TCC Taped Ball Winter 2016 Tournament: ECC Winners, Gladiators Runners Up

HOUSTON: ECC won the TCC taped Ball Winter 2016 tournament by defeating Gladiators by 13 runs in a keenly contested final between 6-time finalist and 3 time winners ECC and 6 time finalists and 2-time winner Gladiators. With this win ECC claimed its 4th and 2nd consecutive title.

On a slightly overcast Saturday morning with a forecast of rain looming to play spoilsport, Gladiators won the toss and put ECC in to bat. Subodh the Gladiators captain and Matthew started off with a good couple of overs. After the fall of the first wicket, Gautam joined Bhaskar in the middle and they went about attacking the Gladiators bowlers scoring more than 8 runs per over in the next 4. Gautam was runout for a quick 26 and at the end of 10 overs ECC were well placed at 68/2.

After the break the Gladiator bowlers came back strongly by bowling with discipline and as the runs dried down, ECC batsman started to take some risks which resulted in ECC losing a couple of quick wickets. Bhaskar was run out for a match winning 44. Avinash from ECC made a brisk 16 down the lower order to take ECC to a respectable but under par 121/6 in 20 overs. For Gladiators, Subodh, Matthew and Sandeep took two wickets a piece.

Gladiators started with Amit Patel and Sanman and were 22 at the end of 3 overs having lost Sanman. Emad joined Amit and were 30 /1 after 6 overs. At the end of 10 overs the score was 58/3 with Amit getting out for an aggressive 22. At the drinks break the game was evenly poised with Gladiators needing 64 more runs and they had Ninad and Subhodh their main run scorers in this tournament still to come.

ECC started strongly after the break due to which Gladiators were 69/5 at the end of 13 with Emad getting out for a well compiled 27. Subhodh and Amit Shah played sensibly and ran hard to take the score to 86/5 at the end of 15 overs. With 36 runs required in the last 5 overs it was anybody’s game but ECC struck a double blow when Kiran removed Subhodh and then the very next over Vibhish removed Ninad to peg Gladiators to 99/7 at the end of 17. Gladiators were all out for 108 in the 19th over for ECC to lift their 2nd consecutive and 4th overall championship. For ECC, Avinash and Vibish took 3 wickets each.

The game was followed by a well-organized prize distribution ceremony arranged by TCC. Mr. Krishna Kasturi, ex HCL President and secretary of Triggers EC graced the occasion as chief guest. He was lauded for his contribution and support to cricket in Houston. He talked about his passion for youth cricket and encouraged everyone present to support youth cricket. Jagadish Biradar, the organizer of the tournament coordinated the presentation ceremony.

TCC extended thanks and appreciation to Dinesh Kasliwal from Gladiators for his wonderful voluntary service in the scheduling of the tournament.

Mahesh Thandra Ashwinkumar, the captain of Eldridge Cricket Club (ECC) was presented with the championship trophy and Subodh Dongare, the captain of Gladiators was presented with the runners up trophy.

Man of the match for the finals was Bhaskar Saripella from ECC for his excellent match-winning performance with the bat.

Rajiv Madhavan from Big 12 and Shiva Prasad from HCCC won the Best batsman with 248 and 247 runs respectively. Sureshkumar Sriram from Houston Panthers won the best bowler with 19 wickets and also the best All-Rounder for making 223 runs along with his 19 wickets. Sai Kiran from Houston Panthers and Pavan Soodireddy from Gen X won the Best Wicket Keeper with 19 catches each for the tournament. Hemanth Kumthekar from HCCC was the tournament’s recipient for the special award for taking a Hat-Trick.

It was ironical that none of the individual awards were won by anyone from the finalist teams, once again proving that in all its glorious uncertainties, Cricket is still a TEAM GAME.