Stars, Stripes and Stumps
No path from league to country
"So how does one get picked for the USA cricket team?” a colleague of mine asked me at lunch, a couple of years back
Samarth Shah
25-Feb-2013
"So how does one get picked for the USA cricket team?” a colleague of mine asked me at lunch, a couple of years back. I told him I play in a weekend league in Seattle. If I do well, I am picked by a group of selectors to represent my league, against other leagues in the Northwest Region of the USA, at an inter-league tournament. If I do well at the inter-league tournament, the Northwest Region selection committee picks me to play against other regions, at the Western Conference championship. And if I do well there, I get chosen to represent the Western Conference at the USA national camp, where the USA national selectors and coach are in attendance. These officials put the players through their paces at the national camp, note the names of those who catch their eye, and follow these players' progress. When the USA squad needs to be picked for an international fixture, the national selectors and coach choose 14 from the names they've noted down at the most recent national camp. I concluded by saying I was chosen to represent both my league and the Northwest Region for three years consecutively, and was invited to two national camps in Florida, where I made it to the national coach's and selectors' radar.
My colleague had stopped listening a long time ago. Now he got up and left.
Unfortunately, domestic cricket is boring to the layperson. Not just in the USA, but all over the world. As WV Raman recently indicated, nobody in India even follows Ranji cricket, let alone attends the games. To the layperson, domestic cricketers are to Tendulkar, as bathroom singers are to Stevie Wonder. For the club cricketer or the junior cricketer though, domestic cricket is all-important, as it is the ladder to the top. Each rung is a new challenge, to be met with renewed spirit and effort. Each rung has its own learning curve, and each level reached is an accomplishment of its own. Even if one never makes the national team, the topmost rung, there is pride in being among the best 14 cricketers in one's state, region, or even in one's weekend league.
Full postTendulkar, the 'normaliser'
Following Sachin Tendulkar 's recent retirement from one-day internationals, a number of people shared their favorite memory of him
Samarth Shah
25-Feb-2013
Following Sachin Tendulkar's recent retirement from one-day internationals, a number of people shared their favorite memory of him. Perhaps the most commonly mentioned one was his ‘Desert Storm’ innings against Australia in 1998 in Sharjah. My favorite memory of the man is from the same year, against the same opponent, but in a different tournament, at a different venue. But first, some background.
I moved from India to the United States in the summer of 1998, immediately after I completed my bachelors degree in engineering. The final semester of the BE degree allowed the students some latitude in determining their workload. With an India-Australia series scheduled, it was no surprise that my final semester workload left plenty of time for me to watch cricket matches. I thus followed Australia's 1998 tour of India and the subsequent Sharjah triangular tournament with great interest. I too have fond memories of both the Desert Storm innings and the century that followed in the tournament’s final, on Tendulkar’s 25th birthday. Apart from being perhaps the zenith of Tendulkar's one-day batsmanship, it was among the last few cricket matches I saw before I traveled to the USA.
Everything about moving to the USA. was new. My ticket to Chicago was the first air ticket my middle-class parents had bought in 15 years – you see, we generally traveled by train or bus. I moved from Chennai, a metropolitan city of seven million residents, to a small Midwestern college town with barely 100,000. I was living in an apartment with a room-mate for the first time in my life, having always lived at home with my family through school and college. I was solely responsible for my food, my laundry. I was a graduate student and a teaching assistant – my first job and first income. Graduate study was daunting. Grading was on a competitive scale. My university was ranked among the top ten in the country. My fellow graduate students had been winning medals at International Mathematics Olympiads, while I was skipping college classes for cricket matches. In trying to catch up, I burnt so much midnight oil that I feel largely responsible for the hole in the ozone layer.
Full postMeeting a 9/11 victim's parents
On a hot, sunny August day, I drove from my apartment in New Jersey into New York City to begin one of the more extraordinary days of my life
Peter Della Penna
25-Feb-2013
On a hot, sunny August day, I drove from my apartment in New Jersey into New York City to begin one of the more extraordinary days of my life. I had two interviews set up for that day. The first was with Sunil Gavaskar at a restaurant in midtown Manhattan. I couldn’t sleep the night before and my palms were a little sweaty that afternoon, but not because of Gavaskar. It was the interview I had scheduled after Gavaskar that made me more nervous than perhaps I’d ever been before for a face-to-face chat. I was going to meet the parents of a person who died on 9/11, a cricketer named Nezam Hafiz.
After leaving Manhattan late in the afternoon, I got stuck in traffic past the Midtown Tunnel on the Long Island Expressway and began to sweat even more. It was Ramadan and that evening the Hafiz family was going to break the fast at their local mosque in Queens. The longer I took to get to their house, the less time I’d have to speak with them.
I finally made it to the house just before 5 pm. Cecil, Nezam’s father, came to the door to greet me and let me in. “How long do you need? 10-15 minutes? We need to leave soon,” he said. After lunch with Gavaskar, I had walked a few blocks away to the current headquarters of Marsh & McLennan, the company Nezam worked for at the World Trade Center. I wanted to take pictures of their 9/11 Memorial and find Nezam’s name on the memorial wall. While there I met a woman whose niece had died on 9/11 and listened to her own story for a good 20 minutes. I didn’t want to be rude so I chose not to interrupt her, but now I was kicking myself for not leaving Manhattan earlier.
“I was hoping to talk with you for a little bit more than that,” I told Cecil in reply. “Let’s see how far we get.”
Full postFloating through NYC with Anil Kumble
“Your wish has been granted,” were the words I heard over the phone on Saturday night
Peter Della Penna
25-Feb-2013
“Your wish has been granted,” were the words I heard over the phone on Saturday night. I had been told earlier in the week I might get an opportunity to interview Anil Kumble on Sunday at New York’s India Day Parade. Less than 24 hours away, the confirmation came through. But it didn’t stop there. No, that was just the beginning. After getting a 20-minute sit-down with the former captain of India, I was going to ride on the parade float with him right down Madison Avenue.
The next morning I was sitting in a hotel conference room with the leg-spinning icon. After a fairly relaxed chat we climbed into an SUV with tinted windows, me and two others in the back and Kumble in front of us. As we rolled along toward the parade route, we passed more and more Indians, some twirling mini tricolor flags, others just meandering along listening to music or chewing gum, completely oblivious to who was inside the car driving past them.
When we got to the drop-off point a couple of blocks away from the float, two bodyguards casually started to escort us along. No one really seemed to notice the man being shepherded down the sidewalk until we got about a block and a half away. I had been trailing about 20-30 feet behind Kumble. Two guys in their 20s walked past him without batting an eye but by the time they reached me they stopped to ponder for a few moments before turning to each other, “Wait… Oh my God! That was Kumble!”
Full postA treat for fans off the field
This weekend in south Florida, a pair of Twenty20 matches will be held at the Central Broward Regional Park between Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago to celebrate the 50th anniversary of independence for each nation
Peter Della Penna
25-Feb-2013
This weekend in south Florida, a pair of Twenty20 matches will be held at the Central Broward Regional Park between Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago to celebrate the 50th anniversary of independence for each nation. While there will be a festive atmosphere on the field and in the stadium, the party won’t be contained there exclusively. It is sure to spill into the local community. Two businesses that contribute heavily to the atmosphere of such events are Bedessee Sporting Goods & Imports and Joy’s Roti Delight.
Nawshad “Chubb” Bedessee, a middle-aged immigrant from Guyana, owns and runs stores in New York and Toronto while his brother operates a sister store out of Lauderhill, Florida, literally just across the street from the Central Broward Regional Park. Bedessee Sporting Goods is the largest distributor of cricket equipment in the western hemisphere.
Anyone at the CBRP who wanted to get decked out in West Indies kit at the pair of T20s held earlier this summer against New Zealand to kick off their tour in Florida would’ve bought their maroon shirts from one of the many Bedessee stalls set up on site. According to Chubb, he took in 40 shipments of merchandise in the days leading up to the event to make sure there was enough on hand to satisfy all the fans who wanted to show their support for a team most of them had gone years without being able to see in person. It was a family affair for Bedessee, with about 50 relatives – including brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, cousins and in-laws flying in from Texas, Ohio, Washington, New York and Canada – on hand working behind the counter at each stall to help things flow smoothly.
Full postTime for enhanced fielding stats
At the start of Australia’s commanding performance in the field on day two in Galle, Ricky Ponting took a spectacular catch at short cover to dismiss Tillakaratne Dilshan and gave Trent Copeland his first wicket in Test cricket
Peter Della Penna
25-Feb-2013
At the start of Australia’s commanding performance in the field on day two in Galle, Ricky Ponting took a spectacular catch at short cover to dismiss Tillakaratne Dilshan and gave Trent Copeland his first wicket in Test cricket. It was only a matter of time before Tony Greig uttered a classic cricket commentary cliché to describe the sequence during the slew of replays that were shown of the catch, afterwards. “He doesn’t drop many,” Greig declared.
I don’t know about the rest of the cricket viewing public, but I am quite curious to know for a fact just how many Ponting drops, especially compared to Kamran Akmal. The Argus review recently brought this to light and while the main elements of the review deal with how to fix other aspects of the Australian set-up, two paragraphs that dealt with fielding were what caught my attention most.
“For catching and fielding specifically, the panel recommends introducing explicit measurement of catching and fielding efficiency for all first-class and international players and teams,” reads the bottom of page 20 in the review. “These should also feed in to player rankings/performance incentives. One simple measure would be catches taken as a percentage of chances created. Chances could be weighted by difficulty if required. The same could be done for run outs. Measures of this nature have been standard practice in baseball and other sports for decades and should become standard in Australian Cricket.”
Full postA breath of fresh air
It’s not often that cricketers in the USA get to experience an event that is properly organised
Peter Della Penna
25-Feb-2013
It’s not often that cricketers in the USA get to experience an event that is properly organised. A case in point was the USACA Twenty20 Nationals two weekends ago in New Jersey. Making arrangements for things like obtaining ground permits anything earlier than two days before the tournament is a futuristic concept. The first match of the day never started on time. The grounds used were appalling, the grass in the outfields ranged from six to twelve inches high. Hardly any signage or promotional work was done to let locals know that there was a national championship taking place right in their backyard.
So it’s safe to say I was pleasantly surprised upon arriving for the New York City Public Schools Athletic League High School All-Star Games as part of the NYC Mayor’s Cup festivities last Saturday afternoon. To be accurate, I was first surprised when I received an email three days prior to the event from the organizers, NYC & Company, inviting any area sports reporters and photographers to the event. I replied saying that I would be attending and then sent a subsequent email overnight requesting roster information for the four teams involved. By 12:30 p.m., I received a file which included each player’s name, high school and current year.
While approaching Gateway Park in Brooklyn, I could see banners hanging just outside the boundary. When I parked and walked up to the ground, American flags were flying proudly at the entrance. An information table was set up in a medium sized tent, with trophies on display and free event t-shirts for all players and anyone else who wanted one.
Full postCricket comes to Cooperstown
June 4 and 5 is being billed as “Cricket Weekend” in Cooperstown at the Baseball Hall of Fame
Peter Della Penna
25-Feb-2013
It was a cold, damp Sunday morning in April when I got in my car for the start of a three-hour drive toward cow country in upstate New York. I had been to this territory once as a teenager and never thought I’d have a reason to go back. I was on my way to Cooperstown, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
The first two hours driving north on the New York State Thruway go quickly, but after exiting onto Route 145 the last hour becomes a bit eerie. The local roads approaching Cooperstown are mostly empty. The tourists probably outnumber the residents on most days in this small town situated at the foot of Otsego Lake. I’m sure the cows in the surrounding pastures outnumber them too.
“People don’t walk into this place by accident,” one of the museum workers said, after I made my way inside the three-story brick building. The entire town probably wouldn’t exist without the Baseball Hall of Fame propping it up.
Full postFoes turn friends in America
After observing so many instances of the two cultures coexisting peacefully within America, I scratch my head sometimes trying to figure out how it’s a rivalry at all
Peter Della Penna
25-Feb-2013
I’ve never got to experience an India - Pakistan match in person. I know that until I do, it will be very hard for me to fully grasp the intensity of the rivalry. I can read and research all I want into the history of the two countries, but nothing can replace the intangible yet extremely visceral elements that are only detectable inside the live atmosphere of a stadium.
Perhaps the most confusing part of this rivalry to me is the amicable interaction between players of Indian and Pakistani heritage who play their cricket within the United States. It totally flies in the face of the inherent tension between the two countries that’s described ad nauseum in print and on television.
On the USA senior team’s recent tour to Hong Kong, I was able to spend an off day doing a city tour with members of the team. Among the players were Asif Khan, Usman Shuja and Muhammad Ghous, all originally from Pakistan, as well as Ritesh Kadu and Sushil Nadkarni who had both grown up playing in India. All of them interact like close friends, on and off the field. It’s hard to fathom that they could have been reared in an environment that would have taught them to be wary of each other because it’s completely absent while watching them.
Full postThen & Now – What sparks an athlete’s hopes and dreams
Last week in Florida, Cameron Mirza, the 17-year-old batsman, set a USA Under-19 record for an individual score by finishing unbeaten on 118 against Argentina at the ICC Americas U-19 tournament
Peter Della Penna
25-Feb-2013
Last week in Florida, Cameron Mirza, the 17-year-old batsman, set a USA Under-19 record for an individual score by finishing unbeaten on 118 against Argentina at the ICC Americas U-19 tournament. Mirza’s story is fascinating from the standpoint that the New Jersey native never knew anything about the sport until four years ago when he stumbled across a game his dad was watching on television.
It took me back to January when I was covering the USA senior team in Hong Kong at the ICC World Cricket League Division Three. On the second day of the tournament against Denmark, a 12-year-old fan Ryan Schimpf attended the match with his father Eric. The Schimpf family is originally from Atlanta but Eric’s work had taken them last year to Sydney. Ryan had got into cricket through friends at his new school and his father wanted to stay involved, so he became a volunteer umpire. In the process, Eric became well-schooled in the game’s laws. For anyone who is curious, neither one of these born and bred Americans thought cricket was hard to learn.
Being patriotic Americans, they followed the success of USA’s cricket team online from Australia and when they found out that USA were going to be competing in relatively nearby Hong Kong, they decided to fly up to attend some of the matches. While they were surprised to learn they were the only fans in attendance supporting USA’s fortunes, Ryan was probably equally surprised to be given a ball autographed by the entire USA squad. He also got his picture taken with captain Steve Massiah and coach Clayton Lambert, a former Test player for the West Indies.
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