The second edition of the Northern California Cricket Association (NCCA) Youth League started on February 23rd with the first match played at Wilson Cricket Fields (Santa Clara). Dashrath Sankhe Cricket Academy (DSCA) and Cricket Zeal Academy (CZA) played a 40-overs match at Wilson Fields in the Under-15 age group. Barinder Singh Ahluwalia (NCCA Board member and Santa Clara Cricket Club veteran), Suraj Vishwanathan (USA Cricket Board Director), Sujesh Pulikkal (Santa Clara Cricket Club President), Coach Raghu (CZA Coach), and Biju Nair (NCCA President) witnessed the season’s inaugural match.
There were three other matches played in parallel and the results and schedules can be found at http://www.ncalcricket.org/NCCA/listMatches.do?clubId=1191
At the Cupertino Under-11 match California Cricket Academy (CCA) Stars vs. East Bay Youth Cricket Association (EYCA) Scorchers, Cupertino City Council member John Wiley joined the players to kick start the match with the coin toss.
SRCA U-11, DCL U-11, CZA U-11, EYCA U-11 Dukes played their first matches at different grounds.
There are 19 teams playing in the NCCA Youth League and the first season of the league is expected to finish at the end of June 2019, followed by a play-off in the fall. There will be 75 plus matches played during the season giving tremendous exposure to the youth cricketers.
NCCA President Biju Nair thanked the entire NCCA cricket community for supporting the initiative of providing a neutral platform for competitive cricket for the youths and providing a pathway towards professional cricket in the USA.