The 2015 ACC Dream11 Spirit of Cricket Award goes to…..

Drexel Dragons at Drexel University with Lloyd Jodah

They were loaned a set of uniforms by Lloyd Jodah, American College Cricket Founder & President when, beyond their wildest dreams they got to play on TV in their 1st tournament, on TV Asia. Through the work of Kabir Manocha, Drexel University became a member of American College Cricket just in time to play in the 2013 Mid Atlantic Championship.

Fast forward to 2014 Fall, and Drexel, under the dynamic leadership of Maaez Veqar, lost in the final over to UMBC at the 2014 Mid Atlantic Championship. Their team for the 2015 National Championship with Veqar, included all rounders Ravi Singh & Hayat Khan (a MA student who captained BU as an undergrad), batsman Chandan Naik, Kush Navinchandra,Anshul Sanghavi,Kshitij Jain, Faizan Zaidi, Aakarsh Malhotra, Pawan Bhambhawani, Saurin Sethia, Kabir Manocha, Prahlad Singh, Harshil Dokania,Utkarsh Gupta, Kshitij Jain, Devvrat Tibrewal and Sid Rao.

Due to major mess ups at Brian Piccolo where the staff at Brian Piccolo covered the pitch with covers that had holes = muddy, unplayable conditions when we arrived, on 2 separate days ! This resulted, on 2 separate days, in us scrambling to find alternate fields, rearrange matches, move teams etc.

The result was Drexel had to play a Quarter Final match vs a strong UF team, then a Semi Final against the defending Champion USF then the Finals vs UT Dallas – 3 matches in one day !

“To this day I have not heard an excuse from any Drexel player for not winning, no complaints at all about playing 3 matches in one day. They just went out and played their best, no matter the situation, with great leadership from Maaez & senior players like Hayat, Ravi, Chandan, Faizan’ explained Lloyd Jodah, American College Cricket Founder & President.

“Practically all of our teams demonstrate the “Spirit of Cricket” and constantly show how much they love the game, love playing American College Cricket and Drexel’s performance on Finals Sunday in March was truly beyond words.”