Earlier this month a historic first was achieved, as the best Maryland youth cricketers played the best of Virginia in the first US state vs. state cricket matches. The bilateral matches were played in Maryland on October 17 and then in Virginia on October 18. These groundbreaking matches, which were streamed live on the MYCA YouTube channel, open the door to an exciting future for youth cricket development in America.
Full member cricket nations use state cricket (counties in England, islands in the West Indies) to develop aspiring players, preparing the best for their national sides. In the United States, this intermediate level of competition has not existed until now. With USA Cricket targeting ICC full membership by 2030, the growth of state cricket will become a key indicator of progress toward that goal.
While the more experienced Maryland teams swept the U-12 & U-14 bilateral matches, the Virginia teams made a good accounting of themselves and will no doubt be a force to reckon with in the coming years.
Bilateral Series Report:
In the 12U matches, Maryland’s 6’0” Wesley Jackson stood (literally) head and shoulders above the rest, notching 128 runs at a strike rate of 125.5 between his two unbeaten innings, picking up 14 boundaries plus 6 sixes along the way. The Game One Player of the Match and also a handy bowler, Wesley turns 13 next month and will move up to the 14U side next season.
Venkat Kolahalam also batted well for Maryland, picking up 73 runs over the weekend.
Game Two POTM Sana Sanwal and Stephie Janey both took three wickets over the weekend for Maryland. Sana and Stephie are two of Maryland’s talented female players.
On the Maryland 14U side, Game One POTM Nabeel Chowdhury led all bowlers with four wickets at an economy rate of 2.5, while Rithwik Puli took three and Ayaan Osman nabbed a pair. Game Two POTM Udhaay Jayachandran top-scored across the matches with 85 runs at a strike rate of 126.9, carrying his bat in both games. Shaunak Marathe added an unbeaten 79 of his own at a blistering 161.2, with four 4’s and three 6’s.
For Virginia’s 14U side, Amit Damaraju scored an impressive 70 runs off 98 balls, with four boundaries and two maximums.
Hundreds of great photos by Susan Chotoo can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/bowiecricket