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Indians win the HCL Cup - Australia Day Challenge Cricket Match against Victoria Police on the last ball
Feb 7, 2012
It has been agreed that this match will now be an annual event between the Indians and Victoria Police.
Indigos Cricket Club, Parkville celebrated Australia Day and India’s Republic day by looking at something that is common and stirs the passions in both countries. Indigos cricket club was established in 2007 with the full support of Moti Visa (Editor-in-Chief of Beyond INDIA Monthly.
The first establishing of Indigo Cricket Club meeting took place at Moti Visa’s residence.) to provide an opportunity for budding cricketers of sub-continental origin to play competitive cricket in Melbourne. They currently field two senior turf grade sides in Mercantile Cricket Association competitions. The club is currently based in at Ross Straw Field on Manningham Street, Parkville.
The club put up a team of players of Indian origin who play in various Mercantile Clubs to take on the Victoria Police in a friendly game at Fawkner Park. The Indian team was led by Maninder Singh of Indigos Cricket club, and included players of Indian origin from Indigos CC, Monash University Cricket Club, Nationals Cricket Club, Carnegie Cricket Club and South Yarra Cricket Club.
The police team was led by Sen Constable Wayne Stokes of Police Cricket Club and included officers from around Melbourne. The game was played as part of the annual Australia Day Challenge organised by Indigos Cricket Club for HCL Cup to celebrate Australia Day and India’s Republic Day.
The day started with a lot of police officers and a sizeable Indian community descending upon Fawkner Park. The whole atmosphere was abuzz with activity and anticipation of a great day’s cricket. Curious walkers, Joggers and bystanders also joined in the excitement. Umpires Amit Bakshi and Kishore Varma volunteered their services for the game.
Peter O’Neill, Superintendent of Police, Melbourne Division, tossed the coin and the Indians elected to bat after winning the toss. Moinak Chakraborty (Indigos) and Harpreet Singh (Carnegie) opened and put on 103 in 11.3 overs, smashing the police bowling to all corners of the ground.
Harpreet was caught behind on 47 and Moinak retired after scoring a quickfire 50. Monash Uni’s Antarpreet Bajwa was run out soon after and was followed by Indigos’ Maninder and Raj Voleti as wickets tumbled in the next five overs. But Sid Banerjee (Carnegie) and Hashmat Hussein (South Yarra) got the score to 5-155 in 20 overs with a flourish towards the end of the innings.
The Police team started with a bang and raced to 0-39 in 3 overs. smashing the Indian openers Veera Valivarthi (Nationals) and Karthik Garepalli (Indigos) for 24 and 15 respectively. Skipper Maninder then got a breakthrough in the fourth over and Monash University’s Antarpreet grabbed another wicket the next over. The Police then crashed from 2-49 in 5 overs to 5-76 in 10 overs, but their big hitters at nos. 6 and 7 brought them back into the game with a 48 run partnership in the next 7 overs as the cops found themselves at 8-124 after 17 overs with set batsmen at crease.
Nationals cricket club’s Vaibhav Jadhav went for 9 runs in his only over, and with the last over left the Police were 8-145 and needed 11 to win.
In front of a crowd that had started to swell as the match neared conclusion Raj Voleti of Indigos bowled that over. Dr S.K Behara, India’s Consul General in Melbourne; Councillor Ken Ong of City of Melbourne, Members of Australia India Business Council led by Mr. Ravi Bhatia and Mr Moti Visa, players and family members of Indigos cricket club and members of police and their families and park goers who had stopped to witness this enthralling finish watched with their breath held as the first ball was hit to deep cover for 2 runs.
The second ball was into the air and could have been caught but there was confusion between the bowler and the fielder and it was dropped. The third ball was again hit to long off for 2, followed by a dot ball and 2 off the fifth ball. With 5 needed to win off the last ball, Constable Rogers went for a big hit and lofted the ball high over mid wicket where the Indian skipper Maninder Singh had no problems taking a simple catch leading to celebrations all around the Indian camp.
The Indians thus won the fifth edition of this Australia Day challenge to take home the HCL cup. Mercantile Cricket Association President William Craddock welcomed the police and players to Fawkner park on behalf of the Mercantile Cricket Association. Harmeet Saini, President of Indigos cricket club welcomed the dignitaries and thanked everyone for coming or stopping by to support this community event. He mentioned that it was a good opportunity for community to come together and thank the Police force for a great job that they have been doing working with the community over the last couple of years. he also thanked the City of Melbourne, Mercantile Cricket Association, Sweet India, Modoz cafe, HCL and Fujitsu for their support for this event.
Councillor Ken Ong of City of Melbourne pointed out that this match had brought two of the major components of City of Melbourne namely the Police and the Indian community together. Councillor Ong then gave away the Man of the Match trophy sponsored by Fujitsu to Moinak Chakraborty for his 50 runs in 23 balls. India’s Consul General in Melbourne, Dr S.K.Behara, lauded the community on an excellent day and pointed out that cricket is a shared passion in both the countries and congratulated the organisers on this excellent community building initiative. He also presented the winners’ trophy – HCL Cup to Indian skipper Maninder Singh.
It has been agreed that this match will now be an annual event between the Indians and Victoria Police. Police Skipper Wayne Stokes promised to be back next year and try and wrest the cup away from the Indians. The game was followed by a BBQ and drinks for both teams.
Final Scores: Indians 5-155 in 20 overs (Moinak Chakraborty 50 no, Harpreet Singh 47, H Couglan 2-14) def Victoria Police 8-151 in 20 overs (Clarke 28, Maninder Singh 3-29; Raj Voleti 3-18)
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