Hip Hip Hurray! It is celebration time!!


Kannada Sangha is proud to bring you the good news that Sangha Cricket team has won CAIRNHILL-GOPIO Street Cricket Champions Trophy - 2008! Here is the summary of this event held on 13 & 14 Oct 2008 at Farrer Park ground.

In continuation with its effort towards integration of the overseas or expatriate Indians with People of Indian Origin and to bring together a number of Indian organizations under one common umbrella, CAIRNHILL CC and GOPIO, Singapore had jointly organized the most popular Indian sport – cricket. This street Cricket was intended to be a family event and the rules were formulated to encourage family members\' participation and to have fun. This year, Kannada Sangha had put up one team.

Amid fears of match getting washed out due to rain, the match started a bit late. Kannada Sangha played its first match on Saturday afternoon and scored 46 runs in 11 overs against 37 of SIA and won the match. It was a very close match with winning runs coming only in the final over. Sampath Kumar was awarded man of the match for his outstanding batting and wicket keeping.

Now that the Sangha team had entered semifinals for the second consecutive year, the team morale was high and all the players wanted to put-up a good show and get the entry ticket to finals. However, the job was not going to be easy – as Sangha had to face last year\'s champion Telugu Samajam team (to whom we had lost in semi\'s last year) again in this semi-final. Thanks to some excellent bowling from Sangha team including hatrick by two bowlers, Telugu Samajam\'s dream of putting-up a big score was dampened and they could only score 46 runs from 11 overs. In reply, despite of set backs in the middle order, Sangha team managed to tilt the match in its favour in 8th over. Sangha team won the match by 8 runs and with this sweet revenge, they reached finals in style. Vinayak was declared the man-of-the-match.

While Sangha team reached finals for the first time, NAS team – entered finals in their debut tournament. Just one more good performance was needed by both teams to bag the Champion trophy. Having won the toss, Sangha team elected to bat first. Their intention to put a big score on board was thwarted early, as they lost 2 quick wickets with just 10 runs on board. Calm and calculative Yogesh and the young and aggressive Vinayak put up a huge partnership for 3rd wicket, kept the run rate above 6 with occasional boundaries and sixers – thereby providing a sigh of relief to the team. Yogesh Naik who hit 53 runs was the top scorer of the match. With good batting performance, Kannada Sangha put up a very competitive total of 128 runs on board in 20 overs with loss of 8 wickets, which was played in 20-20 format.

In reply, though NAS team lost the first wicket quickly, second wicket pair batted very sensibly by taking 1\'s & 2\'s. Muthu played captain\'s knock of 48 runs – but it was insufficient against the Sangha team\'s tight bowling, coupled with good fielding. Sangha team kept their cool and exercised good control of the match – because of which required run rate kept going up for NAS team. In the end, 22 runs in the final over was almost improbable to score and Sangha team proudly lifted the trophy. Yogesh Naik was declared man-of-the match for his excellent batting, while Vinayak was declared best playler of the series. In addition to the Champions Trophy, Sangha team was the proud recipient of Champions Shield, the rolling shield introduced this year. This was a golden moment and an evidence of Kannada Sangha\'s prowess not just in cultural arena, but in sports arena as well.

In addition to the good cricket and entertainment, some of the Sangha Members had the opportunity of providing commentary as well. The finals match was witnessed by about 150+ audiences – including a team of poets of All India Poets Association, who were on a holiday to Singapore and neighboring countries. In a goodwill gesture, Kannada Sangha had absorbed the expenses and offered this tournament free to the Players - Sangha members.  Shri. Vijaya Ranga brilliantly led the team on field.

We hope you, your family & friends enjoyed the programme. If you have attended the tournament, we would like to have your feedback on what you felt - either accolades or critic. We heartily welcome your feedback & suggestions. As always, we will try our best to implement as many suggestions as possible.

nimma
Kannada Sangha (Singapore)