Atlanta, GA – The Atlantis Cricket Club – NY women’s team emerged title champions of the Georgia Women Cricket Association 5th Annual Atlanta Women’s T20 Tournament in Atlanta, GA. It is the club’s fourth championship title of the tournament in as many years.
Atlantis Cricket Club – NY women’s team were crowned champions of the 5th Annual Atlanta Women’s T20 Tournament. Photo courtesy of Neha Anand
The finalists of the tournament match up were Atlantis and Cricket Council of Ontario. Both teams were undefeated on their way to the head-to-head final. It was a match eagerly anticipated by the scores of cricket fans attending the weekend tournament, as both teams sported players of a very high caliber, and with international experience.
Winning the toss and electing to take first strike Cricket Council of Ontario (CCO) was looking to establish a formidable total, with the opening pair stitching together 24 runs in the first five overs, before losing Suthershini Sivanantham, 6, and Miryam Khokhar, 4. In a seemingly collapse, CCO lost its next eight wickets for a paltry 22 runs, for a total of 47 all out in 15.3 overs.
Atlantis used five different bowlers in restricting CCO’s ability to score freely. Bowling for Atlantis: Kamara Ragoobar returned impressive figures of 2.3-1-6-3, Rohani Patel 4-1-7-3, Zeenat Kauser 4-0-13-2 and Neha Anand 3-0-10-1.
It was a disappointing first inning to the much-anticipated clash of the two unbeaten teams in the tournament, however not all close games are high scoring affairs, as Atlantis, though faced with a low target for the championship victory, lost its first wicket; Nadia Gruny, 7 in the fourth over with the score at 15.
Atlantis’ skipper Sindhu Ashok joined opener Monali Patel and despite facing some 16 dot balls in her knock of 17 not out off a total of 23 deliveries, was there at the end for the victory. It was a testament to the tight bowling of the CCO XI and indicative of how evenly matched the two finalists were in the low-scoring match.
Rohani Patel had figures of 4-1-7-3. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
Sindhu Ashok’s steadfast approach in pacing her inning and the Atlantis victory, showed tremendous character and astute leadership of her team’s response, she was ably supported by Zeenat Kauser, 6 not out, as the two saw Atlantis through to its fourth championship title of the tournament.
As Atlantis tied the score at 47, an overly exuberant Atlantis bench raced onto the field thinking the single pushed through by skipper Ashok had put Atlantis at the required 48 run mark and the victory. It was a premature celebration, as the umpires asked for a continuance of the match. Atlantis’ skipper Sindhu Ashok would put an exclamation mark on the victory, stamping it with a six over cover point, to end Atlantis’ inning at 52 for 3 in 13.2 overs. It was a fitting and celebratory end to a fourth championship title for the New York based Atlantis Cricket Club women’s XI.
Three Atlantis bowlers topped the bowling averages in the tournament: Kamara Ragoobar 1.68, Rohani Patel and Zeenat Kauser, each with 2.75 runs per over.
Most wickets taken: Ritu Singh, 5 (Atlanta Pearls), Rohani Patel, 4 (Atlantis), Shahnaz Mistry, 4 (Can Am United).
Atlantis’ Nadia Gruny was third in the batting aggregate with the highest average: Achini Perera 115, CCO (57.5 avg.,) Tasmeen Granger 111, Can Am United, (37.00 avg.,) and Nadia Gruny 95, Atlantis (95 Avg.,) Gruny may have added to her tournament total of 95, had she not retired while only on 50 in the match against Atlanta Pearls.
It is expected that the final statistics and scorecards of the tournament will be published shortly.
FOOTNOTES: The presence of Joe DiPaola, President and CEO of World Financial Group at the tournament augurs well for future sponsorship of the tournament. Mr. DiPaola and his wife Von DiPaola attended the tournament at the invitation of Mr. Lada Bedi, a long time supporter of the tournament, an avid cricket fan and CEO of Cricket Academy of USA. World Financial Group is headquartered in Johns Creek, Georgia, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transamerica Corporation.
If there were a Spirit of Cricket award at this year’s tournament, it surely would have been awarded to the Atlanta Pearls organization, for their dogged determination in competing with the much stronger teams year after year, while being such a gracious host and supporter of women’s cricket.