Iowa State Cyclones defeat Iowa Hawkeyes for Great Plains Ch’ship !

ljodah — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:42:41 +0000

Though the University of Iowa belongs to the Big 10, and Iowa State University to the Big 12, the two universities have a strong rivalry in sports.

They compete annually for the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series trophy, an athletic competition between the two schools. Sponsored by the Iowa Corn Growers Association, the competition includes all head-to-head regular season competitions between the two rival universities in all sports.

Now the two schools have a new sport to battle in -cricket !

On the picturesque cricket field on the campus of the University of Iowa, the Hawkeyes and rivals the Cyclones of Iowa State University played for the Great Plains Championship. The Hawkeyes Cricket club led by its President Anup Gandhi had put tremendous effort into hosting the first small regional Great Plains Championship – now it was time to play !

On a perfect day for cricket ISU won the toss and decided to bat. Opening batsman Deepak Navi kept his end going, while wickets fell on the other.

It started with a brilliant catch by Sajan at mid-on followed by a brilliant throw from Darren “Jonty Rhodes” Stortz creating a runout, and an amazing stumping by the wicketkeeper….. back to back on 3 legal deliveries. The Hawkeyes were on top with 3 wickets in the bag in just the second over.

Deepak and Sannel steadied the innings. Deepak was the highest scorer for ISU (28 runs). The middle and lower middle order attempted to score some quick runs, but some good bowling by Nikhil and Anup restricted ISU to 97, bowled out in 18.5 overs. Pradeep was the leading wicket taker with 4 wickets followed by Nikhil (3 wickets) and Anup Gandhi(2 wickets).

The Hawkeyes started off cautiously. Iowa State’s opening bowlers Anwar and Usman exhibited some accurate swing bowling. At the end of 9th over, the Hawkeyes were struggling at 19 for 3 when the captain Abhinabha went out to bat. An unfortunate runout ended the quick flow of runs by Abhinabha.

The middle and lower middle order got the Hawkeyes close, but great bowling by ISU restricted Iowa to 89 for 7 at the end of 20 overs. Abhinabha was the leading scorer for the Hawks (25) followed by Anup Gandhi. Usman was the leading wicket taker for the ISU Cyclones with 3 wickets.

Usman was adjudged the man of the match for his awesome bowling (3 wickets) and captaincy.

The Iowa State Cricket club, new to American College Cricket and not yet even in uniforms, won the first Great Plains Championship and made them eligible for the nationals in March, the 2012 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship ! Now the ISU guys are anxiously waiting for the new national rankings to see where they are !

by Lloyd Jodah

Iowa Hawkeyes host the Great Plains Championship ! Build it, they will come !

ljodah — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:03:14 +0000

: Iowa Hawkeyes in Florida at the national Championship

Travelling for hours was tough for colleges like University of Iowa and University of Minnesota (UMN), but they did, to play in the first Midwest, the equivalent of the Big 10, Championship last year September.

UMN also made the even longer trip to the nationals in 2010 and 2011, whilst Iowa did the road trip for the 2011 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship (nationals).

Most of our players will go to the ends of the earth to play the game they love, cricket, but we don’t want them to always have to do that, hence a new regional was scheduled this year: the Great Plains Championship.

Choosing a name was not easy, one suggestion was “the regional slightly to the left of the Midwest Championship”, another was “the Little Big 10″. In the end we decided the “Great Plains Championship” said it best.

The University of Iowa is one of the universities that has provided a cricket field for its cricket players, and the Great Plains Championship recognizes and rewards that support by having Iowa host. Hawkeyes Cricket Club President Anup Gandhi has been one of the strongest student leaders in American College Cricket, and has played the key role in organizing the Championship.

American College Cricket will bring games and tournaments to, and highlight every on-campus cricket field across the USA and Canada.

The colleges playing in the first Great Plains Championship include 2 Big 10 schools, University of Minnesota Gophers and University of Iowa Hawkeyes, along with Iowa State University and Northwestern University.

Charles Peterson,who teaches the only college credit course in cricket in the USA, at the University of Minnesota, will oversee the Championship. Charles will also be the Official Photographer.

Northwestern cricket club is new,developed by Greg Uzelac, a New Yorker spent his high school years playing every chance he could in Brooklyn. Greg and Lloyd Jodah, American College Cricket President, have been in contact on Facebook since 2009, and Greg was inspired to volunteer to assist at the 2011 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship. His duties included taking a lot of the great photos you see of the nationals action.

Upon returning to Northwestern Greg and Lloyd worked on creating the Northwestern Cricket club – now here they are ready to face their first serious action !

by Lloyd Jodah.

American College Cricket » Northwestern U

Iowa State Cyclones defeat Iowa Hawkeyes for Great Plains Ch’ship !

Iowa Hawkeyes host the Great Plains Championship ! Build it, they will come !