Harvard repeats as Ivy League Champion, win Colin Michael Jodah Trophy !

2015 Ivy League Champion Harvard, repeat winner of the Colin Michael Jodah Trophy, with Lloyd Jodah

The weather in Schenectady on Sunday was perfect for cricket, but even that didn’t assuage Steve Weisse’s nerves as the Harvard, Yale,Penn & Cornell Cricket Clubs rolled into town to compete in the American College Cricket Ivy League Championship.

Steve is one of the few Don Quixote- type figures you can find in cricket in the USA & Canada, even more unique for the fact that he is an American who came to the game as an adult. He had managed to carve out 2 cricket fields in Schenectady, one of which at Schenectady County Community College, had not seen any usage. Hosting the Ivy League Championship was a major endeavour he couldn’t afford to have go wrong.

The 2015 Ivy League Championship could have been at Harvard but the date approved clashed with an already scheduled Mid Atlantic Regional. The Philadelphia Cricket Club was possible, but the Pope was visiting that weekend. Steve had contacted Lloyd Jodah, American College Cricket Founder & President, seeking support for his cricket efforts in Schenectady so Voila ! as cricketers say, Lloyd scheduled the Championship for Schenectady and Steve’s nerves went into turbo drive !

The Cornell team was early, and helped set up the matting and field.Steve gave both Captains ‘Don Bradman coins’ from Australia,as momentos, and one was used to spin the toss.Penn batted first and made 130 for 4, J Aziz made 56 and Rueben Abraham 30 as the 2 put on 75 for the opening partnership. Not a high total, but on a pitch that gave the bowlers some help, they felt good about defending it, particularly when Cornell lost 2 wickets in the first over without any runs to Aditya Nagaraja !

The # 4 batsman for Cornell, Saurabh Netravalkar, had handled pressure before – playing India at the Under 19 World Cup in 2010, as well as playing for Mumbai in the Ranji Cup. Fans following on Crichq watched the score Cornell’s score climb towards the target as Netravalkar smashed 75 in 46 balls with 5 fours & 5 sixes ! In the end he made it easy as Penn fell in what was to them, a shock defeat !

Meanwhile, over at Grout Park, where on Labor Day Weekend, a crowd of about 5,000 people had gathered for a Guyanese Festival, that included ‘softball’ cricket, the Harvard and Yale teams continued heir oldest of college rivalries to cricket. It was Yale’s first American College Cricket Ivy League tournament. With a strong batting line up, on a good batting track and fast outfield it was expected that Harvard would amass a large total but Yale had other plans and restricted them to 130 for 7, Captain Manik Kuchroo topscoring with 45. Naveeth too 3 for 28. A pun about them being Crimson with embarrassment at their low score would be bad so we won’t do it.

Harvard’s fast bowlers, the Captain Manik, Vik Jayaram and off spinner Danny Yetman comprised a strong bowling attack to which they had added pacer James Newman and they won the game for Harvard.

A Harvard vs Cornell Finals meant we had a possibility of a new Ivy League Champion, and with Saurabh Netravalkar leading their bowling attack Cornell felt good about their chances. Netravalkar had been a delight to watch bowling.

Batting first Harvard made were 15 for 4, losing 2 wickets to run outs, Gondal 35 and Chandra 27 somewhat saved the day for Harvard, together with Extras and the ended on 121 for 9 off 20. Netravalkar & Gupta kept it tight whilst Tejas Singh too 4 for 25 and Aadhar Jain 2 for 24. In both of Cornell’s matches Netravalkar’s bowling partners benefited from his excellent bowling at the other end.

At first it seemed the Cornell batsmen were batting smart,taking their time to get the runs but Cornell struggled to get the strike to the in form Netravalkar, and he watched as the Harvard bowlers first pinned down Cornell’s batting then got them out, James Newman took 3 for 25 and Vik Jayaram 2 for 38 as Cornell made 101 for 7 in 20.

It was Harvard’s second consecutive Ivy League title, taking the Colin Michael Jodah Trophy back to Harvard again ! Gondal was judged the MVP, Netravalkar the best Batsman & Tejas Singh was Best Bowler.

American College Cricket Hall of Famer Naveenan Thiagarajan was on had to present the individual Awards whilst Steve Weisse presented the Runner up Trophy, and Lloyd did the honors for the Champion Harvard, recognizing his brother Colin, who had done so much for American College Cricket.

Steve was effusive in his praise of the young American College Cricket players, and the sportsmanship they displayed, and awed by the presence of Saurabh Netravalkar. He had words of thanks for those who assisted, “Thanks go out out to Kamal Hussain, Paul Novotny, Kiran Vishnu, Mahesh Rahgunandan and Zoeb Zavery and Gather’s Granola