www.calcricket.org

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CONTENTS

A Message From The Vice-Mayor ……………..……...…………………………… 5

Event Management Team………………………..………………………………….. 6

Welcome Note From The CCA …………………..……………………………...… 7

Cricketing Norms ...…………...….……………………………………….…………. 9

T20 Is Killing Cricket? ….…..………….…………………………………...…….... 11

T20 Is Destroying Cricket …...…………………………………………………….. 12

Some Cricket Laughs! ……………………………………………………………... 14

Why I Like Cricket …………………...………………………………………………15

A Thank You Note from the CCA……………………………………..…………… 16

Secret Of My Cricketing …………...……………………………………….……… 17

Boosting My Cricketing Skills ………….………………………………………….. 17

So You Think You Can “Cricket” ……….…………………………………………. 18

The Spirit Of Cricket ………………….……………………………………………. 19

The Champions! ………………….………………………………………………… 20

Against All Odds! ………………...….…………....…………………………………21

The Rules Of Cricket ………………….…………………………………………… 22

Solution to the Crossword Puzzle…………………………………………...…… 22

Caught in Action…………………………………………….……...………...……. 23

Guess Who?.................................................................................................... 27

Magazine Concept & Design: Chanchal Sahai, Shiva Srivastava, Swapna Shintre

Publication Credit : California Cricket Academy

Cricket Festival Logo: Kinjal Buch

Cover Page Artwork: Vedanth Venkatachari VEDANTH

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We wish participants of Cricket Festival a Great Success!!

21267 Stevens Creek Blvd. Cupertino, CA 95014

(408) 255-0160

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Event Management

Management Team: Biju Kattuparambil,

Bharani Seshan, Kinjal Buch, Hemant Buch

Marketing Team: Yogen Kapadia, Hemant

Buch, Kinjal Buch, Anupam Sahai, Rajib Ar-

jun, Rajesh Sengamedu, Rajesh Srivastava,

Bharani Seshan, Biju Kattuparambil, Helen

Greys, Amritha Raghunathan, Rajeev Srini-

vasan, Ram Varadarajan, Bhumika Kapadia

Website & Social Media: Rajesh Bhat, Biju

Kattuparambil

Media Publication Team: Chanchal Sahai,

Shiva Srivastava, Swapna Shintre

Opening & Closing Ceremony: Nitin Buty,

Kanika Vora

Hospitality & Awards: Kinjal Buch

Logistics Team

Ground & Team Management: Pavan

Mullapudi, Balaji Venkatachari

Team Registration & Verification: Rajesh

Bhat, Poornima Bhat

Team Grouping & Scheduling: Bharani

Seshan, Biju Kattuparambil, Kinjal Buch

Tournament Rules/Review/Oversight

Committee: Biju Kattuparambil, Mihir Jari-

wala, Mahesh Urs, Yashodhan Deshpande,

Mahesh Vaghela, Balaji Venkatachari

Umpires & Scoring: Hemant Buch, Neeraj

Bhalla, Biju Nair

Disciplinary Committee: Hasu Patel, Biju

Kattuparambil, Sundar Ramakrishnan

Star Volunteers

Abraham Amirtharaj, Anshuman Shukla, Arsh

Buch, Atul Kamchetti, Bhavesh Patel, Devdeep

Kabiraj, Ganesh Amara, Gurvinder Singh, Har-

dik Bhalala, Kamal Karimanal, Kishore Sriniva-

san, Kshama Kanakoor, Madhavan Arunacha-

lam, Pavan Vithaladevaram, Pranav Pradhan,

Pranay Suri, Prateek Sonawala, Prem Jain,

Rajan Sood, Rajkumar Mishra, Rakhi Jain,

Roshan Varadarajan, Sanjib Goswami, Shefali

Bhalala, Vinay Khosla, Mahendra Patel, Vibhav

Altekar, Rohan Khasgiwala, Neil Tagare

** CCA Would specially like to thank those

volunteers whose names we may have

missed inadvertently due to oversight or

because they joined the team after the pub-

lication of this magazine. You know we are

forever grateful for your help!

Game Day SWAT Team

Biju Kattuparambil (408) 888 7693

Bharani Seshan (408) 656-6855

Hemant Buch (408) 203-3594

Balaji Venkatachari (408) 644-0299

Biju Nair (408) 768-1976

Twitter Updates: Biju Kattuparambil

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THANKS

Yashodhan Deshpande

Poornima Bhat

Balaji Venkatachari

Bharani Seshan

Anupam Sahai

Neeraj Bhalla

Kanika Vora

Mihir Jariwala

Arsh Buch

Yogen Kapadia

Pavan Mullapudi

Biju Nair

Shiva Srivastava

Chanchal Sahai

Rajib Arjun

Biju Kattuparambil

Nitin Buty

Swapna Shintre

Rajesh Bhat

Can you match the pictures on page 27

to the names given above?

7

Welcome to the National Cricket Festival 2016! 2003 was a significant in the history of youth cricket in USA. That year, we founded California Cricket Academy with the primary goal of providing highest level of coaching to youth in the Bay area and providing a platform for them to be able to play competitive cricket at the highest level in USA. And now, as we complete 13 years of existence, we can proudly say that we have achieved both and are still striving to achieve more. This journey has been an extremely rewarding experience for us mainly because of unwavering support of many people in Cupertino and larger Bay area – Cupertino City Council, Cupertino Parks & Recreation Department, other Cricket leagues in the region and above all, hundreds of parents who have devoted thousands of hours of their valuable time in helping us promote this wonderful team sport just because of their passion for the game. CCA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and its survival and progress depend on donations. In our journey, we are fortunate to have financial support from several donors, some of them multiple times, who have contributed by way of sponsorships during last 13 years. We sincerely thank all of our Sponsors for making our dream come true. Our special thanks to Tech Mahindra and ThinkPalm Technologies, the Platinum Sponsors of this Cricket Festival. Cricket is the fastest growing sport in USA. There is tremendous talent here which can be groomed to play on international stage if we, as organizers, can provide proper training and infrastructure for their development. In coming years, CCA ’s dream is to create complete, dedicated, world class cricket facility in the Bay area and we look forward to working with the government agencies, private entities and the community and in making this dream a reality. We wish all participants of this festival a great success. Let the games begin!! Thanks, Kinjal & Hemant Buch Founders, CCA

10307 BRET AVENUE, CUPERTINO, CA 95014 PHONE: 408-777-9983

www.calcricket.org

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THANKS

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THANKS

9

FIELDING POSITIONS

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A VISIT TO THE MECCA OF CRICKET, LORDS, UK, 2014 CCA U/12 TEAM

CAUGHT IN ACTION

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THE RULES OF CRICKET

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.

When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!

Wishing CCA Great Success

in Hosting

California Cricket Festival.

Celebrating

Youth Cricket in America

11

T20 is killing cricket. T20 is killing cricket?

By Nitin Deo

“Facebook is going to kill face-to- face meetings!” “Twitter is going to kill headline news!” “Internet is going to kill newspaper business! ” And “T20 is going to kill cricket!”

I am sure you have heard these. Now, allow me to turn these upside down.

“Facebook is enabling people to get in touch with long lost friends! ” “Twitter is bringing fresh news by the minute!” “Internet is connecting all dots across the globe! ” And “T20 is revitalizing interest in cricket! ”

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have to learn to move with the world. If we want our tra-ditions to be carried forward to the young generation, we must do whatever it takes for them to understand those traditions – explain to them in the language they understand. If using rotary phone and writing letters is the only way you want to keep in touch with the world, if only reading the news in printed newspaper the only way you want to stay informed, then my friend, you are sadly mistaken. By the time your communication reaches your friends and by the time you get the news, it would be already too old and uninteresting. Similarly, if the only way you want to pass on your religion – the game of Cricket – to the next generation is with long 5-day test cricket, then my friend even your own son or your daughter will prefer to stay home study (or pretend to study) instead of going to the ground for 5 days.

Cricket teaches physical discipline, team work, commitment, builds mental strength, teaches importance of focus on the job – while having loads of fun. If you don ’t shine while batting, you can do well in bowling. If you don ’t bowl well enough, you can be a stellar fielder. And none of these traits change whether it is a 5 -day game or 20-over 4-hour game.

If you don ’t agree, that’s fine. It just means that you don ’t want to adapt new things. It just means that you want to stay back in the 1900’s. But, don ’t worry. I will still play cricket with you – because I love the sport. I will see you on the ground for 5 days in a row, while you use your notebook and pen instead of laptop or smart phone; change in-to dhoti-kurta instead of jeans and t-shirt; walk home in your leather chappals instead of using a car; and enjoy your daal-chaaval on a thali sitting on the floor instead of hav-ing salad or chicken tikka, on a table! Together let ’s kill progress, let ’s kill comfort, let ’s kill enthusiasm – in the name of tradition! And let cricket die because the young gener-ation will not be interested in it.

Or we can embrace the new trend(s) while instilling the positives of this wonderful sport such as physical fitness, mental strength, team spirit, competitive yet fair behav-ior and most of all having fun playing cricket with our sons, daughters as well as fa-thers, uncles and aunts – and keeping up with CCA trend have good food while watch-ing or playing!

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T20 IS DESTROYING CRICKET By Naresh Sadasivan

T20 Cricket has turned cricket as we knew, on its head. If Kerry Packer brought us ODI with lights, colored clothing, white balls, and assured results, 20-20 cricket thirty years later has brought switch hits, sixes by the dozens, acrobatic fielding, cheerleaders, and after-game parties. Not all innovation has been to further the cause of cricket. T20 especially can be accused of pan-dering to the corporate elite, who see this abbreviated version of the game as a way to new rich-es.

Cricket as we so loved is being slowly but surely consigned to the trash-heap of history. And this new T20 format glorifies big hitting at the expense of the classic fight between bat and ball. Here are 3 reasons why T20 is destroying traditional cricket.

ILL #1: BOWLERS ARE DISPENSIBLE

While there are games where bowlers have played the upper hand, they are too few and far in-between. Rules are clearly stacked in favor of batsmen. Shorter boundaries, flatter decks, field restrictions, zero-margin- of-error wide & no-ball rules, free-hits are all put in place to only have testosterone-heavy batsmen entertain crowds with sixes every other ball. And bowlers have only 24 balls to prove their worth.

With more and more rich club-level and international T20 games being played each year, fast bowlers of the class of Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar, or Zak will slowly disappear. They trade their wares by beguiling batsmen with speed and swing, coaxing batsmen into making errors. A 24-ball format does not give them such luxury anymore. Instead, T20 is producing bowlers who bowl slow, slower, and slowest. Fast bowling will die a sure death as T20 gains prominence. Spin bowlers similarly ply their trade with sheer variation of flight and turn. Dead pitches and absent fielders in the deep means their game is up. They don’t have a role to play anymore. Mediocrity in bowling is the new norm.

ILL#2: CENTRALIZED POWER BY THE BIG THREE

India, Australia, and England today form an unholy alliance with sheer money power, with ICC obeying their diktats. IPL, Big Bash, and Natwest T20 make more money for these boards in one year than what the rest of world cricket makes across all formats. Granted, players are making more money, but it is being made at the cost of spreading the game to more nations. Conse-quently, Zimbabwe & Bangladesh do not get to play enough international games, and mar-ginal aspirants like Ireland, The Netherlands, Afghanistan, or Bermudas are effectively shut out. ICC does not spend enough money in sport development outside of the Big Three. Cricket will thus never become a true global sport like soccer or basketball.

ILL#3: PLAYER FATIGUE, POOR TEMPERAMENT

T20 encourages big hits. If test cricket tests batsmen for their temperament, technique, grit, and determination, T20 kills each of these qualities, sacrificing them at the altar of big hitting. This is reflected in the way test cricket is played these days. Most 5-day tests get over by the third day, and most batsmen, especially the heroes of the T20 format, are unable to reorient themselves for the longer format. And most end up being pathetic failures. Only the best are able to adapt.

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Against all odds!

Last summer, I had an amazing experience with my team from

California Cricket Academy (CCA). We were invited to play a tournament at

King’s College in Taunton, UK. CCA picked a motely crew of 12 players from our

league between the ages of 10 & 11 to represent the academy. I was given the

opportunity and the honor to lead this team under the capable guidance of

Coach Amit. Our team surpassed all expectations and went on to remain undefeated in the tour-

nament. There were some great performances from every member of our team. I did not do as

well as I would have liked to in batting, but I learnt a lot about teamwork and how important it is to

not be disappointed due to lack of personal achievements. I learnt the importance of patience

and concentration when playing long innings, while maintaining my focus and helping the team

win. I did this by keeping and fielding to the best of my ability and scoring some good stumpings

and runouts.

Winning the tournament against all odds was truly memorable. All the hard work that Coach

Amit and Bharani uncle, our team Manager, put in for us finally bore the ultimate fruit, the joys of

seeing us win. I sincerely hope we made them proud of us. Thank you CCA, for giving us the

platform and the opportunity to represent the academy. Also, a huge shout out to the parents

who accompanied us and cheered us all the way. Without your support and blessings we would

not have been able to achieve this feat and for that we are truly grateful. It was truly an honor and

a pleasure to lead this team. I would go to war for each and every one of the team members.

-- Rahul Jariwala

ORDER:

(Left to Right Standing)

RAHUL JARIWALA, ARNAV

KOTTAPALLY, KESHAV

BALAJI, ANISH DESHPANDE,

COACH AMIT BUCH, AMAN

RAO, VED PATEL, ROHITH

BHARANIDARAN

ORDER:

(Left to Right Kneeling )

HARIKRISHNAN NAIR, DAN-

IEL AMIRTHARAJ, ANUVRAT

SHUKLA, KANISH BHALLA,

AKSHAY SAHAI FIRST PLACE: Taunton U11 Inter County Championship

Hosted by King’s College, Somerset.

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2015 U/13 NWR Nationals

MVP & MAN OF THE MATCH ABHISHEK

KATTUPARAMBIL WITH BIJU NAIR,

THINKPALM TECHNOLOGIES

THE CHAMPIONS TEAM MEMBERS

ABHISHEK KAT-

TUPARAMBIL

AKHIL ARUNACHA-

LAM

AMAN RAO

HARIKRISHNAN NAIR

KANISH BHALLA

KESHAV BALAJI

PRATHAM KATARIA

RAHUL JARIWALA

RISHI ARJUN

ROHITH BHARA-

NIDARAN

SUPRAVO GOSWAMI

VED PATEL

VATSAL VAGHELA

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T20 IS DESTROYING CRICKET

If his were not enough, T20 league cricket takes a lot out of a cricketer. IPL for instance is a gruel-ing 50-day tournament, with 17 games packed into it, in dozens of locations. Players break down very often, some requiring several months to recoup, and many more retiring from the game earlier than normal. Vettori, McCallum, and even Dhoni to a large extent have their careers shortened due to the wear and tear caused by T20 leagues.

These are just a few big ticket issues that T20 has caused cricket in general. nT20 is killing good old traditional cricket in many, many more ways If we continue to fund T20 (and maybe even short-er formats in the future), kids will possibly never be able to witness the joy of another Brett Lee or Shoaib Akhtar steaming in with their 40-yard runup, and letting go a ball that whizzes past the ears of a batsman at 155kmph. Or watch a classic Dravid stonewall a Shane Warne on a treacherous Chennai turning track on Day 5 of a match.

ENJOY CRICKET. SAY NO TO T20.

!!! HOWZAT !!!

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!! IIlustrated by Harikrishnan Nair,

Anish Deshpande, Anuvrat Shukla !!

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The Spirit of Cricket

Cricket is a sport of honesty and integrity. When I stepped into

CCA, I was none of these things. But coaches like Dashrath and

Shrini shaped me right up. I loved to run and do other intensive ac-

tivities, so Cricket was just the sport for me. This particular sport

requires a fit body and calm mind. Coaches are the main building

blocks of brilliant players. At CCA, I also get the opportunity to dis-

cuss my feelings about cricket in thorough detail. I felt that after my

first game, I would become a star. It turns out, my dream did not

come true, and has yet to come true. Thankfully, I came up with a

new goal - to get better with every single game. That dream comes true now every time I

play a game of cricket. Every time I bowl a wide, or misfield a perfect ball, I slowly climb

the mountain of disbelief and frustration. But when I remember my dream, I fall off that

horrible mountain, and take the harder path…. the path of hope, and honesty, that is the

path I try to follow during practice or in a game. That is the path that CCA has taught me

to follow, and that is the path legends before us, such as our beloved Sachin Tendulkar

took. He must have climbed the mountain of frustration every once in a while, but then

would quickly have to switch gears. The spirit of cricket can guide a person to do good

and the only way to unlock your cricketing potential is to work hard with honesty and in-

tegrity.

— Mohnish Rana

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C L U E S

W

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So You Think You Can “Cricket” ?

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WHY I LIKE CRICKET

Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. With introduction of T20 format it is much more in-

credible to predict the game’s outcome between two equally talented teams. In he year 2007, I

was 5 years old started playing and understanding the game. T20 India Vs Pakistan final attract-

ed me more towards the game. It is almost 10 years now I am learning and understanding the

game, every day I learn a new trick, new rule or come across a new scenario that makes me

more excited for the game.

It is a team sport, where I meet new friends and come across talented players. It also gives me

an opportunity to travel. To the contradiction though it is a team sport, there are individual icons

and legends who take the game to the next level. Adam Gilchrist of Australia is my role model.

The live experience at cricket is always fun. Huge crowd, colorful spectators, flood light stadi-

ums makes the game more attractive.

Cricket is a great leveler and like life it is circle. As a batsman one might have scored a double

ton or a bowler taken 10 wickets. When you play the next game one has to start from zero and

one can get out on zero. You come back to the same place where it all started. And then you

start respecting things even more when you return to that same place which perhaps you didn’t

do earlier.

Physical fitness and Leadership: The game of cricket involved physical activities for a long pe-

riod of time. It keeps the players healthy, strong and physically fit. The captain plays an im-

portant leadership role that is involved in selection, making decisions on the order of play (so

winning the toss and whether to bat first, the batting order), determining the strategy of the team

(the tactics that are employed) and making calls regarding when to change field placings. He al-

so makes bowling changes and generally seeks to influence and control the game. In order to

achieve all of these role requirements, the captain needs to be an effective leader, able to man-

manage all the different characters and personalities that make up their team. The captain also

needs to be able to inspire the team to follow them and in many cases look to lead from the

front. There is an old maxim that says “If you preach excellence but walk mediocrity, you are

nothing but a liar”.

— Sathyanarayana Venkatesan

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The California Cricket Academy extends its warmest

thanks and sincere appreciation, to the cities of Cupertino,

Milpitas, Fremont & San Jose, the entire team of volunteers

who stepped up in various capacities to make this happen,

all participating teams, their coaches and management, ac-

companying parents and family members, the CCA alumni

for their continued support, and the sponsors without whom

this event was not a possibility.

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How Tennis Boosted My Cricketing Skills

Cricket is a game of skill, strength and stamina. It challeng-es you in every way as a sportsman. So why do I say that Ten-nis boosted my cricketing skills? Well, in tennis you run a lot to get every ball to avoid losing the point. Similarly, running be-tween the wickets in a cricket match is critical for scoring runs. The process of making my shots more powerful in tennis helps my shots in cricket when I am batting. I train my shoulder and arm strength. Tennis also helps my fitness in cricket since we have to do lots of core exercises like planks, pushups, and sit-ups. In both games we run a lot which helps build up stamina, especially in cricket where you have to bowl, bat and field for a very long time. One extremely important thing tennis has helped me with is my focus and mental strength. This is be-cause in a tennis match, when you are down you can’t give up, and this has helped me in cricket to try and step up at the right time and be more consistent in batting and to do better under pressure. So I can say tennis has helped me improve my crick-et game in many areas. Cricket on the other hand teaches me the essential life skill of working as a team under challenging conditions. — Akshay Sahai

Track and Field is the Secret of my Cricketing

For the past three years, I have been running track competitively, along with playing cricket. This combination has led me to become a better cricketer. Track has helped me by improving the way I move on the field, how quickly I reach the ball, fielding near the boundaries, and running between the wickets. My training in track has improved my endurance, helping me play for many continuous overs on the cricket field. This has also prepared me mentally to play long matches with full intensity. Cricket selections require a series of fitness tests, and I am able to excel in this due to my extensive track training. The competitive-ness of the track world has pushed me to my limits and enabled me to reach my full potential athletical-ly. In track, majority of the hard work is done behind the scenes, and this work has led me to great heights in cricket as well.

— Harikrishnan Nair