Photo Credit: USA Cricket/Peter Della Penna
- USA Cricket praises all involved with Men’s 50 Over National Championships as West Zone Reds crowned champions after a hugely competitive event
- Over 6,000 runs scored and over 250 wickets taken across 16 completed matches in Texas
- Individual Awards go to leading run-scorer Rahul Jariwala, leading wicket-taker Marty Kain and Player of the Tournament Sushant Modani
USA Cricket is hailing the successful and incredibly competitive first ever USA Cricket staging of the Men’s 50 Over National Championships which concluded on Friday with the West Zone Reds crowned as the National Champions after 16 matches between 8 teams that featured 115 cricketers from all across America.
The majority of the Team USA players that triumphed at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier in Antigua that ended on November 13th were in attendance and the depth and quality of the tournament was further boosted by a number of Major League Cricket players. No more than two ‘qualifying’ players were allowed in any starting XI during the tournament.
On the pitch there were 6,775 runs scored, 253 wickets taken and over 100 catches held in a tournament that was keenly contested by all 8 teams. The turf-wickets and facilities at the MLC National Cricket Center at the Prairie View Cricket Complex outside Houston greatly aided a fantastic all-around tournament that looks set to become an annual highlight of the American domestic cricket calendar.
There were also 7 fantastic individual centuries compiled by 5 different batters, and 2 five wicket hauls alongside compelling cricket throughout with 6 matches being decided in the final over including a 1 run win and a 1 wicket win!
Chair of the Cricket Committee and USA Cricket Board Member, Sushil Nadkarni, said, “On behalf of the Cricket Committee, I would like to congratulate all involved on a huge achievement of running the Men’s National Championships to such a high standard. The quality of cricket, particularly how competitive all of the matches were, combined with the commitment from the players, coaches, managers and support staff made what we feel was a breakthrough event for 50 Over cricket in America.”
Photo Credit: USA Cricket
“I would like to particularly thank everyone at the MLC National Cricket Center at the Prairie View Cricket Complex and all of the volunteers and USA Cricket staff who came together to run a very impressive event all around. On the field of play, there were several individual and team performances of real note. The West Zone Reds ended as the only unbeaten side and were worthy champions, but some of the performances from the younger players in particular were hugely impressive and speak of a bright future.”
USA Cricket Operations Director, Richard Done, commented, “USA Cricket would like to thank all of those who contributed so much to make this such a memorable and successful week of cricket in Texas, particularly the USA Cricket staff members and volunteers in delivering the event in full. As it was the first ever USA Cricket organized Men’s National Championships, it rounded out a great year of domestic cricket with National Championships held including the two inaugural Sistar Mortgage Women’s Nationals. These four events combined with a very impactful first year of Minor League Cricket in the T20 format have given a whole new wealth of opportunities to our best talent across the United States.”
“We would particularly like to thank all 115 players for their commitment in coming to participate, the intermixing of talent and learnings from so many of you were invaluable to the domestic game. In 2022, we are already commencing with plans to work more closely with Leagues across the country to build on this success and develop a more comprehensive nationwide 50 over structure.”
Individual Award Winners
There were 3 individual awards for the week, with a number of cricketers starring, USA Cricket would like to congratulate all of the players who participated this week.
Leading Wicket Takers
- Marty Kain (West Blue) – 11 wickets
- Bhaskar Yadram (East Zone) – 11 wickets
- Nosthush Kenjige(South West Zone) – 9 wickets
- (tied) Saurabh Netravalkar (West Red), Steven Taylor (South Zone), + Raj Bhavsar (Mid-Atlantic Zone) – 8 wickets
Leading Run Scorers
- Rahul Jariwala (USA U19) – 251 runs
- Saad Ali(Midwest Zone) – 241 runs
- Sushant Modani (South West Zone) – 229 runs
- Marty Kain (West Blue) – 190 runs
- Jacobus Pienaar (Midwest Zone) – 188 runs
Player of the Tournament
The Player of the Tournament was decided by utilizing the CricClubs MVP system which takes into account the best performances with bat, ball, field and player of the match efforts in a points based system.
- Sushant Modani (South West Zone) – 1023 points
- Marty Kain ( West Blue) – 903 points
- Rahul Jariwala (USA U19) – 875 points
- Nosthush Kenjige ( South West Zone) – 871 points
- William Ludick (South West Zone) – 828 points
Final Standings
The 16 matches of the National Championships were incredibly tightly contested with the final classification matches going right to the wire leaving this as the final finishing positions.
8th Place: USA Under 19s
7th Place: East Zone
6th Place: Midwest Zone
5th Place: Mid-Atlantic Zone
4th Place: West Zone Blues
3rd Place: South West Zone
Runners-Up: South Zone
Champions: West Zone Reds
Tournament Coverage
The live-stream coverage which featured a selected match each day in association with our production partner for the event, CricClubs with their live-scoring graphics and live commentary proved popular too with more than 100,000 views on the USA Cricket YouTube channel generated from the 4 games of the 16 that were covered.
Name of Author: USA Cricket
USA Cricket (USAC) is the governing body for cricket in the United States, overseeing the national men’s, women’s, and youth teams. It also manages Major League Cricket, the premier domestic Twenty20 competition in the U.S.
