Texas to meet South East Zone in US National Finals

Niraj Shah: batsman of the Western Conference tournament with a hundred and two fifties © Cricinfo

Played over the Memorial Day weekend, the Eastern and Western Conferences turned out to be total opposites in style, contrast and performance. The Western Conference, played in Los Angeles, provided picture-perfect weather, high-scoring matches and many outstanding performances with ball, bat and field; the rain-interrupted Eastern Conference, on the other hand, was a tight, low-scoring affair, with tenacity and persistence being the keys to victory, and produced the major upset of the tournament as the South East Region overcame New York in a rain-shortened run chase.

The Central West Region, the "real" Texas team that had won the MLC Interstate Tournament in Broward County a few months ago, had an outstanding tournament. For the first time, it captured every single performance award, which it had never done before. Not that its going was easy. Restricted to a modest total by Northwest's excellent fielding and bowling, it eked out a narrow victory by taking advantage of Northwest's anxieties and batting lapses. It took its revenge on the hapless Central East, bundling them out for 91 and making the needed runs within 25 overs. In the finals, Southwest Region (California) posted a challenging total, but a spirited run chase helped to ensure that Central West ultimately prevailed. It had been a hard-won triumph, and the mood of exhilaration in the Texas camp when it was all over was very palpable.

By all accounts, the Northwest had an unlucky tournament. After narrowly losing to the Central West in its opening match, it failed to repeat its 2004 victory over Southwest which had taken it to the finals that year; its bowling was again very good, but there were more fielding lapses this time, which Southwest exploited to their advantage. In its final match, Northwest scored a decisive victory over Central East, bundling them out for a low total and winning within 25 overs, but this was "playing for pride" as a Northwest spokesman put it, and not much else.

It is difficult to feel too much sympathy for Central East, which arrived at the tournament without the minimum 16 players needed under USACA rules, and had to be provided surrogates by the obliging SCCA host team. Although Central East has no less than 5 official leagues comprising 70 odd registered clubs, most of them refused to name players for the national tournament as long as the current regional director (Chic Masood) remained in office. Central East was half-hearted in its approach, had a few notable individual performances to its credit, but ended with a 0-3 record and left before the end-of-tournament awards ceremonies--a gesture that could be considered somewhat unsporting.

So the stage is set for an exciting finale when the tournament concludes around late September 2006. If Central West and South East zones meet in the finals as many handicappers expect, there are big stakes involved on both sides, which should make for a rousing climax. If the South East region prevails, it would be the first time in its history that it would have captured the national title twice, a feat which has not been accomplished by anyone else except New York. For Central West, a victory would cement its claim to be the undisputed champion of US cricket--having already won the MLC Interstate finals, few would dispute its claim to the title.

Mention must be made of the excellent facilities at Woodley Park in Los Angeles, backed up by superb administrative support from the Southern California Cricket Association (SCCA) as the host league. An excellent Jamaican style barbecue was available to all participants, washed down with 30-year-old Jamaican rum to go with the traditional rum-and-coke, and catered lunches and dinners in a spicy Indo-Caribbean style were available to all who wished to partake. I was informed that, as a reporter covering the tournament, all was available to me free, and I must admit that I took full advantage of that offer.

SCCA is clearly trying to stake its claim as a venue for the proposed ODIs that are scheduled to take place in the USA in August or September, and has also offered Woodley Park to USACA for staging the National Finals in October instead of Washington DC where the weather is likely to be even more inclement than it was over the Memorial Day weekend. This has to be considered a very sensible option, and one hopes that USACA, WICB and ICC will consider it seriously.

Afan Sheriff - Most Valuable Player at the Western Conference © Cricinfo

So the stage is set for a repeat of the only time that Central West and South East met in a US national final, where Central West with victory almost within their grasp managed to lose eight wickets in the final overs to give the championship away to South East. There are long memories involved on both sides, which should make for an exciting final. For Central West, a victory would cement its claim to be the undisputed champion of US cricket - having already won the MLC Interstate finals, few would dispute its claim to the title.

Full scorecards and details of matches, and a match-by-match review of the Western Conference tournament, are available on the SCCA Web site, https://www.scalcricket.org, and the 3rd Umpire site at https://www.3rdUmpire.com. I am grateful for the insights and stats provided by the correspondents for these websites, without which this report could not have been written.

Unfortunately, no such detailed reports are available on the Eastern Conference, and what information was gained by telephone or e-mail is sparse and contradictory. The USACA Web site, at https://www.usaca.org, is the only source for any posted information on the Eastern Conference, which may be explanation enough.

Originally, it was thought that each of the top three regions had lost at least one match, so that Central West would be carrying over two points more than all the other finalists. But the final reports indicate that Southeast Region have been credited with a 3-0 record, so the scales would appear to be more evenly balanced.