Playing in a National Championship is an accomplishment, and college sports clubs get increased recognition by schools for doing so. Therefore every team playing in the 2013 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship is already a winner, and a major step further along in the development of cricket in their college, the USA & Canada.

 

This year 7 new college teams did the hard work required to play in their first National Championship and excitement is running high, like a volcano about to erupt.

 

University of Memphis, University of Texas-Arlington, West Virginia University, University of South Alabama, Wayne State University, University at Buffalo, Phoenix East Aviation and Harvard University will for the first time share the sun and fun of Ft Lauderdale, South Beach & Miami, and compete on the beautiful cricket fields of Florida.

 

The players will no doubt marvel at how much better the Florida fields are, than those they get to play on in other parts of the USA. Interestingly the  7 new colleges are from 7 different states !

 

Sports pioneer Harvard, which started an official cricket team 150 years ago in 1862, and was an important part of the birth of organized sports in America, looks to re-establish itself as a cricket power.

 

Top Newcomer of 2012 Murali Ankaraju, who scored 131 and 82 in the South Central regional will be coming with the Memphis Tigers.

 

In just a few months South Alabama has made the Nationals, and UT Arlington was just begun this Feb, when student Umer Musharraf contacted Lloyd Jodah, American College Cricket President and asked how to do so. Lloyd told him what to do, and Umer pulled together experienced players, had meetings, filed paperwork etc and voila, the UTA Mavericks were in as a wild card !

 

The clubs have received significant support from their schools, and other supporters including Icore Infotech Inc http://www.icoreinfotech.com/ (West Virginia U),Samosa Hut & Grill, Currytos Restaurant & Dallas Premiere League (UT Arlington), Michigan Cricket Assoc.(Wayne State), Red Bull (U at Buffalo) and Dr Shehzad Topiwala, MD (Phoenix East Aviation).

 

Some players will squeeze in school assignments and practically all will have the best Spring Break of their lives. 

The National title & the Chanderpaul Trophy is at stake, and to the players the opportunity to possibly play on TV is a dream ! Add to that possibly playing in the ICC-Certified CBRP Cricket Stadium and the rewards for the students’ efforts are extraordinary and priceless !

 

Just like in March 2012, TV Asia will televise the Semis & Finals (on tape-delay) with a professional 9 cameras production in HD with commentary,slo mo replays,close-ups etc across the USA & Canada. TV Asia will also do features on players & reports from the other matches.

 

The Championship will be dedicated to Colin Michael Jodah (brother of Lloyd) who was an important part of American College Cricket, behind the scenes. He died Jan 18 at age 56.

 

Alumni & others, to show your support :

University at Buffalo

 

for West Virgina U

 

for Wayne State