2009 national champion Montgomery College, former Sunday Washington Post cover boys, is looking for a return to glory, whilst George Mason U, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State U, Penn State, George Washington U, and University of Maryland (Baltimore County) are intent on winning the Mid Atlantic Championship!
The County issued a Proclamation honoring the MC cricket team, here with Council President Nancy Floreen & Faculty Advisor David Lott.
Purdue University took home the E Gordon Gee Trophy for the Midwest Championship, whilst Rutgers University won the Trophy for the Northeast – now its time for Colleges in the Mid Atlantic conference to do battle in cricket! The Mid Atlantic Championship takes place Oct 23 & 24th starting at 8.30 am Saturday.
Penn State includes tall all rounder Rahul Sarnobat who played for Karnatka at the Under 19 level in India. Sarnobat has pace and bounce and is a very good batsman. He excelled in games in NY in 2009. Penn State missed the chance to take on their Big 10 Rivals in the Midwest, and so is playing in this conference en route they hope to the nationals. Fresh from their intramural league Penn State is practiced, and led by captain Vikram Kumar and club president Vikram Ravi.
George Mason is led by All American Hashim Khan. The South Beach playboy opens the batting and bowling, and has scored against top speedsters like Imran Awan (who was clocked at 94 mph). Mason and Montgomery are strong rivals, and MC lost to Mason at the 2010 national Championship in Ft Lauderdale. Sunil Pathak has been making runs like his great namesake Gavaskar, whilst Ammar Khan, right arm fast, will be looking to rattle the MC batsmen again, as he did in March!
Some of George Washington U’s veterans like All American Amr Hassan, Curt Sonnet, Ankit Sheth have graduated but they still have Ishaan Prakash who showed his batting prowess at the 2010 National Championship and pace bowler Shaan Mehta, who was in Australia and missed the Spring Break Championship. Now with a smoother run-up, Mehta excelled in NY league cricket this past season.
Former GWU Cricket Club president Hugo Scheckter has shown a Forest Gump-like ability to show up at events like 2010 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship, the 2010 he Indianapolis 500, and the soccer World Cup so it’s possible he may also be present!
University of Maryland (BC) has been the Washington Metropolitan Cricket Board Twenty20 Champions 2 years running, with stars like Eraj Abidi, Gurnish Singh, Anand Patel, Sumeet Chordiya, Austin Aluvathingal & more. They have played a tremendous amount as a team. They reached the Semis of the 2010 national Championship, narrowly losing to eventual Champions York University. The UMBC cricket team was even a main story on the Homepage of the UMBC website!
Coming in with a big reputation are the Hokies…they too play league cricket and reached the Semis in NON-collegiate leagues, but more importantly they have their own pitch and cricket field! The practice opportunities this presents for Virginia Tech players means that they can field 3 XI’s according to the club president Rajaram Bhagavathula!
Sathees Kesavan and Anirudh Roy in batting and Hameed Khan, Yash Patel and Swapnil Seth in bowling are some of VT’s top players. Nagendra Krishnamurthy was Sports Club Officer of the month in August at Virginia Tech (out of 29 clubs)!
The team from North Carolina State University also has its own field, and a 12 year history! Led by Hardik Parekh it plays in a non-collegiate league and is highly experienced playing together as a team. Setu Raman, an opening batsman and fast bowler played Ranji Trophy cricket for Tamil Nadu and a new addition, Nikhil Talpallikar, a wicketkeeper/batsman slammed 90 runs in 39 balls recently!
MONTGOMERY COLLEGE – Exemplary Champions
Montgomery still has some veterans from its Championship team, like Sadiq Naseer, Suchit Laheri, Danish Ashgar, Wali Syed, Ankit Sehgal and Wali Syed, but will be without 2009 Finals MVP Mohammed Kamran. MC has shown exceptional fielding skills in the past which can give them the edge on any team. Last March against the University of the West Indies they batted incredibly and they are still the team to beat under the skilful leadership of Adil Bhatti.
As the first American College Cricket Champions MC took home the Chanderpaul Trophy, was featured in the New York Times, received an Award and Proclamation from the County Council President Nancy Floreen, had a front page cover story in the Sunday Washington Post, did interviews for Voice of America News and Pakistan and Afghanistan TV, was in Florida’s Sun Sentinel and their story was covered in countless Indian media.
Media-wise Montgomery is the most well-known cricket team in the USA, and quite possibly the most well-known US college in India ! Still they took time to visit St Patrick’s Episcopal Day elementary school to teach cricket, and led by Bhatti they organized a fund raising drive for the Pakistan Flood victims. They, MC cricketers, have been exemplary champions.
Games will take place at the Metro and Hyatsville cricket fields, thanks to Washington Cricket League President Sheldon Ellis beginning at 8.30 am on Saturday Oct 23 . The Finals will be at 2 pm Sunday Oct 24th. Each team will play 2 games, and the Finalists will be decided based on a points system, with points being awarded for wins, run rate etc.
Reporting and post match interviews will be done by Shanae Strachan, Ms Teen Bahamas 2008.American College Cricket star and USA fast bowler Adrian Gordon (NYU-Poly) will attend the games as will Lloyd Jodah and Nino DiLoreto.
SCHEDULE
SATURDAY – Oct 23
METRO Field
8.30 am – UMBC vs Penn State
11.45 am – Penn State vs Virginia Tech
3.00 pm – George Mason vs Virginia Tech
HYATSVILLE Field
8.30 am – GWU vs Mason
11.45 am – Montgomery vs GWU
3.00 pm – Montgomery vs NCSU
SUNDAY – Oct 24
HYATSVILLE
9.00 am – NCSU vs UMBC
1.00 pm – FINALS
Address & Directions:
METRO Adelphi Manor Park
7601 West Park Drive
Adelphi MD 20873
From 495 take exit 28B (Takoma) onto New Hampshire Avenue, Rte 650 South.
Make left on to University Blvd., Rte 193 East Proceed for about 3 to 5 miles Turn left on West Park Drive, immediately after Shoppers Food Warehouse Store
Field is on right.
HYATTSVILLE 5701, 16th Ave
Hyattsville MD 20782
(Inside the Beltway):
From 495 take exit 28B (Takoma) onto New Hampshire Avenue, Rte. 650 South
Make left on to University Blvd, Rte 193 East
Turn right onto Riggs Road to left on Sargent Road
Turn left onto Ray Road after about 1,000 feet.
Proceed to the field on the left after about 1/3 of a mile.