Migrant Cricket has flourished for the past 11 years in Auckland. This year is the 12th edition of the Migrant Community Cricket now known as ‘Friends of Cricket’ trophy. This year’s edition has 9 teams participating in this annual tournament which runs from January to March and has huge fan following. This year the tournament consists of Probasee Bengalee, Kannada Koota, Tamil Christians, Tamil Punjabi Pythons, Muthamil Sangham, Dravidians, Deccans, Indianz 30+ and TUF XI, as they vie for the trophy. Tamil Christians are the current holders of the trophy which they would like to retain. However, a professionally charged up runners up Muthamil Sangham is looking as the team to beat!
The road to semi-final has been a real tough one for teams as they had to be consistent over the 10 week period and keep winning on each Sunday. This has been admirably achieved by Muthamil Sangham and Tamil Christians as the top 2 seeds of the tournament. However, the remaining two positions were hotly contested and Indian 30+ and Probasee filled in those gaps after hard fought round robins. The 4th position fight went into the last day of the round robin when Probasee and Kannada Koota played against each other. They fought tooth and nail with no quarters given to reach the semi-finals. Probasee came on tops this time and squeezed into the semi-finals.
On Sunday 28th Feb, it will be an interesting semi-final line between Tamil Christians, Probasee and Muthamil Sangham, Indian 30+. Perhaps the strongest bowling line up of the tournament is boated by Muthamil Sangham, but a more consistent batting form by Tamil Christians has seen them sail through. So who will reach the finals and who will have to settle for the 3rd spot playoffs? Come in numbers to watch this oldest community cricket tournament in Auckland at Ti Rakau Reserve off William Robertson Avenue (Off Reeves Road) Pakuranga. The matches start at 10.30 am.
There will be awards for a) best batsmen, b) best bowler, c) player of the tournament and d) fair play awards. Muthamil Sangam has been the major force in getting sponsorship for this tournament and has been hosted successfully by Tamil Christians. The spirit of the game has been impeccable and all the teams, their captains and associations deserve a big round of applause for making this tournament successful and enjoyable.