Niraj Shah

Spartans won the TCC Fall 2011 Taped Ball Cricket T20 Tournament. Spartans beat Panthers by 6 wickets with 2 overs remaining in a relatively low scoring match. Spartans won the deserving championship in the well fought out tournament that had 14 participant teams.
Spartans won the toss and elected to bowl first on a chilly day. Panthers got off to a quiet start due to a run out and tight bowling by Nattu and Jhaleel. The innings was rebuilt by Kiran (8 runs) and Srinivas (12 runs). At the end of power play, the score was 23/1. Venky G from Spartans removed 3 wickets (Kiran, Srinivas and Swaroop) in one magical over and put Panthers on the back foot. Then on Spartans kept a tight line and kept pressure on Panthers. Good fielding resulted in 3 run outs. Dilip (23 runs), Adarsh(13 runs), Karthik(11 runs) and Bijeesh(14) played sensible cricket to help Panther score 107 in 20 overs. Venky G. was the pick of the bowlers with 4/19 supported by Jhaleel(2/17) and Shekar(1/17). Kashif had an excellent time behind the wickets picking 5 catches.
Chasing 108 in 20 overs, Spartans got off to a bad start losing in form batsman Kashif(2 runs) and opener Krishna in quick time due to an excellent opening spell by Siju. Jeeva(15 runs) with Nattu (2 runs) steadied the innings but both departed by the end of 6th over due to continued good bowling by Siju with support from Srinivas and Vamsee. The score was 28/4 in 6. Venky G. and Arup started rebuilding the innings without taking risks due to which the run rate climbed up. Once settled, Venky G. unleashed some superb shots all around the wicket to score 17 runs in the 9th over. By the end of 10th over, the score was 54/4. The match was still in balance and Panthers desperately needed wickets to come back in the match. Venky G.(49 runs) and Arup (29 runs) counter attacked and runs started flowing freely after a while. They ended up with a match winning unbeaten partnership of 80 runs. Siju (3/29) was the pick of the bowlers supported by Srinivas(1/13). The umpiring for the match was done by Suraj from Strikers and Sumit from Houston Arrows.
The game was followed by a well organized prize distribution ceremony arranged by TCC. The presentation party had Nanda Kumar president of TCC and HCL, members of TCC EC (Roshan, Krishna and Srinivas) and chief guest was Mr. Niraj Shah, an outstanding cricketer from Houston who has represented USA and is a great supporter of TCC. Mr. Niraj Shah was honored with a memento from TCC by Roshan. Jagadish Biradar, organizer for TCC Taped Ball tournament coordinated the presentation ceremony.
Nattu, the captain of Spartans was presented with the championship trophy and Adarsh, the captain of Panthers was presented with the runners up trophy. The players of the winners and runners up received individual trophies. Man of the match for the finals was Venky G. from Spartans.
Jeeva from Spartans won the Best Batsman trophy with 281 runs. Srinivas from Panthers won the Best Bowler trophy with 17 wickets. Srinivas again from Panthers won the Best All Rounder trophy with 158 runs and 17 wickets. Trophies were also given to the man of the match for Semi Finals and Quarter Finals. Kashif from Spartans and Karthik from Panthers were the recipients of the man of the match for Semi Finals. Dinesh from Gladiators, Kashif from Spartans, Kiran from Panthers and Sandip from ECC were the recipients of the man of the match for Quarter Finals. Raj from Stallions was awarded a special award for scoring 96 runs in one innings. Umpires for the final were also presented with the mementoes.

Rattlers won the TCC Spring 2011 Taped Ball Cricket T20 Tournament. Rattlers beat Panthers by 8 wickets with 2 overs remaining in a high scoring match. Rattlers won the deserving championship in the well fought out tournament that had 14 participant teams.

Panthers won the toss and elected to bat first on a sunny day. They got off to an explosive start scoring 40 runs in the first 5 overs due to aggressive batting from Sreenivas (26 runs). Rattlers struck with Adithya getting the wicket of Sreenivas. The score at the end of 10 overs was 64/4.  Panthers raced to a score of 90 in 13 overs due to lusty hitting from Bijeesh (26 runs). He got out to Karthik and Rattlers seemed to have controlled the scoring rate when Vamsee played a blinder of an innings to score 31 runs in quick time. At the end of 20 overs, it was an impressive score of 147/8. Sarang was the pick of the bowlers with 3/34 supported by Ram, Adithya, Karthik and Mahesh for crucial breakthroughs. Each of them picked up one wicket.

Rattlers got off to their best start of the tournament thru Vinod (57 runs) and Satish (61 runs). They scored at 9 runs per over in the first 5 overs. At the end of 10 overs, the score was 83 for no loss. The opening partnership was broken only after 117 runs were scored. Panthers tried every trick but Satish and Vinod treated the bowling with aggression laced with sweetly timed shots in the gaps and sent the ball to all parts of the ground with great ease and they complimented each other with aggression and caution alternately. By the time both the openers got out, the match was almost but won. Mahesh settled any nerves with a huge six to bring Rattlers close to victory. The game had high quality great umpiring from two neutral umpires Natraj and Jagan.

The game was followed by a well organized prize distribution ceremony arranged by TCC. The presentation party had Nanda Kumar president of TCC and HCL, members of TCC EC (Roshan, Krishna and Sreenivas) and chief guest was Mr. Yogesh Patel, President of the South Texas Youth Cricket Association and former president of HCL.  Mr. Yogesh Patel was honored with a memento by TCC. Jagadish Biradar, organizer for TCC Taped Ball tournament coordinated the presentation ceremony.

Spartans won the TCC Winter 2010 Taped Ball Cricket T20 Tournament. Spartans beat Gladiators by 5 wickets with 3 overs remaining in an exciting match. Spartans who were unbeaten in the tournament won the deserving championship in the well fought out tournament that had 13 participant teams.Gladiators won the toss and elected to bat first on a cloudy Saturday morning. They got off to a slow start due to some tidy bowling by Spartans, but they picked up the scoring rate after 5 overs mainly due to big hitting by Vinit who scored 30 runs. They scored 54/2 at the end of 10 overs and were set up for a good total in the next ten overs. But they were restricted to 100/9 after 20 overs due to great bowling from Spartans who picked up the last 7 wkts for just 46 runs. Sanman held the innings together with an unbeaten 17. Jhaleel was the star bowler with 4 wickets for 11 runs and was supported by Jawad (2 wkts), Sohail (1 wkt), Kiran and Natraj.

Spartans did not have a great start by losing one of the Openers in the first over of their chase. Jeeva (16 runs) and Avinash (13 runs) steadied the innings with sensible batting. At the end of 10 overs, Spartans (45/2) needed 56 runs to win from last 10 overs with 8 wickets in hand. Kiran (22 runs) and Jawad (30 runs with two huge sixes) played risk free fast paced cricket to steer the innings with no surprises. Krishna (9 runs) and Kiran finished the game in style in 18th over. Ninad did a great job in bowling with 3 wickets for 14 runs. The game had high quality great umpiring from two neutral umpires Mohan Palla and Vamsee Kota. 

The game was followed by a well organized prize distribution ceremony arranged by TCC. The presentation party had Nanda Kumar president of TCC and HCL, members of TCC EC (Roshan, Bhaskar and Sreenivas) and chief guest Dr. Khalid Nabi, a senior member of HCL and known for organizing cricketing events in Houston. Dr Khalid Nabi was honored with a memento by TCC. Jagadish Biradar, organizer for TCC Taped Ball tournament coordinated the presentation ceremony.

• Natraj, the captain of Spartans was handed over the championship trophy.
• Sachin the captain of Gladiators was handed over the runners up trophy.
• The players of the winners and runners up received individual trophies.
• Man of the match for the finals was Jawad (Spartans).
• Vinit (Gladiators) won the Best Batsman trophy.
• Natraj (Spartans) won the Best Bowler trophy.
• Jawad (Spartans) won the Best All Rounder trophy.
• Natraj (Spartans) and Vinit (Gladiators) won the man of the match trophy for the Semi Finals.

TCC Spring 2011 Taped Ball Cricket T20 Tournament will start from 5^th of March.

Strikers won the TCC Fall 2010 Taped Ball Cricket Twenty20 Tournament. Strikers beat Cougars by 6 wickets with around 5 overs remaining in an exciting match. Strikers won the deserving championship in the well fought out tournament that had 12 participant teams.

Strikers won the toss and opted to field first, as that was how they won most of their matches in the tournament. The decision turned out to be good one with the early morning dew helping the ball to zip off the track. Swaroop and Chaitanya started the innings for Cougars. Gopala opened the bowling for Strikers and he did a fantastic job by bowling 2 maiden overs. The pressure was maintained by Chandra at the other end. After the first 4 overs, the scorecard was 11/0. The pressure was building on Cougars. Amit was introduced in the attack and he immediately got a breakthrough with the wicket of Swaroop in his first over. In his next over, he got the important wicket of the big hitting Chaitanya due to a good catch by Gopala at long-off. Ashwin the captain came in next and he along with Suraj kept the scorecard ticking though at a slow rate. At the end of 10 overs the scorecard was 36/2 and thanks to some good fielding and tight bowling by Strikers.

Cougars were expected to come back strongly with 8 wickets in hand in the last 10 overs. Gopala started after the break and kept it tight yet again. Amit came back and got another breakthrough with the wicket of Suraj who did his bit in holding the innings thru 12 of 32 balls which was on the slower side. The wicket was due to a brilliant catch by Chandra at long-on. Sathish and Ashwin started to pick the tempo up and kept the scoreboard ticking at a brisk rate. Rajesh came back for his second spell and took the wicket of Ashwin and thanks to a good catch by Jagan behind the stumps. It was an important wicket as Ashwin was looking good. Sathish played a brilliant innings for his 30 runs accelerating the score in the last five overs. Wickets fell regularly at other end. This included couple of brilliant run-outs by SaiKumar and Chandra. Amit ended up with 4 wickets and Gopala ended up with 13 runs in 4 overs. The final scorecard was 92/8 in 20 overs.

Strikers started their innings with Jagan and Gaurav. While Gaurav was taking time to settle, Jagan looked pretty confident and scored 8 of 8 balls. Then came a moment of brilliance on the field where Rajesh Pant took an amazing catch to remove Jagan. Chandra came in next to score some quick runs and relieve the pressure because the scorecard was showing 19/1 in 5 overs due to some tight bowling and excellent fielding by Cougars. Chandra and Gaurav tore apart the attack in the next two overs to score 29 runs. The score card was 48/1 in 7 overs. This changed the temp of the game. Gaurav got out in the 9th over for a blistering 23 of 18 balls. At the end of 10 overs, the score was 63/2 in 10 overs.

With 32 required in 10 overs, the pressure was on Cougars but it was still a job to be done by Strikers in a high pressure final. Amit got out quickly after the break. Chandra finally got out trying to finish the things quickly. Chandra played a brilliant innings of 29 from 30 balls. It was his day and he made most of the dropped catches. The dropped catches of Chandra proved expensive for Cougars. SaiKumar the captain (14 runs) and Anup (9 runs) scored the remaining runs at a brisk rate to finish the match within 15 overs. Anup finished the innings with a cute boundary and a new champion emerged in the Taped ball tournament. Hassan was the pick of the bowlers for Cougars with 2 wickets for 12 runs of 3 overs.

Chandra was decided as the Man of the Match for his 29 runs, 2 catches and 1 run-out.

The tournament was a great turnaround for Strikers who were not even in the play offs in the last tournament just reiterating that Cricket is a game of great uncertainty. On the other hand, Cougars had an exciting tournament with them being not sure of qualifying for the play offs at one point but playing brilliantly in the quarter finals and Semi Finals to reach the Finals. It was Strikers who had a better day in the field and that made the difference in the match in the ultimate analysis.

Another highlight of the finals was high quality umpiring by Natraj and Prabhakar.

The game was followed by a well organized prize distribution ceremony arranged by TCC. The presentation party had Surya Saladi president of TCC, Nanda Kumar Vice President of HCL and chief guest Herman Geddes, a senior member of HCL and ex officio. Mr. Geddes was honored with a memento by TCC after an introduction by Nanda Kumar for his great work in HCL which includes helping organize various cricket events and establishing the Katy grounds for Houston cricket. Jagadish Biradar, organizer for TCC Taped Ball tournament coordinated the presentation ceremony.

SaiKumar, the captain of Strikers was handed over the winners trophy and Ashwin the captain of Cougars was handed over the runners up trophy. The players of the winners and runners up received individual trophies. Man of the match for the finals was Chandra from Strikers.Gaurav from Strikers won the Best Batsman trophy, Sumit from Panthers won the Best Bowler trophy. Sumit also won the Best All Rounder trophy. Trophies were also given to the man of the match for Semi Finals. Rajesh from Cougars and Rajesh from Strikers won the man of the match trophy for the Semi Finals.

Jagadish Biradar announced that the TCC Winter Taped ball tournament will be starting on Nov 6th, with participation from 13 teams.

I just wanted to share some special moments that only Spartans shared this season. Just thought of reliving this feat. I will try to go match by match and give the real highlight of the game the best I can remember.

Spartans:309/6   MCC II:56/10   Result:Won
Who can forget Jawad’s lethal spell of 8/8. Incredibly brutal and bloody quick. One thing I like to remember about this game was Krishna’s running for me when he made 1’s into 3’s and got me to a 150.

MCC I:214/8      Spartans:215/7   Result:Won
This was absolutely Ruchir bhai’s game. A 3-for and bringing us home by scoring 85* coming in at no.3 after Satish’s dismissal in the 2nd over. Showed Dravid like patience and shots.

Spartans: 101/6   HWI:          Result:Abandoned
As the score tells the story we were destroyed by the overcast conditions. The seam and swing had the best of us. But the only reason I mention this game is because this was Jeeva’s most fluent innings I had ever witnessed (58*). He played shots all over the ground. Those leg glances were coming way too easy. Had the rain not intervened he had a 100+ written all over.

Spartans:287/6   CCC:277/7      Result:Won
I missed this game half-way as I had to fly back. Kiran M substituted for me for 40-overs what a champion he is. Again Ruchir bhai played a lone hand scoring 92. But I like to mention Krishna in particular for this game. What a great ambassador of the club, he played a shot after which the ball was rolling on to the stumps and I believe he punched the ball away and before the umpire could adjudge him out for obstruction he started walking whereas when the great legend of HCL Damodhar batting on 50+ top edged the ball from Imran to Amir bhai(sub as a keeper), while the ball was in the air he started pushing Amir bhai so he’d drop the catch. Luckily Amir bhai caught and he got into a verbal argument with Imran and Amir bhai. Justice was served at the end of the day.

ECC:221      Spartans:222/7      Result:Won
Missed this game but I did hear that Imran and OZ bhai saved this game from what could’ve been the upset of the season. Chasing 222 we were 150 odd for 6 before the rescue effort came in.

HCSC:193/7      Spartans:194/7      Result:Won
This game belonged to Imran and Vishnu. First Vishnu’s 4-for and then Imran patiently kept ticking the score and stood there to ensure victory after we were 160/7. Was anyone’s game till the last over or so.

Spartans:151/10   Titans:152/3         Result:Lost
By this game we were used to collapses and lower order rescues. But unfortunately the first loss came against who else but Titans . The only memory I’d like to keep is Zohaib’s Chatkhara grill kababs and sledging the crap out of Roshan bhai but him standing tall and finishing the game. P.S. Biren picked a skier off Sushil bhai’s bat an excellent catch.

Spartans:288/10   MCC II:184/10      Result:Won
Yet another top order collapse. Manas’s 87 and Amir bhai’s 66 got us to a respectable total otherwise another upset was there to happen. It was 115 degrees and I salute Manas and Amir bhai to have the patience of playing in this heat and scoring runs. P.S. This is the game where “HAYDEN-LIKE” Amir bhai was born. : ) Lets not forget Jeeva’s 5-for and 50 runs. A complete all-round performance.

HICC:245/7      Spartans:183/10      Result:Lost
Right when the top order clicked the lower order failed. We were chasing on target with the run rate. At 133/4 after 20 overs we collapsed to 183/10. Made a meal out of this one. Highlight was Manas’s sledging “PANI KO PANI PANI KAR DIYA”. Also Zubair bhai the guy who talked the most walked back with a 0.

Spartans:251/9   ECC:120/10         Result:Won
After losses against Titans and HICC, this was much needed. Biren missed this game but Krishna brought great energy and improvisation in this game. Real attacking fields, really good ground fielding. Brought the whole team together at the right time. Highlight was Ashok’s fluent 82 with back to back sixes on flicks over square leg. Also, Sunil’s catch at first slip off Siju ABSOLUTE STUNNER.

Spartans:83/10   HWI:84/2         Result:Lost
The worst loss and the best post match party. Biren and Krishna treated the team at Chatkhara grill after this loss. That’s what I call team unity. We lost wickets to rising deliveries giving away 5 caught behinds.

CCC: 135/10      Spartans:136/4      Result:Won
Excellent comeback after a huge loss. We dominated CCC like there’s no tomorrow. Raman’s 6 wickets really gave us the much needed boost. The best part was when Damu came on to bat I said CCC is 4 win 4 loss they’re desperate for a win under pressure guys!!! And he called me over and said Asad we won 4 lost 4 but we didn’t beg for wins we played with discipline. The same guy who didn’t want to walk after obstructing field in the last game. That was it before me and Imran started sledging the crap out of him about how disciplined our last encounter was that next over he went for the wild swing and had to walk back….. : ) Myself and Sunil got to 50/0 in 5 overs and CCC never recovered.

Spartans:148/10   Titans: 150/4         Result:Lost
A 20-over game and we made sure we give Titans a run for their money. Imran’s 50 while fasting to me was the highlight of this game. And ofcourse Vishnu’s dismissal that gave him a glimpse of what he did to Niraj after collecting his catch amazing to watch!

Spartans:192/10   HCSC:194/5         Result:Lost
This was the slowest game I played the whole season we were 110/5 in 30 but we finished strong at 192. We bowled our hearts out and kept the pressure but just didn’t have enough runs to back up our bowling. The highlight of this game was Ashok’s catch of Imran’s bowling to dismiss Hemani at deep square leg when he jogged backwards and pouched single handedly the ball from thin air. Excellent to watch. My best catch of the summer. P.S. Ashok claims it wasn’t a fluke.

Spartans:131/10   HICC:39/5         Result:Abandoned
At this point of time, we needed to make sure either we win this game/ Titans defeat MCC or we get a rain out to qualify for the playoffs. After our innings which was led by a spirited counter attack from Biren, we really needed something special with rain on the horizon. Had HICC chased it down within 15 overs, we’d have been waiting on MCC and Titans game result. This is where Spartans graduated as a team as Taha led a come back all by himself. Removing top 5 of HICC within 2 overs. Top notch swing and seam bowling with stunning catches from Nanda, Krishna and Zohaib. After rain intervened, HICC were the ones hesitating to come back out in the middle with the bowlers using conditions so well. Eventually Titans went on to defeat MCC and we got a rain out and successfully made it to the playoffs.

Match Report by Oz Khan

Houston Cricket League 2010 Summer League Championship on October 17, 2010 saw one of the best HCL Championship games in recent history. The 2010 HCL Championship game was basically a rematch of 2009 final but this time it was played between Houston India Cricket Club and Triggers Cricket Club Spartans team at Paul Rushing Park West field, adjacent to the East field where their sister team Triggers Cricket Club Titans had won a one sided final match against Houston India Cricket Club a year ago.

The match started on a somber note when players from both clubs, HCL officials and all those in attendance observed a minute’s silence to pay respect to HICC player Bhavesh Patel, 34, who had passed on due to cardiac failure the day before. Bhavesh was a well known member of Houston’s cricket community and most of us will fondly remember him for his friendly and jovial personality.

It was a perfect day for cricket, temperature was in the low 80s and there was a light cloud cover as well. With over 150 supporters in attendance to support both sides, TCC Skipper Birendra Patkunarajah won the toss and decided to bat first. Owen Brown and Devon Small were the two umpires as the game got underway at the scheduled time.

From the very first over, TCC batsmen were forced on the back foot by lively new ball bowling from HICC bowler Chaitanya who exploited early morning conditions and the new ball to good effect. He had the in form opener and dangerous batsman Asad Sheraz pull at a short ball straight down the throat of the deep square leg fielder in his very first over. The other opener Kiran Muppala was also dismissed in the next over by HICC skipper Kuldeep Patel. Chaitanya struck two more blows in his spell by dismissing Srini Koneti and Jeeva Chinnusamy cheaply.

With the TCC score at 23/4, Ashok Kumar and Ruchir Chhabra came to their team’s rescue. Both batsmen launched a brilliant counter attack to a spirited and aggressive HICC bowling and started finding boundaries regularly. Ashok was finally dismissed by Niraj for a solid innings of 42 that consisted of 6 boundaries and a six. With Triggers in trouble at 96/5, TCC all rounder Imran Khan joined Ruchir who was looking ominous and had comfortably negotiated all HICC bowlers so far. However, Ruchir’s stay ended when he was adjudged caught behind off Ankit for a well played 45 that consisted of six boundaries.

Skipper Biren joined Imran at 126/6 and the two continued to play smartly, keeping the scoreboard ticking over. Biren hit a massive six and a four in his innings of 22 and just when he was starting to look dangerous, he was caught at the long on boundary off Kuldeep. Taha was the next man in and he joined a well settled Imran at the crease and the two carried on batting with purpose and took the score past 200. Imran fell for a brilliant 49 (3 fours and 1 six) in the 35th over when the TCC score was 209.

Osama was the next man in and he teamed up with Taha as the two launched a flurry of fours and sixes. Triggers took the batting power play and used it to maximum effect with Osama scoring 35 (15 balls) with 5 fours and a six and Taha scoring 26 (3 boundaries). Both batsmen fell when the score was well past 250. Osama was the last man out in the 40th over, caught at long on with the score at 261.

Triggers had set HICC a stiff target and their bowlers fancied their chances of winning at the half way mark. Taha started brilliantly for TCC and removed both openers in his first two overs. Kishan was the first one to go LBW and Saurabh was caught at mid on by Srini. Amir Nanji and Ankit came together for HICC and started scoring at a brisk rate. Osama struck in the 10th over of HICC innings when Ankit hit the ball in the air to deep cover boundary where Imran took a beautiful running catch.

The score read 70/3 but HICC was scoring at a brisk rate and needed 192 runs in 30 overs with 7 wickets in hand. Nanji was playing very sensibly and putting bad balls away for boundaries while negotiating the good balls cautiously. He survived a few close LBW shouts from Kiran and Osama but maintained his composure as he and Niraj dug in. Niraj was also looking good as he hit a six and four and the two batsmen took the score to 121.

Then the drama started as Kiran Muppala who had been bowling brilliantly got the ball
to jag around dangerously and had Niraj nick behind to Ruchir who took a wonderful diving catch. Next to go was Arun Douglas for nought, as he inside edged to the keeper and finally Kiran completed his hat trick when he had Prasanth caught in the slips again for nought.123/6 and HICC was now staring down the barrel.

Sirish kept Nanji company for a few overs as the latter reached a very well made hundred. A good bowling change from Biren saw Ruchir come on to bowl his off spin and had Sirish hit one out to deep extra cover where Kiran took the catch of the day when he ran in from deep point to hold a stunner.

HICC were losing wickets and their asking rate was starting to climb. At 156/7, HICC fast bowler Chaitanya came to the crease with a runner but his stay was brief as he was the next to go when he hit Zuhaib to Kiran at long on when the score at 226. HICC now needed 36 runs in approximately 4 overs with Nanji batting superbly as HICC Skipper Kuldeep joined him at the crease.

Zuhaib and Ruchir were both maintaining an excellent line and length and the asking rate was starting to climb. With three overs left, HICC needed 32 to win, Ruchir bowled a wonderful over conceding only 2 runs. In the next over, Nanji decided to take Zuhaib on and ended up hitting him straight down long on where Manas (sub fielder) took a good catch to end any hopes of HICC victory. Nanji had played a great innings of 134 and got a standing ovation from the crowd.

HICC Captain Kuldeep gave his team a glimmer of hope when he hit a straight six to carry the score to 244, however, in the 39th over, Ruchir clean bowled the last HICC batsman as an ecstatic Triggers Army invaded the field in celebration of a very hard fought victory.

It had been a close high scoring game as both sides had contested a very intense and competitive final with Triggers Cricket Club emerging victorious by 17 runs. Kiran Muppala won both TCC Man of the Playoffs and MVP Final awards for his wonderful all round performances as TCC Skipper Biren lifted his second Champion’s Trophy in two years.

Both HICC and TCC skippers dedicated the match to the memory of Bhavesh Patel, may he rest in peace!

The victory gace TCC it’s second consecutive HCL Summer Championship and also had the double delight of TCC Titans winnning 2010 Division I Championship to go with TCC Spartans winning the HCL 2010 Championship.

The game was followed by a well organized prize distribution cermony and lunch arranged by TCC president Surya Saladi. The chief guest of the event was Mr. Nadir Shah , a veteran cricketer and HCL administrator who has worked tirelessly to promote cricket in Houston. He was honoured with a plaque by Nanda Kumar of TCC.

Trilok, the captain of RCC was handed over the winners trophy and Senthil the captain of Rattlers was handed over the runners up trophy. The players of the winners and runners up received individual trophies. Man of the match for the finals was Ranjit from RCC.

Mohan Palla from Chargers won the Best batsman trophy for his 146 runs. Johnson Smith of RCC won the best bowler for his 19 wickets. Yogesh Patil of Chargers with 14 catches won the best wicketkeeer trophy. Mohan palla of Chargers won the best Fielder trophy for his 7 dismissals. Trophies were also given to the man of the match for Semi Finals, Ramesh Marri from RCC and Senthil Arcot from RCC.   Mr. Nadir Shah recognized for his outstanding services for Houston Cricket                                           RCC team with the trophy           ]]> http://www.triggerscricket.com/news/?feed=rss2&p=26 0 http://www.triggerscricket.com/news/?p=24 http://www.triggerscricket.com/news/?p=24#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2009 01:10:14 +0000 admin http://www.triggerscricket.com/news/?p=24 Read more »

Harris county Precinct 4 park officials (Kenny Mattern & Melvin Hill) & Sean Chapman (Secretary HCL) graced the prize distribution awards. Using the occasion, TCC honored Sean Chapman for his services to Houston cricket.

TCC Tape Ball Summer League 2009 Team Awards:

League championship: Gladiators
Tournament championship: Stallions

TCC Tape Ball Summer League 2009 Individual Awards:

Tournament Best Batsman: Raj singh(Shockers)
Tournament Best Bowler: Fawad Sarwar(Stallions)
MOM finals: Sohib

          Speaking on the occasion Park officials promised to extended their continued support to Triggers Cricket Club and congratulated winners of the tournament.

          Mr. Sean Chapman was honored by TCC for his services to Houston Cricket with an honoree plaque. TCC Treasurer Nanda Kumar informed the gathering, of the various achievements of Sean as HCL secretary and gave away the special award to Sean. Some of his achievements are as mentioned below.

As secretary of HCL, he brought in a structured process in managing Houston Cricket.

He brought professionalism to Houston Cricket by introducing Sportstatz for match management(Match scheduling, scorecards, statistics are now reported at one place).

He authored many sections of HCL constitution that are key success enablers for HCL.

He has conducted more than 10 Umpiring training sessions and trained over 150+ umpires within Houston Cricket. His extensive knowledge of Umpiring coupled with brilliant teaching techniques(Video trainings and written exams) helped improve Houston Cricket Umpiring Standards immensely.

Sean is responsible for league match and umpiring schedules and all communications that involve 27 odd teams for the past 4 years.

          Speaking on the occasion, Sean Chapman insisted on the importance of team work on and off the field to promote cricket in Houston. He explained to the players and tournament administrators, the various initiatives, HCL EC took over the past few years to improve cricket in Houston.

         Senior members of TCC were present at the occasion and Natraj Venkatarao hosted the prize distribution ceremony.

  Mr. Sean Chapman recognized for his outstanding services for Houston Cricket   Park Manager Kenny Mattern being felicitated     Summer League 2009 Awards       Tournament championship Winners – Stallions ]]>