UT Dallas Comets win National Championship, take Shiv Chanderpaul Trophy to Texas !
The 2015 Shiv Chanderpaul Trophy winner,National Champion University of Texas Dallas Comets, with Tuva, Anja & Lloyd Jodah.
Due to incompetency at the Brian Piccolo field in covering the pitch with a cover that supposedly had a hole in it, 2 days were lost on their turf wicket resulting in a Quarter Final being played on the last day, with a Semi & Finals !
But being young cricketers, Drexel University took this in stride, without complaint, won their their Quarters & Final 4 games and got past defending Champion USF Bulls, into the Finals to play their 3rd game for the day, against a steamrolling University of Texas Dallas. UT Dallas Comets was a 3 month old club, led by Club President Sharath Raam to winning the American College Cricket South West Championship last month at Smart Choice Moosa Stadium in Houston.
For the 6th time the American College Cricket Nationals Finals took place at the Central Broward Regional Park & Stadium – and the Curator did a wonderful job in giving a pitch that gave both bowlers and batsmen something.
Drexel won the toss and decided to bowl, prefering to chase and probably thinking the evening dew would make it difficult for the fielding team. Drexel openers Chiranjeev Reddy and Sachin Kumar put on 92 in 10.4 overs before Reddy went for 65 in 37 balls, hitting 5 fours & 5 sixes. The Drexel opening bowlers Khan and Navinchandra couldn’t stop the run flow and it was Veqar who got the breakthrough. Two more quick wickets fell and the Dallas Comets were 119 for off 14.2, slowed but at 8.3 with wickets in hand they were still in a good position. And so it was, the lower order took care of business Praharsh Anisetty struck 36, Captain Sharath Raam 21 with 3 fours and a 6 and Kartik Rajasekaran 14 taking Dallas to 192 for 7 in 20 overs ! Chandan Naik took 2 wickets for 29 runs.
Drexel openers Chandan Naik and Faraz Zaidi got off to a good start before Zaidi was run out by Rajasekaran for 41 made in 33 balls with 4 fours, and Drexel was 77 for 1 after 10.5 runs. The next wicket also went to a run out, by Namnaik after a 51 run partnership between Namnaik 32 (17 balls, 2 fours & 2 sixes) but at 128 for 2 after 15.5 Drexel seemed poised for their final surge.
However the final 4.1 overs only yielded 17 runs and the University of Texas Dallas won by 35 runs – though it was a tight & tense finish ! UTD’s Balaji Narendran took 2 wickets in the final over when it was practically a lost cause for Drexel. Drexel’s top batsman Maeez Veqar came in at the right time but Chiranjeev Reddy took the wicket that probably won the game for Dallas !
Chiranjeev Reddy (UT Dallas) was the match MVP, scoring 65 runs and taking the key wicket, at a crucial time of Veqar !
In a short Awards speech, American College Cricket founder & President Lloyd Jodah praised the work of Sharath Raam as Club President, and of Drexel’s Kabir Monocha who less than 2 years ago contacted Jodah about starting the Drexel club.He thanked all 450 players at the Nationals for their efforts in raising the profile of cricket in America through their passion, talent and work.
For the 7th time the Shiv Chanderpaul Trophy was presented to the National Champion, this year its the University of Texas Dallas ! Presenting the Trophy was Anja Catrine, with Tuva to UTD Captain Sharath Raam. Anja & Tuva also presented Certificates of Achievement to the players of both teams.
You can see our Instagram interviews done by Anja & Tuva on http://www.instagram.com/AmericanCollegeCricket
ECB Umpire Billy Taylor & ICC Americas Panel Umpire Hubert Smythe officiated.
FULL SCORECARD & all stats :https://www.crichq.com/#matches/237003/1st_innings
Drexel Dragons, a pic that’s being widely emulated.
Anja presenting the Shiv Chanderpaul Trophy to UT Dallas’ Captain Sharath Raam, with Tuva.
Follow Anja
http:// www.instagram.com/anjacatrine
Tuva
http:// www.instagram.com/instababetuva
Our Facebook Photo Album (more pics to come)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152819574079331.1073741854.264550834330&type=3
The Shiv Chanderpaul Trophy was designed by Lloyd Jodah, & made exclusively by Cricket Zone & Trophy World (718) 684-1140 ; buxtonlinetop@yahoo.com
