Thunderbirds, Auburn and rain win on first day of Championship
The Trojans ( USC) and the T-Birds (Thunderbird School of Global Management) faced off to begin the 2nd American College Cricket Spring Break Championship at Central Broward Regional Park (CBRP) today. Other teams were given practise time on the adjacent field so it was a truly historic moment to see cricket clubs from 6 US Universities resplendent in their school colors, playing cricket.
Conditions were overcast as the two teams took the field at 9 am, USC batting first. Mishal Patel began the Championship in fine style by flicking the first ball off his legs for 4. Captain Tarun Tyagi retired hurt after slipping and falling so in came allrounder Tarun Sandhu. The tall Sandhu immediately hit a short one overmidwicket for 4 and USC soon USC, after five overs was looking good at 40 without loss.
However the T-Birds stuck to their guns and with excellent fielding stayed in the game. One fan of international cricket said, “This is amazing fielding . It’s the best I’ve seen, even in Test cricket”.
The Trojans managed to get the score to 115 for 8 off 18 overs before their time ran out. The wicket was fast, and bouncing and the batsmen found it difficult to score.
However to shouts of “Fight on! ” the USC players took the field to defend their total and quickly struck,Sandhu taking 2 Thunderbirds’ wickets for ducks. But the T-Birds fought back through 49* from Nimish Jalan (4 fours,1 six) and 18 from Sudeep Misra (3 fours). With the score on 99 for 6 off 15 overs Thunderbird was the winner based on runrate. Each Team is limited to 80 minutes to complete their innings.
As the rain drizzled,the Auburn and GWU players took the field with Auburn batting first. Captain Naveen Thiagarajan and Maulik Lukkad put on 75 for the opening partnership before Lukkad went for 29 off Ankit Sheth. Prashant Dubey 35* smashed the ball all over the park for 6 fours and together with Thiagarjan 49* (8 fours) took Auburn to 141 for 1 off 15 overs before their time ran out.
The GWU players, looking sharp in their new uniforms aproached their task with confidence but the ball was coming off the damp pitch fast and Vibudh Mishra (2 wickets for 10 runs) and Dubey struck early and soon GWU was 20 for 3.
The outfield was getting more slippery however, and after 7.1 overs the Umpires call ed the game, with Auburn getting the win on runrate.
Rain prevent play in the other games: Wooster vs UMN, UWI vs University of South Florida, and UMiami vs TSGM
Beautiful weather is predicted for the remainder of the Championship. In the meantime the other teams have arrived, and are so eager to play, are using tennis balls to play in any space they can. Even the pool is being used to practise their bowling and fielding !
