UPENN win against PRINCETON and George Washington U (GWU)
Oct 10, 2009UPENN win against PRINCETON and George Washington U (GWU)
It was a beautiful day in Phildelphia,about 75 degrees with brilliant sunshine,perfect for cricket.But Ankit Sheth,Alexander “Ali” Sternberg and Curt Sonnet were anxious. As co-founders of the George Washington University (GWU) Cricket Club they wondered how their nascent Team would do in ,their first hardball game. Their opponent was the University of Pennsylvania (UPENN),which has had a cricket Team since 1842. The week before UPENN had won against Princeton University. The Finnegan Park field was large and thick with grass, boundaries were going to be rarer than a Detroit Lions touchdown. UPenn’s Captain Hassan Ali Raza won the toss and decided to bat, only to find the ball keeping low.Opening the bowling for GWU was Shaan Mehta, who played at the Under 19 level for the NY Region .Mehta’s pace and accuracy surprised the Upenn team,uprooting Teja’s stump with his second delivery.A bail flew so far a search ensued to recover it, whereupon the GWU 12th man declared that ” This was the first time the Team had played with bails” ! GWU Captain Aamir Hassan sent back 2 batsmen to make UPenn 15 for 3 The GWU players were ecstatic whilst Upenn couldn’t believe what was happening.However when Mehta came out of the attack number 3 batsman Roshan (18),Jay (23) and Ali (11) rallied UPenn. Scoring was difficult on the pitch and the outfield grass was more stifling than the NY Giants defense – lofted balls stopped where they landed. Only 2 boundaries were scored in UPenn’s 98..Shaan Mehta took 3 for 10,Amir Hassan 2 for 7. Curt Sonnet played football and baseball in High School and came to college “looking for something new”. He was introduced to cricket 2 1/2 years ago and epitomizes the curious athletes that cricket can attract in colleges.The confident catch Curt took at longon showed how far he had come.Ali Sternberg was born in NY ,and picked up his cricket when he spent 2 years in Australia. Together with Ankit Sheth,inspired by the 2009 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship,they started the Club and Ankit reached out to local Media.They succeeded in getting the Washington Post to do a story on the GWU Cricket Club. GWU’s opening batsmen stroked the ball well before Captain Hassan went to a questionable run out decision.Mehta played some good shots and looked set to take GWU to victory.Victor Williams briefly looked good whilst Abhisek Pansari hit the lone 6 before but UPenn led by Ali Raza bowled and fielded well and corralled GWU for 74. GWU had lost the game but they felt good about their performance.Asked what was the next step Sheth said “We have to get equipment ” The Team had used equipment graciously lent by UPenn. Coming up was a “taped ball” match against American University and possibly a hardball game against Carnegie Mellon U. “We’re getting ready for the 2010 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship ” Shaan Mehta said. As for the UPenn Cricket Club they were taking on all comers and next wanted to challenge the 2009 College Champions Montgomery . Written by Lloyd Jodah
22 Mar 2010, 11:25 pm
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