Virginia beat Kensington in the inaugural Twenty/20 tournament in the Division I category on Saturday, October 18th at Hyattsville. Kensington, after winning the toss elected to bat and set a challenging total of 158 runs to win the Division I Finals. Captain Bartley scored 49 and one of the league's senior most player, sixty-two year old Carlton Carter supported him with a well compiled 40.

Virginia started off confidently with Rajesh Vayal and put on 37 runs on the board in 5 overs. Soon Carl Wright took over. With great running between the wickets and powerful hits over extra cover, he scored 51 runs and Vinnie Simon stayed unbeaten with 48 runs to lead Virginia over Kensington.

The game was played with great camaraderie and sportsmanship and Virginia deservedly won the game with good all-round performance. Congratulations to both teams for another excellent performance in the finals!

Twelve years in the making, Virginia finally captures the top honors in the WCL by beating the powerhouse Kensington in thrilling finish. Virginia, after scoring 195 for the loss of 8 wickets was able to hold its nerves and its catches at crucial moments to restrict Kensington to 192 for 8 in 40 overs.

Kensington, after winning the toss elected to field, perhaps to surprise Virginia and they did. Virginia was held to a poor run-rate as tension mounted. Virginia could not break the shackles, even though, two of their top batsmen, Carl Wright (49) and Tony Powell (66) were at the crease.

Two of WCL's most explosive batsmen and Virginia could muster only 103 runs in 27 overs. But Tony kept finding holes and the run-rate slowly crept up. Chris Vassell with Baxi Soudhan and Jason Nelson finished strongly to end Virginia's 40 overs at 195, leaving Kensington to score 196 in 40 overs for a victory and retain the Division I Championship.

Kensington started confidently with Donald Bennett and Gowkaran (Juicy) Roopnarine. Donald was surprised by the ball that came in sharply and took out his bails. Juicy played down the wrong line and was plumb in front. Both Usman Shuja and Baxi Soudhan bowled well to maintain the pressure on the batsmen. Wayne Cuff (60) and Barrington Bartley (66) put on 82 runs to wrestle the initiative away from Virginia.

Kensington seemed to have the upper hand as long as its captain Bartley was at the crease. But Usman Shuja held a magnificent catch at the deep mid-wicket boundary to get rid off the dangerous Kensington Captain.

That wicket, along with a great bowling spell by Virginia captain Gunu Suri (2/29 in 8 overs) helped Virginia put pressure on Kensington who tried to accelerate the score, but to no avail.

Needing 8 runs to win in the last over, Usman Shuja delivered a great over by yorking Everton Cox and then restricting Kensington to just 4 runs. Needing 4 runs to tie the game on the final ball of the over, Kensington could only muster a single, thus delivering the WCL Division I Championship NAMC Trophy to Virginia.

This was an exciting game that was well contested and the players and the spectators alike were thrilled to be a part of a spectacular show put on by both teams. Congratulations to Virginia for its first ever WCL Championship and claiming the North Atlantic Mortgage Company (NAMC) Trophy!

The league is thankful to the umpires Ram Ragoo and Harry Goodall for officiating the game and also the volunteers who helped with getting the field ready for the game.

Tony Powell was declared the MVP of the finals for his 66 runs in 77 balls to hold Virginia's innings together.

WCL: DIVISION II
 

Titans overcame a spirited charge from Dulles to capture the WCL 2008 Inaugural Twenty/20 Division II Crown. After winning the toss, Titans put Dulles into bat to take full advantage of their strong bowling lineup. Dulles played extremely well to neutralize the advantage with some great shots by Saad Moulvi, Sarat Muddu and Anirudh Roy. Semi-final star Vamsi Mohan started well, but could not get going. Dulles scored a challenging 155/6 in their 20 overs.

In reply, Titans struggled to get going, losing the first three wickets quickly, before Shahid Hussain (31), visibly hobbling with some injury kept the score moving along with well placed shots. At the other end, Shahrukh Mahzer (60 not out) took advantage of some wayward bowling in a couple of overs by the Dulles bowlers to score 45 runs in 3 overs to get the score closer to the target. Finally, good running between Shahrukh and Saqib Ali helped Titans claim victory. WCL is grateful to Harry Goodall and Ravikiran Nellutla for officiating the finals. Congratulations to both teams for an exciting match!