Netravalkar (Cornell) leads USA to ODI status on 175th Anniversary OF 1844 Game!
2017 at Moosa Stadium, Saurabh Netravalkar (Cornel) with Lloyd after 3-0 Series win over CCC Canada
A former India u19 World Cup star, Saurabh Netravalkar began his USA cricket in 2015,16 & 17 playing for Cornell, our Mid Atlantic All Stars & our American College Cricket USA team under other Captains before he was made Captain by Lloyd Jodah, American College Cricket President. A humble, dedicated, intelligent cricketer who caught the bus from Cornell at 2 am for the 6 hour ride to NYC to play…. it’s easy to see why he inspires the USA team.
With a Masters from Cornell University there’s no guarantee that kind of intelligence is applied to one’s cricket, but in Saurabh’s case it definitely is and this was borne out when he captained American College Cricket to a 3/0 Series win in USA vs Canada. As Lloyd said,
‘It was a nobrainer Saurabh would make the USA team once he met the residential qualification so we just highlighted his great play and cricket resume with photos, and his interview which got over 15,000 views. The real goal was for the appropriate people to realize he would make a great USA Captain, so we selected him as our All Star Captain, and he showed his ability as a player and Captain. It was when he was to Captain again, the All Star Series in Orlando, that he got called up for USA’
In American College Cricket our players play for their college NOT their background. It’s a lesson we’ve been teaching in America for 10 years where outside of college cricket, teams, even tournaments are still being based on ethnicity and National origin. There is even a League in NYC based on where the members came from abroad. Under Saurabh this USA team is learning that lesson of American College Cricket, team first, & reaping the results.
The achievement of ODI status comes in the 175th anniversary year of the 1844 cricket match USA VS Canada which marked the first time young men from 2 countries fought of a playing field, instead of a battlefield – effectively beginning International sport. However the tournament ended on a bitter note when Canada was denied ODI status, in the last over, by USA at a time when USA had no hope of winning the game but scored the runs which denied Canada. Additionally on another field Oman , despite winning their previous, gave up the ghost against PNG in a suspicious end.
The ‘Spirit of Cricket only seems to come up when a ‘Mankad incident’ happens.
Now the work for the USA team must continue, and in USA there must be a major change to the structure of cricket.
