NEW CHAMPIONS OF SCTCA - West Haven Cricket Club created history
10/4/2009 12:00:00 AM
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The much anticipated finals of the SCTCA (Southern Connecticut Cricket Association) championships finally got away after being postponed for three times due to bad weather between 4 times champions BCC and 2007 runner-up WHCC in a repeat nail biting 2007 finals.
 History created
West Haven Cricket Club (www.whcricketclub.com) won their first ever SCTCA (www.sctcassoc.com) championship, while doing so created "a Grand slam" history by winning Twenty20 and Regular 40 overs championship, a first and only club in the history of North East region of US. Just like the 2007 finals, this was thrilling, intriguing, mesmerizing, pressure-soaked, enthralling, nail-biting match between BCC and WHCC and yet again has indicated a STATUATORY WARNING - "The finals between these two teams is not advised for weak hearts." But this time it was WHCC whose bowlers defended a paltry 120 with the heart of lion ably supported by the fielders. This was also BCC’s first loss in the entire season.
Road to the finals
BCC stormed into the finals in the best possible form with undefeated record all season. WHCC on the other hand dusted off a bad start to the season and got to finals in style by posting 220 in semis and defending the same in style. WHCC played with the same team which played semi-finals except for Fazal Alam who was pulled out due to hamstring injury.
The Toss
Sunday promised sunny weather after a rainy Saturday. BCC skipper Steve Pitter won the toss and elected to field to take advantage of the damp pitch and soggy outfield.
 WHCC innings
Jonathan Smith and WHCC & SCtCA skipper Prasad Sahasrabudhe walked onto the middle amidst high anticipation of a thrilling contest between BCC pace battery and WHCC explosive opening batsmen. Steve Pitter announced his intents clear and loud when he stuck immaculate line and length and smelled blood on the 4th ball when he dismissed Johnny (Jonathan) for a snorter of delivery which bounced after pitching taking the outside edge into safe hands of the wicket keeper. WHCC skipper Prasad was looking determined and looked in good touch when he flicked Tony over midwicket, but soon disaster stuck. Krishna Vasist was caught in the gully to an uncharacteristic loose drive away from his body. The very next ball disaster stuck when Prasad was run out to a bad call may be, but a call that turned bad, to a tremendous piece of fielding by Carl from square leg with the scorecard reading 3/6. The clouds were going away and the sun started shining and it looked like the gods were favoring BCC .WHCC supporters were in shock and utter disappointment was written on their face. BCC had smelled blood, and on a track that had bounce, and with score card reading at disastrous 3/6 things were looking ominous for WHCC.
 In walked WHCC Vice Captain Prasanna Ramaswamy, the crisis man for WHCC in 2009. As said by wise men "Crisis might miss a man,
but a man never misses a crisis" - Bridgeport on top, sun beating down, early wickets, single digit total, a championship game, a disastrous start, opposition in driving seat and in-form Prasanna walked in. He had been the “GOTO” guy for skipper this year and he didn’t let him or the team down. He looked confident from the go and it didn’t matter to him that the opposition was in driving seat nor was it a championship game. He looked so determined to perform and get the cup. WHCC supporters and players were hoping for a rescue act from him and Krishna Kumar who was looking solid as well. Couple overs passed by and tragedy stuck again when Krishna K was run out after a mix up with scorecard reading 4/15. WHCC skipper made a smart move by promoting Madhu Reddy up in the order to put a halt to the wickets. Prasanna on the other hand has started taking it to the opposition and he was well supported by Madhu who was showing tremendous grit, determination and taking body blows to protect the wicket. Just when a recovery seemed to be on the way, S. Pitter stuck with a full ball to which Madhu played inside the line to send his half stump cart wheeling with scorecard reading paltry 5/23. Pitter again what-a-bowlaaar!. With the fall of Madhu’s wicket in came Praneeth Reddy. Praneeth had been in awesome touch during his semifinal knock and the WHCC crowd expected a repeat from him. Meanwhile Prasanna was taking the attack to BCC and was scoring at every opportunity. He survived couple of chances when Steve Pitter and Tony Forbes dropped him in covers and mid wicket. It was high time that luck started favoring WHCC.
L. Reid, MVP of 2007 finals was brought in first change, stuck immediately when he gleefully accepted a caught and bowled chance of Praneeth. It was a soft dismissal but nonetheless that partnership put in crucial 30 runs partnership with Prasanna. Naveen Shankpal joined Prasanna, and this pair produced the second partnership of 31 runs with Naveen playing with tremendous responsibility and Prasanna doing the bulk of the scoring. When the score was on 84, Reid stuck again when he beat well set Prasanna who lost his concentration and got stumped for 49. Prasanna was disappointed for missing a sure 100 and a chance to steer WHCC to safety. BCC was ecstatic seeing the back of him as he was counterattacking them from the word go. But when it seemed all over for WHCC, Naveen played a matured knock of 28* curbing his natural instincts, running hard and very crucially putting up 17 runs with Raj Avadhanula for the final wicket to reach a score of 120. Those 17 runs at that point might have or not was still a question mark but what transpired in the second half, Naveen might as well think of writing a chapter "My 17 runs with Raj A" in his autobiography. Time and again Naveen’s contribution down the order had made the difference between so many WHCC victories in the last 3 years and it was heartening to see him perform so well and have his share of glory. He definitely did not let the team and the captain down. Special mention to Raj A as well for playing sensibly and resisting to hit till the stroke he got out to. In the end those 17 runs made all the difference.
Innings Break
By this time there was a sizeable crowd in the ground with people from different clubs present. With a paltry score of 120 to defend against a strong BCC batting lineup no one except WHCC supporters gave WHCC a chance to win. BCC supporters were already celebrating after a one sided first inning.
Meanwhile WHCC president Rakesh Kallem was telling players to focus and remember that game is not done until the last ball is bowled. WHCC players were so pumped up that you could see the desire in their eyes to win the championship. One thing was sure that they were not going to give up easily.
BCC inning
BCC started the chase with Dilly Smith and Patrick Atkinson. WHCC opened the proceedings with Raj A. Both openers were looking to be aggressive and thus created the first chance. Patrick hit a half volley to the right of Prasad who was standing at short cover flung at it but was unable to hold onto it. It later proved to be a costly miss. From the other end Prasad made a very smart move in opening with Jignesh - "a thorn in the flesh for BCC always", sending a clear message that WHCC was going to defend, and in their own style. The spark in the fielding was spot on, with Vasist saving a certain 2 in Jignesh’s first over. Dilly now looking to be aggressive cut a short ball from Jigesh Patel (Jiggi) to the left of Naveen who couldn’t hang on to a tough chance. This was a second reprieve in 2 overs. In the same over Patrick hit a ball over the head of Prasad and somehow he managed to get a finger on to it but somehow wasn’t able to hold onto it. Suddenly 3 half chances went begging and it looked like BCC had the lady luck favoring them as it did at the start of WHCC innings. Jiggi and Raj A didn’t loose hope and kept on bowling a tight spell giving nothing away. The ground fielding was awesome with BCC opener’s deciding to shelve their attacking strokes the run rate dropped considerably.
 Prasad brought Prasanna and Krishna V into attack in the hope of getting a wicket as only wickets would deprive BCC of a certain victory. They bowled tight spell as well with the fielders supporting them. BCC openers were cautious and they got the score to 28 and the runs required were less than 100. Seeing this, Prasad got Raj A into attack and it paid off with Smith totally bemused by a ball that hit the length and came in to uproot the middle stick to send the WHCC contingent into a vociferous roar. In came BCC’s prolific batsman of the season K. Pierre to whom Vasist started of bowling couple of tight overs. In between Raj A had a good shout for LBW against K. Pierre which was denied by the umpire who complained that Raj A blocked his view. The very next over K. Pierre was LBW to Krishna V who did not let him settle with his variations. In came Robin Lynch, BCC veteran who tried to whack Krishna V out of the ground but got bowled as he got no where near the ball. These two wickets in quick succession displayed Krishna V’s class as he bowled over the wicket, behind the crease, a bouncer yea a spinner bowling a bouncer, totally bamboozling the left handers. The score was 3/32 and gave some hope to the West Haven contingent. L Reid joined in Atkinson and Prasad removed Raj A from the attack and brought in Madhu who had been in great form this season with the ball. Patrick, who was batting rock solid, had a good partnership of 34 runs partnership with Reid sending the ball out of the park once, and surviving a chance. Nikhel Thapar did not judge the speed of the ball and dropped a tough chance. Just when things were getting out of control for WHCC, Prasad pulled of a stunning catch (yet again) to get rid off dangerous Reid of Madhu. This brought BCC skipper Steve Pitter into the middle, and everyone knew the danger posed by him. He got into action immediately stealing runs with his positive running between wickets and a mistimed massive six of Krishna Vasist. But the wily Vasist stuck again when pitter mistimed an ambitious shot and Krishna K took a running-stunning catch diving forward and thus adding one more twist and sending the finals into an exciting finish. The score was 5/82. Krishna V had finished a successful spell and was replaced by Nikhel Thapar. Thapar bowled 2 crucial overs to keep the run rate down and was replaced by Prasanna. Still the match was in BCC’s grasp with 38 runs to get with 5 wickets in hand. This is when Madhu struck two crucial blows when he got Raza Khan LBW and Adnan caught at extra cover. Prasad had kept the gap open to tempt him and he got sucked into it. The score was 7/95.
 Soon Prasanna struck as well bowling Carl Thomas with a fast ball. The previous ball umpire hadn’t given a plumb LBW decision saying Prasanna had blocked the view when everyone knew he didn’t. The score was 8/97 and all present at the ground knew that the match was going down the wire. The only person standing between WHCC victory was BCC opener Patrick Atkinson who was determined not to give it away.
With tension mounting and BCC needed 12 runs in 12 balls with 2 wickets in hand, Madhu was handed the ball and he got the crucial wicket. Patrick who had played magnificently so far lost his concentration and tried to hit a short ball over square leg. He got a top edge as the ball bounced more than he anticipated and Naveen held on to a crucial catch. WHCC players thought the match was over as they needed 8 runs to win in 7 balls with BCC last pair on strike. But there was another twist when Tony Forbes hit Madhu for a one bounce 4 on the last ball of the over bringing the required runs down to 4.
 Thrilling last over
The SCTCA finals had reached the last over with BCC needing 4 runs with 1 wicket in hand. Amidst the roaring crowd, pounding hearts, thoughts of ecstatic celebrations, what separated the two teams from celebrations of glory or a feeling of sorrow, were 6 balls, 4 runs and a wicket. Jignesh who had bowled awesome so far was called in to bowl the last 6 balls of the season which would decide the championship. WHCC had all their hopes pinned on Jignesh. With Wilson facing and experienced Forbes on the other end Jignesh started off with a dot ball, magnifying the situation even more and he followed up with another dot ball after dot ball completely beating Wilson sending the WHCC contingent to peak decibels. With the final ball everything reached a climax with Jonathan effecting a stumping of Wilson who could not connect his bat to send the WHCC contingent into a vociferous roar with deafening decibel levels and invasion of the pitch to hug, lift, and congratulate the new CHAMPIONSHIPS Of SCTCA - WHCC! !
Post Match
What followed in the end was an anti climax for BCC with WHCC bowlers scripting thrilling bowling performances, giving absolute nothing away to the batsman with SCTCA highest wicket (30 wkts)taker Madhu bagging 4 again whaat-aaaa-spinner, and Jignesh bowling a tremendous 8 over 9 run spell whaat-aa-bowlaaar! 
and very well supported by "Crisis man and vice captain" Prasanna", wily Vasist grabbing 3 and the man who broke the barriers Raj A in a match which resembled the 2007 finals with the honors being with WHCC this time around. BCC once again proved that they are the team to beat in SCTCA league with their Federer-isque record of reaching finals but WHCC has proved that BCC would need to overcome the grit, determination - elements of nadal-isque proportions to retain the title for the first time and creating history as the only team to win t20 and 40-40 championships.
MVP of the finals was awarded to Prasanna Ramaswamy for his crucial 49 runs and 1 wicket. WHCC President Rakesh Kallem gave away the medals to the winning team. President of SCTCA Mr.Leighton Greenidge awarded the Championship trophy to WHCC captain Prasad Sahasrabudhe.
 Thanks a lot to the BCC management in hosting the finals on the best possible venue in the state, and special thanks to league who have worked hard to have the finals after weather gods intervention, thanks to all those families, supporters of both the teams who came down to watch one of the best finals played in a match where "The game of cricket" is clear winner - Hats off to BCC and WHCC!!
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Raj M,Prasad, Rakesh
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