American College Cricket » University of Iowa

TV- Ohio State defeat Iowa & Iowa State, retain Gordon Gee Trophy ! Photos!

ljodah — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 20:24:11 +0000

The American College Cricket season began on TV Asia as 3 matches of the Mid West Regionals were televised, ball by ball, from the Ohio State University campus. Last Saturday, Oct 27 the Finals were televised, with commentary by Lloyd Jodah & Jamie Lloyd (from CricHQ & New Zealand) and students Sameer Mohd (Iowa State) and Asad Khawaja (OSU).

MID WEST FINALS – IOWA STATE vs OHIO STATE

The first regional championship of American College Cricket was hosted by the Buckeyes Cricket Club under its then President Romal Somavat. Somavat went on to be the 2010 Regional Tournaments MVP for on & Off the Field accomplishments as he was able to get OSU President Gordon Gee to attend. Somavat also smashed 97 and 55*. At the end of the Year Somavat was announced as a 2010 College Player of the Year.

Fro 2012 it was appropriate that OSU should defend the Gordon Gee Trophy it won in 2011, on its campus field. Its opponent Iowa State University had performed well at the Nationals, getting to the final 16.

Batting first the Iowa State batsmen couldn’t get a handle on the OSU bowlers as Anupam Vivek and Somavat kept it tight putting pressure on the batsmen leading to Sannel Patel’s run out by Rachit, and Nitin by Vivek. A wicket by Somavat and Iowa State was 19 for 3 !

Another run out and 2 wickets for 13 runs by Kislaya Kannan and Iowa State could only manage 73 before being all out in 16.2 overs.

Ohio State’s Somavat made 15 as he and Kislaya Kannan put on 38 for the first wicket. Kannan delighted with gorgeous shots around the wicket giving TV Asia viewers a real look at some of the talent in American College Cricket.

Kannan’s 45* in 28 balls with 5 fours and 1 six was an exciting demonstration of exquisite strokeplay as Ohio State retained the Gordon Gee Trophy, on TV Asia in the first cricket matches televised from a US college campus !

Ohio State captain Kislaya Kannan was the TV Asia Match MVP. SCORECARD & other stats :

http://www.crichq.com/matches/20151#inning1

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA HAWKEYES vs OHIO STATE BUCKEYES – televised on Oct 20

The University of Iowa Hawkeyes squeezed into the Semi finals of the American College Cricket Mid West Championship, but then had to face 2011 Gordon Gee Trophy winners, Ohio State.

Playing on their homefield on campus for the TV Asia cameras Ohio State was pretty confident, especially with Romal Somavat having rocked a century in a preliminary match vs College of Wooster.

Batting first Iowa found it tough going against OSU’s bowlers, particularly Romal Somavat who struck early to make Iowa 17 for 1 after 3.2 overs. Somavat finished with 3 wickets for 13 runs in his 4 overs. For Iowa Gupta made 28 in 34 balls, hitting 2 fours as the Hawkeyes made 90 for 8 in their 18 overs.

Somavat, who always looks to attack,smashed 2 sixes before getting out at 19 but the Captain Kislaya Kannan,20, Neeraj 27 and Bodhi 12* steered the Ohio State Buckeyes to an easy win in 10.3 overs, losing only 3 wickets as Ohio State ensured they got to the finals of the Mid West Championship.

Romal Somavat was the TV Asia Match MVP. SCORECARD & other stats:

http://www.crichq.com/matches/20152#inning1

CLICK PHOTOS to see whole:

CLICK PHOTOS to see whole. American College Cricket Clubs & players, & College Media may use photos. Others contact Lloyd for permission.

U of Iowa Hawkeyes vs Ohio State Buckeyes ! TV Asia Sat Oct 19 at 7 pm !

ljodah — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 03:17:02 +0000

: University of Iowa Hawkeyes

Tune to TV Asia at 7 pm on Saturday Oct 19 for the 2nd match of the American College Cricket season on TV !

An exciting Mid West regional Semi Final : Ohio state vs University of Iowa ! Ball by Ball on TV !

On Saturday as well in Collegeville PA, the Mid Atlantic Championship will begin, 6 college teams battling at the British Officers Cricket Club.

In New England, Boston University will travel to Harvard University to play Harvard, under lights on the field hockey field !

TV – John Bart King Award news !

ljodah — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:10:09 +0000

Iowa Hawkeyes’ Anup Gandhi – a 2011 Club President of the Year !

ljodah — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:09:26 +0000

Anup Gandhi has been President of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes Cricket Club these past 2 years partly because its difficult to find successors to take on the responsiblities of running a club in a university. It takes leadership skills and sometimes we have no clue what we can do, until we actually do it.

Beginning the club in 2009 Gandhi organised intra mural tournaments and clinics, enlarging the club’s member base and even getting into the local TV news. He then made presentations to the Depts of Student Affairs and Recreation for a cricket field. Identifying an appropriate area, Gandhi got his school to follow through and make a pitch.

The Hawkeyes then became one of the few American or Canadian Universities to have its own on campus cricket field. Gandhi continues to look for a solution to the issue of the grass not being the optimum lenght for cricket.

When I needed information on pitch-building to assist the Aggies, Anup readily assisted.

Gandhi also strives to bring students new to the game into the club, and has been one of the main mentors of 2011 John Bart King Award winner, Darren Stortz,whose introduction to cricket was at a Hawkeyes cricket club clinic in Dec 2009. Gandhi is currently working on Stortz’s bowling.

For last March’s national Championship, Anup suffered a wrist injury which prevented him from playing – losing their top all rounder was a big setback for the Hawkeyes but he ensured they made the trip.

Then for the first Great Plains regional, Anup volunteered to host and organise the tournament, which the Hawkeyes did (won by Iowa State). Next Anup is looking forward to the trip to Florida to play in the 2012 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship !

by Lloyd Jodah

The 2011 John Bart King Award winner is…….!

ljodah — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:21:40 +0000

One problem with looking at the history of cricket in the USA and Canada, is its sad path. The first national sport in both countries, cricket somehow managed to almost disappear, leaving fossils like the dinosaurs.

Few know that there is still a cricket pitch on one of George Washington’s estates, or that the USA played Canada in the first International sporting event, a cricket match,in 1844. Major league baseball was even begun by cricketers, the Wrights.

Each year the Philadelphia Cricket Festival is a chance to see the grand pavilions and exquisite grounds of the Philadelphia,Belmont, Merion and Germantown Cricket clubs,mainly built in the 1850s. All now exclusive country clubs where golf and tennis have replaced cricket.

On a recent visit to the California I saw the original pavilion and sightscreen of the Hollywood Cricket Club, started by major Hollywood stars in 1932, but taken over by an Equestrian Club (now out of business) in 1978. In return cricket got Woodley, a pitiful replacement whose “custodians” have done practically nothing with, beyond congratulate themselves whilst soccer and football takes over its outfields.

Espn bought Cricinfo and makes millions of $$ yet practically never shows even cricket highlights thereby defying economics. Whilst in other American media cricket is refered to as a “Britsh game” as if that’s a negative, and baseball and America itself were not “British” in origin.

Others talk of bringing “mainstream Americans” into the game, whilst ignoring the fact that sons of cricket-playing fathers, now living in America and Canada, are not playing the game. They delude themselves that cricket can be the next soccer, despite the different era we live in.

Almost noone knows of John Bart King, America’s greatest cricketer, one of the world’s best swing bowlers to ever play the game . So in his honor American College Cricket last year began the John Bart King Award – given to the top “American college player of the year, who is not originally from a cricket background.”

We have seen American College Cricket bring many desi American players, raised in the USA, back to the game of their fathers and we will do more of that. But the John Bart King Award recognizes the accomplishments of American players who have chosen the very difficult journey of learning, and competing in cricket, despite having no family connection to the game.

Last year Ian Carlin (College of Wooster), a former Wooster running back, was the 2010 recipient of the John Bart King Award and as a result made Sports Ilustrated (Jan 31st,2011 issue). Curt Sonnet (George Washington U) blazed a trail with the GW Cricket Club in 2009 .

Darren Stortz, of the Universty of Iowa Hawkeyes Cricket club is the 2011 winner of the John Bart King Award.

Anup Gandhi, President of Hawkeyes Cricket, who has been Darren’s cricket mentor and coach,said, “Darren is one of our most athletic fielders – he makes some good diving stops. From the first day when he showed up for our Cricket Clinic (in Dec 2009) he’s shown a lot of passion for the game, even ordering his own kit from abroad and showing up regularly for practice.”

Darren told us, “Anup and the guys have been welcoming, and have taught me a lot. My first official game was actually our first match at Nationals (March 2011 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship). Principally I am a fielder, but with aspirations to be an allrounder bowling left arm medium. My favorite cricketers are Jonty Rhodes, Sachin Tendulkar, Denis Lillee, Kapil Dev and Kevin O’Brien.”

A martial artist and a Senior at the University of Iowa studying for a Bachelor in Applied Studies, with an emphasis in history,Darren declared,“I don’t like cricket….I love it ! After graduation, what ever I end up doing, cricket will remain a part of my life, either professionally or as a serious hobby.”

Darren assisted in organizing the first Great Plains regional last Fall, and was also the photographer whilst playing ! He also works for the Big Ten Network on campus, and covers Hawkeyes football and other sports for Hawkeyesports.com. Darren is hoping to convince the network to do a promotional video for Hawkeyes Cricket and the 2012 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship.

Darren is responsible for a truly unique phrase in American sports, “I like the fact that I can say my cricket is 100% Iowan.”

by Lloyd Jodah

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.

College Football Wk 3 – Ashton Kutcher, & how our colleges did !

ljodah — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 04:27:05 +0000

In Week 3 Ashton Kutcher showed up to watch his Hawkeyes, even as his debut on “Two and a half men” grabbed record ratings !

Kutcher attended the University of Iowa before dropping out to be a model.

Our colleges continued our dominance by winning 19 games and only losing 6 – an additional 3 losses by our teams were to our teams.

WINS

Iowa State vs Connecticut 24 – 20
Purdue rolled over Southeast Missouri Stae 59 – 0

Ashton Kutcher at the Hawkeyes vs Pittsburgh game

Penn State won vs Temple 14 – 10

Iowa won vs Pittsburgh 31 – 27

UF won vs Tennessee 33 – 23

Indiana U won vs South Carolina State 38 – 21

North Carolina won vs Virginia 21 – 17

UMN won vs Miami (Ohio) 29 – 23

Texas Tech wrecked New Mexico 59 – 13

Virginia Tech won vs Arkansas State 26 – 7

North Carolina State Wolfpack devoured South Alabama State 35 – 13

USF bulldozed Florida A & M 70 – 17

Houston won vs Louisiana Tech 35 – 34

Texas A & M won vs Idaho 37 – 7

USC won vs Syracuse 38 – 17

Wooster won vs Oberlin 14 – 3

LOSSES

Maryland lost vs West Virginia 31 – 37

Northwestern lost to Army 14 – 21

Michigan State lost to Notre Dame 13 – 31

Buffalo lost to Ball State 25 – 28

Florida State lost to Oklahoma 13 – 23

GAMES WE WON & LOST

Ohio State lost to UMiami 6 – 24

Clemson won vs Auburn 38 – 24

FIU won vs UCF 17 – 10

Register for Midwest, Great Plains & Northeast Championships now!

ljodah — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 04:08:22 +0000

American College Cricket teams may officially begin registration for the Midwest, Northeast and the Great Plains regional Championships.
The dates are:

Midwest - Oct 1 & 2, in Ohio. Champion – Purdue University
- will be played in and around the OSU campus for the Gordon Gee Trophy.Gordon Gee is President of Ohio State University, and on the Advisory Board of American College Cricket.

Great Plains – Oct 1 & 2 in Iowa
- will be played on the University of Iowa campus

Northeast – Oct 8 & 9 in NYC. 2010 Champion – Rutgers University
- will be played in NYC

Registrations must be emailed by Club Presidents to Lloyd Jodah, American College Cricket President – Dogevpr2@aim.com.
Please cc your Club Executive, including the Secretary, Treasurer and Captain.

Participation in the regional Championships is a pre-requisite for the nationals, the 2012 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship. The top teams will qualify for the nationals, to be held at the ICC ODI Certified Cricket Stadium in Ft Lauderdale.

Filming of our TV show – the “American College Cricket TV Show” will be done during the regional Championships, and will feature players.

For players wishing to begin a team at your college, in the USA and Canada, contact Lloyd Jodah.

STANDARD PROCEEDURES: As in all our Championships since 2009 the following rules apply for teams :

1. Team Composition : Students of the college only – though a maximum of 2 alumnus are allowed in the playing XI *
Students can be Undergrad, Grad, PhD & post-Doctoral Fellow.
Each team must have a minimum of 3 Undergrad students (except Thunderbird, a Grad school).

2. your club must be a Club Sport, or the process begun. If it is not, contact Lloyd Jodah for guidance

3. PROMOTION : without promotion of the game it would be “invisible cricket” with no value. As always American College Cricket is focused on making cricket visible in the college and mainstream media – all players, all teams are expected to do their part.

*except where school rules do not permit.

Iowa Hawkeyes Darren “Jonty Rhodes” Stortz pursues a Fielder’s Dreams !

ljodah — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 02:18:08 +0000

At a quick glance one might think its Jonty Rhodes fielding at point, but this is the University of Iowa Hawkeyes Cricket team and the blond haired fielder is Darren Stortz, striving to emulate his favorite cricketer, Jonty Rhodes !

Darren Stortz is from Decorah, a small town in northeast Iowa, where his Mom and Dad still live and work. Currently a Senior at the University of Iowa studying for a Bachelor in Applied Studies, with an emphasis in history. Darren started playing cricket recently and says, “I don’t like cricket….I love it !”

He joined the University of Iowa Cricket Club three months after it started, “I went to the clinic they were holding in December 2009. I had never actually played. My first official game, where I played and started, was actually our first match at Nationals “ (March 2011 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship).

”Principally I am a fielder, but with aspirations to be an allrounder.”

Like John Bart King Award winner Ian Carlin (College of Wooster), who was also new to cricket, Stortz has a tremendous desire to improve, and works hard at his game.

“I feel that I am coming along, but not quite at the pace I would like. Next year I want to be able to contribute more to the team, taking more wickets especially,” he said

In the shortest form of the game, 20 overs, fielding is as important as batting and bowling . Consequently a team could have Specialist Fielders who make a huge impact on a batting side’s abilty to score runs. As time goes by we expect to see more American College Cricket teams having Specialist Fielders, bringing their athletic skills from sports such as football, baseball, basketball,soccer, lacrosse etc.

Less than 100 miles from where Darren grew up is Dyersville where the movie “Field of Dreams” was filmed. “If you build it, he will come” the movie said . At the University of Iowa the formula was turned around, cricket players came, to study…..and they wanted to play cricket, a club led by Anup Gandhi was formed and they then motivated the school to build a pitch………..

Hawkeyes Cricket was featured on local TV news, and the team committed to the American College Cricket Midwest Championship, but Darren was not able to make the 8 hour trip. He would not miss the nationals in Florida though – the 2011 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship. Darren said :

“I think we performed well at Nationals, but plenty of room for improvement.The trip itself was long to say the least. I believe that any team that had to travel as far as we did actually flew. But we could not afford such luxuries. However the 20+ hour drive was good for team bonding.

I like what American College Cricket is doing, and I hope its reach continues to grow at the rate it is.”

Not surprisingly his favorite batsman is Sachin Tendulkar, whilst the young Irish spinner George Dockrell is his favorite bowler. As a 10 year old boy I discovered Sir Donald Bradman through his Autobigraphy in my school library. Similiarly Youtube, and the internet generallly, offers opportunites to glory in the skills of past players. So it was that Darren came to admire one of cricket’s top pace duos, Lillee and Thomson; and Kapil Dev as a dynamic Captain showing India the way to its current position as a leader in cricket and commerce.

“I like the fact that I can say my cricket is 100% Iowan,” said Darren. Before cricket he did Martial Arts, and like many American kids played soccer as a kid. He occasionally rock climbs, kayaks and enjoys gaming and reading.

Anup Gandhi, President of Hawkeyes Cricket, about Darren, “Darren is one of our most athletic fielders – he makes some good diving stops. From the first day when he showed up for our Cricket Clinic he’s shown a lot of passion for the game, even ordering his own kit from abroad and showing up regularly for practice.”

So what next for Hawkeyes Cricket and Darren Stortz ?

“A winning record for the 2011 Big 10 (Midwest) Championship, and the 2012 American College Cricket Spring Championship would be a realistic goal for certain.

After graduation, what ever I end up doing, cricket will remain a part of my life, either professionally or as a serious hobby. “