Western Conference 2010 Tournament Squads

Central East squad – Shahid Malik (captain), Asif Mehmood (vice-captain), Akhil Pathan, Raheel Akhtar, Fahad Babar, Pavan Chakravarthy, Maqsood Husain, Mansab Butt, Abhijit Joshi, Shehbaz Khan, Vamsi Kotha, Tanveer Malik, Ashhar Mehdi, Sameer Munot,  Aditya Sharma.

Central West squad – Orlando Baker (captain), Majid Rizvi (vice-captain), Ryan Corns,Usman Shuja, Jignesh Desai, Vivek Inampudi,Charan Gowda, Supratim Srinivasan, Abbas Jafri, Rahul Kukreti, Jermaine Lavine, Amir Nanji, Rohit Ramkumar, Radhakrishna Yelamanchilli.

North West squad – Nauman Mustafa (captain), Saurabh Verma (vice-captain), Arjun Thyagarajan, Bilal Khan, Vijay Beniwal, Rishi Bharadwaj, James Crosthwaite, Shantanu Divekar, Ashwin Karuhatty,  Imran Khan, Samarth Shah, Ashok Singh, Sunny Singh, Srikanth Sundaragopalan.

South West squad – Mehul Dave (captain), Aditya Thyagarajan (vice-captain), Salman Ahmad, Tarun Bhoomireddy, Hammad Shahid, Ravi Timbawala, Elmore Hutchinson, Ritesh Kadu, Theo Mavrokefalos, Timil Patel, David Pieters, Abhemanyu Rajp, Ali Shafi,  Amit Sood.

Manager: Shantha Suraweera        
Assistant Manager: Zaryab Niazi      
Coach:      Nazim Shirazi

Farokh Engineer In Houston – Don’t Miss It

Farokh Maneksha Engineer will go down in cricket lore as India’s finest wicket keeper batsman. Born in Dadar, Bombay in 1938 he quickly displayed a prodigious talent with both bat and gloves. He broke into the Indian Test side in 1961 and cemented his place in the side by the mid 60s with a series of spectacular performances on both sides of the stumps. A flamboyant batsman and an agile wicketkeeper, Farokh Engineer was one of the best of his trade, as shown by his selection as the wicket keeper for the Rest of the World XI series in England and Australia in the early 1970s. Engineer had remarkably sharp reflexes – an essential requirement for keeping to the legendary spin quartet of Bedi, Prasanna, Chandrasekhar and Venkataraghavan.

 His finest moment as a batsman came against West Indies at Madras in 1966-67 when he plundered the fastest ever century scored by an Indian – against Hall, Griffith, Sobers and Gibbs – bringing up his hundred with a six of the dreaded Griffith.

Engineer eventually made England his home, and served Lancashire with distinction from 1967 onwards. His chiselled features and rugged good looks made him an obvious successor to Keith Miller and Denis Compton as a Brylcreem model.

PROGRAM DETAILS: NETWORKING. CASH BAR. SEATED DINNER

ADMISSION CHARGES: MEMBER & HOUSTON CRICKETERS $35.00

SENIORS AND STUDENTS $25.00

NON-MEMBER $55.00

 REGISTRATION URL: https://www.123signup.com/register?id=mbndc

TIE HOUSTON OFFICES: 8888 W. Bellfort St., Suite 210F, Houston, TX 77031. CALL 713.929.1900 x 210 for information. Or visit www.houston.tie.org

Conference titles: It is more than just bragging rights

The United States of America Cricket Association conference championship matches are more than just bragging rights and the battle for the game’s supremacy between the East and the West.

This is for the national championship, the highest award in US cricket. It is also a chance for the senior men’s selectors and coaches to look at the country’s best players competing at a high level and then name a squad for the International Cricket Conference Division Three Championship in Hong Kong.

It is also an opportunity for the younger players to get a taste of senior level cricket in one day competition and see what it takes to make the next step — the senior men’s team and play on the   international stage.

The Eastern Conference games will be decided in Atlanta and the Western Conference in Los Angeles. Both will be played from September 17 to 19. The top two teams from each conference will then meet in the Super League to decide the national champion in either Florida or California in October.

Ashok Patel, the manager of the Atlantic Region, described the coming matches as “very important for selectors to see the players and name a team for the next tournament in Hong Kong.”

He said: “I look forward to the tournament because it will decide the national championship and to see the top players in action and the upcoming players.”

US senior men’s coach Clayton Lambert said coaches and selectors “had very little scope to identify talent at the same time and the Eastern and Western Conference matches formed a better grade of competition. The higher form of competition allows everyone to look at the players at this level. “

Lambert said that he would like to see three teams chosen after the championship has been decided  — one from the Eastern Conference, one from the Western Conference and the third made up of players who missed out in their conferences. The three teams, he said, could play a round robin tournament at an even higher plane.

This would be the highest level of competition in the US and it would be a test for players and give the selectors and coaches an opportunity look at them under pressure conditions.

US senior team batsman Aditya Thyagarajan, who will play with the South West Region and has been named vice captain in the Western Conference, said the conference games were “very important for me. I want to do well, like I do in all games, against the top players in the country and be selected for the US.

“It is also important for the US senior team prospects to lay their claims.”

The Eastern Conference is made up of the Atlantic, New York, North East and South East regions while Central West, Central East, South West and North West regions make up the Western Conference.

Each conference will decide the top two teams in a round robin tournament. The four teams will then play in the Super League.

Then the top team from the Eastern Conference will meet the second placed team in the Western Conference and the top team in the Western Conference will meet the second team in the Eastern Conference. The winners will then meet for the title.

After success in Italy, US now sets sights on Hong Kong

Clayton Lambert is your typical coach. He is never satisfied and is always looking for perfection.

When the United States senior men’s cricket team won the International Cricket Conference Division Three Championship in Bologna, Italy, Lambert, the squad’s coach, celebrated the win and after a few days he had already turned his sights to Hong Kong, the next stop for the American team.

In Hong Kong, the US team will face Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Denmark, Oman and Italy in the ICC Division Three Championship where the top two finishers will advance to Division Two and the top four will compete in a qualifier for the ICC T20 World Cup.

It is a very important tournament for the US and the Americans have every right to feel buoyant after their victory in Italy.

But Lambert looks at it differently. He would prefer to arrive in Hong Kong as an underdog rather than a team bordering on cockiness after a tournament victory. It all comes down to the mindset of the players.

Lambert, a former Test player with the West Indies, told cricketusamag.com in an interview that he had still not sent in his report after the tournament triumph in Bologna to the United States Cricket Association, but said that he felt there were certain areas where the team could improve.

“One thing is the speed by the fielders in the inner circle where the quick single runs can be eliminated,” he said. “There is always room for improvement. Nothing is perfect.”

Lambert praised the US team’s skill level and said that it should be in Division One. While he was pleased with this facet of the team he added that “there will be hiccups” along the way.

He also singled out middle order batsman Aditya Thyagarajan for his performance in Bologna.

Lambert said that Thyagarajan “gets us out of trouble. He did well.”

“Every team needs that one player to get it out of trouble and he did it for us in Italy,” he said. “I remember when Australia would get in trouble Michael Bevan always seemed to deliver. Every country has that type of player.”

Lambert was happy with the US team’s win after it had finished second a couple of times.

“The team has been a work in progress for the past three years. Every player in the squad is now familiar with the role they are asked to play,” he said. “And everyone knows each other.

“I think that when we play together as a team we play at our best.”

Another plus has been the US team’s ability to perform under pressure. This is a part of the game that coach’s love to see players and the team perform at a high level when it comes down to the crunch.

“In the past three tournaments we have got ourselves in must win situations and we have performed well,” said Lambert.

“Over the years we have been batting our way out of trouble. Now we know that we have been there and done that.

“And the history of this team shows that we lift in fielding and our bowlers defend the score we have made.”

It is enough to make a coach happy, well, at least until the preparation begins for the next tournament

Cricket at grassroots level begins to get traction, USACA gets involved

Jamie Harrison stumbled upon a game of cricket when he was a high school history teacher several years ago while on a civil war trip with his students in Richmond, Virginia.

Within a few minutes some of his students were trying to play the game.

The seed had been sewn. Now Harrison, 46, has an association with the game he hopes to introduce to schools across the United States at grassroots level.

As a former teacher, he knows how to implement the idea where six and seven year olds can be introduced to the game just like millions of youngsters begin their association with mainstream sports like football, baseball, hockey, basketball and soccer.

Harrison’s relationship with cricket began to firm when his students asked him to moderate their cricket club.

He grew to love the game, saw how easy it was to play and how the students began to read about cricket Online and watch it on You Tube. They also gave him money to buy equipment like bats, pads, balls, gloves and stumps.

Harrison has taken his affiliation a step further by forming the United States Youth Cricket Association and the plan is to establish the game at schools across the country and introduce it to students before they connect to another sport.

Harrison’s idea is now gaining traction and he has met with United States of America Cricket Association CEO Don Lockerbie and USACA President Gladstone Dainty in Greenbelt, Maryland.

At the meeting, the USYCA organization, schools program and future plans were discussed and Dainty and Lockerbie expressed their support for the Harrison and USYCA’s mission.

In an interview with cricketusamag.com, Harrison said he hoped to make a presentation at the next USACA board meeting with a view of exploring a formal relationship between the two organizations.

The USYCA board has 11 members, including Ed Fox from Wichita, Kansas, and David Sentance in southern California, who have long been strong believers in introducing the game at grass roots level for the game to mushroom across the US.

USYCA also has 16 affiliate organizations.

Harrison faced a few bumps in the road before he formed his board. He knew that cricket was a great game, but it was a sport reliant on the children of immigrants from cricket countries who were playing the game.

Despite this he was not discouraged and he strongly believed that cricket could connect with American youngsters at a young age.

Harrison pursued his idea and began to write for cricket websites, but kept on hearing “Americans won’t play the game,” over and over. He wrote that if the game was taken to schools Americans would play.

“It fell on deaf ears,” he said. “Eventually people began to write to me and said that this idea could work.”

There was also some help from unexpected sources. Cricket Australia has warmly embraced Harrison’s idea and has sent USYCA printed material about coaching and posters.

“Australia has been a great friend,” he said.

Harrison’s idea of teaching cricket to youngsters at schools looks like it will spread with the right promotion and support of cricket leagues and USACA.

And the idea of teaching youngsters outweighs the idea of aiming at teenagers because, he says, if cricket was taught to teens it was too late. He says that at that age they had already decided on what they preferred to play and were not willing to look foolish by trying to compete in a new sport and learn its rules.

Harrison said: “The kids love playing cricket and the teachers also love it.”

He said the infrastructure of the game at schools will come as the game grows and that USACA had to be patient as the popularity began to spread.

“It will require patience and discipline,” he said.

Harrison was optimistic about the game’s growth in schools and predicted: “I envision within 15 and 20 years the US will be a power in Test cricket.”

USYCA Elects First Board of Directors

The United States Youth Cricket Association held its first national elections this week, one month after its members adopted a constitution. Now that the organization is staffed with an elected Board of Directors, USYCA anticipates moving forward quickly with number of initiatives, primarily its Schools Program and administrative tasks, such as establishing standing committees.

Elected by the USYCA membership are:

President – Jamie Harrison, Maryland
1st Vice President – Edward Fox, Kansas
2nd Vice President – Jatin Patel, Indiana
Executive Secretary – David Sentence, California
Public Relations Director – Orville Hall, New York
At-Large Board Members: Rakesh Kallem, Connecticut; Siva Narapareddy, Virginia; Yogesh Patel, Texas; Vasu Ram, Massachusetts; and Lloyd Jodah, New York.

“The milestones that USYCA has reached in recent months clearly establish it as the nation’s youth cricket organization, and we look forward to the challenge of establishing our sport’s popularity among young people,” said President Jamie Harrison. “The USYCA Schools Program is taking cricket to hundreds of thousands of children this fall, and the community youth cricket leagues that we will help to establish in the spring will continue that progress. It’s a very exciting time for youth cricket in America, and USYCA is ready to go to work.”

1st Vice President Edward Fox said, “I’m excited to be a part of the administrative team for the United States Youth Cricket Association as we move forward with helping schools, individuals and youth organizations realize the fun and life skills benefits that all children, boys and girls can have, learning, playing and enjoying cricket.”

USYCA is a network of volunteer organizations that promotes good health and an active lifestyle for children through cricket and has recently announced a partnership with the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. The groundbreaking USYCA Schools Program is being offered free of charge to any American school system that expresses an interest. The USYCA is dedicated to introducing cricket to American children by supporting local youth cricket organizations and by sharing funding, printed and digital resources, and “best practices.”

For more information on the USYCA, visit http://usyouthcricket.org.
Contact:
Jamie Harrison, President
United States Youth Cricket Association
usyouthcricket@gmail.com
443-835-0619

USYCA Brings Cricket to Prince George’s County Public Schools

UPPER MARLBORO, MD – Prince George’s County Public Schools will become the first American school system to offer the centuries-old game of cricket to its physical education classes this fall.

The new program, sponsored by the United States Youth Cricket Association (USYCA) and delivered by the Maryland Youth Cricket Association (MYCA), will give free equipment and instruction in the original American team sport to PGCPS elementary and middle schools.

This fall, MYCA will train physical education teachers in the sport and provide schools with cricket equipment. The schools participating in the program will then introduce the sport to students in physical education classes.

“Prince George’s County Public Schools is excited about this partnership that will bring the international sport to our physical education teachers and students,” said Dr. William R. Hite, Jr. Superintendent of Schools.

Cricket emphasizes good sportsmanship, is easily modified for indoor or outdoor play, and can be adapted to any playing surface. The world’s second-most popular sport, cricket can also be used to promote a greater understanding of international cultures as children learn about cricket-playing nations and their players.

USYCA is a network of volunteer organizations that promotes good health and an active lifestyle for children through cricket and has recently announced a partnership with the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. The groundbreaking USYCA cricket program is being offered free of charge to any American school system that expresses an interest.

“We are delighted that Prince George’s County will be bringing cricket to its schools this year,” said Jamie Harrison, President of USYCA. “It is fitting that a county with as much history as Prince George’s will be returning to America’s first team sport, a sport that was played by George Washington’s soldiers at Valley Forge.”

“Cricket is a sport for every type of student, and not simply for those who are large, strong or fast. Cricket rewards patience, technique and intelligence, which will hopefully encourage more students to participate,” Harrison said. “It’s a game that focuses on patience and practice, and it is a great sport for kids to learn about fitness.”

The USYCA is dedicated to introducing cricket to American children by supporting local youth cricket organizations and by sharing funding, printed and digital resources, and “best practices.”

For more information on the USYCA, visit http://usyouthcricket.org.

Contact:
Jamie Harrison, President
United States Youth Cricket Association
usyouthcricket@gmail.com
443-835-0619

Top three US women named for skills camp in West Indies

Three women cricketers from the USA senior team have been chosen to take part in a specialized two-week training camp on the twin-island Caribbean state of Trinidad and Tobago to improve their skills on and off the field.

The players — Sonakshi Sagar, 16, an off spinner, from the West Region, top order bat and medium pace seamer Candacy Atkins, 26, and)Triholder Marshall, 23, a fast bowler, from the North East Region, were selected by International Cricket Conference Americas for the camp at the National Cricket Center.

“This is an excellent opportunity for the players,” said US coach Linden Fraser in an interview with cricketusamag.com. “This is something we actually need and the players will be mixing with other players from around the globe.”

 Fraser said the camp was for high performance players who would get advanced training and also learn more about nutrition, type of training needed for top level international contests and physical training.

He said: “They will go back to the basics of cricket and then the advanced training. It is a great idea. It will also help the players how to speak publicly.”

Ann Browne-John, a former West Indies and Trinidad & Tobago national player and now an ICC Americas women’s cricket representative, will be in charge of the camp.

She has an impressive resume as captain of the West Indies women’s team at the 1993 and 1997 World Cup. She  then coached the team from 2002 to 2006.

She was the first woman to serve on the Playing and Development Committee of the West Indies Cricket Board and has assisted with the development of the Bermuda women’s cricket program.

Marshall and Atkins successfully represented the USA in the 50-over ICC Americas Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Canada when the US team advanced to the next World Cup round in Bangladesh in November next year.

The teenaged Sagar wore the US colors last year at the ICC Americas tournament in Florida when Atkins was vice captain.

Sagar, Marshall and Atkins will join four players from Argentina, three from Brazil, three from Bermuda and two from Canada at the camp to give it a truly international flavor.

 The camp’s motive is to develop top players with technical, physical, tactical, mental, and healthy lifestyle skills. The players have been chosen because they are stand outs are considered committed, responsible and have a strong work ethic to succeed at all levels of the game.

The camp also offers video analysis, conditioning, game sense training, rules of the game, endurance, nutrition, how to handle the media, and leadership. Two 40-over games are scheduled at the end of camp against local teams.

The experience and knowledge that Atkins, Marshall and Sagar will get from the camp will give them extra confidence that they can share with their teammates as they prepare for the next World Cup round in Bangladesh.

(Photo Courtsey, USACA and JL Aron)

US Corporate Cricket Championship 2010 – Finals Live

Dear All Sports Lovers,

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/usccc

Watch the finals “Ford vs Caterpillar” live

(This year 9 team- Altair, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, Chrysler, Daimler, Ford, GM, Henry Ford Health System and NYX participating) in MichCA’s 2010 US Corporate Cricket Championship.

The Mayor of Rochester Hills will be the Chief Guest this year and will be there during the finals along with many executives from the participating treams.

The finals start at 3:00 pm today. Enjoy !

MichCA
(Michigan Cricket Association)

US Cricket Open – Registrations Open

Cricket Council USA (CCUSA), a sports and entertainment management organization has announced today that it is now accepting team’s registration for the Second Annual U.S. Cricket Open Tournament. The tournament is scheduled for December 3 – 5, 2010 at the Central Broward Regional Park, Lauderhill, Florida, home of the first and only Cricket Stadium in North America.

 Just like the “OPEN” format of major U.S. Golf and Tennis Opens, the U.S. Cricket Open will have sixteen teams converging in beautiful South Florida to leave their mark in American sports history. The players, coaches and managers will have their names indelibly etched into the record books for competing in the Second Annual U.S. Cricket Open.

 CCUSA will be accepting team’s registrations during the month of August for the limited amount of spots available and will announce the teams selected to participate in the tournament on September 15, 2010. Teams can register at www.cricketcouncilusa.com or by contacting Jeff Miller at Jeff@cricketcouncilusa.com.

 The US Cricket Open will be a fun-filled three day extravaganza (music, cheerleaders, food) that will be the richest and largest T20 cricket tournament to be played in South Florida. CCUSA will award the Championship Trophy and the first prize of $25,000.00 to the winning team.

 Mohammad A. Qureshi, CEO/President of the Cricket Council USA exclaimed:”This is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  To play for the Championship Trophy and the first prize of $25,000.00 is an honor that the players, coaches and managers will be bragging about for generations to come.  We are looking forward to some very exciting and entertaining cricket in December.”

For Further information:

Contact: Jeff Miller

561-361-1700

Jeff@cricketcouncilusa.com

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