US begin 2007 season with verve and style

Having been banished from the world cricket community by the ICC, US cricket has returned, literally and figuratively, to its grass roots. It is doing what it does best - opening up its far frontiers to an exciting brand of cricket, and breaking many records in the process.

Not that too many people, even in the Pacific Northwest, were paying much attention. Most Northwest cricketers were glued to their newly acquired broadband TV receivers as they followed the World Cup. Those who could afford it had made the 6000-mile flight to Jamaica and Barbados, and were sending back "wish-you-were-here" e-mails to folks back home.

Those who did descend on the Kirigin Cellars in Morgan County, CA found themselves in an idyllic setting for cricket. Here are two first-class cricket grounds, not one; being built to professional standards by the wealthy owner of the Kirigin Cellars, one of the largest distributors of fine wines in Northern California. Here also is a major sponsor for the Northern California Cricket Association who is committed to the long-term development of cricket in this unlikely part of the world, called "Cricket's Northwest Passage" by Chris Sandford in Cricketer International. Only the Woodley Park grounds in Los Angeles can claim to have similar facilities for staging major national tournaments and exhibition matches. And for a place that is closer to Japan and Hong Kong than to New York or Miami, this has to be a major achievement.

The Northern California Cricket Association (NCCA), hosts of the tournament, made a risky decision--they chose to hold the InterLeague Tournament early in 2007, not late August or September.The "later" months are favoured by most US leagues, when their "regular" seasons have been completed. Playing early puts a great deal of pressure on the leagues, who have to select promising talent to be supported in the season ahead.

The weather, too, could have proved to be the tournament's undoing. There were brief showers and overcast skies through much of the tournament, and a bone-chilling breeze even in bright afternoon sunlight made spectators and reporters huddle underneath procured blankets, warmed by some very spicy curry served by the hosts during innings breaks. But it worked out for the best, and a good time was had by all.

Below, in Rohan Chandran's words, is a match-by-match commentary as our selected eyewitness to the InterLeagueTournament. We hope folks will find it almost as enjoyable as if they were at the new Kirigin Cellars cricket complex in the first place.

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The NorthWest InterLeague Cup tournament was held at Kirigin Cellars winery, in Morgan Hill, CA. It featured representative sides of the Northern California Cricket Association (NCCA), Bay Area Cricket Alliance (BACA), California Cricket League (CCL), and the North West Cricket League representing Washington State, Oregon and Idaho (NWCL).

The host team, NCCA, ultimately prevailed, beating all three of their opponents, but it was a success that was threatened several times along the way. Particularly promising for all concerned was the fact that the architects of the triumph were two young cricketers just starting out on what will hopefully become long and fruitful careers.

Medium-pacer Sunny Singh Baidwan was, along with BACA's U-19 off-spinner, Saad Khan, the pick of the bowlers on display; whilst 18 year old Shoaib Saleem displayed a maturity beyond his years with match-winning knocks in both his trips to the middle.

Game 1: NCCA vs. BACA
After winning the toss and electing to bat, BACA got off to a flier, thanks to an aggressive display from Iftikhar Khan, and a generous helping of extras from the NCCA opening bowlers. Wickets kept falling however, and at 74 for 6, BACA looked down and out. However, some selective counter-attacking by another Under-19 player, Randhir Kalsi, coming in at number seven, helped his side eke out a total of 146 before he was trapped by the offspin of Nirav Shah. That the entire innings lasted just 29 overs paints a clear picture of the tactics adopted, unsuccessfully, by the BACA batsmen. The NCCA reply began in the best possible fashion, with Rohan Dutt pulling the first ball of the innings high over mid-wicket for six. His 66, in an opening partnership of 95 with skipper Arjun Thyagarajan, laid a solid platform as the medium pacers were easily dispatched to all corners of the field. Some injudicious strokeplay from the middle order gave BACA a glimmer of hope, but 146 was never going to be enough, and NCCA emerged victorious by five wickets with 19 overs to spare.

Game 2: NWCL vs. CCL
In contrast to that one-sided affair, NWCL needed all their mental strength to see off CCL by just one run on the adjacent field. Half-centuries for Srikanth Sundaragopalan and pugnacious legspinning allrounder Saurabh Verma led NWCL to a defensible total of 239 for 7. Having elected to field first, CCL let themselves down with a poor catching display, and the concession of 24 wides. They then lost three early wickets before the scoreboard had really got moving, leaving NWCL scenting victory. Former NCCA skipper Nauman Mustafa then took charge, driving his way to 70 runs in a century partnership with Saad Hasan. A mini-collapse left CCL needing 68 in 9 overs with four wickets in hand. USA national squad member Fauad Hasan, the CCL captain, batted with the clear intent of finishing the game off as quickly as possible. With 16 needed in 18 balls, with three wickets in hand. A tame caught and bowled saw the end of Hasan. At this stage 12 balls remained, two runs were needed to win, one run to tie. But a slight hesitation over a tight single was pounced upon by NWCL, and they stole back a game they had once dominated and then nearly thrown away at the death.

Game 3: NCCA vs. CCL
Having been sent in to bat, NCCA got off to a terrible start, losing Rohan Dutt for a duck, and finding themselves 54 for 4 with the last recognized batsmen at the crease. Fortunately for them, Jay Kashalikar and the youngster, Shoaib Saleem, on debut, forged a partnership that was an object lesson in batting at this level. NCCA's innings evolved into a series of very smartly taken singles and twos. Just when things looked to be getting back under control, Fauad Hasan induced a leading edge to send Kashalikar back to the pavilion, and the innings teetered on the brink at 143 for 9. That was the moment that Saleem chose to show everyone watching just how to play the game. Number eleven Sandeep contributed just one run to a last wicket partnership of 48, which was only ended by a needless run-out off the final delivery of the innings. The CCL reply never really got off the ground once Sunny Singh Baidwan had struck twice in two overs early in the innings. Ayan Banerjee fought hard for his 42, but none of the other batsmen got going against a disciplined attack, and they could only muster 131 in their reply, despite some poor catching by the NCCA fielders.

Game 4: NWCL vs. BACA
In the day's second game, NWCL collapsed to 117 for 6 after winning the toss, and it was only Saurabh Verma's 47, following on from his half-century the previous day, that took his team to a respectable 217. The spin attack of Saad Khan and Mayank Pradhan captured three and four wickets respectively for BACA. It was Verma's day in fact, and in nine overs of legspin he snared 5 for 21, decimating the BACA middle order, and ensuring that Jaswinder Singh's valiant 46 was in vain. BACA fell 54 runs short, thereby setting up a straight knock-out for the championship between NWCL and NCCA on the final day.

Game 5: BACA vs. CCL
In what was a fight to not finish last, BACAs spin twins of Saad Khan and Mayank Pradhan were once again amongst the wickets, taking 4 for 19 and 4 for 30 respectively as the CCL top order all failed to capitalize on good starts. A total of 180 seemed eminently reachable, but a very tight spell of spin bowling from Fauad Hasan, and five catches behind the stumps for Nauman Mustafa, put a stranglehold on the batsmen, and once again it was only Jaswinder Singh who resisted, scoring 59 as his team spluttered their way to 147, not once looking like posing a serious threat to CCL.

Game 6: NCCA vs. NWCL
The hosts were favourites going into this one, and they started out in determined fashion, making the NWCL openers struggle for every run. Wickets fell regularly to the medium pace of Badiwan, Patel and Kashalikar, and it was only some very determined batting by the tail that turned 94 for 6 (with David Hoyle retired hurt as well) into 162. That score was not thought to be sufficient to test the NCCA batting line-up, but when Rohan Dutt fell for his second successive duck, and skipper Arjun Thyagarajan and Jay Kashalikar followed him to leave the home side reeling at 15 for 3, all bets were off. The left-right combination of Sikander Khan and Sunil Chandrupatla steadied the ship, but it was left to young Shoaib Saleem to once again play the winning hand, his undefeated 49 guiding his more experienced colleagues home with six overs to spare.

All four teams in the tournament showed the rust-inducing effects of a long winter without cricket, but in the strong performances of several debutant youngsters, the first stones in a foundation for a successful future may well have been laid here.