TCC Taped Ball Spring 2020 Premier: JCC Winners, SLCC Runners Up

Houston: JCC were crowned as the champions of TCC Taped Ball Spring 2020 Premier on August 29th 2020 defeating SLCC by 26 runs and thereby claiming their first TCC Taped Ball premier Tournament title which is a once in a year championship for Divn. I teams. This is about being the best in the best!! This was the first final for JCC and for SLCC, this was the 9th final of which they have been champions for 3 times. It was a highly competitive tournament played between 11 teams.

JCC won the toss on a beautiful Saturday morning and had no hesitation in electing to bat first. SLCC opening bowlers gave a great start with a wicket each in the very first over of Ramesh and Thusitha and the score was 5/2 after 2 overs. With Nirav’s loss in the 6th over, the score was 26/3 after 6 overs. Kishan and Tapan steadied the innings before Gihan got 2 in the 10th over including that of Tapan for 17. At the end of 10 overs, the score was 42/5. After the break, Gihan got Kishan for 16.  Hiren and Ronak put together a quick fire 25 before Hiren was run out for a 15 balls 21 with 2 sixers. Ronak then built partnership with Alok and played a very crucial and sensible knock of 23 of 28 to take the score to 106/9 at the end of 20 overs. SLCC bowlers did what they do routinely to teams to restrict JCC to 106. Gihan led the bowlers with 3 wickets of 9 runs and was well supported by Ramesh with 2 wickets. Nalith and Thusitha got 1 each.

Chasing 107, SLCC got a flying start from Gihan and Thilan before Gihan got out for 12 of 7 balls in the third over at a score of 18. Thilan and Kushal had a useful partnership of 30 runs in 4 overs before Abhinav got the important breakthrough of Thilan in the 7th over for 24 of 25 with 2 fours. At the end of 10 overs, the score was 56/3. SLCC were comfortably placed to chase the remaining 51 in 10 overs with 7 wickets in hand. It was an inspired bowling performance by JCC after the break which resulted in at least 1 wicket in every over. The JCC bowlers spun a web of magic around the very reliable and strong batting lineup of SLCC and were supported by excellent fielding of JCC. Cricket was its unpredictable best with SLCC collapsing to 80 all out in 15.3 overs. The entire JCC team was ecstatic with the win and their first championship in TCC Taped Ball. The final was a continuation of the fighting spirt of JCC in the playoff games which were against teams ranked higher than them. Rajesh finished with 4 for 22 and was supported by Kishan (2/18), Nirav (2/12) and Abhinav (1/12). Brilliant fielding meant one run out.

The game was followed by well-organized presentation ceremony hosted and facilitated by Jagadish Biradar of TCC. Dinesh from Gladiators was thanked for his voluntary contribution in scheduling the tournament. Umpires Cameron and Goutham were presented umpiring medals. Nirav Ginwala, captain of JCC was awarded the championship trophy and Thusitha W, captain of SLCC was awarded the runners up trophy. Rajesh from JCC was awarded the man of the match for a match winning 4 wickets for 22 runs.

Tournament awards were also presented during the presentation ceremony. Hiren Patel from JCC won the award for the MVP of the tournament. Ashwin from Cougars was the best batsman for 150 runs, Saravanan from Cougars was the best bowler with 8 wickets, Shiva from HCCC was the best All-rounder with 109 runs and 5 wickets and Swaroop from Cougars was the best wicketkeeper 10 catches. Ashwin from Cougars and Gaurav from BHCC were given special awards for centuries. Gaurav also got a special award for a hat-trick.

The link to the score card is https://www.cricclubs.com/3T/fullScorecard.do?matchId=474&clubId=8675 and the youtube link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcJwvECGyjU