April 2009
The WCMC-Q Cricket Team has become Education City Cricket League
Champions for the third consecutive time .
Two months ago, WCMC-Q’s Big Red Cricket Team began the third Education City Cricket League tournament as favorites and two-time defending champions. On March 27, the team scored a championship hat trick by beating Georgetown University in Qatar’s (GU-Q) Cricket Team in the Twenty-20 final.
GU-Q team opted to bat after winning the coin toss. The very windy conditions tested the skills of batsmen as well as the bowlers of both teams. The Big Reds made early inroads against the GU-Q batting lineup as three wickets fell within the first four overs.
Then GU-Q began batting very cautiously, and the Big Reds took advantage with some smart and disciplined bowling and fielding. They were able to keep Georgetown’s runs in check and the wickets falling on a regular basis. At the end of the first innings, GU-Q had scored a total of 83 runs by loosing all wickets in 16.2 overs.
When the Big Reds went out to bat, the runs didn’t come easily for them either. The opening batsmen began the run chase very cautiously. But the wind and good bowling from GU-Q team put early pressure on Cornell. With balls swerving unpredictably, the Cornell batsmen decided to take things slowly. That effort bore fruit later on.
By the end of 10 overs, Cornell had scored only 30 runs. They sensed the pressure to pick up the scoring pace but remained confident knowing that their best batsmen were still to come.
Shidin Balakrishnan opened the final 10 overs for Cornell strongly, hitting boundaries at regular intervals. The runs required grew fewer and fewer with every passing over, until the Cornell team reached their 84-run target with four overs to spare and six wickets remaining.
With the hit of the last run, jubilant celebrations erupted. The Cornell team ran onto the ground, joined by their enthusiastic supporters – students, and members of the faculty and the Office of Student Affairs.
Team captain Farhan Zakri accepted the winner’s trophy, presented by Basit Iqbal of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and Misam Jaffer of Texas A&M University at Qatar.
Awards were also given for individual achievements. The best bowler of the tournament award went to Umair Dogar of GU-Q who took 12 wickets in four matches. Second-year medical student Shidin Balakrishnan, who remained unbeaten with 48 runs, was declared ‘Man of the Match’ for his overall performance.
Fourth-year medical student Imran Farooq, who played his last match for the team, was declared “Man of the Series” for his spectacular batting performance. He scored 237 runs in five matches. “Every player in the team is a match winner,” said Farooq, who was very happy to end on a winning note.
The GU-Q team hosted a post-game barbeque, with snacks and refreshments provided by WCMC-Q’s Medical Student Executive Council.
The Big Red team would like to recognize the efforts of Alex Rosca, recreation activities coordinator at Education City. He has supported and encouraged the organization of the entire tournament, and has been key in promoting the game in Education City, noted Zakri. They also wished to thank Jibin George Koshy of GU-Q, who coordinated the organization of the tournament with all the Education City universities.
Report by Pankit Vachhani and Farhan Zakri