of people in a lot of cricketing discussions over lots of beers in lots of pubs, would still be asking: Charles who?

The anomaly at the top of the record charts was begging to be corrected. As my colleague Srivathsa said, he was waiting for this day since that fateful May night almost 13 years ago.

He was not alone. There were thousands - millions probably - who felt that the name that belonged at the top of the table was that of Sachin Tendulkar.

In what is proving to be a golden twilight of his career, Tendulkar has systematically gone about checking all the un-checked boxes in his cricketing CV. One important one was ticked when he led a mammoth fourth innings chase against England at the same ground that he had failed to complete the job against Pakistan in 1999. Another was accomplished today, with the world's highest ODI score and first ODI double-century. No other name seemed to have belonged so naturally at the top of the list than his.

Until today, Tendulkar had seemed like the logical successor to Viv Richards as the greatest ODI batsman of his generation. Not anymore.

He is now undoubtedly, the greatest ODI batsman ever. He has made the great Viv seem like a mere prelude to the real thing.

From the moment he came out to bat and stroked his first boundary to the moment when he raised his arms in triumph, in release, in acknowledgment - he looked like he was batting in a different zone. This is supposed to be a man on his last cricketing legs, but he didn't use a runner for a single minute of his innings and came out to field from the first ball to boot! With Sachin Tendulkar though, what is supposed to be and what is, don't always match.

One man is not supposed to carry the hopes of a nation of a billion every time he walks out to bat. But he does.

One man is not supposed to be the barometer of a country's happiness - he is being thrust with an impossible responsibility. But he is.

A man who makes his debut as an impressionable, precocious 16 year old is not supposed to last for 20 years as an international celebrity and not have any outrageous scandals associated with him. One man isn't supposed to display a superhuman quality of being human, if he has been granted the superhuman gifts that Sachin Tendulkar has. But he remains so.

A man is supposed to be mortal, to be granted the allowance for errors. But he isn't.

A man is not supposed to retain the same enthusiasm for a sport across more than 20 years, having spent the majority of those years under public scrutiny like no other. But he has.

I thought I had expended all possible superlatives for Sachin Tendulkar, when he completed twenty years in international cricket. I forgot, for a moment, that with Sachin Tendulkar superlatives don't ever exhaust themselves. There might come a day when Roget's Thesaurus will fail to find adequate words to describe the man, but he himself will not fail.

As he raised his arms in triumph, a country pumped its collective fist and let out a collective primeval roar. The relief, the sense of accomplishment, and the satisfaction at getting to the landmark was all the more keenly felt because for a long time now, there has been only one man who seemed capable of breaching the 200-run mark in an ODI. Sehwag has also threatened to do that, but Sehwag has never come as close as Sachin has. He made 186 not out against New Zealand at Hyderabad, but that was in an era when 300 was an almost certainly winning score. He then hit 163 not out against New Zealand a year ago, but retired with cramps.

Many of us feared that his best shot at the record was gone with the end of that innings. When we, his fans, could not pick ourselves up after that shattering loss, how would he manage to do so?

However, while that loss might have broken lesser men, it seemed to spur Sachin Tendulkar on towards ensuring that such heart-break was never to be experienced again. The next time he came so close, there would be no denying him. And so he battled on. He had hit the ball with unbelievable power, and his hands must have been tiring. He had placed the ball with unbelievable dexterity, and his inventiveness must have been ebbing. He had run every single run with unwavering commitment as hard as he could - his partners' and his own - and his legs must have been sending urgent messages to his brain to let up. But nothing was going to sway him today. There had been too many golden moments snatched from him at the last moment. This one was going to be had.

Sachin Tendulkar talking to Ravi Shastri at the post match presentation said "I don't know how to react to this.I would like to dedicate this to the people of India who have always stood behind me for these 20 years amid the ups and downs. I was striking the ball and timing the ball well, it was coming on to the bat nicely. Yusuf came and changed the momentum and MS really struck the ball well; it was due to their big hitting that we were able to put up such a big score. It was only when I got closer to the score that I realized that I had an opportunity and I could take the singles to give MS the strike."

"I'm enjoying my cricket. I've always played the way I felt was the right way to play, always done what I felt was good for the team. There have been times when I've made some bad decisions as a batsman, but as long as in my heart I know that whatever I'm doing for the team at that moment, I'm going to go ahead with that. It feels good that I lasted for 50 overs, a good test of my fitness. I'd like to bat another 50 overs at some stage and see that the fitness level doesn't drop."

The final flourish of a golden career is going considerably better than the purple patches of most other batsman's careers. Two check-boxes remain to be ticked - a Test triple century beckons, but more than that, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar will want to keep his date with destiny on April 2nd 2011 in Mumbai.

Even if those landmarks are not achieved though, India will remain happy. He doesn't require much effort to keep India happy - all he has to do is get hold of a bat and stride out to the middle.

And so, years from now, when he has retired, we will be fondly paraphrasing Robert Browning to the next generation and the next: Sachin Tendulkar was in his batting gear and all was right with India.

[ARCL] Game #8: Mavericks vs Stealth-MSCC at Ron Regis Park, Renton, WA on Saturday, October 11th 2008 @ 10:30 AM

Saurabh Verma bowls Stealth-MSCC to victory

Mavericks 59/7 in 15.3 overs [Saurabh V 4/11] lost to Stealth-MSCC 60/3 in 11.1 overs [Avinash U 21*, Vijay B 14, Saurabh V 13]

Stealth-MSCC team:
Zafar Abbas
Saurabh Verma
Mustafa Bilal
Vijay Beniwal (Captain)
Ketan Duvedi
Azeem Khan
Rajiv Nandivada
Avinash Upadhyay

Man of the Match: Saurabh Verma (Stealth-MSCC)

[ARCL] Game #7: Daemons vs Stealth-MSCC at Marymoor Park, Redmond, WA on Saturday, October 5th 2008 @ 10:30 AM

Vijay Beniwal and Zafar Abbas destroy Daemons in a one sided affair

Stealth-MSCC 141/4 in 16 overs [Zafar A 51, Vijay B 48, Azeem K 16, Avinash U 12] beat Daemons 89/7 in 14.3 overs [Vijay 2/21]

Stealth-MSCC team:
• Zafar A
• Naveen K
• Avinash U
• Vijay B
• Rajiv N
• Haroon A
• Azeem K
• Vishwa G

Stealth lost the toss and were put into bat. Stealth struggled to make runs initially with the fall of prize wicket of Naveen Kumar with the score at 8 in the 3rd over. Vijay Beniwal joined Zafar Abbas in what turned out to be one of the finest batting batting displays ever seen in ARCL. They put on a partnership of 91 runs in a mere 63 balls, but how it came about was a treat to see than to describe in words. Zafar Abbas score a magnificent 51 runs [38 balls - 6x4, 1x6] before being bowled round the wickets with the score at 99/2 in 12.4 overs. Vijay Beniwal in the acceleration gear fell soon after for 48 runs [33 balls - 5x4, 1x6] with score at 108/3 in 13.4 overs. Rajiv Nandivada playing in first game of ARCL this season holed out with the score at 111/4 in 14.2 overs. Azeem Khan and Avinash Upadhyay (who arrived late to the ground and was gloved up from the word go was itching to bat) then put the icing on the cake with a 30 run partnership in just 10 balls which included 4x4's and Azeem Khan hit one of the biggest six ever seen in ARCL history to finish very strongly with 141/4 in 16 overs.

Daemons started very strongly scoring some quick runs in the initial overs. Sloppy fielding by Vishwa gave Daemons some hope with all the Stealth bowlers maintaining a good line and length with some good catching by other members made sure that the asking rate was always going up like gas prices in US. Daemons were finally bowled out for 89 to give Stealth-MSCC a win by 52 runs.

Vijay Beniwal was declared the Man of the Match for his 48 and 2/21 in 4 overs.

With 2 more games to go, Stealth-MSCC need 1 more win to secure a semifinal spot and also a promotion to the B division.
The next game is on Saturday, October 11th 2008 at 10:00 AM in Ron Regis Grounds in Renton against Mavericks.

[ARCL] Game #6: Battlers vs Stealth-MSCC at Ron Regis Park, Renton, WA on Saturday, September 20th 2008 @ 8:30 AM

Naveen Kumar powers a resounding win of Stealth-MSCC over Battlers

Saturday game's win was much needed one. Naveen Kumar scored 70 runs in 58 balls with only 4 boundaries to take Stealth-MSCC's score to 123/3 in 16 overs and then Imran Ghumman and Mustafa Bilal got 3 and 2 wickets respectively to bundle out the opposition for 34. This win has presently put us in #3 position and have a good chance to make it to playoffs and a promotion to higher division. Let us keep the winning momentum going.


Stealth-MSCC 123/3 in 16 overs [Naveen Kumar 70* (56 balls - 4x4), Zafar Abbas 17, Azeem Khan 13] beat Battlers 34/7 [Imran G 3/9, Mustafa B 2/8]

[ARCL] Game #5: Stealth-MSCC vs Daredevils - Part Deux at Ron Regis Park on Sunday, September 7th @ 3:30 PM

Stealth-MSCC 45/6 in 9.3 overs [Lovekesh D 12, Venkat V 14] lost to Daredevils - Part Duex 49/1 in 8.3 overs.

[ARCL] Game #4: Pi by Two vs Stealth-MSCC at Marymoor Park (Old Cricket Grounds - Lot H) on Sunday, August 17th 2008 @ 7:45 AM

Saurabh Verma (Man of the Match) and Zafar Abbas script an easy win for Stealth-MSCC over Pi By Two

Stealth-MSCC won the toss and put Pi by Two into bat. Chandra Bapanpally bowled a brilliant opening spell (3-0-7-1 - and now I wonder why I did not let him complete his spell - but what to do - I have a team where everyone can do everything - a nice problem to have as a captain ;)) and later on Dhananjay Tripathi (4-0-22-3) made sure the pressure was applied always even though Pi By Two batsman were going at 6 runs per over on a big ground and fast outfiled. Arindam batted really well for Pi By Two scoring a responsible knock of 39 runs. Dhananjay was the most successful bowler with 3 wickets and Chandra, Vijay (3-0-15-1) and Zafar (1-0-501) taking one wicket each apart from a run out by Saurabh Verma. Saurabh (3-0-23-0) and Venkat V (2-0-19-0) went wicketless. Pi By Two were all out for 91 in the 16th over.

Saurabh Verma (46 in 26 balls - 7 dots, 6 x [1], 7 x [2], 5 x [4], 1 x [6]) and Zafar Abbas (33 (not out) in 22 balls- 4 dots, 10 x [1], 4 x [2], 1 x [3], 3 x [4]) were ruthless right from the word go and had a run rate of over 10.00 runs from the beginning onwards. Both of them added 73 runs in 6.5 overs for the first wicket with Saurabh falling short of a well deserved half century by 4 runs. Vijay Beniwal (8 in 8 balls - 4 dots, 2 x [1], 1 x [2], 1 x [4]) who went in next was run out. Avinash (2 (not out) in 2 balls) and Zafar finished the game with the score reading 92/2 in 9.4 overs.

Yet another brilliant batting display by Zafar. A second consecutive unbeaten knock in as many games.

Set up of the match:
Vijay made a interesting move of having a point boundary, a fine 3rd man and an extra cover fielder on the off side for Talib. Talib had already set up his mind to play towards the point boundary and squeeze at least 1 if not 2. DJ bowled the nagging outside the off stump line and a predetermined Talib hit it straight to Venkat at extra cover. Great move Vijay.

Every one played their role perfectly to script an easy win and thanks everyone for showing up on time for an early morning game (7:45 AM). I had the privilege of playing and watching the game as I was not supposed to playing this game. Since Bharath did not show up until well after 8:00 AM I had to play.

Great win Stealth-MSCC. Let us play to the best of the potential of make sure that we qualify for the division playoffs.

It is a real privilege to be a part of this team.