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By Peter Della Penna in Hartford, Connecticut

Central East opening batsman Rohit Mogalayapalli batted through the entire innings to score 117 not out in a 195-run win over the Directors’ XI at Windsor Park on the first day of the 2011 USACA U-15 National Tournament. Mogalayapalli, who finished fifth overall in runs at last year’s event in New Jersey with 148, hit four boundaries to lead his team to a total of 274 for 5 before restricting the Directors’ XI to a total of 79 for 9 in their 40 overs.

Central East won the toss and batted first as Mogalayapalli and Gordon Makin produced a 182-run partnership for the first wicket. Makin contributed 63 before he was bowled by Yash Thaker. No one else crossed double digits off the bat as the Directors’s XI bowling unit contributed 82 extras to the total including 72 wides.

In reply, Richard Ramrattan was the only player to reach double figures for the Directors’ XI, finishing 16 not out. Leg-spinner Nauman Khan took 3 for 7 in 8 overs for Central East.

A complete team effort by South East helped them scrape by South West to win by 11 runs at Keney Park. South East won the toss and batted first, posting 142 in 37.2 overs. Extras top scored with 39 including 38 wides. South West got a major contribution from opening batsman Shekhar Gupta who scored 42 in 60 balls with five fours and a six, but Heran Patel was the only other player to offer any support, scoring 15 not out. He eventually ran out of partners and despite a mounting total of 51 extras, South West was eventually bowled out for 131 in 39 overs.

Also at Keney Park, North West defeated Atlantic by 8 wickets. Atlantic batted first and was bowled out for 76 in 33.4 overs. Rutvij Bhise took 3 for 9 in five overs to lead North West in the field. They chased down the target in 18.1 overs with Vibhav Altekar scoring 30 not out and Dave Parikh 21 not out.

At Riverside Park, New York defeated North East by 4 wickets. North East won the toss and batted first as opener Jason Gobin top scored with 29 runs. Number three batsman Ryan Aravind scored 27 but extras wound up besting them both with 45 added to the total for a first innings score of 135 for 9 in 40 overs. New York’s chase was also aided by a mounting number of extras, 49 of them, as they reached the target in 34.5 overs.

The teams for this tournament are paired off in two groups with Group A consisting of North West, South West, Atlantic and South East while Group B has New York, North East, Central East and Directors’ XI. The groups were intended to be aligned based on tournament standings from last year’s tournament, with the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th place teams placed in Group A and the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th place teams in Group B.

According to the actual results from the final day of last year’s tournament in New Jersey, North West defeated New York in the final, Central East defeated Atlantic in the third place game, South West defeated South East in the 5th place game and Directors XI defeated North East in the 7th place game. North East did not win a single game in last year’s tournament. However, USACA General Manager Manaf Mohamed configured this year’s tournament schedule based on a matrix which lists the final standings from the 2010 USACA U-15 National Tournament as North West 1, New York 2, Atlantic 3, North East 4, South West 5, Central East 6 and South East 7 with the Central West slotted into the 8th place spot for not participating in the tournament.