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| Willow Geeks Win The FCL Championship Trophy |
Tahir Ali
11/02/2017
After a nail biting finish in the semi-finals with ShaheenXI-2, the Worcester Speedsters Cricket Club (WSCC) moved on to the final round to play against Willow Geeks Cricket Club (WGCC).
The cricket tournament organized by the “Friendly Cricket League†(FCL) is just that; ‘real friendly’. In fact, if one includes the competitive and enjoyment components, the FCL measures very high. Most of the competing teams by their own submission thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the games. The FCL is a product of due diligence of cricket die-hards and organizers: Vivek Murugesan and Logi Vaidyanthan. Helping out with logistics are Avinash Pillai and Satish Nakka. This year 10 teams participated. These teams were placed in two divisions (5 per division). FCL organizers admit it takes a lot of time and effort to do all this, “we do all these work for the game of cricket. We love it to the core.†Vivek explained.
It was a nice and a warm day in October and the Sun was making the day look even brighter – a good day to play cricket. I as the designated neutral umpire tossed the coin up in the air, Adithya Bandekar (Captain WSCC) called it in vain and WGCC decided to field first. Speedsters got off to a bad start as they lost Ashwin’s wicket to Buddika in the second over of the match followed by another set back when Mohamed Hafeez trying to run between the wickets as fast as he could failed to overtake the ball thrown by Indika into the wickets (WSCC at this juncture was 2 for 3 in the 3rd over). Shreya and Mihir stabilized the batting to an extent until Tushar and Aravind dismissed them both leaving Speedsters with 46 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Venkatesh Viswanathan’s remained on the crease to the end with 32 runs and one six to his credit. Umesh Choudary faced 26 balls and converted 24 of them in runs. The partnership picked up the game. Mahesh got run out, while Sohail Khan was not out for 2 runs. Fine fielding, economical and precision bowing by Sheraz Ali, Aravind Rajagopal, Tushar Mattu and Buddika Peiris held the Speedsters to 93/6 with a RR of 4.65.
The Willow Geeks, however, had a better batting start. Both openers Satish Sathiya and Sumeet Mate stayed on the crease until the team total crossed the half Century mark. The first wicket of Sameet fell at 51, bowled by Shreya Kulkurni for 26 runs. Followed closely by left-hander Satish failing to make a run on a rather confused call. However, Satish added another 25 runs to the score. Satish got a life very early in the game when his catch was dropped – “what a drop was that my countrymenâ€. Anil Dhingra was caught behind by the wicket keeper Aditaya off Venkatesh’s over, following on Anil’s heel was Ramesh caught by Hafeez bowled by Umesh, immediatey followed by Sheraz Ali who was caught behind by Adiyhya on Sohail Khan’s delivery for 15 runs. At this juncture, WGCC were 5 for 73 runs and the 14th over in progress with 21 runs away from the target. It appeared to be a difficult task, but Buddika and Tushar Mattu and a few extras helped. The winning shot came from Aravind Rajagopal and WGCC crossed the target – Hence Willow Geeks clinched the championship with 4 wickets to spare.
The Ceremony: FCL has been doing something special since 2013 recognizing the runners up, best Batsman and best Bowler award as well.
The FCL awarded the Champion trophy to the Willow Geeks Cricket Club. WGCC’s captain Guru Mallesh is shown in photo proudly holding up the trophy.
The Runners up trophy went to The Worcester Speedsters picked by their captain Adithya Bandekar, equally proud of their achievement.
The Best Bowler trophy went to WGCC’s Sheraz Ali (For most wickets: 9)
The Best Batsman trophy went to ShaheenXI-2 Mukarram Hussain for scoring the most runs 156.
Based on the statistics, RR and HH – ShaheenXI-2 was recognized as the team coming in third.
And a special recognition of the senior most active player in the league who serves as an inspiration to all players: Tahir Ali (69 years) of ShaheenXI-2.
The match was very competitive and enjoyable according to the Australian and Venezuelan spectators who also have a great passion for cricket.
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