WMCB Round Robin Championship Final

Winning team posing with biryani plates (UMBC's verson of trophy).

The 22 Yards (UMBC Cricket Club) won its first championship game to claim the Washington Metropolitan Cricket Board (WMCB) Round Robin Division 1 Championship. This win marks a significant milestone for a team that was formed 4 seasons ago by enthusiastic graduate students.

The team for the game was:

1) Ahmad, Kamil
2) Bharadwaj, Raghav
3) Bhatia, Gurnish Singh
4) Chordiya, Sumeet (C)
5) Maniar, Faisel
6) Parikh, Rikin
7) Patel, Anand
8) Ranga, Ananth
9) Sadasivam, Balaji
10) Sansare, Suryakant
11) Vani, Chirag
12) D'Silva, Wilbur

Washington CC won the toss and decided to bowl first. It was expected because the wicket and outfield were a bit damp due to overnight dew. UMBC opened the batting with Sumeet and Raghav and we had an excellent start. Raghav blasted Manish all over the park to score 17 runs in the first over. He continued his attacking stroke play and took the bowlers to the cleaners. He scored a 50 in no time. Meanwhile, Sumeet played a steady hand and rotated the strike well. At the end of 15 overs UMBC was 100/0 with Raghav batting at 68 and Sumeet at 22 when disaster struck. Raghav mistimed a pull straight to Manish at Mid on to give them their first breakthrough. Raghav's 68 came of 47 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes. Ranga was sent in at 3 and he missed a straight ball and all of a sudden the score was 103/2. Rikin and Sumeet steadied the ship a little and Sumeet opened up his stroke play and scored a few boundaries. Rikin got hit in the head by a throw from a fielder and had to retire. While we were attending to his head, drinks were taken by the umpires with the score at 126/2 in 20 overs. Considering the start we had (100/0 in 15) Washington CC bowlers did well to pull things back at this stage. Once play resumed after drinks, Faisel and Sumeet walked in and by the 23rd over Sumeet was bowled by a slower from Pranav and Rikin walked in despite severe pain and headache to prevent a collapse. Faisel and Rikin had a steady partnership punctuated by some lusty hits from both the batsmen resulting in boundaries. At the 30th over Manish struck by trapping Faisel plumb in front of middle stump. Gurnish walked in to join his fellow "hitter" Rikin and with the score at 153/4, the stage was set for an explosive innings from Gurnish. Rikin opened up with some good hits one of which landed outside the ropes. Very next over Manish struck again by rearranging the timber to send Rikin back. Very soon chirag was out lbw to Sameer and Anand Patel walked in to join his roommate Gurnish. Patel played some scintillating strokes and stepped up the scoring rate significantly. By the 38th over Gurnish got out and the big hitting Kamil was dismissed without making any significant damage to the scoreboard which read 220. With 3 balls to go in the innings, Balaji walked into the middle. The crowd of around 25 UMBC supporters were chanting his name (to make fun of the old guy who was walking in to a situation not made for him). Balaji dispatched the penultimate ball of the innings to the boundary to get roars from the crowd. He missed the last ball of the game which hit him straight on the knee and the innings ended at 225/8 in 40 overs. Anand Patel was unbeaten at 26 which made sure UMBC reached a score of 220+

Chasing that score, Washiington CC got off to a bad start when Sumeet trapped Tarun in the first over for a duck. Kalyan and Jeerish carried on and scored at a brisk pace. Kalyan played some great shots and the score was 30/0 in 5 overs. Sumeet took a blinder at gully in the 6th over to dismiss Kalyan and there was a stunned silence in the WCC camp since nobody believed what they saw. On the other hand UMBC supporters and players were elated to see a splendid catch taken. That sparked the players and there was a new level of energy and intensity in the field which resulted in 3 more quick wickets (2 by Sumeet and 1 by Gurnish). The high energy UMBC fielding converted 2 half chances to dismiss Jeeresh and Bhaskar. Jeerish pulled a shot ball from Sumeet and the ball was headed straight to the midwicket fence. Rikin standing at short midwicket had other ideas and he took a stuning catch to send Jeerish back to the hut. At 62/4 in 10 overs Bhaskar and Samir had to build a partnership to get some respectability to the total. The wily senior Balaji took an awesome catch at short fine leg to dismiss Bhaskar and also the hopes of a WCC recovery. Bhaskar flicked a full ball off Gurnish and the catch was taken inches off the ground by means of a full length dive forward and the crowd went crazy after seeing such athleticism from a person who was expected to be a liability in the field and coming into the game his spot was up for discussion because of his fielding skills. Chirag was a spectator to all such brilliant feats in the field and then he decided to join in the party by effecting an excellent stumping to dismiss Samir. Raghav bowled a quicker one and the ball kept low and skidded to beat a charging batsman. Chirag made a clean collect and the bails were whipped off in a flash to leave WCC reeling at 102/7 in 20 overs. Manish and Breeze joined together and put up a 75 run partnership in 15 overs to give WCC an outside chance. Manish played some lusty blows and at one point he took Raghav apart. Raghav's 5th over costed 16 runs and WCC was looking at a major upset. Ranga picked up the ball and dismissed Breeze and Manish off consecutive overs to extinguish all hopes of a WCC win. Anand Patel took a brilliant catch at long off. They say that brilliance in the field is contagious and it was true when Patel took the catch when the game was on the line. Known for his butter fingers and drop catches, Patel proved everyone that he can perform on the big stage. Rikin nailed the last nail in the coffin to dismiss Chandra caught off Faisel, brilliantly again at short covers to claim a 41 run victory and the Round Robin Trophy.

The team is indebted to all the supporters who showed up at Oxon Hill to cheer the team and give it the much needed vocal and emotional support when needed. This victory marks a significant milestone that the 22 Yards team crossed since its inception into the WMCB league. Every year UMBC team had bettered its previous record and with this win, it has made its place in the history of WMCB. As a proud founding member of the club, I take this opportunity to salute each and every member who has made immense contributions to elevate the club to the level it is at right now. I am hereby signing off with hopes that next year we will have a few more trophies in our case.

Eiskot !!