Sunday, September 29, 2013
SCTCA 2013 Champions- Three in a row for West Haven CC in Southern Connecticut
It was a perfect fall day to play the SCTCA final in years and it was yet again a repeat of 2012 finals matchup, UBS CC vs WHCC.For WHCC it was as simple as wanting to win their 3rd straight championship whereas UBS CC were eying a revenge for the 2012 final loss & to win the cup.The teams matched up even & everyone was expecting a epic battle.
UBS won the toss & elected to bat.However their choice quickly proved to be a nightmare, with UBS batting totally collapsing.Excellent bowling & catching by WHCC who were definitely well versed at the art of applying pressure on the opposition from the word go.UBS was restricted to a mere 36/6 at the end of 15 overs & it seemed their innings would wrap up under 50 runs, but Mike Verma & Virender Asija stepped up to the occasion to put a vital 50 run stand to help UBS attain a defendable total.WHCC finally bowled out UBS CC for 112 runs (Ganisshan Swarnaa 3 wkts, Madhu Reddy and Jignesh Patel 2 wkts each).
At innings break, many felt such a low total was a walk in the park for the WHCC big guns, but as they always say its always such low targets that are tricky.WHCC started their chase with a six of the first ball, but quickly turned to a repeat of UBS batting with wickets falling every other over & at one point WHCC collapsed to 54/7. It was a combination of good bowling by Sammy Verma & Rajesh as well as poor choice of shots by WHCC batsmen.At 54/7, many felt the game was over and it just needed UBS CC to knock off the tail.But WHCC played like true champions, they held their nerves & proved yet again, they are a team that can bat till No.11 and are not the ones that would give-in so easily.Mr.Consistent Shreenath Rajagopalan saw the team through yet another time this season with a crucial 52 runs & Mr.Wall Madhu Reddy showed his true WHCC pride by playing the supporting role with crucial knock contributing to the match winning partnership of 55 runs. Madhu scored the winning shot and finish the game in style.
Shreenath Rajagopalan was the MVP for the finals for scoring crucial 52 runs & captain of WHCC Prasanna Ramaswamy lifted the championship trophy for the 3rd consecutive year.
WHCC have now won the SCtCA championship 3 times in a row (2013, 2012, 2011) and have won 4 times in last 5 years (2009). WHCC have proved yet again they can outplay any team and are prepared for any circumstances when it comes to big playoff games and depend on their immense talent, confidence & teamwork.
GO WHCC !!