AZTwenty20_Report_Week1

The valley witnessed the start of much awaited Twenty20 Summer Cricket Tournament with a bang on Friday, 27th June. The organizers, the players and everyone else involved in the tournament have been talking about the Arizona weather as much as they have been about cricket, but on Friday, the Arizona weather welcomed the opening game of the AZTwenty20, with clouds covering the sky for most part of the game and temperature dropping to 90s.

The Anderson School Ground was well prepared in time with colorful boundary flags and the concept of inner circle in the first 6 overs of an inning was being implemented for the first time in AZ. Soon after the start when floodlight lit the ground with players in colorful dresses, with many viewers around supporting for their favorite teams, the sight of the game was worth watching.

Game 1: The opening game saw a perfect Twenty20 game between KCC Veerans and Valley Eagles as the game had almost all the fun and excitement of a Twenty20 package. It was a high scoring game and it went to the wire with Valley Eagles needing 8 runs of the last 6 balls with their last wicket at the crease. Srikanth scored highest runs (30) for Veerans and Deepak and Praveen made sure that they are scoring those important extra runs quickly at the end.

Chasing a target of 151, Valley eagles had held their nerves together for most part of the game, thanks largely to a valiant effort of 35 runs that saw some ruthless hitting from the eagles captain Ram. Just when things were going all fine for Eagles, a masterstroke by the Veeran's captain Arun saw Praveen, the part time spinner bowling only in his debut game. Giving only 7 runs in first two overs, he also claimed 2 important wickets. This applied brakes on the scoring rate and a good fielding effort from Veerans took the game to the last over. The mounting pressure of the last over clinical finish and thanks to a cool and calm bowling at death by Anjan Kumar from Veerans, resulted in the run out of the number XI batsman from Eagles and Veerans were home with 3 balls still remaining. The two run outs; one by Sridhar in the 18th over and the last one by the captain Arun himself, turned out to be decisive at the end. Deepak was the most economical bowler from Veerans giving only 19 runs in 4 overs and also claiming a useful wicket at the top of the order.

Brief Scores:

Toss: Valley Eagles won the toss and elected to field first.
Veerans - 150 runs in 20 overs
Valley Eagles - 147 all out in 19.3 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: Kings Veerans won by 3 runs.

Game 2: The second game of the tournament was played on the same ground next day and witnessed another close game between last year's semi finalist Cavaliers (CAVs) and Arizona Cricket Club (ACC). Batting first on a slow track, ACC were bundled out for 124 runs in 17.4 overs. Chasing a low total, CAV were put in pressure once as they lost many of their regular batsmen, but finally went on to win the game in the 20th over with three wickets in hand.

Brief Scores:

Toss: ACC won the toss and elected to BAT first.
Arizona Cricket Club - 124 all out in 17.4 overs
Cavaliers - 125/7 in 19.2 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: Cavaliers won by 3 wickets with 4 balls remaining.

Game 3: Batting first, Arizona Friend scored 121/7 in 20 overs. Middle order batsman Bilal scored 21 off 25 balls and lower order batsman Irfan scored 26 off just 10 balls (2x4, 1x6). Each of the bowlers from Oceans blue took a wicket each. Oceans Blue chased it comfortably in 18.4 overs with the opener Sai scoring 29 off 36 balls and Ajay scoring 14 off 14 balls. Bilal, Arshad and Tariq claiming 3, 2 and 2 wickets respectively for AZF.

Brief Scores:

Toss: AZF won the toss and elected to BAT first.
Arizona Friends - 121/7 in 20 overs
Oceans Blue - 123/7 in 18.4 overs
Detailed Scorecard: Click here to view.
Result: Cavaliers won by 3 wickets with 4 balls remaining.

After the opening game, the organizer Mahesh Naik from Metrostar cricket club was extremely happy with the way things had gone so far. In his own words "It was so satisfying to see that the meticulous planning we did was evident and all went as if we were in the middle of this tournament and not in the beginning. Very well execution of the plan". He further added "Another heartening thing was the presence of spectators other than the playing 22 from both teams. If this is how it is for first game, it will be exciting to see what's in store for us"

After the July 4 long weekend, the summer tournament would see many games played on the same day at different grounds. Till then, the organizers and players both would be waiting to get the days over as quickly as a Twenty20 game gets finished.