While North Island is still waiting for summer to arrive, cricket lovers in Christchurch enjoyed the brightness of the sunshine, battled the windy day and kicked off the second season of Ara Institute of Canterbury All Nations Cricket Festival on Sunday, December 2.
Eleven teams participated in the T20 championship’s 1st day at Hagley Park with each team showcasing the best of cricket in the stadium.
“The tournament was supposed to start on Sunday, November 25 but bad weather led to the postponement of the matches but it was an amazing gathering on the first day of the tournament and people from all walks of live come and enjoy the cricket mania here,” President of Christchurch Multicultural Council, Surinder Tandon said.
Hundreds of enthusiastic cricket lovers gathered for eight matches held amidst dry yet windy day and cheered their favourite teams in the T20 tournament.
“The day was beautiful, the crowd was energetic, and we witnessed some quality cricket played here [Hagley Park],” General Manager of Christchurch Metro Cricket Association, Mike Harvey told The Indian Weekender.
The summary of the 1st Day, highest scores and team scores are:
Nepal 174-3 (19.4) Abhaya Poudel 96
Kings XI Punjab 172-7 (20) Raman 36, Gurdas 35, Happy 33, Rajesh Khatri 4-17
Tamil Society 169-6 (20) Eddie Mariyampillay 69, Pradeep 2-24 Gurinder Nijjer 2-6
Punjab Warriors 250-2 (20) Inder Grewal 131, Gurinder Nijjer 66
Cornered Tigers 92/10 (19.0) Harwinder Singh 33, Roop Singh 3-4, Hitesh Valand 3-14
Strikers 96-4 (15.2) Rahul Singh 30, Harwinder Singh 2-38
Doon Tigers 149-4 (15.2) Pankaj Bhagat 61
Tamil Pasanga 148-5 (20) Chidambaram Palaniappan 30, David Jayapaul 37, Rajiv Biala 2-45
Tamil Society 120-7 (20) Rajiv Biala 2-19, Yogesh 3-22
Doon Tigers 123-2 (15.5) Yogesh 44, Prakash 31, Mahesh 32*
All Rounders 151-2 (13.6) Amandeep Arora 39, Raj Arora 77*
Cornered Tigers 150-9 (20) Mohit Mayra 60, Amandeep Arora 2-21, Sunny Singh 2-22
All Stars 153-5 (16.1) Ishtiaq 51*, Tahir 42
Tamil Pasanga 152-5 (20) Silva 47, David Jayapaul 35
Nepal Warriors 154-9 (20) Harish Sharma 2-31, Arun Bhardwaj 2-11
Strikers 236-3 (20) Mayur Tailor 32, Rahul Singh 100, Nilang Deshmukh 34
The tournament is supported by Ara Institute of Canterbury, Little India Merivale, Travel Corner, Ravel Events, Tech Doctor and Phonefix.
The Christchurch Multicultural Council was formed in 1989 to promote awareness and acceptance in the multicultural society in ChCh. The community organisation conducts major events and festivals observed the Indian community in ChCh such as Diwali, Holi, Independence Day, etc.
The Christchurch Metro Cricket was formed in 2012 following the amalgamation of the
Canterbury Cricket Christchurch Club and Youth Cricket departments and the Christchurch Suburban Cricket Association.
The next match will be held on Sunday, December 9 at Hagley Park, Christchurch.
See the match schedule for the season here: http://www.christchurchmetrocricket.com/results-fixtures