Under-14 tour
USYCA Affiliate member USA Cricket Academy of NJ, in conjunction with the California Cricket Academy, recently completed an U-14 tour of India, with the team winning five of its eight matches, according to a press release. The players were also treated to a T20 match between India and Pakistan during the trip. Rahul Sharma of USA Cricket Academy served as team manager.
Mohak Buch (left) receives the "Best Bowler" award.
“While the US boys did finish with a final 5/3 score it was instructive to see some of the differences vis-a-vis their Indian counterparts. While playing on turf wickets is certainly one aspect, not having decent outfields which provide appropriate value for ground strokes is in the humble opinion of this reporter a greater contributor to their problems. In such an environment players do not see the value of appropriate timing and shift of body weight to generate power and therefore tend to rely more on brute force,” the release stated.
“Another side effect of such outfields is that the US boys tend to loft more. Furthermore, not realizing that on turf wickets with faster outfields fielders tend to be a bit deeper, they also have difficulty clearing fielders with their lofted shots as opposed to on US grounds.”
The release said, “Another effect of not having decent outfields is that US players do not develop the flick and leg glance strokes which are so effective with deliveries on the pads to rotate strike. They tend to play such deliveries to midwicket rather than behind square.
“Also, as the US boys only play limited overs cricket – where there is no margin for error with regards to wides outside the line of the leg stump – they don’t develop the ability of putting balls away outside the leg stump.”
Top Individual Performers:
Batting:
Akhil Ghirnikar (Right hand) – 130 runs in 7 innings, 1 NO for average of 21.66 with a highest of 34
Maulin Vajir (Right Hand bat) – 117 runs in 6 innings for average of 19.50 with a highest of 48
Vivek Narayan (Right hand bat) – 101 runs in 7 innings for average of 14.42 with a highest of 51
Nandan Polisetty and Gauranshu Sharma – 91 runs each
Bowling:
Mohak Buch (Left arm Orthodox) – 17 wickets in 7 matches
Parth Patel (Right arm off spinner) – 16 wickets in 8 matches
Akhil Ghirnikar (Right arm off spinner) – 11 wickets in 8 matches
Vivek Narayan – 10 wickets in 8 games
Honorable Mention: Shopnavo Biswas and Samet Gjhirnikar demonstrated excellent resilience against India spinners. Nandan Polisetty had crucial 5 stumpings behind the wicket. Pace bowlers Jwal Shelat and Gaurav Patanker bowled with excellent line during the tournament.
Team Coach – Amit Buch
Team Manager – Rahul Sharma
Team Statistician and scoring – Deepak Brahmbhat and Avinash Ghirnikar
