TCC Taped Ball Tournment Spring 2013 – Grady Winners, SLCC Runners up
HOUSTON: Grady Cricket Club (GCC) won the TCC Taped Ball Spring 2013 tournament defeating Sri Lanka Cricket Club (SLCC) by 4 wickets. It was a well-deserved win for GCC in only their second appearance in the fiercely fought tournament featuring 17 participating teams. SLCC reached the finals for the second consecutive time.
On a hot and humid Saturday morning (13 July), GCC won the toss and opted to field first. Openers for SLCC (Wickrama and Ranil) provided a quick start to the innings (25 runs after 3 overs). Suraj from GCC provided the first breakthrough just in his second over with the score reading 29/1. Despite this initial set back, SLCC kept the scoring rate up (courtesy of Ranil), scoring at almost 8 runs an over to take the score to 72/2 in 10 overs. Following the drinks break, GCC kept plugging away at the SLCC wickets and slowed the scoring rate. Ranil was holding the SLCC innings together, top scoring with 56 runs before he was out caught in the outfield, trying to accelerate the run rate. Gihan (13), Thilan (14) and Thusitha (19) all chipped in with useful scores. With the score reading 105 in 15 overs, Nalith provided the final push to the innings, scoring a quick fire 22 runs of 9 balls. SLCC finished the innings at 161/8 in their allotted 20 overs. Suraj was the stand-out bowler for GCC, finishing with figures of (4-0-27-3). The concerted efforts from the rest of the bowlers also helped GCC stem the SLCC runs whose batsmen had been prolific throughout the tournament. Aveg chipped in with 2 wickets and Arijit, Ankit took a wicket each. Sushil despite taking no wickets was very economical conceding just 18 runs in 3 overs.
Faced with the highest total ever to chase in TCC Taped Ball tournaments finals, GCC got off to a brisk start courtesy of some explosive hitting by its opening batsman Arijit Roy. GCC lost their first wicket as a result of a terrible mix-up though, where the opener Vipul got run out when the scoreboard just read 17/1 of 2 overs. The loss of wicket did not stop Arijit from playing his shots that included some sweetly timed 4s and massive 6s. SLCC struck back in the 5th over of the GCC innings, removing Arijit (30 runs in 14 balls) out caught in the outfield by a great running catch from Thusita. At the half way stage GCC were 72/4, having lost their captain Aveg and Pervinder (toprun getter for GCC) and still requiring 90 runs in the last 10 overs. By the 13th over, the asking rate was 10/over. The turning point was 14th over which yielded 26 runs. Suraj played a match winning innings and was well supported by Sharad. He defended the good balls and punished loose balls with 4s and 6s. He held onto his nerve to remain undefeated, and went on to score a match winning and priceless knock of 77. Sharad went on to score 22 runs before he was freakishly run out as well. Battling the 100° F heat and humidity, GCC chased down the target of 162 in 19.3 over, losing 6 wickets in the process to win the match and thereby the tournament. The final proved to be very competitive, thoroughly entertaining game and turned out to be nail biting and nerve wrecking for the gathered spectators and well wishers. For SLCC, Gihan was the most economical bowler, finishing with figures of (4-0-19-1). Sampath and Sivaruban took 1 wicket each. The game had high quality umpiring done by Sanman of Gladiators and Venkat from ECC.
The game was followed by a well-organized prize distribution ceremony arranged by TCC. The presentation party had Natraja Rao, secretary for TCC as the chief guest. Jagadish Biradar, organizer for TCC Taped Ball tournament coordinated the presentation ceremony.
Aveg, the captain of Grady was presented with the championship trophy and Udesh, the captain of SLCC was presented with the runners up trophy. The players of the winners and runners up received individual trophies. Man of the match for the finals was Suraj from Grady for a match winning performance of undefeated 77 runs, 3 wickets and wonderful catching.
Vinit from Gladiators won the Best Batsman trophy with 325 runs. Nattu from Spartans won the Best Bowler trophy with 21 wickets. Mathew from Chargers won the Best All Rounder trophy with 264 runs and 16 wickets. Trophies were also given to the man of the match for Semi Finals and Quarter Finals. Aveg from Grady and Gihan from SLCC were the recipients of the man of the match for Semi Finals. Sarang from Rattlers, Kanchana from SLCC, Suraj from Grady and Sohail from Spartans were the recipients of the man of the match for Quarter Finals. Vinit from Gladiators was given a special award for scoring the first ever century (150 not out) in TCC Taped Ball tournaments.