Adil Bhatti (MC) showing the Front Page of the Washingington Post's story on Montgomery College

As we grow College Cricket exponentially, and cricket becomes the next huge College sport in the USA & Canada, American College Cricket wishes recognize and give positive reinforcement to Clubs, Colleges, people and actions that further the college cricket movement. We therefore announce the following Awards – based on facts, anecdotal input from students,and observation.

Though not perfect we believe it will also help answer the inquiries we receive, nationally & internationally from students about cricket in USA Universities, and guide students looking to continue playing in College.These Awards cover particpants in the 2009 & 2010 American College Cricket Spring Break Championships.
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American College Cricket AWARDS (2009-2010 Season) -

PIONEERS
The teams of the first Championship believed in the vision. 4 out of the 5 were created specifically for the first Championship.
University of Miami, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon University, Montgomery College, & University of South Florida.
In every case they were motivated by American College Cricket & 1 team leader, and used their own resources. The leaders were Kalpesh Patel (UMiami), Sumantro Das (BU),Atishe Chordia (CMU), Suchit Laheri (MC) & Ujval Choksi (USF)

ORGANIZATION & CONTINUITY
University of Southern Caifornia (USC Trojans) – club was started in 1992 by Arvin Varma (now Assistant Director for Recreational Sports at USC & ACC Advisory Board Member).
Honorable mention :
Ohio State University (Buckeyes) -started in 1991. has dues paying members. Holds an annual tapeball tournament with hundreds of participants.
University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) – founded in 2004.
Rutgers University -in a hotbed for cricket, New Jersey.

EXTERNAL MEDIA
Montgomery College -Washington Post (Sunday Front Page)
Honorable mention:
Thunderbird School of Global Management- Good Morning Arizona TV Show, Press Release
George Washington University (GWU)- Washington Post article, & Club video.
College of Wooster - Press Release by Wooster President Grant Cornwell

SCHOOL SUPPORT:
University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) – significant financial input by school
Honorable mention:
New York University-Polytechnic (NYU-Poly)
College of Wooster

COLLEGE MEDIA
Auburn University
Honorable mention:
Ohio State, NYU-Poly,George Washington,USC, Rutgers,UMBC,Thunderbird School,University of Minnesota,York University, Montgomery, Wooster, York College,

TEAM RECOGNITION (by University)
York University - Champions featured in University Admissions Handbook (for International Students),College media & Alumni articles.
Honorable mention:
UMBC – featured as Headline story on Homepage of College website
Wooster - attendance at games by the College President and cricket Press Releases.

TEAM RECOGNITION (non-media External)
Montgomery College - 2009 Champions honored with a Proclamation by the Montgomery County Council presented by its President Nancy Floreen

BIGGEST STEP FORWARD
Wooster - making cricket the featured game at their October 2010 Homecoming : Wooster Cricket Club vs Alumnis
Honorable mention:
Auburn – upon finding out the (informal) Cricket Club was going to particpate in the Championship the University asked it to be official & to use the name Auburn University.
UMBC - being featured on Homepage of the University website

TEAM EFFORT & COMMITMENT
USC - putting together the resources to come from the West Coast to the 2010 Championship
Honorable mention – all 19 other teams who did what they had to do to be a part of the 2010 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship.

TEACHING OF CRICKET
University of Minnesota (UMN) – has 1 Credit Course in Cricket (for past 5 years).
Montgomery College - has visited St Patrick’s Episcopal Elementary School to teach kids cricket.Has appointment at a High School.
UMiami – taught cricket to 8 new players who then played in the 2010 American college Cricket Championship

TEAM SPIRIT
Montgomery College - in 2009 came together for the first time & showed a camaraderie & cohesiveness repeated at the 2010 Championship.
Honorable mention:
University of Minnesota (UMN) -drove to & from the 2010 Championship

BEST UNIFORM (using school colors)
George Mason University (Mason)
Honorable mention:
Rutgers
George Washington U
St Cloud State

FRESHMEN – ( for the newest team that accomplished the most).
York College - begun just 3 months before,with no real team practice, and reached the Finals.
Honorable mention:
George Mason -put together weeks before the Championship
Thunderbird

PRESIDENT’S AWARD (for bringing athletes from a non-cricket background into the game)
University of Miami (UMiami)
- included Richard Brady Williams, Aaron Lee Wiggleman & Alex Mitow of a non-cricket background plus Ravi Ashok Patel,Kishin Tharani, Abid Sabzali,Vishal Sinha, & Kushang Shah who grew up in the USA & had not previously played cricket (though their parents were from a cricket background). These players were included through the efforts of Kalpesh Patel.

Honorable mention:
College of Wooster - Club Vice President Ian Carlin, from Pittsburg,comes from a Football & Baseball background.Danny Tomes, from Michigan, came from Football and John Derksen.
George Washington University - Club was started by 3 guys who grew up in a non-cricket environment : Curt Sonnet (former high school football player, zero cricket background), Alexander Sternberg (of New York) and. Ankit D’Sheth (of New Orleans), though the latter 2 parents originally came from Australia & India respectively.

SPECIAL GUESTS
University of the West Indies - their Cricket Program under Athletic Director Roland Butcher appears to be excellent, and they have a MAster’s in cricket ! They were the ideal barometer for the American & Canadian Universities to measure themselves against.

BEST CHEERLEADERS
Disappointedly,so far no winners.

Since the 2010 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship many schools have joined American College Cricket, of which we have formally announced some. These schools were not included in this year’s Awards but will no doubt feature in the 2011 Awards.

Recognition for the Champions of the 2010 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship continues to pour in. In this feature the Alumni media of York University tells the story of the hastily put together Team,captained by Majuj Sorav and featuring some talented young Canadian cricketers.

The Webcast of the final event was watched by thousands on their computers and televisions. Malls in Greater Toronto, such as Square One in Mississauga, put the game on their Jumbotron. The International Cricket Council carried the Webcast as did the USA Cricket Association and Cricket Canada.

For Full Story :

http://alumni-matters.blog.yorku.ca/2010/05/york-team-wins-cricket-title/?sms_ss=facebook

In the past year Adil Bhatti has been interviewed for a Front page story of the Washington Post and also by the New York Times, Voice of America News, Sun Sentinel and his college and local media.

Bhatti and his team received a Proclamation from the Montgomery County Council and accolades from his school Montgomery College. Their,and American College Cricket’s story have appeared in countless Indian media, on Pakistan and Afghanistan TV as well as various American and International cricket media.

Bhatti was also selected as the Captain of the College Cricket All America 1st Team and declared 2009 College Cricketer of the Year. It’s easy to see why Adil Bhatti could be considered the first American cricket star of the modern era.

A talented all-rounder, Adil Bhatti broke onto the scene a little over a year ago when he led Montgomery College to the Chanderpaul Trophy at the inaugural American College Cricket Championship in March 2009. In the Finals he came at number four when his Team looked shaky ,and together with Finals MVP Mohammed Kamran put on 108 runs to steer MC to a defendable total of 175 for 3 off 20 overs. His fast bowling, and astute captaincy then ensured MC defeated USF for the National Championship.

Before the Championship the MC players had never played as a Team before, and whilst many were friends with each other, the Team was a collection of guys from the far flung campuses of Montgomery College in MD. Nevertheless Bhatti motivated and managed the Team with a professionalism that was impressive.

The astounding fact is that until 2006 Bhatti had only played tape-ball cricket! He began playing “hardball” in 2006 in the Washington Cricket League, which has over 1,000 members and is perhaps the most competitive League in the US, including USA players like Imran Awan. 2006 and 2007 saw him playing as an allrounder and excelling as a bowler. 2008 he bowled less whilst his batting improved to blossom fully in 2009, first in the College championship, then in the WCL where he was one of only 2 batsmen to score 2 or more centuries.

2009 also saw Bhatti lead MC on 3 trips to New York. Bhatti, leading an under strength Montgomery excelled with the bat and ball, and captained well. However MC lost the first game in the last over and also lost the 2nd. “That trip was still a lot of fun though, as we got to meet Bollywood Stars like Tanushra Dutta” Bhatti said.

On the 3rd New York trip a full strength MC Team performed like Terminators against a College All Stars Team which included a number of USA Under 19 stars. MC hit the stumps with every throw, in an amazing display of fielding and field placement.Bhatti bowled a devastating openg spell, getting the 2 key wickets of Akeem Ddoson and Andy Mohammed, and then blasted 32* out of 41 to put the game away for Montgomery.

It was Suchit Laheri’s idea to participate in the first College Championship. The Team voted for Captain and Bhatti was elected. Bhatti said “Winning the Chanderpaul Trophy was unbelievable. Getting water poured on me….well, I had seen that kind of excitement in College football but I never thought I would lead a Team to any kind of Championship. I was so proud of my Teammates, Kamran’s innings in the Finals was match winning and in Ankit Sehgal we have one of the best batsmen in the US.”

When asked how he knew to captain so well his first time at it he acknowledged, “I learned a lot from the Captain of my WCL team, Anurag Sharma of the Bengals.”

A tremendous fielder Bhatti is fast and extremely athletic. “I played basketball a lot in high school- in fact I thought I was going to be a basketball player,not a cricketer….and I workout in the gym 4 times a week ” .

In the 2010 American College Cricket Championship Montgomery had their moments but didn’t make it to the final four. Against the University of the West Indies fiery pace attack, on a fast bouncy pitch Bhatti blasted 60* including 21 in one over. A hook off the helmet was as fine as you’ll see. Bhatti’s batting temperament is mature, holding his end when appropriate, or decimating the bowlers when the time is right.

Currently studying Business Administration whilst also working ,Bhatti lives with his Mom and Dad, 4 sisters and younger brother who plays basketball for Montgomery. He does not drink or smoke.
In his spare time he works out, plays pool or goes to the movies, like his favorite Ghajini. Bhatti’s car is a G45 Infinti Coup which he rocks with R & B and Hip Hop like Akon, Chris Brown and Jay Z.

Last Friday, with some of his team mates Bhatti taught elementary school kids about cricket, exemplifying the best of American College Cricket players.Any sport needs stars for kids to look up to, and wish to emulate.

Adil is the epitome of the new generation of American cricketers,young ,talented and very fit.

For the Ohio State University “Do something great” feature Avinash Gupta (Bus Admin) had this to say about what he did for Spring Break:

“I had a wonderful opportunity to visit Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with the Ohio State Cricket Club to play for the American College Cricket

Avinash Gupta (Ohio State)

 Spring Break Championship.

 We had a team of 16 people who drove close to 22 hours to get to our destination. Folks had postponed, preplanned, and taken two exams a day to make themselves free for the Florida trip.

We didn’t win–we didn’t even make it to the semis either–but this tournament was fruitful for us in terms of team building.

We are definitely eager to go back and become champions.”

David Lott,Suchit Laheri,Sadiq A. Naseer,Adil Bhatti,Umair Dasti,Udit Sehgal,Amir Cha,Ankit Sehgal with Nancy Floreen (County Council President).

All America & MC Captain Adil Bhatti with Montgomery County Council President Nancy Floreen

On Tuesday, April 13 in the Montgomery County Council Hearing Room, Council President Nancy Floreen presented the Montgomery College Cricket Club with an official proclamation prior to the start of the County Council meeting. The club, which was accompanied Tuesday by faculty adviser Professor David Lott, reached the quarterfinals of the 2010 American College Cricket Championship and were the defending national champions headed into the tournament.

Montgomery College staff and administrators, including Vice President and Provost Dr. Judy Ackerman and Dean of Student Development Monica Brown, were in the gallery to watch the proceedings and to support the students and alumni who make up the MC Cricket Club.

The Montgomery Cricket Club includes 3 All Americans: Adil Bhatti, Ankit Sehgal and Mahammed Kamran.

College All America Teams are the equivalent of All Star Teams in Professional sports in the US. The designation is primarily Honorary.

However as we did last year, when a College All Star Team played the 2009 Champions, Montgomery College, we will endeavour to have the All Americans play. 

There were many more deserving cricketers than could be selected. If you were not selected, you were given motivation to be better in anything you do.

The All Americans selected are expected to represent their fellow College Cricket players well, and exemplify what our student-athletes are: cricket players, students and good human beings.   

They are expected to do their part in advancing cricket in the USA & Canada.

Anand Patel (UMBC)

Hashim Khan (GMU)

Saisitaram Ramesh (USF)

Sudeep Misra (Thunderbird)

Ahmad Malik (York U)

Gavish Sharma (UPenn)

Maaz Tasneem Khan (Wooster)

Jai Patel (York U)

Mohammed Kamran (Montgomery)

Nisarg Choksi (Rutgers)

Ankush Chandra (BU)

Mishal Patel (USC)

Kalpesh Patel (UMiami)

Bilal Shahid (York College)

Pavan Chakravarty (St Cloud State)

Rahul Potghan (Auburn)

Ahmad Malik (York U)

Photo by Charles Peterson

The face-off for hockey gold in Vancouver is not the only recent U.S.-Canada match to attract international attention. A championship final between college teams from the rival countries was followed as far away as Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates, and broadcast on huge screens at Mississauga’s Square One shopping mall. 

 READ MORE in the Globe and Mail – Canada’s top news[paper by circulation.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/no-rest-for-the-wicket/article1528624/?cmpid=rss1

Adil Bhatti (MC)

  Steve Kalloo, Umpire since 1989 (WICUA/USCUA), has officiated  International games and has spent decades watching Test and First Class cricket. Umpire Kalloo said the fielding at the 2010 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship was “some of the best fielding I have seen…..as good as Test level “.  

To: Mr.Lloyd Jodah,

Auburn University Cricket Club.

Photos

Photos by Charles Peterson. Players who participated in the 2010 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship may use photos for PERSONAL use. Please also post website link on Facebook etc.